London Street Style..."Romance was Born"

Okay, so I am schlepping around with the Nikon on Tuesday, thinking about heading home, when suddenly I spotted THE SHARK PANTS. If you read The Sartorialist (and of course you do!) then you will know about THE SHARK PANTS. The Sart photographed them when he was in Australia earlier this year for RAFW, and I remember thinking at the time how brilliantly quirky they were and how well they would sell in London.

So, as you can imagine, I lobbed across the road faster than you can say "Flash as a Shark with a Gold Tooth", and said "Hey, I saw some pants like that on The Sartorialist earlier this year, I love them, where did you get them?"

And he goes "That was ME!!! I just flew in from Australia at 6am this morning!!!"

What a spin-out! I guess I shouldn't be at all surprised given the people I keep bumping into (you might recall my post from last week) but, damn, it really was kinda weird! It is a small world after all :)

Anyway, Sydney-sider Jason is mates with Aussies Anna and Luke, the designers behind the Romance was Born label, and he bought with him a few more of their fabulous pieces so you might see him pop up again on the blog. Anna and Luke got glowing reviews in the press for their SS 2009 collection, and the model Myf Shepherd wore pieces from their "doilies and pearls, oysters and shells" collection on the July cover of Australian Vogue. I don't think the label is available in the UK/Europe at the moment but a little birdy tells me that Luke was over here recently meeting with buyers..... so watch this space :)

London Street Style...Long-Jump

I absolutely adore her long-sleeved jumpsuit- it is playful yet grown-up all at once.

It is also trans-seasonal: perfect for now, and add tights for Autumn/Winter.

She is a designer for Topshop....and the jumpsuit is from Topshop, of course! Mr Green would be proud :)

London Street Style...Blushing

This is Sam who was down from Nottingham with her friend to celebrate his 18th birthday. Her very sweet blush top and shoes caught my eye....closely followed by her Herve Leger inspired black skirt.
Sam has just finished school and intends to study PR and marketing/communications at uni.

London Street Style...Anchors Aweigh!

Ahoy thar, me hearties!

It's the nautical trend on a t-shirt! Lydia's is from All Saints.

If you are after a less obvious take on all things nautical, check out the teeny little anchor pendant she has around her neck.

London Street Style...The Icelandic Brunette

The last couple of weeks I have had two of my A-listers* from Australia staying with me so I haven't had the chance to get out on the street to take photos (bad) but it has forced me to learn more about the history of London (nothing worse than not knowing anything about the city in which you live when visitors arrive except the easiest way to get to Liberty and Browns!) and to spend time doing "touristy activities" (good). In the past two weeks I've been to the Tate Britain (twice), the Tate Modern (once), Westminster Abbey (once), St Paul's Cathedral (once), The Dorchester for High Tea (once), The Horse Guards Parade (once), a London Walk around the Inns of Court (highly recommended), National Gallery (once) and the Photographers Gallery (once).

On Saturday, however, I took the Nikon out for a spin and took my first "street style" photos in 2 weeks- and it felt fab! I've really missed not prowling the streets for stylish peeps but, more than that, I've missed the conversations, the laughs, the interactions I have with the people I photograph. Despite still getting the nervous jitters when approaching people, I really adore meeting people, finding out about what they do, talking about what they are wearing and, of course, taking their photo....I guess that is why I rarely take "candid" street photographs: the interaction with people is part of the pleasure for me.

And of course, London being London, I get to meet people from all over the world: on Saturday I shot a guy from Germany, a girl from Norway, a girl from London and this girl from Iceland. Fabulous!

*You know, those super-amazing girlfriends that will stick with you like a limpet through anything life throws at you :)

Edit: A slightly different, more vintagey processing of the same photo:

London Street Style...The Norwegian Blonde

Arnhild:

From Norway

Playsuit:

From Urban Outfitters

Sunglasses:

From Beyond Retro

London Street Style...The Brit Blonde

What I loved about this politics student, apart from her blonde bombshell looks, of course, was that she didn't look like every other P.Y.T out shopping on a Saturday afternoon. Something about those serious heels (most people, me included, adopt the weekend uniform of trainers or flats), the folksy embroidered dress, the white tights and that perfectly tousled mane made me want to photograph her as soon as I spotted her.

Running with the Fash Pack...Paris Men's Collections 2010

The Boy:
Wears Calvin's
And Giles Deacon/Terry Richardson-esque glasses
And Suspenders
And a Plunging Tank
And some very cool tats (there was a smattering of little stars on his right shoulder)

He is a makeup artist from London and I took this while we were waiting to go into the Wooyoungmi show at the Palais de Tokyo.

