FLORENCE WELCH: THE NEW FACE OF GUCCI

Any of you who don't know me should know I had a major obsession with Florence Welch (which is partially why I had a fringe for about a year). So I was extremely pleased for the singer, 24, when I heard about her recent collaboration with fashion label, Gucci.

Flame-haired songstress, Florence Welch has become famous worldwide because of her vintage-inspired style - described by Florence as "half gothic bat crow winged fantasy, half golden '70s Stevie Nicks white witch. And a smattering of disco go-go hotpants" - as well as her extremely macabre choice of lyrics.

Despite such unique qualities, Gucci's creative director Frida Giannini has deemed Welch the inspiration for the Gucci autumn/winter 2011 campaign, and results are extremely similar to Welch's current romantic stage costumes...

GUCCI AUTUMN/WINTER 2011

Do we like?

http://www.gucci.com/uk/home

http://www.guccigroup.com/

http://florenceandthemachine.net/

Just a quickie this time!

ISABELLA BLOW

FASHION PROFILE: ISABELLA BLOW

Isabella Blow, who sadly died in 2007, was an eccentric editor who befriended Alexander McQueen and helped jump-start his career as a designer; as well as being an extremely powerful and influential public figure in the fashion world.

Born: 19th November 1958

Famous for: Being a style icon and editor as well as supporting British designer Alexander Mcqueen.

Style Characteristics: Eccentric millinery.

Early Life

Isabella Blow was born in Marylebone, London, in the late 50s. Her parents separated when she was only 14 and remembered saying goodbye to her mother by simply shaking her hand. 

Despite this, Isabella's mother was an influential figure within Blow's life as she recalled her fondest memory was trying on her hat collection -  something which Isabella later became famous for.

Career

Isabella's career did not begin properly until the early 1980s when she was introduced to Anna Wintour (the fashion director of Vogue's U.S. edition). Wintour immediately hired Isabella as her assistant which began her fashion career; Blow thrived in New York, befriending affluential artisans such as Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat.

In 1986, nine years after moving to New York, Blow returned to London to work for Michael Roberts (editor of Tatler and The Sunday Times Style Magazine).

Blow married her second husband in 1989, changing her name from Broughton to Isabella Blow. Her friendship with milliner Philip Treacy began when she commissioned him for her wedding headdress - and so a "fashion relationship was forged". 

Soon after this friendship, Blow began to wear Treacy's hats regularly, they soon became part of her individual style. In a 2002 interview, Isabella Blow explained why she wore her hats (not for a practical reason) but, 

"...to keep everyone away from me. They say, Oh, can I kiss you? I say, No, thank you very much. That's why I've worn the hat. Goodbye. I don't want to be kissed by all and sundry. I want to be kissed by the people I love"

McQueen

Blow was soon becoming known for her individual sense of style and  always seemed extremely fashion forward. Isabella's most famous "findings" were model Sophie Dahl (granddaughter of famous British author Roald Dahl) and Lee "Alexander" McQueen.

Lee McQueen (whom is known famously as Alexander McQueen, renamed by Isabella) was found by Blow as a student. She purchased his entire graduate collection for £5,000, paying it off in weekly £100 installments. This collaboration grew into a strong friendship and both McQueen and Blow helped eachother in their careers in the fashion world.

Millinery

Isabella Blow's style has been defined simply by her outlandish millinery, which has more recently influenced others in the public eye (most notably Lady Gaga).

Illness & Death

Sadly, Isabella was nearing the end of her life in the new millenium. After a succession of events and attempts at committing suicide, Isabella Blow died on the 7th May 2007, aged 48.

McQueen & Blow

OSSIE CLARK

FASHION PROFILE: OSSIE CLARK

Ossie Clark was a fashion designer most famous for his fashion designs in the swinging 60s. He predominantly focused on womenswear, however, designed some pieces for Mick Jagger of The Rolling Stones.

Born: 9th June 1942

Famous for: Influential English fashion designer - often likened to Biba and Mary Quant.

Style Characteristics: Drapery, bold prints, Romanticism.

Early Life

Ossie Clark was an extremely influential fashion designer during the 1960s. It became apparent that he had a keen interest in fashion when he was a child as he often made clothes for his nieces and nephews, practised tailoring techniques on dolls and designed swimsuits for his neighbours - all before his tenth birthday. Raymond 'Ossie' Clark's secondary school recognised his passionate flair and fed his creativity by introducing him to magazines such as Harper's Bazaar and Vogue.

Although Ossie did not study fashion until university, he recalled his time studying architecture at school as 'invaluable' as it taught him about structure and form - all skills which he would later use as a fashion designer.

