The Day We Caught The Train

Last Saturday was glorious so I hopped on the train to Brighton. I took my lego camera, which is super fun looking, but takes really bad quality pics. I also took my trusty Olympus, so fingers crossed I’ll get back some good stuff. In the meantime, I wore this…

Sleeveless shirt, chiffon tank, American Apparel; Leather skirt, Urban Outfitters Vintage, Lace trim cycle shorts, American Apparel; Shoes, Carvela; Jacket, Vintage

I saw these….

next DIY project

And I bought these!

Luggage chest aka My new coffee table!

it’s been all round the world!

tacky postcards!

Mary Portas for Clarks (and the Win).

I LOVE all things Mary Portas. I love her agency Yellow Door, who represent some of my favourite brands, like Acne and Comptoir Des Cottoniers, as well as other sensible brands like Clarks and Radley. So I was delighted with myself when they asked me to come in for a little visit and a mooch around the show room. They were predictably lovely, as is to be expected working for someone who champions having a good brand and knowing how to be good at what you do. We talked about things like fast fashion, and how quality and craftsmanship is important, as well as the best place to go for a pint in Dublin (the Shaw!).

Here’s what caught my eye. As expected, the Mary shoes for Clarks are just like her – fashionable but sensible. They are the kind of shoes that probably won’t make it into Wonderland, but people will compliment you when you wear them, and it’s fairly safe to say that they won’t destroy your feet wearing them all day. It’s like they need a foot in them to do them justice. I also spied awesome Liberty x Clarks high tops, and super fun gold brogues – WANT.

Liberty x Clarks

Mary Portas for Clarks

Another brand they look after is Full Circle. I would never really pay it much attention but I was really pleasantly surprised with their collection – the shapes, the prints and the fabrics were all really lovely. Going on the someone-please-buy-me list.

Full Circle SS12

Full Circle SS12

And of course, there’s Comptoir Des Cottoniers. I LOVE Comptior. It’s properly my favourite thing. The French just know how to do it.

Comptoir Des Cottoniers SS12

Comptoir Des Cottoniers SS12

AW12 REPORT: new geometrics

Did I mention that I had a ticket for Basso & Brooke’s show and couldn’t go? GUTTED. Especially when I saw what I had missed up close and in detail. The guys have been championing print-clash forever, and right now the fashion world are seeing their way of looking at things. Building on SS12′s obsession with print-on-print, Fall’s offering collages the new graphic geometric. Think houndstooth beside waffle, diamond beside hexagon, squares beside stripes. It’s mostly mid-scale, so that it’s large enough to be seen, but small enough to show a decent amount of repeats – these prints want you to know that they are there. It’s monochromes, purples, blues and reds. It’s really interesting brocades and quilting, creating surface texture in neoprenes and lurex. It’s reminiscent of men’s scarves and questionable ’60′s interiors. It’s graphic, and loud, and definitely not for the faint hearted.

On another note, I have been making moodboards. Here’s one I made earlier.

Disco Pants 2.0 aka Fat Girls in Shiny Trousers

I have been meaning to comment on something for a little while now. Recently, one of the searches used to find my blog was “fat people wearing American Apparel disco pants”. OUCH, sucks to be me. I’m a UK10/US6, not skinny skinny or model thin, but defo not fat. I have the “OMGGG I’M OBEEEEEEEEEEEEESEEEEEEEEE” moments. Which are not helped by eating greasy breakfasts in Premises and Pellici’s and I could probably (definitely) do with toning up and stop eating a million chocolate bars a day. I have fat on my body, but actually, I’m not overweight. Unless you talk to the internet. It has somewhat peeved me, because it has anonymously and insidiously knocked my confidence when I wear my favourite item of clothing. I LOVE disco pants. But now, when I wear them I feel just…..fat.

I have two points here. The obvious one is that I’m raging over the fat thing. Am I blinded by the shiny spandex into a misguided sense of security? Do I, in fact, look somewhere between a beached whale and boiled ham? Should I take the hint and put the disco pants away, fat girl. What IS a fat person in this case? Someone who has more than skin and bone to put in their disco pants? What is the line? Are disco pants a no-go for size 14 girls (or size 10 girls, seemingly)? What are the rules? While I think there’s a lot to be said for dressing according to your style and not your dress size, I definitely try to pick things out that sartorial venn diagram that flatter me*.  Why can’t these internet creeps do like normal people and just bitch about me behind my back, leaving me with my ill advised, happy shiny pants.

