easy street

I found East Street by mistake. The plan was to meet my friend Andrea Mann for lunch on Charlotte Street. It was a simple plan, which got more complicated that morning, because she had a meeting (Andrea is the comedy editor for the HuffPost, and she's very funny. I don't know which came first, it's a chicken/egg thing). Actually, I made it complicated, by giving her the 'I don't use this email on my phone, once I leave this is my email so it's better to text' and we were also talking thru facebook, which I also don't use on my phone.. and since I was coming to her office part of town, Tottenham Court Rd area, I also offered that if it wasn't a great day for her, because of the meeting, we could make it another day, so of course, I didn't get the email reply that yes, please, she'd like to make it another day. This is what's wrong with the world, I feel: too many modes of communication. Too much can slip thru the cracks.

So I emerged from the Tube station into the blinding sunlight, and she felt really bad, because I'd travelled all that way. Which I didn't mind at all, because it was an excuse to explore. And besides, I was feeling a bit peckish. And that's where I stumbled on Easy Street. East Street isn't even ON East Street: it's on Rathbone, which, ironically, coincidentally, serendipitiously, just happens to be the extension of Charlotte Street, where I was meant to meet Andrea. 

East Street is the first London outpost of a brilliant restaurant concept, fresh, well made, totally yummy 'street' food from Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia and Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines, Japan and Korea, in a very cool setting. It was post lunch crowd when I was there, so the staff were relaxing before the post work drinks/dinner crowd, but the few people that were scattered about were cool and stylish, which in itself is bizarre, as we're talking Oxford Street/Tottanham Court Rd area, not Shoreditch. But that's what's so magic about it: once you're inside, you're in this whole other world.









I ordered the Malaysian noodles with chicken and greens. While there's a great basket on each table of all my favourite sauces, which I fully expected to use, I didn't touch them. This was just the right balance of heat and sweet. I ate til I was full, and asked to take the rest home, and this is where they won my heart. I wasn't handed a plastic dish. Oh, no. Milly, my waitress, took my plate away with a smile, and emerged with the cutest aqua paper shopper (I'd love to keep it as a handbag), with my food tucked into a proper, old fashioned, white Chinese food carton. Which then became, with the addition of more bok choy, my dinner for the next two nights.

Everything about this place strikes just the right notes. They'd be crazy not to open more branches, and I'm sure that's the plan. But it felt special, that beautiful day last week, the first sunny summery day of the season, to be here.

This is global food at its best. It's the kind of place you want to come with a crowd, order everything on the menu, and share. It's got a magic about it, and that's down to the staff. Everyone, from the guys cooking behind the counter to the wait staff to Dale, the manager, have that.. joy.

Next time I meet Andrea for lunch, that's where we're going. For sure.

jaeger sings the blues

Deep greens and blues are the colours I choose at the moment. And so, apparently, does Jaeger. (And rose. And black and white, but I'll save those for a future post). It was thrilling actually to be at the show and see the exact colours I've had in my head since a magic day on holiday in the Dominican Republic when it rained during lunch at the beach and I thought: this is the palette I want to wear right now. Jewel like blues and greens and indigos and some ochre and forest green. And they've channeled that exactly!




And I"m so wanting this rain hood: it's like the old classic yellow 'slickers' - I mean, how lovely would it be to go out on a rainy day with a lovely trench and instead of an umbrella, just bung this thing like a waterproof snood on your head and when it's sunny, just carry it around, rolled up in your bag. Just in case.

It's just so gosh darn practical.

I just simply don't know where to begin with posting: I am flooded with a sea of images - memories - that I want to share with you. But the sun is out and as Mr. Dot pointed out, I'd absolutely kick myself if I didn't scoot over to Somerset House HQ one last time.



