" This week was easily the most glamorous I have spent in NYC. I found myself on a week long photo shoot with an array of supermodels in the most desirable locations around this wonderful city and surrounded by stunning guys and girls, beautiful views and amazing clothes and accessories.
Aside from the decidedly unglamorous 6.30am wake up call, the shoving on of an unprepared outfit and the ginger application of make-up in the bumpy town car, the first day set the bar for the week. Shooting in the penthouse of the 'New Museum' in the East Village - the panoramic view of the famous Manhattan skyline was breathtaking.
As the week continued the glamour kept coming. I seemed to be a midst the international dream team of styling, make up, models and photographers. It's strange; I have been in fashion forever but never tire of being in its creative hub.
The supermodels typically loafed around the set in their 'home clothes' and truly didn’t look different to any mere mortal, but once on set and trussed up in their outfits with flawless hair and make up, it was a clear why they're called supermodels. It was a real life version of those optical illusion pictures; nothing special at first until the image emerges and makes you go…'wow'.
The week rounded off with friends and the Screen Actor's Guild Awards. After the Golden Globes, the winners were somewhat predictable. Sadly the pastel tones were also fairly expected. The lovely Kristen Wiig looked great in Balenciaga, although I’m officially sick to death of the insipid powdery pallor leaking into these ceremonies. Michelle Williams punctuated the crowd in red Valentino (thankfully sans headband) but with red accessories she was in danger of being a smidge matchy matchy. Lea Michelle looked horrible in a Versace bandage dress; the colour actually did look that of an old bandage she'd found lurking in the depths of her medicine cabinet. The mile-long slit up the side didn’t work either. Yuk.
Perhaps the most interesting thing amid the charisma-free beige fest that was this year’s SAG awards, was the amount of times we all said “who??”. We are all in fashion and media but we're also ex-pats; can it be that we are all so out of touch or was this an American thing? Just when you start to feel part of the furniture here, it seems to let you know you're still very much a visitor. New York is strange that way, there are so many familiar vistas, recognizable faces, TV shows and well known places and phrases; (the kind that make you go 'oh, now I understand what the line in that show meant') but the unfamiliar is always only a heartbeat away.
With only a few weeks left in NYC I'm almost ready to return to London. A city where exciting Christopher Kane prints pop on the red carpet, the ever so slightly under rehearsed ceremonies feel a tad more genuine and where my familiar is just that. I'm almost ready, almost…"
