My day in a onesie: First person piece for Kent and Sussex Courier on my day as a giant dinosaur

The Cosmetic a La Carte’s 40th anniversary ‘Colour and Culture’

Born in 1973 out of the vibrant times of Biba and Bowe, make up brand to the royal and stylish Cosmetic a La Carte celebrated their 40^th birthday with an exhibition titled ‘Colour & Culture’ at the Redchurch Gallery.

Famed for making cosmetics for the queens facialist to the first ever foundation for black skin created for Grace Jones, this iconic brand celebrated its heritage through a tangible mix of art, photography, video and interactive make up sessions.

The brand showed innovative, imaginative and creative ways to animate the make up, from the scrapbook wall which intelligently told you ‘before we had scanners and digital mood boards we got our beautspiration from cutting out pictures from magazines and sticking them to a wall like this’ you would have never thought…

Sarcasm aside the most striking parts of the exhibition were undoubtedly the mannequin heads crafted to resemble icons that had inspired Cosmetic a La Carte. Princess Diana’s loyalty to her go-to lipstick ‘nude toast’ took the shape of an ice queen sculpture encrusted with rippling waves of glistening pearls and diamonds, perhaps a nod to her angelic omnipresence.

Cosmetic a La Carte’s achievements have spanned 4 decades, some of the most notable moments being asked by Elizabeth Taylor to create a pink sugar lip gloss, and perhaps most recently being charged to paint the modern day Marilyn’s lips the classic red which made the screen siren so iconic, Michelle Williams in My Week With Marilyn.

The Cosmetic a La Carte’s 40^th anniversary ‘Colour & Culture’ is open from the 21^st-26^th May at the Redchurch Gallery, East London. 

Turkish delight: Zeynep Tosun S/S 13 review for Stylogasm

 

Zeynep Tosun’s SS13 collection was inspired by the legend of the Phoenix, the bird who witnessed and recovered from the devastating end of the world three times. This story influenced a collection strong and wise, yet still brimming with soft femininity.

Dominated by the European and Asian influences of Istanbul, her birthplace, Tosun’s collections are generally characterized by high expressiveness and many contrasts, be that in material, colour, texture or style. Clothes were army apparel across a delicate palette of lilac, beige and icey blue with real metal caps and intelligent layering with sweeping nylon and chiffon enveloped by slashes of cleavage at the neck, front and side cutting a sporty luxe shape.

Pieces were complex in terms of layering, tailored feminine separates, dresses blazers and trousers were juxtaposed with tough buckles, spikes and strapping heels.

Beautiful hand sown metal mesh by Bartin locals shimmered down mysterious crème and black voile, like glistening morning dew cascading down delicate petals. Fabric was held in place by tough metal helmets to drape the wearer in a cloak of shimmering subtlety to frame the superb, yet complex tailoring.

A black dress nodded to the classic channel quilted handbag, simultaneously echoing the undercurrent of a riding jacket. Mostly all pieces used the neck as a centre point, with collars varying from spiked, chain mailed or integrated into a dress or shirt, a motif echoed from the previous collection, much like the sharply cut tailoring is holding the wearer prisoner.

With a career that began with Alberta Ferreti in 2006 leading right up until last season with her House of Evolution showcase, Tosun has both the knowledge of experience and youthful brand development that makes for an intriguing collection. With complimentary comparisons to the likes of Balenciaga, Zeynep Tosun is a designer who continues to be an aesthetically savoured Turkish delight.

Designer & Brand Info: www.zeyneptosun.com
PR Team: Katch PR
Article by Tania Willis
Photography by Alan Christopher Parker
© ACP / Stylogasm 2012

Twilight shoot

Improving/ creating a more formal online portfolio has been on my to do list for the past year now, sifting through portfolio worthy material, I came across a shoot I styled, directed and photoshopped when I was Fashion Editor at Nerve* magazine. The styling was entirely inspired by Twilight, and the spooky early evenings in Autumn.

Photographer credits: Ben Pruchnie

LFW: Craig Lawrence

Another show I reported on, from a man who dresses the likes of Lady GaGa and Jessie J, didn't disappoint in his futuristic collection:

LFW: Craig Lawrence SS13

September 17, 2012

Doing a little bit of background research and seeing Craig Lawrence has dressed some of the sartorially sassiest ladies of pop; queen of quirk Lady GaGa and princess of spandex Jessie J, I was set up to expect something equally as impressive as his preceded collections.

Craig Lawrence opened in the Portico Rooms at Somerset House with the magical sounds of a jewellery box springing into action, gradually introducing the ring of a tambourine and Jamaican drums, which sprung the first model onto the runway.

