Next Time Models

You remember the fabulous Tamer? He of the beautiful Miu Miu, DiorHomme outfit a couple of weeks ago? Well I bumped into him again yesterday :) He is a fashion editor at Stimuli Magazine , a bi-annual fashion, contempary culture magazine.

Street Style....The Scarf

I love this scarf (the perfect Spring cover-up) and the way she has teamed it with the palest mint green blouse, relaxed fit jeans and that floral ring. Hmmmm I could get all a bit Gollum with that ring: "We wants it...my Precious!"

Street Style: Le Chapeau, Le Rouge Sac, Le Oyster Card...Parfait!

Angeline: Le Chapeau, Le Rouge Sac, Le Oyster Card.....C'est Magnifique!

Um yeah, so I probably got my French all a little bit muddled up but you get what I am saying- Angeline, a French model, looks fabulous. I have been trying to learn some French on my ipod but I wouldn't say it is going terribly well - pretty badly in fact and I am only on the first "intro" lesson. We are heading to Paris later this year (hopefully coinciding with the men's collections in June) so I am trying desperately to learn a tiny bit of French. Normally I just gesture with my camera, waffle on a bit using the three words of French I know and a lot of weirdly accented English (why does that happen? I end up sounding German I think!) and smile a lot. This time I am determined to learn some French before we get there so at least I can ask people if they would mind if I took a photograph for my blog. Mmmmm I suspect it would help if I practiced, oh, say more than once a fortnight ;-)

p.s. For any non-Londoners, the oyster card is that little blue and yellow card inside Angeline's pocket (essential for regular Tube travel!)

Street Style...The Yellow Dress and The Floral Dress

I thought the yellow dress was vintage but it was a gorgeous Orla Kiely number :)

Fashion Tale Magazine

A couple days ago I received a press release from Fashion Tale magazine about a recent project they have under gone. But The project is beside the point (I'll get to it in a later post). The fact is, Fashion Tale is not your ordinary fashion magazine. Rather than bursting with the often pointless text that many magazines are full of, Fashion Tale is picture based. It is a true visual delight that employs the hard work of talented photographers, fashion illustrators, and designers themselves. Definitely worth checking out HERE

Sheer Thing

When I first saw the Prada F/W 08 Line I was initially underwhelmed. It took some time and a handful of beautifully shot editorials for me to understand the simplicity and elegance present in the collection.

I felt that the fashion show itself served only as a gateway for stylists, photographers, and illustrators alike to manipulate and ultimately create the image of an entire trend. The images below are a perfect example of this. They range from the actual fashion show in Milan to a lovely editorial shot by Luis Monteiro to an illustration from Fashion Tale Magazine.

I have found that in many cases it is not the fashion show that "sells" the clothing, but the creativity of those inspired by the fashion shows. The people who pick apart the looks afterwards and put together what seems to be the essence of fashion, something less consumer driven and more inspired.

Photo Cred: Fashion Tale Mag, Style.com, Tatler Mag

More write-up's on Behind The Seams exhibition

www.instyle.co.uk

Many thanks to Kat Webster, picture editor at InStyle Magazine

This made my day

Vogue Italia + David LaChapelle + Christina Aguilera + A touch of Glamour

Street Style...New Zealand Stylin'

And continuing with the Australian/New Zealand theme, this is Frith, a gorgeous New Zealand model who I photographed last week in London. I got rather excited when she told me she was wearing Zambesi, the edgy New Zealand label (which, incidentally, just celebrated its 30th birthday). It still gives me a little thrill to hear Aussie and New Zealand accents on the streets of London (the novelty obviously hasn't worn off yet!) but it is even more thrilling when people tell me they are wearing an Australian or New Zealand label. Makes me a wee bit proud :)

The Sartorialist and Garance Doré are in Australia this week for AFW. I can't wait to see their photographs.... No doubt they will be achingly beautiful. Let's hope the weather in Sydney and Melbourne is suitably well behaved for them :)

Street Style....The Australian Dream Team: Michelle, Yasmin and Pippa

Given that Australian Fashion Week S/S 2009/10 is going to kick off in just a few hours, it is rather fitting that I got to photograph 3 amazing, talented and, oh yes, beautiful and stylish Australians last week in London: Top left: Michelle Jank (jewellery/fashion designer and stylist); Top Right: Yasmin Sewell (Chief Creative Consultant of Liberty); and Pippa Holt (Fashion Features Associate, VOGUE UK).