Ossie graduated successfully from art school in 1965 and had his first feature in Vogue within the same year. At the time, Clark's designs were heavily influenced by Pop Art and Hollywood Glamour which was fast becoming a modern concept in music, film and art. Ossie's designs were so innovative that he caused a stir in the fashion world.

The Golden Years: 1965-1974

During the mid 60s, Ossie became more well known within the fashion world, there was a great demand for his designs and he became known as the "King of the King's Road". It was during this time that Clark developed his flamboyant and romantic style which was later to be paired with his future wife, Celia Birtwell's textile designs.

Ossie was extremely popular, not only in London, he had also conquered New York and Paris. His popularity grew through dressing the rich and famous and adopted clients such as Marianne Faithfull, the Beatles, and most famously Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones. These bold stage costumes were often dissimilar to his romantic, floaty commercial designs as the jumpsuits he designed for Jagger were tight fitting and hardly decorated.

Celia Birtwell

Celia Birtwell and Ossie Clark met in Manchester in 1959, they married ten years later after their creative collaboration for the boutique Quorum. Birtwell's textiles featured vibrant patterns which were inspired by the natural world, much like the Art Nouveau movement earlier in the century. Celia produced the textiles and designed her own fabrics while Clark designed the structure of the garment. This collaboration worked well as the outcome was highly refined (Celia's skills lay in textiles whereas Clark was more interested in structure).

Death

Although Ossie was still designing in the 1980s his popularity had diminished due to the fact that the King's Road had been dominated by Vivienne Westwood and her punk designs. Clarks romantic gowns were no longer desirable and so he soon became bankrupt as the fashion movements changed.

Ossie Clark was married and had expressed his wishes for a large family, however, there were accounts of him having homosexual relationships.

In 1996, 54 year old Ossie Clark was stabbed to death in his flat in Chelsea, London by a former lover, Diego Cogolato. Cogolato was convicted of manslaughter and jailed for a mere six years. Ossie Clark, another one of the greats who died prematurely.

Legacy

In 2007, the name Quorum was purchased by Marc Worth and the label "Ossie Clark" was relaunched.

Since his death, many fashion designers (such as John Galliano, Christian Lacroix, Dries Van Noten and Prada), have noted Ossie Clark as being highly influential.

To this day, original Ossie Clark pieces are extremely sought after.

YOHJI YAMAMOTO

FASHION PROFILE: YOHJI YAMAMOTO

Yohji Yamamoto was told that “White is the absense of colour, but black is the presence of all colours” – this is ultimately the reason for his favouring of black fabrics.

Born: 3rd October 1943

Famous for: Being an internationally known fashion designer, based in Tokyo and Paris.

Style Characteristics: Experimentation with silhouette and black fabrics.

Early Life

Yohji Yamamoto was born in Tokyo, Japan and originally attended Keio University. He graduated with a law degree, however, he felt the need to change career paths in the late 60s. The reason for this was predominantly to help his mother by working in her dress shop. He began his journey through the fashion world by attending the Bunka Fashion College.

After the Second World War, the college developed into an institution in order to meet the needs of a rapidly changing society. Ready to wear fashion was becoming more readily available and so the industry had to evolve to meet the needs of modern consumers.

Bunka shifted its main focus from tailoring to training commercial fashion designers and became known as a revolutionary learning facility as it was the first Japanese fashion college to open its doors to male students.

Yohji Yamamoto (as well as Kenzo Takada) is one of the most notable graduates, as he is now celebrated worldwide for his innovative designs - paving the way for future designers.

Fashion Career & The Y Brand

After graduating, Yamamoto worked as a freelance designer until the early 70s when he decided to start his own womens' clothing line, Y.

After establishing his clothing line with womenswear, Yamamoto created Y for men in 1979 - broadening his target market.

Yohji Yamamoto's clothing line soon became a brand, as, like many fashion designers, Yohji presented his signature perfumes for men and women in the early 90s.

One of the highlights of Yohji's career was in 2003 when he presented his ready-to-wear collection in New York Fashion week which was received extremely well and led to his reputation as an international designer.

In January 2011, Yamamoto celebrated the anniversary of his 10 year collaboration with Adidas (who felt they needed a more individual range of shoes and sportswear).

Processes and Techniques

Yamamoto is known for his experimental use of processes and techniques as a way of decoration/utility within his designs.

Fabrics are an important factor within any design process as they determine how the garment acts and reacts to the wearer. Yamamoto's preference for heavy fabrics and textiles which are not generally utilised in womenswear, high fashion or even clothing in general lends distinguishing characteristics to his designs.

