HEADONISM: GETTING HATTY WITH IT

Posted by Fashion Editor at Large

I love a hat. I bought one the other day with cat ears on it. It's by Marie Mercie of Paris bought at Browns Focus (see below). When I first put it on, Mary was like, "errrr...have you lost the plot?" There were sniggers from a couple of 15 year old girls, but soon enough they were asking to try it on. Five minutes later I was clucking for it to come back to me. Wearing it gave me a buzz of fashion excitement I haven't felt for a while. It reminded me that I suit hats and that wearing one can offer a different perspective on life. Every time he sees me Philip Treacy says "Melanie, you have the perfect face for a hat." I bet he says that to everyone, but still :)

Self-portrait in the car with Walter

My hat in black, from Browns

Hats are big news for Fall/Autumn 2011.  Fedoras are everywhere courtesy of Frida Giannini's stellar and mega-influential Gucci show, but "novelty" hats are really taking headgear fashion to a new place.  As such, it was interesting to note that popping up as a last minute addition to the London Fashion Week schedule on Friday evening is Headonism, the BFC initiative curated by Stephen Jones which celebrates the new wave of emerging London milliners.

The hatters invited by Mr. Jones to take part all come from the "novelty" school. They are Charlie Le Mindu, J Smith Esq, Noel Stewart and Piers Atkinson. I put the word novelty in inverted commas because, well hats in themselves are a novelty today aren't they? Not like back-in-the-day when everyone wore hats. Both Coco Chanel and Halston began their careers as milliners; such was the demand for hats for every occasion from the 1910s to the 1960s. If a hat has cat ears, is made of hair (Charlie le Mindu) or a barbie doll, it is a double novelty, but somehow this makes them easier to wear now.  Like "I know I'm wearing a hat, it's a novelty, and because it is such a novelty I'll wear one that has novelty value." It certainly seems to be working for Piers Atkinson.

Piers Atkinson's I Heart Anna hat, part of his Spring/Summer 2012 collection to be showcased this Friday night (16th September) at Headonism, curated by Stephen Jones OBE, at Somerset House

I'm something of  Piers Atkinson fan, and am looking forward to his salon show with a performance by lovely Paloma Faith next Monday evening. I also rather adore this piece from his new collection for SS12. Last season he riffed on the word "Paris." This season it's Anna. Here I leave you for a few lines of his press release, mainly because this is exactly how my brain processed the "Anna" connection... and it made me laugh.

"BUT – which Anna? Fashion’s most famous: Anna Wintour?! Or Atkinson’s muse: Dello Russo? Does the blue hint at Piaggi? Or is it the British Fashion Council’s most international of Annas; Orsini? Could he mean our very own styliste-de-jour, Anna Trevelyan? Or, most likely, is Atkinson celebrating them all?!"

Now I've taken the plunge with my Marie Mercie Paris hat, it is only a matter ot time before the Givenchy hat below comes into my possesion. And the glasses.... I love love love this!

Givenchy backstage FW11, by Catwalking.com

An evening with the milliners, hosted by the BFC and Ascot Racecourse will be held Friday 16th September from 5-7pm, in the Embankment Galleries, with a speech from Stephen Jones OBE.

THE WEEK IN FASHION 13TH JUNE-17TH JUNE

Posted by Fashion Junior at Large
Additional research by Bethan Holt

Here's our weekly round up of the goings on in fash-land over the past five days. While most of the fashion press have been obsessing over the resort collections (more on those to come!) these were the news stories that caught our eye this week.We kick off, fittingly, with a quote from the High Priestess herself...

1. Famously anti-tech Anna Wintour gave the perfect five word acceptance speech for Vogue's People's Voice Award at the Webbys: "Sometimes geeks can be chic." Got it in five, Anna - and come on, like we didn't know that already!