Btw: anyone have a clue who this girl is? Must run, but after today we've got all the time in the world, you and I, to catch up. How are you all doing today? Hope you're all well & rested & feeling good, wherever in the world you are.

chemistry: one night only

George Craig, from One Night Only, sang at the Burberry shop last night for Vogue's Fashion Night Out in London:










I love the way this happy celebration of fashion, of life - any excuse for a party - is travelling round the world. It's struck me that simultaneously the Jewish New Year is coinciding this year with Ramadan (so my Egyptian friend Natayla tells me) and I love the way this idea of Vogue's is travelling round the world, not all on the same night, but night after night. Ana just told me it's in Madrid tonight. Again, I want to stress: these events are open to EVERYONE. Some parties, like the Armani one, or Prada, were invitation only, but surprisingly many are open to the public. So if you have one coming up in your city, don't assume you can't go just cause no one sent you a written invitation.

If you do go: please take photos! Or if you've already gone and have some, please email (compress the jpg first if you can) to jill@haybooks.com. I'll do a little global post and link to your blog if you'd like.

Happy New Year, whatever your faith. Every day is New Year's Day, in a way. Every day is a chance to begin again. In love, in life.

buttons to you: @ ashish

You know how sometimes you're just so tired, so delirious (in a good way) you just can't shut your laptop off? I'm just going ramdomly thru some of my photos, and I'm getting drawn into each one.

For example: some random selections from the Ashish show. I can't believe it was only this morning (9:00. A.M.!): it seems like a lifetime time ago. I wasn't even planning on going and the next thing I knew, I was sitting front row center.



People who had seen his shows before knew what to expect (lots o'sequins in amazing patterns), but for me - who really just knew him by his fabulous leopard booties in that silhouette everyone wore last fall - this was just like following the rabbit thru the keyhole. I was just absolutely giddy with delight.

I think he's just such a genius that everyone expects so much from him. And he surprised them this time: while everyone else was doing crazy heights with heels, he kind of freaks them out with brogues. That's good: that's what the catwalk is all about. Shake it up, baby.



Going thru the shots now is like savouring the candy after trick o' treating, or presents at Christmas.. I think this might be my favourite show. Ever. I so get it about how this man thinks. And the styling... it's just how I've always dressed, when my mother, and now my husband, would look @ me and ask 'Are you really going out in that?'



Buttons. Brogues with baggy socks. Knitted caps & old men's bathrobes. Classic peasant costumes, with an acid twist. Patterns remniscent of Turkish kilim rugs. All in my favourite colours: turquoise of tropical waters, orange + pink. Graphic black + white, or muted tweeds in grey.



And the minute it was over, I overheard someone say: 'That was very wearable.' I guess it depends where one wears it. I wonder, for example, how that would go down in Spokane, Illinois. I, for one, would wear every item in this collection. In a heartbeat. I can't wait to show you more!!

That's it for the women, London A/W 2010. Tomorrow it's the boys, and then most people are on to Milan, then Paris. But for this London Correspondent, well I'm still buzzed from these intense, exhausting, exhilarating few days.

What a long, strange trip it's been.

bearing witness

I've just come back from Old Bond Street this morning, to the spot where I've shot the same shop windows at various times: reflections of myself against the genius that is Alexander McQueen's creations. Mr. Dot used to ask me, why do I keep shooting these 'self portraits' in shop windows, and I couldn't explain. It just made me happy. I felt like I was connecting with something so joyful: being part of something that came from one mind pushing the envelope of creativity to its max. It was like watching Shakespeare write.

Today, those windows were black.



Yesterday, my husband happened to have passed Alexander McQueen's Old Bond Street store. Flowers had gathered, but the shop windows were still filled with his creations. I headed over there first thing this morning, with the rush hour crowd, on a morning that seemed so dark, somber, and strangely, quiet. People were going to work. Everyone stopped, looked in, honoured the man for a moment in their heart, then moved on.



This is London, and they keep the streets clean, and the flowers were gone. I hope they were taken away by his family and staff, and not swept away. But all that remained were the a scattering of lilies.



They were arranged so beautifully, on the pavement, that I couldn't help but think that Lee would have liked their arrangement. I watched the first people bring flowers, there's time for that, later. For now, I just want to show you what I saw when I first arrived.





