Designer Profile : Helen Steele

Helen Steele is an awesome designer you need to know about. Her prints are fresh and exciting, with clean and modern silhouettes shaping garments that are nothing short of covetable. It makes sense that her prints come to the fore as she’s actually an acclaimed artist, who got involved with Joanne Hynes to produce a collection, Les Gurriers, and one thing led to another and in two short seasons she is now showing her own collections at London and Paris Fashion Weeks. Not bad for a bird who lives in the (lovely) middle of nowhere in Ireland. As if that wasn’t enough, she’s ultra cool and super nice and took some time to talk to me about ducks, cherry blossoms, wearable art and dreams…

How did you get involved with Better Fashion Week?

Helen Steele (HS): I got involved with Better fashion Week through the girls from Re-Dress, i admire their positivity and drive. Better Fashion Week was brilliant so informative .

Ethical fashion is such a broad concept, reaching into every aspect of the product life cycle. What does sustainability mean to you? How do you approach it?

HS: To produce sustainably I think its the only way forward. We use my husbands down (from his ducks) in our down jackets . We are currently working on an all season jacket that has detachable down togs to adjust yourself to the season and weather. And we create multi purpose inter seasonable wearable art clothing that can be worn all year around and is respectful of all cultures, which appeals to a more global market.

How do you think that approaching fashion design as an artist affects the process?

HS: I suppose working as an artist has helped me to be a bit more fearless in my regard to fashion. I do feel that there is a tiny lack of humour in the fashion world, but it seems to have mellowed since I was in fashion college . What I really like about the fashion industry is there seems to be a movement of helping each other along, of collaboration, only once have I encountered bitchiness and ego which is pointless and unhelpful. In my approach to design I try to keep it simple let the prints do the talking, I see the clothes as a canvas that must be comfortable to wear, that feels like a second skin, not restrictive .

What piece of the current collection are you most proud of?

HS: From our SS12 collection I LOVE the cherry print in the Sharjah dress and leggings . Last spring i put a lapse photography camera under our cherry blossom trees in our garden and we captured the whole growth and blossom of the cherry tree and got great footage which became our cherry print . It was a long process but worth it. The cherry print was really popular in Japan, and sold out in some stores in Seoul in South korea within one week!! I also spotted (under a Japanese street style piece) our cherry print leggings on a Dolly Kei girl in Tokyo  on The Weekly Edit which was a suprise.

What advice would you give to your 16 year old self?

HS: I would say to my 16 year old self be impeccable with your word. EAT properly. Drive slower and safer. Most importantly dont let go of your dreams work hard dont let anything or anyone stand in your way and BELIEVE in yourself. Embrace change its the one thing thats constant in life. Its what you put into it is what you get out of it. TRAVEL.

What’s the best part about working from Ireland?

HS: Best part about working in Ireland is I get to be close to my husband, kids and family. Its very beautiful where I live, there is a good community spirit, and in Ireland there is a great fashion community – it’s small but strong. I have recieved brilliant help and advice from so many people in the Irish fashion community, everyone from stylists,  interns, fashion students, photographers, make-up artists, journalists, people in fashion pr and marketing, designers, stores, boutiques, bloggers.

And the biggest challenge?
HS: The biggest challenge is finding funding, general negativity, insular thinking, ignorent attitude to creativity.

All images courtesy of Helen Steele, and are from the Spring Summer ’12 lookbook.

So, if you want to be able to say I Told You So when she is in every style magazine around, check out Helen’s website, or pop into Costume in Dublin to see the clothes for yourself.

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.

Designer Profile: David Longshaw

You may have noticed that I’m having a big print moment. Me and the rest of the world it would seem. If I were in the habit of buying clothes, they would all be patterned like exploding rainbows. Or, failing that, they would be by David Longshaw. One part illustrator, one part fashion designer, his garments are delicious pieces of wearable art. His wonderful drawings create narrative on top of some seriously wearable shapes. Each dress tells part of a story, but don’t let that put you off, the focus is 100% on creating garments meant to be worn.

An RCA graduate, he first showed his own line as Vauxhall Fashion Scout’s “One to Watch” in AW10, and then won the BCF/ Elle Talent Launch Pad for SS’11. He also is editor of Maudezine, which is possibly the cutest thing ever. And while his website is a pain in the breasticles to navigate, we’ll let him away with it for the his beautiful illustrations on beautiful clothes. Expect to hear more from this guy in the future!

David Longshaw

David Longshaw

David Longshaw

David Longshaw

Maude the fashion mouse!

link, link, link, link, link

P.S. If you are David Longshaw’s PR, please send us better images to oogle his clothes with please and thank you.

Is it vintage yet?!

Back when I was making fat wads o’ cash I did a most peculiar thing – I decided to invest some of it in something…Clearly, it was not going to be something boring like stocks or bonds (in hindsight, probably just as well!), but instead in fashion. My logic ran something like this – that I probably wouldn’t have as much disposable income in the future (how right I was) so I should probably get a few designer pieces to have and mature with. So I duly went out and bought some designer shit. It’s not actually the worst logic I have ever come up with. It was nothing too extravagant – the stacks weren’t that fat, but given that the Tiger died c.2008, what I do own is in that designer limbo – where they are not yet vintage, but too far around the fashion cycle to be current either.

