I love working with “New Designers” - what’s funny is most new designers aren’t all that new - it’s more that they’re just not well known (yet!). Often you meet a designer who’s only 25 and they’ve been designing for the past 10 years. I worked on a look book shoot which went really well. There is so much planning involved but it pays off in the end when you have a great team!
I know I talk a lot about the team but the synergy of the team is essentail to doing a great shoot; it’s easy to do a good shoot and sometimes by fluke you can do a great shoot, naturally the more experience you have the better your work becomes.
It’s also important for the whole team to know what the look and feel of the shoot is about. You’ll have mood boards about hair and make-up, lighting and the looks so everyone can have a visual to work from and of course on the day things can change: something doesn’t work, you have a better idea, someone is sick - things change! Just be prepared - the motto I learned in Brownies always seems to be right!
Forward PR knows how to throw a good party - and I love a cocktail party! There were lots of delicious cocktails - Yum - Vermeer Chocolate & Rasmeers Martinis - the Martini glass gets me every time - the shape, the romance of it all! If something fruity is more your style Tapio - Raspberry & Rosehip with French Vodka! Delightful! We feasted on sushi and danced to music from Audio Sushi! Dance contest and awards for the best facial hair -men only ;)
Michele Obi editor of My Fashion Life & Jessica Bumpus of Vogue.com
Sabinje Von Gaffke wearing Betsey Johnson - great party dresses and a shoes designer with the tiniest feet in the world UK size1!
Jimmy Ho and the lovely Michele Paradise!
Me in my vintage £35 dress and Courtney Blackman of Forward PR wearing Aquascutum - dressed by her date Michael Herz, head of womenswear design at Aquascutum!
For more Party info check out the Glamour Party Blog!
Beyoncé knows how to work the red carpet and she’s one of the few truly glamorous women of her generation. Her bold choices are often either a hit or a miss, but she wears this dress extremely well because we actually notice the girl more than the dress. Few of us could wear a canary yellow gown but it looks gorgeous against her caramel coloured skin. The simple & sophisticated chignon with just enough bling looks elegant and timeless.
Doing a photo shoot with Olympic athletes can be great, they already have such a strong presence and are comfortable with lots of people running around; which they can just ignore and focus on the task at hand. All the athletes are sponsored by Team Visa. When you have young athletes doing there first fashion photo shoot you need a strong team behind the camera: photographer Joe Lacey and art director Simon Costin! The energy was great and you just know it’s going to be a fun shoot day!
Tom Daley is a diver and wore Vivienne Westwood.
Mo Farah does track and field and looked dashing in a Richard James.
Natasha Baker is an equestrian and wore an iconic Giles Deacon dress. Beth Tweddle is a gymnast wearing a bespoke Marchesa gown.
I love going to vintage fashion fairs. Many of the vendor have been collection and selling items for over 20 years so if you’re looking for something special just ask them. They might not have brought it with them but most of the vendors have hundreds of items stashed away!
I got two fabulous dresses for £10 each!
The key to looking through vintage is to really take your time. I look for fabrics that I like - I don’t really worry about the shape or cut as I know if I like the fabric I can remake the dress. Occasionally I’ll find a dress that fits perfectly!
The 20th Century Theatre
291 Westbourne Grove
Notting Hill
London W1
Annabel Lewis is the founder of the celebrated trimmings and ribbon shop and every stylist’s favourite haberdashery VV Rouleaux! Annabel was giving mini demonstrations as part of the Viktor & Rolf exhibition on bow making. She gave everyone a long wired ribbon and showed us how to make the perfect rose and Christmas tree bow!
Update:
Designers of New Couture do not copy other designers work - they have the ethics of a fine tailor; they are not like the typical dress maker who will copy a garment.
Quilted Knee Pad leggings - I think these are quite fun & cheeky! Lindsey Lohan has signed an exclusive deal with Fred Segal stores and her leggings will be available in August. The line is called 6126 in honour of Lindsay’s idol, Marilyn Monroe’s birthday.
I love shops that have that old world feel to them, you just know that there is something extraordinary inside and I love antique jewellery. Bentley & Skinner specialise in fine antique jewels from Faberge and silver to an array of diamonds. They have been buying and selling jewellery for over 180 years.
Much of their jewellery is from private auctions or purchased privately. Jewellery and accessories are key to creating a personal style, and by adding an antique piece of jewellery it helps to create a more personal unique look.
8 New Bond Street, London W1
I know there are loads of fashion shows on tv at the moment and I’ve watched them all - and maybe there’s a bit over fashion over kill at the moment but I’m quite excited about Twiggy’s Fashion Trade. It’s is a new 3 part series for BBC2 which taps into the latest trend for clothes swapping parties! I’ve never been to a clothes swapping party - not officially but I have swapped clothes with friends. Anyway so many of us have wardrobes full great piece that we never wear for one reason or another - so why not swap them for something better & get expert advice at the same time! I think the show airs in September.
Fashion has become very fashionable and there’s something comforting and fun about working in a virtual world especially if your only 10 years old. I think I would have liked games like this when I was little. Fashion games for girls is a huge market so it’s just not surprising that Koei have created a game around Japanese Street fashion. Japanese Street fashion has been so influential - Photographer Shoichi Aoki’s books Fruits & Fresh Fruits are so popular that Aoki’s been credited with introducing Japanese street fashion to the rest of world!
