Thursday, September 30, 2010
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Monday, September 27, 2010
THE LATEST, GREATEST WEBSITE FOR NEW DESIGN TALENT
Posted by Fashion Junior at Large
After being inspired by all the amazing new talent on show at London Fashion Week, we were greeted with some great news this morning. Many of the up-and-coming designers who we met at LFW (including Charlotte Taylor, Eudon Choi and JW Anderson) are working with a new online retail project called, appropriately, www.youngbritishdesigners.co.uk.
Having been launched just over two weeks ago, the project aims to 'create the first dedicated retail environment purely focusing upon young talent working in this country' and to celebrate the risks that British designers take in order to create the world's most exciting fashion. Edited selections from the 36 designers' collections are available to purchase from the site, often in limited runs - these are future collectibles, after all.
We spoke to Julian Whitehead, one of the founders of the website, along with his partners Debra Hepburn, Adrianna Wheatley and Stuart Jackson (the latter two hit on the original concept after being inspired at LFW AW10, back in February.) They turned to Debra and Julian for some practical advice on how to get the project started, and the team's combination of experience in advertising, marketing and fashion, along with a healthy dose of youth and enthusiasm has contributed to its success. According to Julian, the YBD staff are committed to "producing something new and exciting, as well as giving something back to the UK fashion industry. We want to set people off on their chosen paths, and hope that the site will help them along the way."
This is a great platform for making contemporary fashion talent accessible to the public, at a much earlier than normal stage in a young designer's career. They were possibly the first people to spot and stock Felicity Brown, who most recently designed for Lanvin as well as selling her collection through the youngbritishdesigners site.
The roster of designers is an evolving process and the buying team hope to add new collections to the site as and they discover them. By next season, there will be a host of new names added to the website's line up. YBD should help these future fashion legends to begin building their own design legacy, and enable savvy shoppers to buy a little piece of creative history.
www.youngbritishdesigners.com
Eudon Choi at YoungBritishDesigners.com
Having been launched just over two weeks ago, the project aims to 'create the first dedicated retail environment purely focusing upon young talent working in this country' and to celebrate the risks that British designers take in order to create the world's most exciting fashion. Edited selections from the 36 designers' collections are available to purchase from the site, often in limited runs - these are future collectibles, after all.
We spoke to Julian Whitehead, one of the founders of the website, along with his partners Debra Hepburn, Adrianna Wheatley and Stuart Jackson (the latter two hit on the original concept after being inspired at LFW AW10, back in February.) They turned to Debra and Julian for some practical advice on how to get the project started, and the team's combination of experience in advertising, marketing and fashion, along with a healthy dose of youth and enthusiasm has contributed to its success. According to Julian, the YBD staff are committed to "producing something new and exciting, as well as giving something back to the UK fashion industry. We want to set people off on their chosen paths, and hope that the site will help them along the way."
This is a great platform for making contemporary fashion talent accessible to the public, at a much earlier than normal stage in a young designer's career. They were possibly the first people to spot and stock Felicity Brown, who most recently designed for Lanvin as well as selling her collection through the youngbritishdesigners site.
Felicity Brown at www.youngbritishdesigners.com
The roster of designers is an evolving process and the buying team hope to add new collections to the site as and they discover them. By next season, there will be a host of new names added to the website's line up. YBD should help these future fashion legends to begin building their own design legacy, and enable savvy shoppers to buy a little piece of creative history.
www.youngbritishdesigners.com
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
SWAROVSKI LFW INSIDER: ERDEM
Erdem with his SS11 moodboard
"You can't run the preview until after the V&A launch," so instructed Erdem when I went to see him last week before his London Fashion Week show. Well, that launch for "Diaghilev and the Golden Age of the Ballets Russes, 1909 - 1929" was last evening at the V&A, and now I am allowed to reveal that lucky Erdem was granted access to the imposing Blythe House, the V&A archive in west London to get some time with the beautiful costumes of Bakst and others for the Ballet Russes over the summer.
From the V&A:
"Diaghilev’s extraordinary company, which survived a twenty-year rollercoaster of phenomenal successes and crippling problems, revolutionised ballet. As importantly, Diaghilev’s use of avant-garde composers, such as Stravinsky and designers such as Bakst, Goncharova, Picasso and Matisse, made a major contribution to the introduction of Modernism."
