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.
I like when I go into a shop and there is signage about the shop’s ethical policies. I want to believe them but I have this nagging feeling …it’s too good to be true feeling…I should know better. In my head it’s just common knowledge that cheap garments equal some kind of exploitation. I’ve had nothing to prove it - this was just a something I taught from a very young age. I’ve always felt people should be paid what the job is worth to you, not the least amount you can get them to do it for - that’s a mentality that I hate. Anyway I think when people read the signs in shops about ethical labour policies they want to trust the retailer. It’s easier and if it’s a policy it must be true and it puts our mind at ease. Even if on some level we know or can’t believe that a top only costs a fiver; the shop has a policy, so it must be OK. After a programme like Panorama it’s all most impossible to for us the consumer to claim ignorance. What will retailers have to do to gain consumer trust?
I met with the super petite designer Ada Zanditon in her super sized jacket! Ada graduated from London Collage of Fashion in 2007. She spent four season interning with Alexander McQueen and in 2007/8 she worked with Gareth Pugh as a pattern maker.
These images are from Ada’s graduate collection. I love the oversized shapes and how everything feels bit like a super hero. Lisa Snowden and Joan Collins have both been photographed wearing her clothes! For her next collection Ada is using ethical/organic fabrics and she presently has a new eco collection available in Oxfam 245 Westbourne Grove, London W11.
You might have see some of her illustrations featured in the London Underground. This autumn Ada will be exhibiting in The Ethical Fashion Show in Paris.
Thakoon, Richard Nicoll, Bora Aksu and Matthew Langille have created exclusive Fair Trade fashion pieces for People Tree. The limited edition collection, only 100 pieces per style will are available ion line in the UK and will appear in the June 2007 issue of Japanese Vogue modelled by supermodels, Helena Christensen, Lily Cole, Shalom Harlow and Anne Watanabe.
Bora Aksu Matthew Langille
Thakoon Richard Nicoll
With the hot weather it’s easy to start thinking of summer dressing. I’ve always been a big fan of Bora Aksu so I’m loving this summer dress! Check out People Tree as each designer has done a couple of styles in a few colours, so there more to see!
I first met Sans a few years ago at the OnOff Exhibition during London Fashion Week and I just loved their socks. This new collection features organic pima cotton and their previous collection featured socks that were 83% soy!
Sans is an eco-fashion line based in NYC and was created in 2005 by design team Lika Volkova and Alessandro De Vito. Sans translated from the French means without, a great name for an eco-focused fashion label. Sans use sustainable materials such as bamboo, tussah silk, organic cotton and wool to create unique, high-quality wearable designs. I love their fusion of fashion and sustainability. Their dresses are very cool: interesting shapes with cut outs that have a deconstructed look - that you know you could wear for years. It’s more about style than being fashionable or trendy.
Primark’s sales are increasing and throw away clothes and fast fashion are just part of our every day language. So the timing couldn’t be more perfect for the BBC to launch the on-line magazine Thread in conjunction with the programme Blood, Sweat and T-Shirts.
I love fashion and I want to feel good about any of the purchases I make whether it’s food or cleaning products and especially clothing. I think it’s hard to wear an items of clothing knowing it’s harming something or someone. Fashion is something that I want to feel good about. It’s just difficult to find out what’s true and what’s important. I think any info about the latest eco-friendly fashion is a great idea. Thread addresses a range of issues that the fashion-conscious wrestle with: what damage is sustained by the environment due to irresponsible and unethical practices, what is the impact of the fashion industry on human and animal rights and what fair trade practices are in place. They have a list of eco designers, an A-Z guide of fashion terms and cool fashion shoots. We are finally starting to have a choice; we don’t only choose clothe that are fashionable and eco friendly. Long gone are the days when ethical clothing meant boring and plain!
Fur Coat No Knickers is a tiny shop in Kingly Court just off Carnaby Street. The owners Laura Thomas and Emma Cascarina both have a back ground in theatre costumes which is obvious when you walk into the shop as the selection is well thought out, everything is beautifully placed and the more you look the more there is to see. Fur Coat No Knickers specializes in vintage wedding dressing; they’ll even close the shop and do special fittings for their brides to be.