In the world of Pop Cutie players will start the game as an independent designer with a small shop at a flea market - like so many real young designers. As players progress, they’ll move into larger boutiques. The competition against rival shop owners culminates in a ‘Fashion Battle,’ where a panel of judges will decide if a player’s style has enough cute or enough cool to become all the rage.
The game involves running the boutique, hiring staff and models, and decorating their shops. It also involves fashion design based on capturing and combining “images” from kids on the street. Two-player “Fashion Battles” are also possible with a friend who has a copy of Pop Cutie.
I like the concept of the game I’m just not sure if the characters are cool or fashionable enough - when someone says Japanese Street Fashion the expectations are high. Anyway when I was little, like so many other Canadians, summer holidays involved a long, long road trip - I would have loved to have a super cool fashion game to pass the time!
[resource Game Press]
I’ve spent the last week in and out of fabric shops and I can’t imagine not having access to ribbon, lace and trimmings. I feel so happy when I’m in a haberdashery or lovely fabric shop! It’s a great place for a designer, stylist or fashion student to look for inspiration. You never know how much a particular piece of lace or ribbon is going to inspire or influence your work!
I went to the Links of London press day and they were offering illustrations by Sophie McElligott and in less then 5 miniutes she drew this illustration of my fashion assistant, Stephanie!
The event took place at an art gallery on London’s very fashionable Dover Street. Links of London is very popular for it’s charm bracelets. I notice girls wearing them all the time. I’m particularly fond of clock faces - not so much the watch itself but really the face, oh and I love keys!
Sophie has been drawing since she was little - her parents didn’t like her to watch TV so Sophie drew instead. She went to art school in Italy and did life drawing and then studied fashion at St Martins and Middlesex.
It was so much fun to be drawn by someone, you feel a bit embarrassed but bit special too! I love this image, I feel like a cool villain in a video game!!
I love it when my work takes me to cool places. I got to go to Abbey Road Studios!
We’ve all heard of Abbey Road because The Beatles, recorded 90% of their recordings there. In April 1969 they recorded their final album Abbey Road‘ with the iconic cover of the zebra crossing. On the Abbey Road Studios site there is even a real time web cam so you can see anyone on the zebra crossing!
Abbey Road Studios have been around since the 1930s. Some of the best people in the world have worked there: Fats Waller, Fred Astaire, Glenn Miller, Oasis, Nick Cave, The Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Snow Patrol, Primal Scream and hundreds of other very talented people!
I saw this pillow on Cult Beauty. I’ve always wanted a silk pillow case. I’ve read that it’s suppose to feel very nice again ones skin and protect the skin from developing more lines or deeper creases.
No pillow lines! It’s kind of funny that we spend all of this money on skin care - which I’m admit I’m a bit obsessed with and while we are sleeping and our bodies are supposed to being rejuvenated I am sleeping with my face buried into my pillow embedding wrinkles into my face.
For many designers function versus fashion is optional.
- But if you’re making a watch that’s going to outer space, this is function at it’s most extreme. Somehow Seiko has manage to create a watch that displays the most accurate time in the world in outer space that looks cool! The watch maybe the only piece of jewellery that we wear that serves both as function and fashion. Seiko celebrated the launch of the Seiko Spring Drive Space Walk at one of London’s tallest building “The Gherkin”. This watch is deigned to keep accurate time during space travel and a space walk! As a fashionista I’ve really never thought how does one keep time in outer space? Hmmm, it’s actually a huge question. Just the pure mechanics & the weather, how do you keep time in extreme climates -20C to +70C? You can’t wear a battery operated watch for safety reasons and a mechanical watch can’t retain it’s accuracy in these temperatures. So Seiko created a Spring Drive that has Tri-synchro Regulators.
In October 2008, Richard Garriott, the renowned video game designer and adventurer, will become the sixth private space explorer. This is an image of the Spring Drive Spacewalk as Richard plans to wear it when he goes into free space!
Things to know when you’re designing a watch that will be worn in outer space.
The air tight case - the watch needs to be air tight because of the vacuum of free space.
The lightness of the watch - High Intensity Titanium - Everything that goes into space needs to be as light and strong as possible.
The most readable dial. The astronauts need to be able to read the time & elapse time at a glance
Maximum ease of use - Remember the astronauts are wearing gloves so the buttons need to be oversized & accessible so they can be easily used.
This was the most amazing view and as close to space as I’ll ever get. It’s really important to think about locations for a press launch and how the location represents the brand. This space couldn’t have been more ideal for The Seiko Spring Drive Spacewalk. At the very top of The Gherkin there is a reception room and of course it’s high in the sky like a glass rocket. You feel amazing and just lucky to be in such a unique space.
For those of us not going to the moon I like the Seiko Kinetic watches. I just like the idea of kinetic watches - it utilize the power from the human body to keep the watch running! So what happens if you take the watch off for a while? Well Seiko Kinetic have a 6 month power reserve. So there are no excuses for being fashionably late!
I’m not a sparkly bling kind of girl - but it’s something I do love in a shoot. If you’re looking to customize a garment Swarovski Crystals are the way to go. It’s worth a visit to the Swarovski Crystallized Cosmos & Lounge, 24 Great Marlborough Street, London, W1
Customizing shoes and garments is such a unique way of giving an item some personal style and making it unique!
