paris correspondent

I did not take this photo, shot yesterday in Paris. Alex did. Alex, of La Perle a Paris. Alex, who I have not yet met. My new friend Alex, who I introduced to Reid, virtually. Reid Peppard, who is my taxidermist artist jewelry designer friend, Reid of RP/Encore, from California, who dresses Lady Gaga in rat hats & lives in East London with her English artist boyfriend. Reid, who coincidentally, it transpires, lived a few miles from Alex, growing up. Anyway: thanks to a few tweets, they're now friends. And they had already met each other: by mistake! Mistake, of course, or Serendipity.

There's more to this story and I will continue tomorrow - it's late, it's freak summer here, but what I can't get over is when I asked Alex to send me some photos - to be my eyes & ears for Paris fashion week - what I didn't expect is that SHE HAS MY EYE.

This is not a street shot by me, but I wish it was.

the emperor's new clothes

Before shutting down, I thought I'd finally take a look online at yesterday's Chanel show. Obviously everyone knows Chanel is the best show in the best city in the world: the icing on the cake, the grand finale of the whole fashion thing.

And obviously, I don't know what I'm talking about.

But as I carefully clicked through each shot on style.com, I viewed it as if I was back at the Earl's Court London Gala fashion student's show last spring, standing on the end of the runway in the photographer's pit. And, from that angle - imagining it was a student show, and not Lagerfeld - I found the whole collection all over the shop. I mean, these two are the closest to a similar theme.. It looked like some kind of weird parody of Chanel clothes. Unlike what Coco was known for: making clothes that made women beautiful, instead I was watching the most beautiful women in the industry, looking.. not so hot. In my humble opinion.

Maybe I'm totally wrong. I must be. Yes granted I liked the little tweed suits with hot pants, that's cute. And it must have been incredible to see this show, with the shrubbery laid out like Versailles (were the bushes really black?). The whole theatre of catwalk shows, whatever music was playing, the buzz and energy of all these beautiful, famous, powerful people.. there is no question, for me, having just come off an intense round of excellent shows in London, that currently, the catwalk, as theatre, is channelling (sorry!) some kind of cross between the best rock concerts of the sixties, or the height of opera in previous centuries.. but just looking through those photos, silently, as photographs.. sorry mate, wasn't doing it for me.



I had planned to do a post about how excited I was, and pick my favourite outfits. I do like the white dress, above left, but I saw so many shows I preferred right here in London - by designers I haven't even yet shown you. And while the model with his real son are both cute as a button, well let's just say I wouldn't want my husband going out in that outfit.

Maybe it's one of those 'you had to be there' situations. God knows, I wasn't. And with this attitude, I'm unlikely to be any time in the near future.

(Thank you to style.com for letting me steal your photos. Thank you to YOU, dear Reader, for letting me rant. And PRET, I do agree: Ines's return IS a big thing! ; )

leaning towards lilac

And leaning towards the light.

But I don't mean top to toe pastel: I think the whole secret of working the pastel/sorbet/sherbet thing this spring is to not go all sugary. Same advice, actually, when making cupcakes. Keep the pastels muted, mix with lovely warm neutrals like camel or tan or griege, or if you go grey or blueish grey, that's lovely too, especially with nude, peach, ballet pink.. it's subtle, it's sophisticated, and there are endless variations.



Actually.. duh, why didn't I think of this earlier? I've been searching on the street for that lilac/camel colour combination I've got in my head, and all along.. this is from my first fashion shoot, last September. Georgie, left, and Estelle, in vintage furs and lilac frocks. Georgie's is Cacharel (that's a brand that seemed to have disappeared: but style.com has their recent catwalk show - for the first time since 2003! Bit of trivia). I met Georgie and Estelle separately and threw them together for this shoot, by the time we did this change of clothes, the sixth, they were old friends, and went out clubbing together the next night.

Isn't it funny: life. Sometimes, like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, you can search for something that's in your own backyard. Metaphorically speaking.

What's your favourite colour combination of the moment?