string theory

As before: Mark Fast, Somerset House, London Fashion Week (September, for Spring/Summer 2012), and, as before, untouched.

Creatively, I'm inspired by the notion of not fussing with photography: by genuinely seeing 'streetstyle' and catwalk shooting as journalistic photography. Not posed. I was recently photographed by a proper, professional photographer, for a group piece in the Observer (coming out tomorrow, Sunday, if anyone's near a news stand: it's for the New Review and some of my friends will be in it, too) and I was struck at how difficult it was for her to shoot what I, and my colleagues, have come to think is easy. There was a lot of 'move your foot this way' 'no, that way' - I nearly fell over several times, not to mention, was freezing! My shooting is much quicker, breezy, off the cuff. I feel that's the whole point of this movement. And it is, a movement.

Alternatively, creatively, I'm also going back to my roots of photo collage, which is the total opposite: building layers, much as Degas did, in his later years, when he started working with coloured pastels, fixing the pieces and drawing over, layer upon layer. I'm working on images now, and, if you don't mind it not being strictly 'fashion', am hoping to share with you.

Thanks for stopping by. I might not always comment back on your blogs these days, but I do visit when I can - and I am always so grateful that you're out there, and for your kind, sweet comments.

surprise

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.

pool math

This..



..plus this..



..equals this. Catwalk shot (& photoshop) by me, at Somerset House, September 2010 (David Koma show, s/s 2011). Pool shot of me, by Maryann, last summer, as before.

Rain, rain, go away. Little Jilly wants to play. What a wacky summer! Global warming, my foot.

pool koma

Hope David doesn't mind.. having Fun with Photoshop, using my shots from last September (S/S 2011, David Koma, Somerset House).

little acts of bravery: to be real

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.

little snippets of shiny thoughts

A colourful departure from my BWT (black white tan) series: the lovely, effervescent Lucy, of Snippets of Shiny Thoughts. I love that name, and I Love Lucy.



I haven't known her that long, or spent that much time with her - I'd guess I've known her about six months - but she's one of those rare human beings who you just feel so safe with. She listens. She's kind. She doesn't seem to have a bitchy bone in her body.



And she has such a contagious smile. I defy you to spend time in her company without smiling, too.



I didn't crop these shots, which I took in the press room of fashion week on Day Three, just got really close in. Lucy had already coloured her hair herself, but stopped into the Mac beauty salon place to get a trim. It wasn't until later when I looked at them that I realised: little snippets of shiny thoughts, sprinkled like fairy dust on her perfect, English rose skin. Oh and p.s. when I went to her blog to tell her I'd finally posted these shots, I saw she's assisted on a shoot for a really brilliant eyewear line called APRIL EYEWEAR. Click here, see the post, isn't it fabulous!!

geneva

In keeping with my black, white and camel/tan series: I've been meaning for ages to do a post on Geneva, of the relatively new yet fabulous blog called (I love this name) A Pair and a Spare. Besides being clean and focused and well designed, it really is a practical guide to DIY fashion, just like it says on the tin.

Case in point, shown here: when I started asking where she got things she was all 'it's nothing expensive, I DIY'd the shorts..' Hang on: what do you mean? 'Oh, they were from a charity shop, much longer, I just chopped them off, hemmed them..' and she demonstrated her stitches.. just made it seem so effortless.



Geneva was one of the first people I spotted and dotted in the first few minutes of the first day of fashion week. I hadn't seen her before and she's got such a great look, and is really nice. I was surprised later when I saw her blog that she doesn't do more of her own self style on it. She said she will, now that she's getting more positive feedback. I'm hoping to do more shots of her soon.




When I took this shot - and, mind you, this is within literally two minutes of meeting her - I started adjusting the way her shirt was open - the shape of what looks like a black leather bustier underneath didn't seem right. 'Normally they'd buy me a cocktail first', she said, and it took me a moment to realise what she said. Total deadpan delivery. Totally my sense of humour. Instant new friend.

I almost called this post The Geneva UnConvention but that is so lame. Why am I even telling you this?

silence is golden: portrait of kate lanphear, in coat worn as cape

When I saw Kate Lamphear in London recently for fashion week, I wanted to respect her time. After all, I'd already asked to shoot her in February ('don't you know who i am?'). This time, other people were shooting her and I just piggy backed along. (People did it with my shots, too: it was weird. You'd ask to shoot someone, set up a shot, and suddenly, a flock of other people with cameras - bloggers, mostly, bless them - would gather around. I've seen several of 'my shots' up on blogs - shots I haven't even got round to posting yet).

I was actually contacted by the NY Daily News, for that post on Kate. They wanted to know my thoughts and experience meeting Kate Lanphear, and I replied that I was sorry, but for once, I really didn't have a story. They quoted my blog anyway, verbatim, but instead of crediting my name, as they did the others, I was simply 'a London blogger'. What can you do.

Notice how, in the nice weather, Kate was rocking a trend that's been going around: coat worn as cape. It looked like a clearly deliberate choice, too.




Curious to learn more about her then, I tried googling around. It unnerved me a bit that two sources of information about Kate Lanphear led to my own blog.. she's not in Wikipedia, I can't find anything that talks of a private life, even the word 'boyfriend' brings up 'boyfriend jackets' or someone else's boyfriend.. but I did find this one piece which really says it all, titled 'Kate Lanphear fed her interns pizza'. One was quoted as saying: "The editor also treated her underlings like real, sustenance-needing human beings: “She is honestly one of the nicest people that I’ve met in the industry..."




A friend, who shall remain anonymous as she works for a high profile fashion company, also shot her during LFW, and she said Kate was cool about having her photo done. Of course. But when she realised that she was actually filming the conversation, she put her hand up - politely, almost wistfully, and said 'Sorry, I don't do videos'.

There is something incredibly powerful about a beautiful woman who never seems to speak. Look at the Mona Lisa, for example. Remember how enigmatic the other Kate, i.e. Moss, seemed, back before we heard her wonderful Croydon accent? The idea of a woman who lets her image speak for her, absolutely fascinates me. I'd love to be like that. I should try it, for a week. Go on a verbal diet. Do all my posts with just images. No long comments on people's posts, either. I bet I wouldn't last an hour.

Whenever I see Kate Lanphear, she is almost always alone, being mobbed by people who want to take her photo. It's as if they want to solve that mystery. There is something vulnerable about her, I feel: that slightly haunted, hunted look. She reminds me of another beautiful icon who also fiercely guarded her privacy, who famously wanted to be alone: Greta Garbo.

when i say jump

I guess I should explain the jumping thing: when I started this blog about 18 months ago, just doing street style was a challenge for me as an artist. My photography up til then had been quiet, 'fine art': still lives, landscapes, a kind of photo-collage using myself, shot by me with a timer... to approach strangers, explain myself and why I was doing this was a real hurdle to overcome because altho I'm rather chatty, I'm also inherently shy.




BUT.. as an artist, I need to move forward and grow. And by last week at London Fashion Week... let's just say the whole idea of shooting fashionable people standing around hoping to be made famous by bloggers was wearing a bit thin for me. And shooting models is way easier than shooting fish. Fish move around. Models, especially after doing one of these shows, are generally hanging around, moving fairly slowly.

EXCEPT when you ask them to jump.



Why do I occasionally ask people to jump for my shots? Partly to keep things interesting, partly for the challenge of catching them in motion.. partly to amuse myself, partly to break the ice.. sometimes (not in this case) I feel the person is really quite photogenic but they're putting on that bored pouty face because they think that's what people want, and I ask them to jump simply to shake things up. Literally.

In hindsight, this fabulous model from the Unique show was really quite a sport. A generous, lighthearted spirit. I mean, she had just done a really difficult catwalk show in death defying heels, on the old Waterloo station Eurostar tracks.. most of the girls were just finding it difficult to stand up, let alone jump around.



It happened quite impulsively. Shini and I were about to leave - she had just said hi to Tommy Tan - we each got a similar shot of him with the model (damn I wish I remembered her name! She told me.. plum forgot*) - you should see Shini's shot, she had TWO extraterrestrial lights in hers - and suddenly, while I was shooting her, I just asked her to jump.

*Two people so far have told me this is Dree Hemingway, great granddaughter of Ernest. That sounds about right: I think she said her name was Dree. Okay, it's worse then: I made DREE HEMINGWAY, Ernest's great granddaughter, jump up and down having just completed a catwalk show. What is my problem. Just because I was feeling a bit of creative malaise.

I mean, REALLY. What would Ernest say.




Now I'm trying to figure out which one she was on the catwalk.. this might be her. I can't tell. I've been spending hours playing some kind of matching game with my photos, and I'm going a bit cross eyed, and Mr. Dot is getting hungry, and so I am.




I mean, we're talking a SEA of models in that show. And I shot every one. When they came out for the end, it was like an army of amazons walking down along the train tracks. A beautiful army of frizzy haired amazonians on crazy tall lucite platform heels.






It was only today, looking through, that I saw the shot I caught of her minutes after she did her jumping shots. The face she was making at a friend. This is someone with a real zest for life, someone who doesn't take herself, or the madness that is the fashion world, all that seriously.

I just can't believe that a) she told me her name was Dree - several times - and I didn't put two and two together b) I bossed her around like that. But she was a good sport about it.

olivia olivia

Okay, it's time for the Olivia story. I know it's going to be so stupid and anti-climatic: it was just at the time I did the Julia post ('being Julia'). It was all at the same event, Day Two (Saturday), at the Topshop Unique show at Waterloo Station, and there were just so many photos and stories from that day I said I'd tell you the Olivia story another time and then I just got so busy... and I just can't tell anything simply, but I'll try.

