The Fashion Issue

I'm sure you'll aware of the (sydney) magazine, it comes out monthly with the Sydney Morning Herald is full of everything interesting and current that's going on in and around Sydney. Well with Australian Fashion Week upon us, the April edition is of course the 'Fashion Issue' as all things in Sydney tend to get around this time of year. Normally I find these big newspaper publications take on the 'world of fashion' kind of naff and uninteresting, but this issue is actually quite good and full of fun interviews and finds on fashion must haves around Sydney.

Take their Hole in the Wall feature - each month they find a little known place that's meant to be one of Sydney's best kept secrets and do a small profile on it. This month they feature Ravish Designs in Linfield. a tiny middle eastern themed shop that sells jewellery from Israel. Owner Jacqui Landis has a love affair with the country and imports jewellery from several Israeli designers, lots of silver bracelets and pearl necklaces she says. I love finding little out of the way shops that specialise in interesting things like this.

The other article i found great was 'Cool Customers' which is tells us 'everything we want to know about Sydney Style by some of our most stylish people'. its meant to give us insider tips on where to be 'fashionable' and this is what i mean when i say they stories are sometimes naff, because the mostly direct these fashion stories to people who know nothing about fashion. BUT i think the interviews with Renee Anne, an artist and illustrator and director of an online vintage clothing boutique, and Kirrily Johnston are a fun look into the personalities of the people we see in fashion. there isnt anything ground breaking in these interviews but they do provide a good little look into where they get some of their inspiration and style from in Sydney.

Anyway check it out, its worth a read on a saturday morning with a nice cup of tea!

Frock Stars

The Powerhouse Museum is hosting is an exhibition which is coinciding with Australia Fashion Week called Frock Stars: Inside Australian Fashion Week. Curator Glynis Jones has put together a 'theatrical and experimental ' exhibition, in which visitors get an inside look into all the goings on of fashion week. With interactive elements including a catwalk you can walk on, a front row you can sit in with audio (the closest I'll be getting to a front row anytime soon) and archival footage of fashion weeks past. Jones has selected one outfit from each year to feature on the centrepiece catwalk to display the most amazing garments from a huge selection of designers.

The exhibition runs from April 22 to August 29 and I hope to try and see it next week. I will take a heap of photo and post all about it, and I'm very excited to see it!!!

Jersey Jersey

So, after some loooong draping sessions and playing with a whole lot of different fabrics, I have decided that jersey is going to be KEY in my collection. Don't picture a whole range of plain jersey dresses coming down the runway cause that wont be it, but imagine a mix of soft modal jerseys and stiff cotton drills and silks mixed together is unexpected ways, and because of my obsession with drape and all things feminine, it works perfectly. I just like the way jersey can fall around the body to create the most flattering shapes but at the time can be stretched and fitted to hug it in other places. anyway enough about that. I have pulled some interesting pieces from collections that use jersey in both traditional and also unusual ways!

Bottega Veneta - Fall 2010

Junya Watanabe - Fall 2008

Stephen Burrows - Fall 2010

Doo.Ri - Spring 2009

Gucci - Resort 2007

Calvin Klein -Spring 2006

Constell-ation

Constell-ation by Stinne Bo Krogh from S Magazine No. 10

Shapes and lines that form from the naked body

Another video

I found this video when I searching for some recording of McQueen's Spring 2001 show and came across this very intimate and detailed interview with him, just after he showed his Spring/Summer 2010 collection, and after I watched all 3 of them (they run for half an hour so i wont post them all), aside from remembering what a genius he was, I found them actually really helpful for the process of creating my own collection. His process for creating collections and the research and thought that goes into the entire journey is one that any fashion designer can learn from. From the woman he has in mind when designing, to how he pushes his own ideas past where they can go, they are all things I'm going to try and think about when creating my own collection. Hopefully I'll create things as amazing as he did - one can only dream....

A White Story

I found this editorial on the amazing site Paper Mode, which brings together all the best editorials from the best fashion magazines across globe.

Clean, pure and feminine the all white shoot captures a mood of innocence and beauty with a ghostly appeal. The mix of soft cottons with stiff tulles and the structured elements work in sync with the draped pieces. The styling is close to the type of aesthetic I want to have for my collection look book.

Sasha Pivovarova and Guinevere Van Seeus By Paola Roversi for Italian Vouge April 2010

Social Media Revolution

For an explosion of facts on the growing popularity of social media, its pretty unbelievable! I know its not directly related to fashion, but as a person who ultimately wants to run her own business its important to know where to market yourself.

The Personality Test!

This week we had a guest lecturer by the name of Kate Vandermeer! Kate is the genius behind iSpyStyle.net, a great website that connects fashion and industry. I have heard her lecture once before at Fashion Palette in 2009 so i have to admit I was excited to be able to talk with her in a more personal tutorial where we could ask questions and pick her brain!

