video killed the radio star

Today has been one of those rather manic but super exciting days that I seem to be having a lot of at the moment.

A friend of mine, Chloe and I nipped across town to Express Radio Station and went onto the drive time show to talk all things fashion with Lucy Mills.

It was a great show, that lasted almost an hour and a half, where we spoke about this seasons trends, a bit of fashion history, and about our current FMP projects as well as about Portsmouth University and our course.

We also launched a competition, to win a day with myself and Chloe, to be styled by us and have a before and after photoshoot. The question was, early in the show we discussed fashion trends for Spring Summer 2010, what was the main trend we went into detail on???

You can enter the competition online at www.expressfm.com and we will hopefully be going on the show a few more times to talk all things fashion again.

Stay tuuuuuned :)

an entrepreneurial legend, who will be missed

Image sourced from The Great Street Wear Swindle

Today the sad news fell upon the world that Malcolm McLaren, dubbed 'The best known manager since Epstein' passed away.

Well known for his punk influences on music, a large driving force behind the Sex Pistols, if not the pivotal force behind putting them together, a statement of high controversy within the band.

Keen to exploit their notoriety, by gaining the group vast amounts of free publicity through stunts including commissioning the famous image of the Queen with a safety-pin through her nose for the bands first release God Save the Queen, perfectly timed to coincide with the Silver Jubilee. As well as this, outrageous stunts included the band performing Anarchy in the UK, outside the Houses of Parliament aboard a boat by the name The Queen Elizabeth, that gained the group promptly being arrested, which played directly along the course McLaren wanted.

Alongside a successful career within music, McLaren was the lover of British fashionista Vivienne Westwood. Opening a boutique on the Kings Road under the name Let it Rock, which was followed by Sex and finally, Too Fast to Live, Too Young to Die. Famous for selling Westwood's outre designs in rubber, bondage gear as well as McLaren's T-Shirts printed with Situationist slogans.

A great entrepreneur within the world of music. Creating music that will forever be remembered, regardless of the overall opinion on the music itself. "History will be on its knees to him" - Ken Russell.

"Rock'n'roll doesn't necessarily mean a band, it doesn't mean a singer, and it doesn't mean a lyric, really. It's that question of trying to be immortal."- Malcolm McLaren.

The Art of Peacocking

A capsule menswear collection for Spring Summer 2011, created from luxurious raw silks, linens and wool and silk jersey embellished with feathers and sequins.

This is a few early stages of my design process. My moodboard and designs are to follow.

Inspired mainly by my fabric choices, but also my own take on the modern dandy. Elements from Edward Scissorhands, the story of Alice in Wonderland, music by The Mummers and Jay Jay Pistolet as well as contemporary design have also been influential.

- Enamored as he is above all of distinction, perfection in dress consists in absolute simplicity, which is, indeed, the best way of being distinguished.

a love of all things Burton

In early January, whilst in the throes of finishing my dissertation, I left this beautiful country all covered in snow and hot footed across the globe to a favourite city of mine. New York.

Having been before and done a more tourist-led trip, this time I was determined to fulfil my desire for a little artistic culture. A lover of Frank Lloyd-Wright architecture, the Guggenheim was most definitely on my list of places to visit and I must admit, it simply didn't disappoint.

One of my favourite film directors, it has to be said, is Tim Burton. Having been buzzing with anticipation and excitement of a year long wait for his fast approaching Alice in Wonderland film, I couldn't visit New York, without heading to the Museum of Modern Art where a fabulous exhibition of Burton's art work, film, poetry and costumes were on display. Not only did I fall in love with this museum for its Burton exhibition, but also it held some of the works by my favourite artists including Jasper Johns, Kandinsky as well as Andy Warhol, favourites of mine throughout GCSE and ALevel art. This one building was purely my heaven (although I shall never love it in the way I do the British National Portrait Gallery!)

Finally, I ended my trip on a tour of the upper side of New York, which appeared to be rather musical. Not only did I hear all about the Strawberry Fields memorials to John Lennon in Central Park, I saw where Yoko Ono resides as well as the place where the awesome Lennon was unfortunately shot. Having had a highly influenced musical upbringing from my parents, my love of the Beatles is an ever growing one, this spot was a rather emotional one.

An amazing city, which will always have a special place within my heart. Here are just a few of my photos.

Between darkness and dawn part 2

I recently worked with a second year photography student, who produced some wonderful last minute photographs of my Between Darkness and Dawn collection that I created for Pyrus. His name is Ivelin Metodiev and his work is awesome and I was so grateful for all his last minute hard work!

your skirt length will change the economy

For my dissertation I chose to study the argument that British fashions of the 20th century were affected by the changes of the economy throughout the same period.

One day a few summers ago, whilst reading the paper, I came across an interesting article that stated that in 1926, George Taylor argued an economic theory labeled as 'the hemline index'. This index was a view that in times of good economy, hemlines in fashion are shorter, and when the economy took a downturn, hemlines followed suit.

Over the eighty year period that I studied from 1920 to 2000 there appeared to be a link between the feelings of wealth and shorter hemlines and hemlines dropping during periods of financial difficulty such as recession.

George Taylor's theory that there was a direct link between hemlines and wealth, is an over simplification. In actual fact, throughout the 20th century when the economy improved, the fashion industry was able to use techniques such as embellishment and printing, and take more risks int he design and people had the wealth to buy these products. In times when the economy was suffering, shorter hemlines were not observed and these products would have been less readily available, designers and manufacturers became more risk adverse, and the public, with less disposable income, bought less, concentrating on a need for utility clothing. The desire was for items of clothing that could be worn to a variety of occasions.

first destination

Just after Christmas we had a short project called first destination. For this we had to think about the future and write action plans and look into the paths we want to take once we have graduated. For this project I spoke to a friends brother, Iain Budgen, who is a graphics student and asked him to create me a logo. I offered him a certain look that I was going for and my main inspiration for the work I do. These were the two he came up with (one you may just recognise!)