The other point is why disco pants cause such controversy. They are skintight trousers I suppose, and American Apparel are really good at marketing their clothes as provocative, but they are no more loud or extreme than a lot of things. However, they seem send out a weird message I am not fully aware of. Obviously, wearing tight things puts your figure on show, but I have loads of tight clothes, many of which are also American Apparel and disco pants just bring it to a whole other world of attention. I just like that they are SHINY, which is fun. They are more jazzy than skinny jeans and more sturdy than leggings. They are comfortable for doing things like dancing, and running around doing your daily business. And dancing. So I just don’t get why they always cause such a furore, and why people are so mystified by them. Maybe fashun has turned my brain into mush and I can’t see the obvious problem with wearing shiny pants like it’s a totally normal thing, unless you are some insanely thin person.

Anyway, here’s my “fat” self in my favourite things ever. There are two pics, because they are in fact somewhere between these two levels of shiny. Harsh flash + reflective surface = :/

Disco Pants & socks, American Apparel; everything else, charity shops and stolen from my mum

*Unless it’s too unbelievably-freaking-amazing-like-have-you-seen-how-cool-this-top/dress/trouser-is good to pass up. Then I will wear it anyway and not give a flying monkeys what anyone else says.

Attack of the Fasharazzi

This Fashion Week I got papped loads, and it sort of unnerved me. The fact that I do outfit posts on this blog means that I think I have some sense of style, but by the same token, I have always seen myself as the person behind the camera. Also, it is meaningless because everyone got papped loads, DSLRs were the new hot necklace, or so it seemed. It got me thinking…

The fashion paparazzi are a new breed of bloggers and photographers (from hereon in referred to simply as bloggers) that are now part and parcel of the circus that is Fashion Week. They document street style, which feeds back into the fashion machine and informs magazines and media as well as designers and trend forecasting companies, and indirectly affects the way fashion progresses as much as it records fashion the way it is now.

Papping the paps rather than the clothes at fashion week…

This phenomenon did not exist even just a few years ago. And I suppose, in one way it makes sense; fashion week is a hub of stylish people, so of course any blogger with any sense within a commutable distance is going to go and try get some good images for their blog. I know I did. But at what point does the sublime become ridiculous? At what point does the search for an authentic picture become a hoard of buzzy bees with DSLRs creating nothing but internet noise and generally being annoying? When does the fasharazzi become plain old paparazzi?

Paps & vloggers

I honestly don’t know the answer to this question. I can’t really talk either, as I was there, with my DSLR, looking at people and papping the ones I liked. But you sort of have to go and see for yourself to get a feel for the sheer volume of cameras – walking into Somerset House can be so overwhelming, there are literally hundreds of fashionably dressed people sticking cameras in your face, it feels like walking the gauntlet to get to the registration office. And like a mexican wave, as soon as one paps you, another five appear from nowhere and start doing the same. Did they mistake me for someone famous? Did they not know and snap in case I am famous? Or were they just following the crowd, copying others around them? I felt silly and uncomfortable, though I usually obliged because I also think that they aren’t really doing anything wrong – they’re just like me, into fashion and doing they thang on the internet, right?

Well…I dunno. I got the impression there can be a serious lack of editing skills – shoot first, decide whether I like it later – which is a weak way of shooting, and more like papping in my book. But I guess all the blame can’t rest on the bloggers, there was more than enough willing fodder. I got the impression from some people I saw and others I spoke to that the sole reason they got dressed that morning was to turn up on as many blogspots as they possibly could, like they were waiting to be discovered, though even they weren’t sure what they were being discovered for. Which is disingenuous, turning the notion of street style into a charade, where the pappers and the papped are egging each other on, creating images that have less and less to do with authenticity and actual street style. It’s the kind of pretension that makes people hate fashion, and it annoys me because generally speaking the authentic people and the good bloggers are intelligent, lovely and unpretentious, it demeans the good work they do.