Running with the Fash Pack...Paris Men's Collections SS 2010

Same girl (same belt?)
Two different days

WOUND magazine: The Models

These girls, both models, at the WOUND digital launch, had the longest legs. I felt like a hobbit beside them!

Paris Street Style....Audrey Does Frassy!

Audrey Leighton Rogers (love that name!) was one of the lovely bloggers I had the pleasure of meeting on my short break to Paris. Audrey was featured on Teen Vogue's "Blogger of the Moment", you can read the interview here, she writes for a host of fashion publications including Amelia's magazine, has a fab blog called Frassy, interns and does short courses* on her holiday breaks (she is still a student) all while managing to be be wonderfully funny, smart and gorgeous. Oh yeah, and she is only 20 years old- arghhhh- I feel ancient!

After a long day trooping around Paris, I have to say that it was delightful listening to Audrey and Carl from Inspire the Starling chatting and giggling away on the Eurostar journey home (okay, so champagne may have been involved!).

*one of which was a photoshop course! hellllloooo despite (or maybe because of?) using it everyday I hate using photoshop so much that I would need to be paid to do the course!

Paris Street Style...Marion Rocks!

Marion from Marion Rocks! (see post below)

My French is pretty much non-existent but I gather, from trying to translate Marion's blog, maybe Marion, Charlotte (from Tinky Minky) and their friend Bouchra from Boubouteatime were on a petite bloggers expedition around Paris: shopping, chatting, Ben&Jerry's, photos- a bit like us London bloggers!

Paris Street Style...Pink Bow-Tie

Okay, so I only had a little time in Paris on Saturday morning to make some photos (phrase borrowed from the very sweet Jack Daniel from Daniel's Graphic Life) and I completely forgot that many Parisians leave for summer holidays in late July/August....so I only managed to get a couple of photos for the blog. But what I lacked in quantity, I made up for in meeting some very lovely people (apart from the fab bloggers that I was on my petite Paris jaunt with, that is). Like Elle here*, Marion from Marion Rocks (photos in the above post) and Charlotte from Tinky Minky! .

Elle has been stopped in the street before by a Spanish street style blogger (she said she was wearing the same denim dress as she has on here) and many of you are probably already familiar with Marion and Charlotte's blogs, or, like me, you have seen their faces on the blogs of other street style photographers!
*I am really hoping her name was Elle....I didn't write it down, and I had 4am-wake-up-call-brain going on.

Eurostar: Little Break, big difference- Paris!

Okay, so pretty much I haven't ever won anything in my life, a colouring-in competition and a meat tray excepted (actually, I don't even think I won the meat tray- I think my friend Jen claimed the win and gave me a couple of sausages as compensation!). So when I got an email from a communications agency asking if I would like to join a group of fashion bloggers from London on a "Little Fashion Break to Paris" with Eurostar I thought all my Christmases, Easters, birthdays, anniversaries had come at once. Within 5 minutes of the email, my passport was packed, my euros were pocketed and I was firing off emails and texts to my friends in excitement: "Soooo, I'm off to Paris for the day next week" "Seriously, VJ?" "Yep, that's just how I roll these days: London one day, Paris the next ;-)"

Anyone who reads this blog knows that I adore Paris, so the opportunity to head over for the day to do some shopping, some eating, a little (lot) of champagne tasting and maybe take a few photos sounded brilliant. And it was. Despite those "first day of school nerves" that always seem to surface when one is plonked into a group situation with new people, and despite the 4am wake up call most of us had, everyone was soon chatting and giggling, talking blogs, fashion, design, art, study, work and everything else in-between.

So what did we get up to in Paris? There was shopping for some (which kicked off at Colette), while others ran around madly trying to find stylish Parisians to shoot for their blog (okay, that was maybe just me :)), lunch at B4 restaurant (with champagne), a visit to the Les Arts Décoratifs to see the Madeleine Vionnet exhibition , a cruise down the Seine with a tasting of 3 different champagnes, followed by a 9pm-ish journey home on the Eurostar (with more champagne!)

For me, one of the highlights of the day was getting to meet Marion Cointot over lunch. Marion is a talented fashion designer and stylist, who recently won the Concours de Style award. She presented some of her beautiful designs while we sipped champagne*, talked us through her career so far and allowed me to take some photos of her after lunch. You can read more about Marion here.

So was the day long enough? Hell no! Of course, I wanted to stay longer BUT I will always want to stay longer in Paris, no matter how much time I spend there. As I said to Sandrine, one of the organisers, it was an amuse-bouche: a little taste of Paris to whet the appetite, excite the taste buds, and limber up the senses for future visits.

