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!
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!!
Doorways, hidden paths, secrets & stories. Images like this always inspire me with ideas for shoots. Doors have always been magical: “Alice opened the door and found that it led into a small passage, not much larger than a rat-hole: she knelt down and looked along the passage into the loveliest garden you ever saw.” -Alice in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll
To celebrate the launch of The William and Judith Bollinger Jewellery Gallery the V&A Museum invited Comfort Station amongst 18 other designers & artists to create an exclusive piece of jewellery as part of their “Cherry on the Cake” collection.
I love this necklace:inside the book are secret treasures & inspirations from the V&A including fabric samples, prints, wallpapers, ink drawings, illustrated catalogues.
Comfort Station was started by the lovely Amy Anderson after completing a fine art degree at the Ruskin, Oxford. Amy had many adventures from working in sculpture, photography and video installation all before creating bags fashioned in oak and jewellery with secrets & hidden messages. Each piece of jewellery is handmade in the Comfort Station studio in East London.
I went to the opening preview of The Viktor & Rolf exhibition at the Barbican. It was quite amazing! I love the doll’s house - I think every girl loves a doll’s house. I had so many dolls when I was little, and my mum would make matching clothes for me and my dolls. I never had my own doll’s house and was jealous of one girl who had a German doll house. Viktor & Rolf’s doll house is 6m-high with three floors, endless rooms and it feels very luxurious and empty at the same time. There are 55 porcelain dolls living in the house. The dolls are only 2 feet high, with human hair and are made by hand by master craftsman Mr. B. Terrie. Each doll is designed & styled after the model who originally wore the outfit and the dolls have the same make-up that was worn in the catwalk show. The dresses are a true replica - everything is made to scale and even the original leather is used to make the shoes.
I keep thinking of Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House and everything that Nora felt. Dolls can be so beautiful but have a very scary side to them especially the porcelain doll. One of exhibits had a doll surrounded by broken porcelain. In Viktor and Rolf’s work there is lots of dark humour, and there is a lot of it in the way the models are displayed as porcelain dolls. It’s eerie and adorable at the same time!
Of course an exhibition like this attracts fabulous people. I spotted super stylish Roisin Murphy. She’s a true fashionista and a wonderful singer!
…and one of my favourite people: Gok Wan!
Girls in Viktor & Rolf
I love how these two girls are dressed. They look like the kind of people you want as friends. Trustworthy, cool and fun! It’s interesting that a bright colourful dress, a groovy head band and a red hand bag can covey a message - so if clothing is a language- a method of communication - what are we saying and do we look very different when we are smiling?
Yesterday’s shoot was all about Wonderful Hair. I’ve never had hair extensions and have never had the desire to have them - until today that is.
I love how Yulia looks while waiting for her hair to be done. Most models bring a book or something, occasionally I’ve known models who knit to pass the time.
This was a busy shoot as we had lots to accomplish but we really had a great team and worked really well together. I think too many people are thinking that working in fashion is just like life in The Hills! Although The Hills is my assistant’s favourite show she knows what really happens on a shoot & how much work is really involved.
And yes, sometimes there are perks! The perk was some red hair extentions!!
The Subways: Josh Morgan - Drums, Billy Lunn - Guitar & Vocals, Charlotte Cooper - Bass & Vocals are some of the nicest people you’ll ever meet. They’re all really good friends, they love what they do and they’re just fun to hang out with! Their debut album, Young For Eternity, was released on 4 July 2005 in the UK and February 14, 2006 in the US. Their second album, All Or Nothing, will be released on June 30, 2008!!
Strawberry Blonde is a song from their new album! Check out their schedule, they’re playing at KOKO in Camden this week!!
Charlotte is super cute & tiny - she’ll look fab in anything! She loves labels like Sass & Bide, PPQ, Jasmine de Milo, Christian Louboutin, Irregular Choice and Vans! How cool is she!
This is what I love about London: men with style. It’s a hot summer’s day and I spotted Dai Rees and MA course director Darren Cabon at The London College of Fashion! I think they both look amazing, quite handsome and I love the bags!!!
When I see girls with great hair styles it inspires me to spend more time on my hair otherwise I experience pure hair envy. I love getting my hair done, I always feel more glamours - I’m just not great at doing it myself. It’s more of an effort thing but I do think hair is one of your most important accessories - it changes how you look dramatically. I love hair that looks done and has an edge or personal style to it. This girl only spends about 20 minutes each morning on her hair and it really completes her personal look!
I love shops that feel like they’ve been there forever.The Wyvern Bindery feels like this: everyone seems very busy and it feels like true organized disorder. It really has that old world feel - which is the art of book binding.
All stylists, photographers, creative directors, make-up & hair artists have at least one portfolio. If you’re looking for a portfolio or you have a book that needs to be bound check out Wyvern Bindery.
I recently met with the lovely Leon Bailey Green. He is an online marketing and branding consultant. He is also the director of marketing for OSOYOU.
OSOYOU is one stop shop which helps shoppers navigate their way round the internet. If you’re looking for a little black dress OSOYOU is going to give you a selection from many different shops - my search results gave me “18,947 items “! Of course this is a lot of dresses but it’s really only about 30 pages and I could have refined my search. So really it’s just not a lot of click-throughs to find the perfect dress!