 Models cascaded onto the runway sporting ghetto hair with an elegant twist; sideburns were pressed into stylish swirls cascading down both cheeks with the rest of the hair slicked back into a sleek pony tail paired with a polished red pout.

The official theme of the collection was inspired by ‘phosphorescent plankton that glow in the ocean at night’ with knitware designed to imitate ‘Urchins, Sponge and Scale’, however to the non-aquatic among us aesthetics boarded more on team NASA dressed in sexy knitted chainmail.

Spring/Summer 2013 demonstrated metallic silver knits in optic fibres, with clear and reflective yarn stretched across the body creating a peekaboo flesh effect.

Shapes varied from dress to trousers to trouser dress, combining skirts and woven silvery leggings.  The most exciting pieces protruded silver hair from silver woven dresses, creating the impression of a sparse horse’s mane hugging the figure. The footwear du jour were grey ankle socks combined with black leathered chunky platforms. Accessories consisted of clear perspex bum bags doubled up as waist belts or the occasional upper arm purse, giving the whole look a more futuristic feel.

The whole show built to a space style crescendo, plunging the brightly lit space into darkness casting a UV light on the models strutting the 8 different looks in a luminescent glow, a bit like a parade of UV jellyfish.

The ever modest designer, Craig Lawrence nimbly stepped out at the end giving a small and humble wave, before disappearing like the sea creatures before him behind a mirrored wall.

LFW: Felicities presents

One of the loveliest events I went to last week was Felicities Presents at Somerset House, an innovative way of showcasing new designers by making the party a little bit more interactive by inviting guests to watch each brands fashion video on ipads. The videos were brought to life by having the models featured in the video wearing the collection and accompanying the designers stand. 

This is a straight copy and paste from my report for Who's Jack:

LFW: Felicities Presents SS13

September 18, 2012

Felicities is a boutique East London creative PR agency who looks after some of the most talented and unique up and coming designers and brands, and weren’t afraid of showcasing them last night in Somerset House Portico Rooms.

Felicities represented a global range of emerging designers, from the GreekEvmorifa to the Russian Xsenia and Olya to home grown talent such as Beautiful Soul and Tramp in disguise.

Evmorfia designer and model

All designer films were available to watch on ipads

The evening was a digital premier of fashion films from each brand, showcased on ipads around the room with models bringing the digital collection to life wearing covetable pieces from the short films.

Beautiful Soul’s videography featured a life in the day of a very well dressed girl in Beautiful Soul’s pretty feminine and floral designs shopping on Portobello Road, returning to her house and getting ready for her date, all to the tune of the wonderful Eddie Halliday.

Other fashion films that got their premier last night included Ada Zanditon, Arianna Cerrito, Tramp in disguise, Phanatiq and Xsenia and Olya.

Head wear seemed to be the fashion statement amongst attendees, ranging from diamond encrusted bindi’s to a toupee/ hair piece entirely made up from Swarovski crystals.

Felicities rewarded us with rows of delicious bottled raspberry martinis cleverly packaged in plastic and disguised as smoothies, and goody bags filled with treats from Chocolate Alchemy to silky intimates from Playful Promises.

LFW catwalk report: Ashish SS13

I was invited for the third year running to be part of the Who's Jack London Fashion Week reporting team, 

team, another flurry of fabulousness; free haircuts from Tony and Guy, make up from Mac, goodies from smoothies to posh panties, and the joys of sipping elderflower martinis with Gok Wan. 

Below is a copy and paste of the catwalk report I wrote for Ashish SS13 collection, an assortment of beautifully mismatches designs, encapsulating kitsch cool.

LFW: Ashish SS13

September 18, 2012

The Ashish Spring/ Summer 2013 beautifully mismatched collection was a high school catwalk of the unofficial coolest girl in school, forget the pristine matchy matchy cheerleaders, this show was all about the girl who didn’t fit in, for all the right reasons.

Outfits morphed between trousers and skirts, always leaving something out, or opposite paired together. One leg of a trouser was black sequins paired with denim or one grey cotton leg paired with one denim, or even two different shades of denim for each leg.

Tops always left something out, either armless, backless or frontless separates stark white shirts layered with chiffon and sparkly polka dots.

Jumpsuits featured with half the body in black sequins and the other half in denim, often thrown over a crisp white shirt, or pale shirt adorned with black thick type faced letters of the alphabet or a silver sequin bodice shimmering through.

Each girl’s hair scraped back into a sequined scrunchie ranging from white black and midnight blue, the beautifully dishevelled looks were accessorised with white reebook’s and mismatched sequin socks. Vintage wide eyed glasses with gold frames graced the young girls freckly faces, topping off the geek chic look.

The collection matured into floor length fitted sequined gowns, from a sparkly peach to a deep midnight blue bringing the beautifully dishevelled collection to a close.