Tangent Issue Four- Digitopia

Digitopia is my latest styling venture for Tangent Magazine and although there were no real people the principles were exactly the same.
This project went through many stages of creative conversation before it eventually came to life. There were changes in approach, changes in story board but at the end of the day the objective was always the same to create an artistic shoot, that lept off the page, featuring the best of the best in Digital Prints from SS1011 and equally vivacious accessories.
The process of bringing it to life went something like this...First there was the process of selecting the dynamic prints that would be the second skin of the beautiful figures drawn by Annika Wester and then there was the all encompassing task of finding the accessories to make a truly 'psychedelic' look- as per the brief.Finally Tangents very talented art director Lloyd McAlister and I sat down to the chore of putting it all together et voila!It was a great project to be apart of and the outcome well...it speaks for itself.

To see Tangent Digital Unlimited Issue Four in Full go to http://tangentmag.com/fashion-magazine/tangent02.html

Mouring the Magic

This week when I was asked to write the couture wrap up for Tangent, the very thing that normally fills me with butterflies and gets me chatting away like a nutter, I'm so inspired, my mouth went a little dry....what was I going to say?

Last week I blogged about the opening show, Christian Dior, which had the aforementioned positive affect on me. After that I went strangely silent no? Well that wasn't the end of the goosebumps but they were few and far between.

The Givenchy show had by far the most "paralyzingly amazed" effect on me. Every dress carved the body (literally) in detail. Lace, satin, silk, porcelain and pearl and crystal beading created their own skeleton on top of a skeleton. The collection managed to surpass the gothic notion that could easily have enveloped it and instead settled somewhere in the realms of ethereal beauty. 

The other show that awed me was Mr. Invisible, Maison Martin Margiela and again it was the detail that got me. Recycled lizard, snake and crocodile clutches dismantled and patched together into whole garments. Genius. The effect was a coarsely captivating textural collage of detail.

And the rest well this is the part that leaves my mouth dry...the rest was little more than amazing ready to wear. Beautiful tailoring, a few flurries of extravagance, a little bit of theatricality, but nothing to leave you weak at the knees.

The couture runways are something I look forward to like many others as a chance to be inspired by the awesome power of the human imagination, to be awe-struck by the detail and care that is so absent in our fast paced lives today, to be wooed by romance, to be transported to another world where the magic that flowed within us so freely as children is a real life force at work again. Needless to say this couture lover was more than a little disappointed.
Read my full wrap up here

My very own love affair with Mrs. Jones

A few months ago I stumbled across an article about London designer Fee Doran and her charismatic wearable costume/couture label.
The article was discussing the iconic costumes she had created for big name musicians including Duran Duran, Madonna, Kylie Minogue, The Scissor Sisters, The Killers and many more. It also unveiled her collection for Oxfam and I thought anyone who can make such artistic yet wearable and totally left of centre stylish garments from people's left overs is someone worth finding out more about!
This week I shared what I found out about Fee Doran with Tangent Magazine. We discussed everything from her latest collections and collaborations to her own outrageous style and her child hood hero Mr. Benn.
This was an education itself, being before my time, I had never heard of this imaginary little man and his fantastic costume inspired adventures, but now that I have I think I kind of idolize him too.
Fee's charismatic charm is as overt as her designs. She is certainly a lady to look up to in terms of creativity, personality and a fearless expression of both.
Read my full article here

Floral magic at Dior

I couldn't let this show slide by without publicly expressing my love for it. Diors Fall haute couture collection was ironically the spirit of spring. Girls appeared on the runway looking like lavish bouquets of colourful blooms in every colour and size.
Galliano's colour palate was superior to that of mother nature herself, dresses and skirts were imbued with graphic floral prints or soft graduating rainbows of colour.
The Dior runway was like a prism in the sunlight, each piece generated it's own dizzying pattern of colours creating a hypnotizing effect.
Skirts shaped like tulips wafted out onto the runway stealing the show from the signature Dior silhouettes.
Raffia belts tied it all up and milliner Stephen Jones topped the look off with head gear reminiscent of florists wrapping.
The whole show was like a wonderland of floral magic, a true vision of beauty, just as fashion should always be.
Dior will be a hard act to follow this season!

Image Source http://www.style.com/fashionshows/complete/F2010CTR-CDIOR?page=2