Someone said that Flora was such an 'old soul': I feel the same about my friend Rosalind. Because 'everyone' was shooting her at fashion week, and she was hanging out with us, I somehow forgot to shoot her - and on the day I did, I forgot to go thru the photos. And when I did, it struck me once again what a truly old fashioned girl she is. The same age as Flora - 16 - that magic age when one minute you're still a girl, the next you're as grown up a woman as you'll ever be. I was on a bus not that long ago and suddenly saw myself as a very old woman: invisible. And at the same time, I had a flash of being 19, away from my family and my friends and especially, my love at the time: he was in Hawaii, and I was in Copenhagen, far from home. And I had felt, on a bus going home to my Danish family, as old, as wise, as eternal, as I feel today at times. That flash of memory, that synapse of time. Life, as an old school friend said recently, when filling me in on her life, goes by in the blink of an eye.
I don't want to gush too much about Roz: I already have quite a bit and besides, it might go to her head. But I must say it's a funny old friendship - our difference in age is so vast, but, like with my friends in their 80s and even 90s, we think alike about what matters, I feel.
Tinted these, but, like Dorothy in Kansas, my next post will, I predict, burst into colour.
Recommended viewing: turn up your volume, and click below.
Hard to imagine that it was only ten months ago, to the day, that I visited Roz and her family where she was recovering from surgery for scoliosis at a family member's home in London. It was a cold day, and we had just had the most delicious lunch - and her dad had made the most excellent coffee (the secret, besides strong, freshly ground, good quality beans, and hot milk, is a bit of thick rich cream) and as she lay on a day bed, to rest her back, we chatted with her mum and ate heavenly pastries. Then went out into the garden, in the cold, to do this shoot. I'd say it was under a week since she'd had the surgery.
As those of you who know her, and as she's recounted her blog, Clothes, Cameras and Coffee, the procedure, and the process of recovery, hasn't been easy, for her, or her family. While she's been honest with her readers, she's also been - as is her nature - quite humble, and modest, about her courage.
What I've always admired about Roz is how she consistently focuses on the positive. When I've gone through my own challenges this year, she's always inspired me to keep 'rising above.' I feel I can always learn, and benefit, by someone's shining example, and age has nothing to do with that. I often learn my best lessons from young children. (I just realised: it was one of these shots, from this day, that ended up in ElleGate! It was a paid staff employee in Spain, named Carmen, who pretended she took this picture - and then mocked Roz for looking like a 'cold' woman! And even then - when we were offered compensation by their lawyers, and ultimately, didn't get it, even THEN, Roz and her family still rose above: we all agreed, it was better karmically to just let it go. But Carmen Bejerano, and her boss, Sibila Freijo Fernandez are the reasons I have to take the time to put my logo on each photo - even though that didn't stop them from publishing my photos as their own, the first time round.)
It is the grace - the dignity and the elegance - with which Roz responds to any negativity in her life which is EXACTLY why I'm so happy for her that she's won the Vogue Talent Contest for writing, 2011. I can't wait to see it: it's out now. But I'm also touched that, when she told me, in confidence, a week or two back, that she'd won, she was as excited, if not more, at the discovery, the same day, of her excellent grade results. In school.
Because Roz, after all, is still only 16.
Karma, alas, isn't always instant. Some people can go a whole lifetime with one bad break after another, and they don't get the rewards til the next lifetime, when they get to come back as, say, a cat. Get to sleep all day long, take endless baths, and, if they're cute enough, eat tuna fish.
Other people - for example, the 'obnoxious bloggers', as Imogen so bravely posted about in EIGHT recently, chasing some idea of fame or success, no matter the cost to others, seem to get what they fight so viciously for. For a while, at least. And the irony of the first two bloggers who rushed to comment on that post isn't lost on me, or those who know the truth.
They say Karma's a Bitch, and I believe that to be true. I've been around a while, in this life, and it does seem the case that no matter what 'success' those kind of people achieve, there's always a cost, karmically. I'd, personally, still rather be able to sleep at night.
