Welcome to the house of fun.

Over the summer I was asked to compile a library of cool. Firstly, I had to think, What is cool? To me there are numerous things that could class as cool, to others they may be completely lame. My summer turned out to be almost uneventful but i think I made the best of what I had. I took notice of what was around me that I had never appreciated before and explored the beauty of simplicity. I think I have learnt a lot about myself, and though Im still on a journey of self discovery being only 20 years of age, I think I found a little bit of myself over the summer. Something I hope to improve on, expand on and hopefully come to find a little more about myself. In the following posts I have included things that I found cool, its a personal thing. Each to their own as they say. I hope you find them cool too. :)

Graduate Fashion Week.

All of these images were found in the GFW magazine.

 Having never been to a fashion show before graduate fashion week was a great experience. I got to see the innovative and fresh designs. I also got to see the not so great and look out for do's and dont's of the fashion industry. Some designs I saw didn't have as much as I expected behind them, and knowing my drive and strive for perfection, I know that I could do better than some showing. Being at GFW felt like a second nature, like it was somewhere I belonged, somewhere I was destined to be. I'm now able to truly aspire to reaching GFW myself and showing my great potential to the fashion world. I'm confident, and I'm rearing ready to go. Bring It On!

The height of elegant dressing.

  

  

These images were taken by me and Amanda Williams.

This image is scanned from a copy of 10 men magazine.

Whilst in camden, going through the horse tunnel I took some shots of the horses. I loved their strength and muscular physique. It's everything I believe a menswear collection should be based upon. It got me thinking about the kind of customer I would like to design for. Traditional, Classic tailoring, Strong and thoughtful being some words that sprang to my mind. Later that afternoon I stumbled upon the most amazing Ralph Lauren advert and in an instant thought, it's their purple label that appeals to me. It's their ideas and classic tailoring that I must have thought of before. Ralph Lauren makes me think of polo, tea on the green and fox hunting. Just the kinda guy I like :) In the add was also this quote;-

"The height of elegant dressing for men. From trim hand tailored suits, to luxe modern sportswear. We invite you to experience a rarefied attention to craftsmanship"
This year I want to stand by this and refer to it as often as possible. I won't just be designing garments, I will be creating an art of craftsmanship.

Ladies day.

A wonderful combination of flowers, feathers and zips

The gorgeous Suzi Perry sporting 

Alexander Mcqueen and Phillip Treacy

chocolate anyone?!

There were some grand spectacles at Ladies day this year and it seems that many have gone out on a limb to create wild and wacky pieces to get them noticed. Above I have included a few of my personal favourites, be them good bad or just plain ugly! I enjoyed watching Ascot this year, it's really the first year where I had five minutes to watch it. The celebs were out in throngs wearing the most glamorous of pieces,  especially Suzi Perry of the Gadget show. Find all these images and more at the link below. http://www.instyle.co.uk/news/royal-ascot-2010-ladies-day-see-all-the-stars-and-their-hats-17-06-10

The lovely Alison Todd.

                       

                           
          
                       

 This hat was worn at Ascot in 2008 by Charlotte. 

The young University student currently working for

 Alison Todd.

After watching ladies day on the telly and ascot all week, i felt the need to be surrounded by colour, and hats. Lots and lots of hats. So off I went to visit an old family friend and milliner Alison Todd. Such a lovely lady. We sat for three hours chatting and discussing projects and future prospects and the time flew by so quickly. She has just moved to a new shop. From a very small one room shop to a three story building. It's beautiful. A cellar where all of the creating will happen, ground floor for occasion hats and fascinators with long large mirrors and plenty of natural light from the many windows. The second floor is going to be fabulous. Purposely made for ascot and the more exclusive hats and a closed off area for bridal wear. I can imagine it now, though it isn't anywhere near finished yet. It's a great move though in my opinion, a little closer to the foot traffic of town to draw customers in, and that feeling of exclusivity for those who are going to spend an abundance of money. I tried on a few hats, my favourite being the black hat with the big spotted bound bow. The perfect 1920's/1930's I fancy myself in. Classic but with a modern and fresh twist. I can't wait to start working with her, and creating myself. Exciting!!

Animal Attraction.

When I visited Graduate Fashion Week I picked up a goodie bad, though there weren't many goodies in there! The design on the bag was won by a graduate and featured a variety of animals, all of which had there extremities illustrated with coloured pencil shavings. I don't quite understand what bought the designer to the conclusion that animals had anything much to do with fashion, but I suppose it's a design all the same. I however liked the idea of developing my own reaction to their work, though it didn't turn out as brilliantly as I had imagined. I decided to use a picture of a sunflower I had taken a few weeks ago and used the picture of the lion. In my opinion it created a great juxtapose. The delicacy of a flower used as the main on a ferocious lion, perfect. The lion doesn't look to bad. But then I thought what would it look like on a model. Well not such a great outcome. The idea was good, and maybe it could be taken on as a styling idea, or as an illustrating starting point, but other than that, the lion worked better.