So where's the photo of Pippa? Unfortunately in the near background were a group of guys I failed to notice when I was taking the photos.....and you know how much I adore an uncluttered background. Hopefully I will get the chance to take her photo again soon.

My Tired Hands

Crawled out of walls, fatigued from restless nights of restless sleep in an empty bed of city streets.
Dwayne Coleman likes to make celebrities into skelebrities.

Street Style: Californian Dreaming....in London

Some weird and wonderful things happened to me this week - I met some very cool people while I was out and about style hunting with the Nikon. One of them was the stunning Christing, a Californian now living in London, whose Fashion Hedonism blog you can check out here. In a bizarre twist, I only came across Christing's blog the night before I spotted her having a drink with her man and very cute little dog! Weird, huh? :)

Christing was wearing an American Apparel grey tank, Miu Miu shades, Diesel scarf, New Look stripey skirt and rockin' ASOS boots. She looks amazing....and her blog details her fashionable wanderings around London and the Globe. Check it.

Street Style...KERPOW!

A little KERPOW tee-shirt action on CJ from the Philippines:

Oh yes, and then there would be the Louis Vuitton Stephen Sprouse Graffiti Neverfull GM carried by CJ and the Speedy from my London Fashion Week archives (below):

I love the little skull details on this guy's trousers and bow tie above. You can't really tell from this photo, but CJ was carrying a skull print scarf in his Vuitton bag!

BUY BUy Buy buy

it's what fashion is all about these days,

Wang, Kane, and AMQ

Street Style....Checks and Balances in the London Sun

Sherilyn (from Brisbane in Queensland, Australia- yay!)

Gary (below):

Street Style....Barbara Hulanicki

This is one of my favourite photos thus far on my photographic journey. I was SO excited to meet the fabulous Barbara Hulanicki, the legendary founder of fashion label, Biba. For those of you who aren't fashion aware, Biba was THE most iconic, hip label in London in the 1960's and 1970's. Barbara has just designed an exclusive capsule collection for Topshop (Barbara Hulanicki for Topshop will be available in-store and on-line from 28 April) which has received pre-launch rave reviews from the fashion press. Fittingly, just as I was asking Barbara if she would mind if I took her photograph, a hip young girl sauntered past wearing one of the t-shirts Barbara designed for Topshop! She apparently picked it up at the preview party at Miller's Academy of Arts and Sciences the other night. I think Barbara was a little bit pleased at seeing one of her pieces on the streets already....thinking back, I should have got a photo of the girl with Barbara as well - damn!

Barbara now lives in Miami and works as an interior and exterior designer (she has worked with Chris Blackwell on many of his hotels in Miami and the Bahamas, as well as on private commissions) in addition to designing a range of bags for Coccinelle, a range of wallpaper for Habitat and Graham&Brown, and a small jewellery collection with the V&A. Phew- I am exhausted just typing all that :)

Fabulous!

Rubbish Magazine exhibition review

rubbishmag.com

Thanks to George Ryan and Catherine Bullmann

Topshop Barbara Hulanicki collaboration launch

Barbara with Cilla Black

Barbara with admirers

The dapper William Gilchrist

Street Style...Hey, Who's That Girl?

It's Emily!

For me, taking someone's photograph is immensely pleasurable but what makes it even more so is when someone I've photographed before remembers me or stops to have a little chat on the street, even if they are super busy. Despite being 'street photography' and maybe having a minute or so to get a couple of shots, there is still, for me, a very personal element to what I do.

And so it was with the beautiful Emily, who works for Vanity Fair magazine, and who I've now photographed twice. I love the way Emily dresses - timeless classics with an edge. And all topped off with her amazing mane of strawberry blonde hair.

Street Style: Leather Jackets...with leopard print, stars and stripes and florals

Okay, so I know that Verner isn't exactly wearing leopard print but he was sitting on it so he was kind of like wearing it. Kind of :)

However model, Verner, was definitely wearing a J.Lindeberg leather jacket, some very cool new Karl Lagerfeld shades, Armani jeans and Onitsuka Tiger trainers.

And gorgeous model Amber was wearing a Blauer leather jacket with a little Topshop floral sundress:

Check out Amber's boots - the right one she customised with an American Apparel chain:

The State Of Black Models In Mainstream Fashion

Three women of color have appeared on the cover of a Vogue Magazine in three consecutive months—Michelle Obama appeared on the March issue of Vogue, Beyonce appeared on the April issue of Vouge, and now Liya Kebede appears on the May cover of the magazine alongside other top models. Liya credits the Obamas for having an influence on diversity in the fashion industry. As she told NY Magazine, "I think it’s wonderful to have a beautiful, elegant man and woman in the White House," said Kebede. "I think it changes the way we look at things. Already they’re attracting so much attention. I think fashion is following, and I’m really glad that fashion is following what they’re doing and [that] it’s really helping diversity." Kebede added, "I think there’s a lot more black models working and I think that’s because of having Michelle and Barack out there. I mean there’s been this issue, raised last year—how there wasn’t enough black models on the runways—but I think Barack and Michelle have really helped us, hopefully forever, to get over this hurdle for black models."

