Fashion And The City

The last month and a bit...

2010-08-16T23:48:00.001+01:00

has been so crazy I haven't been able to update this much but I'll try really hard to rectify this.

Here are some stills from my hiatus.

PIMMS O'CLOCK!

WHOLESOME PARTY

ACNE STORE OPENING PARTY

BITCHING AND JUNKFOOD PARTY AND BEST DRESSED TALLULAH <3

FROM CHANEL TO PRIMARK- A DEMONSTRATION OF VEBLEN AND SIMMEL'S TRICKLE DOWN THEORY IN REALTION TO FASHION

THE MOST AMAZING BANOFFE PIE AND HOT CHOCOLATE AT VINGT QUATRE- THE 24HR CAFE BY CHELSEA AND WESTMINSTER HOSPITAL. BEST MIDNIGHT SNACK EVER.

2nd weekly summary

2010-07-20T08:44:00.000+01:00

Days: 5
Biggest Sale: thousands
Fashion parties: 1
Gym visits: 3
Gorgeous new A/W collections- multiple
Ruffs worn: 1
All this experience: PRICELESS

The Gaga influence

2010-07-14T11:05:00.000+01:00

Lady Gaga in 'Telephone' video

Joy sale windows

Mark Fast for Topshop

2010-07-12T09:00:00.001+01:00

As somebody who wore body con before it became a major trend, Mark Fast's exquisite knitwear creations are extremely desirable. He is a Central Saint Martins alumni (yay!) and has revived the knitted dress manipulating wool in a unique and fresh way. I settle for highstreet fashion at the moment due to my limited funds, therefore I was very excited when Topshop announced their collaboration with Mark Fast to be launched on 7/7/2010. On the 7th I was up earlier, checking topshop.com for the pieces but they weren't there. I went into Topshop the day after and they still hadn't arrived. All this delay and prolonged suspense simply added to the anticipation of how great I expected this capsule collection to be. However, whilst I knew that the pieces would be less luxurious than his main collection, I was quite unprepared for how cheap they looked.

Made of 100% Viscose, I feel that these dresses slightly spoil the Mark Fast aesthetic of sexy clingy luxurious knitwear. The dress below is the perfect example. It is Faster by Mark Fast and is £475 as opposed to the £180 for the dress on the model above. The knit is seamless and smooth with Fast's signature intricate holey pattern in comparison to the visibly knitted and textured surface of the cheaper versions. That is the difference £165 makes.

The best piece of the Topshop collection is the grey dress but only because Fast's signature pattern is most recognisable in it.These types of collaborations can only work if the garments can be created at a cheaper price point to almost the same high standard and that is definitely not the case here. If models and skinny celebrities can't pull these pieces off, what hope is there for anyone else.

Looks like I'll keep on saving my pennies for the real deal.

My first week at my 3 month fashion internship

2010-07-10T23:49:00.001+01:00

Weekly summary:

Days: 5
V.I.Ps seen: 2
Things I want: countless
Nice people: multiple
Top 5 designers: Alexander Wang, Acne, Mark Fast, Margiela, Felder Felder
Hottest temperature: 31 degrees
New things I've learnt : many
Highlight of the week: seeing Beyonce

The best look I've seen in a long time

2010-07-03T12:00:00.002+01:00

Yes it ticks every trend- led box- leather shorts, slouchy grey tee, Mulberry bag but there is a uniqueness, a freshness to the look which determines style. Whether this is the work of her stylist or Alexa herself, Alexa makes the look her own by exuding desirable coolness and nonchalance.

My Wish List right now

2010-07-02T10:00:00.002+01:00

Being a penniless student means I dream about a lot of unattainable fashion and at the moment I'm feeling:

All of the above are found at Nasty Gal, Browns Fashion and Pixie Market- my 3 favourite online shops.

