LFW

Everyone's favourite event in the fashion calendar has finally arrived...

---> Maria Grochvogel.
Beautifully crisp and loose chiffon and silk fabrics draped into a wide variety of jumpsuits and dresses. Cool and elegant for SS13 in the common neutral palette of Spring/Summer.


---> Corrie Neilson.
Showcasing her great shaping ability, creating almost couture-esque garments made of sugary tones. Slight reference to Dior's New Look, with the padded skirts at the waist, exaggerating the waist definition. Jungle and water influences were apparent throughout the show. For me, a little too couture to be R-T-W.


---> Jean-Pierre Braganza.
After a successful blag, we managed to get into the actual show rather than being stuck in the canon cinema room. Braganza collaborated with Ukranian ethno-modern artist Zinaida Lihacheva for this collection and they're passions for dark symbolism was noticeable in his SS13 designs. The clothes had organic swashes of inky blue, black and vivd turquoise prints based on Lihacheva's designs and perfectly complimented the sand and white sensual drapes of the garments.


Fashion Week just wouldn't be the same without the fashion pack displaying some great street style.

pretty loubs.

As my best friend is obsessed with Louboutins it seemed appropriate to visit his exhibition at the Design Museum in London for her birthday. Would I personally buy Louboutins? No. They're too dainty and drenched in sexual burlesque innuendos for me, I'm more of a practical boyish boot kinda gal. But I do think Louboutins are incredibly beautiful creations and he is an immensely talented man with great vision.
The format of the exhibition mimicked his aesthetic brilliantly, hidden entrances, red cushions, burlesque mannequins amongst the entertaining environment of a circus theme. The 3D projection of a Louboutin shoe changed hourly to Dita Von Teese performing a burlesque dance, emphasising the cheeky and sexy nature of the shoes themselves.
The information boards surrounding the exhibition showed the thoughts of the man behind the shoes, how he cleverly incorporates sophistication into his designs rather than being overly brash and forcefully sexual, using delicate skin toned mesh and lace to create an illusion of transparency that is untouchable. The fetish room also showcased his unstoppable vision, with impractical shoes being created under the heading "foot fetish". These shoes were literally a work of art, unwearable but with a strong message about the pain we put ourselves through for beauty and the obsessive nature that shoes possess.
I highly recommend a visit.

Postmodernism: Style and Subversion 1970-1990

 I've recently become hooked on graphic design and magazines such as The Face and i-D are becoming my go-to source of inspiration. 

The exhibition displayed the history of post-modernism, demonstrating the unstable mix of theatrical and theoretical, like a broken mirror reflecting many segments. Post-mod was meant to resist authority and present a radical freedom to the concept of design. 

Many interpretations were present, from Alessandro Mendini 1974 destruction of the Monumentino da Casa, to Tandanori Yokoo's great mirror of the dance as an immolative sacrifice poster in 1968. 

The ingredients to post-mod were obvious: high classicism and "low" popular culture. There is no single strategy that combines post-mod together, creating that sense of bewilderment and interest.

Strada Novissima street style, Apocolypse Now, Memphsis, Studio Alchymia were all featured throughout this exhibition.

A post-mod exhibition could not be complete without reference to the 1980's, deemed the "New Wave" of post-mod. Vivid colour, glossy surfaces, subversive statements with commercial appeal, post punk subculture aired through music videos; it was all featured.

It was great to see Boy George, Grace Jones, David Bowie and Laurie Anderson's work being admired, instead of being dismissed.

 In the words of Charles Jenicks referral to the death of post-mod;

"After all, since it is fairly dead, we might as well enjoy picking over the corpse."

Let's hope it's a pretty big corpse.