Giles Deacon and Phoebe Philo do the Honours at St Martins BA Graduate fashion show 2013 last night

Phoebe Philo handing out awards to Mao Usami who won the L'Oreal Professional Award

Grayson Perry in green arriving before the show...in a rather dashing dress of his own print design 

Central Saint Martins Class of 2013 BA Hons

My iphone was good ! however  to see clearer versions see Vogue's by clicking here...
http://www.vogue.co.uk/news/2013/05/29/central-saint-martins-graduate-show---csm-winner-mao-usami-collection-pictures/gallery/979686

Vogue formed one small part of the high profile press coverage last night covering the Central St Martins BA Hons Graduate FASHION Degree show. Please remember this was not the MA which is so famous and mentored by Louise Wilson. Her MA prodigy are show cased at London Fashion Week in September each year...and has launched the careers of Stella McCartney, Phoebe Philo, Alexander McQueen, John Galliano, Giles Deacon, Matthew Williamson, Christopher Kane to name but a few!! - 
Last nights show in Central Saint Martins the Cathedral of fashion education was fabulously diverse and extraordinarily sophisticated. An impressive show case for this BA Hons class of 2013 though one step before Louise Wilson's hallowed door.  These students are the next generation of international fashion talent, carefully selected by St Martins - they are the new Generation of conceptual fashion innovators .....so conceptual that one student Carrie Ann Stein used the shape, form and graphics of a stamped 'snail mail' letter as inspiration and paraded her models up and down the runway in various versions of this communication form!
The young designer that stood out for me was Cassandra Verity Green.....a stand out aspect of her show was her quirky gold fish hand bag, her look had a sexy feminine silhouette with the selective use of bright colours and slinky textures.......

Giles Deacon was master of ceremony and Phoebe Philo handed out the awards. A slicker fold up speech by Giles Deacon where he reiterated his afore mentioned admiration for all their hard work and talent would have been nice.... the show ended abruptly without more clapping! ......I have also pondered whether perhaps there could have been more promotion and press for the designers - a possible idea for helping identification would be maybe for the first model from each collection to hold up a flag with the designers name in a generic type face/ brand logo to make it easier for the press to remember their names, especially as the acoustics in the cavernous hall is spongy for microphone users....overall though very impressive and a standard bearer .....

copy and photos schelay

Celebrating 40 Years of Colour & Culture at Cosmetics á la Carte

Cutting the edge of beauty. Monolithe 111. Lady Gaga by Alex Nobel. Inspired by Flush Blush and Bubble gum lip gloss worn by the pop star on BBC breakfast news.

Articles and photographs feature in the history section 

The Gallery was swarming with people keen to try out the Cosmetics a La Carte collection

The exhibition on until the 26th May at 50 Redchurch street London E2 7DP is divided into 4 sections starting with the history section and is well worth a visit...

Co founder of Cosmetics a la carte here featured centre...

It all started with one idea: “Find your look and be fabulous”. Forty years on, Cosmetics á la Carte still focuses on this female empowerment. Only this time its journey to the forefront of the beauty industry has been rolled out for all to see.

40 Years of Colour & Culture at Cosmetics á la Carte is a retrospective of the brand which includes some celebrity defining products. This includes the Kate Moss Lip Gloss which contains 24 carat gold pieces and the first ever foundation for black skin, which was designed for singer Grace Jones. But don't be fooled, this is no pop-up makeup counter. The exhibition starts with the brand's history then blurs the boundaries between make-up and art.

Curator Ryan Lanji is known for this style and in this retrospective the products are used as a source of inspiration. The flush blush and bubblegum lipgloss worn by Lady Gaga along with Princess Diana's favourite nude toast lipgloss are transformed into sculptured pieces created by Alex Noble.

For Cosmetics á la Carte co-founder Lynne Sanders, it hardly feels like 40 years.

“I had no idea until Ryan started his investigation into my history that (I realised) what exactly we have been a part of. I am amazed, pleased, really flattered and I really feel like it was a really great way to celebrate the 40th birthday.”

Today, the beauty industry follows what Cosmetics á la Carte forged - that women want to test beauty products privately. And while some say they led the industry in that regard, now the pressure is on to stay ahead. Not that Lynne Sanders is expecting to slow down.