From the V&A:
"Diaghilev’s extraordinary company, which survived a twenty-year rollercoaster of phenomenal successes and crippling problems, revolutionised ballet. As importantly, Diaghilev’s use of avant-garde composers, such as Stravinsky and designers such as Bakst, Goncharova, Picasso and Matisse, made a major contribution to the introduction of Modernism."
A detail from SS11 and the Swarovski palette Erdem chose
"This is the first time I have really intensely researched something. I was given unlimited access all summer. I turned the Ballet Russes costumes inside out. I looked at the scrims. What is surreal is that all the costumes are stored beneath ghostly white covers on stands, and the spaces within the clothes are filled with white wadding. It created these naive shapes. It seemed colour was bled out of the work. Then as you pulled off the covers, something so bright and beautiful was waiting to be discovered. With the costumes the sense is of structured clothing with diaphanous flowing skirts, which I have tried to put across with the collection."
These dresses were inspired by the stored garments of the Ballet Russes at Blythe House
"Blythe House is actually quite a creepy," he says. I can concur while visiting this summer, it felt like stepping back 100 years to shadowy rooms full of eerie white-wrapped shapes. "It was impossible not to feel totally inspired by the Ballet Russes," said Erdem. "When I asked Nick Kirkwood to do the shoes, he was equally inspired. The colours I chose were kelly green, lime, red and touches of orange, and of course, white. The way I worked with Swarovski this season was to take small crystals in those colours and hand sew them onto the flowers that match, and to incorproate them into the diamond patterns."
Crystal application in the studio
The Grazia team loved this dress
My three favourite looks
Images: Catwalking.com
Diaghilev and the Golden Age of the Ballets Russes, 1909 - 1929 begins on Saturday
to book tickets go here.
THE CAR BOOT-IQUE
Posted by Fashion Editor at Large
Look at all these fabulous pieces by the members of the young British fashion fraternity. There is work from Christopher Kane, Holly Fulton, They are all one-offs. Would you like one? Thought so...
If you want one you have two days left to bid for them on eBay. They are all part of Mercedes-Benz's Car Boot-ique, a car boot sale type affair hosted by eBay, in which all the funds raised go directly back to help the next generation of British talent through Lulu Kennedy's Fashion East scheme.
I cannot think of a more satisfying way to shop. If you make a successful bid, you gain a one off item at a less-than-retail price, and the money helps the incoming talent onto the London Fashion Week. I asked Mercedes to send me the lots being released today and tomorrow. And here they are.
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
Look at all these fabulous pieces by the members of the young British fashion fraternity. There is work from Christopher Kane, Holly Fulton, They are all one-offs. Would you like one? Thought so...
If you want one you have two days left to bid for them on eBay. They are all part of Mercedes-Benz's Car Boot-ique, a car boot sale type affair hosted by eBay, in which all the funds raised go directly back to help the next generation of British talent through Lulu Kennedy's Fashion East scheme.
I cannot think of a more satisfying way to shop. If you make a successful bid, you gain a one off item at a less-than-retail price, and the money helps the incoming talent onto the London Fashion Week. I asked Mercedes to send me the lots being released today and tomorrow. And here they are.
.jpg)
Christopher Kane
.jpg)
Goodone
.jpg)
Hannah Marshall
.jpg)
Hasan Hejazi
.jpg)
Hasan Hejazi
Holly Fulton
.jpg)
Holly Fulton
.jpg)
House of Holland (these are blingy car-dice, quite large)
.jpg)
Jonathan Saunders
.jpg)
Margaret Howell
.jpg)
Maria Francesca Pepe
BID!
Monday, September 20, 2010
MCQUEEN MEMORIAL:
Posted by Fashion Editor at Large
I couldn't get to David Koma and Holly Fulton's show this morning. After the very strong showing of Peter Pilotto at Waterloo's old Eurostar terminal we headed across to St Pauls Cathedral to pay our respects to the memory of Lee Alexander McQueen. Time to be still.
It was an exquisite, finely tuned event in what Shaun Leane pointed out in his address "would have been his ultimate venue. We did alright didn't we, Lee?" he asked gazing up into the majesty of Wrens dome.
