Yohji Yamamoto

It feels like I have been waiting forever for this exhibit to start and I still have a couple of weeks to wait!!!! It opens on the 12th March at the Victoria and Albert Museum so head down there. For more info here is the link; http://www.vam.ac.uk/collections/fashion/yohji-yamamoto/index.html

I'm really looking forward to seeing this exhibit as I really respect his work, it's so tailored and makes women look beautiful but what I find more inspiring is his collaboration with one of my favourite brands of all time, Adidas. I love the Y-3 collection because it proves that sportswear can be fashion!
This image is taken from Y-3 Fall 2011 collection and I just think it's incredible no-one would ever look at that and instantly think Adidas and sportswear which makes the collaboration that much more special and inspiring.
(http://www.style.com/fashionshows/complete/slideshow/F2011RTW-YYADIDAS?event=show2262&designer=design_house94&trend=&iphoto=16#slide=16)
This is taken from Yohji Yamamoto's Spring 2011 ready to wear collection, I find that it is quite a dark, glam and mysterious collection with flashes of bright prints. (http://www.style.com/fashionshows/complete/slideshow/S2011RTW-YJIYMOTO?event=show2182&designer=design_house95&trend=&iphoto=1#slide=1)

PPRD: Current Issues, John Galliano

This is why it pays off to read newspapers or newspaper website regularly!
John Galliano was arrested over anti-Semitic remarks. I hadn't heard about this news story that broke a few days ago until my housemate, Kayleigh, told me about it and I must say I'm totally shocked. Whether or not it is true, it shines a bad light on the fashion industry as it is already seen as bitchy. He is a hugely talented designer and it is a shame that he has been suspended from Dior but as it stands I think that it was the right thing for Dior to do because he is very high up in the public eye.

Read up on the story on the link below;
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1361071/John-Galliano-called-Jewish-whore-ugly-eyebrows-says-art-historian.html

This affects me as a fashion student because we need to be aware that we are in a very tecnology driven world nowadays where every phone has a video recorder or camera that can take something and upload it straight onto Twitter or Facebook for the world to see. It means that we need to be very aware of our actions whether we get into the public eye, like Galliano, or not.

McQueen and I, More4

EMOTIONAL!!

Wow, I can't say that I have ever been the biggest McQueen fan but this show showed everyone what talent the fashion industry has lost!
McQueen was obviously very passionate about fashion and he was never afraid to show the world his point of view which I found very inspiring and I shall definitely try and take that attitude with me after watching the show.

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/mcqueen-and-i

The Model Agency, Channel 4

The series, The Model Agency, kicked off this week and in all honesty I thought it was a bit poor, it seemed to repeats itself a lot and there just didn't appear to be any structure and I understand that it's a fly on the wall documentary but it seemed to go nowhere.

I shall however keep watching as I think that throughout the series it will pick up. I still recommend it for anyone who is interested in the fashion industry because we have programmes like, America's Next Top Model, which shows us the industry from the models point of view but we haven't really seen it from the agencies view so it will be an eye opener.

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/the-model-agency

*UPDATE*

I'm starting to really look forward to Wednesday nights now so I can see what has been happening at the Model Agency. I was right and the series has started to pick up now and in a sense the training wheels have come off and the hour long programme seems to run with a nice flow now and it doesn't repeat itself as much now. I'm finding it really interesting finding out what goes into a model agency and I'm learning a lot, mainly how most of the models don't seem to care about the job at hand and they turn up late to shows, miss castings or are just generally rude which I think is just uncalled for as there are so many people desperate to be in their positions but unfortunately don't get signed by agencies.

London Fashion Week

As we all know it's LFW this week and I wish I was there!!

Been watching a couple of the live streamings and so far Central Martins MA Fashion has been my favourite, it was so unique, fresh and exciting. My favourite garment was a piece of menswear that looked like big, off centre, leather padding but when the camera zoomed in closer it was a huge fist - I thought this was awesome!!

Everyone needs to at least see one show from LFW
http://www.londonfashionweek.co.uk/

Fantastic Telly Coming Soon

For the people who are obsessed with fashion we have got some treats coming up towards the end of February so look at for these:

McQueen and I on Friday 25th February, More4 at 9
It's a one off documentary celebrating two of fashion's biggest innovators, Alexander McQueen and Isabella Blow! I think this will be well worth the watch.

The Model Agency on Wednesday 23rd February, Channel 4 at 10
This documentary goes behind the scenes at Premier Model Management.

The Art of Television

I simply love this advert.

Phewwwww! Toile Review #1

So the past couple of weeks of practically living at uni all came down to yesterday and my toile review and I think it went well?!

I hadn't managed to complete all my garments but I had managed 7 out of 9 so I am still impressed and I did have all my working drawings and fabric swatches done and dusted. I'd even managed to find all four model which is a miracle considering about 12hours before my review I had one model!!!!

Everything that I was told needed adjusting was things I knew about or had already considered which is great but if I thought I could now relax a little I was mistaken, I have to get my parka mocked up by Tuesday so it's back to living at uni for me again....

