runway: juxtaposition koma.lynn.lilies

It helps that it's so not a beach day - I like the idea that the rain that's about to pour down on London is probably the tail end of Irene - but looking back on February's catwalk shots, I'm getting excited about fall 2011.

Still, I can't help but feel: it's not what you wear, it's how you wear it.

Waterlilies from Kew, 29.08.11. Catwalk shows Todd Lynn, and David Koma, both on 21.02.11. Photos by me, JC Adams.

juxtaposition: black + white + red all over

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.

you say it's your birthday

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It's Jennifer's blog birthday today! Yes, Style East is one year old today!!



Jennifer (shown above) is one of those rare, rare creatures: smart and attractive and talented with a great sense of humour and a generous spirit. And a joy and a wonder for life. I met her only a few months after she started her blog - maybe two - and feel it's a privilege to have her as my friend.



Just like how I romanticise periods like Paris in the twenties, when writers and painters hung out together, had a kind of friendly competition that spurred each other, encouraged and supported each other, onto greatness, that's what I've hoped would happen with my blog. Sometimes it only got as far as the competition, but with some rare birds like Jennifer.. I just always feel good when I'm around her. I leave with my feet not touching the ground.

Top shot of Roz (Clothes, Cameras and Coffee) by Jennifer of Style East, from the post 'http://styleeast.blogspot.com/2011/03/stop-pigeon.html'. Roz, above, by me, also Day 4, LFW A/W 2011, Somerset House.

holly waters: like osmosis

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.

hope floats

Maybe it's because we watched Solaris before we fell asleep early, but just as I was in that semi-dream state, I suddenly had these images of cherry blossoms again, and catwalk photos, and I knew I had to get up and make collages. Here's first of a series that I shall be showing you in the coming days.

It's hit me once again, how connected we all are: we might not be able to travel to Japan, or to Libya, for example, but we're not powerless to help. We can donate amounts of money that don't detract from our lives in any way, and yet collectively, we CAN make a difference.

I mean.. look at Sandra Bullock, who gave one MILLION dollars to the Red Cross. She's my hero.

I shot this at the Aminaka Wilmont show at the recent London Fashion Week. I had forgotten when I picked this shot that Maki Aminaka Löfvander is from Japan and Sweden. The other half of the duo, Marcus Wilmont, is Danish. And when I go back to sleep.. I can't stop thinking that there are people tonight who are hearing gunshots outside, or are lying on the floor of a gym in Japan, hungry and cold, because their house and everything they have known is gone. And I want to send them something from my heart. I want to send them hope.

stars and stripes: flash

This year, Topshop held their Unique catwalk show in a truly spectacular space in East London. It's hard to convey the contradiction of these kind of events - I know this from my brother's world, the music world- you get this kind of 'insider' moments and then suddenly it's like a feeding frenzy - the Papps - who are just, after all, doing their job. There's something about the lightbulbs going off: it's freaky and a little scary.

I really hate flash. Even as a kid, birthday parties, it made my eyes tear, and mainly, for me it doesn't produce the kind of photographs I want to create. It's.. hard. Sandra (5 inch and up) was explaining that I need a proper kind of flash, one of those attachment thingies, or to put a card in front of it, but it was kind of dark in the space before the show started, and everything was so blurry, so I needed it (altho I love the blurs: I was more fixated on getting a shot of the girl in the red tights and possibly Christopher Kane skirt, than the celebrities). Alexa and the others were so kind about posing for flash and all, but later, after the show (and I can't WAIT to show you shots of the show - later and tomorrow) I happened to find myself in a quiet space in the entrance, and it was just Pixie and me, each texting our friends along the lines of 'where are you'? 'I'm here, where are YOU?' and I said to her:



'It must be so weird, being you. I mean, don't you just sometimes want to tell everyone to just STOP IT?'

And she glanced around to see that no one was listening and just gave me this sheepish smile of relief, and kinship, and said yes. And with that, I didn't take her photo, I simply left her alone.

fast fast fast

It's a funny old world: I am not in Paris, I am in leafy Kensington, with the cat, on an unmade white bed, playing with colour balances (there must be a million shades of white), while listening to Poppy on BBC radio 5 talking about not sleeping because there's always too much to do online, and simultaneously following Cathy Horyn's live tweet descriptions inside the Dior tent ('Inside the Musee Rodin tent, mood feels same before any Dior show. Super long runway, as for Jan couture. Blue-lit background w/chandaliers': feels like I imagine it must have been during WWII, hovering in the dark listening to the wireless).





The thing is, the sun is shining outside and as soon as I post this, I am going out into it. I have been told this week some pretty ridiculous things, and I am not claiming to be anything that I am not. I am not a fashion insider: I'm just a housewife with a camera. It is a privilege to be part of this world, and I feel like I am bearing witness to things that are at times, extraordinarily beautiful. I can't speak about Mark Fast's A/W 2011 collection with any kind of professional authority, I just know that I love it more than the last one, and the one before that. And I can't wait to see what he'll do next.





