Street Style....Team Marc Jacobs on the Streets of London

The Marc Jacobs Spring 2009 collection (shown in NY on Sept 8 last year) was described by Nicole Phelps at Style.com as thus:

"Mary Poppins goes to Dubai. The King and I meets The Postman Always Rings Twice. Yves Saint Laurent's Ballets Russes collection redux. There are as many meanings to derive from a Marc Jacobs collection as there are crashers at his shows. But listen to the litany that Jacobs himself provided after all 53 of his Spring looks—each one more colorful, more multilayered, and more zanily accessorized than the last—had circled his Stefan Beckman-designed Hall of Mirrors runway: 'America, womanly, Broadway, Perry Ellis, country, naïveté…'

...This season, nothing escaped Jacobs' roving eye or his melting-pot mentality. And in his hands even a thing like a farm-girl apron gets tweaked and reinterpreted until, impossibly, it becomes the very definition of contemporary chic. "It's about the joy of dressing up," he finally said backstage. And how."

One of the things (there are many!) I adore so much about street style/fashion blogs is that you get to see "real" people (not that stunning, genetically blessed models on a catwalk aren't "real" people, of course, but you understand what I am getting at) wearing clothes that were featured on the runway or at least interpretations of the clothes. How people style themselves and take inspiration and/or individual pieces from the catwalk and make them their own is a source of endless fascination for me.

I photographed Sabrina, Marco and, um, did a bad and didn't get the other girl's name - sorry! (above) before the Marc by Marc Jacobs event at Liberty the other night. They were all wearing pieces from Marc's Spring/Summer '09 collection (each works for the brand) and looked utterly fabulous. Importantly, they didn't look like they had just stepped off the runway - they had taken key pieces from the collection and worked them back to suit their own personal style.

Love the brocade of this dress cinched tightly at the waist with the wrapped fabric belt....oh, yes, and the Robert Jennifer quilted bag :)


And this jacket on Sabrina? Wow! The jacket (I kind of think it looks a bit American marching band inspired) was incredible. When I got close-up (I really wanted to touch it but I think I would have been overstepping the mark just a wee bit!) the little details - check the stars on the elbows, the gold zip at the front, the contrasting fabric on the pockets, the beautiful metallic tweed fabric - were fascinating. This is the kind of jacket that a little girl would love: either in her dressing up box for now (albeit a very expensive dressing up box piece!) or wrapped up in layers of tissue paper and put away until she is old enough to wear it "properly".

You can't really tell from the photo, but Sabrina had little navy leg-warmers over her pants:

Marco:

Street Style....Spring Florals

Yesterday in London: the sun was shining, the temp hovered in the early twenties, the birds were tweeting, the flowers blooming, my head was throbbing, my eyes streaming and my nose, running. Hmmmph, the dreaded summer flu - it kind of ruins the pretty picture I was conjuring up, huh?

But Anouk (I think it might have been the gorgeous Dutch model Anouk Hagemeijer?) cheered me up with the fab floral handbag she had hooked over her arm yesterday. Florals are BIG this Spring/Summer and it is nice to see some flower power filtering onto the streets.

Anouk's last purchase? The leather leggings she is wearing in the photographs.
And on her fashion radar? A pretty summer dress!

And the lovely Gemma gliding along in her floaty, floral maxi dress?

Her last purchase was a practical one: a pair of Converse

On her wishlist? A not so practical pair of purple sparkly heels from Irregular Choice :)

Tomorrow: Photos of the London Marc Jacobs team

Saturday: The wonderful Isabelle from Catwalk Queen

Sunday: Superhero Day - a blue cape and a pair of very Superwoman shoes :)

Street Style......Rock Chic

I am writing this post slightly inebriated. I may have just got home from the Marc Jacobs event at Liberty store and I may have just drunk an indeterminate number of delicious vodka and chambord cocktails before stumbling my way home on the Tube :) This is despite the fact I have the flu AGAIN (I am like a receptor for every germ buzzing about London at the moment) and probably shouldn't be combining cold&flu tablets with alcohol. But what's a girl to do when faced with tall glasses of gorgeous pale pinky-mauve raspberry concoctions, racks of glorious Marc Jacobs summer clothes and handbags? Drink up of course! Um, and tuck that credit card firmly away :)

This is Luke from the band, King Cannons. He IS rock 'n' roll.

Check out the band on MySpace here.

And the girls? A little bit rock chic don't you think?