Yes, Karma can be a Bitch, but She can also - sometime, like in the case of Roz's winning the VOGUE UK contest - be Fair, and Just, and True.
Have you had any instances of Karma you'd like to share with the group? How instant was yours?
Okay, enough chit chat for one day. And so, like boats against the current, we all continue, I hope, to shine on. Like the moon, and the stars, and the sun.
This cold rainy spell we're having in England right now means that streetstyle wise, everything is dark and dull. I'm seeing a lot of black. But when I met my friend Gwyneth just before we left for Hay, I loved how by throwing a pure green jacket on over a pair of ripped jeans - and pairing it a pair of big 70s sunglasses (I left my nearly identical pair at our friends' Guill and Miche's house over the weekend), a great scarf, and Prada bag - the green just instantly makes it spring like.
I can't say what I'd like to about the colour green any better than what Roz wrote ('simple pleasures'). It's spot on, brilliant. The symbolic multi layered meanings - and the emotions behind - any given colour. Green with envy. Green as temptation. Going green. Being green. We've become almost holier than thou about caring about the planet (Mr. Dot and I were laughing the other day- we want to start going round saying F*** the Planet. What has the Planet ever done for us? Just announce to people we've just met 'I don't care about the Planet). So in that context, Green would mean Good.
There is also SOOOO much I could say about envy, especially envy amongst women. I was having such a great talk with my (beautiful) new chum Reid Peppard about that. I felt the world was probably divided, amongst the female population, between girls' girls, and the envious bitches. The bitches dominating about 60/40 split. She paused for a beat and said 'probably more like 70/30' but we decided that's because of the 10% who pose as girls girls: wolverines in sheeps' clothing.
I could see why people would envy Gwyneth: she's gorgeous, of course, and happy, and loves her boyfriend, and loves her work (she's done a bit of modelling) and basically loves her life, has great friends, etc etc. AND she's really nice, and smart. All of which makes me happy for her, and happy to be her friend. And I've got to run out this minute so I'll shut up now. Rain forecast for the weekend: great time to see a film. I recommend Last Night. Kiera Knightly, also of Atonement, and no doubt, an object of countless women's envy, which brings this post full circle.
The Hay Festival is on, and we're here, (I'm shooting it for the festival - and the blog) and in a bizarre act of serendipity, on our first day - while Roz and her family had, unbeknownst to us, left messages on my cell phone - we literally ran into them in the town. Turned a corner as we were rushing to the car to get to a camera shop before it closed (we had left early on Friday - with cat, litter, food, ten days' worth of summer festival clothing, chargers, laptops, you name it - but I forgot the little plastic thingy - the card reader to upload the photos!) and we were in a rush to get there before the store closed, and who did we see but Roz and her family! (her first time at the festival).
Just as I was taking these quick street style shots of Roz, in a second act of bizarre serendipity, Mr. Dot noticed that we didn't need to drive 40 minutes to Hereford town: a computer shop two doors down from the corner where we ran into them had the exact card I needed!
Sending this from deepest rural Herefordshire, at the in-laws house (with Mr. Dot & cat) - we had a big boisterous visit with cousins, dogs etc but now they're on holiday and it's just us - and we've worked out a way to get wifi, so I can post after all! But now back to the festival. The weather is dark, grey, rainy and cold, and I've got a suitcase full of flip flops and summery frocks. Roz was dressed exactly right for the look that day: Welsh slate grey, with splashes of colour: English strawberry red and Colman's Mustard. It was impossible to get a clear head to toe shot as crowds rushed by but I kind of like the randomness off the guy and the woman's mac and grey bag.
Okay enough chit chat: we've already missed AA Gill and now we'd better get on the road to catch the next event! Hope you're having a lovely Bank Holiday Weekend. Where are you? Is it warm where you are?
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.
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.'
More from the day I visited Rosalind, aka Roz, and her family at her grandmother's house ('courage').
