The last thing I remember was entering Topshop to return items...
Topshop Unique for almost half price isn't too bad right?
Somehow Sales Syndrome caught me and the heel I've been eyeing up for the past few weeks just happened to be on the rack, in my size, with the other shoe safe in the stockroom and they were practically walkable in (just needs a little practice). As you can see I was being responsible and checking for signs in case a purchase was not meant to be. Unfortunately for my bank account, it was.
Just in case you don't get on with Instagram
I understand these beauties may not be to everyone's taste but they're a statement maker and my feet still aren't regretting it!
Pimms o'clock anyone? I don't know if it's because I'm already looking ahead to next summer, vainly hoping that the heavens will make up for this season's bad behaviour, or harking back to a time when the weather seemed more predictable (and global warming simply meant everyone putting on an extra layer) but SS13 sophistication is on my mind.
It was the Resort collection from Temperley London that first had me dreaming about croquet on the lawn and zipping through the South of France in an open top motor. Rain is not welcome in this reverie by the way.
As a girl known for bright colours (one such neon orange dress has almost caused several accidents) and shopping for short skirts in the petite section (despite being 5’10), I was amazed to love every piece in the demure range. It’s not often one can say they would wear every look but it seems formulating organza double satin and a few lace finishes into perfect silhouettes has gently nudged my style into maturity.
Apparently, Temperley did not actually base her collection on my ultimate wardrobe desires but a book called Café Society: Socialites, Patrons and Artists: 1920 to 1960. It’s nice to know I may share a yet undiscovered style with the likes of Grace Kelly and Sophia Loren and the feminine 50s shape is clear to see.
The simple but flattering colour palette allows for a celebration of cut and fit, though contemporary details like the digital jewellery prints and quirky starfish belts bring the collection up-to-date.
Anyway, before I sound completely like some kind of Net-A-Porter-travelling-salesman type deal, I’d like to introduce you to Mrs. Monaco’s husband...
Complete with three-piece suits, cream fedoras and that all-essential pocket square, Hackett London’s presentation for London Collections: Mens was a gentleman’s dream.
Whilst an army of suited models complete with bowler caps was a memorable way to celebrate English heritage tailoring-the video is worth watching just to see the last model tipping his cap to you-it was the Great Gatsby references that were most exciting for me.
I’m really hoping the movie at the end of the year will encourage more men to don a cream suit, possibly even a neckerchief (we'll see how Di Caprio looks first). Either way the driver of my open-top motor is now sporting a Jay Gatsby look from Hackett.
Of course, the idea of affording even a Temperley belt remains but a dream. I guess that is the great thing about fashion though; escapism.
It can transport you to foreign lands or bygone eras when cricket was played on the green, Saint Tropez was still just for mooring your yacht not applying to your legs and rain didn’t exist!
Graduate
Fashion Week may seem a mere memory now but I’m still dreaming about the view
from the front-row. Whilst others are cooing over colour at Jonathan Saunders
(admittedly so am I) and False Start’s prints at the London Collections: Mens,
the standard of design at the Manchester School of Art show has left me with a ceaseless
good vibe.
Jousianne Propp opened the event with a knitwear collection that was futuristic, contemporarily wearable and set the bar for her peers. Already the
winner of the £2000 Mulberry Design Competition, the designer was later to find
out she had won both the Karen Millen Portfolio Award and the Stuart Peters
Visionary Knitwear Award for her efforts.
The
collection was a vision to behold; both technically skilled and intellectual in
its concept. Propp’s pieces explored the ‘friction between science, technology and religion’ and we were left wide-eyed at 3D prints in luminous colour and her silhouettes
of the future (bring on the mother ship!) Abstract shapes taken from digital body dissections were
stylised to produce statement-making, voluminous jackets so delicate in their
detail yet forming an armoured effect of which the Terminator would have been
proud.
The play of science and art as a vision of the body is reconstructed into a masterpiece.
Competently avoiding an overly sci-fi style, the designer broke up her
collection with sheer maxis and relaxed, bodycon knitwear.
Despite already being a
multi-award winning designer, Propp was humble in her achievements, reportedly
stating, “I really wasn’t expecting to win
either of the awards and definitely not both of them”.
The bar was certainly high but Manchester's students have a lot to say for themselves. Roz Lamkin, finalist for the Zandra Rhodes Catwalk Textiles Award, presented a print-based range celebrating the graphic qualities of classical architecture across "wardrobe essentials and statement pieces".
Linear details (check out the heels too) follow the sharp contours of the buildings used for inspiration.
The new smasual; designs suggest the soft lines of this skirt were influenced by the curvatures in domed rooves.
Francesca Quinn gave us a wholly different style of digital print with popping colours and graffiti patterns in sleek, feminine shapes.
It's a midi skirt-practically acceptable as work wear!
