Saturday 26 October 2013

Vintage Glamour, Rare photos of 1940s showgirls

Circus Showgirl, 1950. Courtesy Taschen
I've just found these on the internet and have fallen in love with them! For me, these are far more exciting than the models covered in Milk currently doing the rounds.  I thought I'd share some of my favourites with you.

Aerialist Pinito del Oro, 1953. Courtesy Taschen
There is something incredibly disorientation about seeing a world that you've only ever known in black and white suddenly presented in 'glorious technicolor'  These shots of circus show girls were shot at traveling camps in the ’40s and ’50s, and are a marvelous inspiration for costume and fashion lovers.The girls have an incredibly real beauty about them and sense of fun and empowerment


Circus Performer Couple, 1954. Courtesy Taschen
 I think some of these images are going to have a huge impact on some future design projects! one for the scrap book.

Mardi Gras girl, 1952. Courtesy Taschen. Courtesy Taschen

Aerialist Pinito del Oro, 1953. Courtesy Taschen

Thursday 24 October 2013

Handbags from Heaven: A Chat with Jo Hodge


A few months back I had a great time utilising my Free trial from Handbags from Heaven. I had a chat to the brains behind the idea, Jo Hodge, to find out a bit more about the very modern phenomenon.



Jo Hodge is a 34 year old mum of one and Founder & Director of handbagsfromheaven, she describes the forward thinking company as allowing women to hire 100% authentic designer handbags for the same cost as a daily cappuccino! 

Jo started a career in IT in 2000 and spent the next 7 years working her way up the corporate ladder gaining experience in the project management and internet support fields.  A lover of luxury labels she treated herself to a gorgeous Mulberry designer handbag in 2005 with her year end bonus.  However in 2006 when invited to a neighbours wedding she struggled to purchase an outfit that would match her bag.  At that wedding she got talking to a friend who had the same predicament, so they decided to borrow each other’s designer bag for special occasions if the outfit they bought accessorised it better.

Over the following months more and more friends joined the “designer bag borrowing club” and Jo had a flash of inspiration.  If most of her friends needed access to a range of designer handbags then how many more women were out there?  handbagsfromheaven was born. 

Launched on 6th June 2007, handbagsfromheaven allows women all over the UK to borrow a bag from top fashion houses such as Gucci, Jimmy Choo, Prada and Chloe.  Prices start from as little as £1.80 per day and handbagsfromheaven offer an unrivalled membership scheme which not only allows women free hires and the opportunity to purchase stock but also discounts on products from carefully chosen companies which will give women added luxury in other areas of their lives such as cosmetics, clothing and footwear.  They also offer a pay as you go service for a no commitment, no hassle designer bag hire service.  



The borrow a bag idea was relatively new to the UK but  Jo found her sales go through the roof in May 2008 when handbag hire was featured in the first Sex and the City film.  Since then the company has gone from strength to strength and are now even hiring bags to TV and film productions (their bags have been featured in series 2 of Secret Diary of a Call Girl with Billie Piper and series 4 of Skins to name a few).

Jo says there isn’t a typical client “we have women in their early twenties who are members and hire a bag each month as they are Fashionistas and love having the luxury labels they couldn’t otherwise afford.  We also have mid Thirties ladies in client facing occupations such as Solicitors, PR Account Manager and suchlike who again hire bags on a monthly basis to project that professional, successful image.  A large proportion of our customer base is also the “pay as you hire” ladies – women who want to borrow a bag for that special occasion; wedding, christening, job interview or holiday.

Whatever the reason for hiring with gorgeous packaging, next day delivery to all parts of the UK and the ability to shop from the comfort of your own computer at any time of the day or night handbagsfromheaven is fast becoming the number one website for fashion conscious females.

Copy supplied by Jo Hodge.

Tuesday 22 October 2013

Fashion Fix: How to weave a lanyard and chain link bracelet





Ros spent time at American Summer camps rounding up children, and it was here she learned of the woven lanyard friendship bracelet (or 'boondoggle' as they called it). 

Adding a chain link fastening turns this childhood obsession into a gorgeous pop of colour on your wrist. AND AN EXCELLENT LAST MINUTE CHRISTMAS PRESENT.


When I made this the first time round, Ros told me it wasn't good enough and I had to start all over again.  I've realised this is a worldwide institution so I tentatively give you this woven bracelet Fashion Fix.

You will need:
  • two 1m long 2mm wide pieces of yellow flat plastic lacing
  • gold chain bracelet cut to size (long enough to be wrapped halfway around your wrist)
  • pliers
  • scissors
  • all purpose glue
How to do it.
  1. To attach one end of the lacing to one end of the chain, thread both pieces of lace through the end loop of the chain. Position them in a cross ready to begin. (See Pic below)
  2. Try as I might I dont think I could instruct you any better than to follow this online tutorial I found.
  3. weave the lacing as shown in the video. Continue until it os long enough to fit just over halfway around your wrist.
  4. cut the chain to length to close the chain around your wrist. attach the lacing and chain ends as you did to start. 
  5. Poke any loose ends through the holes in the bracelet and pull tight. Keep pulling these ends tight every ten minutes. 
  6. When you're happy with the tightness of the weave put the finished bracelet around a bottle for a day to help keep its shape.
  7. Add a thin coating of all purpose glue to the ends to make it extra secure.