Techniques such as embroidery, screen printing, Shibori* and Yuzen** are frequently used within Yamamoto's menswear garments as he tries to subvert people's perceptions of what men and women should wear.

"Fabric is everything. Often I tell my pattern makers, 'Just listen to the material. What is it going to say? Just wait and the material with probably tell you something'" Yohji Yamamoto

http://www.yohjiyamamoto.co.jp/#/yy/

*Shibori is a particular method of dyeing cloth by binding small areas with thread in order to isolate areas to be died - beads can also be introduced to create shapes when steamed with the fabric.

**Yuzen is also a dyeing technique which originated in Kyoto in the 1700s. It was traditionally used for Kimonos and consists of over 20 steps (including, design, drawing, glueing, dyeing and decorating).

ANDREJ PEJIC, ALREADY DEEMED "FASHION'S INSULT TO WOMEN"

FASHION PROFILE: ANDREJ PEJIC
(Dedicated to Ebun)

Following my previous article on ‘Androgyny in the Fashion World’, Andrej Pejic (a male model posing professionally as a woman for designers such as Jean Paul Gaultier) has risen into the limelight that shone briefly on Lea T.

Born: 28th August 1991

Famous for: Being a controversial androgynous model.

Style Characteristics: Feminine features.

Career

Despite only just beginning his career as a fashion model, Pejic has created quite a stir and has already been labelled “Fashion’s ultimate insult to women”. Many believe that by posing as a woman, Pejic is creating a mockery of us females, however many are in support of the modern take on fashion.

It seems that the world of fashion is becoming more playful in terms of styles and now, models. We are no longer confined to the conformist fashions of the early/mid twentieth centuries (and before).

Andrej Pejic is evidently not making a mockery of the system, as he is open about his gender and sexuality (despite fooling everyone). He is notable for his extreme androgyny and ability to model for both male and female clothing (giving him a wider range of job opportunities, and therefore a wider range of supporters).

Recently, Pejic has walked for famous fashion designers Jean Paul Gaultier, and most recently, Marc Jacobs.

Controversy

Recently, a cover for the New York-based magazine Dossier Journal has caused a stir, as many US companies have objected to its display. Pejic was pictured shirtless, which was evidently deemed too risque as there were concerns that customers would believe him to be a topless woman (such is the level of his deception).

The reason for all his success is quite possibly the fact that he is so believable as a woman, in face, he was ranked number 98 in FHM’s 100 Sexiest Women in the World (subsequently removed from their website as it caused such an uproar amongst FHM’s consumers).

Could androgynous models be the new supermodels?

“It’s a very liberal industry. You can be yourself. Just not overweight” Andrej Pejic

Read more about Androgyny in the fashion world here: http://ellefrances.blogspot.com/2011/04/androgyny-in-fashion-article.html

THE RETURN OF BIBA

Written ages ago but I thought I should post it ...

THE RETURN OF BIBA!

Biba was the most glorious fashion retailer of the 60’s and 70’s. It was the original brainchild of Barbara Hulanicki, a skilled fashion illustrator-turned-designer from Jerusalem. Hulanicki’s family moved to England when she was just a child.

Unlike most of the fashion retailers of today, Biba had humble beginnings and started off as a tiny mail-order boutique with a few cheap garments all cut to the same skinny size. Barbara wanted her designs to take off quickly and the first dress to become popular (and make the brand famous) was a simple gingham shift dress. This dress was advertised in the Daily Mirror and quickly went out of stock and into the homes of thousands of fashionable teenagers living in the UK, almost faster than she could have made them.

   After such a success, Hulanicki opened her first shop in Kensington in 1964, this became instantly popular as the young and fashionable flocked to pick up the cheap, wearable and devastatingly fashionable designs.

The Biba label went from strength to strength, it soon moved from its small shop to a massive department store on Kensington High Street – and so Big Biba was born.

   Big Biba seemed to answer the dreams of young women everywhere as it offered a luxurious and unique shopping experience. Then Art Nouveau label became intensely desirable, and appeared on everything in the store – from art-deco suit jackets to baked bean cans.

   The interior of the shop was also luxuriant and of an art deco 1930s style, rather than a 70s shop. For many, the Biba store was not simply a place to purchase, it was something to be viewed, marvelled at. Big Biba soon became a fashionable tourist attraction, just as Harrods or Hamleys is today.

   Big Biba sold everything: men’s, women’s and children’s clothing, groceries, shoes, make-up, accessories, playing cards, souvenirs and more. To add to its opulence, there was also a roof garden with live flamingos.