Animal Instinct.

 Nagi Noda's hair pieces are created with great precision and skill. 

I imagine them to be extremely tricky to create.

 Mika Machida incorporates animals in to sleeves and dresses 

concentrating on one form being a main focal point.

 I love the use of embellishment to create Manish Arora's masterpiece.

The tigers face is moulded to put emphasis on the hips.

His collection also featured gorilla shaped bags!

Alexander Mcqueen has always been a favourite of mine.

It looks as if he has actually stuck on a real bird to this gown

but it doesn't seem to look out of place.

After trying my hand at a bit of photo shop, I started to wonder. Hmmm I wonder what designers have made of fashion and animal combination. An obvious influence is in animal print, such as leopard print with the designer Cavalli. I was pleased to find a whole range of of different applications to animals and fashion becoming one. As embellishments, as whole 3D shapes, in colour and in form. It makes me think of different ways I could apply the idea to my own work. Though not every idea is made easily as Nagi Noda has demonstrated. I would absolutely love to use these combinations in a collection. It's something different, something out of the box. It's brilliant. I am so used to be thinking inside the box to conform to a time restraint and a certain lack of ability and experimentation, but this time around, I won't let anything stop me. Watch out because animals are the new inspiration, and my gosh is it gunna be fierce.(I found these images by searching nature in fashion and animals inspiring fashion in to a search engine. Not a vey good way to research but a quick way to find numerous sources)

Le Grande Museum

I love this painting, though it's small its fresh

and you can imagine what kind of day

it is. A cool breeze rushing through the trees.

Beautiful.

Daniel Szabo (hungary) only 14 years of age.

Though some may think I'm lame, I have always liked visiting the National Museum of Wales in Cardiff. I like to sit, and ponder and marvel in the paintings of old and new, particularly the brilliant Monet, one of my favourites. I like how quiet and still it is there, how appreciative most visitors are of the beauty and message in the paintings. This time around I looked at the rock formations and thought of how they are made, and how they can be used. I was amazed to find a rock formation from India that resembled roses. How amazing is that, how nature can emulate an idea and form from another natural form. I love nature. On exhibition there was the photographer of the year awards and the talent this year was amazing. I found myself drawn to the cute orangutans and baby animals. Just me being a girl i guess. But I was also drawn to the mystical mystery in the photo of a deer. It stands in a misty wood in the distance, it makes you want to follow it, see where it's going and what it looks like up close. That's the kind of pull I want from my next collection. The dark mystery that draws you in. You have to look and touch and wonder. That's me in a nut shell, so i hope to translate it to my work.

Perception Deception

Sam Rowley/ Veolia Environnement Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2009 

I'd bought a postcard at the museum because it was my favourite photograph. It was quite funny, but picturesque at the same time. Whilst sat watching tele staring at my mum's flowers in a vase, i recognised a very indiscreet similarity between the stags antlers and the flowers. The way the gladioli were placed in the vase with the random arrangement of close knit flowers at the bottom, it was almost a spitting image of them. Well that's what I thought anyway. So I went at it to create a combination of flower antlers and a drawing of the stags face. I think it turned out really well. Even if I do say so myself. The great thing is the juxtaposition of the flowers being soft and delicate being used as hard antlers that are used in protection. One similarity though is the way the both attract. Flowers attract bees with their beautiful vibrant colours and Stags attract the attention of the females by fighting each other with these antlers, and by the structure of them. The antlers also remind me of tree branches, another natural relation. The creation I made might work as an emblem or logo of a brand, my brand possibly. Something to think about.

Simply Nature

 I love these Ripples. It makes me immediately think of how I could use them 

in fashion design. The light reflection is also perfect, It could possibly be a print.

As noted before, I couldn't travel too far on my summer break, so found myself reveling in the simplest of things that I possibly took for granted previously. My trips to the beach, and along my regular bike trails is where i found a lot of amazing potential. It just takes some time sometimes, you have to kind of stop and wait and admire what's around you. I think in today we get wrapped up in getting to and from a place to do  a particular thing, our mind is occupied by that one thing. Always thinking. Tick tocking away like mechanical cogs in the engineering that is life. But. If for one minute, getting to work on time isn't filling our heads we allow ourselves to take in much more, we become more observant, relaxed, and calm. It's the kind of philosophy I'm thinking of taking on this year. A chillaxed sense of being. I think that creativity will flow better then, it will become more organic. I'm going to become organic. That's the plan anyway. I am not a machine. :)