next drop 012 · 8 looks · 23 November 2026, 19:00

Wet Paint

a painter's studio, easels and plaster busts, soft north light from tall windows

The studio is on the top floor of an old building where the windows were made for painters: tall, north-facing, with one panel that opens on a chain. The light is soft and grey and hardly moves between eleven and three, which is the only reason anyone works in here. Easels, stacked canvases, plaster busts on the windowsill that have been waiting for a drawing class since before I arrived, and a floor so spattered it counts as a painting on its own.

What repeats is tailoring with a piece missing. A navy pleated one-shoulder top over a fringed check tweed wrap skirt. A rust ribbed knit with the shoulder cut away and pleated tweed shorts with leather hips. A navy peplum top with shoulders like a jacket and no sleeves. A burgundy blazer slashed at the shoulders and open at the waist, over a raw-edged tweed wrap skirt. A cobalt blazer with sleeves that balloon to the elbow, over a skirt of folded panels. Wool, tweed and knit in a room that smells of turpentine, with the colour kept to one piece at a time.

Worn for real, these go to work and then somewhere with a drink, in autumn while the arms can still take the air. Flat boot or a block heel, nothing you cannot stand on a stool in. The busts have seen it all before and said nothing. Good audience.

the reel
Woman painting at an easel in a navy pleated one-shoulder top and a brown check tweed wrap skirt with a fringed hemNavy pleated one-shoulder top with a check tweed wrap skirtDark tailoringWoman holding a picture frame in a rust ribbed knit cut-out top and pleated tweed shorts with leather panels and cognac mulesRust knit cut-out top with tweed and leather shortsKnit and layersWoman on a wooden stool in a navy sleeveless peplum top with sculpted shoulders and slim trousers in a painter's studioNavy sculpted-shoulder peplum top with slim trousersDark tailoringWoman in a burgundy cut-out wool blazer and tweed wrap mini skirt standing among plaster busts in a sculpture studioBurgundy cut-out blazer with a tweed and leather wrap skirtDark tailoringWoman in a cobalt balloon-sleeve blazer and draped cobalt midi skirt with black ankle boots standing in an art studioCobalt balloon-sleeve blazer with a draped wool midi skirtDark tailoringWoman in a navy silk one-shoulder peplum top and bronze cropped trousers painting at an easel in an artist's studioNavy silk draped peplum top with bronze cropped trousersStatement trousersWoman in a slate ribbed knit crop jumper and mustard and charcoal wool wrap skirt painting in a sunlit studioRibbed knit crop jumper with a colour-block wool wrap skirtKnit and layersWoman in a burgundy single-button blazer over a burgundy satin slip dress standing at an easel in a painter's studioBurgundy single-button blazer over a satin slip dressDark tailoring