Cheryl vs Alex

2010-07-01T10:00:00.001+01:00

This WAG and ex-WAG have both taken on the short dress with the train but neither are successful. The look was pioneered by Balmain in S/S 2009 so both are 2 seasons out of fashion .

They are wearing the same dress but both looks have clearly been put together by a stylist. They look trend-led (nude/gothic), without personality and frankly, boring. Cheryl looks slightly better as she doesn't make the dress look as cheap as Alex does. The ability for Alex to make a £10,000 outfit look like Primark always amazes me and shows that money can't buy you style.

The continuation of Alexander McQueen

2010-06-30T17:01:00.000+01:00

The first collection following the designer's death from the controversially appointed Sarah Burton has been released during the Resort Spring 2011 and it is very interesting.

Whilst the looks do continue McQueen's legacy in terms of sharp tailoring, femininity and luxuriousness; I feel the usual theatricality and imagination is missing. It looks to be a conformation of some formula which is the dilemma McQueen as a brand face. As Lee McQueen literally poured himself and his imagination into his collections, his brand cannot be as successful or innovative without him. They decided to continue it regardless and this is a commendable first attempt to follow that gorgeous A/W gold collection presented in Paris earlier this year. It is tame but extremely wearable and the red dress is the standout piece.

Clothes Show Live

2010-06-30T16:23:00.000+01:00

This weekend just gone was the Clothes Show London at Earl's Court and I was there on Saturday helping out at the Bitching and Junkfood <3 Neurotica Stall with Becc (Bloody Gray Pr founder/ owner) and Marion (founder/owner of Bitching and Junkfood)

Our Stall:

My outfit for the day:

Vintage Denim shirt, yellow bee print Neurotica dress, KTD bumbag (Bitching and Junkfood), Henry Holland Tights, H&M shoes, feather earring (Marion's design collaboration with Urban Outfitters) and Bitching and Junkfood glasses (in this picture). Both Becc and I changed and added to our outfits over the course of the day.
Our stall was the best for fashion as the other stalls were disposable, mainstream and boring. However the accessories and jewellery I saw were fantastic.

These necklaces were on a stall called Reem showcasing both Reem and Maria Lau's jewellery. I loved the black ruff so much that I bought it.

There was also a few places were you could make your own charm jewellery for under £10. My personal favourite was Junk Jewels.

Another cool jewellery stall was Malaya

I'm going through a ring fascination at the moment so here are my picks from the stalls:

Reindeer antlers from Junk Jewels

angel wing charm from the same place

Wolf head from Malaya

These was amazing vintage jewellery stall near ours which were selling 2 pieces for £10 or 1 for £7.

I bought some gold earrings with dangling elephants.

These earrings also caught my eye.

They are made by Bianou. They're cool but very easy to D.I.Y.

Pearl and Ivy made headbands and earrings using feathers.

They also made flower headbands in collaboration with Urban Outfitters and I bought a blue one.

One funny piece that I spotted was this Metro corset which links to my previous Fashion and Newsprint post.

All in all I realised that Clothes Show was basically a High Street Elle Fashion weekend. It was ok but it really isn't the place for those really serious about fashion... only those who think they are.

Day 3 at Bloody Gray PR

2010-06-24T23:49:00.000+01:00

No running around today. Just continued with the contact spreadsheet update.

I cut out mountains of leaflets for the Bitching and Junkfood <3 Neurotica competition at the Clothes Show Live at Earl's Court this weekend. Be there or be square.

It's for all aspiring stylists to win 2 £50 vouchers at both Neurotica and Bitching and Junkfood by creating the best look out of the clothes Bloody Gray PR provide.

I was also lucky enough to pick a Neurotica piece to wear on Saturday at Clothes Show Live. I picked a yellow bee print mini dress.

There was one appointment today that we all pulled together to deal with and I raced up and down the stairs

to hand samples to waiting clients.

A cool discovery I made was the jewellery of one of Becc's newer clients Julia Dias and her Culietta jewellery.

