JITROIS CAMPAIGN AUTUMN/WINTER 2012

The Jitrois Autumn/Winter campaign that we shot at Aynhoe Park with Rankin has been released. My unbiased opinion is that it is stunning. I had a lot of fun along with Rankin's producers coming up with the story (see below), and to spend the day on set in such an incredible location was fascinating, if not a little distracting. I must have snapped hundreds of photos of taxidermy animals in hats & stuffed pythons. Nadine Ponce is the face that inspired my narrative - she has such a powerful, unique look and I know she will go far.

For Autumn/Winter 2012-2013, long-time collaborator Rankin turns his lens upon four mischievous heroes at sophisticated play... 

This game of seduction, an idea at the heart of the D.N.A. of Jitrois, is played out by a selection of characters evoking a 1920s country house mystery tale of the like of Agatha Christie: Masha Voronina, a listless Socialite; Chris Doe, a manipulative Narcissus; Tuuli Shipster, a Charming Blonde feigning innocence but playing Judas. The enigmatic Artist, Nadine Ponce, cuts an insouciant and androgynous figure, bringing a wave of modernity and sparking a dark, romantic revolution. With the arrival of The Artist comes a new, enlightened mood, more Bloomsbury Group than 'Bright Young Things'. Standing against bourgeois rituals and for shared ideas and shared love, the revolution shakes up the house of carefully laid-out cards, and some are revealed to be as intrinsically still and cold as the statues around them.
Our characters move through a labyrinthine mansion, a formidable character in itself played excellently by Aynhoe Park. Filled with objects and curios, this esoteric setting harks back to the age of 'Le Grand Tour' and represents the conservative moral and artistic codes of the last two millennia. In juxtaposition, dramatic tableaux of lovers are cast in the Orangerie.

Rich tones of ruby noir and midnight purple create a sumptuous, jewel-like colour palette, while smocked leather, crochet detailing and golden embroideries evoke a textural tapestry. Both complement the eccentric and diverse fabric of this incredible environ. Around the piano, hyper-feminine stretch leather evening gowns are juxtaposed against the androgynous tailoring favoured by The Artist. The latter, imbibed with a devastating power of seduction, dominates any love triangle. In Jitrois, three is a beautiful crowd. In Jitrois, three is a beautiful crowd.

SONAR

Here comes the sun, I think. Catching evening rays on my balcony in Paris 11ème, wearing Etnia Barcelona's Sonar Limited Edition sunglasses and a €1 dress, and dreaming of my September trip to Morocco. Photo by Matthew Thomas.

A MONTHLY COCKTAIL

A COCKTAIL OF THINGS WHICH HAVE BEEN ON MY MIND THIS WEEK MONTH.

Springtime postcards from Paris (1.) My friend Adam climbed to the top of the Pompidou centre one evening to take this snap. I said it looked like the Eiffel Tower was laying a golden egg. (2.) 'Maddalena' by Anouk Aimée in La Dolce Vita. Those eyes! Those dresses! Fellini films are sending my monthly bills for eyeliner (L'Oreal's precision pen, to be precise) spiralling. I have now also resolved to live out the rest of my life the next few weeks entirely in Fellini black and white, captured on my Nikon FM2 (3.) , my 22nd birthday present from my boyfriend. So I made the most of exhibiting myself in my natural state, a.k.a. colour shock, when heading to the first Vogue Festival last month in London. (4.) Russ McClintock snapped me rushing into the venue (fashioniably late, of course) but doing pretty well to trot in my comfy new Jeffrey Campbell 'Fiona' boots courtesy of Vice magazine. In case you were wondering, yes I have invested in fake tan since this picture was taken. The maximalist I am, I felt so at home in the realm of James Perkins - the formidable Aynhoe Park (5.) in Northamptonshire, where I was on location shooting the Jitrois Autumn/Winter campaign with Rankin. Amongst statues, model aeroplanes, modern art and antiques, all the taxidermy animals wore jovial hats.(6.) Fabulous American service : On a recent work trip to New York I was honoured to stay in the glorious Mercer hotel. And yes, the rumours are true - they really do do the best cheeseburgers on the whole of the city. Meanwhile on the other side of the pond, the summer of bindi love has been kicking off (7.) mainly on the dancefloor in Le Baron. I just stocked up at one of my favourite jazzy bindi sites here. Also at Le Baron, Yvan Rodic made me this DIY tulip corsage for my Chanel bag (8.) last time I bumped into him. I'm sad it couldn't have been a permanent addition. Being the bad person I am, I bought myself these Valentino shoes (9.) as a early-birthday-pay-rise-celebration present to myself. They are the most expensive things I have ever bought, but I am proud to support the luxury European fashion industry, which is now not just my passion but my livelihood. I also think my favourite photographer Helmut Newton would approve of their studded stiletto qualities. Naturally I was thrilled that his first major retrospective since his death was to be hosted at the Grand Palais in Paris. One of my favourite of his photographs is his portrait of Karl Lagerfeld (10.) Another major exhibition of 2012 is of course Yayoi Kusama's lifetime retrospective at the Tate Modern (11.). Much as I enjoyed the exhibition, if there is one thing I was a little disappointed in it was the curation. For an artist whose whole creative aesthetic is based on mania, I felt that this could have been better expressed through the layout of the rooms of her work - it was rather clinical. I did enjoy the gift shop however, spending £28 on postcards - possibly a new record. Who's the manic one now?