THE KEY IS IN THE LIGHT, THE KEY IS IN THE WINDOW

The Beautiful Deluge of Alice Palmer AW11, photos by Rosie Allt, www.rosieallt.com (click to enlarge)

The Stage

The Audience

The Dress

[Title is an excerpt of a letter Allen Ginsberg's mother wrote to him in a letter after reading HOWL]

IN MY DREAMS YOU WALK DRIPPING FROM A SEA-JOURNEY ON THE HIGHWAY ACROSS AMERICA IN TEARS TO THE DOOR OF MY COTTAGE IN THE WESTERN NIGHT

I'm not the most buttoned down person in the world, so at first it was a struggle for me to relate to the super-coiffed, slickly manicured looks from Jasper Garvida AW11. The tailoring looked too heavy, the cutouts and thigh-high slits dated, and the hardware and knotted accents seemed like they belonged on a cabinet, or wrapped around my great aunt's winter curtains. I sat there grumbling to myself, "Scarlett O'Hara only wore curtains because of the WAR, today we have more CHOICES..."

Then he started in with the graphic prints and keyhole cutouts... and I pretty much shut up.

And as for dowdy embellishments, LOOK AT THIS KEY BELT! I MEAN LOOK AT IT. I can't comment because my mouth is full of humble pie/crow.

So, I found some things to love. The way Jasper worked with the ligher fabrics REALLY worked to me, I suppose because a silk or a light jersey just can't sustain heavy accents and willy nilly cutouts that looked like some 10 year old's construction papered art project. Anyhow, by the end, he really got his point across. And won a cynic over.

[This post's title is the last stanza of HOWL by Allen Ginsberg]
[All photos by Rosie Allt, www.rosieallt.com]

WHY DOES ANYONE DO THE THINGS THEY DO?

Just when I feel jaded with the whole fashion scene, I get invited to a show like Hynes and Steele, where I had to hold myself back from storming the runway and snatching the clothes right off the models. I do like style that is a little eccentric - for example, the other day I walked into a vintage shop to do some browsing and caught my reflection in the changing room mirror - I was wearing a silk paisley print blouse, velvet blazer, blue leopard print headwrap and bright turquoise rimmed sunglasses. All in a day's work for the Crazy Cat Lady. :D All photos by the incomparable Rosie Allt.

NO, I DON'T KNOW WHAT THEY SAY

Zed Eye was in a more sombre mood this season, but her clothes are still superlative. I'm not going to ruin this with a lot of words so I'll just show you the pictures (taken by the super talented Rosie Allt), and try and recreate the experience by including some of the Adele songs playing while the girls walked the runway.

The designer


And more Adele - !

LOLA EAT WORLD

A million (late) apologies for my extended absence from the blogosphere. Inexcusable really, so I won't make excuses. Instead I'll get right back into it and share - my philosophy of life. It ain't complicated people (anything but) - just make yourself happy. 


I may be the Queen of obscure quotes, cult indie movies and random cultural references, but some of the things that make me happiest are good old fashioned singing and dancing. 


Let's pause for a moment and illustrate this with an example from The Jungle Book. Disney gets it right. Baloo the Bear definitely gets it right. If you want to see my exactly how, just skip to 4:10. It's soooo cute.








Let's top that up with the incomparable combination of Mozart, Lauryn Hill, Whoopi Goldberg, and the celebration of being Joyful. 








I just have to smile. Coming up: Fashion Week!