#peachtrail

As we are prepping madly at Peach Trail HQ for the Dessous London show, our Swedish swim wear shoot seems a million years ago. Looking through the images and picking our favorites, bring back some amazing memories of the weekend and the reminder of how lucky we are to live somewhere where mosquitos don't bite your face when you are asleep. For the shoot the PT team and our amazing photographer Esme Mai  headed to the beautiful lakes of the Värmland County in Sweden. A location where no photo will do it justice. Basically heaven with a side order of mosquitos and giant ants with shark like teeth.

Anyway, as a team of 4 made up of friendships that have lasted many line ups of the Sugababes, we flew to Oslo, debated how to work an automatic car, and drove the couple of hours to Sweden (via a supermarket where we discovered the only thing cheap in Sweden is vogue cigarettes- hurrah) to Annicas lake house. Annica is an old friend of the PT team and a force to be reckoned with. I honestly think if it wasn't for her we would all still be stuck on a lake trying to figure out how to row a boat. After a relaxing evening of amazing food and being coxed into the freezing cold lake for what I think was a baptism to scare away all our city spirits and become one with Sweden, we settled down in our little out house with a toilet that was hollow and a front door that didn't even lock (apparently not needed in the Swedish outback) On the day of the shoot our model Donna turns up looking all early twenties and like she too has just dropped from heaven, and we set her the first challenge, of walking through the forest in the rain and mud with us over eager 30 odd year olds wittering on about the latest horrendous date we had been on, or why the hell our mothers won't just shut up.

Don't worry, she survived challenge one.

Challenge two was model our fun new swimwear, designed to tease, in a shared fisherman hut whilst said fisherman kindly showed us the days catch. Guts a kimbo and all. (vom). And challenge three, was getting brave Donna to do a change of bikini pants in a wet rowing boat in the middle of a lake with an audience. This girl is invincible! She is scared of nothing! Believe me, we threw everything at her. Except insect repellent.

Then after walking through more forest in the rain, we settled in for the night in our perfect little summer house and laughed our heads of at all the photos that we ourselves featured in, whilst Donna filled us in in her studies and work.

This girl has brains and beauty.

And even though a small part of me was jealous of her youth and confidence, it also made me so grateful that MY 20's are over. And never to be revisited. Lock that shit away please.

Day 2 featured some more lake side shooting, enough to get a bit of a name for ourselves in the local region. We don't like to leave anywhere without being gossiped about. And then we took the leap and actually dressed ourselves, brushed our hair, and went for coffee and cake in the local town of Arvika. I don't know if any of you have ever had Prinsesstårta cake but I recommend it. Don't be put off by the unnatural lime green colour of the icing, it's actually the best thing that will ever pass your lips.

After we dropped of Donna at a train station with no idea if trains even stopped, we headed back to our little home to drink and eat ourselves silly, dressed up in a variety of fur hats we found in places that were not meant to be found, discussing our real lives which seemed so far away.

As well as providing the most beautiful back drop for Peach Trail’s first Swim Collection, these short but sweet 3 days in Sweden reminded me that, of all the adventures we have been on and are still yet to come, I'm so glad to be doing it with my Sugababes line up.

This weekend I took myself of to the Saatchi Gallery for a date day for one hoping to feel inspired by the self-indulgent exhibition of SELFIE

Due to my constant binge on social media, a lot of the photos were not new to me. Though the concept I enjoyed.

 The one image that caught my eye, and probably has yours too, was the image of Juno Calyspo in the heart swimming pool flirting outrageously with herself in multiple mirrors.

 Once reading the blurb on this photograph and short film (where at one point she is covered in green paint, Beetlejuice Beauty Queen style) I was struck by the sadness of the construction instead of the bold self-assured beauty. But maybe I have read this all wrong.

 The sexy, retro shoot is from Juno’s collection called the Honeymoon Suites and is based around a character called Joyce.

This is Joyce’s 3rd series.

 After 2 decades of taking pictures of herself in private (before you judge, we all joined Myspace about 15 years ago, so we are not far behind) Juno began a series of self-portraits staged as a fictional character called Joyce.

Like most people with a beautiful vision, I think Juno was excited about the idea, and thought she would worry about the meaning later.

Joyce began appearing in rented bedrooms and taking photos of herself whilst her companions / hosts were sleeping….it’s ok we have all been there.

As stated by Juno ‘Once alone I used Joyce to reenact the private underlife of a woman consumed by the laboured construct of femininity, carried out to the point of ritualised absurdity.’ (and) ‘The Honeymoon’ is a continuation of the ‘Joyce’ series.’

Art is how the viewer depicts it. I see Joyce, lonely, and though sometimes around other people, still so trapped in her own self-acceptance and that she can’t move past the idea of how others view her.

Or is that me.

Juno spent a week alone, at various couple-only honeymoon resorts in Pennsylvania. For me, this is self-indulged torture at its most high. Most people watch The Notebook with ice-cream. Personally, myself and my friends watch The Craft and make voodoo dolls of our exes. Juno just goes ONE BETTER.

She packs wigs and wedding lingerie and displays her adventures as a travel writer, so the hotels and resorts give her access to various rooms.

Once inside she creates these hypnotizing self-portraits of lonely moments of Joyce, preparing or waiting for a honeymoon.

‘Joyce appears alone, absorbed and exhausted by her own reflection.’

I believe the concept is to make you feel the way Joyce feels, perhaps, in anticipation for said honeymoon.

I however cannot get my head around Juno.

Checking into honeymoon suites, dressing up and taking video, or photo selfies whilst engrossed in the act of self-awareness. Cue a Lana Del Ray number.

 Maybe I am being too sensitive, but to put yourself into a lonely situation, pretending to be someone else in an awaiting situation, gives me anxiety. And gives me amazing respect for Juno.

I have since become engrossed in series one and two of Joyce, I can see that she has always had an interest in beauty and how she looks. I mean, she’s even invested in one of those slightly scary electronic face masks.

But the dark side starts to appear in the second story. I think around the time Joyce attempts to OD on Pork Luncheon Meat, and you start to see this bored unsettled character roaming around in lingerie and nightwear.

I am imaging Joyce has married a wealthy man, perhaps 20 years her senior, and she is spending her house wife days slowly getting more and more bored and looking at herself in the mirror for too long. I like her, I think I would do the same.

 Juno studied at Chelsea School of Art and London college of Communication and is defiantly someone to keep tabs on. Her creation of beauty lures you in, and her concept of self-awareness will make you addicted unsettled and hooked.

We are delighted to announce that we have started stocking Yolke. The perfect night to day transitional garment, for the pyjama dressing trend, or simply for snoozing at home. 

Friends Ella and Anna, the girls behind the brand met whilst working at Temperley London back in 2006. Ella, textile designer and Central St Martins alumni brings her creativity to the prints and weaves at the heart of the brand, whilst Anna sees to the nuts and bolts. 

The brand focuses on timeless design that lives beyond the season. Once reserved solely for the bedroom, pyjamas have made the transition into daywear.