Spitafields Market - there have been so many changes & renovations here I wasn’t sure how much I was going to like it, I was afraid that it wouldn’t have the same charm. It did - just more polished. In the few years I’ve been in London I’ve noticed lots of things change. It will be interesting to see what happens to Camden market, it’s already changed so much. I just wonder about all the vendor - where will they all go?
Spitafield was great, there were so many things that were inspiring and I just like being out and about. The sun was shining, no rain and lots of people just hanging around looking fashionable. I also went to the Sunday Up market which has a cooler feel to it. I’m sure the stalls cost less… I saw a cool jeweller but he didn’t want me to take a picture of his stand. Lots of designers are afraid of people coming to steal their designs and I’m sure it happens.
Hats by Chapeau Claudette!
The are so many great finds at Spitafields market and of course there is always cake!
Bakelite was used to make tape measure! Check out Old Tools, they have lots cool items and a good selection of tape measures!
We often see many fashion items and we don’t know their influences or their significance. Top Shop and most high street shops have a good selection of plastic bracelets that are art Deco inspired and a plastic bracelet is nice but it doesn’t seem very special until you start looking at the original ones and their history.
Leo Hendrik Baekeland, a Belgian-American chemist working in New York applied for The “Heat and Pressure Patent” on July 14th, 1907. The name Bakelite was originally a brand - trademark name, but it’s become a generic term for all phenolic resin products. It’s hard to imagine that one patent was used in so many different objects: saxophone mouthpieces, cameras, solid-body electric guitars, rotary-dial telephones, tape measures, early machine guns, appliance casings and jewellery. Many of these pieces have become collectors items and are extremely sought over. Phenolics are presently used in the electronics, power generation and aerospace industries.
In London you can find a selection of the popular JMP (Paris) 70s Bakelite jewellery pieces - manufactured for Dior at Palette London.
Model Lianna Fowler was at the casting, I met her at the PPQ party a while back so I’m so happy we can cast her. I think she’s fab!
I love styling shows and working with designers. I’ve been styling a fashion show this week. There’s lots to organize: you need a hair and make up team, a manicurist, dressers, and music for the show etc. You might need shoes & stockings etc. Most importantly it’s all about the model. Castings can take time but when you find the right girl it’s worth it! You know you want someone tall who fit’s the clothes perfectly and has a certain look and then it becomes about personality. Of course the model has to meet certain criteria but then the finally casting is all about the girl!
I loved choosing the jewellery for the show. I went to Old Bond Street to look at all sorts of wonderful necklaces, earrings and bracelets that we might use! It’s so exiting to see the looks come together. Should be fun!
Black Silk blend with a lace overlay Lace trapeze dress by Marchesa at Net-a-Porter.com
£630.00
I’m a sucker for 3/4 length sleeve and dresses that nip in at the waist. I’m also not big on saving a dress for a special occasion - what if nothing every happens? I’d have this perfectly wonderful dress and might never get a chance to wear it. I think that if I wear the dress, that the day itself will be an occasion, maybe something special will happen - or I should simply enjoy life as it is! I don’t assume that one should live life there is no tomorrow and really I’m not sure how I would live if I knew there was no tomorrow - actually I might not care what I’m wearing… Anyway I’m not a pessimist by nature, perhaps it’s my optimism that suggests live life now, dress up!
I have always loved hats - so living in London is the right place to explore this love. Canada is a place more suitable for a functional “I don’t want any more frostbite” kind of hat. I tend to like hats that are small and understated. I don’t want to be the annoying kind of person that if you’re sitting behind me at a movie or show you can’t see a thing.
This is a hat by Victoria Grant, she’s really lovely! A while back I was doing a shoot in a studio complex and realized that Victoria had her studio there so I couldn’t resist popping in and saying hello! She’s made hats for Top Shop, Julia Clancey, Cacharel, Michiko Koshino and Jean-Pierre Braganza!
First you need a great place to go for tea and cupcakes. So on a grey and ever so slightly snowy day I would recommend The Hummingbird Bakery in Notting Hill, 133 Portobello Road. If you’re not able to find that perfect vintage dress in dusty pink here are a few suggestions.
Lipsy, Pleated Silk Bib Dress, £55
Like many Canadians who grew up in English Canada I am fascinated with Montreal. The rule is Torontonians live to work and Montrealers work to live and on some level I find this to be true. Personally, I want to work to live! I love Montreal and although it’s a much much smaller city than London, Montreal style is just as eclectic! It might be -9°C and flurries but Montreal fashionistas will still be looking fabulous!
The mission of Montréal Fashion Week is to promote Québec designers to the fashion industry, buyers and journalists. This is the 14th edition of Montréal’s biannual fashion week, presenting designers’ autumn/winter 2008 men, women and children’s collections on the catwalk and in showrooms. It’s organised by the Montréal Fashion Network, in collaboration with P&G Beauté.
