peaches and cream

There's so much I want to say about my lovely friend Hedvig, who's Norwegian. I can't believe we only met last February, in the twilight of the last night of London Fashion Week. I will say this, tho: her skin is porcelain, she always looks impeccable, and while I'm sure she's well groomed, she is so low maintenance as a friend. Just mellow, easy going.

Case in point: Covent Garden, last Thursday. We were meeting @ a new fab branch of Le Pain Quotidien (great space upstairs, especially when it's too cold for Ella's outside). Sod's law, the Picadilly line was closed, and I had to switch a few trains. Texted her when it surfaced and her quick reply was 'don't stress'. So I didn't. Friends like that are, in my book, a treasure.

I love Hedvig's style and, like another great friend, Natayla of Treasures of a Ladybug, each time we meet I photograph her as part of our goodbye ritual. Talk about style icons! Both women throw together original outfits with such ease, using the same item in different ways.



Hedvig's boots are new ones from Acne (she'd just come back from Oslo), who also made the gorgeous putty coloured, fine cashmere/silk jumper. Her peachy jacket, which added some warmth to a very cold, grey day, looks expensive but it's H&M.

As for the rest? In her own words: "The jeans I'm wearing are a swedish brand called Cheap Monday, very cheap jeans, their principle is to sell jeans at the lowest price possible, my bag is my new "baby" from Longchamp, it took a while before I received it in my post but it was worth the waiting."

jumpin' jackie flash

More on the Cupcake Chronicles: as per yesterday's post, I met the delightful Jackie, the Platform Princess, at Ella's, in Covent Garden. Actually we're pretty sure we've already met @ fashion week, and I probably shot her, but anyway, after the sugar rush & the caffeine starting kicking in, it was time she got dotted.



God knows why, but I started getting all bossypants & shouting at her 'JUMP!' 'JUMP! but if you can imagine, Covent Garden was simply HEAVINg with tourists, and they kept ruining the shot, so I'd be like 'JUMP!' 'DON'T JUMP!' and the poor girl was getting exhausted. She finally gasped something like 'I'm not a good jumper' so I did some shots of her clinging to a post, to rest (you'll get them another time, Cupcakes, three is enough for one post).



Jackie has already posted about it. Kaz really made me laugh when she referred to my next 'jump victim', which is what I considered calling this post. Either that, or 'jump shots'. But then after yesterday's Stones reference, this one was too tempting to resist. As are Ella's cupcakes.

Speaking of which, I've got a great story about Ella's which I'll save for another post. Every time I try to embed the Stones' song of the same name, I crash. Which is probably the Goddess of My Understanding's way of saying, just post it, Jill, they know the song, it's a beautiful day, go out before it's dark.

What are you up to today? Whatever you're doing today, I urge you, take the time to a) smell some flowers, b) smile at a stranger, and c), jump!

Jumpin' Jackie Flash, btw, is wearing a white Reiss blazer, the perfect blue (not too warm, not too purple) Christopher Parnell shirt, Monki jeans, Mulberry shoes & vintage bag.

get your rah rahs out

The past two days have been GORGEOUS here in London, and yesterday was just magic: met up with Jen (the Style Crusader) then joined by a growing, incredibly wonderful group of friends: bloggers, mostly, but all with wonderful style. We had such a blast street shooting & eating cupcakes, and I kept shooting Jen in her rah rah skirt from Rare. (Mine is in the post, but that's for another post). I kept shooting her all day, shouting at her 'work it!' and cracking her up.



(btw: for those of you kids out there, my title is a really lame reference to a Rolling Stones' album cover. Ask your parents - or your grandparents - or, if you want some further reading, click here. God bless wikipedia!)

Weird coincidence: while I was posting this, I could hear Mr. Dot playing this song while patiently waiting for me to post so we can run out. It's a great song, please click on it because it really does fit this post. Jagger really does have innate great style. And he looks uncannily, exactly like Mr. Dot did when I met him in NY. Hence being here now, in London.



I LOVE Jen's ensemble and feel it is spot on perfect: the soft peachy nude pink flower petals of the skirt are balanced by the hard geometric lines of her black knit biker style jacket (I'll find out from where), then the white ribbed skinny 'wifebeater' tee (what is the WORD for them? I wear them all the time), black tights, white sneakers sans laces, and to make sure it's not too matchy matchy, brown leather Alexander McQueen bag. Oh and magenta nails. Can you top that!

feels like everywhere is paris in the twenties

Going back in time, but not that far: only to show you our first cupcake convention, at Ella's Bakehouse Cupcakes, in Covent Garden. As she said: 'I love mix of different material and contrasts, the wool harem pants are Helmut Lang, the silk blouse from Zara, jacket from Topshop, scarfs from Zara and H&M and my Alexander Wang bag.'