Laura & Emma have already done all the hard work for you. You don’t have to go digging through boxes or scouring the markets as they’ve already selected the most interesting or valuable pieces. I love how they have decorated this stand with all the lovely broaches!
With a little bit of notice Fur Coat No Knickers offer tech-boxes in the form of roll along trolleys which they’ll deliver and collect from the theatre, film set or fashion shoot. (A tech box is a selection of items, accessories, costumes etc that a wardrobe mistress might need for technical rehearsals or fittings.)
Models go on castings on a daily basis, the rest of us make up artists, hair stylists, photographers and stylists go on appointments. It’s hard to make the time when you’re busy shooting but it’s important to meet new people and show your work. You’re basically going on mini interviews all day.
What’s great and not so great is that you might be running all over the city while going to appointments. So I generally use this opportunity to check out any cool shops or cafes. Near Dalston Station there are two Oxfams quite close to each other - one for clothing and then just a few doors down an Oxfam book shop. It’s huge and all the books are 99p!
Victim is one of my favourite shops. Most of Victim’s dresses are one of a kind, so they are very distinct and recognizable. They are made with vintage silks and lace: you feel very sexy and feminine when you wear them. Everything is designed by Mei-Hui Liu, a dear friend of mine.
Peaches Geldof was in Mei-Hui’s shop Thursday after shooting at Concrete - another very cool shop on Marshall Street. As reported in The Sun, The Mirror and The Daily Mail, after Peaches left Mei-Hui realized a dress was missing and called Peaches’ management. The dress was later returned and then paid for and a receipt was given. The dress was originally the feature piece for an upcoming fashion show.
Brian Rennie (left), Gant’s new Design Director, with Stefan Lindemann, Grazia’s Shopping Editor.
Last night I went to a fabulous dinner at Sketch to celebrate Gant’s new creative director. - Brian Rennie.
Brian Rennie was previously the designer behind legendary fashion house Escada. Brian is charming and you can’t help but adore him, not just because of his accent but because of his gentle demeanour. Brain and his partner had just finished building their dream house in Scotland, he was looking forward to enjoying a long, quite life there. Yet, somehow he couldn’t resist the temptation to work with Gant - he truly envisioned their potential and now finds himself living and working in Stockholm.
The new collection has some wonderful tartan shirts - influenced by Rennie’s Scottish heritage - he’s originally from Dundee. He’s added a long dress to the Cruise Collection, the whole collection has been updated creating a luxury lifestyle brand.
Gant History
1914, Bernard Gant left the Ukraine to go the US
1941 The Gant family starting making shirts for Brooks Brothers, Manhattan Shirts and J. Press.
1949 Gant designed shirts with buttons on the collars, creating the first button-down shirt.
1967 the family business was sold and was owned in succession of American companies
1980’s, the Swedish company, Pyramid Sportswear, obtained the master license for all over the world except the US.
1999, Pyramid and the majority of Gant shares has been bought by Maus Frères S.A., one of Switzerland’s largest retail groups.
2007, Brian Rennie, joined Gant as their design director.
The Dame Agnes
Hepburn Patent
Body Part Pump John Fluevog and Peter Fox founded Fox & Fluevog in 1970, in Vancouver. They were selling brand new turn of the century shoes. In the 80’s Peter Fox moved to New York and specialized in wedding shoes. Fluevog took over the business and designs all the shoes. They even have a couple of vegan styles called Veggie Vogs. The uppers are made of hemp-cotton blend and a memory foam insole for maximum comfort. Lined with nylon, 100% natural gum rubber soles and water-based adhesive.
Fluevog has always been designing cool shoes, great colours with sculptured heels - and now they are all in fashion!
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.
Last year Sainbury’s created lots of hype and environmental awarness by introducing Anya Hindmarch’s “I’m not a plastic bag”. Sainsbury’s has been recycling cardboard for about 100 years and plastic since the 1980s. They’ve even been composting for the past seven years! You can recycle batteries, printer cartridges and mobile phones at Sainbury’s. Sometimes small changes really can make a difference, like buying recycled kitchen towels, toilet rolls, writing paper, envelopes, bin bags, etc.
