THIS BAG WILL CHANGE FASHION

Posted by Fashion Editor at Large

By the amazing Tommy Ton at JakandJil

As a handbag fan, I look back on my little cupboard that represents the last ten years of handbag history and see an era encapsulated. The noughties were a time of big, ostentatiously designed and very quirky handbags. These receptacles represent the modern womans' predicament - out and about away from home operating with what she can carry to achieve her aims. Throughout the noughties that was a lot of kit.

While on my Greek holiday just now I was asked by a masseuse (and not for the first time) whether I had scoliosis. I DO NOT. What I do have is an over-developed right shoulder from carrying large designer bags with lots of stuff in for a decade, and an underdeveloped left shoulder that won't take the weight of a bag comfortably.

When Arete the amazing woman who realigned my back on holiday had finished with me, I vowed never to carry a heavy handbag again, which lead me straight back into the imaginary clutch of the handbag I haven't been able to get out of my head since I first clapped eyes on it. Yes, I am talking about the Celine Classic bag again!

Without wishing to over do the "Phoebe Philo is a genius" blather that has taken over as the default line of thought for every fashion writer and blogger in the western world, Phoebe Philo has pulled off something approaching genius with this bag.

More Tommy Tom

With the Classic she has stripped the fashion handbag back to its purest form and created a perfectly formed and useful design classic, that I, among many, many people, can't wait to wear for the rest of my days.

The many combinations of colour, leather and skin means that each new owner feels she is getting something tailored to her taste.

Crucially, the dimensions of the bag are the thing that mark it out as something new. It is small, the dimensions are 19cm high, 23.5 cms across and 6.5 cm deep, but it is large enough to hold a notebook and diary, wallet, two smartphones and essential make-up items. This is a bag for an organised woman who can reduce! The Hermes Constance bag (below) is even smaller.

Hermes "Constance" bag

My gripe with the Classic is that it is just too small for an iPad. Can you make a bigger one please?  You only need to go up by a few centimenters in height and width to fit it in, and then it really will be genius.

A selection of colours of the Classic

Hopefully I be treating myself to one of these if the next couple of months are good on the work front. What I won't be able to do is win one. BUT one lucky person, hopefully one of you, will, and all thanks to me!

I've started working as a consultant on what promises to be an amazing new e-tail website that launches in October. When they asked me what handbag to recommend for an elegant little teaser campaign they are doing to introduce the site, there was no hesitation. With stealth planning and a well timed swoop on Celine in Paris I managed to get hold of not only a new-season Classic, but one in the most in-demand colour, geranium red - i.e a little lighter than the one at the top of this blogpost.

In fact, I handed it over to them today, and when it left my possesion to be photographed, there was a pang of loss. Look back here NEXT WEDNESDAY for more news on how this £2,200 little beauty can be yours.

All summer I have been imagining my head on top of these bodies

Photos:
Celine Resort Lookbook
JakandJil.com
Celine.com

THE NEW WAY TO SHOP??

Posted by Fashion Editor at Large

I don't know about you, but I think vintage clothes can be ridiculously overpriced for what they are. Especially in Brick Lane and its environs, but also generally at street markets and vintage shops in university towns around the country.

Shopkeepers charge whatever they think you will be willing to pay for said item. So, if that is a tattered 1930s chiffon tea dress with sweat stains and a questionable smell emanating from the armpits the price really should NOT be £450.

These people think they know how to price vintage, and they don't. My first job in what would have been called my Gap Year today (better known as my "I don't know what to do with my life" year) was the fashion vintage sorter for Rokit, the vintage fashion institution with outlets on Camden High Street, Brick Lane and in Covent Garden.

In the end I worked at Rokit for three years (working around my degree), as a result I know a lot about vintage. And I know most of what we buy in shops is initially sold to the supplier by weight. Hence the concept of buying by weight has always appealed to me. So when a press release for Kilo Klub, a vintage sale that charges for vintage clothes by weight,  popped into my inbox at Grazia I just had to tell you about it.

