Ivana Basilotta - London Fashion Week

Nik and I met Ivana at LFW last Tuesday in the Ethethica zone of the show exhibition. We were very impressed with her brand image - photographed by Paul Weaver the brand has a feminine and refined image, very much like Ivana herself who is designer and creative director.

Nik and I are looking forward to working with Ivana on developing her website design further and enhancing the brands market presence.

Ivana is entirely dedicated to the best in Eco-sustainable contemporary high fashion. The silk she uses is organic peace-silk also known as Vegetarian silk. Ivana Basilotta is a luxurious woman's wear brand.

Ivana Basilotta is a label that uses Eco, natural and organic fabrics. The labels organic fabrics suppliers are certified according to the Eco-text standard. They use manufacturers and suppliers in Europe, Turkey and India. They use the craftsmanship of local artisans and work with small manufacturers and suppliers. All the manufactures they use pay fair wages and do not use child labour. Peace silk is manufactured in a process where silkworms are not killed. The moths emerge from their cocoons to live out their full life cycle. This is the best silk for warmth and therapeutic use, it is rare and not commercially available apparently.

What is even better than all this is that the clothes all in gorgeous colours and shapes look great and are beautifully made, check out www.ivanabasilotta.co.uk you will be impressed with her collection.

MAKEPIECE - London Fashion Week - Ethethica

This sustainable fashion label in the Ethethica section of London Fashion Week caught my eye because I liked the photography and the look of the collection. I discovered that Beate the designer (in the below photograph) has a flock of 200 sheep that she is rearing on her farm in Yorkshire. The wool is used to create the warm, inviting and stylish knits that make up Makepiece's collection. Her sheep produce dark wool so the lighter wool is bought from another local sheep farmer apparently.

What I love about this brand is it is in tune with it's environment.

A modern take on Wuthering Heights comes to mind.

Take a look at the Makepiece web site it is very user friendly. www.makepiece.co.uk

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.