bora bora blue

Okay this is a little confusing: it's Day Two here in London for A/W 2010 (that alone is weird: it's not even spring yet - God only knows what it's like for people living in places like Australia), but I'm still posting Day One. I think I dreamt about the light blue dress in yesterday's post: all know is after three more catwalk shows today, ANd an awards ceremony, and running all over town and meeting more people than I can remember, all I can think about is light blue and fuzzy knit. That's the predominant image in my head, that's the look I want to wear. Soft knits, unravelling, in shades of nude, beige, pink, turquoise, and baby blue.

And I think these girls are just gorgeous. Not a model in the bunch, just civilians.



These were all shot after the Bora show yesterday. I ended up in a general flow that brought me to a kind of outdoor backstage vibe: everyone was just so up after that show, and models & people were coming out of backstage, and we were all kind of hanging around, feeling buoyant.



I suddenly realised that the kind of wall next to me was actually the rack of the clothes in the show. For some reason that blew me away, and I started shooting it. There were some crew guys that I realised were guarding the rack. 'Sorry: am I allowed to shoot this?' I asked. Which sounded funny to me because if it was no secret to see the actual clothes, what harm would it do to photograph them off the girls?

'Would you like me to model them?' asked the guy guarding the clothes. 'Yes, please', said I, but he chickened out (that's a quaint expression!)



Okay, enough chit chat from me. You deserve more shots, and I've already chosen a bunch for you to see next. But it's late, and I need to chill out with a rom com. Something with Jennifer Aniston, I don't even care what. (I shot a bunch of celebrities today: not intentionally, they were just there).

If anyone's in London, btw, don't be shy: come on down! Anyone can get into the Somerset House open area, and they're making the best crepes (savoury & sweet) @ the Lavazza truck, which this year has been traded in for a shiny silver spiffy model. What are you waiting for, a written invitation?

english eccentrics: spot the difference

I've been thinking about the little documentary that student Emma Allen & her friends are doing on British fashion, and how it's different from other regions. Maybe I'd feel this way wherever I lived, because I'd be looking for it, but it seems to me that what's going on in fashion right now, and this might not just be London, is a permission to be eccentric. To take classic concepts, to beg, borrow, and especially, steal, from every era that came before us. And then make it our own. With our own deeply held preferences for colour and texture, and our own collective references to a past that could well be before our mothers' or even grandmothers', time.

Case in point: this one shot of an anonymous girl @ fashion week. This is clearly 2009, but in pattern and texture, there are references as far back as that golden British era, between the Wars. It's Classics meets Alice In Wonderland, only she forgot her skirt. These are my favourite colours, by the way. And I love the way it's Day One of fashion week and she's sticking her hair in a thing. THAT takes total confidence! I bet she's gorgeous. Or at the very least, happy in her own skin. And that's where true style is born.