It's cold outside, here's some fashion news to warm you up...
Jonathan Saunders SS12
Congratulations to the super wonderful Jonathan Saunders who has won the BFC/ Vogue Fashion Fund Award. He'll get £200,000 and specific mentoring to help his business grow. It's clear to me that Saunders 'gets' something about what women want from their clothes which is why his sales have skyrocketed by 118% in the past year; for the London shows, every other front rower was wearing a piece of Saunders. We're really pleased for you Jonathan! Let's not forget the runners-up who must have made the panel's decision pretty tough; Peter Pilotto, Mary Katrantzou, Roksanda Ilincic, Richard Nicoll, Zoe Jordan, Nicholas Kirkwood, Marios Schwab and Meadham Kirchhoff.
When Jonathan's win was announced, Lulu Kennedy (who supported Jonathan through her Fashion East scheme early in his career) tweeted a picture of Natalia Vodianova wearing a Saunder's dress on the cover of Vogue in 2004. I thought it'd be nice to share- thanks Lulu!
Jonathan Saunders covers Vogue in 2004- image from Lulu kennedy's twitter
A look from Stine Riis' collection (from wwd.com)
The first winner of the H&M Design Award was announced at Stockholm Fashion Week yesterday. Stine Riis is originally from Denmark but recently graduated from London College of Fashion. She wins 50,000 euros as well as the opportunity to have pieces from her collection sold in H&M stores in the Autumn. Check out the video below for all the action from the final...
Talking of LCF, the FashEd and I had a brilliant and inspiring time on Tuesday night at the college's MA exhibition. We heard lots of great stories and saw some beautiful work. Look out for our full report next week.
Last year, Robin Derrick left British Vogue to work on the re-launch of the US edition of Harper's Bazaar. The fruits of his challenge to revamp the title were revealed this week with a stark monochrome cover starring Gwyneth Paltrow. According to our favourite New York tweeter @jimshi809 the 'Redesigned Harper's Bazaar US is one-inch bigger w/ thicker paper & new fonts & every new section starts w/ the world "the."' Now we know!
One of the many brilliant personalities in the Cunningham film, Shail Upadhya, a
Nepalese UN representative and one of Bill's regular subjects.
This week, I spent an amazing evening at the UK premiere of 'Bill Cunningham New York', Richard Press's new documentary about the 80 year-old New York Times photographer. The event was sponsored by Grazia, and afterwards Paula Reed hosted a Q&A with Chris Moore, legendary catwalk photographer and owner of catwalking.com. His is a completely unique career which has seen him chart 'true' trends from the past half century. As well as paying attention to what's happening on the catwalks, Bill tirelessly scours the streets of NYC to discover what people are REALLY wearing and how they're wearing it. Many call him the original street style photographer. Although I think that's true, there's definitely much more to it than that which is why I am very happy to see the film's blurb describe him as a 'cultural anthropologist'. His observations are sharp and his knowledge of fashion and trends is encyclopaedic. His comparison of the work of Rei Kawakubo at Comme des Garcons in the 80s with the style of the bag women living on the streets of New York at the time is still playing on my mind, and shows the unique position he is in to marry the pavement and the catwalk. The film is a must-see, even if fashion is not your thing. It's out at selected cinemas in March.
Cunningham's fab picture of Isabella Blow (from lightbox.time.com)
Another month, another round of magazine covers. Elle and Vogue have both gone with Louis Vuitton's sugar sweet broderie anglaise for their fronts covers. Lana del Rey is Vogue's new cover girl demostrating the astonishing speed of her rise from unknown to virtually notorious; her newly released album has not received the best reviews yet she is number one in multiple countries. But if Vogue puts her on the cover then it confirms that there is something of the zeitgeist about her. Given that Love magazine editor Katie Grand also consults for Louis Vuitton, we thought ice cream girly prettiness was a given for the publication's latest edition. How wrong we were. The cover line reads 'The End of Elegance' which seems a direct challenge to the ladylike loveliness which is clearly the prevailing mood. Does this mean pastels might be as fleeting an obsession as Lana del Rey?
Lana (by Mario Testino) prettified for Vogue (image from www.vogue.co.uk)
Linda Evangelista covers Love, shot by Mert and Marcus(image from @thelovemagazine)
Fragile: Linda Evangelista in Giles (image from @thelovemagazine)
FEAL is mostly about womenswear but that doesn't mean we don't appreciate a well-dressed man. Both of us think Tinie Tempah is a rather fab dresser so we are happy to see that he has been named Britains' Best Dressed Man by GQ. In other news from the list, Prince William didn't make it into the top 50 despite that bright red Irish guards wedding outfit. Wills, if you're upset at GQ's decision we suggest ditching the flat caps and 'cashmere jumper round shoulders' as starting points for sartorial transformation in time for next year, or ask your Dad who scraped in at no. 50.
