ONE TO WATCH: JOSH WELLER...

Singer-songwriter, Josh Weller, had his first taste of fame in 2006 when he used to perform in a group headed ‘Josh Weller and the Availables.’ After moving to London in 2008, Weller later began work as a solo artist, playing small venue gigs and house parties. Josh has recently been featured on fashion and street style blogs as a notable style icon: It may have been his melodic Elvis-Costello-style pop rock songs that got him noticed, but it is more likely to be his iconic vertical quiff hair style, geek-chic glasses or maybe his vast collection of vintage bow ties one of which he is always seen sporting.

Weller’s witty, fun and thought provoking lyrics are inspired by the works of Woody Allen and Richard Pryor; comedians which he says have a strong influence when it comes to song writing. This is reflected in his satiric latest single ‘It’s Christmas and I Hate You,’ featuring Paloma Faith, another rising pop musician, who also happens to share Josh’s vintage inspired style.

Josh’s style takes the classic, tailored look of legendary Hollywood and Broadway ‘Rat Pack’ stars, such as Fred Astaire and Frank Sinatra and gives it a contemporary-cool, eccentric edge. Dress sense is something that Josh is often asked about, so much so that he fears it is becoming more important than the music he makes. Last month Josh told Clash Music that his style ‘...came about purely from the music I like… It is a reflection of who I am and I sometimes feel that if my music was a person then it would probably dress like me.’

Josh is currently finishing writing and producing his debut album, which is due for release next year, so watch this space...

(This is part of an article I wrote for Mpdclick)

THE BRITISH FASHION AWARDS...

Firstly, no I wasn't there...I wish (my invitation must have got lost in the post or something...?) But some really really cool people were... Kate Moss, Georgia May Jagger, Vivienne Westwood and Grace Coddington (my inspiration) were among the most stylish Brits out in force last Wednesday night to celebrate the best of British fashion talent at the British Fashion Awards 2009. The night, held at The Royal Courts of Justice in London and sponsored by Swarovski, saw an array of designers, editors, stylists, models and industry VIPs united by their love for fashion and outstanding creativity.

The event presented 11 awards in total including Collection of the Year, Outstanding Achievement in Fashion Design and the special, new for 2009, London 25 honour which was won by Kate Moss.

2009 certainly has been Burberry chief creative officer, Christopher Bailey’s year: If his latest Burberry collection being the most talked about show ever, due to the brand’s triumphant return to London fashion week this summer and receiving an MBE from the queen wasn’t enough, he also managed to bag 2 awards on the night. Bailey collected the prestigious BFC Designer of the Year as well as receiving Best British Designer Brand, for Burberry; a well deserved recognition for all his achievements for the fashion house.

After a slight tumble off the stage into the Orchestra pit below, model Karen Elson presented American Vogue’s Creative Director and ‘The September Issue’ star, Grace Coddington, with the Isabella Blow Award for Fashion Creator. In her acceptance speech Grace portrayed a modest outlook and a trivial look of confusion after questioning if she was truly deserving of the honour, stating that she doesn’t design the clothes, she doesn’t do the make-up, she doesn’t wear the clothes, so why was she winning the award? Grace might not recognise her own creative greatness but her amazing eye for style means she is undoubtedly one of the most inspiring and talented stylists of our time.

The British Fashion Awards, seen as the ‘Oscars’ of the fashion industry, was a brilliant way of rounding up the year’s celebrations that commemorated 25 years of London Fashion Week.

[This is part of an article I wrote for mpdclick during my on going internship...]

(from left: Kim Jones, Kate Moss, Vivienne Westwood, Grace Coddington, Daisy Lowe, Christopher Kane, Christopher Bailey.)

IMAGE SOURCE: http://www.britishfashionawards.com/

A NEW WONDERLAND...

Althlough I have 3 months to wait, I am so so so excited about Tim Burton's contemporary adaptation on the traditional fantasy tale, 'Alice in Wonderland', which is due for release in March 2010.

The film extends on Lewis Carroll's original story, portraying a grown up Alice who returns to Wonderland, only to discover it has changed into a darker, scarier place under the reign of the dark red queen. This almost 'sinister' approach is typical of Burton's style, which I love!!!

ONE TO WATCH: WARPAINT...

At the moment, everyone is loving LA based band ‘Warpaint’ and so am I! The band was founded a coupe of years ago by Emily Kokal, Theresa Wayman, and Jennifer Lindberg. Lindberg’s sister, Shannyn Sossamon (yes that’s right- THE Shannyn Sossamon!) used to play drums, although still performs with the band occasionally and even appears on tracks ‘Elephants’, ‘Stars’ and ‘Beetles’ on their debut EP ‘Exquisite Corpse’; a beautifully composed record, which has been mixed and edited by Red Hot Chili Peppers’ guitarist and LEGEND John Frusciante! (It just gets more and more exciting doesn’t it?)
Warpaint has just recently re-released 'Exquisite Corpse' last month (and available to buy on CD on 7th Dec) most likely due to their rising interest and popularity. They described their sound to Dazed and Confused as ‘an eclectic collective of people and sounds running and dancing and screaming and crying!’ My personal favourite track is their cover of Mary Wells' Motown classic, ‘My Guy,’ which, is just like the girls themselves…Beautiful!