Last February, I met and photographed Olivia Palermo ('deer in the headlights') but I didn't know who she was. (I'm always meeting famous people that I often don't know are famous: one of these days remind me to tell you the Hugh Grant story). The City was already on one of the channels here but it wasn't in our listings.. I eventually started watching the show and I saw what people meant about her character but frankly, I didn't think she was bitchy. Maybe it's because I met her and liked her so I"m biased, or maybe it's because that other one - the big blonde - the one who's actually supposed to be nice.. but I don't think she is. I think she's kind of manipulative by playing the victim. But that's just me. I haven't watched the show much, frankly.




Anyway, because of the strange situation I found myself in (as explained in the Julia story) I found myself just kind of hanging around because I hadn't gone to the little party that Shini had gone to (I had a ticket, I just had gone straight to the photo pit) so I'm just standing around, waiting for it to start, taking photos of people, shoes...





... watching Olivia talk to the famous Telegraph fashion journalist, Hillary Alexander (that's another story)..



and finally I introduced myself again, said we met last February.




She seemed really pleased to see me, seemed convincingly to have remembered me (or it could be good acting), and yet, like in February, it felt like this kind of friendly moment passed between us: like she was relieved that I wasn't treating her like a strange creature, an object to be Papp'd, and just that quick nanosecond moment of 'we're all just normal people' before she got swept into more photos, more taped interviews..

..then the show began, and I'm sitting there next to her (separated by one person)..



.. with a view of her hands on my right, like Julia's was on my left..






..more shots of the show, and then after, I was talking with Julia and left Olivia to the hoards and masses, and that was it, really. Then back outside to the craziness of shooting civilians and models with Shini and the other photographers (and yes, that's another post, or two, or seven).

Not really much of a story, is it? I mean, hardly worth spinning you along this long, and I apologise.


Okay, so this is where the story starts veering into Implausibility Land: my lovely friend Natayla (editor of the online fashion magazine Its Fashion Week) asked me what the 'Olivia' story was. I said I'd tell her when I saw her, it was no big deal. Meanwhile we're both running round to different shows, trying to find each other.. at one point (and this is all within like 48 hours) she ends up in Kurt Geiger, and who should she see alone in the shop with no one around apart from what seemed to be a 'minder', but.. Olivia herself. So she introduced herself and took this shot:



Now Nat also felt that Olivia Palermo, the person, is really nice, sweet, warm. So which is it? Is she a really good actress who can play a bitch well, but in real life acts nice? Or is she THAT good an actress that she's really a bitch and just acts nice in public? Frankly, I don't think anyone's that good an actress.



Anyway, enough on the Olivia stuff. Fame is such a weird thing: there are so many lovely people I meet and shoot all the time, and they could just as easily be famous, they're just not. Yet.

I think I like this shot most of all, when Olivia Palermo, the actress, the celebrity, is simply being a human being. All these shots are unretouched and if you look closely you will see it: a spot. A teeny, tiny spot, granted, but it's there. Proof that she's just as human as you or me, after all.

mystery blonde

Anyone know who this girl is? Craig said she's an ex model turned blogger. She told me her name but I shot so many people.. help! All I know is her dress and trench look like the real deal: Burberry. And she's really sweet. I love these shades with fair skin and hair and pale blue eyes. And she's wearing simple brown leather loafers: a breath of fresh air among all those heels.

. . . .

Big thank you to Craig who took the time in between shooting Natalia Vodianova, Karolina Kurkova, Roberto Cavalli and Agyness Deyn (and that's just the top two posts) to solve the mystery: she is Candice Lake, and her work looks absolutely gorgeous. Beyond what I'd have expected. A beautiful talent. Or is it talented beauty.

confusion vs. indecision (holly says relax)

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.

kit kat @ kinder

Before the wondrous Kinder Aggugini show, I got my friend Kit Lee aka the Style Slicker, stylist, blogger extraordinaire, and 'companion' to Matthew Zorpas'*, to pose for me. (*Note to self: I really must ask her what that even means). I got some amazing photos of the show (Did anyone reading this, see it? What did you think?) - I'm not just saying that to spin you along - but I just popped in and must run out again and it takes time to go thru all the shots. I choose not to stay in the 'pit' and get the boring end-of-runway shots, so mine are shot from the middle aisle or if I'm lucky, front row, and it's very hit or miss: it's like big game hunting, those models do move like gazelles on the Serengeti Plain. Which is fitting, given his African theme this season.

Oh btw I just was with my friend Natayla who is now part of the Olivia Palermo story and we agreed, I really must tell you the story because it's like when someone says 'oh you must see this film' (because they weren't expecting anything and they were pleasantly surprised) and then, by the time you eventually see it, you go to your friend 'I didn't think it was all that great'.

It's the law of inverse proportions: the longer I drag this out, the more banal the story will seem. I know!! I can make shit up! You'll never know the difference.