Tweed and Tartan

This Autumn/Winter wrapping up warm in country like wear is a must have. Tartan and Tweed is the key fabric to double up on in your wardrobe this season. This look is inspired by the early eighties showing glamour and attitude to enhance elegance and sophistication. The fabric to me represents having a natural feel towards luxury.
My Tweed and Tartan inspiration;




This Autumn/Winter 2011-12 collection or Tartan and Tweed straight off the catwalk;

Daks

Tory Burch

Fendi

Yves Saint Laurent

I have dug deep into my wardrobe and pulled out some cute tailored tartan/tweed jackets which I will be wearing this Autumn before it gets really cold, maybe I will even add a fur collar to them to keep warm;

Valentino

Zara (I love the elbow patches on this jacket)

Aquascutum London

This is a staple fabric for your wardrobe which comes back every years so if you don’t have any tweed or tartan- GO INVEST IN SOME!

A step back in time

Today I was just reminiscing on my art foundation year which I completed when I was 18 years old. Most of my work was fuelled by taking inspiration from one of my favourite cutting edge designers Gareth Pugh. Pugh's attribute to fashion is his investigation with volume and form. He frequently uses ridiculously shaped, wearable sculptures to misrepresent the human body virtually past recognition. Pugh describes his designs as being about the struggle between lightness and darkness. Essentials in his designs include PVC inflated into capacious coats, black and white patchwork squares, Perspex discs linked like chain mail, and shiny latex masks and leggings.
Few examples of his gothic/sinister work;


I thought It would be fun to share with you the garments that I made when I was at college. They were inspired by Gareth Pugh’s style. I feel I have come along way since college and completing my first year of fashion uni, but it’s always nice to look back on where you started.

McQueen- British fashion designer, creative genius and master of fashion

Two of my special friends gave me this book for my birthday this year. Alexander McQueen is one of my favourite designers and he is such a huge loss to the fashion world. Through his raw talent of emotional power, provocative fashion shows and refreshing energy- McQueen was, and still is, a genius of a generation. This book contains some stunning imagery of his work which I have used and will continue to still reference in my university work- or simply gain inspiration. 

Layers of draped chiffon inspired by the Greek Pantheon

Beautiful tie-dye printed chiffon dress, collar accentuated by a tropical- bird plumage. McQueen enjoyed using birds, especially birds of prey for inspiration in his work and fashion shows- he loved the silhouette.

This image above shows McQueen’s use of reptile skin in his Spring/Summer 2010 collection, this is still influenced in todays Autumn/Winter trends as this season snake skin is a must have.

We still can see the designer’s influence left in others collections Left image from McQueen’s Spring/Summer 2001 collection, right image found in September 2011 Vogue advertising Prada. You can really see the similar features.

Again these images were found in Vogue September 2011 issue, showing the usage of birds of prey, for example the crow or a fierce bird of prey to create a threatening and dramatic form of art. McQueen made a whole Spring collection based on birds in memory of the late Isabella Blow- the woman who discovered him. The above are examples that show McQueen’s work is still influenced through others, to gain a similar reaction- but they will never have the same reaction as McQueen’s work had.

The spring 2011 Costume Institute exhibition at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty, was on view May 4th 2011 through to early August. The exhibition rejoices the late McQueen's extraordinary contributions to fashion. Starting with his Central Saint Martins postgraduate collection in 1992 through to his final runway presentation, which showcased after his death. Many of the British and others feel it is scandalous that this exhibition was not brought to London as McQueen is from there and his designs were inspired by it. There are many petitions around to bring this exhibition to London, I for one will be signing this, If you agree and want this to happen please click on the link below:
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/bringmcqueenexhibitionhome/
McQueen challenged and expanded our understanding of fashion beyond utility to a conceptual expression of culture, politics, and identity- he will never be forgotten.

Tiny Baby Skull Fun!

I adore skull jewellery but recently I found loads of different types of baby skull jewellery- I’m absolutely obsessed with it!

Tiny!


Karen Walker is a designer who also has baby skulls in some of her jewellery designs. Take a peak…



http://shop.karenwalker.com/collections/karen-walker-jewellery

Autumn/ Winter 2011 Trend Forecasting

At university we are taught how to trend forecast and are told to put these newly learnt skills into practice through our work. Its quite simple really, although there are so many trends that come out at once, you can predict them by collecting information in attempt to spot a pattern. Its a way of predicting the behaviour, mood, and buying habits of the consumer at a particular time of season. This can be done by looking at what's happening in the world through;

• Film
• News
• Music
• Media
• Colour- we connect certain colours with different seasons through the year
• Surveys
• Lifestyle

For example, fashion can be highly influenced by film. If we look at the film -The Black Swan, the build up to this film and after caused people to want to buy ballet pumps, chiffon skirts and ballerina soft pastel colours. It influenced  the ballerina pleats in Chloé spring/summer 2011 collection:

Zac Posen- Spring 2011 collection

Karl Lagerfeld shows the two themes of sweetness and perversity from the film in his Chanel Spring collection 2011

At university I put three boards together to show my interpretation on what trends will be around in Autumn/Winter 2011 by looking at the world around me, this is what I found;



Now looking through the Vogue trends in their magazine, I can see that my predictions through trend analysis has shown through in some of the trends that have come out this Autumn/Winter 2011.
Following trends I predicted;






To find out more on current Trends visit: http://www.vogue.co.uk/fashion/trends