Tinie does bow ties and monochrome (image from telegraph.co.uk)
After revelations about extravagant mid-recession halloween parties, we'd have thought the Obamas would be keen to avoid any more big spending sprees- not such great publicity in election year. So the story that Michelle paid a visit to the Madison Avenue branch of Agent Provocatuer and picked up $50,000 worth of goodies- lucky Barack- seems very unfortunate. She was apparently accompanying Sheikha Mozah, the Queen of Qatar, during her trip to the US last year. However, Jay Carney, the White House Press Secretary, strongly denied the story telling WWD:
'In this case, it’s utterly false, and it’s irresponsible of an American news organization to repeat the story, even allowing that it could be true. So it’s wrong.'
Apparently The White House was unable to provide 'evidence' that the First Lady had not visited the purveyors of sexy underwear- the mind boggles. While Michelle cannot be too pleased about the story, Agent Provocateur say the 'unexpected famous names' who patronise the business have contributed to its continued growth.
The Obamas are joined by Tim burton at their halloween do in 2009 (image from chicksontheright.com)
Belgian designer A.Knackfuss is set to be a highlight of the
showcase (image from mussola.style.it)
Finally, while we thought the images for Prada's SS12 campaign were a bit boring but the accompanying video, released this week, adds a bit more attitude to the concept, don't you think?
For most girls, being without your handbag is like Karl Lagerfeld being without his gloves. Wrong and, quite frankly, disquieting. Every day, I haul around books, magazines, diaries, make-up and don't use half of it but just feel much safer having it all about my person. It's all there just in case who-knows-what-happens, suddenly requiring me to produce 4 pens, a pad of post-its and 16 paracetamol. Seeing as my life is kept in my handbag, it would be really bothersome to be packing and unpacking it every night, which is why mine is classic, neutral (to go with any outfit) and made from tough leather. I reckon this is why lots of girls bags are sort of boring. I was fine with this until now, but two big name bag collaborations are making me think that the contents of my bag might appreciate a new, much snazzier home.
Anselm Reyle's collection for Dior (images courtesy of Dior)
First up is Anselm Reyle's collection for Dior. The Berlin-based artist has taken some of Dior's classic shapes, like the Lady and splashed them with super bright prints as well as graphic stitching and quilting.
Anselm Reyle working on his Dior collection
Reyle explains his approach like this...
'I like working on the Lady Dior handbag. Most of my work builds on objects that already exist, which I then transform. For this project I did it the same way. I decided to focus on the classical bags of the Dior label'
An example of Anselm Reyle's work, from www.contemporaryartdaily.com
About his art, Reyle has said that it is about 'taking a stereotype to breathe new life into it'. Of course, this is not the first time that an artist has put their stamp on a classic shape at a design house- think Vuitton's Murakami and Sprouse projects for starters. However, with no big name at Dior right now an artist collaboration like this provides a clear creative signature in the interlude; Bill Gaytten might be in place but the collections he's produced thus far mostly take us back to the origins of the house rather than thinking about NOW. In a small way, it is Reyle who is breathing the life into Dior at the moment. He's also worked with Dior on a beauty line which works with the same themes and colours as the bags.
Second on the new bright bag scene is Mary Katrantzou's collaboration with French bag maker, Longchamp. This is a pretty genius move on their part to bring a much needed new visual to a brand which over here, is usually seen on the arm a certain kind of classic looking lady, and sometimes her slightly too blonde haired/ fake tanned daughter. I see virtually every other woman carrying one in the street when I go to France too. So, the partnership with print genius Katrantzou takes Longchamp to a whole new fashion, rather than simply practical, level. The lucky FashEd has been carrying hers for a while now and it looks amazing; the shapes have been updated but are still chic and close to the brand's identity but they are majorly pepped up by the printed exterior. The bags are based around an 'East meets West' theme- the balloons and temple motifs in super bright colours bringing that Eastern element.
Longchamp x Mary Katrantzou (all images from www.colette.fr)
Mary working on her designs
Balloons and blossoms make the classic Longchamp bag a whole lot more exciting
Love the rope handle- a perfect holiday bag.
Mary's prints on the catwalk, from SS12 (www.catwalking.com)
If Reyle and Katrantzou can't convince us to ditch the safe, everyday classic and pack a little colourful punch into our bags for Spring, what else possibly could?
Anselm Reyle for Dior bags are available now, until March in Dior boutiques and concessions worldwide.
