because rules are made to be broken: good one

When I was young, my mom - bless her - was not one of those mothers who told us how we should dress. I am sure that's why I never have one of those days when I'm trying six million things on and have 'nothing to wear'. She didn't follow fashion like some kind of slave, but - I can see now - by not having any dramas about how we styled ourselves, she gave us a strong sense of fashion confidence. We found our own style.

She did have one rule. It was just something she said in passing, one day. She said we shouldn't mix patterns, because they clashed. I had to ask her a few times, what was a pattern ('You know: dots and plaids and stripes') and the more difficult one - 'what does clash mean'. She probably just eventually gave up and went back to 'wear whatever you like: it's no skin off my nose.'

If it's possible that there is one trend bigger than 'colour blocking' - which I'm not seeing as much of as I'd like, or assumed - it is the sophisticated use of multiple patterns.

Clashing, with confidence.



You might recall, last fall, I did an impromptu series of streetstyle photo shoots for Goodone, an ethical recycled clothing company based in East London. (for example, click here or here or here or here. Or, here!). I had been sent a press release from Topshop, who were running their A/W 2010 line, and I said you know what? Rather than use your photos - which I don't like to do - if you send me some clothes to borrow, I'll get some friends together, blah blah blah. AND THEY DID: a messenger delivered the whole line, in shopping bags, the next day, and we did a really quick shoot. It was like a flashmob photoshoot. We met at my local Cafe Nero, changed in the ladies' room, had a laugh.. an example, here:



Anyway, just before LFW in February, someone who worked with Nin Castle, the designer, got in touch, and arranged a meeting at Somerset House. Nin is DELIGHTFUL. We just got on instantly. I just love what she and her team are doing: creating affordable, sustainable, and very wearable, collections, made in England from reclaimed and up-cycled fabrics.



So when she sent me a press release recently with shots from a shoot she did with one of her best friends - and flat mate's - JESS BONHAM, shooting - well I simply had to break my 'don't use other people's photography on my blog' rule. Besides, I love these shots, and the way they're styled, so much.



Soon, I want to stop by with a friend or two to her studio, and do my own shoots again. But for now, here are some examples from Goodone's Basic Collection: everything is under £100, and can be customised TO ORDER. So you can give them, for example, a leg length.. it's extraordinary, really. Especially in the recent wonderful exchanges on posts to do with 'where can we find affordable, ethical clothing?'

Who knew: in our own back yards. Metaphorically speaking.

GOODONE BASIC COLLECTION is available online (www.goodone.uk) or on the ASOS marketplace. If in doubt, contact them at GOODONE. Ask for Nin, tell her Jill sent you ; )

Photos by Jess Bonham, except the middle bunch - by me.

le bomber, and the harem

This partly me trying to be more like Kate Lamphear - i.e. less chatty, more mysterious. But also I really want to go see Wall Street and it's starting in 10 minutes and is at least a 15 minute walk to the cinema. But I've been meaning to post these for a while:

The bomber jacket is made of old cable knit jumpers and is part of the Goodone collection for Topshop. Besides the black crochet'd dress, this was one of the most popular of the bag of clothes I brought to the shoot.

My friends, Natayla, top, who is Egyptian (she edits 'It's Fashion Week', the first online Egyptian fashion magazine) and whose family lives in Geneva, and Hedvig, who is Norwegian, both recognised the style as a 'bomber jacket', which I thought was just an American word for the style. Wikipedia has a whole interesting story about the name, apparently it's also a skinhead thing.

But also, really, what I'm more interested in talking about today is the miners' rescue in Chile, and there's just no way I can fit any of my photos into a post on that!




So I will say that it was pretty weird about that day: not just Nat, or Hedvig, but also Tobi showed up in black harem trousers. I had done a whole rant the first spring I started my blog, back in 2009, about how no one would ever wear those droopy drawers. But I consider each of these girls really stylish, so there you have it. Once again, I was wrong.