My favourites are the Lucy Shoulder piece, Julia harness, Ellie ring and Fran Shoelery.

We also tried on this amazing head-piece which is a bit like Nicole Richie's gold, Indian influenced one for House of Harlow.

Again another fantastic day.

De ja vu on Day 2

2010-06-23T22:51:00.001+01:00

Today was my 2nd day at Bloody Gray PR and I was lucky enough to meet Rachel Freire whose designs I displayed in the post before.

First I delivered samples to Look Magazine and Machine A.

I got the strongest sense of de ja vu going to 110 Southwark Street as I had been there almost exactly a year ago at Marie Claire as one of 8 finalists in the Neal's Yard Face of Natural Beauty competition.

I had also been into Machine A before with Jacqueline too.

Stills from my journey around London

When I got back I updated the media contacts and watched the England match.

Fun times and more tomorrow.

WEEK SUMMARY

2010-06-21T12:01:00.001+01:00

I will post more this week but last week was so hectic.

Tuesday I interned with an amazing PR company called Bloody Gray PR. It is amazing with brands like:
Rachel Freire:

Gabrielle Marina Gonzalez and her amazing wedges, harnesses and knee pads:

Bitching and Junkfood:

Also do amazing accessories as well. I found myself delivering a lot of Bitching pieces on location to a Lissie shoot.

Neurotica with their beautiful dye work and prints:

Kumiko Watari and her playful designs:

The best things about the internship are that Becc, Phillipa and Jennifer are really cool and that Rihanna borrows pieces all the time.

Wednesday to Thursday I went up to Oxford to visit my old school friend Olivia who I hadn't seen in 2 years. It was very fun exploring Oxford and the weather was beautiful (quite unlike the greyness of London)

We stopped at my favourite vintage shop in Oxford but it remained in such poor condition. The lady that owns it has some amazing pieces but it is overstuffed, crammed and poorly organised. You can barely get into the shop and it is often closed at random times. Mary Portas is needed here asap.

Oxford street style was cool too. A lot of guys in long shorts, tucked in shirts and 'country bumpkin' shoes (boater shoes). Or being geeky or in oxford robes as they had just finished their exams. The girls were a lot more interesting.

I found some fantastic charity shop finds in Oxford- a green men's Barbour with hood and official Barbour wax for £20, a black sequined top and a crochet top. My friend found a real Dior black pencil skirt as well.

Then Friday and Saturday I did some of my last shifts at Octopus Piazza in Covent Garden which is a really fun quirky home and accessory shop. On Saturday I went in dressed as a ballerina to celebrate Covent Garden's birthday (unfortunately no pictures).

Then yesterday (Sunday) I started my new job at JZD Clapham Old Town. It has the most amazing jewellery collection and amazing pieces especially the Language maxi dresses. The buying for the shop is done really well.

Of course alongside all of this I watched the World Cup.

I was dismayed by England's performance, in disbelief over France and Kaka and happy that USA, Germany, Spain and Italy failed to win so England didn't look too bad. Last night's Brazil vs Ivory Coast games was interesting. Kaka deserved his second yellow and it annoys me that all the pundits are suggesting otherwise. He elbowed him in the chest with intent, Even though Kiete clutched his face (and should have been booked) Kaka still did something wrong and was foolish to do so on a yellow card. Brazil was awesome except for when they began to dive and waste time and I was glad Drogba scored with his injury. The final- hopefully Brazil vs Argentina! unless they meet beforehand. Am about to go and get settled for Portugal's game. Hopefully Ronaldo can do something... but am not really holding my breath....

MEGA POST CONTINUED

2010-06-16T12:00:00.002+01:00

The next best look on that shoot was the one below where the Spanish flag becomes a head-scarf:

Then I went to Canterbury Kent for the Kent Summerball on the 5th June with Akua and her friends.

Kent's pretty cool- everything you need without the bustle of London and lots of charity shops- I got a red box bag.