When Michael Nyman played "The heart asks pleasure first" the key piece from his Oscar winning The Piano score, ourt hearts soared and broke just a little bit. It was funny when his closest girl friend Annabelle Neilson said Lee's sense of direction was so good, he often claimed he was born with "The Knowledge", (the three year training all London cabbies must complete). Anna Wintour was right when she said he was an artist who transcended fashion.
I caught my breath as Bjork emerged from Minor Cannons Aisle dressed in a gilded ostrich feather gown, wings rising five feet behind her. It was an image from another era. Bjork proceeded to sing Gloomy Sunday in her inimitable style, and it was a a perfect moment; beautifully sad.
I wanted to share the words Gloomy Sunday. You need quiet time to read them.
I couldn't get to David Koma and Holly Fulton's show this morning. After the very strong showing of Peter Pilotto at Waterloo's old Eurostar terminal we headed across to St Pauls Cathedral to pay our respects to the memory of Lee Alexander McQueen. Time to be still.
It was an exquisite, finely tuned event in what Shaun Leane pointed out in his address "would have been his ultimate venue. We did alright didn't we, Lee?" he asked gazing up into the majesty of Wrens dome.
When Michael Nyman played "The heart asks pleasure first" the key piece from his Oscar winning The Piano score, ourt hearts soared and broke just a little bit. It was funny when his closest girl friend Annabelle Neilson said Lee's sense of direction was so good, he often claimed he was born with "The Knowledge", (the three year training all London cabbies must complete). Anna Wintour was right when she said he was an artist who transcended fashion.
I caught my breath as Bjork emerged from Minor Cannons Aisle dressed in a gilded ostrich feather gown, wings rising five feet behind her. It was an image from another era. Bjork proceeded to sing Gloomy Sunday in her inimitable style, and it was a a perfect moment; beautifully sad.
I wanted to share the words Gloomy Sunday. You need quiet time to read them.
The photo used for the memorial of Lee is the shot above by David Bailey. It sums up the best of his sprit to so many people.
Friday, September 17, 2010
LFW 'ONES TO WATCH'
Posted by Fashion Junior at Large
The Ones To Watch show held by the Vauxhall fashion Scout supports and nurtures young talent, and helps get them ready for the official schedule. Designers who have passed through to success include
Dean Quinn, Hermione de Paula and Eudon Choi. I headed down to check out the possible next big things and to chat to them backstage...
CHARLOTTE TAYLOR
The Ones To Watch show held by the Vauxhall fashion Scout supports and nurtures young talent, and helps get them ready for the official schedule. Designers who have passed through to success include
Dean Quinn, Hermione de Paula and Eudon Choi. I headed down to check out the possible next big things and to chat to them backstage...
CHARLOTTE TAYLOR
The cute playful shapes of Charlotte's first ever catwalk show were complimented by the muted primary colour scheme and 'vintage robot' print motif, which she says was inspired by a robot pencil sharpener she bought for her boyfriend! Strips of applique velvet and denim were a recurring theme, as were the industrial T necklaces with large eyelet holes, based on the sails of boats in her Isle of Wight hometown. As a designer she is unconcerned with trends and prefers to design simply with a 'young, sporty, girl' in mind.
Charlotte Taylor walks with her final designs
GEORGIA HARDINGE
Or should I say, 'Queen of the Ruffles'. Georgia's angelic, raw-edged, ruffle creations were inspired by Jean Cocteau, La Belle et La Bete, and French Baroque craftmanship. Others featured collaged photo prints based on sculptural stone forms, and there were some statement caged pieces reminiscent of bustles. The ultra feminine collection is very wearable and it doesn't suprise me that she is meeting with Harrods later this week (as well as working with Charlotte Stockdale to create four bespoke pieces for Victoria's Secret!)
Georgia Hardinge amd her models
LILEE
Lilee's work was extremely elegant, a pure white collection with touches of deepest navy blue. Many of the pieces were hand-pleated, and all featured her signature clean lines. She is obsessed with 'luxurious, high energy, energetic women' who play ladylike sports and walk their dogs while wearing immaculately pressed clothes. I had spotted an interesting print on two items from the collection, which upon closer inspection, turned out to be Lilee's geometric interpretation of a dog! Very sweet indeed - it's no wonder ASOS have snapped her up for a collaboration based on her MA collection, available from October.
Lilee showing off her handiwork backstage!
Photos: Fashion Junior at Large
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)