For the most part I don’t think about it. Sometimes though I worry I made bad investments that will never be cool again, which makes me worry about why I am not worrying about more important things in life… The other day though, I was cleaning out a bunch of stuff and I found this tshirt. I know Dior is kind of a bit of a persona non grata at the moment, but I still like the shirt. It’s fun! and I don’t own that many fun things. It’s pink! and I don’t own many pink things. It has a funny fashion take on sports tshirts, and I love the tongue-in-cheek-ness of it all. And for sure, logomania has long past, and I know that Carrie Bradshaw wore one in a SATC film and I HATE her stupid moany self involved character, but Patricia Fields is an amazing stylist so she had a point. And I know it’s not very now, but I just like it, ok.

skirt; thrifted, shoes; primark, tshirt; dior, bow; vintage

 I don’t know why but I always feel a bit like a school teacher when I wear this skirt…

The biggest Fan

Fan(n.): an instrument for cooling things, also a person who admires someone or thing greatly. C/Fan is Christina Fan’s label, which I admire greatly. Her floaty printed dresses manage to be more Acne than Cavalli, which is no mean feat (trust me as someone who is trying to do it at the moment, start playing with pattern, silks and maxis and it’s VERY murky water).

Her lines are clean and her palette assured. I like that she uses LOADS of silk. I like silk. I can’t wait for the weather to get a bit nicer so I can wear it more. I also like the aesthetic she has for her look book. I think we might be friends if we knew each other.

This is what C/Fan does with her time. I wonder if she secretly wanted to be a rapper, and thought of the name ages ago. And then she discovered that she sucked at it, and became a designer instead. If that’s the case (and I have a feeling I am RIGHT ON THE MONEY here, lol), then she made the right decision.

AW10 collection

AW10 Collection

images via cfan-designs.com

You’re a Sham

I have been doing a bunch of research for college projects at the moment, which basically gives me free reign to trawl the internet to find interesting designers. Such as Leila Shams. I would describe her Spring Summer collection as tribal disco, with plenty of skin prints, feathers, floaty shapes and, eh, crocodiles. While I am not a big fan of her AW10 collection, I think she has summer just right.

Tribal disco? Yea, I know. But seriously, that’s the closest accurate description I could think of. I have a feeling that this stuff would go down very well at festivals too. Is it too early to start thinking about festivals?

From Kenya with Love

Suno make vibrant, wearable clothes. The prints often form the main focal point and that is what initially caught my attention. However, when you start reading the story behind the brand, it gets better. The aforementioned prints are based on founder Max Osterweis’ collection of Kenyan textiles collected over the years which explains the overriding African craft vibe from the collections. However, even better is the fact that Suno is dedicated to sustainability and ethical treatment of workers (which are by no means the same thing), and produce more than 70% of their stuff locally in Kenya. Now, to be upfront, I know Kenya is pretty huge, and I don’t know the name of one city, so I have no idea what local means in this context, but the company seems to be very focused on using indigenous talent and upskilling people to create a better local (there’s that word again) economy and providing skills and commerce to areas that are often overlooked. Which is never a bad thing.

What I especially like about Suno is that they are a fashion company first. Their ethos is built into their designs, but not on the surface of them, if you get me. I believe in working towards a more sustainable fashion industry that works along more ethical guidelines, but I think one of the main reasons that puts people off buying from companies who are heavily involved in sustainability is that design comes after their beliefs. And with the exception of slogan tshirts, very few people want to wear their beliefs so literally. I think to really enact change, companies like Suno are the way forwards, where what they are trying to do just IS. It’s almost a given, and then they focus on creating garments that the vast majority of people want to wear. By selling them as fashion, instead of a social conscience, they are giving people what they want. Just in a more responsible way on the back end of things. If bigger companies just WERE socially conscious, I imagine consumers would be massively supportive. People are lazy. I’m lazy. And I am aware of the problem far more than most. I don’t believe that people purposely buy things to spite workers or the environment, but too often the greener alternative is too difficult to access (in comparison to highstreet stuff), or the design quality just isn’t there.

So, before I rant on all day, here’s to Suno and their company and what they stand for. Great clothes, that is.

all images via sunony.com

If you want to learn more about what you can do to make a difference, no matter how small, go to re-dress.ie. The girls that run it are great, and run courses and talks and loads of good stuff, as well as providing information.

Marchesa 4eva

I LOVE Marchesa. Well, it’s love in a really fantasy sort of a way. I know that I do not have too many social functions that require a dress as lovely, and that’s leaving aside the price tag. But still. I mean come on. LOOK AT THEM! They are just the most beautiful constructions. Super feminine, but still sexy. When I win the lotto I’m gonna buy one for all my girls so we can just swan about in them. Maybe we will drink cups of tea, just to keep it real, you know…

AW10

AW10

AW10

AW10

AW10

SS11SS11

SS11

Mary Katrantzou, woo woo woo!

Mary Katrantzou’s prints are as mad as a bag of nuts – she is bold, brash, unafraid and effing deadly. In four short seasons (that’s two short years in real time) she has established herself as a totally fresh talent, creating signature trompe l’oeil prints that are nothing short of delectible. She is one of this years recipients of the British Fashion Council’s Newgen award, recognising young design talent. Which is basically a pretty big deal. But then, if you ask me, she’s a pretty big deal, so I guess it figures.

To be honest, I could talk and talk but this one is for looking…

Autumn Winter 09/10

Autumn Winter 09/10

Spring Summer 10

Spring Summer 10

Autumn Winter 10/11

Autumn Winter 10/11

Autumn Winter 10/11

Autumn Winter 10/11

Spring Summer 11

Spring Summer 11

Spring Summer 11

Spring Summer 11

All images via Style.com