London Fashion Week

Less than one week to go until London shows the world it's brilliant fashion genius ways..hurrah! Yes, Paris is the fashion capital, oozing glamour and sophistication from every silhouette possible, and New York packs a satisfying punch of uber cool savvy fashion to it's front rowers, and of course Milan sits pretty with it's beautiful mouth-dropping creations.

BUT, London is key into this mixed bag of creativity because it is known for its complete nurturing of new, raw, innovative talent. As the other three cities will play host to well known, well established and well loved designers, it can be said that the new, hottest (and I try to use that word lightly) and most creative characters in fashion WILL be at Somerset House this coming thursday.

I am brimming with excitment for most of the shows, especially to see how the newcomers of February will up the scale. Special attention to Peter Pilotto, Mark Fast and Meadham Kirchoff. If you aren't lucky enough to be part of the Press/Buyers crew then make sure you get yourself down for the London Fashion Weekend hosted by ELLE; with over 100 stalls full of unbelivable

garments/jewellery, you'd be mad to miss it. Keep up to date with all of the Fashion Weeks...including Brazil online at http://www.vogue.co.uk/.

Mama San

There are many joys of living in Brighton; note the cultural diversity for one, the vibrant nights out and the oddball thrown in here and there and for me it's home. Positively overshadowing all of those wonderful aspects however is, of course, the shops!

The North Laines are home to many original indepentantly owned boutiques and I very much relish my walk to work in the morning, often wandering through them. This is why I have decided to start reviewing a shop a week, to give people a taste of what to expect from these varied and unique shops.

I purposely divert my walk always past Mama San - you can't miss it with its purple outside and bright pink logo outside the shop. Although inside, it is small, it is filled with wonderfully vibrant clothing and jewellery.

My favourite things from Mama San have to be their tongue in cheek jumpers and stand-out jewellery. Posted below are my top picks from this boutique shop, and with price points very reasonably, I suggest you get yourself down there. http://www.mamasan.co.uk/ / http://mamasanworld.blogspot.com/

Masquerade Necklace £14

Giraffe Necklace £12

Dress £30

Canvas Bag £8

Jumper £28

What Women Want

A couple of weeks back I posted some test shots of my male model for my 'Masculine Tailoring' shoot I did. Here are the original shots using my female model. Although the focus is a tad off, (which meant a rather hectic reshoot) the styling remained the same in the final images.

I chose my model because she embodied a rather strong womanly look. I didn't want a feminine 'girly-girl', I wanted a powerful woman who was comfortable pulling off very masculine looks.

Nick Knight

NICK KNIGHT is an enigma. So are his photographs. They have a tendency to draw you in automatically, filling your head with romanticised narcissism and are genuinely powerful images- quite a cry from the man who majored in Human Biology. This isn’t an article just to backlog Knight’s career, as interesting and successful as is it; it is to celebrate the innovative mind and creativeness Knight brings to each shoot he produces. Yes, Knight has worked for publications such as Vogue UK and US, Arena Homme, i-D, Dazed & Confused and ‘W’ Magazine and has landed advertising work with Dior, McQueen, Yves Saint Laurent and Calvin Klein – to name a few. Along with countless exhibitions at the Victoria & Albert Museum, The Tate Modern and The Saatchi Gallery, Knight boasts a colourful and impressive biography, and rightly so, since studying a 3 year photography course at Bournemouth & Poole University back in 1979, Knight’s early work provided an insight for photography lover’s overt, avant-garde, street cultured world.

His first book ‘Skinheads’ earned him his first award for Best Book Cover, and opened the door for 25 more awards over the past 24 years, including a 1986 ‘Magazine Publishing’ award for his ‘Back to School’ fashion story in i-D. Knight started his career shooting for The Face and i-D magazine where he tackled taboo subjects including questioning sexuality and equality in race. It was only after the success of “100 Portraits” commissioned by Terry Jones for i-D’s 5th Anniversary issue, that Art Director Marc Ascoli took a chance on Knight.

Although Ascoli had only been in charge of artistic matters at Yohji Yamamoto for two years, when he discovered Knight’s talent, he enrolled him into the fashion photography for Yamamoto’s advertising campaign and catalogue which in turn led to Knight’s contribution for Jil Sander in 1991 which lasted for a successful five seasons. However innovative Knight’s work for Yamamoto and Sander, when he began producing his work for editorial shoots, it became crystal clear that his talent lay in opening up his imagination to produce a wonderland of images that challenged and questioned fashion. Knight is a true innovator of photography, his work does not only lay in that of fashion, but in art, in the street, in nature; anywhere.

