DADDIO::GOT THE SWAGGER OF A CHAMPION

McQueen is dead.
McQueen committed suicide.
McQueen hung himself.
McQueen hung himself... on the eve of his Mother's funeral.

I find it fascinating and also scary that as each fact slapped me in the face one after another my eyes actually welled up and I had never met him.

People die every day, but this is quite different. Sharon (Fashion Director) almost cried. She was on edge. Tiffanie Darke (Editor) gave a heartfelt interview on Radio 2 this morning, and hundreds of designers, buyers and celebrities' words of condolence have flooded in from around the world. Bizarre, so bizarre.

The property editor who has to sit a few feet away from all us noisy interns didn't get the fuss.
"At least it'll be a well dressed funeral" - His exact words.

It was about 1pm yesterday that we all found out. As me and Flossie made our way down to Main Gate to collect some samples we'd called in we noticed the whole fashion team huddled up in one of their corners. Meeting? Of course.

10 minutes later as we're lugging the stuff from the lifts we're told the news. Shit. Really? No? What? SUICIDE?!

A few 'Alexander McQueen' googles later we began to piece together the news. There are 2 pairs of McQueen shoes, 5 pairs of leggings and 4 scarfs in the fashion cupboard that we immediately biked back to McQueen in-house to help their PRs defend trafficking of McQueen items.
(Although it's a hole in the heart of the fashion world it's also a wad in the fashion pocket)

McQueen AW2009

I don't need to do the whole 'He was innovative. A British design genius. A complete pioneer of a new British look.'. It's been scrawled across thousands of webpages, newspapers and no doubt regurgitated in countless magazines as they flap about trying to edit in new pages; as of last night. His talent spoke to everyone.
It's pretty goddamn shite he's dead.

I mean who else could have the gaul to put 12 inch heels on the catwalk and have the confidence to know they were ridiculous but fabulous?

McQueen AW 2001

Click on this link to read his last interview, given to The Times:
http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/fashion/article7024728.ece

In the words of McQueen himself:

"British fashion is self confident and fearless. It refuses to bow to commerce, thus generating a constant flow of new ideas whilst drawing in British heritage."

I just call 'em like I see 'em.

R.I.P

Alexander McQueen

(March 17th 1969 - February 11th 2010)

.TOBY.HUDSON.

Toby has worked with the Sunday Times Style team before. And ELLE. And the Evening Standard. And NYLON. AND and anddddd Disorder mag. And a lotta lotta bands. Oh and House of Fraser.

Here is a small selected chunk of his shhhhnazzy portfolio. Enjoy.
http://www.tobyhudson.com/

Fine Clothing & Nice Things

My last rant about fashion I feel was rather deep. I do understand why people don't take it too seriously, because it is fun to experiment with your clothes and even if you dress a bit off-beat I'm pretty sure your friends won't abandon you. Even if you wear wife beaters. Cos that's pushing it. Seriously.

It's a shame people dozily flick through glossy magazines, and at their photoshoots, and their eyes glaze over at the gasp of the prices/the make up/the location. Because it's a lot of hard work. I'm not speaking as if I am the creative director of Vogue or anything, but even being the little body, it's a lot of work to multi-task with.

I've just got back off a 3 day shoot in Shoreditch (Dunston Street, off Kingsland road which by the way is like the world's LONGEST road) On this particular shoot there was 7 of us. Myself and Harriet; the fashion assistant, Natalie Hartley our Senior Fashion Editor, Toby Hudson the photographer and his assistant (I'm really bad with names), Tamara the model and the hair and make-up guy(Like its almost a problem that needs addressing. 3 times he told me. THREE.)

We shot in Studio 2 of Street Studios which I thought was quite a nice little set up.

We had a really big open space with large windows, a mac wired up to surround sound to blare out Tom's ipod (artists of choice consisted of Kasabian, Kings of Leon, Florence, Oasis, Kooks, Rolling Stones, Jamie T, Outkast, Strokes etc etccc) we had one of those really lush 'L' shaped sofas with a coffee table to eat our hot croissants off every morning,(I was a croissant virgin before. Not anymore), a long table so we could eat our Tesco's finest lunch off of, , a dressing room for Tamara, two toilets, a massive kitchen and a sort of make shift balcony so Harriet, Natalie and I could pop out for quick cigarette breaks.

I was quite impressed. It was everything we needed. Apparently not according to Harriet who labelled it 'a bit budget'

--(however she has been on some rather impressive shoots abroad so I don't blame her).

Between us fashion lot we had about 40 hanging bags, 3 suitcases, 2 trunks and what seemed like about 100 carrier bags. These bags were bursting with jewellery, hats, scarfs, belts, socks, tops, dresses, coats, skirts, shorts, jackets, dungarees and then some. Phew. All for 6 different looks within 6 different themes. Keep up.

Natalie is pretty impressive. Obviously. She has been at Style for a few years now and is probably one of the coolest people I've met in fashion (and no I'm no brown noser). She dresses effortlessly. And I mean like she doesn't give a fuck about fashion but looks cool. And I mean cool. Not like double-take cool, like jaw-drop, 180 turn, tap on shoulder "You're fucking cool" cool. And she's actually nice. She is funny and normal. She doesn't think she's above anybody, but everyone knows she is. In the words of my old Reiss manager "She's too fierce"...

(Told you)

 Anyway....
The shoot was fun. It was good experience and it was exciting. I got to see how a professional shoot works- most importantly and I also got to hear some pretty amazing stories into the life of people in fashion. I'm not divulging into the details but all you need to know is this.

1. You wish you could be a fly on the wall at the Sonia Rykiel show at Fashion Week
2. You would give your left arm to be a model at Sonia Rykiel
2. Charlize Theron is a bit of a madam
3. Tim Walker needs to gain momentum

Tomorrow however it is back to the office to confirm Fashion Week invites for our Editors and such. Which means back to having a phone so close to my face all the time it may as well be glued on. And no, we don't believe in handsets. BYE.

THAT IS ALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL.

PS. As much as it seems like I'm on the verge of starting 'the Natalie Hartley appreciation society' Check out her website http://www.nataliehartley.co.uk/ to see her styling ability......

NOW WHO WANTS TO JOIN?

My reputation's kinda clouded with DIRT.//

-Marina & The Diamonds- are apparently the new Florence and The Machine. Just like pastels are the new sequins. (Hurrah) And clogs are the new gladiators. (Not according to me. According to everyone else.)

I like them both the same. Maybe even Florence more cos she put on a snazzy show st Glastonbury. (I was drunk and in love with her fringed catsuit.)

They both have bellowing voices. Catchy songs. Very good dress sense. Go Go Marina and your diamonds. Go Go Florence and your machine.

"OH.MY.GOD you look just like Shakira. NO NO. You're catherine zeta....

ACTUALLY MY names Marina."

"She told me not to step on the cracks. I told her not to fuss and RELAX..."pretty little thing stopped me in . my . tracks"

Love LOVE

I really heart Natalia Vodianova. A LOT.
(<----------AHEM. Thank you.)
I also heart Kate Moss. And I love LOVE.

I also like the other models that decided to strip off for Conde Nast's latest baby. But Vodianova reigns supreme. Fact.
(Lara Stone is creeping up there though. Love Lara.)

Who do you LOVE

?