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.

mr. dot gets all arty

In the early years of our so called courtship - which made Carrie and Big's seem boring by comparison - I used to do 'self portrait' photography with my dad's Pentax, colour slide film, and a large metal tripod which we carried around in the car, mostly upstate in a wonderful cabin in the woods on the Esopus that we rented near Woodstock, NY. Mr. Dot fished while I tried to swim in the shallow rocky streams, and took photos, and drew. There were no blogs back then.



When I started blogging, I felt too silly (and too old) to do 'self style' posts, and besides, unlike a lot of the other bloggers who had boyfriends to shoot them, Mr. Dot had no interest. But every once in a while - like the day we went to the bluebells - he gets all arty on me. He found this spot a few miles from the bluebells, stopped the car, forced me out (still in my bluebell shoot outfit), and started shooting. It was all over within minutes.



You've probably heard me bang on about Shane Watson a lot: she writes for the Sunday Times Style section. Her editorials - along with the Aunt Sally column - are the best part of Sunday morning for me. This week was a double treat: along with her regular column, she also did a great piece called 'Let's stick together'
that starts with Sienna and Jude, but expands into her DTIP (Don't Take It Personally) theory. About this idea that if things don't go our way, we don't have to throw all our toys out of the pram, but can understand, sometimes it's the other person's stuff, and it's not personal.

She's partly talking about fidelity - and distinguishes between not being a victim (she's not saying, for example, Elin should have stayed with Tiger). But it applies to all relationships, Big, or small.

This is all rich, coming from me: halfway thru this post, Mr. Dot and I had a huge blow up because he accused me of losing his wool (he's attempting to darn his own socks: SWEAR TO GOD. This from a guy who can't even make scrambled eggs). I can't tell if he's gotten over it and is happily watching Spring Watch in another room, or if he's stewing, while watching Spring Watch. I'm just trying to not TIP.

Anyway, read the article, it's great. Lace pattern tee shirt dress, still on loan from American Apparel (buy it thru clicking on my ad, right, and I'll get a commission! ; ), tights by Hue, shoes, vintage Prada, wooden bracelet, TU Sainsbury's.. let's see.. copper bull ring a gift from my lovely husband, Mr. Dot, when we first met (his dad, a vet, asked how much he paid for this - from a shop in Hay-on-Wye, and I said I think £20, and he was incensed: 'I could have got you one for free, just pulled it out of a bloody bull', said his dad.) Watch, you've seen before, by Quinn, also a gift from the wonderful, never dull, Mr. Dot.

shini's snippets of shiny thoughts

Two phrases keep going thru my head lately: 'snippets of shiny thoughts', and 'it's not about the clothes.' The second phrase will be in my next post. The first, is the name of Lucy's blog and as you know (see end of previous post) today Snippets is having her first birthday. (Are blogs female? Anyone who's French, can you answer that? Actually.. Le Blog de Betty.. guess blogs are male).

Anyway, this post isn't about Lucy, it's about Shini (Park & Cube). This is Shini's shirt, and it's her Shiny Thought of the Day.



Take one lacy body (in this case, I believe it's Topshop, but lots o' brands are doing it). Add a ribbon or two, criss-crossed, attached with a small box of gold safety pins. Add a few more. Do it - presumably - as a procrastination procedure when you're meant to be studying for finals.

Coincidentally - altho, really, is there such thing as coincidence? Or is it just God working in small ways? - my lovely friend Toni, who was actually a 'real' friend - recently met - before I even knew her blog - has just done a fabulous post ('seeing double') which starts off with the line:

"Inspiration comes mostly from others not from ourself, and anyone who tells you they are never inspired by others is probably not being completely honest with you."



I am so inspired by Toni. I'm inspired by Shini, by all of you. I've frittered the morning away letting tweets by brilliant women like Rachel Johnson lead me, like woodland fairy sprites, to Caitlin Moran, to Claudia Winkleman, to a hilarious piece on SATC by Lindy West.. just totally energised with inspiration. All these beautiful minds.

p.s. Oh joy! Pure coincidence: just went to tell Shini her post is up, and saw she's done the definitive post on the Perfect Day. ('Princess March') It looks just like the post I was about to do, only better. Influence out of sequence.

London Fashion Week: Day 1

Hello Boys & Girls,
It's after 10 - past Mr. Dot's bedtime actually - we just got home (I met him @ his club on Pall Mall, we had a quick but lovely dinner @ Pain Quotadien near South Ken tube) and I can't properly got thru the hundred or so shots I took today - man oh man if MY feet ache with my little 3/4 inch heel, I can only imagine what everyone else (some men included) must be feeling right now.





So in no particular order I"m gonna just whack up a bunch of today's shots, unedited and unretouched. I will leave the editorialising for you to do in your head. Or, preferably, as comments. I cherish all your comments!





All I'm going to say is: I LOVE LONDON FASHION WEEK!! It's my first ever - my first day of my first fashion week - and I was so blown away by how nice everyone was, how much fun it was... all these years I stayed away from the fashion industry because I assumed it was all so Devil Wears Prada. How wrong I was. It's much more like Carrie in Sex & the City: or at least that was my experience. Recognise Susie Bubble? She was bigger than I'd expected. I pictured a wee little thing. Altho, like just about everyone but me and a few other photographers running around, her height WAS elevated about a foot, by her shoes.





In short: it's all about the shoes. The shoes were the absolute celebrities today. Mostly very high wedges heeled peep toe booties, in suede. Mostly in black, but the biggest hit were a pair of red suede booties that I've seen on at least two women who were tall to begin with (if I wasn't in such a rush, I'd source it: does anyone know please?)



This girl, by the way, was the first casualty of LFW: a true fashion victim, she actually broke her foot TWISTING ON HER HIGH HEELS!!!




There was also a lot of black. And gold studs. And a lot of people on cell phones.




Oh, and sequins. More sequins than I have room to post here, but trust me, post them I will. All in good time, my pretties, all in good time. I'm pretty sure that the two blondes shown here are both wearing the same jacket, and I bet my bottom dollar (or pound) that it's the Topshop Premium Sequin Blazer, currently available in midnight blue, but I had my eye on it in white, and this looks like their grey/silver model, don't you think? This was very much the uniform, sequin jacket, black leggings and heels, shown here on my new friend Amy. I'm not kidding, I met the NICEST people!

Actually, I'm wondering if this grey boyfriend jacket isn't Topshop also. If it's not, you could certainly create the look with the Premium Satin Longline Blazer which would just set you back 75 quid. (Have you figured out yet, I am SO a Topshop girl!!)





The sun was out, so mercifully that at times I had to take off my Topshop Sequin Motorcycle Jacket (yes, readers, I did get it eventually: we called it a birthday present) and I'm glad I wore bare legs (with black ankle socks & black oxfords from Barneys circa 1995), because at times, it was quite hot. If there were a pool, I'd have dived in. I met so many nice people, and this is only day one. I'm pooped. I'm not saying these are my best shots, they're just the ones I happened to click on.




So on that note, this is Polka Dot, female reporter, signing off. As Scarlett O'Hara put it so well: tomorrow is another day.

xoxo