London Street Style: Gothic Prairie

Spotted in the colourful and diversely styled Brick Lane, this lady’s dedicated gothic look could come across a little morbid, but in fact works so well in the summer sun. Her luscious mane and tortoise shell rimmed glasses really contrast against her black sweater and out-sized skirt. We particularly love her attention to detail, not scrimping on accessories (see floral headband) but not coming on too strong. 

London Street Style: Streetwise Astronomer

Spotted in the midst of brick lane, London this stylish ‘Streetwise Astronomer’ look perfectly teams a urban black cap, sheer black shirt with contrast leather collars, universe graphic tee, tighter than tight black leggings and finished off with gradient purple DM’s. 

Royal Mail pay tribute to shining stars of British Fashion

Of course, if there was ever a time to be British then it is now. Still riding the wave of last years Royal Wedding we’re approaching a bumper summer thanks to HRH The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and of course, the 2012 Olympics taking place in London.

As big fans of the old ‘snail mail’ we were of course appalled about the huge rise in postage costs a few months back. Royal Mail obviously heard our cat calls and have released a set of 10 fashion focused stamps, paying homage to the best of our home grown talent.

Hardy Amies, Norman Hartnell, Granny Takes a Trip, Ossie Clark with Celia Birtwell, Tommy Nutter, Jean Muir, Zandra Rhodes, Vivienne Westwood, Paul Smith and Alexander McQueen take centre stage in a fitting tribute to their input into British economy and British fashion.

Opening Ceremony to launch OC Annual

New York’s Opening Ceremony are set to launch their first magazine in August, the first issue will focus on the London Olympics of which they will have a special pop-up store come late July. Creatives heads Humberto Leon and Carol Lim are of course magazine obsessives, which translates constantly through their 360 degree aesthetic. Lim wrote, “As magazine fanatics, O.C. founder Humberto Leon and myself are aiming to create a collectible publication for a new generation, something beautiful and special in the vein of Benetton’s ‘Colors,’ Comme des Garçons’ ‘Six’ and Joe McKenna’s ‘Joe.’ We want to make a magazine that will appeal to kids in Nebraska as much as industry people.”

Louis Vuitton & Marc Jacobs at Les Arts Decoratifs, Paris

Of course, we all know that Louis Vuitton means grandeur. Under Marc Jacob’s helm we’ve seen a huge transformation, breathing new and innovative life into the leather luggage company. Marc Jacob’s has been known for his antics – (notably wearing a knee-length, lace, transparent frock to the NY Met Gala this week), so it was great to visit Les Arts Decoratifs to appreciate the mastermind behind the bravado.

The exhibition was split over two floors, with floor one acknowledging and appreciating the origins of the Louis Vuitton family business before its absorption into LVMH in the late 1980’s. Technique, craft and focus on the best quality materials saw Louis Vuitton enduring as the go-to luggage supplier for the most part of the 20^th century.

The second floor, in a paradox to the first is brash, image heavy and unapologetic. Starting with a room serving as a visual mood board of Jacob’s biggest inspirations. From Vivienne Westwood to Mariah Carey and beyond it was easy to stare in awe at the great references to pop culture.

The rest of the exhibit of course concentrates on the clothes, the collaborations, the events and of course, the accessories with a high point being the wall of Louis Vuitton bags. This was a popular hang-out spot for gallery goers, who just longed to touch the bags within the glass box!

For me the most interesting part of the exhibit was actually the curation, with dresses and looks being places intimately and thoughtfully – keeping the viewer removed but allowing a very thorough detail examination.

King of footwear, Christian Louboutin opens his first retrospective at the Design Museum

The celebrated, noted and respected king of footwear, Christian Louboutin opened his first retrospective at the Design Museum in London.

We went along to take a look at the exhibition and to salivate over the 100’s of sparkling, red-soled pairs of painfully high shoes.

Dita Von Teese is a friend and sometime muse of Louboutin, with her dedication to her particular look translating through his designs. Von Teese and Louboutin teamed up for the exhibition, producing a 3-D hologram of Von Teese dancing in you guess it, some red-soled pumps.

Fun, playfulness, theatre, cameraderie and magic seem to be great themes of Louboutin. A lot of attention to detail had been placed on the way the shoes were displayed, being dynamic and making you want to see more.

