Friday 21 December 2012

30 days of finding feminine: Day 30


Day 30



Black Margiela jacket

Light grey T-shirt
Grey cargos
Black stilettos


Cinema and a bite to eat with John in the newly gentrified Brixton village.

If I’m dressing for the occasion, obviously a pussy bow blouse and a pencil skirt ain’t gonna work so I try that messy Sunday, ‘can’t really be bothered…but look how I've just thrown this together oh so stylishly' charade -  Which seems to be the uniform round these parts....

Should fit right in amongst the coldharbour ciabattia chomping crowd.









  

There is a real effort not to make an effort which suits me just fine.
All this perching on stilettos is really starting to knacker me out…..




 John offers me a pair of furry leopard print gloves in an effort to enhance my feminine status.... I agree wholeheartedly. Any excuse to get my hands on more accessories.
Hmmmm. Methinks they make my hands look more like paws rather than ladies fingers!!!


All Photographs by John Lawrence

Sunday 16 December 2012

30 days of finding feminine: Day 29


Day 29

Mid-calf pencil skirt with thigh high split

Black lace crop top

Black stilettos

Pop to the vintage press day breakfast to take some piccies for my records.

It’s full of fashion editors and bloggers extrordinaire. The clashing prints, the embellished dresses, the hardware…Oh My!

 
I see super stylish senior fashion editor Natalie Hartley rockin’ the most ridiculously fabulous pair of biker boots I’ve seen in years. They’re part Blade Runner, part Bess NYC, part BOY LONDON…

 

….and there I stand in my black pencil skirt and black stilettos….



...How original.

 All photographs by John Lawrence

Monday 10 December 2012

30 Days of Finding Feminine: Day 28

 
 
Day 28



So today I get thrown a proper curve ball which is a real bugger when I’m so close to the finishing line.

It comes courtesy of a general man about town – a talented and creative one – which makes all the difference in terms of a perspective which will hold water with me.
Anyway, we’re having a chat about my blog and it’s concept blah, blah, blah.

‘How’s it going?’ he asks. ‘Last time I saw it, it was day 5 or something…Got any results yet?’


'Err, Well firstly, you’ve got a lot of catching up to do’ I chastise,
 ‘and secondly yes – the results are not yet conclusive, but definitely notable…’
‘Nice work St. Louis’ he says ‘but there’s one thing that I really don’t agree with….This no leggings business. Where did you get that from??
‘From the boys’. I reply.
‘The ones I asked said they considered it lazy dressing…and that’s putting it kindly. Let’s just say that they felt strongly that there were other more flattering items of clothing that ladies could and should wear.’


‘Well,' he says. 'They’re either lying or have had bad experiences with them, but let me tell you this. Me and my mates often marvel at the wonder that is the legging and think that whoever invented them is a bloody genius.’...
...Well stone the crows...

Are you telling me that I could have been wearing my leather leggings all this time?!
 
I was led to believe that having my legs trussed up in leather or lycra was tantamount to committing one of the 7 deadly sins as far as boys were concerned.

Now I discover that it might be considered one of the 7 wonders of the world!!
 
I’m confused...
With this revelation, I dip another toe into the water.
‘So what about animal prints then? I ask. Do they offend you?

‘Nah, I don’t mind a bit of leopard print’ he says. I know girls like it too’.

 
Well, well. What do you know??



This is almost as revolutionary as the husband that told me he likes his wife to wear the poncho and military jacket he bought for her (although I presume not at the same time.)

Later that day, he hits me with another one.
‘So I’ve got this mate who’s going out with this girl at the moment…He’s been seeing her for a couple of months now and I asked him how it was going and he was like…yeah it’s alright – but not too enthusiastic. He said that the problem was that she wears really boring clothes. She’s beautiful and she could be making so much more of herself.’...
'But surely if she’s beautiful, then he should be laughing…’ I ask confused.
‘It’s about the whole package though. You want your girlfriend to look sexy, smart and interesting.

You don’t want your heart to sink every time she shows up to meet you because you don’t think you’re not gonna like what she’s wearing….but at the same time, I reckon it’s one of the cruellest things in the world to tell a girlfriend that you don’t like how she dresses….That’s just mean....’

I have to admire his sensitivity, but frankly I am surprised.
It seems that I haven't considered that there is a danger of going completely too far the other way…and disappearing behind a veil of the mediocre.
Maybe it's not good to be unnoticable, or is he saying that you should be noticed for the right reasons? and if so, what are they??...

Do I care?

When I get dressed in the morning, I commit whole heartedly to whoever or whatever it is that I want to be that day.
 
I go hard, or go home.
Is there a danger that on this journey to find feminine, I might actually loose myself??...
 
Later I get another update… I have the thumbs up for days 9, 10, and 16 among others but apparently, I need to watch my footwear.