It was fantastic to see the kaleidoscopic tropical prints so in style at the moment in more subdued colours. Emily Craven's designs were some of the more wearable pieces; jewelled tones worked perfectly with the elegance of the collection. It's no wonder the graduate has already been snapped up by Abercrombie and Fitch!
Yes to socks and sandals!
Just as good from the back!
Balance between a refined, girly collar and sneaky peek of skin.
The show closed on a high with the avant-garde and experimental designs of Rebecca Scarlet Stant. Inspired by "ridiculous Victorian inventions" , half the models did look like they were carrying seaside fairground rides but you could see the historical elements in cute petticoat trims and pantihose-like pedal pushers too (yes, you heard correctly, pedal pushers have been resurrected).
Elegant lace details saves the look from resembling a Butlins redcoat.
Stant enjoys communicating fashion "as a spectacle".
Now, as fantabulous as these pieces are, did you spot the star in the background? (I realise I'm name dropping here but might as well make the most of it before the next drought of fame) When I wasn't aahing over prints and knits, I was checking Colin McDowell's reaction to the shows as he sat opposite-a mere catwalk separating us.
Unfortunately, there wasn't such a barrier protecting Hilary Alexander from my potato sack of a handbag. The writer had to step right over it and passed me in a flash before I even had time to trip her up and get her autograph!
Ok, pretentious rant over...almost. In the third and final part of my GFW review, I finally get my face and name in Vogue. Regrettably, I look like a tramp and the name is spelt wrong.
I have a confession to make (Alice Temperley and the boys at Meadham Kirchoff are going to be disappointed-it’s lucky we’re not on more familiar terms) but, quite honestly, a Graduate Fashion Week show can be just as good as a London Fashion Week one...provided you’re front-row.
So I finally made it to Earls Court yesterday and the future of British fashion design is really looking quite bright, a bit modernist in areas but with some sparkly spells and delicate detailing overall.
In between mediating crowds of wildly tottering fashionistas in their Jeffrey Campbells-pretty dangerous when you’re below them-I managed to make my way around all the fantastic exhibits. Whether it was fierce but exquisitely constructed heels at De Montford or the clash of classical portraiture and textile at UWE Bristol (who wouldn’t want the face of Mary Tudor staring up at them?), creativity was on full-power and ready to revitalise anyone’s love for design.
There’ll be a separate post on the universities that really caught my eye but I was also lucky enough to be invited to a couple of the shows. As always, I’ve ruined any visual effects by attempting to capture the moment myself but hopefully you can get a feel of the experience.
So this is the experience from the third row but Hoiyan Hung's pieces made an immediate impact at the Birmingham City Uni show.
The lemon and lace were a helpful warm up to the Aztec 80s attack on acid that was Jade Gilchrist's collection. Bright colours and crazy (MIC fans may say garish) graphic prints collided at top speed with South American details to produce street wear that seemed both retro and contemporary simultaneously. The oversized bomber was dangerously close to 90s shell suit territory but I LOVED it.
Chuck me a ghetto blaster and paint my face, I've joined Jade's tribe.
And if loud street wear isn't your thing, there was girly fetishism from James Whitehouse...
Courtesy of Disorder Magazine
Laser cutting and is that ruching I see in rubber? Whitehouse's pieces were whips at the prom, S&M meets evening glamour but he maintained elegance perfectly.
For the English heritage style lovers, Sophie McKeating's equestrian inspired collection combined androgynous tailoring with romantic hues and soft shapes. The attention to detail on the back of the long cape was so skilled (apologies I have no image) and made the collection.
Courtesy of www.artsthread.com
Beth Twigg took a similarly muted colour palette but gave us sports luxe in the most feminine, svelte style.
Metallic accessories added attitude that could only be matched by the soundtrack...
Which, in turn could only be matched by Lily Stodel's music; a cover remix of the Spice Girls which I'm still searching for all in vain. From the moment the first beat of 'Say You'll Be There' played, I was sitting on the edge of my seat and when a bright pink furry number hit the runway (the model looked like a female Cuppa Soup monster had found her), I was reliving my childhood.
Time to spot Hilary Alexander
Image courtesy of www.georgestyle.george.com
It seems this is the effect Stodel wanted as her collection was based on 'personal experiences, memories and inspirations during childhood'. Whilst the pieces played up the fun factor and prints resembled the innocent doodles of a dreamy pre-pubescent (dreaming about the Backstreet Boys no doubt), girl power reigned supreme.
Are you not completely in love with the oversized heart pockets on this jacket?
Based on the calibre at GFW, I've decided to start profiling some of the promising talent out there in a string of posts so there'll be more to come. Let's face it, Temperley and the Meadham Kirchoff boys are hardly going to berate me for my comments-they were gifted and undiscovered once too.
Next up will be highlights from the Manchester School of Art show, where I move from third row to first and sit opposite an idol.
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