Natalie for Grazia.it

Miss Natalie Hughes for Grazia.it.
Probably if you have been following my blog for a little while now, you would have guessed that Natalie would be one of the girls I wanted to photograph for Grazia.it. Natalie is the Fashion and Social Media Writer for Net-a-Porter.com, and also the editor of the lovely blog Canned Fashion . You can find the interview with Natalie in Grazia here (find out what her job at Net-a-Porter entails, her style influences and her idea of a perfect Saturday).
What I love about Natalie (apart from her amazing hair!), is that she loves wearing colour. Even in the depths of winter in London or Paris, I have photos of Natalie from the fashion weeks wearing little flashes of colour: a pair of hot pink trousers with a camel coat, an orange Hermes twilly tied around the waist of her jeans or in her pony tail, a kelly green coat teamed with paper-bag-waisted cargo pants, a purple and pink fitted cardigan with a paisley skirt. When we were in Paris in March, Natalie mentioned she was coveting a pair of the Isabel Marant coloured jeans. And it is no surprise that her most recent purchase was the Jil Sander bright orange PVC market bag!
So for our little feature, I was happy that Natalie pulled out some pretty, spring pieces for us to shoot. Her shirt is Equipment from Net-a Porter, the floral skirt is vintage and her Christian Louboutin shoes are from Net-a-Porter. Her reversible leather tote (note the green on one side and brown on the other) is from Net a Porter.
Her pants (below) are Etoile Isabel Marant from Net-a-Porter and her pretty, palest lilac knitted top is Proenza Schouler from Net-a-Porter.
Love Natalie's Hermes cuff, and gold Michael Kors watch from Net-a-Porter. Oh and her gorgeous phone which says Chic on the front! So cute.
Even Natalie's London flat has little pops of colour everywhere: Hermes boxes stacked on a window sill, vintage Vogue covers line the hallway wall, boxes of sparkly jewellery are nestled next to perfume bottles in her bedroom, heavy gold frames house photos of her family in the living room and fun invitations from fashion weeks are propped against books (note the Mulberry invitation in the collage below leaning against the clock). Natalie's pink trousers are vintage Versace, her white t-shirt is Splendid from Net-a-Porter, her black patent heels are Jimmy Choo from Net-a-Porter and her bag is the Jil Sander market shopper from Net-a-Porter (I love the green and white Jil Sander shopper especially with the pink shoulder strap).
Natalie is also a talented illustrator and straight way I recognised the girl in the illustration by Natalie in the bottom left of the collage....it is Bip Ling!
Natalie's dress is vintage (she customised it by chopping off the hem!)....so perfect for a Sunday morning spent lazing around her apartment. Or entertaining a photographer who has come to peek around her apartment ;)
Natalie made the hot pink pom-pom necklace in these photos herself! Her skirt is vintage (I know Natalie loves shopping for vintage in NYC when she goes for fashion week), and her white printed t-shirt is Proenza Schouler from Net-a-Porter.
Her hot pink bag is Miu Miu from Net-a-Porter and her shoes are Alexander Wang Freja platform boots from Net-a-Porter.

New York Fashion Week AW 2011

New York Fashion Week AW 2011...After Tracy Reese

Paris Fashion Week AW 2011...Ekaterina

Ekaterina Mukhina, Fashion Director, Vogue Russia.

Challenge 55 - Stitches

Thank you to all our entrants who played along last challenge. Before we get to tell you our challenge winners and topic here are some winners from our Princess Digi Release:

Winner chosen from Dawn's blog - Antoinette

Winner chosen from Darlene's blog - Elizabeth Hart

Winner chosen from Deb's blog - BettyBee

The winner of the spread the word is:

Tammylee Newberry

Congratulations!!!!! If you haven't already please email me nichola.fairbairn@googlemail.com to claim your prizes :-)

If you weren't one of our lucky winners and love the new designs you can
grab yours HERE....

Challenge winners:

The winner of a Wags 'n Whiskers Rubber Stamp of their choice is:

Donna

The winner of a Wags 'n Whiskers Digital image is:


Gale

Congratulations Donna and Gale! Thank you for playing along and sharing your beautiful cards with us. Please contact me nichola.fairbairn@googlemail.com to claim your prize.

***************

This challenge Tracy would like to see:

Stitches

These can be real or faux!!! Maybe some stitching detail on your papers or embellishments.


***************

Don't forget our challenge is now open. Anyone can play along and you DO NOT need to use a Wags 'n Whiskers image.

Each challenge we have two prizes:

One random participant will win a

Wags 'n Whiskers Rubber stamp of their choice.

Any entry using a Wags 'n Whiskers image on their card will be entered into a drawing for a W'nW Digital stamp of their choice!!