   Sadly, the wonderful dream that was Biba, was not to last. Behind all the extravagance and fashion design, the Biba label failed to keep up with the trends, and Barbara was powerless to defend her invention when there were arguments over creative control.

In 1975, Biba closed its doors and so ended a British icon.

The Biba Look

Made for the impossibly slim teenager and young adult, Barbara described the perfect Biba girls as ‘fresh little foals with long legs, bright faces and round dolly eyes’. The clothes themselves were frequently dark, romantic and owed much to the styles of previous decades- Art Deco especially. The colour palette, save for the odd venture into the more sequinned 70's glam look, stayed resolutely dark and rich- plums, rusty browns and inky blues. Some common features of Biba clothes include high arm holes, bishop sleeves and covered buttons. Today vintage Biba clothes are incredibly desirable and reasonably rare- however, if you want a piece of wearable history, they are not unattainable. Saddened by the story of Biba’s demise? Not to fear! Biba is back! Situated in House of Fraser department stores, Biba sells current designs with a 60s/70s edge. Definitely something to look out for! The look of Biba in 2010 is being stylishly advertised by the gorgeous model, Daisy Lowe who matches Hulanicki’s description of the perfect consumer for Biba. The new collection exhibits luxurious fabrics as well as cutting edge fashion, to appeal to today’s consumers. Biba seems to be as successful as ever.

ANDROGYNY IN FASHION

ANDROGYNY IN THE FASHION WORLD

Androgyny was seen as a highly modern trait within the fashion world, famously becoming popular in the 1960s as Twiggy unveiled her pixie haircut. From then on, it became popular for women to wear their hair short – a great contrast to the 1950s “up-dos”. This caused dominance within the British fashion industry as mod fashion developed, in keeping with the androgynous style.

Nowadays, androgynous fashion has become extreme, moving on from a simple pixie crop, to pre-op transsexual models.

New model, Lea T is causing a stir in the fashion world after modelling with Kate Moss in the androgynous issue of LOVE magazine and appearing in Givenchy’s A/W 2010 campaign.

Her striking beauty (a face too distinctive to be called ‘merely pretty’), full lips, strong jaw and long hair; mean that Lea fits the obvious model ‘type’. However, she is causing a stir within the world of high-fashion as there is more to her than meets the eye. Lea, born Leandro is an out and proud transsexual. As this aspect to her life is a rarity within the fashion world, it has helped her to become well known within fashion circles.

Classically androgynous models such as Agyness Deyn and Andrej Pejic (a young Australian model) have become increasingly popular throughout the noughties as they have provided designers with iconic looks to grab the attention of budding “fashionistas”.  However, Lea T has broken the mould with her transsexual modelling career, testing the publics’ levels of acceptance.

However, Lea’s open transsexuality has made her subject to a great deal of personal problems as well as boosting her career. She has admitted to having problems with her sexuality at a young age. Being confused as a child she remembers she had no “defined sexuality”. Her controversial life decision has also angered her strictly Catholic family, who claim to have disowned her and caused a family dispute.

The enduring difficulties which Lea incurred when she chose to switch sex are something which she became extremely insecure about. She chose to break through the barrier of humiliation by putting her circumstances into a very public situation and seems to have accepted that romantic relationships will become harder to attract.

Lea is proving to be an ambassador to an increasingly misunderstood community, as she is creating awareness within the large industries of both fashion and consequently advertising... And she couldn’t have been brought into the limelight at a better time – fashion as a whole is in need of more modern controversy and iconic personalities!

VIVIENNE WESTWOOD: GET A LIFE PARTY

A bit late, buuut:

Late feb, the queen of punk, Vivienne Westwood gave London style setters their first LFW treat, in honour of her new collection of Palladium jewellery.

The 'Get a Life' party was held in the Wallace Collection, a place which holds the inspirational key to many of her past and present collections (situated in Machester Square).

As expected, the fashion glitterati attended, eager to share a glass of bubbly with Westwood. Which is exactly what was in store for them - the fashion-forward guests were given the opportunity to gaze at the artwork held within the museum while feasting on champagne and oysters.  

Attendees noted that Westwood's new jewellery collection has very strong pagan influences. The acorn tiara and brooches remind me of childhood fantasies of when I used to imagine fairies drinking tea from acorn cups... Perhaps good old Viv was going for that look (ha).

Naturally, the fashion crowd were attracted to this event, key guests included Lily Cole, Josephine de la Baume and Christina Hendricks.

Since the show, the Mad Men star (Hendricks) has revealed her most fashionable role yet, as she is set to be the face of the jewellery collection of which the event was in aid of. Christina said (of the collaboration with Vivienne) that, "It was a great honour for me to be asked to represent the 'Get a Life' Palladium Jewellery collection. I admire that Vivienne uses her designs to inspire change and the pieces are just so wonderful. The pieces really sparkle under the lights and I cannot wait to wear them on the red carpet".

*The Vivienne Westwod 'Get a Life' Palladium Jewellery collection will be available in Westwood's boutiques across London from March 2011, we await with baited breath!

**For more of an insight into the 'Get a Life' party, visit: http://www.viviennewestwood.co.uk/w/news/vivienne-westwood-palladium-get-a-life-party to see interviews from the famous attendees.

EDIE SEDGWICK

FASHION PROFILE: EDIE SEDGWICK

Many of you probably know the great artist Andy Warhol, but his muse, Edie Sedgwick is often overlooked and forgotten.

Born: 20^th April 1943, California.

Famous for: Being a style icon and Andy Warhol’s ‘Superstar’.

Style Characteristics:Large fake eyelashes and typical 60s makeup with eccentric clothes.

Meeting Warhol

Edie’s career started in 1965 after she moved from Art College in California to New York with her friend Chuck Wein. To make her way, Edie started a small modelling career but wasn’t happy with just that and so in 1965 she met the avant-garde filmmaker, Andy Warhol in a friend’s apartment. Coming from a rich background, Edie was a typical example of ‘old money’ which instantly attracted Andy to her, however, after a while; Andy became intrigued by Edie’s free thinking and iconic style. And so, ‘the Factory Years’ began...

The Factory

Andy’s iconic studio became known as ‘the Factory’ and Edie was drawn to the groups of eccentrics. Edie was instantly accepted into the group and became very popular. ‘The Factory’ was the place in which all of these artisans would create their own projects or star in Andy’s short films. Andy’s objective while making these films was to film them badly, but to do it well. 

Edie’s First Film

Andy found Edie fascinating and so decided to include her in one of his films, Vinyl, starring an otherwise all male cast. Vinyl was Andy’s interpretation of A Clockwork Orange and so was supposed to be about thugs and hooligans, this made Edie look out of place and distant, however, this was the look he was going for.

Fashion

Whilst at the Factory, Edie modelled for Vogue and other famous magazines, she also met famous designer Betsey Johnson, who, like everyone else, was intrigued by Edie’s ambiguous style and heart warming charisma. Friends and family said she brightened the room with her smile, and made you feel like the most important person in the world when you spoke to her. Thus charisma was one of the reasons why people grew to like Edie; she wanted to please people rather than herself.  

Edie felt like she wanted to change her style completely. Turning almost overnight from a preppy young girl to a stylish woman. She cut her hair very short, started wearing skimpy outfits and developed her makeup. This was the equation for a proper icon.

Edie’s makeup became extremely popular and was to become an iconic element of the 60s image. She wore three pairs of eyelashes, eye shadow around the fold of the eyelid and white eyeliner on the inside of her bottom eyelid. This created a wide-eyed effect and made Edie look even more innocent and feminine.

   The whole look, with an added pair of extremely large, delicate earrings made Edie an icon amidst the threadbare public. Fans became extremely fixated on Edie, and she was one of the first celebrities famous for nothing in particular. Edie was known as ‘Andy’s Superstar’ as she wow-ed everyone around her.

Filmmaking

Because of Edie’s new found popularity, Andy wanted to make more films about her. In April ’65, Edie starred in ‘Poor Little Rich Girl’ which showed Edie getting ready to go out. It was shot out of focus for the first half hour and was silent apart from the background music (an Everly Brothers album).  She played up to the image of a spoilt rich girl who had too many clothes she didn’t know what to wear, boasting about how she spent her entire inheritance in six months. The audience was intrigued as it was such a glamorous short film.

Drugs

Andy Warhol was often blamed for Edie Sedgwick’s descent into drug addiction and mental illness. He famously said that he had never given Edie a single pill, “not even diet pills”.

Drug abuse soon took over Edie’s life as she could no longer pay for her addiction or her apartment. She never fully recovered and left Warhol after a year of close friendship. Later, she was admitted to a mental institution where she battled her illness. She married an inmate, but later died of a drug overdose in 1971. Surprisingly, Andy did not attend the funeral in California. She was only twenty-eight. This means that our memory of her will always be of the young iconic woman, rather than an ageing woman living in the shadows of her once exciting life.

-CLICK HERE TO WATCH ANDY WARHOL'S SHORT FILM, "POOR LITTLE RICH GIRL", STARRING EDIE SEDGWICK-