LETS MEET TONIGHT AT DESTINATION DENIM AT SELFRIDGES

Posted by Fashion Editor at Large

I'm really looking forward to tonight at Selfridges Oxford Street. Myself and the Fashion Junior will be on the third floor in the denim area hoping some of you will come along so we can chat about blogging, what jeans to buy now and general stuff about fashion, the wonderful Grazia and all that jazzmatazz.

On a personal note, I haven't been wearing jeans as much as I used to lately. But then jeans were my fashion item of choice 90% of the time for the majority of the noughties. However, after a break from my skinny-leg J Brands and my ACNE Hex jeans (swapped for Dom & Ruby skinny leather trousers) I've found myself also wearing a high-waisted black slim-leg pair from Nobody (an Aussie brand), and hankering after a pair of Theyskens for Theory wide-leg jeans.

Find these on Theory.com

More than that I'm starting to feel for a new sexy boyish aesthetic that is excellently portrayed in this Buffalo inspired shoot styled by Kate Phelan and photographed by Daniel Jackson in the march edition of UK Vogue. 

I'm getting to Selfridges early today - I'm in the blogging area from 5pm - so I can try on these jeans:

Elson by Citizens of Humanity £220 at Selfridges

And the Martini wide-leg by J Brand £190 at Selfridges

I'm loving these by Zara too.

And for summer I NEED pink jeans.

Photos: Vogue/Selfridges.com/Zara.com

DON'T WHIP YOUR HAIR - SWISH YOUR SKIRT

Posted by Fashion Editor at Large

There's an abundance of light and playfulness in the new spring collections. Personally I am feeling very strongly for wearing long, to the point I can't imagine wearing anything shorter than ankle length for the next few months. This will be hard as currently I own only two long black dresses. (Time to click-and-buy the new Olivier Theyskens for Theory.....) Still, there's always trousers. The lightness and length that abounds in fashion now has a further halo of appeal: swishing.

Karlie Kloss swishing her heart out backstage at Lanvin by Jason Lloyd Evans

                                           Chloe SS11 backstage by Jason Lloyd Evans

As a little girl anytime my mother dressed me in a maxi lengths or circle skirts (it was the early 80s) I loved nothing more than spinning and swirling around watching the fabric float and undulate around me.
While perusing the backstage photographs of the very talented photographer Jason Lloyd Evans - he is the go-to guy for all the major brands and global fashion magazines for his backstage and beauty work - I saw the young models were having a ball with all the floaty, gauzy fabrics designers were using for spring.

D&G SS11 backstage by Jason Lloyd Evans

Even the grown ups were at it Milan , captured below by Tommy Ton during the mens shows. Do you think we ever grow out of this childish desire to enjoy a swish?

                                       Tommy Ton shoots skirt-swishing in action at the Paris Menswear shows

Photos: Jason Lloyd Evans, Tommy Ton 

MY MOST IMPORTANT TRENDS FOR SPRING/SUMMER 2011

Posted by Fashion Editor at Large

Apart from being a fashion writer and editor for Grazia and POP I'm also an occasional trend consultant. Upon returning from the shows I geek out with my show notes and compile trend reports. Originally this was done as a hobby - a bit like my blog is now - then one of my friends who is a creative director asked to see one of my trend reports, so it kind of become proper, though it still feels like a labour of love. Anyway. Though me and the Fashion Junior laid these trends down last October, now is exactly the right time for me to share my top ten new trends of Spring/Summer 2011 with you. 

                                      1. MINIMALISM

Jonathan Saunders

(also seen at Celine, Chloe, Stella McCartney, Philip Lim, Calvin Klein, Alexander Wang)

 

 2. MAXIMALISM

Marc Jacobs

(also seen at Louis Vuitton, Giles, Prada, Dior, Burberry Prorsum, Christopher Kane, D&G, Michael van der Ham)

3. LONG

Peter Pilotto

(also seen at Lanvin, Givenchy, Fendi, Ferragamo, Unique, Vuitton, Chanel, Pucci, Richard Nichol)

4. SEVENTIES

Derek Lam

(also seen at House of Holland, Richard Nichol, Halston, Marc Jacobs, Sonia Rykiel, Anna Sui, D&G, Alberta Ferretti)

5. COLOUR

Lanvin

(also seen at Jil Sander, Prada, Roksanda Illincic, Fendi, Mulberry, Theory by Olivier Theyskens)

6. NOVELTY

Prada
(also seen at Holly Fulton, Giles, House of Holland, Unique, Mary Katranzou, Louise Gray, Mark Fast, Moschino Cheap and Chic)


7. GRAPHICS

 Celine

(also seen at Holly Fulton, Giles, House of Holland, Unique, Mary Katranzou, Louise Gray, Mark Fast, Moschino Cheap and Chic)

8. FLORALS

Jil Sander

(also seen at Jil Sander, Erdem, D&G, Cacherel, Dries, Jaeger, Clements Riberio)

9. GEISHA

Roland Mouret

(those shoes are absolute winners too. Worn with every single look in the collection they looked good with everything from trousers to evening dresses)

(also seen at Marc Jacobs, Louis Vuitton, Haider Ackermann, Philosophy)

10. SUGAR &SPICE

Miu Miu

(also seen at Mulberry, Chanel,  Rykiel, Erdem, DKNY, Marc by Marc Jacobs)

Photos: Catwalking.com/Christopher Moore

MY KATE MOSS BLAST FROM THE PAST!

