Style Bubble

Because I Heart Kay: Flutter those Lashes

2012-01-26T20:02:28+00:00

>> Finito! This is the final Kay Montano make-up tutorial that the lovely folks at Because magazine enabled me to be in. I'm waving goodbye to the possibility of any further updates to the Beauty School Dropout unless I drastically change my attitude towards beauty products or rather beauty products that are purely functional - i.e. anything that seeks to cover-up or enhance. I'll make an effort to talk about the fun stuff, the things that made me smile like a lunatic in these little videos but there won't be an expert like Kay at my side applying it on my face with the hand of a pro. Still, I'll try and take as much away as I can. I'll just savour those moments when fake eyelashes, as seen in this video, actually stayed firmly put on my lashes as opposed to making sad face drooping motions. I'll remember that blue eye shadow and a blue lip might be entirely appropriate for doing the shopping at Waitrose. And I'm definitely smearing black gunk all over my eyes in manner of a panda bear.

If I'm going to go into product review mode, I would like to add that the Paperself lashes despite their prickly paper-based nature, were actually the easiest to wear because of how light they were. Seeing as I can't flutter my eyelashes properly, blinking slowly with these paperscapes that now depict spiders, birds, Victorian lace and underwater scenes would be the next best thing.

New English

2012-01-25T18:13:44+00:00

There was a time when I could juggle seeing both on and off schedule shows at London Fashion Week and for me, there shouldn't really be a precedent between one over the other as there is a vitality in London's off-schedule that eventually does feed into London's on-schedule. Still, I'll give it a bash even if it does mean I turn up to shows looking like a rabid, sweaty mess. Seeing as I can't feign nonchalence, I prefer a trickle of sweat, rubbish hair and creased clothes. Last Sepember, on the first day of London Fashion Week, I was doing a particularly sweaty back-n-forth marathon between Someset House and Freemason's Hall to try and see the Merit Award and Ones to Watch shows organised by Vauxhall Fashion Scout.

I quite literally scrambled to get backstage at the S/S 12 Ones to Watch show as I couldn't stay for the whole thing just so I could make a mental note of what was going on. Phoebe English was one of the four participants of the show, with whom I definitely hovered around the most. English's name is hard to forget. From her BA collection to her MA, both completed at Central Saint Martins, her work was something that I was eager to see how it would progress. From the dark and hair-driven knitwear of her MA collection, she turned to an unexpected use of smocking. In fact, she coaxed something quite beautiful and delicate out of what was essentially reams and reams of heavy calico had smocked and pleated up into a bulky surface texture.

There was a stripped back simplicity to focusing on this one texture which she treated in multiple ways by methods of bleaching, wire brush fraying, dyeing and by contrasting with latex where necessary. This singularity has now earned her a key stockist in the form of Dover Street Market as well as Vauxhall Fashion Scout's Merit Award for A/W12-3. Despite my hounding her backstage back in September during a very chaotic show run-up, Phoebe very kindly let me into her studio to find out more about her S/S 12 collection. She came up with this particular type of smocking so that it was deliberately heavy and sombre as a base material but in the process, she also found ways to create lightness and delicacy with this abundance of calico. The beauty of the pieces is in the overall effect of them standing away from the body as well as up close when you see the rows of hand stitching and the threads that dangle freely from the tops, skirts and dresses. Phoebe's method of cutting into this dense smocking means that the edges of the pieces are left unfinished but don't seem contrived in the way that raw edges can be in clothing. She also cuts little slashes into the smocking to create movement in the piece and to lessen the rigidity. I especially love all the detailing that can be seen inside the piece - the choice of wooden hook and eyes, the binding and all the little stitches - they contribute to the feeling that Phoebe's pieces from this collection could have been made yesterday or hundred years ago. The comparisons to Gareth Pugh (formed on the basis of her MA collection as well as her having interned with Pugh) seems unfounded when you look at this collection closely, which shows an obsession with detailing and minutae that is feminine in an esoteric way. It's definitely a collection to linger over rather than one that hits you with instant gratification in a second.

To land Dover Street Market after just one season is a great achievement and thanks to Vauxhall Fashion Scout, her solo show in February could potentially lead to more stockists. Still, in this early stage, Phoebe can afford to really explore who she is as a designer and that'll be an interesting ride, should she make the leap from off to on schedule.

The Magic Doesn't Stop Here

2012-01-24T20:09:20+00:00

The point of starting a post about Meadham Kirchhoff S/S 12 off with a set of street style pics taken outside the their show in September, is one that I desperately want to highlight repeatedly whenever London Fashion Week comes off as the kooky or the crazy one. Those descriptions are fine when used to compare the different fashion weeks, but when they begin to tarnish the designers' wares and impose a 'Look, but don't wear!' mentality, then there's a great disservice being done to those designers. Therefore, whilst I'll be adding to the chorus of exaltation (Rookie started it all me thinks...) for what was one of the most magical shows that I've personally ever attended, the girl that I snapped here perhaps best illustrates why designers like Edward Meadham and Ben Kirchhoff have inspired a freeing mentality of dressing and why these clothes really need to live in a world beyond pretty backstage images, video and editorial.

It is of course completely understandable that so many have been slayed by the show. From their A/W11-2 speedy trooper of a show where the girls stormed past us in a dramatic flurry, S/S 12 was choreographed to tap into our inner child, that point where we discover what is beautiful and pretty. That's probably why I physically responded to the Danny Elfman score for Edward Scissorhands used towards the end of the show. My mouth made little "O" shapes and gaped open with a "W-O-W", like those cheesy kids in the Disneyland adverts.

I'm not trying to take away the theatre of the show or put a dampener on the feelings the show inspired in people and judging by the number of Tumblr mentions and blog posts of adulation for the show, Ed and Ben done a magnificent job of making a bazillion of girls dream in their bedrooms, without them even knowing what London Fashion Week is or the full context of their clothes. They don't need to really.

