Friday, September 21, 2012

An American at London Fashion Week

Setting the scene at Somerset House

By the greatest bit of luck, I happened to be in London during London Fashion Week. Though smaller in scope than New York's, London Fashion Week was nonetheless covered with great intensity by the media. It doesn't hurt that there are sixteen daily newspapers in London. The Times alone had three magazine supplements for Fashion Week, one including a best-dressed list of over-60s (hurrah). Stores promoted the week with special events. Rag and Bone spent two days constructing a "greenhouse" in the park across from our hotel (plus another day tearing it down) for a ten-minute fashion show (which included Kate Moss). Missed it— we were oggling pre-Raphaelites at the Tate Britain.

The scene was Fashion with a capital "F". I got a kick out of briefly being a paparazza at Somerset House, the principal venue for the shows. Everyone was photographing everyone else. It was also one of the few places in London that I truly saw "fashion". So the question remains how much fashion London actually embraces...

By another bit of luck and generosity on her part I was able to meet one of my favorite bloggers, the delightful "That's Not My Age", for a coffee and chat at Somerest House. I will protect her anonymity by publishing only a headless shot. Trust me, she has a head, and a very smart one. We had a great discussion on style in general, retail in particular, the new movie about Diana Vreeland (given a thumbs up), the dilemmas of growing up but not out of fashion, etc. Thank you, TNMA, for the time we spent together— truly one of the highlights of my trip.

7/8ths portrait of That's Not My Age 

Unfortunately this will not be a report of next season's trends as presented at Fashion Week. I doubt if even Madame Ramona and her crystal ball could see that, and I'm still not clear about this season. Following are a few pix I snapped:

Onward fashion's soldiers...
Expounding...
Espousing...
Not Patsy and Eddie... but a special place in fashion heaven for them both
Posing... (not Bubble)
Shooting...
Pausing...
Dressed to thrill...
Talking...
Texting...
Hostess wearing Roksanda Ilincic
Policewoman wearing police issue
Working girls working it

I could have spent days there, but those pre-Raphaelites at Tate Britain were calling.

4 comments:

  1. Fabulous pictures! We're so looking forward to our London trip next year, and yes, the Tate is on the list.

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  2. That's very kind of you to say, Michelle - I'm so pleased we got to meet up, I had a lovely time.
    Keep in touch, TNMA
    x

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  3. Quite some characters in your pictures. They're great fun. Love your outfit. All 7/8ths of it!!

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  4. The "7/8ths portrait" is actually that of the blogger "That's Not My Age", who prefers a degree of anonymity. You can find her blog here:
    thatsnotmyage.blogspot.com/2012/09/style-at-any-age-london-fashion-week.html
    Her posting has a picture of me!
    Glad you enjoyed the read.

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