Anyway, aside from giving us a good idea of what to expect when we graduate and how we can use the whole social media thing to promote ourselves once we leave, she also gave us a personality test.. sounds kind of scary but its not. just 53 questions about the way we deal with things in work and life, thinks like how much do you try to consider other peoples opinions when working etc. The results let us known where we sat in 6 different categories.
1. Introvert or extrovert
2. Approach
3.Flexibility
4. Creativity
5. Planning
6. Initiative

My personal results were surprising and there were some areas in which I thought I would sit but ended up being on the other end of spectrum. The point of the test was to see which work environment we would be best suited to working at, whether it be a big company with a lot or staff, a smaller business or working for yourself. I found out things that I might not have necessarily thought for myself so it was an worthwhile process!

so if you ever get a chance to go and listen to Kate Vandermeer speak OR do a personality test, I'd recommend both!

Through the Walls

Bruno Pieters - Spring/Summer 2010 Ad Campaign

Minimalist yet highly feminine design matched with creative simple photography.

http://www.fashionising.com/pictures/s--Bruno-Pieters-SpringSummer-2010-Ad-Campaign-with-Iekeliene-Stange-4740-1.html

S Magazine

I have found a new love in the form of S magazine. I know I might be slow on this bandwagon but this magazine is amazing! It comes up out once a season, stacked full of fashion and art editorials and some really interesting features..It has some strong nudity but its obsession with the body and realness of the people it photographs is enticing to look at. I think it has even more relevance to me at the moment given the concept for my collection, looking at the naked body and the natural shapes thats it forms and different ways its represented visually.

To quote the their website:

'S Magazine exists you like photographs of people, because fashion and art to you, mostly involve the human form. Because right now, more than anything you need to start into someones eyes, get lost in there hair, follow the lines of their body, long to hold them. You love the honesty and ecstasy of our photographers and their models. You love the physical, figrative, sensual, sculptural and carnal innovators that we present -- the actors, designers, artists, filmmakers, musicians etc. You are part of the world of S Magazine because you think as we do; you'd glad for being alive and being the person to which you've grown, always growing'

I could go on because there is so much to say about this magazine, but I wont, I'll just show you why I love it.

Images from smagazine.com

Old to New

The time has come to really start designing this collection and this to me, is always an intimidating process as I find hard to just to open up my pad and start sketching looks for the collection. We were given another option however to come up with silhouettes and designs in a way that I found to be most helpful!
Old to New!
I went to Vinnies to find a whole heaps of old clothes, some were in fabrics or shapes that I want to use in my collection, others were just totally random pieces that I thought would be interesting to use. I then played with and draped these garments on the stand to create new shapes and silhouettes. Using garments in ways you wouldn't think of, like upside down backwards jackets as skirts and shirts cut in half to make jackets lets you come up with ideas that you wouldn't even think of when drawing. The day was long and there were times I thought I wasn't coming up with anything that would be of any use to my collection but when I got home and printed out the photos and started sketching ideas on top of the drapes, I became inspired by the shapes that I saw.
You wont be lucky enough to see these drapes on this blog because to anyone else they mostly look like a jumble of fabric, but I found this technique hugely helpful in starting the process of designing and will keep doing this when I get stuck for new ideas!

on another note..

I'm not going to lie, this is kind of random, but just whilst browsing booooooom I came across this pretty amazing little hat, its a bum bag and a hat in one = genius. If I only my brain had a little zip bag like this that I could fill up with everything that I love so it was all there at the ready, instead of being pushed out by all the other thoughts in my head that come and go on a daily basis.

Oh Stella.

This week I was made to think about about who I would consider to be my mentors or who would I choose to by my mentor if I could have ANYONE in the world. Coming up with my list of 6 was an interesting process as it made me think about the people who I look to the most for inspiration and vision when designing. One person who I didn't need to think about for a second was Stella McCartney. Her clean, feminine and sophisticated aesthetic is somewhere I could only hope to be in the future. She made it very clear in her very first collection with Chloe that she wasn't just there because of her last name and since then has gone on to become, i think, one of the best womenswear designs out of London in a long time. Her designs are so clean and minimal and she always knows how to make a women feel totally comfortable in the clothing she designs. One of my favourite collections of hers in recent years has to be the 2009 Spring/Summer. The basic colour palette of nudes, blues and blacks worked perfectly with her sexy sharp designs..

I would give an arm and a leg and probably a lot more to spend just ONE day in her studio watching her work!

Images from Style.com

Puriste de la mode

Madeline Vionnet - a pioneer of the bias cut and art the draping, she was responsible for the transformation of the female silhouette in the early 1900's, she was a revolutionary designer and is still making an impact on the world of fashion design today.

When researching her work further for my dissertation I discovered that there recently was an exhibition held in her honour at Les Arts Decoratifs in Paris and whilst I'm about 2 months too late and about $2000 short of a plane ticket to Paris (it was held from June 2009 to Jan 2010) I have still spent a few too many hours pouring through the catalogue of the exhibition, being inspired by her amazing garments and beautifully feminine details. She has been credited with the 'emancipation of the female body' which is a key element of what I hope to do in my own collection.

Images from NYT - www.nyt.com/slideshow/2009/

Beauty is a Joy Forever

This image is also from Elle Collections Spring/Summer 2010 Magazine (my favourite round up of everything and anything from the new season). The image itself is pretty plain but its the message at the botton that I relate to.

It pretty much sums up how I would like my designs to be perceived and is pretty much what I am aim for in everything I design.

'A thing of beauty is a joy forever; simple, stripped-down style'