This pop up sale claims to be the cheapest way to buy your vintage. Whether you are looking for the perfect 1960's cape coat, a gorgeous 50s prom dress or an 80s jumpsuit, be prepared to rummage through 12 tonnes of stuff to hunt down your bounty. Items are sold by kilo weight, £15 per kilo, which means ladies shoes will usually be £6-£8, shirts/blouses around £3, dresses come up at £4-£8. We've got our fingers crossed that there will be some amazing finds to be had - and at those prices, there will be minimal wallet damage.

Rummage sales can be hard work, but if you enter into the spirit of the thing, they can be a whole lot of fun, and more entertaining than a 2am eBay bidding war! I have personally experienced the stress of shopping for vintage online - when you are unsure about the fit or quality, and then it arrives and your worst fears come true. With my years of rummaging experience, not to mention an ability to check for sweat stains, holes, odd smells, loose seams and worn out patches in a record ten seconds, I expect Kilo Klub will be a blast.

With the AW season approaching I have prepared a hit list of the sort of things I will be looking out for:

Marc Jacobs faux fur

Prada sweater and skinny belts

 Chloe camel coat

 Louis Vuitton 1950's dress

M

 Miu Miu 1960's shift

Stella McCartney grandad cardigan

Kilo Klub is on Friday 6th, Sat 7th and Sun 8th August, 10am to 5pm (6pm on Sunday) at Drays Walk Gallery space, Brick Lane. For more information please call 07850 111707.

Additional reporting Fashion Junior at Large
(Image: Lauren, courtesy of Queens of Vintage, all catwalk shots, Style.com)

SOLDIERS, SAILORS...FASHION JUNIORS?

Posted by Fashion Junior at Large 

While the Fashion Editor at Large has been relaxing in foreign climes, I decided to use some of my spare time to get tattooed. (Recovery time is important - blood, bandages and antiseptic cream aren't a good look for fashion business meetings.)

To me, this is a normal activity - I now have five tattoos in total, really enjoy the whole process and will no doubt add to my collection as time goes on. This is where the Fash Ed at Large and I differ, because as far as I know she isn't concealing any body art under those elegant outfits! The fashion industry has completely changed its views on tattooing over the last years, and they are now de rigeur (this month's Vogue covergirl, Freja, has 16.) In fact, it would be easy to say that it is now more 'normal' to have a tattoo than to not have one.

 Just a selection of Freja's tattoos

The Guardian reported this week that 1 in 5 British adults have some sort of permanent ink - that's a huge percentage considering the older generations still consider them the domain of jailbirds, servicemen and generally shady types. My own parents were horrified when I got my very first one - a tiny star on my right wrist. I think their exact reaction went something along the lines of 'trampy, common, awful' and 'concentration camp victim'! But seven years later, they now have two children covered in tattoos - and have somehow come to accept and even appreciate the artworks, even if they aren't to their personal taste. When you see SamCam swanning into No. 10 with a dolphin on your ankle, you know times have changed.

Sam Cam's Not-so-Conservative dolphin

However, that truly naff dolphin tatt brings me to my point - everyone may be getting tattoos, but that doesn't mean they are necessarily getting them done well. Just like all creative industries, there is a tattoo hierarchy - some artists are just better than others, just like illustrators, photographers and designers.

There is also an age old saying that states "good tattoos are not cheap, and cheap tattoos are not good." It is so true - if you are going to get something on your skin forever, this is a good time to employ the Grazia 'cost per wear' strategy, and not to go for the budget option.

It is my firm belief that if you are going to get a tattoo, you need to commit to it, and do it properly! I am a huge fan of the old style (traditional hearts, swallows and pin up girls) and have wanted a rose design for about a year. They are a classic tattoo motif, something I knew I would love forever.

The vintage postcard that started my rose obsession

I knew it needed to be a big, full, bloom, and so choosing the placement was tricky - I almost booked in to have two, one on either shoulder, but decided against that area is so often obscured by clothing.

My forearms already have three tattoos, so I figured one more couldn't hurt. It took a long time for me to find the right artist for the job - Stefano, at Frith Street in Soho - but when I had, he agreed it was the right place for his design.

