NEW YORK STATE OF MIND

A New York State of Mind.

And a beautiful one at that.

The New York City Ballet's latest campaign is breathtakingly simple but effortlessly graceful, two things of course that dancers are famed for.

Now I've already told you my history with leotards and ballet slippers so I won't go on.

But for some reason my eye is always drawn towards the aesthetic surrounding dancers and often more specifically ballet. Just the shapes that their bodies make and the grace with which they hold themselves.

I feel like it's probably something you're born with hey but who knows?

I could wake up tomorrow and suddenly move with all the elegance of a swan.

But the likelihood of that is about as great as me struggling out of my chair and hauling myself to the gym.

Then again I could always channel Michael Caine's advice in what some have called his finest performance to date, Miss Congeniality...and glide, and glide.

New York City Ballet 2016-2017 Campaign

Shot by Peter Lindbergh

The rest of the shoot can be found after the jump.

A FINE LINE

Playing with darkness and light.

A trick of the light is never an accident of the darkness. 

Weird that. 

Darkness is just an absence of light.

But then surely light is simply an absence of the dark.

Why is the light always given a power over the dark?

Who said the dark was less powerful than light?

Darkness conceals the secrets and the light reveals them.

Who's to say which has the greater power?

Pic from *SUMMER MOODS* on Pinterest

BATHIN

Nothing quite beats a good soak. It can cure even the worst of moods/hair days/spots.

You name it, for me a bath fixes it.

Now, I thought that sadly I was going to be moving out of bath season but no, the English weather system seems to have gone mad. 

Snow...in April?!

Guess I'll cherish my baths for a little longer.

More inspo after the jump

FAST LANE

Sunset.

                      A pastel horizon.

A solitary dancer.

              Graceful. Elegant.

              Tattooed,

                   'Nasty'

Filling the space.

                  Floating in a pipe dream.

Arm reaching up

to grasp

the invisible, silent

                                                      music.

His body creating shapes

that

         dance

                         themselves.

N.A.T.H.A.N

Nathan Mitchell

Shot by James Wright

For So It Goes Issue 7

See the rest of the breathtaking shoot after the jump.

DON'T WORRY, BEE HAPPY

So it's raining. It no longer feels spring-like as it did earlier in the week. In fact it's grey, drizzly but humid and frizz-making.

But you know what, spring felt so goooood, didn't it?! For that brief moment of blinding sunshine, I turned my face to the sun, channeled my inner sunflower and felt revitalised.

That probably had something to do with the fact that I spent the majority of the week wandering round the idyllic English countryside chatting to strawberry farmers and complimenting them on their bee populations and their plethora of flowering plants. (Research, of course. Essential research.)

There's nothing like hanging out with thousands of bees to cure those winter blues.

Alas it was not to last. Waking up to the unmistakable pitter patter of rain drops on my window this morning confirmed my fear as my heart sank.

Maybe spring wasn't here to stay? It was only passing through to be replaced with irregular April showers that make you curse your choice of suede footwear.

Or maybe not. My trusty weather app has informed me that the sun will appear, however briefly, at some point on Sunday. SUNDAY?!?!?

Until then, I will retire underneath layers of clothing, broken umbrella in tow.

But I'm still not going to take my sunglasses out of my bag.

Pics iPhone6

MONDAY MOTIVATION #21

Just seeking some wisdom from Mr Bowie on this Monday evening as I head into a week of final exams at school.

Two tomorrow and two on Thursday. 

Crazy to think 6 months is already up and as of next week I will officially join the unemployed ranks of twenty-somethings in London all struggling to find a job/get shit together/feed themselves.

I'm trying not to think about it really as it seems to be a rather daunting few months ahead.

But as Bowie so wisely pointed out,

I don't know where I'm going from here,

but I promise it won't be boring.

Pic from @ivrashton *WELL SAID* Pinterest

IN THE NUDE

Ballet is something I've always longed to be good at. Unfortunately it wasn't to be.

Little, chubby me, aged 3 and bald was squashed into a small pink leotard with matching pink ballet shoes. My mum looked at me with all the love in the world.

My peers, even aged 3, turned their perfectly groomed heads away in horror. 

Little blond angels dancing away, pointing their toes, listening intently to the teacher.

In I went. Actually in I was pushed.

And then 30 seconds later out I came, kicking and screaming and carried by my horrendously embarrassed mother.

And there it was. The beginning, middle and end of my career.

If only I had Christian Louboutin on my side and his beautiful new ballet shoes. 

Soft buttery leather in seven different shades.

Who knows. Maybe that was the problem mum.

I wasn't wearing my Louboutins.

See the rest of the campaign after the jump.