Close up of the starting cross 

Wear your bracelet in a cluster of colour and matching metal

Sunday 20 October 2013

Davy and Kristin Mcguire

photo from Davy and Kristin Mcguire
I am lucky enough to be working with Davy and Kristin Mcguire, paper architects and projectionists extroadinaire...They create intricate paper sculptures and bring them to life with animation and projection.

Photo Davy and Kristin Mcguire


Have a look at their site, it will quite literally blow your mind. www.davyandkristinmcguire.com

photo from Davy and Kristin Mcguire
I am contributing some set and costume design to their latest project...but my lips are sealed! All will be revealed soon!

photo from Davy and Kristin Mcguire


Monday 14 October 2013

Behind the Scenes: Simon Withyman Elements Shoot: Earth

Photo Simon Withyman
A few weeks back (whilst the sun was still out in force) I styled a shoot for photographer Simon Withyman. This 'Earth' themed shoot is part of an Elements collection for an exhibition next year. Model Sarune was a real sport, not minding being half naked and constantly rubbed in mud and drenched in cold water. What a pro.  If it's any consolation to her I also ended up almost as muddy!
Carly managing to keep her balance on the sheer slope 
Simon and Carly found the tree root cut into the rock at Snuff Mills in Bristol

Simon, Carly and Sarune


Saturday 12 October 2013

Handbags from Heaven



The Sex and the City movie franchise brought us many things, bitter disappointment to name but one...however, whose ears pricked up when Jennifer Hudson's character arrived on screen sporting the latest arm candy despite her journalist's assistant salary, (lets face it, we've all had to suspend our disbelief to think that a weekly sex column could support Carrie's central Manhattan apartment). On Hudson's announcement that she was renting the latest designer handbag offering, I am sure i was not alone to make a mental note to rummage through the internet for a similar service.

My prayers were answered in the form of Handbags from Heaven. A company set up Jo Hodge to offer a bit of designer Handbag joy to everyone.  She offered me a free trial of the service to see if it would be something that might appeal to my readers.


The website is clear and easy to follow (even for me, who is a notorious luddite), and I optioned an Anya Hindmarch beauty. Within days an exciting box arrived at my door with the black patent Anya Hindmarch bag. I have to admit it took a while to pluck up the courage to get it out of the bag (let alone take it out of the house).


But why would a girl who prides herself on up-cycling and individual style regardless of price want to go renting a designer handbag? Handbags from Heaven allowed me to test drive an expensive bag I wouldn't want to fork out on. It also presents me with the opportunity to showcase another bag and another and another and another!...should I so wish.



Photo Amanda Thomas
After getting over my initial fear, I had an absolute ball with my hired handbag. It felt like a special occasion whenever I walked out of the door, and the bag got lots of comments and compliments.

I'm in the process of interviewing Jo as I want to know more about the woman who started up this venture, and why it is an appealing prospect to women of all incomes. Have a look at the site and see for yourself.

Thursday 10 October 2013

Q & A with David Newell, Newell Bespoke

David Newell in his Soho studio with colleagues, Photo Amanda Thomas
To describe David Newell simply as a tailor would be missing the point entirely: a background of product design, music production and training alongside the likes of Stella Mccartney and Alexander McQueen has all contributed to the creation of Newell as Sartorial Designer.  Describing his suit creation process to that of a practical sculpture, this is the guy to tell us why wearing a suit today make just as much sense as it ever has done. His clients are the ones with the grownup jobs in the creative industries: the lawyers for the record labels, the accountants for the ad agencies: those who need a combination of Newell's design and the authoritative old school association that comes sewn into the lining of every good suit.

We meet David dressed impeccably in one of his own creations, a denim pin stripe...It felt only appropriate to ask if this is his uniform of choice.

"I enjoy wearing a suit now because I have a suit that fits me well.

"I could understand why people don't like wearing them.  usually its a requirement of their job so what they tend to do is buy a suit that's cheap as possible so as a result it's not made very well. hence he price, the fabric's not very nice and its just there is nothing nice about it at all so generally what tends to happen is they get home and just throw their jacket off straight away and kind of abuse their suits because they don't care and hence it wont really last that well anyway. like people who buy cheap cars or someone has a real classic they tend to look after it better, classic cars are the ones in good condition - the expensive ones because they really look after it. and hence with suits if you spend 

"Cheap suits are a false economy where people would probably buy 3 cheap suits a year,  trash them to death, and that's like £1000,  where they could have bought a £1000 suit just look after it and it would last your probable ten years as a result and the reason why i like wearing a suit is that it is so comfortable compared to the suits that i had to have worn the cheaper ones, it now feels like i don't really have a jacket on anymore, just feels like a shirt.