This image is the only one I have actually seen – for all the cameras, where do the images go?!

I strongly believe in street style as a valid form of fashion photography and documentary – it records our culture and how we see ourselves. On the other hand, I strongly disagree with the unintended consequence of misguided people thinking they are mini celebrities and prancing around Somerset House with no other motive than getting papped and adding nothing to the fashion conversation. If you are there with a big camera and have nothing to say, you are a tourist. Or a chancer. Simple as.

I think my main problem is that I see so many blogs run by people who claim to want to be fashion journos, and they don’t know the difference between a rolled hem and a french seam, who can’t spot a brogue from a loafer. It’s the reduction of fashion to a mindless, “ooh-look-at-the-pretty-thing” that really gets me in this fashion paparazzi debate. It infuriating seeing people wanting to be the next Tommy Ton, or Scott, or Garance, without putting the time in to actually study what they claim to be so passionate about. It’s the people who don’t know their from there, gushing on about FASHUN, and not stopping for two seconds to form a new idea, a new thought, or to really draw any conclusions from the work that designers put so much effort into producing. It makes a mockery of the system, it debases it, creating a culture that is no better than crass reality tv shows that are built on mediochre wannabes*.

There were about 4 more photographers to my left here

I know I am being somewhat (very) hypocritical here. Who am I to say that people can’t go and participate? But I feel like it is a conversation that needs to be had. Of course bloggers have a very valid place, and as a blogger, I know that it can help to promote a community within fashion and give women a forum for understanding fashion and self-identity at a more grass-roots level, which is appealing and reassuring**. Blogs are community, and are a real force in fashion media today. I suppose my problem is at what point do all the photographers just become like mainstream paparazzi, a nuisance, too much? Or do I just need to chill the hell out? Perhaps I need to take my own advice and realise that there are good bloggers and bad bloggers and they are all entitled to do their thing, and I should just zone the bad ones out. And to never, ever go to Fashion Week with a hangover.

I love this guy, he’s the cutest – saw him everywhere!

*I’m sure reality tv stars are lovely people if you meet them, but lots of people are lovely and have more talent and qualifications to create good tv.

**I did my university thesis on this. And I got a first in it. So trust me, I am both pro-blogger, and know what I am talking about.

Designer Profile: We Need to Talk About Alan Taylor

Let me tell you about Alan. Alan Taylor is the kind of guy who knows what’s what before it’s even a what. He’s the kind of guy who shaved off his floppy locks and started dressing like a skinhead before it was cool. He’s the kind of guy that when he says men should wear skirts, then lads, I hope you have shaved your legs. Alan Taylor is so on the money it’s ridiculous. But don’t let that put you off, he’s an insanely nice guy and fierce talented to boot.

Alan Taylor AW12

Having interned at McQueen and worked closely with Simone Rocha for the past few years, he has decided to set up his own eponymously titled menswear label, Alan Taylor. Check out his awesome first fashion film for his new collection below, entitled “Man”. I like Alan’s vision of MAN, it is a strong and modern masculinity. It’s men in skirts, in a Roman Warrior, East London go-f**k-yourself kind of way, as opposed to Beckham in a sarong. It’s sharp tailoring and interesting combinations of fabrics that is reminiscent of his old boss, Ms. Rocha, but with his own aesthetic. There is a weird darkness to the collection, but don’t let the show pieces confuse you, his clothes are designed for real men, with trousers, shirts & coats that are sharp and wearable.

Alan Taylor AW12

The fashionable man is a strange entity. Most of his garments are appropriated by the fashionable woman, especially in recent years when masculine tailoring and androgyny have been key trends. Menswear tends to play it safe and deliver the same old thing, or goes so avant-garde that only the most flamboyant, effeminate fashion man would ever wear it. And while I lust after Taylor’s shirts, this collection is very definitely for men, even the skirts are strong, and manly. It is directional without compromising masculinity, which is a fine line and difficult to achieve.

So everyone, big up the nice lad from Rathfarnham who’s about to be the next big thing. And in a little while when he’s a megastar, I am quite happily going to tell you I TOLD YOU SO.

Alan Taylor AW12 Fashion Film ‘Man’ from Alan Taylor on Vimeo.