wasabi

The other night, I was on my way to the Texas Embassy to celebrate with ex-pat friends, and was feeling in the mood for Wasabi, a great little joint on Picadilly that serves yummy, fresh, cheap sushi & hot food. As I approached, people rushing home from work in the dark, I saw Yuriko, sitting alone in the window. A great, iconic surreally modern spin on an Edward Hopper image. Which I didn't shoot, but instead, came inside.



Meanwhile, her friend arrived, in floods of tears. They were talking in Japanese and I knew it wasn't right to take up her time to shoot her, but still, she was absolutely sweet about letting me take a few quick shots, while we both kept an eye on her friend, smiling bravely thru her tears. They got something to go, and quickly left.



As I sat there alone, stirring the packaged wasabi into the soy sauce in my plastic cup, I was musing about my many female friends, here, and scattered round the world. Some, friends since childhood, or gathered, like jewels, at various points and places in my life. Some who I haven't even met (yet), but just feel I know, thru blogging. We all have friends who are just fun to go out with, or who we get along with at work, or even the odd non-friend, who compete with us and stab us in the back, and who, hopefully, we eventually find the courage to let them drop us. But the real 'girls' girls' - the ones who will tell their boyfriend or husband, sorry, but she NEEDS me right now.. those are the most sacred beings in our lives.

So I didn't ask her where she got that fabulous leopard print cardigan. She was doing something more important.

Update: great big thank you hug to Yoshi, aka the girl in the leopard loubs, for sourcing the cardigan: 'The cardigan is chloe sevigny x opening ceremony! The sell the line online, colette.fr has it too, and selfridges in London (the cardigan sold out there though!' This is her blog: bones & bat girls.

Opening Ceremony is one of my favourite new brands: more about them later.

Another update: If you read the comments, and then to go this post.. pretty weird coincidence. Or at least, in my delirious state, it is.

LATEST UPDATE: Just heard from the girl in the shot. I got her name wrong, it is NORIKA. And she's not Japanese, she's Chinese. I simply assumed she was Japanese because of where we are, and her look seemed so.. Tokyo. The colour sense, the patterns.. Wrong, wrong, wrong!