It's just all too easy to get lost in the merriment of the show - the parade of Courtney Loves powdering their faces, the collective "Awwwwww" at the ickle ballet dancers, the balloons, the smell of Penhaligon's in the air, the three tiered cake, the curtains and yes, that Elfman soundtrack magic - and then in some cases, dismiss the clothes as mere costumes for this bit of coup de théâtre. Get lost by all means but don't lose the point which is that Ed and Ben have challenged the notion that ultrafemininity and silliness should be taken at surface value. Those heightened venerations of beauty are given weight and fortified with this collection. There's a thread in The Fashion Spot that asks "Hyperfemininity - do women want to look like that again?" which implies that likes of Meadham Kirchhoff's overt girliness should be rejected as old hat, as an impediment to the progress of feminism. I might feel that way about certain retrogading collections that merely skim the surface of feminine attire but Meadham Kirchhoff, in fact assert a woman's independence of self with a collection like this. To be able to flit and flirt about in a frou frou marabou jacket and lace-trimmed neon orange shorts without fear of male titilation or judgement from other women is actually quite a powerful thing.

They have proved their chops in beautiful craftsmanship but they don't feel the need to wrap that up in an easily digestable formula - or in other words, the "prescribed good taste" that I spoke about yesterday. Instead they apply their skills and prowess to what can be perceived as the ridiculous. Fluffy furs, cardigans with anime eyes, rompers with heart-shaped pockets, frilly takes on the pinafores, shift dresses with paper doily motifs. For some, these clothes were laced with Japanese dolly-kei or cliches of "Harajuku" fashion. In fact, Ed and Ben didn't have that imagery in mind and instead looked to motifs from childhood dressing that were then combined with their modes of layering that they've employed in previous shows. I was mentally taking notes of the double layered bloomers under short shorts and with the shirt tails peeking out. Or the contrast of a neon orange bra against a sweet white halterneck dress. I'm not into bra revealing in general but suddenly when it's neon orange and comes up against a powder blue waist sash and broderie anglaise trim, I'm all for it.

I, along with the girl I in the picture above, won't be the only ones who were dissecting the show not as critics, or even people who like to exonerate fashion as "art", but as women, who were dreamlisting things they'd like to wear. The embroidered knitwear, the cropped wool jackets, the little short shorts, the heart pocketed skirts, the broderie anglaise dresses, the socks and yes, the shoes (a collaboration with Nicholas Kirkwood) - they're all far more easily digestable than one might think if judged solely on a hazy show video.

Even with the cake of "Madonnas" (referring not just to the celebrity or the religious icon but also all icons of beauty), I suddenly wondered why I didn't have more rococo swirls on brocade jackets in my life. Or a knitted off-shoulder onesie that extended out to a cape. These were the showpieces, the things that won't make it to the shops but I was still imagining them paired up in some way or another...

Long may the Nicholas Kirkwood and Meadham Kirchhoff collaboration go on and on and on if designs like these come to the forefront.

It's going into the showroom where I can really start to envision a reality where Meadham Kirchhoff's clothes can inhabit. Expanded lines of t-shirts, knitwear, shirts and hoisery extend the show looks of the collection so that you can grasp the idea of those hearts, teddy bears and little ballerinas on clothing. They're not there to be ridiculed namely because Ed and Ben have also finished their clothes with the subtlest of details. I think finishing the tutus of a skirt on the broderie anglaise bands of ballerinas and moire ribbons so that they lift up the reveal the legs is the most extreme of examples when illustrating Ed and Ben's dedication to the whole nine yards.

Back to the girl in the picture at the beginning though. Not every Meadham Kirchhoff wearer or fan will look like her or take original spirited dressing to such extremes. What about all the girls in London that have been dip dying their hair at places at Bleach? The droves that Tumblr Lina Scheynius of girls in isolation? They're not a teensy tiny niche but a tangible fanbase that would love a bit of Meadham Kirchhoff magic in their lives. I can only hope that these clothes will trickle down to us dreamers at a rate that equals that of say a label like Alexander Wang. Even a half or quarter of that pace would be an exciting visual prospect.

Myopic Tale Concluded

2012-01-24T10:38:57+00:00

>> Remember when I regaled you with a slightly longwinded and boring tale about my shortsighted woes? You thought you had heard the end of my MINUS 10 myopic eyesight (I like to just throw the number out there because only then, do people realise how severe my shortsightedness actually is). The story has a rather stupid and boneheaded conclusion. You should all simultaneously do a big forehead slap when you hear this.

When I tried to go all fashion-y and attempt to buy some lovely Prism glasses, my opticians duly told me that they were far too big for my prescription and would cause a sort of goldfish bowl effect should I attempt to get lenses for them. Turns out, my opticians just didn't offer the thinnest sort of lenses. A visit to the very brilliant 20/20 (where Steve also got his specs) and they told me there were super thin lens for my super high prescription, all the way from Japan. Tell me anything is from Japan and I'll immediately nod my head in excitement. The downside is of course the cost. I don't want to even say how much I spent but let's just say they need their own insurance policy. To would-be muggers, take my bag, my laptop, my shoes, but stay the fuck away from my glasses.

The EPOS frames I chose however were a real bargain in 20/20's sale and they're a good start to my wearing glasses more often and perhaps getting more options (Arckiv's bespoke glasses service is looking really tasty). This is therefore a piccy post to say "Hey, I have four eyes, but you know what? I always had four eyes. Except those invisible little contact lenses were caning my real eyes to death. Annoyingly pushing my glasses up my non-existent nose or weeping eyes that go all red and crusty every so often? I choose the first."