Sainsury’s is turning plastic packaging waste into clothes. The clothes will be made from recycled plastic, soft drink bottles, fruit and vegetable packaging, and meat trays. The fabric will feel like viscose or polyester-based and will be made into jackets, skirts, trousers and shirts. The garments are going to be manufactured in Europe to save on transport emissions and will be at a similar price point to their Tu line of clothes. I’m very curious to see what these garments will look like. Would I wear garbage? Can we fuse our love of fashion and concern about the environment on a large scale? It’s good business to show you care about the environment - it’s even fashionable but for it to work it has to be effective, genuine and long term.
You can even make cool fashion directly out of recyclable items yourself. I love this dress by Emily Berezin, a senior art student at Carnegie Mellon University. She began by collecting grocery bags, then cut them into sheets and ironed them together together to form a fabric and then made this 50’s inspired dress - which she wore!
This is the lovely Lara Bohinc showing her new collection in Paris. Lara has collaborated for Gucci and Lanvin, and she’s currently working as a design consultant for Cartier. Lara’s style is very recognizable, with her knot motifs and chunky jewellery. Her bags are gorgeous and I love using them in shoots.
Lara studied industrial design at the Ljubljana Academy of Fine Arts in Slovenia and then did an MA in jewellery and metalwork at the Royal College of Art London. The following year Lara debuted her collection at London Fashion Week and won the New Generation Design Award!
Lara’s client base that reads like a who’s who: Madonna, Kate Moss, Sarah Jessica Parker, Cameron Diaz, Christina Aguilera, and Gwen Stefani. She’s just recently opened up a shop in London at 149F Sloane Street.
I hate cold feet especially when I’m on a location video/ film shoot and I’m not really an Uggs girl. I do appreciate models who wears Uggs because they don’t have to wear socks that make lines on their legs and can still have warm feet. The Canadian equivalent are Muks.
Anyway, during the Canadian fur trade 1774 -1821 most fur traders married Native women. These women were instrumental in the success of the fur trade - many Europeans would have never ever survived the harsh winters without these women. In Native cultures, women usually set up camp, dressed furs, made leather, cooked meals, gathered firewood, made moccasins and netted snowshoes and they were considered an equal partner! This was all before European women arrived and thought they were superior… Anyway it’s a messy history but we did get mukluks and the Hudson Bay “point” blanket!
If you hate having cold feet you can buy Canadian Muks and save over 40% at the Muks Private Sale 10am Wednesday 27th February! As for the point blanket you might not see too many of these blankets in the UK but I have seen the occasional coat! Lots of Canadians wear Muks but you might recognize them on more famous people like Kate Moss, Chloe Sevigny, Katherine Heigl, Milla Jovovich, Carine & Julia Roitfeld, Kate Hudson, Yasmin Le Bon, Daisy Lowe…
I was recently interviewed by Harriet Reuter Hapgood about trends for 2008 for today’s Independent on Sunday! Whenever I’m asked about trends I always end up thinking not just about recent trends, but trends over the past few years, what they mean, their influences, their impact, and really everything that gives them a context: news, political events, etc. They all have a huge influence on fashion, and vice versa!
I’m a terrible knitter so I’m very appreciative and awe-inspired by people who can knit. When I saw this wedding dress in Harrods (displayed at the “Origins” counter) I just loved it! It’s called ‘The Elizabeth’, and it was designed and hand-knitted by Jemma Sykes for Butcher Couture. The dress is made from 100% certified organic wool and dyed naturally in soft pink. I really love the name ‘Butcher Couture’ and their specialty is 100% organic bovine leather!
I love leather gloves but I always lose one of them. I keep the other glove just in case I miraculously find the mate, which of course I never do. Now there’s a website called One Cold Hand that’s here to help; this site reunites gloves that accidentally went their seperate ways. Right now it’s just for NYC or Pittsburgh, but there are plans to launch sites in Philadelphia, as well as Italy and Canada. Maybe they’ll launch a site in London!
Io Takemura is one of my assistants and she’s all about anything & everything eco-friendly, ethical, recyclable and all things sustainable. Here are two of her videos:
