a cinderella story

Home with a cold, looking for something else, stumbled on this shot- a blast from the past. When I first started my 'street style' blog, before everyone and their cousin was shooting street style (hence me backing off - creativity DEMANDS change, all mediums stagnate if you keep churning it out), one of my earliest photos: shot with my dad's Pentax, when I'd only allow myself one or two shots. I had been in Hyde Park with a friend, walking her dog, when we met Imogen Excell: totally surreal, looking almost like a black and white cutout on such a vivid early spring day.

I remember chatting for a bit: Imogen was such a delight, we just became instantly friendly. She said when she was done with Uni she wanted to move, with her boyfriend, to London, and to work for a great vintage shop called ROKIT. We stayed in touch - became friends in the various social network ways that you do - and guess what? She's not only working with Rokit now, but, she's become their Digital Community Manager.

She's always a delight to communicate with, easy and breezy. We keep meaning to meet but we're both so busy - but, for example, she helped arrange when I had to choose my favourite London shop for a shoot for what I was told was China's largest upscale fashion magazine - their Vogue - and I chose Rokit.

And here's the freak part: she had happened to send me an invite to their Christmas party, and said if I wanted to mention to you guys, til 20th December, if you go online, and use the unique code RSSLONDON2,you'll get 15% off. And I'm only mentioning this because a)I happen to be home, like I said, with this stupid cold, missing everything I wanted to do, b)it was just a freak coincidence that I stumbled on her shot and put two and two together, and c), I've been trying to do a much more complicated post but can't wrap my thick head around it. So this is the easy way out.

Now if only to think of a title for this post. My head is so thick - hence this post being so LONG - and I've tried and dismissed 'Imogen Rocks It', 'Rokit Imogen', 'blast from the past' and half a dozen others that were even MORE naff, but really, it's a Cinderella story - kind of rags to vintage riches. And besides, I love when people get to do what they dream of doing. I love a happily ever after story.

Oh and if you want in on the party invite, email me and I'll see what I can do. And now that I think of it: I must meet up with her soon, and shoot an update. I'd love to see what she wears to work, on a daily basis: she's got such great style, don't you think?

imogen's mum's suitcase with the dance recitals listings taped inside

Was with my friend Bronwyn walking her dog Jackson in Hyde Park, when we spotted Imogen with her boyfriend Rory. The first thing she said was it's her mum's suitcase and she has to be really careful with it, and told us how she used to take it to dance recitals and in fact still has the recital listings taped to the inside.

Which led me to a whole new level of invading people's privacy: she actually let me shoot the contents of her suitcase! That's either really trusting, or insane: I was, at that point, after all, a total stranger.


I love the way that little corner of pink seersucker shorts happened to get stuck on the outside when she closed the suitcase. That's the sort of detail that stylists and a crew can spend a day setting up, but as Bronwyn will attest, the whole photo shoot lasted all of two minutes. Imogen's 'smart brogue' shoes are from New Look and cost £30. She's up in Durham studying for for exams, so let's all send her our best good luck wishes. As she said: 'I'm going to need all the help I can get when I'm sitting in a room with two examiners, a mic and a tape recorder trying to speak about the michelin guide and stem cell research (of all things!) in another language!' Hope she can get on down to London soon and live happily ever after with Rory, they're a lovely couple.