‘Got some good oufits at the beginning, but the trainers take the sexiness out of it.’
(a bit harsh methinks…but fair. That was my first day…I couldn’t handle going cold turkey!)
He admits to a slight obsession with shoes…not mine…shoes in general – mens and womens, he thinks they’re ‘massively’ important.
...'Massively' is a big word...
So, maybe my lazy three pairs of heels on rotation just ain’t good enough St. Louis.
 Noted. Must try harder.

 

…Also randomly warns me against any LV bags… I tell him there’s no danger of that as I haven’t got one anymore…

Maybe it’s a good job that someone knicked my satchel…
 
 

All Photographs by John Lawrence

Thursday 6 December 2012

30 days of finding feminine: Day 27

 
Day 27
 
Black Strapless Vintage Lace Dress
White stilettos
 

Dilemma…

What to wear for an important meeting where I’m basically asking for cash??

(No clever dick answers please)



It has to mean business, still hint at a wealth of creativity, be sexy and feminine in order to comply with the rules of the experiment…and not set the feminist movement back 100 years.





Although to be fair this debate nay, this whole experiment has probably done that already!
I decide to plump for a black lace vintage strapless prom dress. It has the feel of an early Lily Allen….in mourning.

 

 


Manage to wrangle a part in a footwear size trial today. My size 40/41’s are measured and tickled and forced into heels that would never usually darken the St. Louis shoe cupboard.

It’s quite a good way to experiment with a new ‘shoe look’ and goes a long way to support my argument that ‘a shoe maketh an outfit sayeth the Lord...’

 Well, he might not, but I sure do, and the St. Louis foot just can’t pull of a nude peeptoe bow back wedge!!

I’m setting up a vintage press day, so I ditch my stilettos for my velvet slippers after the meeting (which was a success by the way – ahh, the power of an exposed collar bone!) so I’m still keeping the faith. Let’s just hope nothing falls on my foot…
 
 
 





I feel quite at home in a room full of mannequins, dressed in vintage, dancing around to Nina Simone – (that’s me, not the mannequins) creating some display magic.
 

 
Also feeling super girly in my silhouette today. It might have something to do with the fact I’ve cut out 3/4 of the skirt lining out of my lace dress, and I must have been half cut when I did it as it’s way above my usual decency levels.!





Pick up another pair of stilettos in the sale on the way home. I’m becoming a sucker for an exposed vamp….
All photographs by John Lawrence

Sunday 2 December 2012

30 days of finding feminine: Day 26

Day 26


Ditsy floral wide leg trousers
Lilac open weave jumper
Pink converse


I’m on the home stretch and I’m going out in style.


 

Today’s outfit is a super girly combo of floral long super wide trousers and a lilac jumper.

Icing on the cake is that today I have made an extra special effort and worn my  hair curly....


It is not, I repeat NOT, an effort to hide a hair disaster I inflicted on myself at the weekend....It is simply adding to my girly, feminine ambiance....(Ed:  Yeah, tell it to the judge!)

I’m channelling a pre marriage Princess Diana today. You know, that shot of her standing in the field with the sun behind her.
I think she may have had a child in her arms, but let me tell ya, that's an accessory I can do without. 
The fact is, my trousers are incredibly see through and it’s only the length of my jumper that is hiding my necessities at the moment.

 
On second reflection, as I’m walking down the street, I feel a little like I’m on an early 1990s tip... (well, they do say they are coming back).

...A little Beverly Hills 90210 (the first time around) with a light dusting of Mallrats...



…Just on my way to the Peach Pit with my best buds Brenda, Kelly and Donna…



 
All photographs by John Lawrence

Thursday 22 November 2012

Intermission....featuring.... A Different Me!

 
In case you're wondering what I do when I'm not trying to find feminine, here I am doing the day job....
 
...And what a fantastic job it is.....!
 
 
Enjoy!
 


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Sunday 18 November 2012

30 days of finding feminine: Day 25


Day 25


Black and White Mini Dress
Black Shoe Boot

A funny thing happened on the way to London….
Put on a black lacquered bracelet this morning. It had ‘Chanel’ on it. It was quiet and unobtrusive. It didn’t scream for attention, just nestled gently on my wrist.

No. It didn’t scream, but it whispered. It whispered to me all the way down the hill and got a bit louder at the traffic lights…

Unnecessary, unnecessary,….UNNECESSARY!!!

By the time I’d got to Brixton station, the bracelet was well and truly off my wrist and in the bottom of my bag…
Have stranger things happened?

Not to me they aint!!
Dress - Miss Selfridge

Saw myself on a youtube video that the press girls dug up this afternoon. Let’s just say….there are some hairstyles that have worked for me…and some that haven’t.

Why didn’t anyone tell me I looked like a shiny bowling ball??

‘Ooo, you’ve just been experimenting’ Lisa says kindly ‘finding your feet….I like this one a lot though. Very nice’ she says reassuringly nodding at me.
Shoes - Miss Selfridge

Hmmm, food for thought. This whole month has been an experiment. Am I going to look back and think the same about myself now??

Blond curly hair, short skirts and stilettos..

Who do I think I am? Barbie???!!!!!
                                             All photographs by John Lawrence