Tuesday 25 March 2008 - Friday 28 March 2008
Montréal Fashion Week - a/w 2008
Location: Marché Bonsecours, Montréal www.montrealfashionweek.ca
Contact: Sophie Des Marais (Sensation Mode) 00 1 514 234 4736
I’m not the kind of girl who wears a white shirt, but I’d like to. I do love the look of a crisp white shirt with a great black pencil skirt or even jeans but that all seems a little too predictable. If you’re wearing black and white you need to have a bit of an edge or you’ll look like a waiter - of course there is nothing wrong with looking like a waiter…
There is no one who knows better than Daphne Guinness on how to wear black and white. She’s one of my favourite style icons!
I often get asked about trends and if eco fashion and recycling are just a passing fad. I hope that they’re not. Trends come and go and if people become more environmentally aware because of a trend well that’s great. If they do some thing about it, even better. These pictures were taken down town in Calgary at the Bay. It’s good to know that department stores are creating awareness, it’s a starting point. I’ve always found Canada good for recycling. One summer in Toronto there was a garbage strike and I really learned to recycle: we had a compost heap, bought things with little or no packaging and found ourselves with little waste. I remember when my grandmother went shopping, she always brought her own carrier bag. I don’t remember when plastic became the norm, I do remember paper bags - but they were only good if your drove, anyway now I have a large carrier bag that I use all the time.
Every stylist has similar things in her kit: safety pins, thread, needles, streamer, shoe polish etc. One of my favourite things are these Tide pens. It’s not often on a shoot that something has a stain on it but when it does, it’s very handy to have a stain remover. I’m not sure if you can buy them in the UK so I try to stock up on them when I’m back in Canada.
As a kid I hated road trips but this trip has really been great! It felt like the kind of trip that you take with your girlfriends and most of us have already worked together so it made everything super easy. We’re all Canadian with one American so we’ve all experienced the childhood road trip; a four hour drive is nothing to us. Some good music, the occasional animal or bird spotting, some snacks and we’re good to go! We’ve been to so many places: Calgary, Banff and Lake Louise all in just a couple of days! It was lots of work but we had great weather and scenery and of course a great model, Renee Lacombe! So of course we had a successful shoot!
This is my first trip to Calgary and it reminds me of Winnipeg in some ways - I guess lots of Canadian cities look, well, Canadian. Everyone is so friendly that it seems a bit unreal. i didn’t realize how accustomed I’ve become to London. It’s not so much that Londoners are rude -they’re not, I really love Londoners but Canadians are just so super friendly!
FYI - People in Calgary are quite slim and wear a lots of fleece.
I was staying in a log cabin for a couple of days for a photo shoot. This was the best bed I’ve ever slept in but I’m not quite sure if it’s because I was so tired from all the hard work or just jet lagged. Anyway the bed was so high that you had to be careful not to roll off and I slept like a log!
No one realizes how much packing a stylist and her assistants do. I have about seven suitcases and they always seem to be in use. Taxis always think that I’m moving and never just going to work for the day. On fashion TV there is always a rail full of clothes and it’s a mystery how the clothes got there; it’s always a surprise to a new fashion assistant that we have to get the clothes and then return them! A big part of being a fashion stylist is logistics. You have to be very very organized. Sometimes I’m jealous when a make-up artist has only one case!
I never realized that learning to roll a sleeping bag at brownies was going to help me grow up to be a good packer. When a stylist goes on a trip for a job she tends to bring few of her own clothes so the space can be used for items for the shoot - so stylists end up wearing the same thing day after day…It’s one of those jobs that sounds more glamours then it is.
It doesn’t matter where in the world you go, you’ll always find a cool vintage shop and Canada is great for vintage! This is a picture of Suzanne, she’s also a photographer but has owned this landmark vintage shop “What’s In Store” for about a year.
I met up with LA based designer Elaine Kim in Paris. I adore Elaine, she’s the type of girl you feel you’ve known since you were three, she wears her heart on her sleeve, and she’s just a really cool girl.
Elaine has loved fashion since she was a little girl. She sells everywhere from Saks Fifth Avenue to boutiques in Japan. This new collection for A/W 08 is strong and minimalist, she creates pieces that you’ll wear season after season and you’ll still look chic. Her collection is in silk and chiffon and is available in a palette of black, charcoal grey and berry.
I love it when any city gets inspired by fashion! We naturally focus on the fashion capitals like Paris, New York and Milan, but many capital cities celebrate fashion, and the smaller the city the more fashion week is celebrated by all. Toronto’s fashion week is from March 17th-22nd and is held right in Nathan Phillips Square, in the heart of the city! I’d love to see Comrags and David Dixon’s show. The great thing about smaller cities is that it’s easy to see everything on schedule and it’s very well organized. Canadians are very mobile and there are some very talented Canadian designers all over the world: DSquared2, Patrick Cox, Julie Bérubé, Alfred SungJohn Fluevog and Todd Lynn, so events like Toronto Fashion Week are important to keep an eye on!
I love that my camera is wireless and I can print images without even going near the printer. It’s great for backstage and for model fittings. It’s so important to have a picture of the whole look when you’re working backstage at a fashion show. It makes it easier for the dressers and if something is missing you know exactly what it is. Every time I’ve styled a show it’s been quite calm, but you have to prepare for when things go wrong or become a bit chaotic!
Polaroid announced in February that it would stop making film for its Polaroid camera so my wireless camera has become an essential part of my stylist kit.
