leopard variations

Here's my dilemma: I've got so much I want to show you, photographically. I am practically paralysed with indecision. Like a lot of you, I'm sure, I've been to some amazing press events - it's still going on and will continue to - and while in some ways, like the artists in Paris in the 20s who hung out together and competed in a healthy way to urge each other on to new directions, I do find that when my peers and friends are posting the day they've been to an event, I feel like a lazy cow in comparison, but it's not my nature.

I work hard, spend a lot of time in photoshop, editing, dodging and burning and just generally inhabiting my imaginary world - photos are for me, memories - but in the same way that my friends and even my own sister would just gobble down the Halloween candy on the night, I'm a hoarder. I hoard my images and release them in bits and pieces.

All this as an excuse and apology to all the wonderful people who have worked hard for the press events I've been to thus far: please be patient, I'll be releasing them over time - and an intro to the ongoing Endangered Species series.

This one, above, is one of my favourites. I never saw the girl's face. I don't even know if this is a real fur: it has that authentic, albeit vintage, feel. I just love the way she's styled it. That's exactly how I'd wear a coat that scale.



Next up: same day, also at S/S 2011 fashion week @ Somerset House in September: a girl in the press room. I love that kind of fuzzy.. what's the word for that kind of jumper? Word's in the tip of my tongue. It reminded me of one I saw the same time, on Haneli (I didn't know who she was at the time - but everyone else did. Model, photographer, blogger. Style icon. And her blog is absolutely brilliant.)



Uncanny, actually: both women paired it with a kind of blue/grey accent: the girl in the press room with that fabulous cocktail ring (I have no wish list, per se, but if I did, a great cocktail ring would be on the top of the list), and with Haneli, her nails.



Speaking of leopard: last December I got the idea to do a series I called The Great Motel Challenge - borrowed a faux leopard print coat from Motel Rocks (which I now own), and wore it around town and asked strangers to pose in it. (Here's me, two girls @ the V&A, but in probably the freakiest thing, I did a post with a girl I met on the King's Road ('totally rad maddy') and when the tabloids went wild for about 15 minutes last spring, that Peter Andre had had an affair after he was divorced and Katie Price was going mental and 'obsessively googling her love rival's photo' I could actually SEE on my sitemeter, one address in Sussex going to that post over & over. I was watching Katie cyberstalk Maddie Ford in my coat!)

I've just checked and they're still selling them - 85 quid - click here. If you buy one please tell me in a comment - it would really impress the people at Motel, to know I've got that kind of selling power ; )

ANYWAY.. as I'll be wearing it today - baby it's cold outside outside - I might just keep this Challenge going another season. Why not? If the shoe fits, and all that.

totally rad maddy ford

Mr. Dot, being a rather type A personality, gets up at 6:00 even on the weekends. Usually he wakes me around 7:30 with a cup of tea (before you get all 'aww, how sweet', it's usually accompanied by 'Get up, Jill, we've got to get to blah blah blah & are leaving in 20 minutes.' It's like being on perpetual tour).

Well this morning he also said 'you've been getting a ton of visitors, too many for a Saturday morning.'

Good old sitemeter: (any bloggers that don't have it: it's totally addicting, you can find out where people are coming from to your blog). Turns out people were googling my post on Maddy Ford, who I met in December. It was actually Mr. Dot who found her outside Green & Stone on the King's Road (he had asked me to pick out coloured pencils for him, and, being type A, was already out the door while I was paying, and he found her & thought she'd be great for my Great Motel Rocks Challenge).

And she was. You can read the original post by clicking here. (The title comes from one of my favourite bloggers on the planet: Christi, in California,of thats so rad - fabulous photographer & photo-artist and all round totally rad human being).

I really liked Maddy: she had just moved to London from the country, and we had such a great honest chat & fun shoot. She struck me as a generous spirit, a gentle soul. Even a bit vulnerable, but then again, she had just moved to a big city. I meant to stay in touch with her, but then it was Christmas, and we went away..

So now I'm reading all this alleged stuff about Peter Andre (who also seems so nice: happy birthday, Peter!) & I couldn't give a toss about celebrity gossip - my own life is interesting enough, thank you, and it's none of my business - but I just want to go on record as saying: she's got my support.

Men: can't live with 'em, can't kill them. And they wake you up too early. But they can be so damn cute sometimes, don't you think?