The girls are currently recording their new album, which is due for release in late spring next year so they are no doubt going to be working the festival circuit next summer!

THE SEPTEMBER ISSUE...

So The September Issue is out on DVD; I didn’t get a chance to catch it previously at the cinema so instead decided to buy it. Various reviews tagged it as ‘the real Devil Wears Prada’ which of course it is; portraying Editor in chief, Anna Wintour not as a fictitious ice woman like Meryl Streep’s character, Miranda, but as a real life stern, stubborn, ‘hardballs’ business woman.

“I don’t find her to be hidden, I just don’t find her to be accessible to people she doesn’t need to be accessible to… she’s busy and she’s not warm and friendly; she’s just doing her business.”
Tom Florio, Vogue Publisher.

Above, just one of the many fascinating and interesting quotes I got from the documentary… Not only did I find watching it entertaining but also educational; an insight to how a magazine works and the roles of each editor helped me gain a better understanding of this industry and made me even more determined to be part of it.

At the forefront of it all is Anna, who quite possibly has the biggest influence on fashion in the whole of the industry. The September Issue highlights this, when she tells world renowned designers such as Jean Paul Gaultier and Yves Saint Laurent’s head designer, Stefano Pilati, what she really thinks of their collections and what they should (and shouldn’t) put in their shows. It’s her brutal honesty and emotionless approach which has allowed her to not only succeed but survive this harsh industry.

“You have to learn the way to beat your path through to make yourself felt and make yourself necessary and find a way that works for you for Vogue. Because a lot of people have come and a lot of people have gone, they just couldn’t take the heart break; you have to be fairly tough to withstand that.”
Grace Coddington, Vogue’s Creative Director.

Some fabulous advice from Grace Coddington there… I think it is Grace who I find the most inspirational and aspire to be like. Her passion for her work and fashion itself is so strong and so genuine, even after over 40 years in the industry… and everything she produces, every image and every ‘look’ is so original and inventive (you would have thought after 40 years she would be starting to run out of ideas!)

“Grace is without question the greatest living stylist, there’s no one better than grace; no one who can make any photographer take more interesting, more romantic, more just stunningly realised pictures than grace… She comes from the idea that fashion is this world of play and make believe; it’s as if some one has gone to the dressing up box and found the most wonderful personal things and put them together.” Sally Singer, Vogue’s Fashion Director

(The 'Vogue team': Candy Pratts Price, Anna Wintour, Grace Coddington, Virginia Smith, Sally Singer)

I could actually talk about this forever but I think this post is already quite long enough now… but if it fits in with my topics/themes, I would definitely love to include some of the inspiration I have gained from The September Issue within my dissertation or other projects this year…

An inspirational sign off…

“In my early years as a fashion editor, I worked with Norman Parkinson, who was a really big photographer and he taught me to always keep your eyes open, never go to sleep in the car or anything like that, just keep watching, because whatever you see out of the window or wherever, it can inspire you…”

Grace Coddington

JIMMY CHOO, SHOES AND 72...

A lot is going on at the moment in the world of Jimmy Choo…

After their successful collaboration with Hunter this June (which provided us with the most glamorous festival wellies EVER) Jimmy Choo have also lined up a capsule collection with high street retailer h&m which is set to arrive in store on 14th November, with not only shoes and accessories on offer but a full clothing range too!

Most currently, the luxury footwear label has joined forces with the Elton John’s Aids Foundation, to launch Project PEP; a collection of shoes and accessories designed by Jimmy Choo with 25% of net sales donated to the charity. This initiative will help the Simlela Rape Centre in Cape Town to stay open day and night providing 24 hour/7 days a week access to the vital life saving treatment ‘PEP’ that has to be administered within the first 72 hours of exposure to HIV.

(Jimmy Choo for Project PEP collection)

A social media campaign named ‘You, Your Shoes and 72’ has also been set up and there is a chance for us to get involved too; Jimmy Choo wants people to submit photos showing their best shoes and the number 72 to raise awareness of the PEP project. The winning images will be showcased at the global launch of Project PEP, which will be held at Selfridges in London on October 29th… the winners will also receive products from the Jimmy Choo collection.

Enter here: http://www.jimmychoo72.com/

SHOWstudio: FASHION REVOLUTION EXHIBITION...

The other day, I decided to take a little trip down to London to visit my big sis, Emma, who has just recently moved down there to start her MA in Journalism at LCC. We shopped, partied and had lots of fun, but I also wanted to do something productive and worth while so I dragged her along to Somerset House for the SHOWstudio exhibition, ‘Fashion Revolution’.

