The month of February

Yet again, has involved little to no running and yet again, a whole load of fashion.

It started with a trip to see D'Angelo!

D'Angelo - Lady

How we swooned

The to see Queen Elizabeth II by Cecil Beaton at the V&A

The to the Tate Modern to see the fantastical Yayoi Kusama exhibition 

The lady herself ( even her wheelchair is covered in polka dots)

I went to see the Lucian Freud Portraits exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery. I've always been a fan of his work, and loved seeing traditional oil painting celebrated.

Then before I knew it, it was time for London Fashion Week. So we headed down to beautiful Somerset House  for a week of shows.  This is T-Rex charm was the invitation to designer Sophie Hulme's  presentation

I saw Arctic explorers at Eudon Choi

Loved Richard Nicoll's live studio presentation

And Fred Butler's origami apparel

Anya Hindmarch's all singing all dancing fun factory was a highlight

The hippies were happy at Ashish

We went to the latest Peroni Talks Q&A with editor, stylist and paparazzi dream Anna Dello Russo who talked about her career, style and plans for pop music stardom

Then we played amongst the old masters and the relics in the V&A

I interviewed the legendary musician, feminist and style icon Annie Lennox for The Observer O: Magazine 

After five solid days of Fashion Week shows and presentations, I took the morning off and went to see The Tomb of the Unknown Craftsman exhibition curated by Grayson Perry at The British Museum.

Then the next day was a 4am start for Milan Fashion Week!

Surprisingly, the sun shone and we zoomed around the city from show to presentation and presentation to show - doing around 13 appointments a day.

Our driver Seba is a Milanese reggae star, so naturally his band Rhoyal Sound became the soundtrack to Fashion Week, and our tiny Fiat 500 car packed with fashion girls & reggae music blaring from the speakers made quite an impression in a sea of blacked out Mercedes filled with po-faced editors.

The show locations are always a highlight for me during fashion weeks. Often held in grand villas and private houses. The ceiling at the Zagliani presentation was pretty amazing...

Drinks around the pool at Tod's

Fancy footwork at Furla

Pucci

Versace

Dolce & Gabbana

Salvatore Ferragamo

Oh, and I found a new friend too!

It was definitely a busy month and this is my first day off for 28 days! I loved it, but it didn't leave a lot of time to run like 'elle

Have you heard of Hashing?

Today I stumbled upon the seemingly secret world of Hashing – a type of running club, which doubles as a drinking club and secret society.

Members – referred to as Hashers, Harriers or Hounds, follow a trail of cryptic signs left by the leader – Hares, in formations of circles and X’s laid in flour, a mixture of flour and sawdust, or flour coloured with chalk.

A few example markings… Though permeations are plentiful and often include triangular markings and the letters YBF, QZ, BN, SV, SC & CB

Trails can be urban or rural, leading Hounds through a veritable assault course during the run (participants are advised never to wear new trainers!) Runs are testing, but cater to people of all fitness levels.

Hashers are never referred to by their real name, instead a Hasher name is invented – often one which is nonsensical. Hashers are known to run in red dresses occasionally too, but that’s a whole other story!


The history of Hashing

Hashing originated in Kuala Lumpur in 1938, when a group of British colonial officers and expats founded an informal running club to run of the weekend’s excesses.

The group was informed by the Registrar of Societies that they needed to register their group, and so it was suggested that they become the Hash House Harriers, so called after the Royal Selangor Club – their member’s club, which served notoriously bad food, and was fondly referred to as Hash House.

The reward for their sporting pursuits were beer, ginger beer and cigarettes.
Due to the outbreak of WWII and the invasion of Malaysia the sport virtually died out, but regained popularity in the 1970s and now boasts around 2,000 chapters spanning every continent.

Original club manifesto:
To promote physical fitness among our members
To get rid of weekend hangovers
To acquire a good thirst and to satisfy it in beer
To persuade older members they’re not as old as they feel

Hash facts

• The activity: HHH, H3 or Hashing
• Hashing group: Chapter, Kennel
• Members: Hashers, Harriers or Hounds
• Management: MisManagement
• Leaders: Hares
• Dead end trails: Check
• Most clubs are free, though some charge a small fee: Hash Cash
• As a running and social club fusion, after parties often occur: Hash Bash
• Hashers are known to gather under full moons: TONIGHT'S A FULL MOON! 

 To find your nearest chapter: www.gotothehash.net

Hooooooooowl!!! run like 'elle

Not...running in Milan

So.... I’m supposed to be going to Berlin on the first of April to run the Berlin ½ marathon with the Run Dem Crew.

The team are in training, and as-ever, I’m late on board. But, in acknowledgment of what’s to come (and fear of letting down the RDC lot) I packed my running stuff for my trip to Milan Fashion Week last week, with every intention of unpacking it from my suitcase and running.

I was travelling with my work friend Jayne, and we’d made the plan to run together whilst we were there. It didn’t quite go according to plan.
We did 15 appointments – both shows and presentations, every day. And finished at around 9/10pm, then headed straight to dinner. I don’t advocate it, but there’s never any time to eat or drink during the day at Fashion Week. So, needless to say – the bread basket got it!

After dinner, it was back to the hotel to file the day’s copy. So, bed by about 2am, then up again at 6am to edit our copy from the day before – and start the whole process again!

I’m not trying to sound like a flakey fashion girl. It’s not too tough an existence, and I’m very aware of how lucky I am. But it was busy, we were tired, and so we didn’t manage to run. Not once.

My running kit is still lying in the bottom of my suitcase at home, and I’ll leave it there to take it with me to Paris for Fashion Week this week. I’m hoping for a better result there!

On the plus side, I did wear 5 inch stiletto heels daily, and believe me - in the cobbled streets of Milan, that’s a pretty good feat – for even a seasoned stiletto wearer.

My fashion feet (please note – the cigarette ain’t mine!)

run like 'elle.

Jessie Ware - Running (Disclosure Remix)

Hi! Still here, just been marooned on Planet Fashion for a while. (We're three Fashion Weeks in to the AW/12 collections now, only one more to go)

This is about as close to running as I have come recently (the record has running in the title – durrr!)



Run like ‘elle (for me)

Valentines vibes

You Make Me Happy - Mr. Vegas

Happy Valentines Day ya'll. x

Alsace & Lorraine - Jimpster

More music, but I can't stop listening to this...

run like 'elle. x