The studio in Frith Street

Getting a new tattoo is always scary - yes, they do really hurt. Luckily adrenalin distracts you from the majority of the pain, which is best described as a really sharp scratch accompanied by a dull ache from the vibrations from the gun. Nice. I completely trusted Stefano, which helped, and after two and a half hours of grimacing, nail biting and inane giggling (I laugh when I'm nervous!) I now have a beautiful rose.

The latest addition to my body

Tattoo fans like me get a huge thrill from the whole process, and the euphoria after you are done is incredible. Good tattoos look lovely, in my humble opionion. They do make life more exciting, and everytime I look at it I smile. Now I can't wait for the Fash Ed's return, to get the ultimate verdict!


For more on the Fashion Junior's tattoo obsession, click here:
http://glitterbird.blogspot.com/2010/07/glitterbird-fesses-up.html


http://frithstreettattoo.co.uk/

(Images: Daily Mail, George Langford, Frith Street)

My sexiest customer Parul looking gowjas in her Bebe dress from Kiki's Fashion

Spotted in Dubai,a mother to be Mange lowrey shopping for her new born to be while rocking her Kiki's jumpsuit,she is one of the hottest mamas in the world and she is a good customer of Kiki's Fashion.

Who rock'd it better?Nancy Sumary vs Victoria Beckham!

MOVE OVER DAPHNE??

Posted by Fashion Editor at Large

We all know true fashion eccentric’s are few and far between. But surely there can only be room for one woman in the world who wears her edgy Haute Couture with millions of pounds worth of diamonds, outrageous Philip Treacy hats and who is slim enough to slip down a drain when turned sideways? Last week this theory was turned on its head when I saw two of these women in a room at the SAME TIME. I was attending the Istancool arts festival in Istanbul when the seemingly impossible happened. “Daphne Guinness is over there, look!” whispered my neighbour at a lunch in Istanbul Modern art gallery. Everyone’s head swivelled towards a pencil slim woman wearing a giant black and white Philip Treacy hat which was obscuring her face.

Who's that veeeery skinny girl in the Philip Treacy hat?

 “That isn’t Daphne Guinness, THAT IS DAPHNE GUINNESS. We all looked towards the doorway as the in cantered the real Daphne on heel-less silver platform heels, an undulating Tracy concoction floating above her brow.

Daphne took off her Treacy hat to have a quick chat with Gore Vidal

So WHO was this pretender? Let me introduce you to Stacy Engman. Stacy, 32, is the chief curator of Contemporary Art at the National Arts Club in New York. Stacy was typically vague when it came to her family, except to say “my dad is in finance and insurance”. She was more forthcoming about her style, however. “I am wearing Philip Treacy, of course. My shoes are McQueen; my leggings by NY label “3 as 4” and my bag is Chanel. When our eye was drawn to a massively blinging diamond ring, what we were told next made our eyes water. “This is my personal mark,” she said, deadpan. “I was looking for a monogram for my clothes and luggage and I wasn’t happy with anything the graphic company created for me. So I looked for a symbol instead. This is inspired by the “Sheela na Gig” a pagan symbol of a female gargoyle who uses her vagina to scare away evil spirits.” That was me told, then. The ring totals 13 carats and took “my family jeweller ages to create.”

Stacy's "personal mark" inspired by the symbolic vagina of the gargoyle "Sheela na Gig"

Stacy also told us she wears “the world’s most expensive fragrance by Clive Christian.” I adore Daphne Guinness, but have also rather warmed to Stacy Engman. Anyone who is as dedicated to the cause of fashion and personal style as these two women are very welcome to the Fashion Editor at Large world. Let the rivalry commence!!

The feet of from left, Daphne Guinness (you should see Daphne when she flips down to flat position in those shoes; its so cute, and she says she does it to keep her calf muscles flexed and stretched) , Pablo Ganguli, Philip Treacy

Daphne chatting to Liberatum founder Pablo Ganguli, the 27 year old responsible for the Istancool festival.

Photos: Fashion Editor at Large

Daphne Guiness fashion shot was lifted from meccacosmetica.com.au, no credit shown.