If you are keen for your own taste of Paris, you can get Eurostar return journeys for only £59 at the moment. Click here for the "Little Break, Big Difference" deals.

*oh yeah, do I LOVE champagne!

Running with the Fash Pack....Paris Men's Collections SS 2010

This guy just oozed style. What he was wearing was fairly simple but the little details- the nonchalantly wrapped scarf, the heavy glasses and the jewelled ring- made him intriguing. Obviously he was in Paris, but I could equally imagine him sitting on a rooftop terrace in Marrakesh on a steamy summer's night drinking G&T's, cigarette in hand ...

Running with the Fash Pack...Paris Men's Collections SS 2010

Great Legs
Great Dress (love that split.... so sexy, especially when she walked!)
Great Shoes

WOUND magazine: The Girls

Squeaaaaaaaak. Rummage, Rummage Rummage. Thwack. YEOW!

That would be me opening my closet door, fossicking around for my white flag and getting thwacked in the head by a zillion things I've stuffed in there in an effort to be "tidy".... Yep, its been a long time between posts and I am madly waving my little white flag around in a hopeful attempt that I may still have some blog readers left.

I could tell you that I've been busy (true), my blogger photo upload button broke (false), my camera broke (also false), but the truth is, I think I just lost my mojo a little somewhere between Gare du Nord and St Pancras 3 weeks ago. It may have been that I left it on the station bench in Lille (we had a unscheduled Eurostar stop there) or maybe it slipped down behind Seat 17 in Coach 8 while I was napping- either way I haven't been "on the streets" very much at all since I got back to London. Fortunately, I am heading back to Paris tomorrow for the day* and will be able to collect my mojo on the way :)

One thing that did lure me out of my self-imposed home detention was the launch last week of WOUND magazine's WOUND digital (an on-line edition of the magazine) and iWound (a bespoke application for iPhone which gives you the magazine plus music and video content all at the um, touch, of a screen). The launch was held in the very beautiful "Nash" room on the first floor of the Institute of Contemporary Art, which is situated on The Mall and has wonderful views across St James's Park and Big Ben. The Rose champagne was flowing freely, the art work- from artists featured in the magazine- was fabulous (note to self: heavy camera + alcohol + v v expensive sculptures = dangerous), drag queen Jonny Woo was doing his thang dressed as a goose (damn he is a fine looking man under all that makeup!) and the music at the after party in the bar downstairs was pumping (the editorial director, Ken, was throwing moves that even I would be proud of!). It was an excellent night and I don't think it would have been just me who felt a little bit happier with the world the next morning- it is amazing how a fashion/art soiree can lift the spirits.

Rick Owens dress and Burberry boots:

Back of the Rick Owens dress:

Right then, I'm off to track down my mojo :)

*I will tell you all about how this little adventure came about next week!

WOUND magazine: The Faces

Some of the girls at the Wound party at the ICA:

The light was a bit tricky inside and my camera doesn't like ISO's above about 400 (and I wasn't using flash) so I did what any photographer who can't be bothered messing around in lightroom/photoshop for hours does: I converted to black and white! And, in the case of the very bottom photo, I processed the absolute crap out of it in photoshop :)

I have photographed my Brooklyn girl before-at London Fashion Week way back in Feb! You can have a peek here.

And I have photographed this model (she is with Models One) before as well: at The Clothes Show, London. She is a studying at university and models part time in her uni break. She was demonstrating the iWound application for iPhone which was rather intriguing....especially for me who is without an iPhone (I have a bad track record with small, expensive electronic items: some of you might recall the incident involving my new mobile phone and the toilet earlier this year ;-))

WOUND Magazine: The Boys

The Boys at WOUND magazine's launch of Wound Digital and iWound.

Y'all remember Tamer (above)? This is the third time I have photographed Tamer for the blog (click here for Tamer in his cowboy boots and trench way back in April). In a weird twist, I picked up a copy of LOVE magazine a few days after the party and lo and behold there is Tamer featured in an article! Not only is he a stylist, he also makes up 1/3 (vocals) of glam electric trio Pandering&the Golddiggers. Check 'em here on MySpace. Their song Disco Bloodbath is freakin' naughty hot- it is the kind of song that would never fail to get me on the dancefloor to show off my, um, moves :) Love their influences: "Words and Wigs, Dictionaries and Designers, Linguistics and Lashes, Colloquialisms and Couture".

He was sporting all Tom Ford:

Paris Street Style....Red and White Stripes

Red and White stripes in the Marais (above) .

Red and White sripes in the Palais de la Bourse (below).

They were the sweetest couple-I asked if I could take their photo but this image was actually one I sneaked after they walked away and forgot about me and my camera....Sometimes it is nice to have completely candid photos, no?