streetstyle: palate cleansing in black& white

Figured, right? Just when I changed my masthead and said that's it, no more street style for me - just travel, food, arts, architecture, film, blah blah blah, I was at the V&a with my husband on Sunday and saw Alice, above left, and Emma, right. It was sunny but cold and those two just had such great looks - not any one particular item, like 'oh wow I love your boots' - but just that beaming charisma that to me defines style. And even tho I didn't have my camera, I couldn't resist a shot with my phone.

Black and white is feeling SO crisp this spring, and into summer. It reminded me of what Paula Reed (formerly Grazia style director, now at Harvey Nicks, shot by me, below, when I met her at the Hatwalk event last spring) - I'm paraphrasing, but maybe not. Maybe it was verbatim. Something about how black and white is so clean, it 'cleanses the style palatte.'

Now I know that 'palate' is the spelling for taste, and 'palette' for colour, but in this context, what the hell, it's a bit of both.

head of culture

Stephen Jones was quoted in Grazia, while talking about hats, that Kate (I mean Middleton, not Moss, I mean the Princess - I can't call her Katherine yet, sorry!) tends to wear small hats to show off her gorgeous hair. But I don't know if she's quite got the whimsical scale down the way Justine Simons, shown here, has pulled off. I love this look: a teeny tiny men's bowler on one very pretty head.

Justine's title is Head of Culture for the Mayor of London. Now THAT's a great job. She's a delight, lovely girl. Amanda, you're next! Just giving you a Head's Up.

Still so buzzed about the Olympics: thinking of trying to get into the park today (the ticket thing is such a confusing mess), but first, bringing camera to continue more of my own little project: shooting as much of the Hatwalk series as I can find on the map. If you're in London and want to see it before Friday, go to  Grazia (Hatwalk) or the Mayor of London site for the map. Hope you're all having a lovely summer, wherever you are.

hatwalk: patriotic colours

As before. From yesterday. Hatwalk.  Absolutely brilliant concept, which allegedly Boris himself cooked up (I love that man! I was trying to think of a NY mayor that's anywhere near him - Mayor Lindsey had class, and was cute, but he didn't have Boris's humour and overall cuddliness) and the thing about Hatwalk that makes it so special is - like butterflies - its brief life span: it's only out on the streets til this Friday.

I'm going to see and shoot as many as I can. Although showing you the impact of what the hat on Nelson's head looks like - on top of that column - isn't easy. I can't imagine how they got it up there, at night. To surprise us in the morning.

And the best thing about it is, you don't have to buy tickets. The buzz around town is simply amazing, and I've been spending half the morning trying to navigate the London Olympic website.  Suddenly we, and everyone I know, want to go to the Olympics. And those that are at work, are watching it on the BBC site (one friend - who works in the government - said everyone's got it on their screens. So who's running the country??)

What I'm wondering is: where were we for the past eight years? Where we were when being so cool, too cool to apply for thousands of pounds of tickets? While all round the world, everyone was planning to come here, and we were planning to get out of town? Kicking self as we speak. While pinching self that we don't happen to go on holiday til the 7th.

More info on  Grazia (Hatwalk) or the Mayor of London site for the map. Easy peasy, and no queuing. But it's only out til Friday, so don't dilly dally!

hatwalk: look up

What a wonderful way to start the morning. To start off my week.

Up with the roosters, husband bringing me my cup of tea and saying 'get up, Jill, you've got that thing, remember?' The thing was an invitation from the Mayor of London's people to a surprise. Photo call, 7:00, Trafalgar Square. Be there or be.. so I get there, the Square is empty, I see a lovely girl in a purple shirt who is an 'Ambassadress' (gotta love that word) for London 2012 Olympics. 'I'm here for the surprise' I say, smiling. She smiles back. 'What surprise?' 'At, you know, the Trafalgar Cafe... it's for Grazia..' No recognition. She wants to help, she really wants to help. She starts looking up Trafalgar Cafe on her phone. Meanwhile I call the PR company - a cell phone for someone named Rachel, listed on the invitation. Rachel answers and is cheerfully trying to explain where they are ('It's across from the National Gallery'.. which is where I was..) and two bobbies, in hats, get into the act. They're directing me to the same place Rachel is on the phone.. a little cafe in the Square.. it was hilarious, cinematic: everyone trying to help. 