Earlier this month, supermodel Naomi Campbell told the German Glamour magazine that although politically times have changed and a black president is now in power in the United States, the modelling industry is behind the times and black women have to work harder in order to get equal treatment.

What do you think, are black models "over" the hurdle or do they still have a ways to go to get equal treatment? Share your comments below.

Street Style....Bow Ties

There was a rather good article in The Times, Luxx magazine, on the weekend about Lanvin's head menswear designer, Lucas Ossendrijver. I liked what Lucas had to say about men's fashion right now "For men, dressing has a lot to do with codes and uniforms," explains Ossendrijver. "But it's interesting to think about why we wear what we do at certain times or occasions, and then to erase the boundaries a little bit, without being too extreme. I am concerned with evolution more than revolution, with slowly altering some of these codes. But I do think men are changing, and they are more open to new things in fashion.....Certainly, people want to have clothes that work, that are desirable but are wearable," says the designer, "but they still have something new to them, not so much on the outside but on the inside. We don't try to be fashionable. We try to touch people by making clothes that are special and have a soul."

The combination of Lucas Ossendrijver and Alber Elbaz (as Lanvin's Artistic Director) is clearly a winning one.

I spotted a couple of bow ties (an Alber Elbaz/Lanvin trademark) on the streets this week:

Benjamin (above), an actor, was wearing all 1960's vintage:

This guy (he is a fashion (textile) design student at Central Saint Martins) was wearing an oversized Lanvin bow tie and the cutest little Miu Miu ladybird brooch:

From the archives (London Fashion Week):

p.s. Anyone manage to see the Matthew Williamson for H&M collection tonight? I walked past the HUGE line-up for the preview at the Regents Street store at around 6:15pm. I suspect the collection is going to be ridiculously popular if the queue was anything to go by. Let me know if you managed to snag any pieces....or even a ride home in one of the Matthew Williamson decorated cabs which were waiting around the back :)

Happy Earth Day!

Happy Earth Day! In celebration of Earth Day, we've pulled articles from the archives about Africa and the environment:

Fabulous At Every Age

This month we interviewed Sehin Belew, author of the recently released book Fabulous For Less (Sehin Belew: Timeless Beauty), and featured her on our cover (Simply Fabulous!). Here are some of Sehin's beauty tips for being fabulous at every age.

MIMI: How much do you think that good genes play a part in how well you age? And do you think that there are things that any woman can do to look good in her 20s, her 30s, her 40s, her 50s, and beyond?
Sehin Belew: I think good genes play a lot in how well we age. No matter what age we are, we need to do the following to look good. However, the older we get, the more we need to do it.

Eat fresh fruits and vegetables, especially berries because of their anti-oxidant content. They give you anti-aging protection by slowing down the aging process of your skin and cells.
Eat walnuts, flax seeds and Alaskan wild salmon. This helps you maintain beautiful skin and hair.
Try to drink a sufficient amount of purified water everyday.
Use a filter in your shower so the water you shower in is free of harsh chemicals that can harm your skin and health.
Try to get a sufficient amount of sleep.
Try to minimize stress in your life.
Use holistic whole body care and makeup as opposed to conventional products.

MIMI: Does your beauty advice differ depending on the age of the woman? If so, what's your beauty advice for women in their 20s? Women in their 30s? Women in their 40s? And women 50 and over?
Sehin Belew: The basis of the beauty advice I give to women is the same regardless of the age. In order to look fabulous, we have to workout faithfully; we have to take care of our skin by using holistic products including periodic facials; we have to take care of our hair by deep conditioning and getting it trimmed every two months; we have to take care of our toe nails and finger nails by keeping them nicely manicured without the use of products filled with harsh chemical. In a nutshell, we need to be intentional about our body from head to toe. To be fabulous, it does take dedication and discipline and especially as we get older.

For more tips, be sure to visit Sehin Belew's website: www.befabulousforless.com

(Photo Credits: Gabe Palmer, © Dreamstime) (Model Used Solely For Illustrative Purposes)