This is rather frustrating: I can't post! Not for a week now.
I use PhotoBucket to upload my photos, and something's happened - I can't get onto the site, it disappears (I PAY THEM). I've sent email after email, and they're not replying, so I'm on a kind of blogger holiday, in town. Doing other things.
But I wanted to let you know why you're not hearing from me - I know in the past years, I've been kind of winding myself down, as a fashion blogger, but I do have a lot more I want to post. So I closed my eyes and chose a post from the past.
And it's fitting that it's got pool images in it. Pool colours. Jewel colours. I'm kind of obsessed at the moment with bright greens, blues, aquas.. the colour pools and the sea. At least, while my tan lasts.
I came to find you a great 'pool post' by Veshoevius, and her top post was on 'going green'. It's such a rich, thoughtful, beautiful post, like her.
These photos, by me, from the Holly Fulton show, eons ago. Hope to be showing you something new sometime soon.
Backstage, at the delicious Holly Fulton show, in London in September.
Another little soundtrack to play, while viewing (altho this wasn't the music Holly had for the show):
I'm fascinated with the behinds the scenes aspect of any creative project: film sets, kitchens, and of course, fashion. What especially drew me in with the Holly Fulton backstage experience was we were a select group allowed to shoot what they call 'first look.' It's fascinating: all these photographers, with lights and things, squished together in a hallway. With my lens, I could only shoot really close. And the way they massage the lotions into the girls! It's kind of hilarious.
This is just ONE look - one model - backstage, and on the runway, from the Holly Fulton show. Multiply that by.. oh, you do the math. And then I've been to.. a bunch of shows. I am overwhelmed with things I want to show you.
A continuation of my juxtaposition series. Must run! xoxo
Today's the last day of London Fashion Week September 2011 - it's rainy and it's Men's Day and there will be a very end of school term feel in the air, a sweet kind of melancholy, and for most industry insiders, it's off to Milan and Paris, and for me, one last trip to clean out my locker in the photographers' room, then time to sift through my photographs. Like beautiful memories.
As my good friend Jennifer of Style East described it, one's first time at fashion week - for a streetstyle photographer especially - is like being a kid in a sweet shop. And right now, I feel like I've had so much candy I've got a sugar headache. Literally. And while I didn't expect to ever get that heady, I can't believe I'm here feeling that I did at my first time, September 2009, I'm surprised at how much I've really enjoyed this season. My experience is richer now, because I've made so many wonderful friends - bloggers, journalists, young talent starting out, as well as the truly professional, hard working 'industry insiders.' I don't know why I waited this long to be in the fashion world - the REAL fashion people aren't bitchy at all, they're absolutely lovely. And this time, I've finally met some of my virtual friends, like Pearl of Fashion Pearls of Wisdom, and my God, they are all even more lovely than I expected. And I expected a lot.
It's occurred to me that happiness, in any situation, has a direct proportion to expectation. The less I expect from an experience, the more I am pleasantly surprised.
Now I don't know where to begin, what to post on first. Runway shots, but in my style, from the front row? Backstage? Or streetstyle, at and around Somerset House? You tell me.
Shot backstage before Holly Fulton, what they call 'first look.' This was a bit posey, and I used flash - not my usual style, but it's good to mix things up. Maybe for my next post, I"ll show you other shots during this 'first look' process - it's really surreal, all these professional photographers crammed into a hallway, it's hard to get out, and everyone's saying 'look at me' - but it's a wonderful, heady experience. Just before the show begins. And it was such a great show: Holly has such a delightful, unique voice.
As per usual: please click on this great MTV video, for your viewing enjoyment.
At some point in my early 20s - after college, pre-meeting Mr. Dot - I was basically living a Carrie-esque existence in NYC. I didn't write a column (I was a freelance graphic designer & art director - I even worked on the early MTV animations) but I had this really fun, creative, and occasionally, glamorous life. My college friend, Dani, had a boyfriend - now husband - who was five years older, and their extended family of friends were just sooo cool. And amongst these friends was a really tall, skinny guy named Ed.
Now Ed - bless him - we were great friends. But he wasn't my type. I had a lot of boyfriends, but not Ed. He'd always say 'why not me?' and I'd say things like 'because you smoke' and he'd stomp out the cigarette, throw the pack away, do all these gestures.. no matter how many excuses I'd come up with, he'd always have an answer. He kept bring up that time, on the boat, when we were leaning on each others' backs the whole ride and he kept saying 'don't deny it, you KNOW there's a connection.' Finally, in desperation, I needed a reason that he could not change, so I told him he was too tall. Fair enough, but he never did stop trying. And then when I'd meet one of their friends, and we'd start liking each other, they'd invariably say 'I can't do this to Ed!'
