Kensington Palace

Sadly, I just missed out on London Fashion Week, but I was fortunate enough to visit Kensington Palace to see their Enchanted Palace exhibition. The palace is set behind the picturesque Sunken Garden which is simply beautiful.

The builders have arrived and the place is being transformed - it has been turned inside out and its stories and secrets are being shaken out with the dust.

They tell of the lives of princesses caught within the strange and mysterious world of the court - a world within a world, governed by its own time and rituals.

Upon arrival you are presented with a wonderful little booklet with a map and instructions for each of the rooms. Each room is themed to a different princess. Their name is hidden somewhere within the room and it is your task to find all 7 of the names.

The exhibit also featured dresses to illustrate each princess. Designers included Bruce Oldfield, Zandra Rhodes, Vivienne Westwood, Maria - Theresa Fernandes and Paul Costello.

There is an element of 'audience participation' which brings the whole exhibit to life.

V&A

I also visited was the Imperial Chinese Robes from the Forbidden City exhibit. The garments, from the Qing reign period (1644 - 1911), were from collection from the Emperor's official dress, festive dress, military and travelling dress and regular dress. The Empress's official dress, festive dress, regular dress and  informal dress.

The official and festive dresses were heavily embroidered and were of such a high quality, the beautiful patterns and images were exactly the same on both sides of the fabric.

I think this exhibition is a unique look at the world inside the Forbidden City. The style and quality of these garments are second to none and I would strongly recommend this exhibit, purely for fashion research.

Camden Market

My favourite part of London, with Camden Lock and Camden Market, it is the perfect place to seek out that vintage piece you have sought after for ages or that quirky piece of jewellery you have wanted to complete your favourite outfit.

I bought a vintage cream knitted jumper from a vintage store within the market. They had loads of vintage pieces ranging from leather jackets and sequined dresses. If you can find it within the maze that is Camden Lock, it is definitely worth a look. I also bought a printed t-shirt from a market stall that caught my eye with its unusual silhouette.

It is a great place just to look around, with the themed shop fronts at street level, some of which featured huge shoes, a pair of leather trousers and an aeroplane and, although a bit of a high street shop, the All Saints store is set in the most industrial, raw building that suits the brand so well.

Inside under the bridge arches hung huge chandeliers that made you feel like you had stepped into a some kind of magical world from another time. The perfect place to inspire you to shop.

Portobello Road

Perfect place to find antique interiors. Not as impressive as Camden Market but this historical street is home to the world famous One of a Kind vintage store, popular with Kate Moss, Sienna Miller and Yoko Ono. You ring the bell to enter and are greeted by the staff friendly and welcoming staff. The store is furnished top to bottom with exquisite one of a kind finds. A treasure trove of specially sourced vintage pieces from eras as early as the Victorian period, each garment has a price tag to match its perfect condition.


Train Travel Top Tip
If you are like me and don't use trains that often, always make sure you check the company on the ticket matches the train, Grand Central ticket for a Grand Central train, East Coast Ticket for and East Coast train and so on... or you will end up having to pay for your journey twice over! Luckily the train I was on stopped at York for a change to Newcastle (£45 extra) or it could have cost me twice as much.
 Don't rely on the people that work on the platforms!!!  

 

A little bit more like summer...

My feeling more summer everyday seems to be getting drowned by all this random rain so in a bid to brighten up those rainy moments, I have purchesed these floral wellington boots, a bargin from Peacocks on the high street. Not as show stopping a Valentino's lace ones, but still gorgeous at a fraction of the price, a very reasonable £16.

Flatform Shoe Trend

In keeping with the current flatform shoe trend I thought I would share with you a pair of my absolute favourite platform shoes. I find the flatforms can be quite ugly and manish. These heeled shoes are from River Island. The straw wedge and rubber sole make them suprisingly comfortable to wear especially when you are dancing till the sun comes up. The satin bow adds 70's feel to the shoes and gives them a quirkyness that I could not resist.

Victoria Beckham poses..

Victoria Beckham poses nude for Vogue cover?

Former Spice Girl Victoria Beckham has reportedly spoken to Vogue about baring her baby bump in a photo shoot for the fashion magazine.

The singer-turned-fashion designer has been in conversation with editor-in-chief Anna Wintour about stripping off to display her fourth pregnancy, reported Star magazine. "It's not a very Vogue thing to do, but the team can make it work and make it 'fashion'. Anna's apparently really keen on it. Everyone's expecting it to fly off the shelves. Victoria's a huge style icon," said a source.

"Although nothing's been officially signed yet, Victoria would want to be sure she's the sexiest pregnant woman to ever grace a magazine cover. It will be a huge boost to her career from a fashion point of view."

