John and his purple trainers, sketching

Inspired by a recent post from the gorgeous Erica, of Fashion Chalet, I'm going for a purple and red theme with these three shots taken within minutes of each other on Friday at the V&A. I love that combination even tho I recently said I don't like a) red, or b), purple with grey.

As I was posting this, our reincarnated cat decided that we didn't give him enough attention (we've just come back from the weekend in the Herefordshire countryside) so he knocked my entire full mug of PG Tips tea off my night stand, all over my favourite White Company pj's, the carpet, the laptop case, and several innocent books in the area. AND the last episode of Emma has already started & I'm missing it. I'm hardly jumping for joy about the situation.

So, lucky you, you get the shots without much explanation apart from the top shot is a sweet student from Germany (more about her & her friends soon), middle is a purple hair/coat combo I saw on the front steps and bottom, John, sketching a statue in purple trainers from China.

grey matters

Been musing on the (non)colour grey, and how it's the new Pink. As in, this summer, having shed the black that was everywhere this spring (see going grey) it's somehow morphed into a pastel. We haven't seen grey in summer before since.. not in my lifetime. Grey was the new black back around 1999, but that was winter, you'd expect that. But now, it has become part of that pale pastel palette I was going on about the other day. It's actually starting to feel like a colour to me.

Here are two good examples, above, my friend LIz, in grey, outside the V&A (I'm a poet & I know it : ) and top, on a Mystery Brunette with a great smile (three, if you count the girl with the ice cream cone. No, wait, FOUR: the guy near the red phone box in Liz's shot). Liz & Mystery Brunette have different skin tones and hair colour, yet they're wearing almost the same shade of grey. And it works on everyone. Which is the first requirement in any colour that's competing for the honour of being new Black. Or, in this context, the new Pink.

going grey

Helene, a really nice model from Holland, at Asprey on Bond Street. I don't know what's happened to me, but this weird weather is making me take a whole new look at grey. When I first saw it for spring I wondered what WERE they thinking, but now I've changed my mind. I'm seeing great looks in subtle shades of grey (especially gorgeous with nudes, pale ballet pinks).. this works because she can pull off the hard masculine bike jacket and leggings-under-shorts that's starting to look really tired on more vertically challenged girls. But one can't blame 'em: we NEED THOSE LEGGINGS!! If we don't layer, we'll freeze this summer.

p.s. (thursday) speaking of leggings: my husband, Mr. Dot, just found this great piece on leggings in the Times, by the witty & wonderful Lisa Armstrong.