There are so many kinds of photographers, who shoot for all kinds of reasons: tourists with camera phones, artists, papparazzi.. and then there are some who come to bear witness.

I came to bear witness, and yet found myself shooting as an artist. I couldn't help myself, I found the light so melancholy, my bare fingers freezing in the rain, and these few lilies that had lingered after all the flowers were taken away.. and I started thinking of how Art begats Art. How a creative being like Lee Alexander McQueen inspired countless other people.. designers, yes, but also us regular people, in how we dress, how we see light and colour and shape.



I found myself shooting the same lily, over and over again, and other people were, too: this beautiful living thing, which had remained on the pavement after the others had gone. In a day or two, it will wither and die, and disappear. But for today, it is alive, and isn't that the whole point of photography, of art? To bear witness and say: this flower once existed. I saw it.

I was here.

Taped to the door, with the writing starting to run like teardrops in the rain, was one note, from someone named Jordan.



Yes, Jordan: he was a true genius. And he will be missed.

go ahead: make my day

Wow, what a joy to wake up this morning and see comments from yesterday's post. It is so like sending messages in bottles, and seeing replies wash up on shore! And it helps me get to know you better. Our colour preferences are so emotional, so tied up with our identity.

Yesterday I wrote that I used to hate grey because I pictured it with black and purple, and couldn't get that image out of my head. Wish I had a photo: a flash of a memory, perhaps a mannequin on a high street in London in the late 90s: cheap grey pin striped suit, on WOMEN... waist coats worn over shiny synthetic black shirts with big lapels, touches of lavender... sorry, I will never like that look.

UNTIL.. the Photodiarist pointed out: "But wait a minute . . . what if the purple is vibrant and bright? Why not with grey?" and I realised: there is ALWAYS a look that will work, if you just look at it from a different angle.



Mr. Dot & I were crossing the Wobbly Bridge, as everyone calls it, leaving the Tate, and we both saw Elizabeth (or, Effy) moving at a fast clip. When I caught up with her & asked to shoot her for my blog, she hesitated as she thought she looked bad that day. (I'm always amazed when people say that: I wonder, if this is their style on a bad day, what else they've got up their fashionable sleeve!)



I love her wonderful red suede elf shoes. I say I never like red, but shoes are the one place I make an exception. She had such an unpredictable, subtle, sophisticated colour sense. I asked if she was in fashion and she said no, she's an artist. Of course.

Effy wrote me later to say she was feeling a bit low that day, and when I asked to shoot her, it made her day. Which makes MY day.



What first caught my eye was her big blue Peony, ironically, as I'd just drank my first White Peony tea, but then.. look at this, she's got this steel blue greenish grey trench working with some kind of black net skirt poking out, and PURPLE TASSLE SOCKS!!! The very combination I said would never work.



I so love being proved wrong.

re: source (babe on a bike)

You remember Kari ('sunshine', 18 August)? My fashion savvy blog-friend, Sophie, of modediktat, said that the Sartorialist 'would be envious that you've found the perfect Summer babe on a bike instead of him. Hehe...' I did offer to send it to him, but he hasn't replied just yet : )

She also wondered if Kari's dress was a Melissa Odabash tunic dress. Good guess, Sophie, but it's actually Cejon, and a it's technically not a dress, but swim cover up (she was on her way to the beach when I ran into her - not literally - in town). She said it's quite sheer in bright light, in case anyone's ordering it online. Guess I just caught the sunshine going in the right direction.

Kari's just got a few more precious days of Hampton sun, before heading back to the Big Apple, so Kari, if you're reading this, have a glorious time & swim a bit for me. It's cool & blustery here in London, but I'm not giving up on summer just yet.

the colour of money

Mr. Dot & I were on the King's Road at the cinema, about to see Moon (GREAT film, definitely go see it!) and Petra was queuing for a ticket with a guy I assume was her boyfriend (didn't ask). I yanked her off the queue to shoot her, I love this blue with her colouring. The funny thing is, when I looked at the shot later, I love the guy in the background, but can't remember if that's her boyfriend or not. I think it might be.