Therefore, anyone who uses a Wags 'n Whiskers image will be entered into both prizes of a rubber stamp and a digital stamp!!

The only requirements are that you link directly to your challenge project - not to the main page of your blog. You must have a new project (no back linking) and you must link your card to the challenge post.

If you do not have a blog, you can still enter the challenges by uploading your cards to an open gallery such as Splitcoaststampers.

Here are the DT's fabulous cards for your inspiration:


Tracy

Angelique


Darlene

Tammy Louise

Lacey

Diane

Jeanette

Carolina

Dawn
Deborah

Happy Stamping!!!

Paris Fashion Week AW 2011...Sama and Haya

The Twins.
Sama and Haya Abu Khadra.
After Chanel.
I am off to the Chelsea Flower Show in London tomorrow (my first time) and couldn't resist posting these photos.

If you are fortunate enough to wear Chanel in your teens, this would be how you do it! They make everything look so pretty and wearable.

London Fashion Week AW 2011...Kiki

Freelance writer, Kiki Georgiou, and her gorgeous red Cambridge Satchel Company satchel after Erdem. Kiki has a blog called Kiki's Delivery Service. I love the different name's people call their blogs....I was obviously lacking inspiration when I came up with mine ;)

London Fashion Week AW 2011

Aussie model Jessica Clarke after Erdem. Whoops, sorry, New Zealand model- thanks to everyone who let me know!

London Fashion Week AW 2011....Vanessa

Vanessa Coyle, Senior Fashion Editor, Harper's Bazaar (UK). Today in London would have been perfect for Vanessa's anorak....there was a LOT of rain.

Violaine

Miss Violaine Bernard, the french Fashion Director of Velour Magazine.
Bonjour Violaine, ca va?*
And always, always Violaine greets me with "Oui, ca va!", double kisses and the cutest smile. She is just one of those girls who manages to be cheery at fashion weeks even if it is pouring with rain (LFW February 2011), sleeting (LFW February 2010) or she is just plain exhausted. Violaine has that infectious happiness that makes you want to be around her....and did I mention her gorgeous, effortless French style? I was so happy when Violaine agreed to let me photograph her for Grazia.it (you can find the interview here).
One of the things I love most about doing these shoots (apart from getting to peek into people's apartments and wardrobes!) is that I get to learn things about people I probably never would have discovered otherwise. Like Violaine's "Lucky Kid" tattoo on her left arm (it is there as a little reminder to Violaine that even when things get tough, she has had a very fortunate, lucky life so far). As soon as I spied it, I was intrigued (those who have been reading my blog for a long time will know about my fascination with ink) and knew I wanted to try and capture some photos with it in (she has another one on the upper part of her left arm).
I loved the softness and prettiness of Violaine's first outfit (Topshop sweater and lace shorts). Another great thing about doing these shoots, is that everyone I have photographed thus far has had such different personal style. I love that- I think it would be so utterly boring if everyone dressed the same.
Violaine had a few different outfits planned but it was SO cold outside and decidedly un-Springy (this was a few weeks ago in London) that we quickly shot these photos and then raced inside and wrapped Violaine up in some warmer clothes.
Her shirt is Opening Ceremony, trousers are by Parosh, hat Uniqlo and shoes are by Rupert Sanderson (Violaine has already placed an order for some black suede platform boots from Rupert Sanderson for winter- they sound divine). Violaine is laughing in the second photo as it was so incredibly windy! Probably we wouldn't have been laughing so much if her hat had blown off onto the next building :)

Outside the cafe Violaine was wearing vintage coat, J Brand jeans, cashmere sweater from Lutz&Patmos and boots from H&M. Her hot pink clutch is vintage.
Violaine's owl necklace (which opens up to reveal a little clock) she found in a vintage market in NYC.
Violaine and I went for a croissant and cafe au lait at one of her favourite brunch cafe's in London: La Vie en Rose at Broadway Market in Hackney. She also took me to the most amazing, odd shop I think I have ever been to: The Last Tuesday Society Shop. It is a treasure trove of curiosities and unusual objects that Violaine often goes to to find gifts for friends. While we were there (with me and my camera bag remaining as still as a Rodin sculpture in an effort not to break anything;) Violaine purchased a beautiful little antler wall hanging which she was going to use to keep her necklaces and jewellery on.

I made Violaine put on this Elizabeth&James top- she wore it to the launch of Velour magazine last year and I really wanted to photograph her in it that night but I thought it would be rude to ask in front of all the guests! So she pulled it out for our little session.

*The limit of my French language skills unfortunately.


p.s. you can click on the collages to make them slightly bigger.


p.p.s The chair that Violaine is sitting on in the first photos is an ex-jail chair! Apparently it is really cold to sit on for any length of time. Kinda cool as a talking point for parties, huh?!