‘How to be Fabulously Fashionable at 50 Plus’ on ‘This morning’ with Wonderful Trinny

Yesterday I had the pleasure of Modelling on ‘This Morning’ which is Presented by the Lovely Holly Willoughby and Philip Schofield in the Fashion sectionwhich  was titled called ‘How to be Fabulously Fashionable at 50 Plus’ and whats  more the presenter on our fashion piece was no less that Trinny Woodall, someone i have aspired to for many years and was very excited at the prospect of being styled by her.

 

There were 4 of us Mature ladies modelling and we all arrived early and taken to the green room, was an interesting morning as Towie star Pete Wicks was there with his French Bulldog ‘Eric’ who was such a cutie, kept coming into the green room to us for a fuss then proudly came in with his chew to show us, he obviously liked the ladies as he ignored the guys in the room, Plus there was a parrot somewhere that gave out a squawk every now again, later we found out he was coming on with the sexy vet DR Evan along with some other weird but beautiful creatures

One by One we were styled by Trinny, My final outfit was all white, White Palazzo  trousers by Zara, White Blouse by Dorothy Perkins and the ‘piece de resistance’ a ‘cape Jacket’ again by Zara which really made the outfit stand out as a fashion statement , as Trinny said it says  you can walk into a party and  people think ‘my god she has arrived in the room’ my lovely snakeskin shoes were by Mango. I loved it, i would of never in a month of Sundays picked an all white outfit for myself with my hair but Trinny certainly has shown that it works, the woman is a legend.

 

Max Mara on Speed. Autumn Fashion shoot At Paddington Basin

 So i finally got to write post for this shoot. better late than never so they say!

 

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Hat H & M Black Polo neck: Next, Photography Simon Blower of Limelight Photography, MUA Christine Valerie

After weeks of planning and having to cancel this shoot 4 times due to bad weather (one time tale end of hurricane Gonzalo) weather forecast looked  to go ahead. Then bad news the MUA couldn’t  make it, looked like we have to give up on the idea, then thank goodness i found a lovely MUA called Christine Valerie to step in at the last minute. What an amazing  job she did too.

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Faux Leather Trousers Oasis, Knitted long Jacket: Charity shop, Cancer Reserach UK, Caterham Branch Fedora Hat: H & M Handbag :Mango Shoes: New Look Photography Simon Blower of Limelight Photography, MUA Christine Valerie

So I met Photographer and Artistic Director Simon Blower of Limelight Photography and the lovely MUA Christine Valerie  at Location for start of a fun day. A local bar kindly let us set up camp for the day and Christine somehow managed to do her magic with little lightening and cramped in a booth which didn’t make things easy for her.

 

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Hat Top Shop, Silk Blouse: Next, Faux leather jacket:Therapy, Lacey Skirt: Collectif Clothing, Ankle boots: Head over Heels, Patent Handbag: Mango Photography Simon Blower of Limelight Photography, MUA Christine Valerie

 

 

off me and Simon went to start the session, mostly we were ignored by passers by and we only managed to get security after us once! in between shoots was back into the bar for quick outfit change.

 

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Trench Coat: Charity Shop, Sue Ryder Care Oxted, Black Polo Neck: Next Faux Leather Trousers: Oasis, Black Suede Boots: Duo Boots Belt: Next, Photography Simon Blower of Limelight Photography, MUA Christine Valerie

 

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Faux Leather Trousers Oasis, Knitted long Jacket: Charity shop, Cancer Reserach UK, Caterham Branch Fedora Hat: H & M Handbag :Mango Shoes: New Look Photography Simon Blower of Limelight Photography, MUA Christine Valerie

my feet were killing me with all that walking in killer heels so how happy was I when we walked round the corner and found some deck chairs! Only in London could this happen!

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Faux Leather Trousers Oasis, Knitted long Jacket: Charity shop, Cancer Reserach UK, Caterham Branch Fedora Hat: H & M Handbag :Mango Shoes: New Look Photography Simon Blower of Limelight Photography, MUA Christine Valerie

 

you always get one! Think my look says it all!

