ashish look of the day: pajamawear as outerwear

Lounging around in bed on a sunny Sunday morning, relishing the down time before Mr. Dot drags my sorry ass across town to Spitalfield's (& hopefully, lunch @ the Luxe). Just still trying to go thru & organise & compress all these photos.. like eating too much candy, I'm feeling saturated from fashion week shots & need to shoot some civilians!!

But couldn't resist another Ashish shot. Today it has to be striped PJs, because that's what I feel like wearing out. Actually, I feel like staying in bed all day in our new crisp white sheets & duvet cover with big white embroidery Indian style flowers, drinking coffee & compressing jpgs. If you're in the UK, the Times is doing their special big Style section today, it's really quite good actually, altho, frankly, nothing we haven't already seen in our collective blogs. I counted four, no five, no, SIX mentions of MY phrase 'underwear as outerwear' and told Mr. Dot, who said, 'Well, you should have patented it.' But I didn't, so let's see how far today's phrase travels. You saw it here first, girls!

I wonder how this look would go down in Tesco.

too cool for school

On Commercial Road, near Spitalfields Market. On a school day.

babes off the bike

Last, glorious, Sunday, when I swam in the Serpentine and it felt like the whole world was gloriously happy, I shot these two friends wearing clothes from, left, Spitalfields Market and right, from a shop somewhere in Shoreditch. It was such a fun little photo shoot - I wish I could post all four shots, they're a delightful little 'film' - that I forgot to write down their names, and it's flown right out of my head. Hopefully one of them will get in touch.

Didn't even realise til I looked at the shots, they've got helmets, so presumably they'd cycled over in flip flops. Still, it qualifies for the babes on a bike series, in a way, no?

Off to the beach - meant to be freezing so wearing a soft grey cotton knit hoodie (vintage, as in I've had it forever) paired with soft grey velour sweatpants, and thick socks. Have a lovely Sunday, wherever in the world you may be! xoxo

day for night

Well you learn a new thing every day (one hopes). I wanted to name this post 'Day for Night' because I remember a great Truffaut film of the same name, called thus because of the process of shooting film at daytime so it appears to be Night. This was the opposite: it was too dark inside to shoot without flash (or a high end digital camera) so I brought Carry, and her daughter Sienna (shown here) outside separately.



I really hope you don't mind me showing them both so much (see last week's post, or even yesterday's for that matter!) It's not like I'm doing their PR or getting any kind of kickback 'promoting' them, it's just they've each got this incredible quality of being able to pose very still and serenely, which is what was needed because it really was Night at this point, and I was shooting it oh so slow: for Day. And I just love both their colours, love how it changes once you get outside - love every single shot - and especially, love what they're wearing. Sienna sourced and styled this herself - the dress from Spitalfield's market, and the belt is actually a band from one of her mom's hats!

So what new thing did I learn? It's not that big a deal but when I googled 'day for night, truffaut', good old Wikipedia explained that the original, french, title is 'La Nuit américaine' (I don't think that's an error: I think they deliberately made it lower case). More on it here. So technically, the title of this post is 'American Night'. And now I'm really in the mood to watch that film again, see if it holds up over time. I recall it being very French, a bit vague, a bit je ne sais quoi, and I just assumed at the time I was too young - and too American - to get the nuances.

hello, polka dot!

In keeping with the American spirit, today I'm posting Lucie, in red, white & blue. Spotted her at the height of the heat wave, during rush hour, INSIDE THE TUBE at Old Street (Spitalfields) on the way to the WEBA awards. We tried shooting in the tube but it was way too dark & crowded, so she cheerfully followed me to the light, altho she was headed in.



Besides loving her look, I absolutely love Lucie's spirit. A total strangers asks to shoot her & instead of saying she doesn't have the time, she shrugs her shoulders & gives me two perfect shots, saying she was only on her way to meet her boyfriend and he'll understand. She's just arrived in town, and is looking for work as a waitress. When I asked what she would do if her fairy godmother said she could do anything she wanted and she thought for a split second and said she'd like to work in a tattoo parlour at first, as it's creative, and then perhaps design a line of lingerie or do something in art. I KNOW this girl will go far. She has that quality that is at the heart of style: charm.



I've been thinking a lot about charm lately. Everything in fashion is about this elusive 'style' thing, but what grabs me first about anyone is their charm. Sir George Martin, the producer known as the Fifth Beatle, because he was such an integral part of the band, was quoted as saying his first impression on the four lads was their CHARM. We girls used to go to charm school, and now we mock that as frivolous but if you ask me, all you need is charm, and the rest, including style, will follow.

Don't ask me where she got anything in her fabulously put together outfit, because it doesn't matter. I'm sure it's nothing designer, altho I wouldn't be surprised if in the near future, we see this on the catwalk. It's a bit retro, bit circa 1955, but retro with a twist. It's simply about how she's made the look uniquely her own.

Happy 4th of July. Here's to the Yankee spirit of rising up by one's bootstraps, and making shit happen. Whoever you are, wherever you are, hope you're feeling happy, joyous, and especially, free.

hat trick

Line and Anya, lovely girls from Norway, at Spitalfields market. Line's the first person I've met who knew my blog! We're doing something style related when she moves here shortly.
I've got a photo shoot today with a young actress at the V&A, where the theme will be hats (she loves them, too) and which is currently showing Hats: an Anthology by Stephen Jones. Yesterday was all pants; today, it's hats off to hats!

Kara in Zara

We're already seeing quite a bit of bold, often tribal prints on the street in London, and expect to see more. This example, by Zara, on Kara (I know!), in Spitalfields Market, works really well, which is surprising considering her beautifully pale English rose colouring. Of course this will also look brilliant with a tan, or on black or brown skin tones.
Many designers are showing bold, warm ethnic-inspired prints this season: Alexander McQueen is doing absolutely gorgeous stuff - the patterns are stunning in the flesh, and the construction is strong and very feminine, as below. This example, from Net a Porter, is in cooler tones, but he's also doing it in warm orangey browns. Prada of course has been doing this for a while, and Nicole Fahri, but the best looks we're finding, as always, are on the street.

keep strong and carry on

Another fabulous example of the strong, bold ethical/ethnic print dress is here on Carry, who has a truly impressive company called Pachacuti that imports fair trade Panama hats and also men's and women's hats in felt and leather. She's won all sorts of awards, met the Queen.. take a look on her site or blog. I ran into her in Spitalfields market and love everything about her look, which feels very much her, and not just some trend she's trying to follow. Her dress is by her friend Katherine Bramwell Cole, a potter. Funny old world: my husband loves & collects modern British pottery, and he's now discovered someone he's really impressed with, too. I love a man in a panama hat, and now I know where to get it!

flower girl, spitalfields market

There are an infinite number of variations of the flower print frocks with opaque tights and cardigans trend all around Britain at the moment, and, like snowflakes, no two are alike, and all are unique and lovely. This is one of my favourites.

garfield's dancing pants

Garfield, Spitalfields market. His trousers were a gift and are 20 years old. That's older than some of my friends. They're South African, handmade, and are a traditional design with these cute flaps that fly around when you dance. Which he so kindly demonstrated for me.