We shot this almost a month ago when we were still trying to find ways to stay warm but leaning towards spring. (My cupcake, btw, was espresso: divine). Suddenly, we've bypassed that transitional time. So many things I was looking forward to wearing suddenly feel too warm: today in Hyde Park, it was magnificent, but almost a bit too hot for jumpers & things. Everyone - I kid you not, EVERYONE - was in shorts. Shorts and tights and, of course, boots.

Still it wasn't nearly as hot as NY: something like 92 degrees fahrenheit. That's just.. weird. Cathy Horyn @ the NY Times tweeted 'It's going to be a bonkers day for fashion 'cause of the heat. Just saw a woman, professional looking, in peep-toe patent shoes with shorts.' If only she did street shots: she's a fashion literary genius. With a heart.



This is such a great time to be alive! I know I keep saying that, but it's true: it's like an explosion of creative self expression. I feel there have been creative 'hot spots' throughout history: Florence in the Renaissance, of course, and Paris in the 20s, and it feels like that, now, only better, cause we're connected thru this amazing technology. It's like everywhere is Paris in the 20s, and we're all in the same cafe.



Hedvig was trying her first cupcake - not just at Ella's, but EVER (it was banoffee, btw: banana & toffee) and Jennifer and I were both shooting her at the same time. I was laughing so much I shook the camera. When I asked if she minded me posting this, her reply was 'don't eat in front of a camera is my lesson learned, but I have no problem with it to be posted, it's just funny.'

everyone's a winner: daffodils, celadon, a shoe named estelle, and cupcakes

You might recall I recently held a contest to guess who was wearing whose shoes @ LFW ('whose shoes', 3 March). I gave a cryptic little hint: DAFFODILS. Which the cute & clever Sarra, the Swiss Miss of 'Today I Like..' figured out! I really admire how her mind works. In her own words:

"First i thought, i have to look for narciso rodriguez shoes, because "daffodil" means narzisse in german or narciso in italian. but i realized quickly that he ain't british! :-) so then i kept looking for a shoe called daffodil and found one from rupert sanderson. then i checked his spring 2010 collection et voila, there she was! estelle! ;-) I was looking, if i would find some front row pictures with someone wearing these shoes... but i couldn't find out who wore them. would you tell me!? or would you give another hint? maybe i could find out! I loved looking for the shoe! (am i crazy!?) :-) "

No, you are not crazy, Sarra. Far from it. But then Mr. Dot got involved, suggesting that altho she's clearly the winner of the contest, I should still give her a multiple choice for the 2nd part. If anyone reading this wants to help Sarra win Part Two, please feel free to contribute.

The wearer of Sanderson's beautiful Estelle sandals, in my favourite colour, a kind of pale turquoise, or celadon, is:
a) a well known WAG (Wife and/or Girlfriend of a rich football player)
b) the wife of a deposed dictator with a penchant for expensive shoes
c) the editor of vogue.com
d) a beautiful young British actress recently up for an Oscar

Fingers on buzzers please.



As, through freak coincidence, Sarra & her Man were visiting London from Switzerland last weekend (lovely post about it here), we were trying to plan to meet so I could give her a free Primrose Hill cupcake as a prize, but we all got busy & then we were away on the weekend itself, so Sarra has come up with a clever alternative prize. Meanwhile speaking of cupcakes, Jen of Style Crusader has organised a Cupcake Party, this Friday, @ noon @ Ella's in Covent Garden. All are invited to attend. Details here.

after kane: smoking in the rain

After the Christopher Kane show, all the cool kids were hanging out on the street corner in the rain, smoking.

I remember reading or hearing when I was a girl, that only Parisian women had style. I remember two things specifically: they knew how to tie a scarf round their neck, and they knew how to smoke.



So when I ran into my Garance Dore outside the Topshop flowers venue after the show* I didn't know if she wanted me photographing her smoking. She laughed at the very idea of it being an issue. How.. American of me. (We had already had a lovely chat the day before, when I met her at Somerset House with Scott. She is as warm and friendly as everyone says, and no, I'm not going to tell you what we talked about, it's private).




She was with the brilliant and delightful fashion journalist and girl about town Indigo Clarke, who among other things blogs for Harpers Bazaar Australian, altho she's currently based in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. And I'll save my portrait of her for later cause my husband, Mr. Dot, feels this is too long a post, and he's the boss.




*(BTW I didn't see the show: if you didn't either, here are some photos & the live streaming is here. Lots o' black leather & lace, all prettified with flowers: slightly peasant, slightly girly, but with an edgy twist. Cool.)

ballet style

Emilia & Megan, the nicest girls, dotted outside Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Love that netted skirt in this season's must have pale pink peachy colour, paired with a white tee and black leather jacket. And Megan got that gorgeous electric aquamarine blue dress on one of her trips to Africa. Fabulous!