The first thing we were greeted with was the dreaded room of mirrors (warning: not suitable for the body conscious!) followed by a giant polystyrene sculpture of Naomi Campbell, on which exhibition visitors can post their thoughts or doodle using a digital screen and a projector.

Visitor participation and interactivity was a key theme to the exhibition, with live photo shoots and model castings using SHOWstudio viewers, as well as interactive screens and a highlight of mine which consisted of a seat and a telephone; at selected times during the exhibition, visitors can use the telephone to contact various different models who have been styled by Simon Foxton using garments by various different designers.

Emma’s highlight was the ‘Sound of Clothes: Synaesthesia’ an extremely interesting concept which incorporates image and music to describe clothes: using one of Nick Knights photographs of a Balenciaga jacket, Composer, Nick Ryan and a full on orchestra interpreted a different element of the garment with a different sound depending on the textures and surfaces! Amazing!

Film is an extremely big part of SHOWstudio projects and experiments, and there is an intensive archive of fashion film available to view at the exhibition (I could literally have stayed there for hours and hours) from the surreal fashion fantasises to those with an important political and moral message, pioneered by many iconic figures within the industry, such as Vivienne Westwood, Gareth Pugh, Viktor and Rolf, Nick Knight, Ruth Hogben, Kate Moss, Tim Walker…the list goes on…

The link between fashion and film is a huge interest of mine (Emma had mixed thoughts though, describing some of the short films as ‘too Zoolanderish’) and SHOWstudio has been a great source of inspiration… [Reflection: I think it would make a fantastic topic for my dissertation which I am to write this year…]

ONE TO WATCH: THE XX...

I am totally in love with this band at the moment; The XX...

To be honest I don't know much about them currently, apart from that I love the fronted girl/boy combo, I love their self-titled debut album (which only came out last month) and I love their chilled out, almost melancholic compositions, such as ‘Shelter’ and ‘Night Time.’

The band are currently supporting Florence + the machine, on her tour this september and are scheduled to support Friendly Fires in the US later this year... so you just know they are going to be big stuff!

RANKIN LIVE...

‘Rankin Live’ at the Old Truman Brewery, Brick lane, is almost two in one… The first being a collection of Rankin’s most memorable and magnificent photographs during his 22 year long career, from his self portraiture to a corridor of famous faces and even sections dedicated to his iconic model muses such as Heidi Klum, Kate Moss, Courtney Love and girlfriend, Tuuli…

[I loved the series Rankin titled 'SofaSexy', in which he turned a simple cheap sofa into an erotic object of desire...which I guess is what a good photographer does; creating something or someone ordinary into something beautiful and interesting!]

(image source: www.art-dept.com/artists/rankin/.../sofasexy/portfolio)

…The second being ‘Shoot Me Rankin’, an on going project in which ordinary folk (like you and me) can take part in a live photo shoot with Rankin and have your portrait added to the exhibition! And for those who don’t receive that lucky golden ticket, there is a retro photo booth so you can DIY:

[Reflection: Immensely interesting, incredibly inspiring and so so so much fun = Most definitely one of the best exhibitions I have had the pleasure to view.]

(Gallery wall as part of 'Shoot Me Rankin')

A FASHIONABLY LATE NIGHT...

Vogues Fashion Night Out last night, became a fabulously fun night out for me and a couple of friends and fellow fashion students, Peg, Emily and Katie...

Frolicking around London’s west end on a fashion and shopping high (and I might add rather tipsy by the end of the night), we started our evening on Oxford Street, led into Oasis by a pink Oscar style carpet (v. glamorous eh?) and greeted with many free cocktails and choccies. We were soon trying on sparkling outfits in Topshop and enjoying yet more free drinks at Urban Outfitters whilst having a sneaky peek at Simon Preens new collection.

(Real live models in Louis Vuitton's window)

A surreal and chance meeting with Noel Fielding led to an interesting conversation about his favourite shoe designer, with a name that you would rather expect to belong to a Mighty Boosh character; Archie Eyebrows… (check out his website www.archieeyebrows.co.uk, the shoes are actually amazing and very ‘Vince Noir’!)

Brown’s was full of London’s young fashion elite (of which we all decided we aspire to be part of one day) with Henry Holland, William Tempest, Jonathan Saunders and Pixie Geldof amongst those present…

In Burberry, I enjoyed the strongest vodka and tonics I have EVER had whilst talking to one of the writers for Vogue about my love for fashion journalism (he oddly recommended I wrote a piece on this blog on avoiding Mosquito bites as insisted Alexandra Shulman would read it as is apparently an avid follower..?)

After queuing for what seemed a life time, we finally were in Chanel, spectating on a live photo shoot with the fabulously brilliant and beautiful Daisy Lowe and Erin O’Connor… [Reverie: How amazing would it be to have fashion icons like themselves to model for my degree FMP photo shoots…?]

(Erin O'connor modelling Chanel's new A/W '09/10 collection)