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Hat Top Shop, Silk Blouse: Next, Faux leather jacket:Therapy, Lacey Skirt: Collectif Clothing, Ankle boots: Head over Heels, Patent Handbag: Mango Photography Simon Blower of Limelight Photography, MUA Christine Valerie

End of the day final walk along the canal.

Credits Simon Blower http://blowerlyon.co.uk/

MUA Christine Valerie

Vintage Weekend In Eastbourne

one sunny weekend in October my Friend Juan and lovely Ladies of Proud Parkers Photogaphy took a trip to Eastbourne for a vintage shoot. Here with my Juan ready for a day of serious hard work!!

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so we took ourselves back in time to the 1940’s and  Juan looking very cool, looking like Frank Sinatra. on the Beach a little  gathering of friends  met up with us  for a picnic and a few glasses of fizz and a few giggles on the beach, my idea of a perfect photo shoot!

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we were blessed with fine weather and really had a fun day, I decided would try and do a similar image to the famous Jerry Hall and Norman Parkinson Shot which involved me  balancing on this groyne. Was a bit of a challenge after a few glasses of fizz, what you can’t see that the other side of it was a 4ft drop Juan was standing just out of the pic ready to catch me!

 


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but what a giggle getting me up there in the first place!  Natasha of Proud Parkers Photography had one chance of the shot as I was shaking like a leaf. Luckily there was no trips to A & E!

 

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Now the shot we wanted to do for a long time, at last the everything was in place to do it, the sea was calm enough and not that cold considering!! so we waded out complete with umbrellas! passers by must of thought we were completely bonkers, and they wouldn’t wrong either! it was worth it

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great day was had by all, although 2 people ended the day slightly wetter than they started but did they care? of course not!

the lovely ladies of Proud Parkers certainly did us proud.

https://www.facebook.com/proudparkersphotography?fref=ts

Autumn in The Venice of the Cotswolds

So yesterday I drove to the beautiful, not so sleepy village of Bourton on the Water in the Cotswold’s to meet the talented Photographer Mr David Morley.

The day started off not looking too good and just as we were about to start the heaven’s opened and we had to run for cover! Thankfully it did’t last long and the during the course of the day the weather improved. We started the day with a bit of ‘steam punk’ style although sadly I forgot the boots but still got quite a good look with David’s eye for styling, he is the King of car boot sales for picking up bargains! Not sure what the passers by thought but a few cars slowed down to look as they passed, probably closest I will get to ‘stopping the traffic’

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I changed into the beautiful ‘Adrianna Papell’ evening gown that David had brought for me to wear, he really pushed the boat out on this one, it cost 50p at car boot! amazing bargain as i modelled this make at NEC Brimingham for House of Fraser and something like this would cost nearly £200. It fitted perfectly, I think I am going to employ David as my personal shopper!!! So then we tootled  off to a secret location to catch a few shots, stopping on the bridge en route to catch a few shots but by this time it was getting quite difficult as it was getting quite busy but thankfully the model village was quieter and we got some great Autumnal  shots.

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now was time for tea and cake so off we went to Riverside Cafe, no one seemed to take any notice of a woman in an evening dress at lunchtime, obviously an everyday occurrence in that part of the world!

After that time for last shoot of the day so back to the car park for another outfit change….really hope they didn’t have cctv there but amazing how used to getting changed quickly and modestly in pubic places! Being changed with towel wrapped round me on the beach as a child obviously set me up for life for this sort of event!!!

Off we went to find some vintage cars. again no one took any notice of a woman in 1940’s outfit doing daft posing over the lovely vehicles! How I love the British public! Pictures will follow soon.

Then home in time for tea 🙂

 

In and around Oxford with some Talented People and lots of hats!

So this September I hit the dizzy heights of Oxford, literally! I travelled to lovely little village in Oxford  to meet the renowned Photographer Simon Blower and his business partner James Lyon, The very talented Hat Designer and Milliner Jayne Elizabeth Rossiter-Gill who kindly leant me some of her amazing creations to model and the lovely Danielle Shirley who did my make up and a very different hairstyle to my usual bob!

