NYC Editorial | Portrait Of A Lady

So the last of my NYC shoots was out this week in Look magazine. NYC feels like a lifetime ago as it's been so busy since getting back... so many stories to shoot before Christmas. I have to do a main fashion story nearly every week. Yikes. 

I will try and keep the blog updated with all my shoots.

So here are some of the shots from my "Portrait Of A Lady" story, an hourglass story reminiscent of a Forties screen siren, shot in an amazing apartment off Broadway. A great team of Seiji from The Wall Group (who was off to do Victoria Beckham's hair the next day), Tracy at Next on make-up and the gorgeous Andressa at Supreme modelling.

And a token horse... (YES!)

Accessories love | Reiss AW13

Oh hello, it's a sneaky little preview again!

Last week Reiss held their AW13 press day and although I've been ultra-busy, this was one event I was really keen to get to, as Reiss is one of the more top-end brands I get to work with on a regular basis. I do work with designer, but not that often. In fact I pride myself on making cheap-as-chips clobber look luxe (nearly every single item in the fashion editorial section of my website is High Street). Reiss makes that job a little easier for me with it's high-end quality and design.

I thought their shoes and bags this Summer were spot on, and chatting to the team at the press day in their plush boardroom (which has the softest thickest carpet in the world FYI) it seems the idea was to turn that up a notch for AW and really make sure they outdid themselves when it came to accessories.  And they did.

The Reiss design team's key idea was to merge not only male and female collections (men's and women's sat seamlessly next to each other throughout the space), but also fabric. The big 'thing' for them - they don't like to be mega trend-led - was mixing texture. This filtered to accessories too, which for me, were the stars of the show.

I love the simple, expensive designs that subtly say "I cost more than £80", without screaming designer.

Here are a few phone snaps of my edit of their AW accessories... (angles and space are never in abundance at press days, sorry!). Check out the different leathers, texture clashes, the beautiful designs... Gorgeous.

Reiss accessories designers, if you are listening, you did good. Very good.

Look out for these AW pieces hitting down from July.

WIBTW (What I Bought This Week): Too old for Topshop?

I need to face facts. I'm over 30 and the shame of dancing next to a 16 year old girl in the same H&M floral dress as me at V Festival last Summer made me think perhaps it's time to grow up a little.

Part of me wants to shop on ASOS all day and buy bombers and beanies and crop tops... but I think it's time to leave that to the teens.

Plus anyway, I am now loving the labels I never really bought (or could afford) in my teens and twenties; COS, Reiss, Jigsaw, Whistles etc. And also picking up on alternatives to cheaper High Street brands. For example the uber-quirky Monki, which has a shop in Carnaby Street and is also stocked in Selfridges. The reasonable prices always surprise me and still not everyone knows about it. I love their take on fashion - check out the description online of the top I bought as pictured below: "It's all about the back with Ann - the chunky silver zip, and the elegantly shaped opening that allows curious admirers (and dogs with cold noses, bent on surprising someone) access to a bit of the small of your back."

So I am really trying nowadays to buy pieces with a little more longevity (obviously previous post on a Brian Lichtenberg sweat was just a blip in the new-found way of thinking...)

Here are this week's purchases, and not a neon beanie in sight...

COS top, £45

COS silk & knit cardigan, £55,  a great alternative to this season's bomber

Zara leopard coat, £89

Zara sheer check shirt, £25

Zara sweat with handy underlay, £25

Monki pink shell top, £25

Check out the nose hole for a dog!

ASOS burgundy chelsea boots, £50

A new work mini-adventure

I've been working pretty much full-time in-house on a fashion weekly since the start of the year, and although I miss the freelance life of lie-ins, "working" in a trackie on the sofa and the occasional solo spa afternoon (Cowshed is my expensive weakness in life), it is great to be working on an editorial team again. I'm doing what I love most  - planning, styling and directing main fashion shoots.

I'll post my new editorials here as soon as they have gone to press. But for the moment, a few tiny snippets of life on Southwark Street...

A very early start this morning.. The view of London is incredible from the canteen.

Leaving late... The coolest buildings are popping up all over the area around Borough.

Beautiful roses from New Covent Garden Flower Market used in a shoot.

A sneak peek at some of the accessories for tomorrow's story.