Posted by Fashion Editor at Large

How's this for funny. When I was 18, Kate Moss was 17. At that time my CV would have read "A-level student and wannabe fashion journalist/stylist who does bit of modelling on the side"; Kate was a gonnabe supermodel. I had a photographer friend called Peter Robathan who wanted me to style some pictures of "this girl called Kate" when she was just starting to get buzz as a model. He wanted the location to be the Rokit warehouse in Crouch End, North London - my home town. Working in Rokit's Crouch End store was my Saturday job, and at that time the owner was also keen for me to select the on-trend clothes to put in their stores and to grade and sort through their tons of jeans. So in the holidays and days off college I did that also. Behind Kate are the bales of compressed clothes (in tons) we sorted through. The excitement of opening a bale was indescribable. A million times better than a jumble sale. Once I found a  tie Salvador Dali had painted.

I forgot all about the day Kate came until yesterday when Peter sent this in my inbox. It was all about grunge then. No such thing as a straight middle parting.

Photo copyright of Peter Robathan.

GARMZ: A FASHION DESIGN REVOLUTION?

Posted by Fashion Junior at Large

I can safely say that I had never encountered Garmz.com before the Fash Ed pointed me in the direction of this relatively new website, which claims to be revolutionising the fashion design industry. That's a pretty big claim, so I thought I would have a nosey around to see what was going on.

The homepage, which explains the Garmz process.

At first glance, it does seem like a pretty nifty idea, and one that will appeal to an army of shoppers sick to the back teeth of the same fashion items, in the same chain stores, across the globe. 

Garmz offers anyone (no qualifications, work experience, internships etc necessary) with a smidge of design talent to submit their designs to the public website. Then registered users can chew over these designs, vote for the best, and voila! Garmz produces the most popular garments and sells them via the online store: giving the designer unprecedented profit and exposure in a massively competitive industry. Shoppers get to buy something slightly more unique and special, and can sleep soundly in the knowledge that they are helping a fledgling designer on their way to global domination.

I continued my research with a look over the products that have already made it through the judging process and into the online shop. There is a very limited range, with only three items for sale, a few for pre-order, and a few that have just been selected as winning designs. All are elegant and interesting, with clean lines and nice details (a turned up cuff there, a faux-fur collar there) but none are completely groundbreaking. Put it this way, Gaga won't be shopping at Garmz.

 This badly named yet pretty jacket is the most expensive item on the site. It's faux fur, and inspired by a hunting jacket (which is clearer in the original design, below)

 The price range ranges between 49 and 279 Euros, which immediately turns me off, because there is an awful lot of polyester listed in the product fabrication. However, there are happy customer reviews under each garment, so there is obviously a loyal Garmz following already (nearly 3000 'Likes' on Facebook, that universal resource for true customer feedback.)

The press have been raving about the site, especially in Europe and the US - even Perez Hilton got involved. I'm sure it's about to get a whole lot bigger here too, but I am genuinely concerned about who is actually going to be profiting from this 'fashion revolution'. As highlighted by Miggy of Miggy Loves The Internet, read the small print and it states that designers will receive 5-10% of the profits if their design is successfully sold. In monetary terms, that means if a garment sells 100 times at £100 a pop, the designer will get £500, whereas Garmz pockets £9500. Something about that doesn't sit quite right, in my humble opinion. Maybe Garmz isn't sticking it to the 'big fat fashion industry', as it claims, and instead, is just another great business idea designed to capitalise on fresh, inexpensive talent.

What do you think? Has anyone shopped at Garmz.com? If so, what was the experience like, and how do you feel about the company's mission? 

All images: Garmz

FASHION'S COLOUR OF THE MOMENT: EMERALD

Posted by Fashion Editor at Large

A wave of bright colours are to make their way into our wardrobes for spring/summer 2011. While Summer 2010 fashion was characterised by pale camel and blush tones, this year expect every concentration of pink (my all time favourite colour) from candyfloss to cerise, multiple shades of blue thanks mainly to Armani's La Femme Bleu collection, and saving the best for last - green. Not any shade of green; one very specific hue: emerald.

This colour has lightened my mood all week. Drinking it in feels like I'm getting my vitamin D or something. It started when I bought an emerald silk blouse from Urban Outfitters sale for £20 two weeks ago (sadly, no longer available). Then at the Golden Globes Angeline Jolie, Mila Kunis and Elizabeth Moss all chose to wear emerald tinted gowns. In my Golden Globes blog post I initially referred to the shade as forest green, and was corrected by someone commenting on the blog, she suggested emerald and she was right. The colour is that of the precious jewel and it has become my colour of the moment. Am looking forward to buying and wearing more emerald coloured items - especially from Celine and Lanvin. Also for leaves to bud and days to become lighter and brighter. Until then I will simply enjoy the colour.

Lanvin's emerald silk dress for SS11, available from Matches

I particularly like this by G. Stolyarov II, a science fiction novelist, independent philosophical essayist, poet, amateur mathematician, composer and Editor-in-Chief of The Rational Argumentator. He says on his website "This work of Abstract Orderism depicts an arrangement of layered regular polygons (polygons with all sides of equal length). From the center outward are depicted a triangle, square, pentagon, hexagon, heptagon, octagon, nonagon, decagon, hendecagon, dodecagon, tridecagon, tetradecagon, pentadecagon, hexadecagon, heptadecagon, octadecagon, nonadecagon, and icosagon (polygon with 20 sides). As the polygons become larger, increasingly darker green colors are used, thus giving the painting a three-dimensional appearance -- as if one were viewing an emerald from one of its poles."

The new Celine advertising campaign by Juergen Teller with Daria Werbory 

The Emerald City of Oz