When bling works...

When thinking about how I was going to tackle my underwater fashion theme in the future, I was thinking about the use of embellishment and how the sea can influence this. Well, where the hell do you start? Firstly, I looked at the armadillo shoes from McQueens Atlantis collection. These show some absolutely stunning ways of blinging something up and these can easily inspire applications to clothing also. Take a look at some of these.

Mark Fast should be really appreciated for the way he embellishes clothing. I never realised how brilliant he was until studying his Girl from Atlantis dress and the collection it came from. He does some beautiful bead and chainwork. I love the way they're draped and made to create pieces that are like clothing made out of jewellery.

Keep getting so excited about designing final collections. I know I can do this. I know I have the skills now to do better than anything I ever did before!

Rule Britannia

So excited for the next theme I'm thinking of researching for final year. It's going to be simply 'British Heritage'. Britain has some great brands out there and theres so many directions you can take. Jack Wills and Barbour for example based their brands around the British country and University and all things predominantly associated with 'Upper Class' but then brands like Vivienne Westwood, Fred Perry and McQueen take it a little more edgy and focus of British punk society, rebellion and eras of change. We also have so many things about this country that inspire designers all over the world. One example is our royal family; the Queen and Kate Middleton.

My aim is to think about what if we combine the two? Take the upper class brands and heritage pieces like the barbour jacket, the Aran sweater, tartan etc and give them a completely new look for the modern day. Lets make them edgy and do as Westwood and McQueen and inject rock and roll into them but on a completely wearable level. Lets take the influence from the monarchy, London, anything Britain and play with them a little.

Clothes Show Live

About two weeks late, but I finally uploaded the pictures I took at Clothes Show Live this year and thought I'd share some of my favourites on my blog.

Red Carpet Designer Collection

Red Carpet Designer Collection

Red Carpet Designer Collection

Red Carpet Designer Collection

New Look Show

New Look Show

New Look Show

New Look Show

Fashion Theatre: Street Wear

Fashion Theatre: Womenswear with Jade Thompson from Top Model

Fashion Theatre: Womenswear

Was a really good day in all though I didn't get much shopping done from being too busy running from Catwalk to Catwalk. Did manage to meet Mitzee, Riley and Ethan from Hollyoaks though (L)

Please ignore my horrible face ! My outfit is leather trousers from Topshop and a embellished collar sleeveless shirt from Miso at Republic

David Longshaw

I was introduced to designer David Longshaw in this mornings Metro on the long journey to work. He does these great prints for fabrics but then he is also a master and putting together exciting shapes too.  The result is something that any girl would love to wear and can work both in an editorial or on a commercial level.

My favourite piece by far is that top dress. I love how it has all been layered together and I think the penultimate image, the shirt dress, is something that you could see being transferred to a high street level in somewhere like Miss Selfridge or TopShop. Looking forward to seeing more from this guy in the future !

Mechanical Dolls

Tim Walker's photography brings magic to fashion.  Mechanical Dolls is the spread for October 2011 Vogue Italia and I am mesmerized by it. In a way, a lot of it is very gruesome and underneath you can see why. Half human half mechanical models wear couture and look like something out of some wonderful fashion themed horror. But thats the best thing about Walker. He isn't afraid to push boundaries and doesn't believe everything has to be lovely and beautiful. He creates dream worlds but not always fantastical ones.

There are more shots from this shoot so please go and see for yourself. I think you will agree that they are quite unforgettable.

Eaux Profondes 'Deep Water'

This shoot is from Numero France, shot again by Alix Malka. Theres only four shots from this shoot but they are stunning. Very similiar to the Atlantis shoot but a larger emphasis on avant garde pieces.

Maison Martin Margiela

Emilio Pucci

Alexander McQueen

Jean Paul Gautier

Project Ocean

Continuing with the Water themed fashion (simply because this is one of my key themes for next year) I did some more research into the deeper issues regarding water and how this links in with fashion. In May and June 2011, Selfridges was home to a special campaign called 'Project Ocean'. This was all in aid of helping to prevent issues such as over fishing and unethical fishing practices. To do this, the store wanted to make the public aware of the true greatness of the ocean and teamed up with different charities to put on the exhibition. In order for the public to understand the issues, they wanted to do it in an interesting way. Part of this was an ocean inspired fashion exhibition called 'Washed Up'  curated by Judith Clark.

Designers donated pieces that were separated into categories depending on what they were inspired by and incredible set designs were built.

Hussein Chalayan donated his famous bubble dress from A/W 07/08 and his LED skirt (made of 15 000 LED lights under fabric to present a moving image of a shark) from February 2009

Left, is Martin Margielas coral inspired dresses from A/W 11/12 and John Rochas reef dress from A/W 10/11.

Sea life textures were the inspiration for left fish scale dress by Gareth Pugh SS11 and Iris van Herpens design, right. 

Alexanders McQueens Atlantis designs were in this section as well as right, Andrea Cammarosano. 

Iris Van Herpens very literal Octopus dress for her Escapism couture line. 

The exhibition contained Vintage beach wear from the 1820s-1850s

Taking influence from sea structures, Iris Van Herpen created this shell inspired piece from her crystallization collection 

Sea structures interpreted by Junya Watanabe, left  and Sandra Backlund, right. 

Jean Charles Le Castelbajacs SS10 collection - Shark Dress

Mariel Manuel dresses from 'Keep your eye on the doughnut' collection 2010.

There were also many sea inspired accessories in this exhibition worth looking at. Its great to see a theme expressed amongst many designers in different ways and being pulled together in one cohesive exhibition.