rat in the kitchen, rat on your head: reid's rats

If anyone is reading this while having lunch (UK/Greenwich Mean Time), breakfast (US - Eastern Seaboard) or any other meal anywhere in the world - probably best to turn away from your screen now. Because I'm going to talk about my friend Reid Peppard, and her rats.

It's not just rats. It's road kill. Fox molars. It's the kind of gross stuff that makes girls go 'yuck'.

Reid is brilliant. She's beautiful, for starts - a California girl who graduated from Central Saint Martins, lives with her artist boyfriend in East London, works at her studio every day, come rain, come shine, and who at the moment, has a Snot Bag for a head, so I'm doing this post as a little get well gift. Along with a little ditty from UB40, which you can click on now as background music for this post:





Reid is an artist, taxidermist, and accessories designer: real, gorgeous serious jewelry, and headpieces - even, as I discovered altho she's too modest to mention it, the 'rat headpiece' worn by Lady Gaga.



Stuffing rats for head gear is not all she does, of course. She's a conceptual artist, possessed of a beautiful mind, and she doesn't cause any deaths, but - this is an important part of her work, because she is strictly anti-meat eating - she only uses road kill, i.e., animals that are already dead. After writing yesterday about the ethics in clothing - and thank you to all who wrote those wonderful comments- I now turn to the controversy surrounding food. Opening THAT whole can o' worms.





Reid Peppard is one of those rare creatures: beautiful, smart, talented, massively funny, generous spirited, gentle, and kind. And - lucky me - Reid is also my friend.

Reid is wearing a vintage leather jacket with shoulder pads big and tough enough for a game of American touch tackle football. Check out Reid's Rats (RP/Encore), let me know what you think - and get well soon, Snot Bag Head.

at the foot of the Academy

Last week, was with Mr. Dot in sudden sweltering heat, heading to a meeting, and just as we turned off Bond Street I saw Emma, relaxing with a book. She just looked so cool and calm. Her sandals are by 'something Italian', I think she said, from Harvey Nichols a few years back.



Emma is lovely, just really easy and warm. She works as an Actors Agent on Dover Street and often spends her lunch hour 'at the foot of the Academy', which is where I found her. What a fascinating job that must be. I noticed that day - in that heat - a lot of black, surprisingly. All black, or white. All this fuss about nudes, you'd think in the heat everyone would be wearing all that seashell pink and shades of grey and beige, but that day, it was mostly stark black, bit of pattern, or white with shades of nudes. The difference this season is those wonderful unexpected pops of bright colour: nails, definitely. But also accessories.



Left, Prada's window on Bond Street, and a girl nearby in off white. Practically white. Pale nude. Whatever.

The rain is softly coming down, and Mr. Dot is at some 'guy's' film. The plan was I'd go see SATC2 then meet up for Bad Lieutenant (it's a double feature kinda day), but with laundry, and the cat, and catching up on stuff.. I missed it last night: an accident at Hyde Park Corner, the bus re-routed thru Knightsbridge, my friend texting they were sold out at Fulham Road and heading to the King's Road..

Didn't love SATC1, frankly. I preferred the tv series (btw: REALLY loved your comments: something that Leslie in Adams Morgan said reminded me: I totally identified with the relationships and realised it's only now, when I'm NOT single, that I'm focusing on the friendship aspect'). Anyway, figured I'd hand my seat over to a more worthy girl. Instead rented some of the earlier shows, which I love - kind of be there in spirit - and hung out with the cat, while Mr. Dot drove back from fishing.

I always feel so much nicer about him when he's not here. We were joking around that I really should kill him and have him stuffed, this way I can do all my birdy birdy tweet tweet stuff.. talk about my feelings.. we figured if we de-boned him and replaced it with wires, I could arrange his arms so he's all huggy and cuddly. And he'd never tickle me, or get all pranky.



Well, enough chit chat. Time to move the cat off my feet, don my new Topshop Lady Gaga inspired 'clear PU trenchcoat' and head out into it. Here's a shot from that breakfast, I really must do a proper shot in it.

How is your weekend shaping up so far?