2. The fashion hackers have struck again, and it's Beyonce (in kinky Vuitton) vs. Christina  Aguilera (in, well, not a lot) on the leaked covers of this month's W magazine

 3. Alexandra Shulman stepped into the ring for the racism in fashion debate, following the recent racism related lawsuits involving Naomi Campbell and Cadbury and Rihanna and Gucci. In response to Liz Jones' claim that the industry is 'inherently racist', Shulman pointed out: "There have always been black players on the scene — at the moment look at the stylist Edward Enninful, make-up artist Pat McGrath and [models] Jourdan Dunn, Liya Kebede and Joan Smalls, who are at the top of the tree."The Vogue Editor also hinted that she has two black cover stars lined up for future issues - Michelle O, perhaps?

4. It has been a week for campaign releases, as Tom Ford poses with Lara Stone in his new make up shots
...

 

Lara and Tom try to out 'good face' each other in the Tom Ford makeup campaign

5. ...while Angelina Jolie poses in Cambodia (birthplace of her son, Maddox) for Vuitton 's core values campaign

6. Jess Cartner-Morley declares this the summer of intentional bad taste fashion, all thanks to a Prada banana

Prada SS11, and the banana skirt that started it all...

7. Aggy is back in the business! Everyone's favourite leggy blonde Agyness Deyn has re-signed with her old agency, Select Model Management, and is hoping to stage a comeback. Shouldn't be too tricky when you look like this...

Aggy shot by Tim Walker for the May issue of Vogue. Beautiful!

8. What  has Stefano Pilati been up to while his mate Kate was on her hen weekend on the Isle of Wight? Designing costumes for a new Harold Pinter production, of course! With Kristen Scott Thomas taking the lead in The Betrayal, this will be one dramatic fashion statement.

9. You thought the V&A Vivienne Westwood exhibition had covered it all? Well, now her iconic shoe designs have an exhibition all of their own

 The Gillie shoe, most notorious for bring Naomi down to earth with a bump!

10. Mulberry have had a very, very good year, reporting a 69% increase in revenue.Those cute woodland creatures from their last show are obviously hiding some savvy business sense..

 Mulberry Resort 2012. They don't just do handbags, y'know. It's all about the doggy RTW.

11. A very dapper Jonathan Saunders deservedly picked up Designer of the Year at the Scottish Fashion Awards - even though the win took him by surprise, having just been "texting Chris Kane saying 'Sam Cam's wearing your dress, you're definitely going to win it!'"

 Designer of the Year Jonathan Saunders picks up his SFA in a trendy teal tie.

11. Following the news that K-Mid's wedding dress is going to go on show at Buckingham Palace, across the pond, the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame have included Gaga's infamous Meat Dress in their 'Women who Rock' exhibit. Thankfully, the meat has been preserved so that the now well-past-it's-sell-by-date flesh dress won't pong out the exhibition! Tasty.

 

12. Stella Tennant presented the Devonshire Cup at Royal Ascot (she's related to the historic English family). On Ladies Day she was sporting a brilliant trilby avec taxidermy birds, designed, of course, by Stephen Jones. Only Stella and Stephen could make dead birds look this good! 

Stella Tennant and Stephen Jones during the design process for Ascot's chic-est headgear. Photographed by Robert Fairer

13. And finally, over the past five days we have continued to be baffled and bewildered by Bip Ling's blog posts and Tweets. A choice example from @BipLing:

"YUPP having a great holidayyyyyyyy SHUVS AND FOREST ARE GREAT FUN YAR YAR YARRR LOVE ITTTT :-) BOOM BOOOM xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"

What?! Does anyone speak Bip and can help us out?!

And that, fashion fans, is the week that was...

Images: Catwalking, Vogue UK, Style.com, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, US Vogue.

SWAROVSKI LFW PREVIEW: DOMINIC JONES

Posted by Fashion Editor at Large

Me and Dominic Jones

I was lucky enough to be the first journalist on a high circulation magazine to cover the talent that is Dominic Jones. I'll never forget meeting him at Dover Street Market on the night Stephen Jones launched his perfume in collaboration with Comme des Gardons. Dominic told me his plan for a jewellery collection that "has the look of fine jewellery, but is in fact gold-plated to a deeper degree than usual gold plating, thus giving it a more luxurious look."