Oh btw I know Hedvig's black chunky heels are Acne, she told me who made the harem trousers - Hedvig can you remind me again? - and I'll let you know who made Nat's later - and her wonderful burgundy suede high tops, she's told me about three times now and I keep forgetting (Jen just reminded me, they're Lanvin, and Nat just said the trousers are Topshop). The thing I love about both girls is they mix their style with really good quality designer stuff, and brands like H&M: glamorous street chic.

another good one

You might have noticed by now: I'm not objective. I don't make the news, ma'am, and I don't report it either: not objectively. There are plenty of trends around at any given point but I tend to the plainest, safest, what I call 'Virgo style'. I read that once, as a teen, and it stuck: we Virgos favour neutral colours like black and tan, or black and navy. I said that recently to a model, for something we did with Next (which I haven't posted on! Just remembered!) and I guessed from how she dressed that she was a Virgo. Very simple, Kate Hepburn, androgynous.. she couldn't believe it. Sure enough. Another Virgo, our birthdays were days apart.

Anyway, yes, this dress: I love it. Black and midnight blue, all these interesting panels (you should see the back). It's probably my favourite in the Goodone/Topshop collection. Here Hedvig (Northern Light) wears it simple as possible: bare legs and Acne heels.

I don't believe it! It IS online! Click here. Bodycon panel dress in black and blue by Goodone (it's hard to make out the different colours, but they're there). Thank goodness, I thought it was just in the Oxford Street branch. It's £160.00 which isn't Primark, but it's not bad either for something so original.

p.s. Just found a great example of 'Virgo style' on my lovely friend pret a porter p's post: Azzaro FW 2010.

one good one

Before London Fashion Week started, I - like most of us - started getting bombarded with PR stuff. I mean, I do all the time, but it really heats up before fashion week. This is such a contentious topic for anyone who blogs about fashion. We know that what we do with our blogs is spread the word, and the PR people know that, and it's flattering yet insulting, because while they're getting paid, we're not.. but we also want tickets to the shows and there's the whole free stuff issue.. anyway, when Topshop sent me a really polite brief letter, respecting my time and not sending big file attachments (a real sore subject with me) just telling me about a brand called GOODONE, well, that got my attention.

Good manners, especially in the world of fashion PR, REALLY get my attention.


Goodone is a sustainable fashion collection of knitwear made of recycled or overstocked knitwear. Topshop is carrying ten items - not available online, only at their flagship, Oxford Circus branch - and I liked the way it looked. So I asked if I could borrow some clothes to do a shoot - no fee for any of us - and they said, sure why not?




It was all done so easily: I was delivered all the items last Friday and waited for it to stop raining. Finally, last Wednesday I contacted a bunch of friends and to my delight, every single one I asked said yes, and took the time to meet me the next day. That alone moved me beyond words. AND the sun came out. It was such a lovely little get together. And I got so many good impromptu shoots that by dinner, when I met Shini and Jen, we didn't even need to do any more shooting.

This is the first in a series - I'll be doing it during the next week or so. You might remember Emily, or Emelia, from Together We Have a Voice. She showed up in jeans and the white shirt and leather jacket. The black body is by Goodone, and it's thick and strong enough that you can wear bare skin and no bra and it looks just amazing. Don't you think? I've been playing around with this post for hours: can't seem to say it succinctly, and can't choose between the photos because I like them all. Maybe it's because I'm home with this sore throat bug, but I'm just being really indecisive today. I had this whole voting system, with runners up, just to choose the top shot (ha! Top Shot! Top Shop! Get it? Never mind). And, after all that, I have no idea if I chose the best.

If you want to use any of these photos (or, the runners up) to spread the Topshop/Goodone word, go ahead: please just let me know via a comment or email. Maybe even show us the link. I just want to show how easy fashion shoots can be, so they can let us all do this kind of thing again in the future. My thinking is: if we show them our collective power, if we show them that together, we do have a voice.. well, anything's possible.