Goodone - London Fashion Week -Estethica London Fashion Week

I enjoyed talking to Goodone founder Nin Castle at London fashion week last Tuesday.

It was at the end of the day and we had been wanting to find the Anatomy stand in the Ethethica zone of the LFW exhibition and literally stubbled upon the Goodone stand.

I discovered that Nin had studied Textiles at Brighton College of Technology, the same place as me except I studied Graphic design.

She graduated in 2002 and has been a true pioneer in sustainable fashion since. Basing her degree show collection on the sustainable textile concept she got little or no support from her tutors, more to do with the fact that this quest was new and previously unexplored territory Nin tactfully said. Through shear determination and persistence she sourced suppliers of recycled fabric for her collection and fashion brand that has followed.

This seasons collection has a sporty feel, is body conscious, modern and very flattering to the female form creating a sexy silhouette. What is impressive is it is a cool brand, the fact that it is ethical makes one question why can't more fashion retailers do this.

Goodone proves that there has to be absolutely no compromise on style to be ethical.

check out www.goodone.co.uk

Sia Dimitriadi - London Fashion Week

I met Sia Dimitriadi on the first day of London Fashion Week and was immediately drawn to her stand. The pretty ruffles and flounce with frills create an alluring feminine silhouette which is very eye catching.

I discovered that she is based in Nicosia in Cyprus and has a studio of seamstresses busy beavering away creating her designs to order.

Sia launched her label in 2006 and is impressively a self- taught designer.

The collection is girlie but with a grown up and knowing sophistication.

At first glance and if you didn't take the time to look properly you could be forgiven for thinking Sia's collection was for lingerie market. Infact as Nick and I were chatting to her two Italian Lingerie buyers sped past stopping for a moment to give her their card!!

Sia uses mostly silk to create her designs of gorgeous frothy, flouncy, frilly and very feminine clothes.

Her winter collection is black and her summer collection pastels.

I went back to see Sia on the Tuesday of London fashion week with my colleague Nick Lodge a web site designer to see whether she needed any help defining her brand more effectively on the web. We will be putting some concepts together for her to look at and see how it goes from there. We believe she has a great look that if styled and photographed with a more everyday edge can really go places. watch this space.

Sia's summer colours

Sia at London Fashion week February 2010

Georgia Hardinge at LFW

These two hard working girls Sara and Saskia are in Paris at the moment with Georgia Hardinge having done the week in London. The piece they are standing next to got a lot of media attention. check out www.georgiahardinge.blogspot.com for more info - her web site is under reconstruction at the moment. A sexy and innovative collection.

London Fashion week - Fiona Paxton Accessories

Fiona Paxton's accessories caught my eye to be honest because of the way one of her team had styled herself wearing a piece with a simple stripy T shirt.

I thought this looked really accessible and easy to wear as an everyday item. I like this contrast, it looks cool.

Fiona Paxton trained at the Royal College of Art in 1992 and launched this collection in 2008 after many years gained working in the fashion industry.

www.fiona-paxton.com

The Beautiful City of London

These are quick snaps I took, there are lots more interesting side roads to explore. The weekend is quiet in the City so it is an ideal place to do a shoot. However for obvious security reasons commercial companies need to get authorization from the local authority. The juxtaposition of old and new is great and shows how the city and London has evolved.

Leadenhall market (photo below) in the city was used in the harry Potter films regularly.

Location Ideas in London - City of London near bank Station

Before I show case some of the designers we saw on Tuesday at LFW I will do a feature on 'location ideas for fashion shoots'.

One of my students has just finished an internship with Mathew Williamson and wants to do her final project (a brand campaign) on his AW 2010 collection show cased this week at LFW. She loved working for him and had an amazing time this week. She watched his show then went to the after show party at the Ivy rubbing shoulders with Twiggy, Sienna Millar and many other icons of fashion. She had worked really hard with the rest of the team and clearly Mathew Williamson knows how to look after his staff. They had a brilliant time.

Mathew Williamson's new collection is one of his most sophisticated and grown up to date. Gone is the Boho look that made his name. Designers need to develop and evolve if they are to maintain their slot at the top.

I suggested that the City of London would be a good location for a shoot. It epitomizes London.

The MW label is very much British brand and like Burberry it is something to be proud of.

The mix of historical and Modern architecture, the wide street and interesting sky lines all make the City a very interesting place visually.

I have used The Savoy, The Portman hotel (modern Art Deco) and The Hyde Park, which have some great suites with good light and depth of field. Generally the management is reluctant to let the hotel lobby or reception area be used because it is such a busy area which is a shame as these areas can be the most interesting.

Here is the Threadneedle hotel I stayed in last week owned by the Eton Group of hotels situated near bank station in the City. It used to be a Victorian bank and was redeveloped into a 5 star hotel by CA Design who incidentally are working on a new hotel in Berners street to be called very originally The Berners! opposite The Sanderson hotel in London.

I loved this dome which let in lots of light.

The reception though lovely is a bit cluttered and would be a problem because of this.

Generally if you are going to use a quiet area off the main reception the hotel if you pay are accommodating.

I will take a look at the City of London streets near Bank Tube next...... watch this space

London Fashion Week - Day 4

I went to London Fashion Week again yesterday with my colleague Nik Lodge a Fashion web site designer.

