all that glitters is not miu miu

What is it about glitter on shoes at the moment? Can someone tell me? When I saw my friend Estelle at fashion week- it was a bizarre act of serendipity, actually, as I was replying to her text, while in the tube, making a plan to meet at Somerset House that day, knowing that it wouldn't send til I got to Embankment station, and who should walk onto the stop at that moment, mid-text, but Estelle! (and her blog name is Serendipity, and it's my two numbers: 23, and 7) and she was wearing these glitter shoes. I loved the way she paired them with red trousers - I love lavender and red, to me, it 'redeems' red - anyway, she said she got them at Primark, really cheap. Something like £6.

My previous post - and subsequent discovery that Office are selling a similar pair, the Larry, for £62 - reminded me that I'd forgotten to post this. There has been such a fuss, such a feeding frenzy, for the Miu Miu glitter boots, and court shoes - and I like them, and I LOVE Miu Miu as a brand (I love Miuccia Prada, period: as a person, and as a creative being).



The thing about me is, I instinctively bristle at any trends that start getting out of hand. I might like something on my own - like the way I admired Estelle's shoes - but I kind of shrink away from that crowd mentality, that fanatical 'everyone's wearing it' thing. Still.. there's something so Dorothy's ruby slippers in the Wizard of Oz mentality about these shoes - and it's a concept that has such legs.. sorry, the cliches are just running thru this post, I'll stop now.



Thank you to Estelle of Serendipity 2307, to Miuccia Prada, for your inspiration, and to Net-a-Porter, for inadvertently letting me steal these four product shots. This pair of gorgeously impractical glitter and suede peep toe booties, for example, can be purchased for a mere £555. They are boots meant for taxis, and parties, and most definitely, not made for walking.

juxtaposition 22.09.11: dots and spots

Shot within 20 minutes, consecutively. Was meeting my friend Georgina (The Glitter Bird: you've seen me post her before - she is brilliant in every sense, and her tweets make me laugh so much - she's the one who found the fashion week on acid post). I was early and this group of fun women came up to me to interview me for something, on film (I don't have the literature - and I haven't heard from them since!) and while they did - and I took some fun shots of them - they found this Girl in the Polka Dot Dress. I'd already shot a girl at LFW in a similar dress - her post is next - but I didn't get a chance to meet her, because she was being filmed, and I was meeting Georgie.

Who was sporting these leopard print trousers, and sparkling new, back to school shiny loafers, from Office. I only realised afterwards, the black/navy/white spotted proportion to warm, burgundy brown made for an interesting juxtaposition. IMHO.

Speaking of glitter: has anyone else noticed, the hysteria for glitter shoes, as brought on by Miu Miu, has reached epic proportions. I see that Office has a pair of brogues, in blue, for £62, but my friend Estelle had her pair for much less, from Primark. Actually... her post is next, the polka dot trend will just have to wait.

OMG! I just noticed, Georgie's shoes - the DILLY MILLY, in Burgundy Patent - are now on sale, for 32 quid. I want them. Don't tell George.

in memory: steve jobs, 1955-2011

Like my friend Toni, of the Fashion Cloud, 'for reasons I don’t know how to explain', I am holding off on what I had planned to post today, because, like her, I am saddened and affected by the death of someone I have never met.




When my husband told me this morning that Steve Jobs, founder of Apple, has died, of cancer, at the age of 56.. I don't know how to say what I want to say. My father was first diagnosed with prostate cancer before he was 60. While he went on to live another 15 years, I know how hard it was, at times, for him, for my family, for me, to come to terms with the helpless feeling of how cruel, how unfair, life could be.



We all have such a short time in this life, in this world. The question is, what we do with our time. Each minute that I squander - that I occupy my mind with anger, or resentment, or feeling victimised - each minute that I am not creating either something beautiful, of use to others, or spreading some sense of hope, love, or joy - is a minute that I am wasting on this earth.

Without Steve Jobs' vision, I would not have the means for my voice to be heard. So, from the moment that I click 'publish post', I will rise, take my beautiful MacBook Pro with me, out into the sunshine. And I will write. And I will do it with gratitude to a man I've never met, who has changed my world, for the better.



Rest in Peace, Steve Jobs. But I have a feeling you won't be resting at all: you'll continue to have the vision, and the spirit, to keep on creating for us mortals, here on Earth.