And next thing I know, I'm alone in a small room, being offered coffee and yummy pastries, when who should walk in but Paula Reed, Style Director of Grazia. (And, as of last month, she'll be taking up a new position as Style Director for Harvey Nichols: how ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS is that).

She is now my favourite style editor: more than Carine Roitfeld, who I've got to admit was really cool to meet. More than the enigmatic Kate Lamphear, who barely speaks but radiates calm. More than eternally effervescent Anna Della Russo, who bizarrely, I dreamt about recently: we were good friends, apparently. Paula just exudes such warmth, is delightfully accessible. And meeting her, I was just so buzzed the rest of the day.

And THEN I went outside, and they explained the Hatwalk concept. In two words: Look Up.

There it was: on the very top of Nelson's column: Nelson himself, wearing a hat. A newly made British Flag hat, with gold feather. The original, iconic hat he wore was made by Lock & Co, so it only stands to reason that they got to design this one, by Sylvia Fletcher.

It's brilliant, and it's everything that I love about London, about the delicious Boris Johnson, about art and fashion mixing in the most whimsically English way. Twenty iconic sculptures, around London, being decorated with... hats. Stephen Jones and Philip Treacy are behind it, of course, but each of the twenty sculptures are designed by different artists and designers: such a rich, rich collaboration of talent, tied in with the Olympic games.

I've got more shots from this morning in posts coming up - the light was amazing, it felt very Norman Parkinson, American in Paris - but also, I am personally making a vow: I've got the map. I'm going to try to see, and photograph, as many of the sculptures as I possibly can. Life is so what you make of it, and frankly, I'm so glad I got out of bed early, for a change.

Read more about it on Grazia Daily, of course, but I also think the Telegraph did a pretty good job of explaining it ('The Hatwalk Comes to Town'). And if you get there first, please take some photos: I'm planning to make a whole series from this, so let's collaborate. For the map,  go to Mayor of London: Hatwalk.

oh so coco

What IS it about Chanel? Just the sight of those interlocking C's.. or that simple white San Serif font, all caps, on a black shopping bag.. I have known Chanel, not the person, not personally, but that standard, that ideal of perfection, all my life. And I'm probably older than most of you reading this (except for you, Mom!) and yet most women - and gay men - have also 'known' Chanel all their lives. And still, there is something so heady, so.. otherworldly, about stepping into my first Chanel press day, with Charlie May, last week. The same day I went to Mawi, and Start, and Rupert Sanderson.. the day of the Good Karma glass of water outside Sotheby's.. it's starting to feel, for me, that that was just the quintessential PERFECT PRESS DAY, and it started at Chanel.







I can't imagine not loving Chanel. Not just the person, the oh so Coco (who I keep picturing as Audrey Tautou: it's making me want to see the film again). The brand. As a concept. The clothes. The colours of the nail varnish, for goodness sake! Even the taste and texture of those little crab canapes.. or the beautiful jackets the Chanel girls were wearing.. while shooting the biker jacket I eavesdropped two fashion insiders - mature, stylish women - talking with authority about Karl Lagerfeld. I felt like a spy and was wishing I had a tape recording device in my wristwatch. I had to resist the urge to take out my ever present notebook and jot things down. Words like 'genius' and 'strength to strength' were batted about like a birdy in a badminton game on a summer's lawn. I have so many images from my time in that small sunlit room, these are just a few. Pink hair is George's, aka Georgina Langford, aka Glitterbird, who assists Melanie Rickie, 'fashion editor at large' at Grazia. George, on the other hand, goes by the title of 'fashion junior at large', and is fabulous.

I defy anyone reading this to tell me, in all honesty, that you don't love Chanel. I mean, you can say 'oh S/S 2010 wasn't my favourite' or whatever but really: it's like not liking chocolate. Or sunsets. Or whiskers on kittens. But I bet there are people out there who don't get it about Chanel, and I welcome your opinions.

Thank you to all the team at CHANEL: more coming up.