The ball itself was fab- free candy floss, a funfair, cheap drinks and great for fashion-watching I spied a lot of Topshop and Lipsy dresses and I thanked above no-one had my ASOS dress.

Hottest look of the night

Next best look on the night

The highlight was Florence and the Machine and I was right at the front for her. She looked and sounded amazing and I was really glad I saw her. Unfortunately I missed Tiny Tempah when I went to change out of my heels.

Over the course of her set, Florence changed her outfit 3 times. Below she tucks her sheer top into her leather shorts.

And then takes it off altogether. It was so hot in the crowd as well. A lot of people sweated their make-up off. Luckily I didn't, but then again I wasn't wearing much to begin with.

MEGA POST

2010-06-15T09:30:00.000+01:00

So I've been really busy over the last couple of weeks which is why I haven't been posting but here is a giant post about what I have been up to make up for it.

I assisted on a menswear shoot with Jade on May 26th which was fun. It had really cool accessories and cool trainers:

My favourite pieces on this shoot were the TWO WEEKS pieces below- I have a bit of a feather obsession so a feathered headdress, feather earrings and feather cuff are my idea of edgy accessory heaven alongside studded things. The GAGA glasses were also amazing and coveted.

Then on the 31st May (a bank holiday) I trekked to Woolwich to attempt to do a photoshoot without a make-up artist, hair stylist, photographer, proper clothes or a proper model. Considering the above it came out alright. The theme was supposed to be WORLD CUP/TRIBAL and we got some countries flags to incorporate into the outfits.

This look is my favourite and was mainly put together by me using the Brazil flag.

How to dress for the World Cup

2010-06-14T12:00:00.000+01:00

Although I was annoyed at the England result on Saturday, I was very impressed by the Americans. Apart from the fact that a number of their team play for Fulham (the 2nd best team in West London after my Beloved Chelsea); they were faster, fitter and leaner than us.

Katy Perry also scored an outstanding fashion goal when I saw pictures of her fabulous rubber flag dress- Half US flag, half Union Jack (there is almost no need to point out that the English flag is red and white and that we were the only team in the UK to get to world cup). But it works due to the colour scheme.

This dress is very reminiscent of Beyonce's in Lady Gaga's Telephone video

Both ladies are rocking the rubber with ample curves and look amazing.

Katy Perry is winning more in my opinion as she wears football themed fashion very very well and inspires me to try it... when I can afford bespoke clothing.

Her West Ham ensemble was genius and I really want a Chelsea one!!

Before the World Cup I was getting really excited about dressing up properly but, after England's performance I have decided not to. Why would I want to draw attention to the fact that I support such a over hyped team. In this sense I wish I was Spanish or Brazilian during a World Cup because their praise is justified.

# Guess WHAAAT, I'm not a robot... I'm just really fashionable

2010-05-31T11:32:00.000+01:00

Marina from Marina and the Diamonds has the best style of all the so-called fashionable female singers i.e Pixie Lott, Paloma Faith, Florence and the Machine, Little Boots and La Roux. She rivals Bat for Lashes who is fabulous too. Why? because it actually seems to be who she is and not so contrived.

And here is her robot which is currently in Selfridges' windows.

Previous work

2010-05-30T20:30:00.001+01:00

This is link from my first ever contributing blog post: http://wearelesscommon.com/2010/02/thewhiteshow

Trend report for A/W 2010 on iamsarahyoung.com: iamsarahyoung.com/.../20102011-trend-forecasting-looking-back-to-look-forward/ (I wrote the text on the pictures)

Fashion assistant for this iamsarahyoung.com shoot: iamsarahyoung.com/2010/05/trend-editorial-nude/

See previous posts for behind the scene photos.

What do you think?