Newell uses denim in a lot of his current creations, which seemed strangely appropriate to me as it is the ultimate working man's fabric, and the suit has now spanned the classes to be the uniform of choice, David explained how this has come about:

"In this day and age the industrial age is pretty much over in England, (Denim) was the industrial age fabric, so now its more of a service industry that we're going into where suits and presentation is paramount, so I'm bringing that same fabric back into that kind of environment again. although there is still a working class society in England there isn't really anyone physically working (like in a factory) , So these people who, prior to them were working, their kids or grandkids are probably now doing work that is more middle class, forward facing, service industry, wearing suits as a result, so the denim sort of full circles that.


Newell, in one of his own creations, the extremely popular pin stripe denim suit. Photo Amanda Thomas
"When I was at St Martins' I was actually doing international product design, so I was nothing to do with fashion. same side of the brain, still problem solving in a creative capacity. I worked for michiko koshino, designing her perfume bottles and shampoo bottles, even a shower unit. But she was the first person to push the camouflage, so i'm still influenced by her. I've always been around fashion designers, a lot of my friends were fashion designers. As I was going through I was always involved in fashion at some point just to get me through college and ended up at Savile Row, and then ended up managing their flagship concession stores and that's how I got into tailoring, was there for 10 years and here (Newell Bespoke) for 3. 

"I've always looked at making suits as 'practical sculpture', you're sculpting it around a person's body and it has a practical end use as a result so that's how I see it and it's using that design aspect and problem solving because my consultation takes pretty much the most amount of effort the tailoring side of things (I don't actually do the sewing ) I made that decision when I started because the guys that i use have been doing it for 30, 40 even 50 years and they are the best, there is no way I could beat that with kind of time scale.

"There are a few of them out there, they are few and far between and hence why a full bespoke is expensive to get something done these days, it's totally worth it, hence why i source a lot of my stuff in italy because there is much more of a tradition in italy; the kids actually want to learn and get into it, not so much over here. There's much more of a family orientation, there are many more Italian tailors at a high level. If you look at Italy is one of the more traditional countries as far as design is concerned. If you look at the son the grandson and the father, they are practically wearing the same things.  

"At the top level, British and Italian tailoring it's just a case of preference but in general there are so many more tailors in Italy.


Back in September, I styled up Oyeth Pitterson in some of David's Newell Bespoke creations. Have a look back along the blog to see just how good this guy is.


Tuesday 8 October 2013

Fashion Fix: How to embellish a collar with angelic Louis Vuitton inspired Lace

Photos 'As time goes buy' and Marie Claire



To counter the darkly beautiful jewelled collar in the previous post, here is an angelic lace collar, inspired by Louis Vuitton's beautiful outsized Broderie Anglaise collars.

General How to:
Cut or unpick the collar off a shirt. If you are recycling an old shirt and need to make the collar smaller to fit your neck, sew a seam down the centre back and trim away any excess. You may want to decorate this seam with some trim to hide any raw edges.  

Lace
Use vintage lace trim to create a delicate and angelic look. Pin in place and use a zigzag stitch to anchor the lace in place. Pleat or gather the lace to give it volume. Replace the collar button with a glass button or pearl. 




If you like that, why not try...


Leather
If you’re not brave enough to go all out with Autumn’s biggest trend, then accessorise with this leather collar to toughen up a chiffon blouse.  Use a very soft leather and cut around an old collar for the pattern. Cut a slit at the front for a buttonhole and sew on a button using a leather needle. 


Sunday 6 October 2013

Fashion Fix: How to make a long handled Neon Tote Bag



I love the juxtaposition of classic imagery and neon colour!
Just in case you needed more evidence that this tote fashion fix is brilliant, here is a long handled version.

You will need:
  • 1 metre of mid to heavy weight cotton fabric
  • sewing machine with complimentary thread
  • dressmaking pins
  • dressmaking scissors
  • neon spray paint
  • stencil
  • iron
  • stencil
  • paper and masking tape to mask when spraying
How to do it:
  1. Cut two 45cm  tall by 35cm wide panels from the fabric. Make sure the pattern is going the correct direction on both panels. Decide how long you would like your straps, would you like to be able to sling it over your shoulder? if so cut longer strips 6 cm wide.
  2. fold the long edges of the strip into the middle and then fold once again hiding all the raw edges. Press and top stitch down either side of the strip. 
  3. Repeat for the other strip
  4. lay out your bag pieces wrong side up. fold down the top edge of your bag 1cm and press. then fold down 2cm to cover the raw edge. Machine a top stitch in place.
  5. Pin the handle pieces to the top  edge of the wrong side of each panel 10 cm from the sides. 
  6. machine in place.
  7. place the two bag pieces right sides together and pin around the three sides.
  8. machine a running stitch, take the pins out.
  9. trim the corners,  turn right side out and press.
  10. place your stencil in the desired area and mask off the rest of the bag. 
  11. In a well ventilated area (and if under 18 with the help of an adult) spray your stencil.
  12. Peel away with care almost immediately and leave to dry.

Wednesday 2 October 2013

Creating the Vintage Look Launch at the Old Cinema

photo Robbie Tomkins
Ellie and co at the launch, and some of the gorgeous projects on display.

Ellie has been featured in October's Marie Claire, not only with an interview and front page inclusion of one of her projects, but her book inspired a full page of Interior Design ideas and products in the magazine!