Mmmmm after all those cocktails I'm feeling a bit rock 'n' roll myself.... Or maybe that's just the Sudafed kicking in :)

Street Style: Bows, High Heeled DM's, Mad Max....it's all about being a Teenager!

I love photographing teenagers: there is something about their fun, "up for anything" unselfconsciousness and genuineness in front of the camera that is wonderful to capture.......One of my dreams is to do a shoot for Teen Vogue (c'mon, a girl's got to have BIG dreams, non?!) I also love just chatting to teenagers - listening to their hopes and dreams for the future, hearing about what's cool right now, their tastes in music and fashion. It puts me in touch with my inner teenager which still lurks in me somewhere despite it being, oh, some 10 years since I was a teenager ;-) ;-) ;-)

As with Ellrimmer who I photographed last week, Alva (above) and Louise (below) look like teenagers i.e. age appropriate. They aren't trying to look 25 and heck, as we* all know, youth is fleeting.....or at least it feels that way. So even though Alva is wearing heels, they are sturdy 8 eyelet Doc Martens so she doesn't look at all like she is tottering around in her mum's "borrowed" shoes.

This was not my finest photographic moment (which noodle-head put their overstuffed bag smack bang in the middle of the photo?Mmmmm oh yes, that would be me!) but I wanted to show you Alva's DM's:

And how cute does Louise look? When I asked if I could take her photo her friend goes "See, I told you you look hot today!!!" Check the little piece of tape holding her glasses together!

I asked Louise what she wanted to do when she left school. Her answer: A geophysicist! Both girls are beautiful but obviously very intelligent as well (Alva is thinking of starting her own blog: Do it, Do it, Alva).

From today onwards, I am going to be asking the people I photograph the following two questions: what was the last thing they purchased and what's on their "wishlist" (they don't have to be fashion purchases but things will probably lead that way). I am a naturally curious (sounds better than nosy, huh?) so I guess this is a way of me finding out a bit more info about the person and also gives me something to write about if I am running out of ideas :) :)

I didn't get to ask Alva because I photographed her last week, but Louise's last purchase was the Diesel "Mad Max" Hoodie she is wearing in the photo (together with the little vintage scarf tied around her handbag). On her radar for the future? A glittery gold vintage jacket from Beyond Retro!

*meaning those of us over the age of 25 who are now spending our "pocket money" on anti-ageing creams rather than on a bottle of Sun-In!

Street Style....Red Hair and Furry Hats

"Blondes are noticed but redheads are never forgotten." Unknown

I LOVE red hair...not least because I was one for about 10 years from my late teens to my late twenties. I am a natural blonde (hee hee-well, as "natural" as one can be when one leaves one's teenage years behind ;-) ;-) but decided to embrace my inner Titian and went a glorious Pre-Raphaelite red. Actually I think it was my hairdresser who decided I would be much more fabulous as a redhead.... and I blithely agreed*. And I loved it. It was different, it was fun and vibrant (err rather too vibrant at times I suspect: it did take on a rather orangey glow under the lights at the department store I worked in while I was studying) and it suited my fiery, passionate Aries temperament. I think it also went some way in fulfilling my childhood dream of being Anne of Green Gables :)

I knew my red hair phase couldn't last forever though and I am now back to being blonde again.....but my love affair with red hair continues. I saw the stunning Keeley (above) and knew immediately that I wanted to photograph her. Keeley, a model and student, has an almost ethereal beauty but in a thoroughly modern way. Other redheaded women I would love to photograph? Karen Elson, Julianne Moore, Lily Cole, Alice Burdeu, Christina Hendricks from Mad Men (how ridiculously HOT is she?), Maggie Rizer, Shirley Manson, Lauren Ambrose....the list goes on and on. And that's just the girls!

One of my favourite UK photographers, the supremely talented Emma Hardy, photographed a number of redheads for Codigo magazine last year. The shoot took place in 2 public swimming baths in London and was styled by Lynette Garland. The photographs were stunning- you can check them out here (click through Emma's fashion portfolio to photo no.18)

And Keeley's furry hat? She is obviously onto a trend as I photographed the fab Phoebe Arnold (formerly fashion editor at POP magazine and now fashion editor over at Katie Grand's new LOVE magazine) a couple of weeks ago sporting the same look:

How marvellous is Phoebe's coral pink skirt? And her friend's brogues?