Too Tall Ed used to sing this song out loud, but his version was 'What's legs got to do, got to do with it? Who needs a leg, when a leg can be broken?'
Which reminds me of something I read recently. They did one of those surveys. I forget the percentage, but a lot of women - a majority vote - wish their legs were longer. Apparently we women own, on average, something like 56 pair of shoes (which means - since I have far less - that somewhere across town, there is a woman with 287 pair, to balance me out). And, also apparently, most of our shoes are very high heels, because we think it makes our legs look longer.
As someone who is average height, or even small - 5'4" - I'm often told I have 'great legs'. I don't even know what this means! I think I have maybe a short torso, so my legs are proportionately longer? No one ever says, for example, that I have a great waist - altho this year it's looking flatter than last. My bum is nothing to write home about, unless you like pancakes. And no one raves about my breasts, which are somewhere between an A and a B - maybe an A+ - and which, for some reason, I've always been rather proud of. They're inoffensive, not very 'in your face'. And, while we're on the subject of perfection: if you scrutinise the photos of these catwalk models - these perfect beings - you'll find some little imperfections here and there. Proof that they're actually, you know, human, after all.
Maybe the thing about legs are, they're a part of our physicality that it's tricky to change, cosmetically. You can't- far as I know - get a leg job. Perhaps you can. Who knows. All I know is, I've been doodling those classic Court shoes - like the Louboutins shown here, at the Holly Fulton show last Feb - (other shots are David Koma, with the polka dots, and the knits are Mark Fast) - since I was a girl. I love the IDEA of wearing heels. In practice, I'm running round most of the time in flip flops, flats, and Converse. Maybe that's the secret to great legs: keep them moving, cupcakes!
And come to think of it: Tina Turner, bless her cotton socks, isn't all that tall, and her legs aren't very long. But they're certainly fabulous!
Must run: things to do, then Vogue's Fashion Night Out tonight. I get overwhelmed figuring out which invites to prioritise, so I'm going to just meet Sabine and we'll do a quick brisk run around for a short time - dressed for speed, not style. It's just a matter of choosing which Converse: the vintage blue or the less old, i.e. seven year old, cream ones.
Just because I don't personally embrace the colour red (I get my warmth from hot pink, sometimes pairing with orange, or even purple, juxtaposed against neutrals or pale, pale green), doesn't mean I don't respect the colour. Or, for that matter, other peoples' right to see Red.
Funny how the same shows that I saw last February, when it was cold and dark and damp and all I wanted was spring and summer and pale frocks and white.. it's hard to let go of summer, still. My family are all together at the beach now in NY, going to the Hampton Classic and soaking up the sunshine. But yesterday we had one last sunshiney swim in Surrey, saw our publisher friends & wives for a magic, spontaneous gathering at a gorgeous country pub, and.. yeah, I'll admit it: I'm getting that back to school thinking about fall clothes buzz.
Top left, after the Todd Lynn show, top right, during, and, above, Holly Fulton. All photos by me, shot on D4 LFW 21.02.11.
A comment, in passing, from Sabine (Psynopsis) about a recent purchase of a pair of yellow trousers, despite her admitted 'fear of yellow' - that, and all the big fuss everywhere I turn about Chanel's sold out limited edition nail varnish in Mimosa (100% pure, hardcore yellow) has got me thinking:
Am I, too, afraid of the colour yellow?
Well, Holly Fulton says, 'RELAX.' As shown my shots of her show from last September's S/S 2011 collection, there's really nothing to be afraid of. (Incidentally, there really is no such thing as Mimosaphobia - I just made that up, HOWEVER, there really is a medical, psychiatric term for the fear of yellow. It's called Xanthobia, but don't just take my word for it, Google it.).
In fact I've started to remember - as if freed from a suppressed, subconscious state - all the yellow items of clothing that I've loved over the years. A favourite Liza Bruce swimsuit that I purchased long ago, in either St. Barths or St Maartens in a little boutique with my future husband, the current Mr. Dot (I'll do a post on it next). Or a long floral maxi, very floaty, that I also got years ago.. and there's a really lurid, intense yellow pair of bell bottoms that my artist friend Pia Rigby made me buy (she bought a pair, too) from a street stall in Williamsburg Brooklyn, where she lived.