Make and hair done we drove into Oxford to The Varsity Club, one of our locations for the shoot. We were so lucky with the weather but weren’t sure if it would hold out all day so we did our fashion shots on the rooftop bar with the fantastic views looking out over the City.  First outfit was a Turquoise dress and pink and purple hat by Jayne

 

then second outfit of the day was chiffon Cream Palazzo Pants and Navy lace top both from Zara finished off with Jayne’s statement Tiger Hat, just loved this combination.image(1)sneaky Jayne caught a few behind the scenes shots while the guys weren’t looking bhs

then off to inside to take some internal shots, first little red dress number topped with  Jayne’s beautiful lime green veiled hat, looked fab with the red of the dress, not a colour combination i would of thought of but  loved it.

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Then into the tux, great look depicted the end of the evening and all ‘partied out’ .

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Then to Studio 1, Sunningwell 

here was hats, hats and more hats! on and a Agent Provocateur Little basque number! 

this is a our  take on an  Sophia Loren image, we didn’t try to copy as for a start I am blonde and a lot older than she was in  the originalimage but we were pleased with the results and think it worked well.

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then with a Halloween sort of feel I adorned Jayne’s wonderful creation ‘Noir’ along with some latex gloves look complete.

 

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loved this stripy little number

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Yet more hats! love the ‘Anonymous’ feel of this one, nothing but the lips and hat!

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then the hats got even bigger, this is a hat i bought last year from H & M with a shoot in mind, so glad to finally got to use it

 

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this is one i called ‘The Black Widow’ this hat of Jayne’s is amazing and show’s her amazing skills in design and making of hats, I was very honoured to be able to model it for her.

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last but not least a portrait, no hat this time

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so all in all a great shoot with a very talented team.

 

More of Simon’s work can be seen here

https://www.facebook.com/simon.blower.94?fref=ts

https://www.facebook.com/blower.lyon?fref=ts

Jayne’s amazing hats here

https://www.facebook.com/jayne.millinery?fref=ts

www.jelizabethmillinery.com/

 

Make up Dannielle Shirley

What a difference a week makes

So this week has been a bit quiet this week but some lovely clips and photo’s have appeared on instagram and twitter that the lovely Audience took at the Selfridges extravaganza

little video link of us descending into the beauty Hall to fab welcome

http://instagram.com/p/niNXCPSjb8/

I walk on by with Summer, what a beautiful girl she was and such a poser, even more than me!

stop for a little pose for the cameras

http://instagram.com/p/niIo6dxHWP/

Selfridges Beauty Project and Oodles of Poodles

Thursday evening, I found myself back in the 1950s as an Elegant Parisian lady hitting the floor of Selfridge’s with other classic Models for the launch of the ‘Beauty project’ and the audience had a taste of the performances that are to follow over the next few weeks. Alongside us were Woodstock, Ibiza and Tribal who wowed the audience with their amazing Zulu Dance.

 

 

1950s Parisian Elegance

Annabel Davies and me complete with poodles

Then Saturday we were back again with even more beautiful ladies. We arrived bleary eyed in the early hours for our travel back in time to the 1950s in gay Paris with amazing hairstyles and make up and of course our beautiful couture clothes. This time I had a gorgeous black standard poodle, called ‘Summer’, an essential fashion accessory for elegant lady! We had to meet our poodles in the car park so they could get to know us, then walk round the store so they could get to know the route, this was when I got accosted by a security guard and told I would have to leave if I couldn’t carry the dog!! Then just to finish off rehearsals my lovely model friend Annabel’s poodle, Sonny decided to have a poo in the middle of the beauty hall!! We descended down the escalators in the the beauty hall to applause and gasps from the audience, the atmosphere was amazing. Our performance took us round the beauty hall  complete with bell boy, accordonist and chauffeur in tow, ending up seated in a posed tableau with Maurice Chevalier’s ‘Hello Beautiful’ serenading us before we disappeared  up the escalators

Posing for the Cameras!