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.

Loves Saves The Day

Spirits were certainly not dampened by the summer downpour at Love Saves The Day festival in Castle Park, Bristol this weekend.

Thousands of people made their way to the sell-out dance festival in the heart of Bristol on Sunday. Despite the day time drizzle fans turned up in droves to support the likes of Jessie Ware, who managed to get a field full of fans waving their umbrella’s and singing along to former backing singer Jessie’s current single 110%, which she performed with faultless vocals.

Annie Mac was next to warm up the main arena, smashing out some brilliant Jay-Z and Drake dance remixes, followed by youngsters Disclosure, brothers aged 17 and 20 who lit up the main stage, thanking their booming audience graciously, saying it was ‘lovely’ to be playing in Bristol.

Jessie Ware at LSTD

Dance music was not the only sound of the day with the Dance Off arena boasting Sticky and the nostalgic garage sound of DJ Luck and MC Neat, who played their classics Sambucca and A Little Bit Of Luck to the crowd stomping their wellies on a raised dancing platform adorned with vines and camouflage netting.

Love for the Jubilee weekend was clearly displayed in the Jubilee marquee, which provided some much needed shelter from the English summer weather, reggae from the aptly named Rainy But Funky, and hip hop jazz artist Mr Scruff whose popularity saw mile long queues round the tent to catch an earful of his 4 hour long set.

The one-day event also included sets from Bonobo, UK rap legend Roots Manuva,Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs, Maya Jane Coles, Jamie Jones and Joy Orbison. Bristol acts also got a look in too with the well-known veteran DJ Derek and Joker among local acts featured.

See you again next year Bristol!

Words: Tania Willis

Link: http://www.whosjack.org/love-saves-the-day-festival-review/

Simmi Shoes

I really like these pink things from Simmi Shoes. I am not sure if I like them enough to buy though... And I am not sure if I like blue more...

I have found a new floor.

Thanks to Fabulous Magazine gorgeous retro chic shoot, I discovered the beautiful Three Floor. Apparently designed by (you will be really really really UN surprised by this) a Central St Martins grad, I am putting the matchstick red body con on my wish list. Potential birthday dress? hmmmm #pleasehaveaspringsalepleasehaveaspringsale

Jukebox Vintage shoot for Nerve* Fashion

I can't really take a huge amount of credit for this one; shot by the fabulous Georgie Wishart, styled by the girls at Jukebox Vintage and modelled by my good friends Jordan and Sam.
Except the lay out. I don't think i'm doing too badly with this in-design malarky, do you?! judge for yourself.
To be published in March edition of Nerve* magazine.

New Spring/Summer trends 2011

Apologies for not blogging in a while, have only just returned to my Nerve* fash editor keyboard so have been preoccupied with dull third year academia. *sigh*

Check out the spread I did for February's edition of Nerve* magazine, this is possibly the most exciting trend since berry lips. I live for the rainbow. Long live clashing brights and pouts that pop! Hurrah s/s 11 you are just the antidote to my January blues.

When I met Uffie

I was fortunate enough to nab ten minutes of my biggest girl crushes time, Uffie, for Whos Jack Magazine, check it out:  www.whosjack.org/when-tania-met-uffie/ or for you lazy clickers just do some scrolling...

When I was first introduced to the biting sardonic synths of Uffie in the form of Pop the Glock back in 2006 I was hooked on this electro crunked sensation with the face of butter wouldn’t melt but mouth could burn with lyrics such as ‘If you front, you can go f**k yourself in the back.’

The Uffmeister spent 4 years prior to recording her debut album Sex, Dreams and Denim Jeans which was released this summer gone, by artfully crafting hype and intrigue via live performances globally whilst subtly seducing unsuspecting Uffie addicts on good ol’ music marketing platform myspace. Not many artists can boast 17 million plays before your debut single has actually been released.

Just to name drop a little bit more she has previously collaborated with a few artists you may have heard of; Justice, Crystal Castles, Yolanda Be Cool and Pharrell Williams anyone?

Once dubbed the ‘Vanessa Paradis of electro cool’, Uffie is Shoreditch’s newest resident and arguably Ed Bangers finest internationally recognised slice of electro-rap originality. Anna-Catherine Hartley, aka Uffie, managed to squeeze in a break from her globe trotting schedule to tell Jack about her new range for Diesel and how she just can’t seem to get rid of those German lesbians…

Let’s start from the beginning, what was your first introduction to music, and how did that catalyse the young Uffie to make pop the glock in 2006?

Well growing up in Hong Kong I just listened to my parent’s music which was Bob Marley, Pink Floyd kind of thing then we went back to the States, travelling, then living in the States when I was 13 I started listening to a lot of hip hop that was a big influence for me. Then when I came to France when I was 15 I think a lot of that sort of carried through to the sound I was making.

