influence: the vanishing twin

This isn't the post I planned to do today: I've been storing up a whole collection of leopard print images, far too many for one post. This is, instead, about an amazing Singapore born, London based designer named Eugene Lin. I was so grateful to Jen for finding him at LFW and bringing me along to his studio a few weeks back.

Her post about him, about the concept behind his S/S 2011 collection, The Vanishing Twin, explained it so well, I felt, that I just didn't feel the need to do my own post.





And also, I was so impressed by Eugene, so inspired by the magic of the light in that studio, his intelligence and keen mind and sense of humour and irony.. as time went on, I felt I couldn't do it justice. And I had too many photos to fit in one post.. and I had done one already ('ghost in the machine')..




But the idea itself, and that day, kept haunting me, like my own invisible twin growing in my imagination. These pieces, you see, were inspired - influenced - by a rare medical condition where one's twin can develop, be absorbed, into our own bodies. Jen said her husband, Mr. Crusader, who is a scientist, was scoffing that it's not a real condition. And I was laughing when she told me because when I told Hedvig, she had looked at me in her stoic Norwegian way and said, totally deadpan: 'I know what it is. My friend had it. In her butt.' You had to be there, to know how calmly serious Hedvig can be, to know why I found that so hilarious. Or maybe I've got a really sick sense of humour.






I'm fascinated how an idea, sketches, can become a reality. Or rather, how rarely we bring our ideas to fruition, which is why I so admire those who do.






So why did I choose to finally post this today? Because I happened to see my friend Shini's post about being 'in exile' in Warsaw: Atelier Klimas (I love this girl's deadpan humour). And reading her post, the way a shot of a cup of tea could transport me to a designer's studio in Poland, influenced me to get off my own metaphorical butt and get this post done and dusted.




Can you see how even this jacket has a kind of 'twin': the vest is part of the jacket. Each piece has that element. I'd love to do a little shoot, like I did with Topshop/Goodone, because everyone I know could easily wear a piece from this collection: while it's all clearly Eugene Lin's vision, his voice, it also is versatile enough that there's something for everyone's unique style.

Is that something you'd like to see? If I can get enough interest, I'll ask to borrow some clothes.

Photos by me, apart from the shots with the model, which are by Anna Feyimi courtesy of Eugene Lin. Photos of me in the jacket are from Jennifer, the infamous, ubiquitous Style Crusader. And by the way, I'm aware it's Halloween but no one's invited me to any Halloween parties, I'm not dressing up this year, and this post wasn't intended to tie in with Halloween. Altho... in a way.. I can see the influence.

variations on a sorbet popsicle

An ex boyfriend - much younger than me - used to use this word: meme (click on it if you have time: wikipedia explains it best). It's something I'm fascinated with: how ideas travel, take on a life of their own. Everything we're doing with our blogs is a perfect example. Everyone suddenly feeling like wearing oxfords (okay, BROGUES).. even the underwear-as-outerwear thing (I saw that phrase AGAIN in the style section and said to myself I'm going to start charging them: it's MY phrase!) but of course, I can't.

We can't own a meme.

A meme has a life of its own.



For example: the phrase 'sorbet colours' to describe a current trend. Almina, of Rare, mentioned it to Jen & I when we visited for Press Day (more about that to come) and then the brilliantly talented Shini of Park & Cube showed up to Ella's Cupcakes - maybe an hour or two after we heard it. We both photographed her, at separate times, each dragging her off somewhere. It never occurred to either of us to ask 'which spot did you shoot Shini at', or even to see each other's photos - so we didn't know we'd done a photo shoot in the SAME SPOT (and oddly, Shini didn't mention it). So much was going on at once, anyway.



So the next morning, I thought to myself 'I'm going to do a post on Shini and call it 'sorbet colours and popsicle days', was toying with variations of that theme, but I posted Hedvig's shot first. Then I went to her fab Style Crusader blog.. well, read her post, because she basically said everything I was thinking. One thing she didn't mention, tho, was that Shini's nail varnish was orangey red on one hand and pale turquoise on another: I do that, too: I like the relationship between two unexpected colours. Oh, and Hedvig had the same turquoise nails.. which I'm typing with now.. and at least two or three of those present had large, turquoise rings... everything is connected, that's all I'm saying. It's all good. It's all a Sign. I get great comfort in knowing we're all on the same page.



Shini's tangerine jacket is from Reiss, not sure who made her mint sorbet jeans, her peach gelato pumps are by Kate Kanzier (more about that brand, also to come!), lacey coconut custard shirt is vintage. It's a rainy day ANd a Monday, which usually gets me down: perfect day for a sorbet refresher course.