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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yruRgvNDqsk&context=C35f9e51ADOEgsToPDskIcpVicJ0nuJQiQvWipcRZ9

Libby Loves

* 'I want to have adventures with you' (Really, I do) £40, Urban Outfitters
*YES' bag : because life is worth saying yes to. £12, notonthehighstreet.com
*Daisy earrings, £7, thischarminggirl.com
*Stag head, £100, V&A shop
*Practically Perfect in Every Way teatowel (I want to be Mary Poppins), £9.95, notonthehighstreet.com
*Neon satchel, £98, Cambridge Satchel Company
*Happy Hour cocktail book, £9.99, Urban Outfitters
*Safari biscuits, £38.50 (including £5 for the Great Ormond St Hospital), Biscuiteers
*Train ticket cushion, £28, notonthehighstreet.com
*Initial purse, £14, Urban Outfitters
*Vinyl record cake stand, from £26, notonthehighstreet.com
*Rabbit lamp, £60, notonthehighstreet.com
*I love London lunchbox (because you're never to old for sandwiches cut into triangles), £5, V&A shop

Libby

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Regent's Park and Serpentine Swans

I love London parks. Recently I have been to Regent's Park and Hyde Park with friends. At Regent's Park I jumped up and down to see over the hedges at the giraffes in London Zoo and wished for a rich boyfriend to take me to the zoo and buy me fish and chips and ice cream. (Since when has a zoo ticket cost £18.50??)

Perhaps that is a strange ideal date. That or a roller disco... Bars and cafés are over rated. You can't see zebras or wear roller blades for starters.

In Hyde Park I wandered along the Serpentine, where I contemplated jumping in and doing laps in the swimming area. It was dark, and January, so I didn't.




Libby

1,125 views and counting...

If you haven't watched / shared / tweeted yet....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yruRgvNDqsk&context=C35f9e51ADOEgsToPDskIcpVicJ0nuJQiQvWipcRZ9

Thank you x

A bag of peas and an embroidered jacket

This afternoon I headed to Brixton Village to go food shopping at the market.

Instead of buying food I ended up being lured into the quirky clothes shop, Saloon 97, where I spotted this vintage waistcoat. It was reduced to £15 in the sale and I couldn't resist.

As I parted with my cash, I told the shop assistant that I was supposed to be food shopping and that I would now have to eat porridge for a week instead.

She laughed and said that when she was a student she lived off pasta and bags of frozen peas.

Who needs food anyway when you have a colourful embroidered jacket?

Shopping bag in hand, I headed off to buy some peas.

Libby

The Last Fashion Victims: The Film

Here is my documentary; you can also watch it by following the link below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yruRgvNDqsk

So how can you help now? If the video moves you (as it moved me whilst filming) then please add your comments on the youtube page and share the link. My aim is to spread this message but I need your help!

Thank you in advance from me and the women involved in the documentary,

Libby

My visit to The Scar Project, New York

Here are some of the photographs that I took at The Scar Project in New York, an incredible series of photographs by David Jay that show the reality of breast cancer.

His work has been a huge source of inspiration for my project and I am so pleased to have been able to include him in my documentary.

The Scar Project has yet to visit the UK, but I have high hopes for David's project and hope to see him and these images in London in the not too distant future.











View David Jay's images and find out more about The Scar Project at www.thescarproject.org

Libby

The Last Fashion Victims: The Story

Over the past few months I have been working on a project that I would now like to share with you.

As a woman, breast cancer is something I cannot help but think about. (My book, 'Love Pink' raises money for Breast Cancer Care.) Something I had never thought about, however, was how breast cancer affects a woman's wardrobe.

Last year a family friend underwent a bilateral mastectomy. She got in touch and said that she was really struggling to find clothes to wear following her operation. She felt frustrated by what was on offer, and let down by the high street. As an aspiring fashion journalist, was it something that I would be interested in investigating?

