Lili Wants to Make You Smile

Tags

photoshoot, richard healey, road trip, sausage dog, songs, songs to make you smile, terry mendoza, Vintage, vintage songs, What Katie Did

This week was the first time I have done a tour show since I had Rafferty. We had a show of ‘Songs to Make You Smile‘ booked in to the Swindon Arts Centre and so on Wednesday morning we were up at silly o’clock to get everything ready. In my carefree ‘old’ life, I’d sling a bag in the car and head off. Now, leaving the house, involves packing almost everything minus a kitchen sink. We decided to add a sausage dog to the equation too, why make life simple?

We stopped along the way to p p pick up a pianist! Mr Richard Healey was on keys for this show, which is always a treat because he’s bloody super. We ended up running late, which I hate, so when we made it to Swindon Arts Centre they were concerned that we had forgotten! After explanations of ‘child, dog, traffic!!’ we got to the auditorium for a soundcheck. Dickie and I have soundcheck down to a fine art, literally 3 minutes to check mics and lights. This show, we decided to chuck in a new song to amuse ourselves, (slightly risky, given that I’ve just had three months off and the last tour show we did was in November!!) so we had a quick run through of ‘Sit Down You’re Rocking the Boat’ and we were happy with it.

Backstage, I threw make-up at my face, chucked my hair into an updo, ripped my dress as I dragged it on over my new best friend, my What Katie Did spoon bust Morticia corset and had 10 minutes to breastfeed Rafferty before it was showtime! So I hit the stage slightly flustered but it was fabulous to get back into the swing of things. The show was really marvellous, with a really supportive audience and the new song went beautifully, in fact, it might be my new favourite!

This afternoon, I had a photoshoot with the amazing Terry Mendoza. I absolutely adore shooting with him. We just click, if you’ll pardon the pun! We shot a couple of new costume pieces (a fabulous hat and some Elizabethan-style collar and cuff ruffs) and tried to shoot some pictures of Rafferty, who was having absolutely none of it. Every photo had him screaming or burying his head in my shoulder. After 10 minutes, we gave up!

In other news, Rafferty is trying so hard with noises. He’s copying ‘Guh’ and ‘Brrrrrrrrr’. It’s the best time wasting thing in the world.

Until next time…
Love Lili

Lili gets shot!

Tags

clothing, Deadly is the Female, Edinburgh Fringe, edinburgh fringe festival, etsy, Fashion, jema hewitt, killer curves, milady de winter, millinery, photographer, showgirl, style, Vintage, vintage lovers, What Katie Did

This week, I was lucky enough to shoot with one of my favourite photographers, Ian Treherne. It was my first shoot back after having Rafferty and I’m still feeling a little bit curvy, so I was concerned about my double chin and lack of cheek bones – thank heavens for shading and contouring.
I needed some photos for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and also for a couple of shows I’m working on so I threw together some costumes (the ones that fit me, anyway!) and went to Ian’s fab little studio about 20 minutes from my house.
Ian shot a photo of me last year which made it onto the front cover of Level 4 Magazine, a mag for local music and other artistic what-not. I adored that picture, so he was a natural choice for me. I also wanted something which wasn’t completely ‘vintage-styled’.
I find that it takes me about 10 minutes to warm up into a shooting rhythm and Ian takes a pause roughly every seven pictures or so but we soon found our way and started to come up with some really fabulous images.
I took along a dress from Deadly Is The Female, a black ruched number which when paired with a What Katie Did Morticia corset, provided me with some killer curves. I also flung on an awesome vintage statement necklace and earrings set. I imagine the photos will have a Mafia Mama attitude to them, as I was channelling ‘Don’t F*ck With Mama la Scala’!! I think that Ian really enjoyed shooting that dress and it’s really interesting how something so simple and black can ooze sexuality.
Then we shot my fabulous purple and green hosting frock which was made for me by the incredible Jema Hewitt.

It’s thoroughly boned which makes sitting down nigh impossible as is bending, turning or even just walking. This made shooting in it quite tricky, but I do hope that we got something amazing, the colours are incredible and the style is great. I wanted something which channelled Milady de Winter from the Three Musketeers and Jema created it perfectly.

Our final pictures featured the most incredible piece of millinery – a hat with a ship a la Marie Antoinette. It’s common knowledge that I adore a tricorn and this is a spectacular example. I found it on Etsy, my gosh, that site is a treasure trove of delicious handmade allsorts! I wanted to use the hat for an image for a new show I’m working on called Siren, it’s a collection of nautically inspired music. I wanted a soft but strong image with the hat centre stage and here is a sneak peek.

I can’t wait to see the rest of the images that Ian took, especially the amazing black dress and I look forward to sharing them with you, too. So for now, this blog is to be continued…
Love Lili