The whole problem for me, with yellow, is pairing it with black if it's bright yellow: that dreaded 'bumblebee effect' which really does frighten me. I feel that Holly is quite brave for doing this line not just with black, but also with Louboutin court heels in black: the addition of red for me is just so wrong and yet, these designs are so brilliant (in both senses of the word) that I like it, despite my fears.
But ultimately, the way I like yellow best is either solid, with nothing else but a tan, or in combination with bright colours like pale greens, turquoise, maybe even a little purple or hot pink. Or orange. If I can ever find those yellow trousers from Williamsburg, I'm going to do a style style shot with them. If I can summon the nerve.
I don't know whether it's the sunshine here in London, or the flowers (this is the most sudden gorgeous spring, it is KILLING ME with gorgeousness) or maybe it's just time passing since recent current global events, but I'm suddenly getting into fashion again. I don't mean I'm IN fashion again (I never was) but I'm INTO it. Oh, never mind. Hopefully you know what I mean. I'm just really excited about my clothes again: wearing bare legs and little socks with flat shoes and little sixties dresses, and the idea of killer heels with bare legs.. just love love love it.
Last night we were watching Zen on DVD (thank God for LoveFilm) and on the bit on the making of the series, Rufus Sewell was talking about his style influences: Cary Grant, North by Northwest, sixties romps, and I started watching Breakfast at Tiffanys. Thinking about how Truman Capote wrote the Holly Golightly character for his sad tragic friend Marilyn Monroe, and how differently the character became when inhabited by Audrey Hepburn.
Which got me started thinking, before I went to sleep last night, about that difference between the Good Girl type (i.e. Hepburn) - the ladylike female - and the naughty, sexy type: the Elizabeth Taylors, the Marilyn Monroes. And then this morning in the Sunday Times Style Section - I wish I could link it for you but I can't- the brilliant Shane Watson wrote her piece on the BGD (Bad Girl's Dress) 'otherwise known as the pulling dress'. She used the see thru number Kate Middleton - our future Queen - wore when she caught Prince Charming's eye. And how the same dress on a different woman might look, uh.. a bit slutty. And how some women can wear anything and make it look like a BGD.
So here, for your viewing pleasure, some of my shots from Holly Fulton's recent A/W 2011 show at Somerset House. Just like I wish I could show you the article, I wish I could show you every shot I took, but that would be a bit obnoxious. So just a few here, a few more tomorrow.. maybe a bit of street style after that, then back to more Holly.. you don't mind, do you?
Hope everyone had a gorgeous weekend. We had a blissful day in the park. There's something about spring that makes me want to cry. All those little yellow daffodils. All the cherry blossoms.
There was a time when fashion shows (or, so I'm told) were held closer to the actual season. I can picture women having luncheons in department stores and seeing models walking around in 'cruise wear'. These days, to see winter clothes in February and spring clothes in September.. I've kind of saved the best for last, altho there are still SO MANY COLLECTIONS from this fashion week that I can't wait to show you.
But first off: one look from Holly Fulton's recent show (A/W 2011). I love how this particular model is styled: her look reminds me of Japan or China in like the 1920s or 30s. I'm also going thru her show last September, getting really psyched for spring. I love her use of colour. Especially aqua (love what Ashanti - Adorn Girl - said recently. That she doesn't understand aqua).
No offence Ashanti, cause you know I love you, but how can you not get aqua? The colour of tropical waters. Of swimming pools. I am longing to return to Florida and instead, am playing around with dots of digital light on a screen. As if my eyes will absorb the magnificent feeling, like osmosis.
How random is this... I was home with the cat, searching for something else @ last September's fashion week (still haven't found it) and I stumbled on this: I totally forgot to show this to you!
Holly Fulton show. The big finale, everyone's coming out on the runway. The model in the yellow dress: I think this is Alek Wek*, who I adore. Just as she passes me, just out of my peripheral vision, there's a kerfuffle and she's down to the count. Just like Carrie in Sex and the City. And just like Carrie, she picks herself up and dusts herself off and keeps on going.
Please take a minute to watch the video. It happened to be on a night or two later, late at night while I was uploading fashion week photos. Talk about art imitating art (and further: at the Burberry show, which I didn't go to but SARAH JESSICA PARKER DID, apparently someone tripped there, too. I wondered if that episode went through her mind).