I love the way Mark Fast mixed the shapes of the models, who were curvy and plump and regular model shaped and at times, really skinny. I love that there was more cream and tan this time, (and reds, but the creamy ones really caught my heart, they were just soooo like little lambs frolicking on hillsides, all bouncy and cosy and soft), and it wasn't just knits, I love the woven stuff, too, and those great Louboutin boots, but the knits were sooooo gorgeous. And I'm only showing you some now, and later, or another day, I shall show you some more. I feel privileged that I was allowed to sit on the floor of the aisle that I like to sit at, and a lot of that is because I am a pretty nice person who gets along with others and is respectful of other people's space (it's the same backstage: there is a courtesy and respect for each other - a humanity. At one point a photographer smiled at me when I apologised for maybe being in the way, and he said something like 'there's room for all of us.'

And there is. There is room for all of us. There is room for all of us to grow, and create, and I'm not in any hurry to get in there first, or be the best, or have the most followers, twitter or otherwise, or designated visitors. I don't even care if I"m talking to myself. In fact, once I've posted this post, I think I'm gonna take the rest of the day reaaaaallll slow.

a cinderella story

This post has taken me forever to do, because I want to do it right, and because there are so many photos I want to show you, and because I'm such a freakin' perfectionist sometime.

It's a fairy tale, actually. It started with a man named Adam. I'm like the last person to start tweeting, but when I did, somehow I found him and we became twitter friends. Even tho we have yet to actually meet in reality - which is part of the magic of this fairy tale.



There was also a girl named Rosalind, who lived in the English countryside with her mum and her dad and her kid brother. She had a dream of going someday to the Ball - specifically, Somerset House for fashion week, and even more specifically, to the Jaeger show. Being such a fan and all.

Well I had done my best to get Roz a ticket, and the PR people were working on it, but the day of the show, the tickets had still not arrived. So all I could do was to go to the show (not shown here- that's why this is so complex a story) but Roz and her mum, who had come down from the idyllic English countryside, were, alas, not able to attend the ball.





But Lo! This is where the Man named Adam appeared. I like to call him my Fashion Fairy Godfather, altho I get the sense he is not, you know, an actual Fairy in that sense. But he private tweet messaged me did I want tickets to some shows, and then he put me in touch with the most wonderful woman, Amy of Vodafone, and next thing I knew, Amy waved her magic fashion wand and there was a separate, PRIVATE JAEGER SHOW for special VIP Vodafone customers. And Roz and Polly, her mum (and my friend) and I sat in the front row, and everyone lived happily ever after. And she did a lovely post about it, and called it Homage to Jaeger.





What I loved about the VIP Vodafone show, vs the one I saw the previous day, is they showed the collection from last September. It was more like what fashion shows were originally intended for: people could then click and buy, instead of waiting six months for the season to start. It's the first time, to my knowledge, that London has done that for a fashion show, and it's a lovely idea. And in true Cinderella fashion, I also loved how for the 'Boutique' collection - more informal, lovely light frocks, really good, affordable stuff I could WEAR - the models wore bare legs and white sneakers. Such a refreshing change.





We even were guests at an excellent private dinner after, at Tom's (in Somerset House) and met such cool, creative people: Poppy, and Elle, and a great photographer named Nick.. oh and here's the weird thing: the bane of my existence is I had this Bad Blackberry which kept breaking and ATE ITS OWN TEXT FOLDER (people would send me texts and then unfriend me because I didn't reply but I didn't know!) and I couldn't get it fixed because the company I had signed with - not mentioning their name - had screwed me up and not put my address book on my simm card.. anyway, the REAL happily ever after part of the story for me is I now have a new phone, I'm free of my old, bad contract, and will be switching to Vodafone.


At which point I shall truly live happily ever after. And if you, too, want to live happily ever after, simply click your ruby slippers twice, then click on VIP.VODAFONE.CO.UK, and say out loud: 'there's no place like Vodafone.'

faith in ashish

I think it was Roz and her mum, Polly, that I was talking with at Somerset House (more about that coming up) about the idea of paying homage to a designer by, wherever possible, wearing their clothes to a catwalk show. Or if that's not possible, just kind of, you know, wearing something LIKE their clothes. (KTZ is a great example of that: the audience is just SO OUT THERE).




For Ashish, each of the three times I've seen his shows, there's been this cute as a button red haired girl that always wears his clothes. I thought I didn't see her the second time but she was there, in the front row, sure 'nuff. (See her on the left?) The papps always go crazy for her and I assumed it was just cause she was wearing Ashish, but so is the dark haired girl. Turns out, she's Paloma Faith.






Shots, by me, going back in time from last week's show to A/W 2010. She seems to wear the previous season's show to each new one. What a lovely way to support Ashish.

glad rags, mad plaid

Loved your comments and messages on yesterday's post: I agree with Pearl, every industry has its moments, especially when it's mainly female. Please don't get me wrong: I looooove fashion week! And I really had a brilliant time this season, perhaps my favourite. I really just do feel it was a full moon thing. And, like with Vegas, whatever happens at fashion week, STAYS at fashion week.