After our conversation, I started my own research. I searched the web and trawled through specialist sites. I was shocked - the majority of what was on offer looked stuck in a different era. There was certainly not much I could imagine my friend wearing.

Together Lynne and I took to the Breast Cancer Care forum and asked whether this was a problem other women had come across. The response was overwhelming.

I then got talking in detail to several women who told me the problems they faced and what changes they would like to see. Of these women, I found three in particular (including my friend Lynne) who were happy to appear on camera.

Tripod and camera in hand, I headed down to Devon and up to Glasgow (in one rather hectic weekend!) and then across to Leeds. The women I met were interesting, inspiring and I felt privileged to hear their stories and capture them on film.

Next I got in touch with the photographer David Jay, whose wonderful photographic project, The Scar Project, had been shown to me by Lynne. I had found the images incredibly moving and wanted to hear more about the project.

I emailed David on a Wednesday. That day I received an email from him, thanking him for my interest but saying that to fully appreciate the images I needed to see them in their original 6ft state, rather than just on my laptop. Would I be able to 'pop over' to New York to see the exhibition before it closed that weekend?

At first I laughed. And then I thought, why not? This was a project I felt passionately about and an opportunity that seemed just too good to miss. I knew that David's images would add another dimension to my film and I was fascinated to meet the man behind the images. And, of course, it meant a weekend in New York. By that afternoon I had spoken to David, withdrawn from my savings, booked a last minute flight and found a friend of a friend's whose floor I would be able to sleep on for two nights.

I was not prepared for the weekend that awaited me. I landed in New York on Friday evening and although I was exhausted, I decided to make the most of my visit and spent the evening wide-eyed on the top of the Empire State Building.

The next day I headed to The Scar Project exhibition. As soon as I walked in I knew that travelling 4000 miles (plus a stop over in Charlotte) had been worth it. David was right; seeing the images online is one thing, but being surrounded by them in a stark white gallery blew me away.

I spent the whole day talking to David, filming in the gallery and meeting the many people who had made their pilgrimage to the gallery or been drawn in from outside by the arresting images. I was lucky enough to speak to Melissa, one of the women involved in the Scar Project, whose photograph hung on the wall. I also spoke to Doris, another wonderful lady who I sadly wasn't able to fit into the documentary. Throughout the day a whole range of people came through the doors. Some came alone, some were couples, or sisters, or friends. There were tears, but I also found it heart warming to see the smiles as well.

David Jay himself turned out to be one of life's wonderful people - as the project itself would suggest. I was lucky enough to join on a tour he gave of the gallery, in which he shared the incredibly moving stories of the women he had photographed. I found myself learning not just about the project, but about life, death and all that goes between. Being in the gallery made me feel at once alone but also part of something much bigger than myself. It was one of the most moving and powerful experiences of my life.

When I arrived back in the UK, (despite being exhausted and jetlagged!) I felt all the more determined to give a voice to the women I had met and that David had photographed so beautifully.

Fashion may be a small part of a woman's life in the grand scheme of things, but the women I have met have shown me that it can also be an incredibly important part. I also realise that as much as I would like to, I am never going to discover a cure for cancer. What I can do instead is try my best to make a small difference in the area in which I am trying to start a career, and to use what I am studying at university (broadcast journalism) to give a voice to those who are otherwise being overlooked.

That is my aim anyway. The video above is a short trailer for the longer documentary that I will post later. This site seems to have cut part of the shot of the video so CLICK HERE to see the full version on youtube.



Find out more about David Jay's 'The Scar Project' at www.thescarproject.org

Libby

And my superpower would be...

I was searching through my computer when I came across these photos from a project I did at LCF last year. Our group filmed a stop motion animation in which we all dressed up as mock superheroes (yes, this was a costume, not my usual get-up...).

I was quite a new breed of superhero altogether - an all pink, all dancing sort of superhero who could prevent disasters with a flash of a smile and a swish of a polka dot umbrella. Because that really would be my superpower.

Oh, and being able to fly and run really really really really fast. Of course.





Libby