I defy you to watch that episode without welling up just a tiny bit. That line about the 'little acts of bravery': it kills me every time.
So what have you done today that you were scared shitless to do? Felt pretty good, huh?
. . .
*p.s. Talk about tripping and falling: I haven't been online for a few days (at Next event, more coming up) and left here not knowing I got the model wrong: she is AJAK DENG, not Alek Wek. I can see I"ve already offended at least two people, but my sweet friend Abi of Abimarvel tweet messaged me, and because I don't get twitter (or anything else, including text) on my phone, I didn't know until now.
The subtext is I'm an idiot (and possibly, a racist) because both models are black and I'm confusing them, but the truth is, I am just an idiot when it comes to knowing models, period. I only know a few names, like Frida Gustavsson because I happened to met and street shot her when I first started - before I knew who she was, and before she was so well known - but I've also for example made Bree Hemingway jump in the air for me and when I asked her name she said Bree but I didn't know who she was, either. Or shot Tali Lennox (she used my shot on her facebook page, and we're fb friends now) before I knew who SHE was.
What I'm trying to say is, I've fallen flat on my face with countless famous people, models or otherwise: people of all races. When it comes to making an ass of myself, I don't discriminate.
(In my own defence: at least I didn't confuse her with, say, Naomi Campbell). But I apologise to anyone I've offended.
One of the strange and yet flatteringly lovely aspects of blogging is that, if you stay with it and your blog takes roots and grows, people start getting in touch asking to swap links, promote their clients, etc. So the other day when I got an email from someone who started off by saying 'I'm Nina from confused.com's press office' I was like uh-huh.. she was writing to say:
"Given that LFW is on I thought you might be interested in a statistic that has come from a national survey, that we have just conducted, of 5,000 people. We wanted to find out just how confusing the UK finds fashion. Interestingly one of the stats that came from the results showed us that over half of us (53%) are worried about being inappropriately dressed at big events and as much as 67% of us are confused about the term “smart/casual”."
She went on to say if I wanted to know more about the results to drop her a line. Which I did. I was laughing my head off because it's so true! What the HELL does smart casual mean anyway? Would this dress fall in that category? It's definitely smart, and it's not black tie red carpet... yeah I'd call this frock smart casual.
Apart from that what, you may ask, does it have to do with this post? Well I was sitting there with Mr. Dot, not watching Mastermind while he was shouting out the right answers and the contestants getting them wrong, and I start looking at the shots I took at Holly Fulton's show and just thought, this is insane. I can't post every single shot but I can't decide: I love them all.
Holly's catwalk paper on the seat thingy (is it a press release? is there a term for it?) says 'the look is rooted in 1960s cruise wear reworked for the modern woman..' but I didn't expect it to blow me away like it did. I feel disloyal to my other favourite designers like Ashish and Kinder Aggugini but following swiftly in the heels of David Koma, which was amazing, this show just knocked my socks off.
Still, this post is made up of six shots I took within seconds, of the same dress. At this rate, I'm going to have to start a blog and call it The Holly Fulton Catwalk S/S 2011 Blog. I mean, I am THAT wishy washy right now. Does that make me confused?
As I asked Nina, what is the difference between confusion and indecision? Because it seems to me confused means you need more information from someone else where as indecision is.. well, indecision. In any case - how cool is this - she's not asking me to promote anything, but she did tell me about a website they've built called 'confused nation' - a 'a one stop shop where people get support in dealing with confusion around a number of different topics' which will even have a 'leading psychologist' with a Dr. before his name, which will be an on-going site to help people deal with 'decision crises'.
I wonder if that applies to editing photographs.
Oh! I love this one:
"The most confused person in Britain is likely to be a 17 year old girl living in Cardiff, whereas the least confused person is likely to be a 60 year old man living in Edinburgh." You may think I'm sad to find this fascinating on a Friday night but hey- I've just come off fashion week and this is my way of relaxing.
And as Holly's handbags said on the catwalk: HOLLY SAYS RELAX. I've got some great shots of a model wearing a bag spelling it out in sequins but I don't dare go there. Tomorrow, maybe. But we've still got the Olivia post to contend with.
RoadTrip23 is the natural evolution from StreetStyle London, which is still here, and has been since 2009. Because there's more to the world than fashion, and there's more to the world than London. Lovely as London is.
I'll still be posting street style, if something really grabs me, but have expanded into other areas of interest, primarily travel, the arts, culture. Whatever I feel is beautiful or interesting: either man made, or a natural wonder.
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