the cat's pyjamas

First: it is glorious here in London. Unbelievable. We went SWIMMING - outdoors - this weekend, in Surrey. Or rather, I did. He lounged in the sun, like a cat.

Sod's law: lately when I'm out, deliberately not bringing my camera, just enjoying real life, but the sunshine, and the way people are dressing.. it's really hard to shut fashion off. Don't you find? Like last Monday - week before last - I was walking home from Jak's (Walton St: it's like Ground Zero for style - I've been meeting friends there a lot again lately - it's ridiculous, the ratio of great looks beats fashion week, because they're not trying so hard) and I passed Joseph. My favourite shop. I love the staff, and they've got the best of everything, in a clean, easily accessible environment.

And there in the window: these pyjamas.

I shot them with my phone, and thought that would be the end of it. But, no: all week it's been nagging at me. Who made them? Will we really see them on the street? (I gather there were a bunch at fashion week - but that's like Halloween. That doesn't count). And then I started thinking of my own white on white stripey pyjamas. Made by The White Company. Cameron Diaz wore them several seasons ago, in the film Holiday - at the start, in LA, when she storms out of her house being all cute and breaking up with her boyfriend (and, incongruously, wearing a bra under them. As if 'I'm gonna break up with you, honey, and storm outside, but first, hold on, let me put on my bra'). At that moment, I became obsessed. I had to have them, but the White Company had stopped making them. But - bizarre twist of fate!- I found the perfect pair, on eBay. This was pre-blog, of course, and I hadn't used eBay before, and I blew it. I bid too soon, and someone named Mr. Millionaire outbid me.

But then in a SECOND twist of fate, a few days later, the same pair were re-released. By Mr. Millionaire himself! I had a whole story in my head: he bought them as a gift for his girlfriend, but they were the wrong size... no, they broke up.. and he put them back on. And I got them! At a lower price than he bought them at.

So yesterday, I was passing Joseph again, and I stopped inside. Took a look around, loved everything I saw. Asked after the PJ's in the window - because I didn't see them on the racks. 'It's Celine,' smiled the lovely saleswoman. (Of course: EVERYONE knows that. This just shows you how consciously out of the fashion loop I've been for the past months - perhaps always.) I've since quickly got up to speed, and I'm very impressed with how Phoebe Philo oozed quiet confidence in Paris this season. But then again: I've been impressed with everything Phoebe has done, from the start - when she first teamed with Stella. 'They're sold out,' she said, 'but we can take them down for you, if you'd like to try them on.'

I thanked her, but declined. I've got my own, in white on white. I'm daring myself to wear them out on the street. I guess the secret is, you have to wear them with great heels, otherwise people will assume you're breaking up with your boyfriend. Incidentally, I found a similar pair on eBay - Saville Row, in blue and white stripes - sixteen days to go. I mean - I hate trends, I really do - it annoys me, in fact, when things I always wear become trendy - like pastels, my wardrobe year round is pastels, and now I feel I have to justify and apologise - but that's for another post. What I'm wondering now is, is anyone out there, in the real world, wearing their PJs on the street?

16.67% of the antwerp six

Many years ago in NY, my sweet and talented graphic designer friend Robin (blackbird design), who now resides in Chicago, introduced me to the '24 hour theory': if you hear of something new, out of the blue, chances are you'll hear it again from an unrelated source within 24 hours.

When I first met Charlie May (Girl a la Mode), at the Next event, and discovered she'd graduated from Central Saint Martins and is a fashion designer, I asked what her work is like. It's like the game I play with my NY friend Lisa, before I'd meet her boyfriend, for example, it's 'who would play him in a film?' (it's a great game: everyone can either resemble someone, or in a pinch, a cross between two). Charlie said her influences are Celine and 'Ann Smushmushsmush'. 'Ann who?' 'Ann Smushmushsmush'. After a few rounds, I finally asked her to spell it: Ann Demeulemeester. And I realised I'd never actually heard the name spoken aloud. But of course, I knew OF her. And less than 24 hours later, I forget why now, Mr. Dot brought up her name.



Ann Demeulemeester sounds fascinating. She's married to a photographer and lives in Belgium with their son in the only Le Corbusier house in Belgium. And she emerged as a designer in Antwerp in the 80s along with a kind of 'school' of Belgium designers, including Dries Van Noten, who became known as the Antwerp Six. Charlie's friend Amy worked for her and she'd visit Antwerp and that's how she started collecting her clothes. I mean, check out her website, isn't it amazing? I love how in her 2011 collection some of the details on the white jacket are echoed in the boots Charlie's wearing here (also by Ann D). And she was saying that, for example, with the white top, her friend wears it back to front, with the ties in the back.

I love wearing things backwards. V neck jumpers especially. I just like having more detail in the back and a plain front. I can see this top worn that way. Sorry it's so blurry: I really want to shoot Charlie in this in brighter light, but there's something about these blurs that I think are just so beautiful.



So when I met her for late lunch @ Vapiano the other day, and she was wearing almost head to toe Ann Demeulemeester, I had to snap her. But while I'd brought my camera I'd forgotten my battery, so we used her camera - and it was dark - and it all came out these lovely blurs. (Charlie's done a post already but I'm purposely not reading hers before posting mine).



At a time when it seems to much of fashion is looking backwards, to the Seventies, mostly but still referencing the Fifties, Sixties, bit of the Eighties, this is the direction that, to me, feels most like the future. It's not 2001 Space Odyssey astronaut futuristic, but something more organic, layered, fresh, comfortable, clean yet still feminine, asymmetric, geometric yet soft, and above all, beautiful.