THE WEEK IN FASHION: 19th-23rd MARCH

Posted by Bethan Holt, Fashion Junior at Large

First up this week, huge congratulations to British fashion's Fairy Godmother, Lulu Kennedy who made the trip to visit the Queen at Buckingham Palace to receive her MBE yesterday. Naturally, it was up to former Fashion East participants to dress Lulu for the occasion- it was Michael van der Ham and Roksanda Ilincic for the palace and Jonathan Saunders for the Madhatters tea party at The Sanderson. .

Lulu Kennedy at the palace (image from telegraph.co.uk)

Stella at yesterday's launch in her SS12 pjs, with Phillip Odowu and Jessica Ennis (image from dailymail.co.uk)

In other big British fashion news this week, Stella McCartney has finally unveiled the Team GB kit for this summer's Olympic and Paralympic games- the very first time that a fashion designer has had the role. This was no quiet launch either- a fashion show starring some of the UK's biggest medal hopes including Victoria Pendleton and Jessica Ennis took place at The Tower of London. It's Stella's biggest collection yet, comprising 590 different items of kit catering for over 900 athletes and all their various sports. So far, it is Stella's reinterpretation of the Union Jack which has caused most concern. The Daily Mail reports that 'there is a worrying lack of red from the Union Jack', while Hadley Freeman at The Guardian noted 'the running pants for women with the flag in a gynaecological spot, (are) surely an offence that could result in one being sent to the tower'.

I'm quite a fan of the red trainers myself. Jessica Ennis in her Stella/ Adidas kit

Madonna by Mert and Marcus (image from www.imageamplified.com)

The Mantyhose in action (image from www.imageamplified.com)

You thought all fashion hybrids had been explored? The jegging, the tregging and the shoot (shoe boot) to name but a few. Well, this week Emilio Cavallini and Madonna brought 'mantyhose' to the world. That's 'tights for boys' to you and I. Interesting. The new invention is exhibited in the video for Girl Gone Wild, directed by Mert and Marcus. It's the second single from the forthcoming MDNA album.



Ever since Carine Roitfeld left the helm at French Vogue, it's been great fun finding out about her latest project. We loved her book, Irreverent and now it seems that September will be the next time our Carine radars go into overdrive. She told WWD this week her new magazine will be launched then. They also found out the following...

"Although she couldn’t be pressed on the name, she said it will come out twice a year and resemble a book. There will be no “front of the book” section and its emphasis will be “fashion with a lot of freedom.”

Carine at the Chanel couture in Tokyo this week (image from www.wwd.com)

Karl in the pilot's seat on the Chanel jet plane (from www.wwd.com)

Chanel has decamped to Japan this week for a series of events to big up the brand in the Far East. Remember the airplane created for the January couture show in Paris? Well, that was transported to a Tokyo park for a repeat performance. Also on the agenda was a party to launch Karl Lagerfeld's collaboration with Carine Roitfeld on a photographic exhibition entitled "The Little Black Jacket'. Sarah Jessica Parker, with son in tow, and Alice Dellal were among those who've joined Chanel for the festivities.

Grazia's Paula Reed has been in Tokyo. Here are a few of her best pics...

Karl with his right hand woman, Lady Amanda Harlech 

Clemence Poesy with the cherry blossom

A guest at the couture show in the traditional Japanese kimono (all images from Paula's instagram)

Barely a week goes by without some new comment on the photoshopping/body image debate, this week's most lovely contribution comes from The Economist's Intelligent Life magazine which has put Cate Blanchett on its cover, completely free from computer aided enhancement. Like she needed it anyway. This is what Intelligent Life editor, Tim de Lisle, had to say about the cover:

"Cate Blanchett, by contrast, appears on our cover in her working clothes, with the odd line on her face and faint bags under her eyes. She looks like what she is—a woman of 42, spending her days in an office, her evenings on stage and the rest of her time looking after three young children. We can’t be too self-righteous about it, because, like anyone else who puts her on a cover, we are benefiting from her beauty and distinction. But the shot is at least trying to reflect real life. It’s a curious sign of the times that this has become something to shout about"

Image from Intelligent Life

THINGS FOR THE WEEKEND:

Image from www.Vogue.co.uk

Tonight is Sport Relief in the UK. From a fashion perspective, that means Kate Moss, Stella McCartney and David Gandy on our screens in a special episode of Absolutely Fabulous. That has to be worth a donation, doesn't it?

I heard about the Horniman Museum's The Body Adorned exhibition earlier this week and I can't wait to go. I love walking around London, seeing what everyone is wearing and trying to identify all the style tribes. The Body Adorned looks at how Londonders have come to create their own trends and ways of standing out, as well as the history which has impacted on those decisions. Here's the trailer for the exhibition, I'll hopefully be reporting back from there sometime soon...