While nothing will rival the impact that my first live experience of his show had on me (A/W 2010: inspired by Turkish kilims, which I used to own), this show really blew me away. It's driving me mad that I can't find the song ('excuse me') - was dancing in my spot on the floor while shooting and trying to keep that bloke from beating up Adam. Does anyone know who's singing the song in the show?





Speaking of songs, when I was thinking about how to name this post, the phrase 'glad rags' kept coming into my head. I know we all think of Rod Stewart as this kind of cringable old geezer, but when he was young and fit, he did the most beautiful song: the lines 'your handbag's only glad rags that your poor old granddad had to sweat to buy.' If you've got a few minutes click here and listen to two really beautiful songs. They don't make lyrics like that anymore. And what he's wearing would look fabulous on a young beautiful female model, don't you think?








Like with red and black, I'm not normally all gaga over plaid as a rule. (Okay, THAT's not true: I LOVE classic plaid kilts, especially worn ironically with school jackets, if there's a bit of grown up twist to it). But one Thanksgiving, my sister was wearing this really crazy Chanel-inspired giant plaid jacket - like the one above - and altho it's so not her normal style, I liked it. So when I saw her again, she gave it to me. I haven't worn it yet but Ashish has inspired me.


I can't say that Sandra (plaid blanket as skirt) or Daniela (plaid shirt as skirt) were inspired by Ashish, as I saw them both days before the show. Maybe Ashish was inspired by them? Maybe in a dream state each girl was anticipating this collection? Maybe there was a leak within the industry. In any case, this is what I love about streetstyle: tracking trends like an anthropologist with a stun gun. Like David Attenborough. And of course, I've been embracing moth holes and unravelled jumpers for a while now, so I was thrilled to bits to see this as such an integral part of his collection. Hard Times, indeed.

I love how we all influence each other, in a good way. I love it when people wear something as something else. More on Ashish, I just can't fit everything in one post.

p.s. Thank you Gunhild (aka Ediot): yes that's the show I meant! And I love the Madness song for that, too. I meant does anyone know the song he played this season? The lyrics are 'excuse me, what's the problem here, what about you can't hear all the words I say..' which can't compare to the lyrics of handbags/glad rags, IMHO.

p.s.s. Gunhild you're such a star! This is it: MIA, Listen Up. It is such a catchy tune, I'm singing it now to the cat.

model's own: leomie

Among the sea of wannabees running around shooting each other (I literally came in and out of the back entrance, via Embankment, all week - and barely spent any time in the circus at the front) I happened to spot LEOMIE ANDERSON, alone, during one of my few quiet moments between shows. There was just something about her that I liked, her simple, elegant, casual style. Her dignity. We spoke for a few minutes, I admired her bag, then I realised she might be a model, and she said she's represented by Premier. I bet as I go thru my catwalk shots I will spot her in a lot of the shows.

It was only later - night before last - when I was watching the EXCELLENT Chanel 4 show, The Model Agency, that I realised she's one of their star new faces. I'm not surprised. Like when I first met a very young Frida Gustavsson, there is something special about this girl. It's worth downloading the first episode if you haven't seen it already, but unlike one of the other young girls, I can tell Leonie will be able to handle this extremely difficult, yet ultimately rewarding, world.

I know she was just doing her job when she posed so seriously, and I can't remember what exactly I said, but I caught just one shot with her delightful girlish smile before she put her model's face back on.

backstage after emilio, but before amanda

Sorry sorry sorry - there is SO MUCH I want to show you and I feel like I've gone off on holiday and forgot to arrange for someone to feed the plants and water the cat, but I've got to get back to Somerset House ASAP cause my favourite old Calvin Klein (or was it Perry Ellis?) electric blue cardigan from the 80s (part of a skirt suit) that cost more than a month's rent at the time is still in my locker in the exclusive Photographer's Press Room and since the structure is only temporary, they could take it down at any time and there goes my sweater.

Three shots from backstage after Emilio de la Morena, which was a wonderful show (photos coming up, thank you Amy at Vodafone!) and before Amanda Wakeley. Okay better run - but I'll be back and then watch out. I'm gonna be posting on this fashion week til the cows come home.

corrie corrie

At fashion week, there are two kinds of shows going on, and both are an equally important part of the creative energy and magic that makes up the fashion industry. There is the show outside, where the photographers and bloggers seem to outnumber the subjects they're shooting, and then there is the reason we're all here: the shows themselves.



For me, Corrie Nielsen, who was born in Florida and moved to London in 2000, three years after me, and worked for Vivienne Westwood before branching out on her own, is the star designer of fashion week. I can't imagine a show I will love as much as hers. The music, the hair and make-up... it was haunting, spiritual, beautiful, incredibly emotional... everything that any work of art should do to the human soul.



Corrie won the Fashion Fringe award at Covent Garden in 2010, and deservedly so. I knew when I read that her influences were 'The Elizabethan period, French Haute Courte from the 1950s, and New Romance' that I'd be in for a treat, but this surpassed even my expectations.