Random Photo # forgotten! plus one!

Another random sort of day, so another random photo.

You know the rules!  A photo chosen without peeking, right!

Fabulous!  It's a photo of the portrait my old friend Richard de Chazal did of me and, no, I won't tell you how many years ago!

Isn't he amazing! Probably the most talented individual I have ever known; a Renaissance Man; good at everything ... except maybe literature and writing which is a great relief because it would be too upsetting if he aced us all there as well.

Sincerely, someone like Richard, someone so multi-faceted and multi-talented, so richly endowed with gifts, a genuine genius in so many different areas, is such a rarity on this planet he really should be awarded International World Heritage Treasure status. There is nothing he can't turn his hand to. He's in The Australian Hall of Fame as a fashion designer - his chosen career - but also a photographer, an Olympic-level swimmer and diver, an insanely good pianist and singer, probably the most exciting dancer who never took to the stage professionally, an amazing choreographer etc, etc, etc, etc, etc.

Yup, all those gifts, all those paths he could have taken, but now he's playing on the world fashion stage, which is where he wanted to be, richly deserves to be and also was born to be.

And the best part is ... I knew him way back then, back when he was a boy, back when he was trapped in a small country town, a fish-out-of-water, unhappy, ambitious and completely broke, and the two of us had such a blast putting his portfolio together so he could go out into the world and start his journey into the big time.

Gosh, look at that! Me claiming a role in starting off his career when all I did was stand there keeping still as he improvised his couture around me, with pins and staples and the judicious use of superglue, and then not show how much pain I was in for long enough for him to get the photographs. 

He kept me awestruck, that boy, watching him work, because he was just amazing! Truly, Richard should be up there as an inspirational poster child for us all. And, yes, I always bandy Richard's name about when dealing with young folk whose ambitions outstrip their means for making it happen for themselves.  "You can do it with NOTHING!" I tell them. "You just need the talent, the desire and the will to make it happen for yourself." and "If Richard de Chazel could do it with every limitation you can imagine, YOU can definitely do it too!"

Actually, why don't I show you a few of the bits we did way back then, without a cent in the budget to buy fabric and nothing to get it together with except Richard's amazing and astonishing talent:

Gorgeous, right?  That ball gown! Just like a real one? Not at all! What I'm wearing here is actually his mother's coat on backwards and a large sheet of painter's plastic drop-cloth borrowed for the occasion and returned afterwards.

Another one?

Another amazing outfit? Again no!  It's his mother's bedroom curtains stapled for the occasion and put back up afterwards ... and she never knew.

More?

These are old bandages originally intended to go beneath Plaster of Paris back in the day when this was how they fixed broken bones.
 
And the hilarious part of this is that I thought I was helping Richard put his portfolio together so he'd become a fashion designer ... yet when he showed his work around, he was immediately snapped up and whizzed off into the international fashion world as ... a photographer!
 
Astonishing, huh!  However, it had to be something because, yeah, what a truly talented and amazing individual he was and still is today!  Love him to death.  And I'm just so absolutely proud of him and what he's accomplished, especially considering that he started wayyy back then with nothing except an incredible imagination and the ability to turn his hand to anything.

And here's something funny! Richard and I met up about eight years ago, and, over dinner, we talked about "those bad old days", back when he was trapped in his small country town and had nothing and had to do everything - every single thing - all that stuff normally done by an entire team - makeup, hairdressing, lighting etc, etc, everything - all by himself, and, while laughing hard over it all, he eventually admitted he often felt nostalgic for "those days" and now saw just how richly fun and exciting the whole process of getting that portfolio together actually was.

And I'm just so proud to have once been such a small part in it!