He even set up SHOWstudio.com 9 years ago as a platform for others to get involved in all creative projects attracting models, writers, filmmakers and a further mass of creative individuals to share their work. His ability to create images allows us to give him the title of an extraordinary, well, enigma.

David LaChapelle

DAVID LACHAPELLE is a surrealist. He is also not an ordinary photographer. In fact, he is involved heavily in so many creative projects it’s hard to keep up with the fireball. From his editorial, advertising and book portrait work the same concept of his is grasped; he simply likes to use colour and take photographs of celebrities, yet he does this is a way that is not humiliating and pathetic, he uses wit, boldness and the shock factor to make these images extremely beautiful, intense and humorous.

Many A-List celebrities who wanted to pose for LaChapelle include portraits of a rather satisfied Angelina Jolie, a sickly sweet Mariah Carey, a not surprisingly jaw-dropping David Beckham to a very refined Hilary Clinton and a chilled out Missy Eliot. His has an incredibly diverse portfolio of work and his clientele is very diverse; fashion brands such as Tommy Hilfiger, H&M and Diesel, music videos including No Doubt’s ‘It's my life and three with Elton John, TV Channel MTV, Siemens Mobile and magazines including Vogue, GQ, Rolling Stone and i-D Yet the wonderful thing about LaChapelle is that his work is easily recognizable, using the same sharp focus and striking colours throughout.

In the portrait work he creates, they have the aura of a shock factor and create a sense of a daring ability to show a contrasted side to the celebrity. His work for this has been celebrated many times and since his arrival into photography in 1984 he has had exhibitions of his work almost every year, with six in 1999. But what is surprising is the time it took for his work to be celebrated – it was 9 years before he won his first award which prompted his first book to be released a year afterwards.

So it seems LaChapelle wasted no time in wanting to spread his message through different types of media – and it paid off. The larger-than-life images he creates are poignant in his interest with hyper-glamorous situations and wild prop use. He is dependent on his location, instruments used to develop a beautifully surreal landscape. There is a sense of mild eroticism in most of the photographs; some are stronger than others. A sense of tacky trash culture is present in an array of his work, but it is used with a brilliant tongue-in-cheek mentality it flatters the picture rather than destroying it. LaChapelle certainly knows how to cause a photographic stir.

Fashion Photography

Throughout the years, photography has been a completely original way to portray everything from fashion to music, art, war, poverty and life.

A good photographer can take an image and portray their take and their emotions behind it. These photographs go on to audiences who truly connect and understand the photographers’ sometimes crazy, obscene, beautiful or sad world.

Two of these photographers, Nick Knight and David LaChapelle have strong creative control in fashion and their messages; they go beyond the need to sell and create editorial shots to place in glossy magazines – they have embodied an aesthetic of outrageously beautiful photographs in which a single picture they produce can sum up a ‘moment’. Fashion is one of those brilliantly versatile subjects that provoke photographers to play around with it.

Whether it’s the clothes, the model, the subject, the location or even beyond the typical assortment of themes, these fashion photographs are groundbreaking – not in a way that every other fashion photo’s job is to make you ‘desire’ the commodity, or makes you believe that the object in the photo is the one you need, these pictures have become more than that. Forget about fashion photographs making you buy into an item, these have the power to make you want to be completely immersed in the, in their, fashion world.

Here are some of their fantastic pictures, with reviews to follow...
Nick Knight for Yohji Yamamoto

Nick Knight photographing Naomi Campbell
Nick Knight

David LaChapelle

My A-Z of Vintage...Part IIII

Q is for Queens of Vintage.
Go to the online website for the latest news/events in vintage fashion. Not only do they supply readers with exclusive interviews and news, but also updates on the best cities for vintage and intricate details on each fantastic vintage fashion era.

R is for Resort wear.
Some of the most beautiful resort wear comes from eras gone by; special attention to wrap arounds and playsuits. By the end of the 20th century, there were many items that fell under this category. Although it may not be to everybody’s taste to purchase a second hand bikini or any type of beachwear, there are some lovely all in one pieces around that have never been worn and are factory seconds. From the beginning of the 20th century onwards, beachwear has been through many fashionable changes, which is great for all body shapes, because whatever era suits your body, try to find items from that particular era. The 1960s to the 1970s are great beginning places to look as they completely embody the hippy aesthetic for holidaying abroad.