Celebrating 40 years of Browns Fashion

2010-05-30T19:02:00.005+01:00

I was lucky enough to see the Browns' 40th anniversary commemorative exhibition behind Carnaby Street before it closed. The exhibition started with a Missoni dress and Cacharel suit (above) as they were some of the first labels stocked and had old and new designer greats including Alexander McQueen, Al, Albert Elbaz for Lanvin, Ralph Lauren, Mark Fast, Karl Lagerfield for Chloe, David Korma, Alexander Wang and more with beautiful portraits of fashion figures with the clothes displayed.

It was a fantastic interactive fashion and history lecture as this exhibition emphasised the 'boutique culture' of the late 20th century, diversity of the designers and labels chosen and a timeline of certain designers careers e.g. Karl Lagerfield for Chloe pre Chanel. There were giant books showing the first Browns advertisements, and the different Browns labels, photographs and invitations for Browns launches. Browns is very much a family business and the family is displayed prominently throughout the exhibition as they were also photographed in the pieces and some of them were loaned from their private collections.

Here are my personal highlights:

Alexander Wang suit

Alexander McQueen trio of dresses

Nicholas Kirkwood Shoes

EVEN MORE PUCKALICOUS

2010-05-25T09:16:00.002+01:00

This week I saw this Mark Smalling for GQ editorial. He looks great cast as a surfer/ hot musican and the shoot looks really fun and relaxed with great styling.

Check out his interview here

3rd Year Graduate Show

2010-05-24T12:00:00.001+01:00

At the beginning of the term my class was set an assignment to produce a presentation on a 3rd year on a graduate and their final collection. I was given a menswear designer called Hye. Thursday was their final show and, after grappling with crowds and queueing for over half an hour in our own uni, we finally got in.
The talent presented many different styles, perspectives and imaginations. It was fanastic to able to see the different bewteen the first year's White Show and this. The craftmanship was perfect and professional and there were some truely amazing pieces.
The video below shows the 6 looks from my designer Hye.

Will post more videos of the show when I figure out how to compress them.

Champions League Final

2010-05-23T22:07:00.000+01:00

The best and most stylish manager in the world. There is nothing else to say...

P.S. My friend informed me of a recent Mourinho sighting at the Sloane Street Chanel store. He apparently spent thousands of pounds on his amazingly lucky wife... How I wish I had been there. Arrogance, Looks, Brains, Loyalty- he has it all and in like 4 languages.

Fashion and Newprint

2010-05-22T13:22:00.002+01:00

A couple of weeks ago, we had a lecture about Fashion and Newsprint given by Carly Eck, a FHT alumni. This had been the topic of her dissertation and she presented the ways in which newsprint had been used in fancy dress and fashion as early as Victorian Times. She charted its use through the 20th century touching on the yellow pages dress influenced by the Pop art of the 1960s, John Galliano's Newsprint dress for Dior A/W 2000 and Viktor and Rolf's 2005 interview in Observer magazine. She also looked at how the connotations of these newsprint garments had changed. From walking advert and emblem of commodity in culture to showing one's occupation to mass production to a comment on the ephemeral nature of fashion whilst extending the life-span of a newspaper to the way fashion becomes accessible through newsprint to nostalgia.

Then I came across an an article revealing that Carrie in SATC 2 would be wearing an original Dior newsprint dress which she wore on the show the first time round which implies a lot of the connotations above. Balenciaga reinvented the idea of printing words on dress and did so futuristically in their A/W 2010 collection. However, as Nicolas Ghesquière says that his inspiration was 'Packaging and food boxes', this print remains just a pattern and nothing more.

Love this Quote and Fashion History reference

2010-05-17T12:02:00.004+01:00

“If you and I were 16th-century prostitutes wading through the Venetian filth, I could see a point to us balancing precariously on two blocks of wood.” –Lisa Armstrong wonders how clogs sneaked back into fashion.

Lisa is refering to chopines- shoes worn during that century.

Extant chopines at the Metropolitan Museum in New York.

Rihanna in Rolling Stone

2010-05-16T12:00:00.003+01:00

Hot or too try-hard?

hot top though

On another note, she was looking cool off tour duty in London last week