We can finally see series 5 of Mad Men from Tuesday on Sky Atlantic- hurrah! We love these ads from the 1960s which The New Yorker has dug up to get us even more excited about the return of Don, Joan and co. Have a wonderful sunny weekend!

What would she say about mantyhose? 

Pyjamas to rival Stella's (all ads from www.newyorker.com)

SOCKS AND SANDALS, BUT NOT AS YOU KNOW THEM

Posted by Bethan Holt, Fashion Junior at Large

I say "Socks and Sandals", you think...

Giving a bad name to the socks and sandals combination (from www.sandalandsoxer.co.uk)

right? Well, perhaps not THAT bad but this particular sartorial combination has a universally poor reputation, and quite rightly so really when the classic look involves camper friendly velcro straps and crusty old M&S calf hugging socks.

But here at FEAL, we've started to think that it's time to freshen up our perspective. And this week is the perfect time. If you're anything like me (and are in the UK!), you'll have been woken by blindingly bright rays of sunshine each morning. This leads you to don summer skirts and dresses and eschew a coat. Then, you leave the house and realise that the sunshine doesn't quite translate to temperatures balmy enough for your attire. I have made this mistake every day so far this week. But moving back into winter clothes is too depressing a thought to entertain. So our solution? Wear your summer shoes with socks to save your tootsies from freezing.

Here are some inspirational street style pictures to get us going...

From www.thesartorialist.co.uk

(From www.thesartorialist.com)

From www.vogue.co.uk

From www.style.com

I haven't yet seen a good photo of FLAT sandals and socks. I reckon at the very least the look requires a low block heel to get from Nanna to Fashion. It can go very girlish and cute if it's executed with a flatform and frill- anyone else remember the white frilly socks which you wore with school summer dresses? Going to John Lewis to buy them signalled the start of Summer when I was little. 

I'm going to attempt a more grown-up version with a proper heel and perhaps a sleeker sock, though I have fallen a little bit in love with the lace ones below. Right now though, something a little bit toastier is required I think. 

Here are some of our favourites... Find more on our new Pinterest page here

Gianvitto Rossi £555 at Browns

Chloe £410 Net-a-Porter

River Island £35

Topshop £90

Lace trim for ASOS £4

Happy Socks £8

Urban Outfitters £8

Lacy mint socks £1.99 New Look

THE BRITISH DESIGNERS COLLECTIVE LAUNCHES AT BICESTER

Posted by Bethan Holt, Fashion Junior at Large

The entire British Fashion industry fled London for Oxfordshire this morning to celebrate (a.k.a get first dibs on the best bargains) at the opening of this year's British Designers Collective at Bicester Village-the super luxe shopping outlet not so far from the Big Smoke.

Alexa Chung was on hand get proceedings underway alongside many of the designers whose wares will be available in The Great Hall for the next couple of months. Of course, Bicester provides many more opportunities for credit card flexing apart from the BDC. So, plenty of tweeters were also getting in on the Celine, Marni and Prada action while they were there. We've found some of the best pictures posted on Twitter from the event...

Alexa Chung in her Bella Freud jumper (from @BFC)

Alexa outside the BDC store with Harold Tilman (Chairman of the BFC) and Desiree Bollier (CEO of Bicester' owner Value Retail Management) 

Alexa with some of the designers taking part in the BDC, including Pauric Sweeney, Justin Thornton of Preen and Bella Freud.

Inside The Great Hall which is housing the collective (from @ELLEUK)

Jonathan Saunders Bird Print (from @BFC)

The goodie bag (from @BFC)

Mawi jewellery at BDC (from @fashionnewsed)

And the Celine, of course...

Denim dress judged by @LauraCraik to be the best thing going in the Celine outlet, down from £770 to £330

And the bags, for those wanting to flaunt their Celine-ness in the most un-Philo like way (via @LauraCraik)

SHOW & TELL: HANGING OUT WITH OSMAN

Posted by Melanie Rickey, Fashion Editor at Large

Osman Yousefzada is such a sweetie. I popped over to his central London shop-fronted studio last week to catch up with him in his startling progress from young dressmaker to London catwalk designer with an enviable roster of the kind of strong, elegant professional women all designers dream of dressing when they start out. These include Lady Gaga, Caroline Issa of Tank magazine, Tallulah Harlech, the architect Pernilla Ohrstedt and the influential art collector Valeria Napoleone.

