A great way to spend an afternoon ...

My friend Liana and I spent much of the holiday afternoon - after we'd consumed a bucket load of blue cheese, followed by ice cream - perusing her collection of fashion and photography books. Our beloved partners where otherwise engaged with a bottle of red wine and talk of star constellations and the PH balance of grass.

Lucky Liana has a copy of of Performance: Richard Avedon, which offers a feast of stunning black and white shots from the photographer great, many of them notable for evocation of movement. I was particularly struck by this shoot from a 1962 issue of Harper's Bazaar. Styled to look like paparazzi shots, the series was inspired by the brouhaha surrounding Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton and featured Suzy Parker as the actress figure and comedian and soon to be director Mike Nichols as the stand-in for Burton.

Aren't they fabulous?

And here is a little reminder of the real thing. Liz and Richard were the Brad and Angelina of their day, only better dressed and more debauched.