I've moved on...
...to a different domain. Why, what were you thinking? The truth is, I just woke up one day and decided it's time for a change—a metamorphosis, if you will; or, in layman's terms, if Britney can shave her head, then maybe so can I? Nevertheless, it's been a rather handsome 10 years of talking to you, and thank you for putting up with all my moodswings and terrible dad jokes. Fear not! The hormonal imbalance and jokes are more terrible on CUBICLE, see you there.

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London Fashion Week · ss16
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art direction SHINI PARK photography & styling PARK & CUBE supported by THE APARTMENT, in collaboration with KURT GEIGER

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coat HARRIS WHARF LONDON socks KOREAN (SIMILAR) shoes KURT GEIGER

Place Charles de Gaulle: the deathtrap of a roundabout in central Paris where twelve straight avenues cross intersect in a star-formation – a place where I have sworn I will eventually die no matter what mode of transport I’m in/how veteran of a driver may be commanding the wheel/handlebar – is possibly the best I can do to explain Fashion Month to those outside the industry. It’s that noise, the lack of traffic lanes of any sort, the uncomfortable closeness to fellow comrades marching around the roundabout, and having to manoeuvre through the full circuit without crashing into, say, a scooter, or a blithe pedestrian (most possibly a tourist – even in the metaphor) (how many a German tour group experienced a Lion King-esque streetstyle photographer stampede towards Kendall, I do wonder) trying to jay-walk his way across to the Arc de Triomphe and wreaking havoc to any conceived order in this chaos. That is Fashion Month, for me.

In this equation, London is a relative comfort zone only due to the fact that the bed is familiar and the husband is baffled IRL (instead of ‘Y U DO DIS’ goodnight messages on WhatsApp), but the chaos is as thick. Tickets are missing, Simon – my source of enthusiasm in all this – ever scrambling in pursuit of some order in chaos (an impossible feat), and of course, the new Soho venue is simply a ‘hilarity’. Between all that, the fresh, new collections are the only clear sound in the commotion, that and the Apartment – a sanctuary known to digital somebody’s in the same plight. It may hustle and bustle, but anywhere that’s stocked with burgers, nap-pods, emergency Kurt Geiger, and infinite charge-stations is a clear win in this roundabout of death. In fact it’s like taking residence in the Arc de Triomphe, which coincidentally is also one of the best vantage points of the city (Alice knows).

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shirt CARVEN top KEEPSAKE skirt KIRSTY WARD boots KURT GEIGER

Here’s a scribble and a song, on the past season in London. More a scribble, because even after three weeks of supposed R&R my ears are still ringing of shell-shock. But I suppose that’s just me, getting closer to my 30’s and the bottomless barrel of excuses that come with. Call us a cab, BECAUSE I’M 30 AND WALKING IS DIFFICULT. Heck, I can’t wait to be 50.

GTG, husband’s just texted me a ‘Y U DO DIS’ from the other room.

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09:10 Japanese Breakfast at Koya Bar
10:01 Soho traffic is actual comedy
10:16 Stripes = YAS. At J.JS.Lee
12:20 Picnic-chic at Mother of Pearl: Season’s Favourite
Wool-piqué top
Mother of Pearl
Twist Lock Bag
Louis Vuitton
Love Chords Bracelet
Park & Cube for X Jewellery
Platform Sandals
Kurt Geiger
Platform Sandals
Kurt Geiger
L Der Watch
Larsson & Jennings
Platform Heels
Kurt Geiger
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Top – Zara. Skirt – Louis Vuitton. Trousers – Finders Keepers. Shoes – Kurt Geiger

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A hub, rest-stop and playground for digital influencers during Fashion Month

Move aside coffeeshops, hotel lobbies and odd little sandwich joints. Wrangling over one power outlet with 12% battery and changing awkwardly in the unisex toilet is a thing of the past. the Apartment is juice-a-plenty (both of fruit and the electric kind).