S is for Sizes
My only bugbear with vintage is probably the questionable shoe sizes of women back in the day. It is near impossible for me to find a pair of shoes in a shop I love without turning them over and seeing a very popular vintage size of 4 or 5. It seems the one area women have definitely evolved in would be the foot department since the 1920s. Not wanting to dwell on the matter, I have occasionally tried to squeeze my six’s into a five with no obvious luck, but there is a silver lining. This silver lining comes with sizes of other garments including many clothes that would normally be oversized, being quite fitted and vice versa. With vintage clothing, I try not to care too much about the sizing either way, as I tend to like bigger vintage items quite baggy and well, the tighter the item the better. Sizes from the 1920s onwards will obviously vary from your standard sizes of today so do make sure you try on an item just in case you are dwarfed into a jumper or loosing breath because of a miniskirt. However, try to be more relaxed with it, after all some vintage items do look better with a looser or tighter fit; everything that is except the shoes, oh and maybe belts.

T is for Tailoring
There are some beautifully tailored garments from vintage eras gone by; on the one hand there are outfits like Yves Saint Laurent’s masculine tailoring and on the other some 1950s Christian Dior feminine skirt suits. Most tailored items are going to be jackets and coats, but skirts are also very popular too. If you’re after a statement piece then tailoring is very powerful in doing so. Coats of the 1950s were very beautiful, heavy fabrics but bold colours were popular and everything is tailored, from the sleeves to the waist, it doesn’t matter what you’re wearing underneath. A good way of looking out for tailored items is checking the neckline and the back of an outfit, if it is designed in a particular off cut style then it is more likely to be fitted when you try it on. Most vintage shops love tailored garments so they may well also be grouped together in a certain section of the shop. Unless you are certain or very brave, try not to meddle too much with pre-tailored outfits. As previously mentioned it is good to nip/tuck a few items here and there, but when something already has a fabulous cut, try to maintain it.

U is for Unisex.
Try not to limit yourself to only vintage Womenswear; menswear is absolutely heaving with hidden treasures. Brogue shoes are a must for menswear, especially as women had quite narrow feet, if like me, you do have problems with women’s vintage shoes, always look at men’s, after all trying something on is harmless and you never know what could suit you. Men’s braces, t-shirts and waistcoats are also popular items as there seems to always be more diversity in slogan tees. Hats are always good to keep an eye out for, and there is always a lot of variety of briefcases and satchels. Vintage shirts are fantastic because they can be worn in such diverse ways, as well as jackets...ok, ok there is a lot of choice, so like I said, don’t rule anything out. Although there is a great following for vintage menswear, there always seems to be more stock and at cheaper prices so make sure you don’t glide past next time, remember there’s a man in woman.

V is for Vinyl’s.
Old music is amazing. From Chuck Berry to Elvis to Frank Sinatra to The Beatles, you can’t beat some good old tunes. Especially when they come in the form of a 12” record. Everything from the way it plays (I fall in love with that scratchy vinyl sound every time I hear it) to the cover art, vinyl is a brilliant form of expressing a love of music. What’s even better is that they are everywhere, and I mean everywhere. From car boot sales to charity shops and stalls, vinyl is making a rather fantastic comeback. Expect to pay up to £5 in a charity shop for a decent vinyl, and in my eyes that’s nothing short of a brilliant bargain. So far in my collection I have managed to get hold of several David Bowie, Blondie, Kinks, Rolling Stones, Elton John, Nat King Cole, Beatles and Aretha Franklyn for probably under £20. If that isn’t an incentive to buy a vinyl player then I don’t know what is.

W is for Worldwide.
Whenever you are leaving the country, it is a golden opportunity to bring back some wonderful vintage bits. The selection of vintage available in Europe, Asia, Australasia and the USA is incredible as vintage tastes are different around the world. Make sure you take the time to check out any markets or shops you can when travelling or on holiday. Try to pick up items you know won’t be so available in the UK, beautiful vintage sarongs or accessories are popular. A good way of doing your research before you go is checking out some online shops to see what they have to offer. Just remember the price differences and don’t be too tempted by something just because you know you can’t go back to it, you will know when something has really caught your eye. Haggling is welcome in some countries, so there’s even more of a chance you will bag a brilliant bargain.

X is for X-Clusive.
Remember that all your vintage pieces may not be complete one offs; Jane Shilton handbags do tend to crop up more often than not, but most of the time your items will be rarer than high street items so treat them with care. It is always good to remember that vintage is old for a reason and it isn’t in tip top condition, so take care when picking when to wear certain bits; they should be exclusive for only certain types of events, especially if you’ve paid a lot for them. If a pair of Topshop shoes got wet in the rain they will be much easier to replace than a one off pair of vintage heels.

Friends borrowing vintage items can also cause a few problems. If they are true lovers of vintage they will understand the exclusivity of some of your items and saying no will be less embarrassing. Try coming up with other options of outfits they might prefer to borrow, but if you really feel uneasy about lending out certain garments then honesty is always the best policy. Upsetting a friend for a few minutes will blow over; her returning your one off sequined bolero with a rip in won’t.