Ten Toes Down, Still Running, my Riff on Bella Barbe

I started this riff with a question: what does it look like to keep moving so you don’t have to be still?

Bella Barbé’s “Ten Toes Down” holds two impulses in the same body. There’s the promise of being grounded, feet planted, here in your own life. And there’s the urge to run: away from a feeling, a decision, the moment when you might have to stop and notice where you are.

That contradiction became the heart of the collection. Everything that appears still should contain evidence of movement. Everything moving should somehow remain in place. A path doubles back. A fire escape offers a way out, but stays bolted to the building. A stalk reaches upward. The feet are planted; the rest of the story is less certain.

I knew I wanted the world around that idea to feel like the 1920s: the sharp geometry of Art Deco, the late-night city, the pleasure of getting dressed for somewhere. At first, I thought I was drawn to the shapes. But the more I followed them, the more I understood that I was reaching for nostalgia, too. The 1920s feel to me like an old idea of glamour: evening clothes, city lights, a little mystery. They’re a visual memory, even when they aren’t our own.

Bella is nineteen, and that makes the distance between her world and mine part of the fascination. I’m the one bringing the nostalgia. Bella doesn’t need to reach backward. There’s something immediate and urban in her music, a grit that feels entirely her own. I wanted to build a frame around that energy without smoothing it out or dressing her up as someone else.

That’s where the dichotomy gets exciting for me: Art Deco’s symmetry against a restless song; formal glamour against the grit of a London voice; the image of composure against the impulse to bolt. The 1920s aren’t the story. They’re a shape to move against. Their clean lines give the collection something firm to push off from, while Bella’s spirit keeps interrupting the polish.

Maybe the timing belongs in the riff, too. The festive season is approaching, and with it the invitation to make an occasion of getting dressed. Not because clothes solve anything, but because sometimes putting on the good thing is its own small act of intention. You can be uncertain and still choose the shoes. You can want to disappear and still arrive looking magnificent.

Ten Toes Down lets those things coexist. The feet stay planted. The rest of her is already in motion.

xx, 

Sandra

About Bella Barbé

Bella Barbé is a nineteen-year-old artist from North London. Her self-written music moves between rap and melody, with soulful vocals and a direct, reflective point of view.