Mary Katrantzou for Longchamp bags are available here at Longchamp.com and in Longchamp stores. Prices start at £94
Today is 1st February which means that 13 days from now is THE day of the year when we tell our beloveds just how much we love them. And what better way to do it than with a Valentine's Day card designed by Fashion Editor at Large?! Our friends at fab vintage store Beyond Retro asked us to come up with a design which could be sold in their stores, with proceeds going to the British Heart Foundation. Of course, we were thrilled to oblige. Inspiration came from the V&A's Postmodernism exhibition which we went to see a few weeks ago, in particular the bricolage (a.k.a collages) of architects Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown. We put a fashion-y spin on the concept with a lacy background (quite sexy, non?) and cut-outs from the titles of iconic magazines. Most of all we wanted to make a card you can give to anyone you love.
You can get the cards at any Beyond Retro store- click here to check out locations, or give them a call and order some over the phone! They're are £3 each and £1 from every sale will go to the British Heart Foundation.
There are fashion staples and there are Fashion Week Staples. This post is about the latter. In 10 days time the New York fashion shows start, neatly followed by London Fashion Week and onto Milan and Paris. I've never been one of those women to dress up deliberately for the cameras at the fashion weeks; I do get snapped occasionally if I'm having a particularly photogenic day at the shows, but I dress for myself really, experimenting as I go. Of course, there are people out there who organise their outfits in advance, borrow clothes from designers and make a big and fabulous show of themselves to fan the flames of their online careers and web fashion fame. Hello Anna Dello Russo, Susie Bubble, Kristin Knox, Fran Burns and co, not to mention the hordes of fashion-obsessed students trying to get noticed. I wish I was more inclined to play the fashion game their way, but I'm not. No matter. Fashion-paparazzo not withstanding these are the clothes I want for fashion week.
I've been logging into all the major fashion websites everyday over the last ten days to see what is on their respective New In pages, and to see what makes my heart beat faster. For the high fashionista that I am right down to my marrow, Brownsfashion.com is hands down the best place to shop right now. Their edit of Kane, Balenciaga, J.W Anderson, Erdem, Carven and Alaia is inspired and I love the way they find labels that even I haven't heard of yet. I respect that their buying team, including Ruth Runberg and Francoise Tessier have the nous to order the printed Erdem trousers, say, not just his signature dresses which all the safe department stores buy. Browns have even bought into Dr Martens exceptionally cleverly, and the white-soled tassle loafers are truly edgy fashion shoes (even if, to you, they look like something a nurse at Broadmoor might wear). Designers trust Browns and looking at their edit of Spring/Summer 2012, I can see why. Now, I have to choose which one of these is the most worthwhile to have in my wardrobe. What would you choose?
One of the funny things about being a fashion journalist/consultant is that sometimes you have to do and say the kind of vacuous things that fashion people in the movies say. Such as "It's all about skirts." Which is a bit weird/sad/makes you wonder what all that eduction was for.
I said "It's all about skirts" a lot last October and November when I was talking to interested parties about what fresh new trends were emerging after the catwalk collections in New York, London, Milan and Pareee. Now, responding by saying "skirts" might sound a bit stupid to you. You might be thinking "women wear skirts all the time. Skirts are an everyday fashion item." That is not an unreasonable thought.
You'd be surprised though. The retailers I work with are constantly bemoaning the poor sales racked up in the skirt category. So I say "Its all about skirts," and they say "but skirts don't sell!" The blockbuster categories are pretty much always dresses, casual trousers, and tops. Generic yes, but within that percentages go up and down with fashion. Dresses dominated for most of the last five years. Then tops, or rather blouses stormed in and became a key wardrobe item under the noses of most fashion retailers who then all quickly caught up.
The thing that happened with blouses is about to happen with skirts, especially little flared numbers shaped like little ding-dong bells. Over the next few months they are going to seem to become very, very important items; something fresh and different to wear with your blouse or luxed-up T-shirt. A girly change from skinny pastel jeans or cool sports pants. In short the must-have wardrobe update for the warmer months of the year.
A lovely blouse and skirt from Prada SS12
It was something Miuccia Prada said after her fantastic Spring 2012 show that stuck on my mind. "There are basically no dresses, [in the collection], its all separates combined in a realistic way," she told Vogue.com. Normally her post-show pronouncements are more Confucious like; sage and cryptic. This one was instructive. It signalled the end of her love affair with dresses, and quite poissibly ours too, for the time being.
If the most influential woman in world fashion has done away in dresses in favour of pretty skirts and tops, who are we to argue? Without further ado I'd like to show you the best ones from the catwalk for this Spring. I'll start with my absolute favourite one now, this beautiful Herve Leger bell skirt will last for ever, and its the sort of piece that will give new life to the rest of your wardrobe. The high street are catching up, but slowly.
The Fashion Editor at Large blog is the independent work of Melanie Rickey, the views are my own. The Fashion Junior at Large is Bethan Holt. PORTRAIT: Neil Haynes
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