focus: lucy jay

Last night, I went to sleep absolutely flooded with images: sensory overload (and perhaps, too many cupcakes) and really creatively inspired, buzzed, with some of the most amazing creative talent I've seen in the past few days of London 'fashion press week'.

Didn't know where to begin but I do have my favourites, and one of them is Lucy Jay, who I met yesterday at the wonderfully organised 'fashion press week' at the Saatchi Gallery. The combination of the existing art exhibits and how it played off the fashion as art was at times, uncanny. I'm about to head over to meet Roz and her family for lunch and have spent the morning trying to catch up, and was simply overloaded with where to start, but Lucy kept coming into my head: a fashion graduate, she is starting out as one should: simply. Keeping the focus. Just digital print scarves, beautifully designed.

Her booth was that simple: just her, her name, and a few of her scarves. And a bunch of flowers.

Incredibly, hers was the first card that fell out of my bag: all it says is her email address: hello@lucy-jay.com. Please get in touch, show her your support, ask her how you can get her scarves. We've all got to start somewhere, and I feel, with her focus, she will go far.

(p.s. update: Lucy & I have been in touch. In her words: "..With regard to stockists, at the moment I am stocked at no-one boutique in shoreditch who are in conjunction with farfetched.com. I have also recently become stocked with boticca.com..." altho I've checked the site, her scarfs aren't up yet. When in doubt, I guess just get in touch with her directly: as she grows we'll be able to find her in more places, I'm sure.

blue jean baby

Thanks to the wonderful blogging global community, trends now seem to crop up overnight, like mushrooms. But still, I feel, different cities and countries have their own personalities. It's subtle, but for example I notice that when I'm in the states I see more denim than in London. I don't know if it's cause I'm more in a city here, and countryside there? And South Beach Miami is so chilled, of course I'd see more denim short shorts there.



So a bit of blue, especially faded, is really feeling like a luxury fabric to me now. And I'm loving it as a third in the trilogy of camel and black (the obvious third, of course, being white, with red a close second). I've always loved camel and black with hot pink - my bullfighters combination - but that's just me, I'm weird.







When I saw Hedvig for a press event the other day (more on that to follow) I was wearing high heels - rare for me - and a skirt and pearls, and still felt like a tomboy next to her in tight ripped jeans. I forget where she got the jeans - Zara maybe? But her gorgeous heels are Acne and new birthday bag from her boyfriend is the Mulberry one she's been wishing for. Somehow the old fashioned shape of those heels feels so new right now.

Something old, new, borrowed, blue: I feel when I've got those four things in balance, all is well with the world.

Must run. The Tube strike really played havoc with our Fashion Press Week plans yesterday. I mean, what if we bloggers just went on strike, huh? I say next Wednesday, no one who has a blog should ride the tube. THAT would show them!

this is what i mean

I love the little conversation that sprung up around my recent 'Ooh la la' post: it's nice to see I'm not the only one who's got this male/female style thing running as a theme in my head. (Don't even get me started on the 'something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue' one). It's not just masculine feminine: it's mixing old and new, hard and soft, dressing it up and dressing it down. In some ways, it's become so mainstream - I mean, the obvious one that I'm seeing everywhere - that still works so beautifully - is throwing a leather biker jacket over a flirty girly dress or skirt. Everyone's rocking that trend.

But I happened - by accident - to stumble on this shot of my friend Natalie Hughes, of Canned Fashion, who I first met last February at London Fashion Week, and I feel this is a perfect example of getting that balance right, in a uniquely original way.

Natalie is the most amazing young woman. I mean, really polite, generous spirited, kind, smart, pretty.. she seems like someone who will be famous one day, and old women like me will say 'I knew it the minute I met her.' Like a young Ali McGraw, or Audrey Hepburn, Jackie Kennedy.. she's just got that quality.

When I met her she was working somewhere else, but now she's at Net a Porter. And her job sounds fascinating, she's so busy but clearly loving it. I hate when people say that phrase 'you're such a star' but there is something about her that just shines so bright.