He said he wanted his peers to be able to afford high-end jewellery. It was a blindingly good idea from the start and with Dominic's charm, talent for sculpture, eye for what cool kids want from their jewellery, and backing from his close friend Alice Dellal he was always going to do alright. And he has. We are now two years down the line, and selling through Net-a-Porter means he can relax on  the cash-flow front and get on with working.

Dominic's incredibly strong SS11 collection

SS11 INSPIRATIONS

"My last two collections were quite literal. The first was inspired by fangs, then the second was based on skulls and beetles. This time I developed the collection from two sculptures I created in miniature. I played with their proportions to recreate different parts of them as jewellery. At the NEWGEN area at LFW I will be displaying two meter high versions of the sculptures made from jesmonite and polystyrene."

"My reference points were the sculpture of Barbara Hepworth, Art Deco and the rest came from me. I love working and through the process the shapes came out. Making is what I love doing most.  I used Swarovskis even though they don't officially sponsor me. Though there is talk of me working on the Atelier range, which would be very exciting as working with crystals is second nature. This is my most instinctive collection, and I am so proud of it."

PORT ELIOT: THE BEST FESTIVAL YOU HAVE NEVER HEARD OF

Guest Post by Fashion Junior at Large (George Langford)

If you go down to Cornwall this month, you are in for a big surprise. Nestled away on the Rame Peninsula, in the south east of the county, the most magical festival will be taking place in just over two weeks time. An enticing concoction of music, fashion, food and literary performances will be taking over the beautiful site of Port Eliot.

Port Eliot is the historic family seat of the Earl and Countess of St Germans, who have been hosting incredible festivals and events at in the House and grounds since the 1980s. In 2003, Peregrine and Catherine St Germans, along with a team of creative friends, founded the Port Eliot Lit Fest, with the idea of starting a completely new and exciting type of literary festival. Since then it has grown into an amazing mixture of music, the visual arts, incredible food, brilliant authors performing their work, and this year, a fantastic fashion element in the form of a dedicated tent in the Walled Garden (even the tents sound romantic!)

The first Port Eliot Festival had only 17 visitors, that number has grown to 5000 in only 7 years!

The organisers always encourage both the performers and festival goers to be as creative and free-spirited as possible during the weekend, which creates a truly magical atmosphere. It is not unusual for people to hold spontaneous seances in the woods, or a masked ball in the middle of the night, or for younger punters to run down to the 'One Minute Disco', held on the hour, every hour. It is this unique spirit that has meant knowledge of this boutique festival is spreading via word of mouth.
 

The capacity of Port Eliot festival is limited to 5000, which means everyone has space to camp wherever they so chose (a far cry from the usual flooded shanty towns of other festivals!) and there is the choice of several areas offering different forms of entertainment; the Cabaret Tent, the Boat House, the Caught By The River stage and the enchanting House of Fairy Tales.

A typical Port Eliot Festival goer!

There is a truly incendiary list of authors and musicians who will be performing at this year's event, but what has really tickled our fancy is the thought of the fashion tent in the Walled Garden.

Barbara Hulanicki (founder of Biba) and Fashion Junior's fave, Luella Bartley, will be making clothes for festival goers live and for free! How brilliant?! Sarah Mower, the British Fashion Council's Ambassador for Emerging Talent, will be interviewing milliner Stephen Jones on stage, and he will also be creating bespoke hats during the event.

  Stephen Jones driving the world's cutest golf buggy!

Taking a break from curating iconic exhibitions at the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art in NYC (yes, where the amazing Met Ball is held), Andrew Bolton will be teaming up with fashion legend Anna Sui for another special event. Anna says of the festival itself:

"It's like a fairytale. Those vistas! You have to catch your breath."

That sounds like a good enough reason to discover the festival if ever we heard one. Tickets are still available if you want to experience some of the magic for yourself, and you can buy them/get more information from the website:

www.porteliotfestival.com

Images courtesy of Port Eliot (Bill Bradshaw, Fiona Campbell)