The exhibition is open untilt he 9th July. More details can be found here

Extravagant Eyewear

As we wait in vain for the summer sun to blaze down on out naked eyes we’ve been looking into eyewear that will protect and astound.

This morning H&M announced their colleaboration with woman-about-town style-maven Anna Dello Russo who has hit the headlines this week thanks to her candid interview with the Financial Times. With a personal tag-line of ‘Fashion is a muse - it will never end’ it is pretty apparent as to why H&M have called upon Dello Russo to help spruce up their accessories ranges.

Only one image has been released so far, but it is pretty clear that Dello Russo’s love of the OTT has been allowed to shine through. Notable pieces look to be the use of aqua in clutch bags and of course, encrusted crocodile sunglasses.

The range will be available from October, but in the meantime we’ve been looking to fashion editorial heavy-weight A. Morir for inspiration.

Dinah $280

Lena $320

Melanie $430

(our favourites) Vaughan, $360

Quick catch-up……

We have so much going on at the moment being snowed under with amazing projects, the next couple of days will see the first of our exhibition articles. First up will be our review of Christian Louboutin’s London retrospective and Louis Vuitton and Marc Jacobs exhibit in Paris. So for now here is a small glimpse of what’s to come.. 

London Street Style: Lady Mini Mouse

Opulent astrakhan fur is given a street-wise edge in this unique Lady meets Mini Mouse fusion we spotted on the streets of London. Teaming fun and carefree pastel pink Mini Mouse styled hair, lady-like black astrakhan coat with contrast fur stole, 60’s style black holdall and finished perfectly with comfy jade slippers with statement textured pom pom’s.

Prada’s Parallel Universes

Prada has collaborated with Iranian artist and author of ‘Paris versus New York’ Vahram Muratyan on a fun new concept called Prada Parallel Universes. The result is an array of quirky animated gifs displaying key Prada accessories set in a series surreal vivid landscapes from car racing on sunglasses to oversized studded golf shoes sat on skyscrapers.

On top of this rumours say it might not be long before the images are released in a special capsule T-shirt collection.

London Street Style Detailing: Neon Lime Pop

The first of our weekly detailing post these pair of lime zesty popping Nike trainers. Spotted on the streets of Brick Lane, London the trainer/sneaker trend is everywhere right now. 

Singapore Men’s Fashion Week A/W 2012: Vandal

Creating a sombre almost sinister eerie vision during Singapore Men’s Fashion Week came from South Korean based newbie Designer Heemin Yang a.k.a. creative force behind curiously named Menswear label Vandalist by Vandal. Nomadic themes underlined Vandal’s autumn/winter 2012 “Poetic Underground” collection realising dark dreams inspired by post-apocalyptic surrealist artist Eerip. Utilitarian silhouettes were almost military armour inspired with the use dark muddy colour palettes and obscured faces.

Singapore Men’s Fashion Week A/W 2012: Diet Butcher Slim Skin

We knew little of Japanese label Diet Butcher Slim Skin before debuting their Autumn 2012 collection last week during Singapore men’s fashion week but their quirky punk themes definitely got our attention. 

Head designer Hisashi Fukatami’s design centres on traditional punk silhouettes and contemporary re-interpretation of anarchist style of the later 1970’s. More specifically The Clash and the Sex Pistols DIY youthful streetwear to The Jams modern Mod twist. Our highlights from the show included on trend attitude laden cropped three quarter length trouser three piece with neat pattern embroidery, blood red gradient casual suiting to the moonlit floral short 2 piece. 

Singapore Men’s Fashion Week A/W 2012: Factotum

Japanese label Factotum showed their autumn/winter 2012 menswear collection during Singapore, with their cool layered casual hybrids approach this season becoming a real highlight over the course of the five days. We decided to show a detail shot as our pick from the show to highlight the labels unique style and attention to detail. Woven Nordic patterned shorts paired over same patterns trousers, whilst classic tan suede loafers are given a sci-fi twist with statement silver panelling.

London Street Style: Eighties Nomad

Spotted amongst the busy Sunday Brick Lane crowd, a nomadic figure stood out with her amish millinery, dip-dyed long blonde locks and longline dark coat covering a eighties burst of turquoise florals.