Lifting The Mood

London is where I go, where I belong. Whenever I imagine my future; it's in London.

No, this is not going to be the post on the Yohji Yamamoto Exhibition, I didn't go last Saturday. The friend I was with had to cancel (and I didn't plan on going by myself); but the good news is that we're going probably next weekend.
Don't you just love my poses in these pictures? I should so be a model: (from left) Happy, frowny, REALLY frowny. It's so difficult being a model...

This day I was in London with a friend because this bazitch had to take some photos of london in the wee hours for a photography project of hers and we decided to tag along. Of course, we decided that seeing as it was 8:00am we'd go and have breakfast somewhere in South Kensington, but nowhere was open. Literally NOWHERE. So we decided to wander around the neighborhood until a more civilized hour and look at buildings, take photos... blah blah. hence this sexy picture ^^^

So, THAT house was about the same width as a playing card, seriously it flew away in a breeze. And yes, that is me with this season's Prada book. When I saw it at Selfridges I was flicking through it like a cracked-up bitch lookin through a crackpipe catalogue (yeah, I'm going to stop saying 'bitch' it really isn't me) and the salespeople were sooo nice I even had a little chat with one about what we liked from her latest collection.

I'll probably do a post on the Prada book soon, but I need to find an A3 colour-scanner, and I'm beginning to doubt their existence... maybe they're just an office-supply myth, like the automatic stapler and the water cooler with legs....

DEETS:
 Horse-in-a-Biker-Jacket T-Shirt, Drop-Crotch Jeans & Camo Shirt - All Saints
 Fur Lapel Cardigan - Zara
 Bag - Levi's (it has since died from old age and been replaced with a very chic Fred Perry)
 Sneakers - Converse
 All Jewelry MADE BY ME (not that you can see it, sorry about the bad quality photos, it wasn't my camera)

Japan

I am rarely moved or disturbed by News, I tend to watch things and make a cynical remark; then go about my day. Parliament's recent buggery with Pensions? Cynical Remark. UN's hesitation to make decisive action in Libya? Cynical Remark. Wisconsin Union Ruling? ...well, you get the picture.
There is rarely a day in my life where Japan doesn't come up in conversation with my friends, all of us are big fans of the works of its Fashion royal family, Miyake, Kawabuko, Yamamoto, Watanabe... and when we aren't talking about CDG; we're talking about its Technology, Harajuku, Architecture, The Kimono...
Gertrude Stein once said "America is my Country and Paris is my hometown." And until I found Japan; I never truly understood what she was talking about.

Today I was climbing into the car and moaning about how crowded the train was when my Dad told me to be quiet while he listened to an interview on Radio 4. I was too tired and exasperated to care so I just switched off whilst Dad drove me home. But despite my complacency, I couldn't help but detect certain words; certain 'key words' like "Ordeal... Tokyo... Richter Scale..." I asked Dad what had happened; and suddenly Japan didn't mean 'Issey Miyake' or 'Memoirs Of A Geisha' anymore, it meant Tragedy.

Thousands of people are expected to have died in the events that unfolded in Japan; death tolls skyrocket in situations like this. It is vital that we forfeit our vanities at such a time as this for the sake of those suffering in our world. It is sad that some of us only ever feel moved to make a change, to do something, when a horrific disaster destabilizes something so rigidly close to our hearts. I am guilty of this, every time I buy a new magazine and a UNICEF pamphlet falls out I ignore it, drop it into the bin by my desk mentally chanting something along the lines of "I can't afford it..." When the truth is more like "I can't afford it seeing as I'm saving up for a new cardigan/T-shirt/Blackberry..." or, if put even more accurately "I can't afford it... I'm far too selfish."

People often accuse fashion of being a cruel, selfish industry. Supp'd not enough of the milk of human kindness. Lacking humanity. And I always bat those remarks away, referencing projects like 'Fashion Cares.' But the truth is, even though fashion cares; sometimes we forget to.

So please, save lives. Don't buy a T-shirt this weekend, donate £5/$5 to the Red Cross. Collect change from your friends, colleagues, family, neighbours. Make an effort. Please.

My Leather Wish List

[Left-to-right, Burberry Prorsum, Marni, Comme Des Garcons Homme Plus]

Basically I'm mad about Leather and I want all of this. NOW. But before I can have a Freja-esque wardrobe of Leather goods I'll need some money...

Ain't No Place Like Paris

1.Ricardo Tisci for Givenchy

NEWSFLASH Layering black leather jackets is in... like MEGA in for next fall (which is just as well seeing as it'll probably be FREEZING) it also gives me another idea for saturday (more on that later)
2. Comme Des Garcons, Rei Kawabuko

Rei K is a babe, and this collection (in great contrast to her last) makes me all happy and fuzzy inside. The 30 Years of Japanese Fashion exhibition I went to last year might as well have been called the "Rei Kawabuko is a Babe" exhibition because it was practically all Comme des Garcons stuff... well, with a bit of Issey Miyake mixed in... anyway I thought that this collection was the most reminiscent of her earlier work, it's playful and light. And I think she's actually had it made a criminal offence to wear one of the pieces from this collection without Gold hair...
3. Gareth Pugh

Gareth Pugh rules my world, and this season he ventured into the unknown... COLOUR! And he really ran with it! He's done stuff with metallics in the past but electric blue!? it's so out of left field! and I believe that he's created the most elegant dresses of Paris so far with those flowing capes; the black and blue one is my favorite... Pugh jackets are, in my mind, as monumental as their Chanel counterparts. I actually saw someone walking down Park Lane in the same one as Lady Gaga and I very nearly threw myself at her screaming: "YOU HAVE THE GREATEST TASTE!" but I didn't seeing as I was with my gran at the time and she would've told my mum... 

Maybe it's presumptuous of me to do a 'best collections' post on PARIS before Chanel tomorrow; but hey; if it's monumental (if? hah!) I'll do a big ol' post about it and tell you just how jealous I am of my best friend's J12... GREEN with envy.