It was Bonfire night, actually. We were having our annual bonfire in our garden square, back in South Kensington: we're on the committee, and our friend, the Chairman, had a bigger budget than usual for the fireworks. But first, I took the tube to Primrose Hill. The light that day, the colours.. the houses on the street, it was all quite magical. The autumn leaves. The three acts: lunch. Cake. Garden.
During Cake, we went into a lovely sitting room, with french doors leading to the garden. Roz, only days home from the hospital, was finding sitting the most painful part (as they said it would be) so - with such grace - she'd lay down periodically, even during lunch, on a day bed set in the room. Above her were paintings, portraits of her family: her grandmother was looking down, and her uncle.. her father's mother sounds amazing, and I could sense her presence by all the books surrounding us, and the rocks and shells, the same kind of treasures I collect.
This is such a creative family. Her father, her mother, her brother. Each uniquely talented and completely supportive of each other. They made the most perfect coffee, just the way I like it (strong, with hot milk AND a bit of cream to make it rich). We were just hanging out, talking about all kinds of things, taking photos.. and Roz's little brother, Asa, was just quietly drawing. And drawing. He is so sweet, cute, they're such good friends, and his artwork- it was like watching a young Keith Haring.
I could see his work in the Saatchi Gallery. Or printed on an amazing scarf.
Everything was beautiful, that day, as Roz rested and recovered. As her beautiful, brilliant mom said later, the day felt.. timeless.
Sunday morning: while the rest of London slept, Mr. Dot and I made our way in our lovely old car to Primrose HIll, to meet Roz, of Clothes, Cameras and Coffee, and her very cool, yet very warm, mum. (She doesn't name her in her blog so I won't either).
While Mr. Dot waited in the car, reading the paper, I scooted up the hill, breathless, a few minutes late. They were already there. And they are absolutely delightful: even more wonderfully wonderful than I had imagined. We'd actually tried a previous weekend, and couldn't get a plan, but this one fell together easily.
Roz is just extraordinary to photograph: she brings something to the moment that feels so quintessentially English: she is Alice in Wonderland, she's grown up, sophisticated and brilliant, yet with that sense of childish wonder that I hope to feel forever. It was just a brief visit - half an hour, maybe a bit more - then we all went on our way. We met a friend in Primrose Hill (the town) and I just felt so buzzed by the meeting - as I sense they did, too. I'm sure- I certainly hope - that we'll hang out again, either here or the countryside. We're just all so on the same page.
The wonderful thing about Roz's style is it is so uniquely, creatively, her own. And her 'sourcing' never actually involves anything you can find online. In fact, her descriptions of her outfits on her blog are probably the most wonderfully whimsical prose I've come across, so that's what I'm giving you, my gift from Roz, today. Her image, and her words:
'The dusky pink 'dress' is actually a pleated skirt from a charity shop that I just pulled up and pinned. Tied around it is a sash my grandma gave me. The trench coat was also from a charity shop - I'd like to say it's Burberry, but unfortunately it's not. Oh well, I live in hope! The top underneath is from Next and the necklace was also given to me by my grandma. I'm wearing my old favourite loafers (charity shopped!) and I 'appropriated' the leather bag from my mum.'
There was something about Primrose HIll on a Sunday morning, the air still cool, fresh, spring like, people arriving, dogs, children, the city below.. from that lofty place.. it feels like in Athens, at the Acropolis: you could almost believe you're dancing among the Gods. That anything is possible.
A Polka Dot exclusive, hot off the press: Roz, of Clothes, Cameras, and Coffee, has agreed to a guest post. Each time I see her photo shoots, I think it's her best yet, but recently.. well, I'm in such a black and white mood lately (again). And her homage to a Harper's Bazaar cover, in 'dog tooth', inspired me to do an online interview.
The thing that's incredible about Roz, besides being a true style icon, is that she is just so polite. Altho we haven't actually met, I can tell by our countless email exchanges that she's just a really thoughtful, kind, happy, generous old soul, for one so young. I'm hoping to do photo shoots with her in the future, and I can tell she's the type that will be on time, focused.. professional.
