Festival season kicked off a couple of weeks ago with Brighton’s The Great Escape, otherwise known as Britain’s answer to South x South West. Hundreds of new bands performed in tiny venues scattered across the seaside town, while attempting to see more known names was a battle of the fittest. Grimes, Django Django and The Alabama Shakes were definitely worth the black eye.
Summer playlist sorted…
ToMax Talks are reviving storytelling across London with their evenings of live speakers, anecdotes and inspiring stories.
Last night’s ”Fashion and Fantasy - What’s in Vogue and why does it matter” featured Alexandra Shulman, editor of British Vogue, handbag designer Jas MB and womenswear designer Tessa Edwards, each hoping to pass on their pearls of wisdom to an audience of eager sartorialists.
Alexandra touched on some interesting points; the rise of celebrity culture, the changing world of digital media and the age old ‘weight debate’. Interestingly one of their worst selling covers has been Adele (only one of the world’s most popular woman, right?) and the best was this Millennium issue. Where readers could in fact see a reflection of themselves. Go figure.
One member of the audience also raised a valid point; if fashion is so individual and creative, why was nearly everyone present dressed in a similar style? Taking in the ‘off-duty’ looks around me (leather sleeves, skinny jeans, ankle boots) I definitely acknowledged a fashion ‘uniform’ that we, myself included, all conform to. Chic? Yes. Verging on the wrong side of conservative? Maybe, yes. Listening to her discuss fashion of the Sixties and Seventies left me craving a wardrobe revamp, time to bring back the dress?
Think stamp collecting is for geeks? Well, think again as The Royal Mail have issued a series of 10 limited edition stamps ”celebrating the best of British fashion”. My favourites are Alexander McQueen and Ossie Clark… Too pretty to post?
Michelle Williams for Boy. by Band of Outsiders. It might have come out a few months ago, but for me it’s the best lookbook of the season and the perfect pick-me-up when things are a little gloomy outside.
70’s Polaroids, digging up Hitchcock’s grave and filing cabinets - kooky perfection from the New Yorkers.
R.I.P Vidal Sassoon.
One of the original feminists, Sassoon liberated women in the Sixties with his ‘wash-and-go’ styles. He famously sheared Mia Farrow’s hair into a pixie crop for her role in Rosemary’s Baby, after reportedly being paid $5000 to fly from London to Hollywood. It was an iconic moment in both film and hairdressing, of anti-vanity and innovative style.
A behind-the-scenes video of Alexander McQueen’s AW12 show courtesy of Dazed Digital. Organza, tulle, ostrich feathers and extravagant proportions. Not clothing in the normal sense, but an amazing display of craftsmanship, creativity and couture.
I love this return to fantasy fashion.
Schiaparelli and Prada: Impossible Conversations exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute launched this week with Monday night’s Met Gala Ball. Juxtaposing the work of two Italian fashion supremos, with Elsa Schiaparelli spanning the 1920s - 1950s and Miuccia Prada covering the 1980s to the present, the exhibition explores their shared love of art, invention, surprise and of course, Surrealism.
For those of us who can’t visit what is undoubtedly one of the biggest exhibitions of the year, the book is itself, un objet d’art. Presenting over 200 archival and newly photographed images of the designers work, it constructs a playful dialogue of images and conversations between the two designers who have never actually met.
Trippy Kitty, Psychedelic Swine, Flights of Imagination.
Victoria Murdoch’s silk scarves are like fairytales for grown-ups. A Chelsea College of Art graduate, her Silken Favours collection is now stocked exclusively at Liberty.
Leelee Sobieski is officially the girl crush du jour. Her name alone induces all sorts of envious awe, but the wardrobe isn’t too bad either. Purist, minimal and with a hint of androgyny, she’s quite the sartorialist.
”Every women wants to be a showgirl” - Christian Louboutin
The red-sole legacy lives on as Louboutin’s new retrospective exhibition opens at the Design Museum today. Kick up your heels among the carousel displays, Dita Von Teese hologram and David Lynch photography.