Dawn Bebe is the Managing Director of OSOYOU and if it wasn’t for her and all her persistence and hard work we would not have Grazia!! She’s responsible for bringing Grazia to the UK! It’s one of my favourite weekly reads
This is my new assistant on her first day! Stephanie’s visiting London for the summer. She’s from the States but would love to live in Europe. Being a fashion assistant is quite a bit of work. There are lots of errands to do and sometimes we have very short notice to prep a job, but I think it will be quite fun working together!
I was running some errands and came across this shop - it’s funny how you pass a street all the time and then one day it’s like you’re seeing it for the first time. This shop has been here for over 20 years.
All the garments are so beautifully cut and the linings are just gorgeous. I love the women’s coats; they’re timeless with a twist. Everything is understated but with lots of attitude. John Pearse has been a tailor his whole life and his site says so much about his personal style- in many ways it’s one of my favourite sites.
John Pearse is a Tailor of Savile Row which means he makes some of the best bespoke suits in the world. A bespoke suit is created to your specific personal requirements. A bespoke suit is not to be confused with a made to measure suit. To make a bespoke suit a tailor will take many measurements and figuration and then a personal pattern will be hand-drafted and cut from scratch. The suit is entirely hand-made and hand-finished so the care and attention is unparalleled - this is truly the art of suit making.
I never loved menswear until I moved to London and of course when you walk into a shop like this you’ll understand why.
John Pearse
6 Meard Street
Soho, London W1F 0EF
Tel: 020 7434 0738
Stonefoxx performed at the O2 Arena - they’re the opening act for Shane Ward’s UK tour! Of course I’m biased because I’ve known them for a couple of years and I just want everyone to dance around listening to them on the radio!
Stacy, Lizzy and Gem!
We watched Shane Ward from a private box - and his fans were totally crazy over him!
The team from left to right: James, Gem Allen, Alex, Alex Foden hair stylist and make-up artist Lauren Parsons.
I’m very excited that I’ve been invited to give a lecture at the Barbican as part of The House of Victor & Rolf events! The lecture will be on July 24th about personal style. I’m also looking forward to seeing the exhibition as I saw a Victor & Rolf exhibition in 2003 at the Musée de la Mode et du Textile in Paris. The Barbican is the first museum to secure a Victor & Rolf exhibition in the UK! They will be showing the designer’s signature pieces from 1992 to the present in a specially commissioned and characteristically theatrical installation that will dominates the entire gallery. I love that in London we have so many opportunities to see so many important and influential artists’ work. The House of Viktor & Rolf will be at the Barbican 18 June 2008 - 21 September 2008.
I haven’t been to Camden for ages on a Sunday. I forgot how much I liked it: the people, the tourists who’ve never seen a Goth before and all the market stalls. It’s still a great place to find things for a shoot. I’ve found so many cool things in Camden from martial arts equipment to a super cute black and white polka dot hoodie with cat ears and a tail!
In many shops you’re not allowed to take photos but since I bought something the shopkeeper said it was fine. The reason they don’t like it, is not so much that they worry about people copying their designs it’s more about people gawking at them.
In the new part of the stables you’ll find all the old antiques and vintage shops. In Canada I used to feel compelled to buy an object if it seemed rare or unusual - but in London for the most part I know I can return to Camden or Portobello and find what I’m looking for.
This is the Proud Gallery, it’s reopened and it’s really cool inside. There is a section of “stables” that have become private rooms - which could be quite fun and there is an exhibition Glenmorangie 5 Senses by Mike Figgis, it’s the first exhibition to be held in the re opened venue!
I’m a sucker for leather gloves. The picture above is the shop front window of the House of Cashmere in the Burlington Arcade (in London). They have some great light weight leather gloves in fabulous colours. I like wearing gloves especially on the tube when everything feels so dirty. Oh, and I love wearing driving gloves too, especially in dark green. I just can’t bring myself to wear leather gloves in warmer weather and even though I like crochet vintage gloves they just seem a bit granny or better suited to weddings.
If you’ve looking for some super cool gloves check out Gloved Up by designer Laura Shepherd. She offers some really cool fingerless gloves like this Short Brocade, perfect for summer. All the gloves come in pairs, but of course you can wear one if you like ;)
I love the Shiny Black Puff Sleeved Gloves longer gloves too!
Estelle Blanche Puff Sleeved Fingerless Gloves
Black Mesh Fingerless Opera Gloves
Laura also does bespoke gloves just contact her at: info@glovedup.com
I’m not very confident stopping people in the street and asking them if I can take their picture. I’m trying to be a bit braver but every now and then fashion gets the best of me and I can’t help but stop someone. I saw this girl - a drama student on the escalator and thought she had such a cute style: she just looked so happy and friendly. The colours of her scarf, handbag and the flower in her hair create a very light, happy and confident feeling. I love that we can dress in a certain way and give other people an impression. We tend to forget how we can communicate through clothing. I think maybe fashion has become more about being fashionable and less about self expression.