Here she is, answering the tough questions:
1. Define your style: My style is vintage meets current trends with a creative charity shop twist.
2. Who are your style influences? I'm very inspired by the great screen stars such as Audrey Hepburn, Grace Kelly and Vivien Leigh. However, another great style influence in my life is family members - my grandma was an actress, and I some fabulous pictures of her when she was younger. And I'd say that some of my 'granny chic' outfits are influenced by various great aunts and grandmothers!
3. Your fairy godmother grants you a two week all expenses paid holiday anywhere on the planet. Where would you go (geographically) and where would you stay? Oooh, hard question! Probably to somewhere remote in the French countryside - in an old house full of interesting art and unique knick-knacks. Kind of shabby chic?
4. What would you do there? Practise my french (I want to be fluent by the time I'm eighteen!), take photos (both landscape and fashion if possible), draw/ sketch out my design ideas, eat delicious food and read a classic (If this was currently happening then that would be 'Mill on the Floss')
5. You can bring one person with you: who would that be? Why? Hmm.. another hard question. Either one of my close friends who would enjoy doing creative projects with me and looking around beautiful french villages or my mum.
6. Oops. Turns out your fairy godmother messed up. No check in luggage, only carry on. What three items would you not get on that plane without? My camera, sketch book and a vintage tea dress.
7. There's an upside: your fairy godmother has pulled some strings and your airplane has become a time machine. Would you like to change your destination? And what time would you like to travel back into? Or, for that matter, forward? There are lots of decades I would love to visit for different reasons, but I think I would love to visit the sixties to experience both the fashion and al the new exciting things, that feel of change in the air. But I would be happy with any decade between the twenties and sixties... I would rather travel backwards than forwards, as I want to experience the future as it happens, it would feel a bit like cheating if I already knew what lay ahead!
8. It gets even better: you can now bring two people, and they can be living OR dead. Who would they be, and why? Another very hard question! I know I've already mentioned her, but it would be so fantastic to have met Audrey Hepburn. So her plus a friend or family member.
9. Great news: you have been chosen to be the face of your favourite fashion designer, provided you only wear his/her clothes. Who is it? Probably Burberry, as Christopher Bailey's designs are so beautiful. However, other contenders might have included Betty Jackson, Jaeger, Paul Smith, Stella McCartney.. The list goes on!
10. Same as above, but it's a high street chain. Which one? I don't tend to shop in many high street places, but it would have to be Topshop.(Especially following their latest 'unique' collection. It reminded me so much of 'Where the Wild Things Are'!) 11. You are now an octegenarian, and are about to receive a lifetime achievement award. What field or fields are your achievements in? I'd like to hope it would be a creative field - Fashion design or photography preferably! 12. At the award ceremony, who do you thank, and why? My family for being the best I could ever want, various individuals who have been inspiring, and a few close friends.
As Roz is only 14, she lives with her parents. Her mom is clearly a strong style influence, and her father is the photographer for these shoots. That is especially close to my heart, because my own father was a wonderful photographer, and I wish wish wish we had done this kind of project in his lifetime. In a way, thru her blog, I feel like we are, somehow.
You can read her original post right here. The sourcing... you'll just have to read it in her own, wonderful words.
It was hard to choose just three shots of Nao, the stylist from Japan who I had met and shot on another day. I love everything about her style, which really is about her choices: her personal expression. Both times I met her, she was in the most subtle variations of white. I asked if that's all she wears and she answered thoughtfully: 'No, sometimes I wear light shades of grey and pink and beige.'
If you want to see something amazing, take a look at her work. And if you click on 'baby baby baby', you'll see the brilliant and beautiful Roz, of clothes, cameras and coffee. Is this the smallest world on the planet, or what?
RoadTrip23 is the natural evolution from StreetStyle London, which is still here, and has been since 2009. Because there's more to the world than fashion, and there's more to the world than London. Lovely as London is.
I'll still be posting street style, if something really grabs me, but have expanded into other areas of interest, primarily travel, the arts, culture. Whatever I feel is beautiful or interesting: either man made, or a natural wonder.
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