pumpkin head

I'm in a real pumpkin head at the moment. I noticed it everywhere at London Fashion Week: hair, clothes, shoes.. it's funny, I don't like orange per se (altho, I love orange, the fruit) and I like bright orange with hot pink and something neutral, like tan. But pumpkin... pairing pumpkin with anything, especially blues and greys and blacks, navy blues, pale blues.. yum.







There's something about the weather turning colder that makes me think about pumpkin pie. I've been convalescing at home since Thursday, and have so far made big batches of stew, gingerbread cake (another great colour, btw), the most amazing onion soup.. and when my husband, who doesn't cook but has been doing the shopping, brought home a giant sack of carrots instead of the 'six to eight' I asked for, I decided to try simmering them to a mushy softness and mashing, to make pumpkin pie. Well, more like flan, because I didn't make a crust, just sprinkled brown sugar, cinammon (another great colour!) and crushed Special K. And top tip, cupcakes: it works! No more trawling the streets of London, a lonely ex-pat, in late November, trying to find the last dented tin of Libby's. Who knew!?



I wish I remembered this girl's name with the pumpkin hair and the glittery shoes. She was delightful. The other two, I didn't meet, but the Girl with the Pumpkin Coloured Hair.. I hope you find me. Because I've totally forgotten where you got your shoes. Are they perhaps Miu Miu?

Shot within about ten minutes of one another, Day Six (Boy's Day), LFW, Somerset House, 20.09.11. And now that it's suddenly, magically, turned summer here in London town, I'm going to try venturing outside: wearing a sleeveless, translucent, early sixties inspired button down pumpkin coloured blouse with little peter pan collar, and white pedal pusher shorts. THANK YOU LORD for this glorious warmth.

triple tangerine dream

Was with my lovely friend Bronwyn the other day, after a great walk in Hyde Park with the dogs (hers, and a friend's). We were having a coffee outside Paul on Gloucester Road. It was grey and almost balmy, cool but in that nice summer will last forever way. We were talking colour: we both were wearing grey. She, in a lovely combo of muted brown tee, grey cashmere cardigan, and pale faded blue jeans, me in an old favourite grey cotton knit hoodie that looks a bit like a knight's chain mail knit, but feels great, with white jean shorts & my pink plastic sandals.



We were saying how we just can't wear our bright summer dresses now, it feels too ridiculous (and too cold) and she said 'You know what I like grey with? Orange. Or paler. Tangerine.' Right on cue, the girl with the gang (above) ran by. Bronwyn wasn't too sure about the pajama pants and uggs, but I liked her attitude. Then, swear to God, two minutes later, Sienna (top) passed - she lives near us, in different mews to ours, and is such a sweet, pretty girl - and then a girl with torange shoes came in for a coffee. It was a true tangerine trilogy, all in the space of literally five minutes.



Incidentally: I've been feeling lately that I'm not giving you girls enough inspirational, dress up posh looks, but my problem is, I'm shooting street style, and this, frankly, is how posh girls in London dress during the day. At least in my part of town. But if and when I see anyone dressed to the nines in fabulous heels, I promise to track them down and shoot them. Theoretically, I can outrun them.

let the sunshine in

Got a bit snap happy for this posting, all the while singing 'this is the dawning of the Age of Aquarius, the Age of Aquarius' in my head, which got me thinking: Hair came out in, what, the 70s? Maybe Aquarius has already dawned.



Well, apparently, not. According to Wikipedia, it could have dawned as long ago as 1447, or it won't happen til we're all old and grey, in 3621. What I found really cool is when they took the lines "When the Moon is in the seventh house, and Jupiter aligns with Mars. Then peace will guide the planets, and love will steer the stars." and concluded that this alignment occurred on February 14, 2009 – Valentine's Day. Interestingly, only two weeks after Obama was inaugurated President.



Aquarius traditionally "rules" electricity, computers, flight, democracy, freedom, humanitarianism, idealists, modernization, rebels and rebellion, mental diseases, nervous disorders, and astrology. Also nonconformity, philanthropy, veracity, perseverance, mankind and irresolution. Which explains a lot. (Anyone curious, there's more right here).



What does this have to do with streetstyle, you might ask? I saw this group doing some kind of mystical scarf dance class in Hyde Park. Was especially taken with the girl in the long Sienna-inspired hippie era oh-so-dated summer of '06 peasant skirt, and thought: wow, that still works, third time around. And shortly after that, in a different London park (Primrose Hill), saw another stylish blonde flouncing a 'dated' trend, this time in hot pink and black (part of my favourite 'bullfighter' range of black, orange, hot pink, and a tan).



Which reminded me of my friend Amanda last month, also defiantly pulling her orange peasant skirt from the archives of her closet. And it only reinforced what I've believed all along, and Gore Vidal put so well: “Style is knowing who you are, what you want to say, and not giving a damn.”

Sing along with me: 'When the moon is in the 7th house...'

Let the Sunshine In.