The rain didn't dampen our enthusiasm for all things fashion where we met new and established designers. Finding the people we wanted to meet was somewhat of a challenge we travailed through the various maze like labyrinth of blocks and corridors that make up the exhibition spaces of Somerset House. We wanted to talk to Anatomy in space 54 and it took us all day to work out where that was and then discovered we had walked past it twice during the day! It wasn't only us that found the lay out confusing many of the exhibitors had said that buyers had also found it a difficult venue to navigate.

We were given Champagne and canapes in the estethica section of the exhibition ( sponsored by Monsoon) where Harold Tilman and environment Minister Dan Morris made a presentation praising the work of the ethical group of designers and pledging continued support from the government and the British Fashion Council.

Ethethica is about providing retailers with a choice and the continued success of this scheme is that more and more retailers and media are making the choice and show case ethical fashion when the product is right.

What people want is great style and clothes that make them look great. None of the designers we met in Ethethica wanted to preach about ethical choices. Their aim is to provide great fashion that as a bonus makes us feel good as well as look good with out compromising on style and quality.

We saw everyone from shoe and bag designer Patrick Cox and Hat designer Stephen Jones to as I said the Estethica group of designers and also main stream emerging brands.

We saw so many designers that I will have to edit down those I feature here to the one we felt were the best of the bunch, not an easy job.........

Fabulous Jewelry - Jacey Withers at London Fashion Week

Check out Jacey Withers collection of hand crafted bespoke jewelry. The detail and quality of each piece is exquisite.

He crafts his designs using semi- precious stones such as spider web jasper, smokey quartz, onyx, aragonite and metallic rough cut pyrite on silver.

The call of the wild is his inspiration this season. Wild animals such as wolves, raccoons, leaping snow hares and eagles adorn his timeless pieces.

His signature piece is the pack of wolves necklace - see below

He designed and launched his first collection in 2002 and has worked along side various fashion designers and established stylists over the years.

Cheryl Cole is one amongst many high profile customers and fans of his work.

www.jaceywithers.com

London Fashion Week - Holly Fulton

A buyer surveying her collection

Really liked the boldness of Holly Fultons Art deco inspired designs -

I am hoping that one of my students will do a brand promotion project using her great designs.....

Sarah Brown- London Fashion week

We were impressed with how unfrumpy sarah Brown is in the flesh, TV does not do her justice. She is tall and looked really elegant, it was refreshing to see, especially as her husband is not the most charismatic of people!

LFW Interesting Accessory designers

Here is Ginta, the designer showing us how to wear and style ourselves in her creations -

I like red on red but a contrast also looks good, white on a black is lovely too, would also look good under a white blouse so the design shows behind etc

Apparently her style is very popular in Italy.

Would be wonderful to use as accessories in an editorial fashion shoot.

Ginta

Really like these flower necklaces and variety of accessories. Very pretty and unusual. These are all made in London. www.ginta.co.uk

Kron and Kron shoes

Like Marmite you will either love these shoes or hate them - I like the fact that they are so different, that they are fussy and frilly. A modern day Marie Antoinette look. They are also very rock and roll, I can see Gwen Stephani wearing these. The likes of us can wear them as a true accessory with black tights, black skirt and top, your clothes should not compete too much with these shoes. Let them do the talking and the walking!

www.kron.com 350 euro

London Fashion Week - Caroline Charles Autumn Winter 2010

What a great day we had at London Fashion week. The Caroline Charles show was excellent.

Everyone must check out her show on the LFW web site.

I have more talented designers to tell you about watch this space...

can't wait to show you the hotel I stayed in that evening, a great location for a fashion shoot, photos will follow. Have a shoot planned there already......

Met up with two ex students Kiki and Michael on the way to the show. They came on my Art direction for Fashion course last summer 2009 - were great students and are very keen to get involved with the Fashion industry - Today were working hard showing guests to the shows and exhibition. Great to see them.....

A Lady Gaga look alike being interviewed for a TV show - check out the shoulder pad detail !

People signed the Alexander McQueen Tribute cards and put them on the board - very moving to see the messages - so sad .....

Waiting patiently in line.......

Whilst waiting in the queue I met a student from Middlesex university studying fashion Promotion, she had got quite a few show invites, was very organized, she will go far....

Sat next to a lovely lady we got talking to when looking for a seat, turned out she was Caroline Charles cousin. Caroline's two sisters in laws then joined us sitting in front of us on the front row. We had great seats. Noticed one space was cleared in front of us and wondered why.

The show was already half an hour late starting - when we saw who filled the seat we knew why! Manners prevented me from tapping Hilary Alexander on the shoulder and giving her my blog card! Wish I had now - Liked her chinese jacket -

Hilary Alexander rushed in to sit down on the front row in front of us

The sixties inspired black and white check shift dress with black polo reminded me 1960s film footage of Vanessa Redgrave in the Film Blow up - fabulous. This reflects Caroline Charles impressive fashion heritage. Caroline was part of this influential design era and unlike Quant, Biba and Ozzie Clarke is still very much on the scene.

she says about her collection.....

“The icon is always Audrey Hepburn. Elegant and self-assured. The autumn/winter 2010 collection is inspired by my days spent in Venice and Istanbul and their hand-embroidered, beaded pieces to treasure. The shapes will be modern with intricate details that wrap and layer. Fabrics range from cashmere weaves and silk paisleys to Fairisle knits and soft suedes, all in edible colours (olive, chocolate, saffron, cream, liquorice and plum).”

I loved the Autumn Winter 2010 Caroline Charles Show - It was a feast for the eyes and left us wanting more.

In particular I liked the beaded evening dresses inspired by her time in Istanbul. This dress reminded me of a Klimt painting - the colours were devine.