*Thank you to my four models*

Here are some images of my polo top and my markings for my high waisted shorts/ jeans;

Window Displays in Brighton

Whilst in Brighton we saw some pretty cool window displays and I thought I would post the ones that I could take a sneaky photo of on here.... (Sorry about the quality of the pictures)

This is AllSaints window display and it's such a shame the picture hasn't come up clearly, but the entire windows are covered with really old,vintage sewing machines and I just thought it was really cool. AllSaints always have really interesting window displays and it's nice that they are still thinking about it when it's sale time instead of the massive big, red posters most shops seem to do.
This is Aubin & Will's window display and hanging from the ceiling was all different pattern blocks and I just thought that it was a really interesting idea because pattern cutting is such an unknown cog in the fashion wheel. Most people when they ask me what area of fashion I'm interested in and I say pattern cutting they look at me like I've just said random words and then I have to explain about it but I like the fact that Aubin & Wills are showing what is behind the clothing even if people don't understand it.

Graffiti in Brighton

SIMPLY AMAZING!

We saw this graffiti at the end of North Laine, Brighton and wow! I absolutely love it. Whoever has done it is soo talented and it is even more amazing when you zoom in. The detail is incredibly. I believe that graffiti, like this, is art and anyone who thinks it isn't because it's not on a canvas is just silly in my opinion, you still have to be talented to produce work like this and that needs to be recognised.

PPRD: Exhibitions Part 3 and Windy Brighton

Me and my housemate, Kayleigh, went to Brighton on Friday so I could get some more research done for our professional project. It was a very successful trip and very windy, We are very lucky we didn't get blown away.This trip to Brighton meant I could kill two birds with one stone, go to another exhibiton/gallery and do lots of research. The http://www.modernworldgallery.com/ is a mod gallery which showcases brilliant art and for any mod it is well worth the visit and the staff are really friendly (even letting me take a photo of them for research). There is soo much to look at whilst you there from paintings, prints and postcards. The place was literally rammed with all sorts to look at. It was a really good for my research and for PPRD so it was a win win situation. Through this project I am started to appreciate the mod lifestyle even more. No trip to Brighton would be complete without a trip to North Laine (when we eventually found it) I have visit Brighton once before with my college course a few years ago and it has really changed from what I can remember, it seems to be more upmarket? but besides that we found a really good little mod shop called "Jump the Gun" (http://www.jumpthegun.co.uk/cms/Home) which sells everything piece of clothing you associate with the mods from the mohair suit to the desert boots. Likewise with the gallery the staff here were really friendly and even told me to go to the Brighton Museum and Art Gallery (http://www.brighton-hove-rpml.org.uk/Museums/brightonmuseum/Pages/home.aspx) which had an original mod mohair suit in their fashion department. Unfortunately by the time we got there we didn't have long to look around but it was amazing from what we saw. They had outfits from all different subcultures such as goth, casual, mod and skinheads.


Overall it was a brillant and useful day out.

PPRD: Exhibitions Part 2 and The Big LDN!

All in the name of research me and my mate, Anais took a trip to London. It was a long old day what with Oxford Street being so close and all that. No in all seriousness we got a lot done, we made it to all the fabric shops around Berwick Street, eventually Carnaby Street (after awful directions from my Mum) and to a gallery exhibition. (Part of Merc's window display)

Whilst walking down Carnaby Street we spotted a billboard covered in really interesting photographs advertising a free exhibition at a shop just off Carnaby Street so we decided to find it. The shop was called Youth Club and the exhibition was all about the third edition of the Street Style book (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Street-Style-Ted-Polhemus/dp/0956278817/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1296926077&sr=1-1) I thought the exhibition was really interesting, the front of the shop had vintage clothes, photographs etc then you went down the stairs to the exhibition with all the pictures.

I really recommend it. http://www.facebook.com/youthclublondon?v=app_4949752878
I personally love the book Street Style by Ted Polhemus as I find it really useful for any projects because it covers a wide variety of different sub-cultures but it was really nice to be able to see the images blown up big.
All in all it was a really good, long day.

Professional Project

So this is my first blog about our final project oops!
For my take on the word Revolutionary I have decided to look at MODS. I really like the whole Mod look it's really tailored, smart and streamlined but it's me so obviously I'm going to have to put a sportswear twist on it.
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=17202106&id=600665172&saved#!/pages/MODS/168174000094

Up until this point I have gathered a lot of different research but it is still going. My 100 designs are almost done but my four outfits have been chosen so I'm currentely working on them to get toiles done for the 15th arghhh!

Here are images of my chosen designs;

PPRD: Exhibtions Part 1

For PPRD we have to visit a few different exhibitions and I started off by going to the Ashmolean museum in Oxford to see the Pre-Raphaelite exhibition that was on before Christmas.

It would definately be a lie to say I really enjoyed this exhibition 100% because I felt so out of place being there with everyone that was majorly into art. Having said that it was a good experience to witness work by famous artists up close. The main reason I went to this this particular exhibit was not because I was a massive fan of the Pre-Raphaelite movement, although I had watched some of the TV series Desperate Romantics on BBC 2 last Easter that was about the brotherhood, but because it was during the time of our drapery project so I wanted to see and was interested in how these famous painters showed fabric. It was truely stunning, it actually looked like the clothes were really fabric.

Fashion as a Forum

When we first got given this brief I was really confused by it but thanks to today's exercise my head is slowly coming around to the idea so hopefully I can start to think about what role new media techniques play in promoting and exhibiting fashion.

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/mary-portas-secret-shopper/4od#3153701

Everyone needs to watch this episode! It may look like it has nothing to do with new media but trust me...and if you don't find it useful it is just well worth the watch. Mary Portas really understands and knows what she is on about so if she tells you to do something listen. It proves that if we learn how to use new media, like social networking, properly it can really work to our advantage.