I don't only shoot people - I tend to mostly shoot non-people, actually - and I've realised that when I dress, it's just an automatic thing that I'm pulling out of my wardrobe colours that make me in the mood for places, so I"m going to start including colours I find in nature or just out & about, as a kind of colour 'palette' for your viewing pleasure.

Today's colour: blue. Not the cooler blue Mr. D & I call 'Greek blue' but more.. I don't know, is it cobalt? It's just a very pure, very primary, blue.



What I love about this season - and I hope this extends into the fall - is we have so much CHOICE. We can wear black (which still looks fabulous in summer), or the pale nudes & pinks, or pale grey, charcoal, hot pinks/oranges, yellow is big either pale or deep, and then this blue. And let's not forget white, which I'm wearing a lot this week.

What colour are you wearing today?



Anyway, I love Petra's accessories. Her sister made the Yankee dollar cuff (she's English). The seascape and puppy shot are from a recent little holiday in North Wales on the Lewellyn peninsula (GORGEOUS area, can't wait to go back there). My family are calling me from the pool on the North Fork, where I'm posting, wondering why I haven't joined them yet. I am wearing a polka dot bikini that my mom bought me at Target, (shown to the right) and over it, a faded blue tee shirt from the Gap. I am accessorising with pale pink flip flops, as Scarlett's got my white Havaiainas on her little feet.

where is her vote?

At the Iranian Embassy, Wednesday.

The purpose of this blog is to be frivolous and fun, and focus on fashion. I don't want to offend anyone, and for me, personally, this is not political, nor religious: this is about basic human rights, and about freedom.

So in honour of this anonymous woman - I am not posting her name - and the countless men and women like her, and of what is just breaking in the news, I will continue to post photos I took on Wednesday, along with my streetstyle and other shots. This was, for Mr. Dot and myself, a very profound, moving, wonderful experience to be part of. Even the British police, as expected, were charming and delightful, and clearly supportive of the protesters. As I trust people will continue to be, around the world, until their voices, and their votes, are heard.



(The colour palette, on police, protesters, and photographers alike, was green, to represent the movement, and black, in honour of those who have already lost their lives in the name of freedom.)

unmasked: all a twitter

Face masks: it's what everyone's twittering on about. As of this posting, no one knows which way this is going to go, and I don't want to make light of the subject. For all we know, in a few weeks time all we'll be able to do is blog because we can't leave our homes.

Was on the street with my friend Kimber, when a woman walked by in a face mask. Turns out she's a journalist: Jasmine Gardner. Read all about it in today's Evening Standard. (My friend Adrienne said 'you must have press radar' because of the Obama thing). Here's my shot of Jasmine, with a couple of cowboys snogging in the corner, seemingly unconcerned about transmitting swine flu. I've noticed a lot of black dresses this week, often with black lace tights. Let's just hope it's not a premonition. Not to make light of things, girls: remember, wash your hands often, cover your mouth with a hanky when you sneeze, and avoid the Tube, which I'd do anyway. Those double-decker buses are so much more scenic, and oh so cute!

Similar look, without the face mask. This is Jade, dotted outside H&M on a break with her friend (they work there - both absolutely charming) - just steps away from Jasmine in her mask. Which is it, girls: mask, or un?

that blue reiss skirt

Rarely does an item of clothing make me hysterical, but I found myself running down the King's Road chasing Sam to find out where she got that fabulous blue skirt (Reiss). She's got it just right for a cooler day, but this skirt will be great through the summer. 

I hesitate to identify the source because it's selling faster than hot cakes, and I want one! It comes in three colours: this perfect periwinkle, a creamy white, and watermelon. Yum.

p.s. I've discovered that Rachel, on her blog (see Little Miss Rachel under 'nice things') has also fallen in love with this skirt. Rachel, if you're reading this - it's at Reiss! I've put their website up under nice things, too. But please don't buy the last one!