*It is amazing what we agree to once we are ensconced in the hairdresser's chair, no? "I think we need to go really short/cut a heavy fringe/tint your hair auburn for summer. It would look totally ah-mazing on you, darl!" And somehow I find myself agreeing. I suspect it rather has something to do with being plied with a pile of glossy magazines, cups of coffee (or wine!) and the mind-numbing effects of oodles of bleach being basted onto my head :)

Street Style: Men Behaving Stylishly

So.....during the week it was my birthday! Which one? Um, I'm not telling :) (although my facebook profile does list my birth year as 1911...I can assure you I am not that old!) Anyway, I got lots of lovely calls, emails and texts from my peeps including one from my dad saying that he reads my blog a few times a week* (waves, Dad!). One part of my Dad's email read as follows:

"I enjoy checking out your blog. So if you have a visitor counter a couple of those visits a week are mine. You seem to be into fashion this year rather than people in general and those pesky animals that chase you**. Beats me where you find those interesting, beautiful people. Since you have been photographing, I have taken more notice of people (not too much notice in case it is misinterpreted) to see if they would be interesting subjects. Alas, my creative side is so moribund I am probably looking but not really seeing what is of interest".

It got me thinking about London and how wonderfully diverse the population is. In terms of fashion, you can wear pretty much anything and no one even bats a Shu Uemura false eyelash. I saw a girl wearing a tiger (a giant stuffed toy one, not real) the other day in Brick Lane and yeah, she turned some heads, but it just seemed kind of 'normal'. Oh yes, and then there was the girl wearing nothing but an emerald green leotard, black lace tights and a quirky little hat sauntering down Carnaby Street at lunchtime the other day. She looked faaaaaabulous! (she was on the phone so I couldn't ask her if I could take her photo). I love that people feel free to express themselves whether through fashion, music, art,whatever...and I love that people like me get to photograph them :) :) It's exciting, it's inspiring and I get to meet some amazing, talented, lovely and, yes, beautiful people.

These guys I photographed over the last couple of weeks in London: Each has their own style, their own look and their own take on fashion and pulling things together. As I said earlier this week, it would be such a boring world if everyone dressed the same, conformed.....Thankfully I don't think London will ever be in danger of conforming. There is a Mario Testino quote (which I can't for the life of me find on the internet) that goes something like this: On arriving in London from his native Peru, he called his Mum and said "Mum, I've got a new studio....it's called London!"

Tamer (above) was wearing a marvellous mix of Balenciaga, DiorHomme, Miu Miu....And his hair? The perfect coiffure.


Simon (who alerted me to Tamer passing by!):

And this guy (he is a teacher- but I lost his name!): I love how the family just walked into our photograph! It makes it a bit more interesting than my normal "clear background" style, no? I always love those fashion shoots where the photographer shoots the model in the middle of a bazaar or crowd but with nobody really paying any attention to the model...

*Parents are awesome in reading your blog, huh?! Even when seemingly no one else reads your blog, parents can be relied upon to encourage and praise :)

**This was a reference to the cow (which turned out to be a young bull - I am obviously crap at bovine gender identification) which chased me in one of the London City Farms late last year...

Street Style.....Sheer, Floaty and Floral

Wandering the streets of London looking for stylish, unique, beautiful people to photograph, I've noticed that since the sun has started peeking its head out of the clouds everyone's mood has lifted....people are happier, friendlier, pubs are packed with people spilling onto the pavement après-work, ice-cream vans (can anyone tell me why a Flake 99 does not cost 99 p? It has perplexed me since my first summer here in 2007) are popping up everywhere, Alphonso mango season is just around the corner....oh yes, and girls (and some guys) are starting to show some bare leg!

Like a butterfly emerging from its chrysalis, out go the jeans, the opaque tights, the stockings, the leggings of the Winter season and in comes gorgeous acres of bare leg: Winter pale or (fake)tanned, bronzed and glossy- who cares? It's Spring and anything goes :)

I love this gorgeous floaty, sheer waft of a floral dress Rosalyn is wearing. With her hair and fringed ankle boots she kind of gives it a Bohemian/hippie vibe and avoids it all looking too pretty and romantic.

In less enthusiastic Spring news, I discovered this morning that these hideous little grey bugs (I think they are called Roly-Poly's, doodlebugs, woodlouse) have mysteriously reappeared on our balcony! Urggggh. I did battle with them last Summer and I do not relish the prospect of another fight to the death (um, theirs not mine hopefully!) this season. I know they are probably harmless but I find them utterly repulsive: and I hate that they roll themselves into a little ball and "play dead" when I'm in eradication mode.......tricking me into thinking they have gone to Bug Heaven when really they are just messin' with me ;-)