Hollywood star Demi Moore famously stripped off for an Annie Leibovitz-shot Vanity Fair cover in 1991 while seven months pregnant. The image has since been much-imitated by celebrities including Myleene Klass.

I'm sure Anna Wintour will create an edgy, fresh, high fashion cover that vogue is renowned for and not just another Demi Moore imitation.

source: www.indianexpress.com

Joanna Feeley : Trend Bible

Joanna Feeley, founder of Trend Bible, took the time out of her busy schedule to give us a presentation. After studying at Newcastle College, she went on to further her degree at Kingston University. Before graduating, she realised she needed to get ahead of the crowd and instead of waiting until the end of year show for recruitment agencies, she went to New York with her portfolio to seek out the agencies. Joanna was able to find work and after completing her degree, she was able to take a job at American Eagle. During the time had Joanna being offered the job and the few months it had taken for her to complete her degree, the brand had grown from a small business with just a few designers, to a huge company with multiple offices and a huge design work force. This job created a huge amount of opportunities for her. Joanna invested all her free time into the company, researching things that she thought were going to be huge future trends. Her work was recognised by the company and they created a trend forcasting job, which before, the company did not have. Her work allowed her to move back to London, forcasting colours, fabrics and themes for Topman and other Archedia companies, New Look men, Calvin Klein men's wear.
Joanna took a huge risk moving back to Newcastle to set up her own Trend Forcasting company but since 2007, she gone from running a small website in her flat, to a multinational company that supplies trend forcasting books for the fashion industry, car manufacturers, interior design companies and supermarkets.
Joanna's presentation about her life and her company seemed an impossible story and was such an inspiring talk. She made us realise that it doesn't matter where you live, you can still be just as successful as if you had been working in London, New York or Paris. She also allowed us to view her children's trend book and her home trend book, which sell between £800 and £2000. We were lucky enough to hear about her new trends, 'Voyager, Libertine, Collector and Epicurean'.
She explained that trend forcasting can be self taught, which for a fashion designer, can be a great skill. From her presentation, I have taken her advice to look for trends emerging in street fashion and in other industries, not just the fashion industry. Art and Design exhibitions, every day news, science, food and automotive industries are just some of the things I will research to pick out developing trends.

Colin Reid

We were lucky enough for designer Colin Reid to come and speak to us. Starting his career young, and being fortunate enough to grow up in Hawick, home of Pringle Scotland. He began an apprentiship in the factory, developing his knowledge in the manufacturing of fine fabrics. He then went on to translating designs into patterns for manufacturing. From this understanding, he was able to build up his portfolio, which he presented to the company. He was then offered the job of designing for the Pringle Golf line. After earning his degree in fashion from Kingston University, he moved to New York where he worked with Donna Karen, designing for DKNY men's wear range. From this experience, he was offered an interview with Calvin Klein and went on to help rebrand the company, including the CK logo. After 12 years in USA designing for numerious red carpet celebrities such as Liv Tyler and Gweneth Paltro, Colin moved back to the UK and is currently taking the time to work on his own cashmere line.
His work has allowed him to travel the world and meet the most prestigious people in the fashion industry and the presentation he gave was very inspiring. After his talk he saw each member of the class individually and allowed us to talk through our final major project ideas. His enthuiasm for the subject I chose gave me the confidence to really get into the research and design aspect of the project.

Final Major Project!
For my FMP, I have looked at events happening over this year and next. With Britain hosting the 2012 Olympics, Royal weddings and anniversaries, I feel that 'Britishness' will become a major trend. I have decided to concentrate upon the very British past time of tea.




I have used the tea cup shape to influence the silhouette and the floral detailing on china cups as inspiration for print and embroidery details on my garments.














This is some designer research on Wunderkind. I love their use of fabric prints in their Spring 2010 collection. The colours are fresh with essence of vintage and nostalgia.















I have developed my initial designs from thumbnail flats to full oufits. I have used water colour pencils, an HB pencil and aqua markers in dusky pinks, rosy pinks, sky blues and neutral tea shades to give an idea of the colour scheme and overall feel of my collection. I have added silk dupion, fine silk organza and chiffon to the fabric box, again to help give an idea of the drape and styling of the collection.






Final line ups. I wanted to create a collection that is fresh and youthful, with pieces that can be dressed up with expensive vintage accessories for nights out drinking cocktails with friends and dressed down with your favorite flat shoes for warm summer evenings in the park.








The fabrics for this collection are light and sheer; chiffon, organza and light cotton jersey. Silk dupion is to be used for pieces needing a little more structure, for example, the dress with the structured silhouette (left) and the fitted dress (above). The floral detail is to be printed, then a machine embroidered outline added to create a more personal, hand made quality to the garments.









I have looked at accessories to go with my collection. I have designed a range of tea cup shoes, complete with handle and teabag.