Osman's AW 2012 collection, using beautiful hand-loomed Spanish brocade shown at London Fashion Week (photo: catwalking.com)

Osman is from Birmingham and was secretly making dresses for his sister's Barbie at the age of five using offcuts of fabrics from his mother's bridal dressmaking workshop. His sister would pretend she had done the Barbie clothes, and he would pretend he had been playing football. "We are workers in my family. When I was ten I could plaster a wall, and cut a dress. Creativity is a middle class luxury after all, to me creativity is getting stuck in, getting work done."

Despite his openess Osman still squirms uncomfortably when talking about his personal life, which is hugely endearing. In fact, there is still something of that five year old lurking around the aura of Osman. Fashion is like his secret passion, and sometimes he finds it hard to articulate in words exactly what he is trying to say with his clothes. However, give him the opportunity to dress you up, drape some fabric, share some embroideries being completed in his basement atelier and before you know it a coat has been flourished in your direction, a trousers has been proffered (his tailored coats and trousers are his strongest seasonal offerings in my opinion) and you become his muse.

Osman's AW 2012 collection, shown at London Fashion Week (photo: catwalking.com)

Cobalt dress from Osman's Spring collection at Matchesfashion.com

When I press him to explain his passion for dressing women up in his now signature linear, modern cuts and opulent brocades, he eventually expresses the following: "I grew up watching women coming and going from my mothers workroom...I think that is why I love dressing women, and no two are the same," he says. "I know the transformative power of well cut clothes, and I guess what I do is work with my experience of women to create the right clothes for them. My method is, well...basically I will bend over backwards to help someone find the right thing. If a client comes to me " - 15% of his business is bespoke, and he has 80 global retail clients - "and needs something in two days, I will do it. I'm a worker. My motto is "I learn by client" which is something I have also heard Azzedine Alaia say, he needs to work on his women in order to keep learning. He is an inspiration to me."    

Osman (photo courtesy of the designer)

So who does Osman see as his typical customer? He laughs. "I call them 'second wife clothes': not young first wife, not mistress. She is independent, intelligent, comfortable in her skin," he says. At this stage we are upstairs in his glossy showroom, but I want to see the studio downstairs the hub of activity in any designers' domain. "Oh, you don't want to go down there," his assistant warns. "You haven't seen his desk!"

Osman beckons me downstairs and the crammed space is a cacophany of visual stimuli; indeed his desk is not just a mess, it is an avalanche waiting to happen - possibly even an archeological dig of paper, ribbon and tear sheets. Osman's work is largely inspired by the colours, fabrics and dress of ethnic cultures dovetailed with the purity of line of, say Cristobal Balenciaga whose mother was also a dressmaker. Below are images of his studio.

If you love Osman's work and want to get something from one his past collections, the designer is taking part on the British Designer Collective at Bicester Village, which launches tomorrow. I will be there from 10am with a certain Alexa Chung looking for a dress for my BIG birthday which is a week today, but being celebrated with friends this weekend. Aaaaargh! I'll be trying on an Osman that is for sure.

Images from Osman's studio walls

BICESTER VILLAGE 

BRITISH DESIGNER COLLECTIVE  - DETAILS

WHAT LICKING COCK AND FASHION HAVE IN COMMON, BY LOUISE WILSON.

Posted by Melanie Rickey, Fashion Editor at Large

Oh, yesterday morning was fabulous. Woke up to find the newspapers pushed through the letterbox, made coffee, spotted a a few daffodils from my window, smiled, then settled down to read The Observer. The first story I turned to was the one promoting Alexa Chung as the face of the British Designer Collective at Bicester Village, which launches this Wednesday morning.

In it, the journalist and brilliant columnist Eva Wiseman attempts to discover what makes fashion work by visiting St Martins School of Art with Alexa Chung. I approve of this detective like approach to finding out the great mystery of fashion. However, Eva hasn't been around long enough to know that the mystery of fashion changes with the shifting sands season after season. But in her attempt to find out, she did stop by and visit The Great Oracle of Fashion. The Truth Teller herself, Professor Louise Wilson, and what Louise told her, which she printed verbatim, thrilled me and made me howl.  Below is the exchange.

Louise in a still from a Showstudio.com film 

"How can Wilson, the person behind the clothes we wear, explain the process to me? She locks me in a look. I lean forward to hear her secret. "There aren't 10 easy fucking rules, OK?" OK. "You wouldn't ask Freud: 'Can you show me how to make a painting?', would you? You wouldn't dream of asking an F1 driver to show you quickly how to build a car. How does it work? How do you lick a cock! Listen, it's a life experience. It's about skills, education. Sorry, mate, not everyone can be in the club." Again, a sigh. "The problem with British fashion," she says, "is that it's got too fashionable."

Read Eva Wiseman's article here