“It's a work in progress. I wish I could say that one day I will retire but I really don't think I am into retirement. I want to make sure that it's in good shape to go forward. We have to grow from being a tiny company into something that is more sustainable without me. We need to get bigger premises, we need to get an understudy for me so that I can have a holiday!”

While the shop at 16 Motcomb Street houses this brand's beginnings, bigger windows could be on the horizon. If that's the case, this could be one of many retrospectives for Britain's first bespoke beauty brand.

40 Years of Colour & Culture at Cosmetics á la Carte is on display at The Gallery 50 Redchurch Street, London E2 7DP. May 21-26. 10am – 6pm daily. www.galleryinredchurchstreet.com/whats-on.php

Thank you to Kirsty Bennett - fashiontent's guest writer who covered the Private view /Press event for me last night. I have a black eyeliner pen from the Cosmetics a la Carte range, it is brilliant to use as it is so easy to apply and dosn't smudge at all.... 
Copy and Photos by Kirsty Bennett 2013

Tortured Soles exhibition in Frith Street - Thought provoking and clever !

This light hearted exhibition was a feast for the eye and cleverly conceived by Anne Tilby.
Taking the shoe and using it as a canvas to make a statement on politics, and the fashion victimisation of it's form with the evidential use of  the shoe itself in the subjugation of women is long overdue ...

Anne Tilby being interviewed for the Daily Mail

Anne at her exhibition in Frith Street - 

Yanky Dollar - the image inside the show says it all !

Walking on egg shells....right

'Miss Piggy'

Hair today gone tomorrow !

Anne Tilby has a very distinctive style, her take on things always has an unusual and ecclectic visual outcome. Highly sought after as a set designer  for stage and film Anne is well known for thinking outside the box. I really hope that this exhibition does what it has sought to do which is to make people look at the shoe in a different way and question some of the more ridiculous vertiginous styles which are showing no sign of disappearing from the catwalk each season. Women are crippling themselves wearing them and doing untold damage to their feet. This image by Richard Avedon for me sums up what the perfect fashion shoe should be - pretty , sexy and COMFORTABLE enough to dance in !!

Copy and Photography - Schelay McCarter

Tortured Soles - exhibition of unwearable and thought provoking shoes 14th May - 7th June

Anne Tilby has put her natural creative talent to great use here with her wonderful and thought provoking exhibition of unwearable shoe designs.... come and take a look ...

Student work - 'Generation Phoenix' editorial shoot Menswear for ID magazine

The Magazine ID cover design - using the the photography taken on my course.

Below is the idea generating process the students with my guidance went through. 

The team after visiting 'Top Man' to select the clothes they wanted to style for the shoot. 

Menswear is very creative and somewhat neglected in fashion. The girls wanted to develop the trend of 'Geek Chic' further but with a political message, making a point about the generation that is picking up the pieces after the banking crisis mess that has effected economic stability in Europe. Hence the name 'Generation Phoenix', literally rising from the ashes with their cup half full not empty !

Photographer choice 1 

Photographer choice 2 

Model choice 1 ( friend of one of the team )

Model choice 2 ( Colin Farrell look alike model, keen to do the shoot as he had very little in his book )

location, crop and pose board

location, crop and pose board

location, crop and pose board

location, crop and pose board

location, crop and pose board

location, crop and pose board

Styling board

The Fashion shoot took place at Granary Road, St Martins using the wide open industrial minimalist space of the new building to give a raw, rough, textured feel to the shoot. 

The girls took it in turns to take the photos themselves, each taking a turn at Art Directing and styling....

The Magazine lay out with the photography and copy design as it would look in ID magazine.

The cover design by the team

The ' I can' 2nd double page spread ...

3rd double page spread with simple lay out to hold the fashion story... 

4th double page spread for the Geek Chic trend.... 

'I choose' caption spread, note the styling on the facing page of this spread....  

Guy Bourdin influence here in the clever 'I can ' layout and the spot light improvisation at the end. The students were advised to develop this idea further and show their work to ID magazine and Top Man.

Copy Schelay McCarter  ( tutor at CSM )