I am a 'natural light' purist - whether behind or in this case, in front of the camera. Obviously, as an aspiring photographer, of course I want to learn about how to use proper lighting. However, when the natural light is as incredible as this, who needs a van full of equipment? Nothing beats running around with a camera, a friend for a model and bag of clothes for styling on your back.
The title itself is a reference to another Beth Jeans Houghton song - her music is indeed golden.
Although I know that one of the key SS11 trend is seventies, I've subtracted ten years and am feeling very inspired by the sixties at the moment. I think there are several reasons for this..
1 - My grandma's home in London is a completely wonderful sixties time warp, right down to the original Saarinen table and chairs with a bubble lamp curved over it. It feels like I am immersed in that dizzy decade whenever I step through the front door.
2 - I have been spending free time recently cataloguing all my hundreds of 'inspiration images' ripped out of magazines, and sticking them into scrap books (I have about five so far). There have a been a lot of sixties images - both fashion and interiors related among them.
3 - The sixties is one of many decades I am studying for my American History exam. Okay, I'm not claiming that Lyndon B. Jonson's foreign policy inspired my look - I'm thinking more about the popular culture side of things here.
Also, there is something rather liberating about wearing sixties (or 60s inspired) clothes - after all, that is one of the things that decade stood for! Whether it was Mary Quant popularising the mini-skirt or the widening of the generation gap, those ten years represented huge social (and style!) change. I know I posted a Mad Men inspired ensemble a while ago, but each coin has two sides, so I think that this outfit represents its opposite - summed up by Diana Vreeland in the phrase 'The Youthquake'. Think of Edie Sedgewik, Jean Shrimpton and Twiggy. In fact, a great photographer friend of ours tells the most magnificent stories about living in a flat near Twiggy in the late sixties.
The tunic pictured here (bought from Beyond Retro in London) was one of the first ever items I wore on my blog. Then it was an actual dress, as opposed to the bottom skimming tunic it is now. However, there were several months where the size of my rib hump pre-surgery prevented me from wearing it. Now I have 'rediscovered' it. I layered it over a gold shirt bought from a charity shop, and Next cream cable knit tights. The emerald beauties on my feet were bought from a specialist vintage shop over the christmas holidays. I feel like I should start clicking my heels and monologuing about "home", such is the Wizard of Oz-esque feeling they evoke. The leopard print gloves are vintage (family owned), as is the Betty Barclay bag in the first shot.
Thank you to my ever-wonderful mum for being willing to drop her work for twenty minutes to wield a camera in a field. I would like to say I am levitating in the first and last shots, but sadly no. However, I did have a lot of fun jumping for photos (Deja Vu! It reminded me of LFW and the wonderful Style East) and it is very liberating for me to be able to move like that again.
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