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15:10 rockstar eedding vibes at julien macdonald
15:55 Flash hair trim at Jhair
17:25 slinky silk & fluff at Topshop unique
18:05 Regina Pyo pick-me-up
Peekaboo bag
Fendi
Matte Home Ring
Effra London
Asymmetrical knitwear
Joseph
Zipped Boots
Kurt Geiger
Pleated Culottes
1205
‘Streets of London’ bracelet
Park & Cube for X Jewllery

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Burberry SS16

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Not to worry, this is the last of the lot. You must be sick of colourful foreign logos popping up in the right corner – I’m only hoping you will put up with these occasional sponsor flurries with more pardon over fixed advertisements. And who am I trying to kid, these bills ain’t going to pay themselves. (Although, no bill-paying currency was yielded from this specific sponsorship) Glacéau Vitamin Water and Exposure PR were awesome to arrange a front-row seat for the PPQ show, so thank you. I won’t hold a grudge against the PPQ PR who couldn’t find me a seat though, because although I had to wedge at the end of the catwalk I found out it was one of the best locations for shooting…. despite playing ‘how low can you go‘ with the BFC camera above my head…

Glacéau vitaminwater is the official soft drink supplier to London Fashion Week – keeping fashionistas hydrated all week long. Facebook page;

Samsung Wave II, courtesy of Spreading Jam & Samsung

Shots from London Underground, LFW, home, home 2 (Warsaw), Freemasons’ Hall, Next HQ, airport, Topshop… etc

I think the reason I agreed to take part in the Samsung Now Project was predominantly the fact that the Wave II phone spoke Korean – what a novelty it was to be able to type in Korean to my friends (by friends I mean ramen bowls with eyes drawn on)…  later when I read the small print I noticed keywords like facebook, filters and competition… aych, them speedbumps are never visible at first glance. But alas, the only ‘speedbumps’ I let get in my way were my boobs while squeezing under the BFC camera at the PPQ show. For the past 2 months I’ve been putting the Canon to bed early and going out with the Wave II to snap some ‘Now‘ moments. Then I’d come home, jazz it up with a filter equivalent of rabid racoons (Cute in essence, BUT VISUALLY SO WRONG) and putting it up on their Facebook gallery.

I think I was also meant to let you know the submission was open to everyone and 50 winners would have their photo displayed in the Design Museum, and the top 25 were to win handsets… but I think there was some selective reading on my part.  No, this post is just severely delayed, you can see by the fact the amount of time passed for me to have caught shots from the air, from underground, from London, from Warsaw, from a fashion show, from a spaghettihouse… a week more and I would have managed to capture a shot from inside the British embassy in Warsaw. An arrest might’ve been the highlight of the week.

Unfortunately the competition is now closed, sorry :(
Also, bit of an irony that this Samsung Wave II post landed on top of the tsunami post, uncomfortable occasion to find a pun…


Nadia of Froufrouu


Left: Emete of Make Lemonade

Jacket – Monnari, Blouse – Make Lemonade Vintage, DIY Cropped jeans – Zara, Wedges – Velvet Angel via Shopbop, Bag – Vintage

Currently suppressing the urge to take the laptop into the bed and acquaint myself of the art of endurance, but I fear it’ll be like man in stripclub, with wife. I’d forgotten Fashion Week is five days of tightrope-walking, the dismount both pleasing and excruciating and the only applause is from the shoes, sarcastic…slow…claps. They know they’re too damn expensive to THROW IN A BURNING OIL TANK. I will now buy cheaper shoes that can shred my feet and then I’ll express wrath by setting fire to them. Yeah, that sounds like good logic.

Day one was a good start, the wind tasted like winter but there were sunny spells that just lit up the courtyard like an incubator and then the colourful birds started hatching. Don’t you love it how all throughout the year magazines report the latest trend yet during fashion week no one really wears trend? It might just be London, but I didn’t see a herd of sheep(skin jackets) nor a pack of camel(coats) entering the show tent. Best thing about LFW: Overdosing on coffee with the girls and bumming around the courtyard, high on one caffeine cocktail or another, making new friends and shooting* old ones.

*Lined up against a wall, or sometimes just while they talk… candid is best, really.

Thank you Joseph Piper for taking my outfit shots!

Jill and I are covering London Fashion Week for Next this season, check out the Next blog for more coverage!

Ultra Chic Alize of Blog de Tendances

Jen Jen the Style Crusader; Awesome braids.

I remember it was exceptionally rainy on that last day of London Fashion Week, and none of those every-other-hour drizzles that characterizes London’s crap weather, but a steady downpour that lasted pretty much the entire afternoon. Rain or not, I had a fantastic time huddled under the Lavazza truck parasol with a group of new friends, collectively screaming when a bucket of rainwater dropped from the parasol edges, lunging for our cameras with protection of some sort. Thank you Kit, Jen, Jill, Michelle, and Craig of Altamira (briefly) for a wonderful afternoon, some lazy hoard of bloggers did we make, eh?

Well apparently nothing can rain on the LFW parade.