Can you update Jack with what have you been up to at the moment?

Lately I have wrapped up a tour in Australia a few weeks ago, I’ve kind of been recuperating from that travelling around in New York now I’m in Leeds doing some Diesel parties and getting ready for the launch, as well as working on my second album.

Busy girl then! In the past you have always prided your music as being underground, what made you want to catalogue your music in an album that could be accessed by the masses?

I think as an artist, especially as your new, there’s something you need to do to prove yourself to yourself, with an album its just something you need to be really dedicated and follow through to do and it comes with really ups and downs and hard times making it, so for me it was something I wanted to prove to myself I could do, more of a personal challenge.

You started higher education at a fashion college, is that something you still want to pursue?

Definitely, my Dad was in fashion, it was a world I grew up around and it was something I really liked and it just seemed like a natural direction to go, and as the music grew, with the touring I was unable to continue school but it was something I’m still really interested in.

Who are your favourite designers or labels?

I’m a huge fan of Fendi, Jeremy Scott, Marc Jacobs is great, there is a New York label called, Best which makes amazing leather pieces.

Recently you collaborated with Diesal, were you involved much in the creative process?

O definitely, it was important to me to actually be the one creating it and not just put my name on something, so I came to them with a  bunch of designs and mood boards and the design team really helped me to see what I could really do in terms of fabrics and cuts. I especially like the bustier pieces in the dress and jump suit as I find them really flattering, and for me it’s so hard to find basic T-Shirts that are really flattering and a nice weight of the fabric. I definitely love those and the Jeans as well.

Where can Jack fans expect to see you next?

Well tomorrow I will be in Gastonburg, next place Sweden, then the week after that in Moscow and Budapest, then Jacata then on new years I will be playing in Korea!

Your album is entitled sex dreams and denim jeans, who is your favourite denim designer or cut?

I’m a big fan of not skinny skinny jeans, slim fitting but I hate low waisted jeans, and they’ve got to be mid rise.

Pharell Williams of NERD features on your album, what is your nerdiest habit?

I definitely sit in bed eating cereal watching trashy TV all day! Let me think, um I’m not quite sure! I think I’m a massive nerd in a way!

You have expressed your annoyance in previous interviews that music making is now arranged via email, do you think this process hinders the creative process of music making a little bit?

I think so, as the cool thing about collaborating with people is meeting up with each other and exchanging energy and tossing ideas around, however I think it’s convenient to do things for mp3’s but I think you use a little bit of humility.

You have a young daughter, is she a fan of your music and would you encourage her if she wanted to follow a similar career as you?

She’s a huge fan of Vampire Weekend, I don’t know why but whenever I play that in the morning she jumps up and down and gets really happy! No, I wouldn’t stop her from following the same career but as much as I love what I do there are lots of ugly, ugly parts of this industry that of course you would never wish upon your child so you like to live in the fake reality that they will never know about certain things, so I hope she will be a dentist!

Your stage name Uffie, comes from the French name for egg, how do you like your eggs in the morning?

There is two stories they are always changing, well I was the last child that my dad was having and he was always saying enough enough enough and Un Oeuf translates as a little egg and some how that got turned into Uffie. I like toasted eggs and soldiers, soft boiled or poached with some bread for dipping!

What been your favourite festival you have played this summer, festival highlights and disasters?

Something always goes wrong, this is summer has been the summer of injuries, I think I’ve been in hospital 4 times. Stage diving was not a great idea! Definitely hands down the best festival was

Summer Sonic festival in Japan, just the catering; the way the artists are taken care of is like a whole other level. You get like sashimi, everything is beautiful. I twisted one ankle then I ended up getting a piece of glass stuck in my foot in Japan, so I had to go to hospital to get it taken out then they informed me that both of them were twisted inside. Then I dislocated my shoulder, that one was probably the worst! I got a nice little shot at the ER place after that one.

Whats the most obscure letter of object you have ever received from a fan?

There’s always really weird stuff! Always the guys that say ‘I wanna have your babies’ and stuff. Every time I go to Germany there are always lesbian couples who always ask me to go home with them! It’s quite strange.

How do you feel about the constant Kesha comparisons?

I just don’t care.

You’ve worked with quite a few producers; are there any other artists or producers you want to work with in future?

I would like to collaborate more with Neptune productions as I love Pharrell and think he’s an amazing producer, I think right now I’m doing a collaboration with Yolanda Be cool, who I met on tour in Australia, I think its quite nice to randomly meet people you connect with and do something together.

If you could only take 3 objects with you on holiday what would they be and why?

Sunglasses, super sunglasses from Italy, my ipod, and a bottle of rose probably!

Thank you for speaking to Who’s Jack magazine Uffie, good luck with the rest of your tour.

Check out Uffies new Diesel range at http://www.diesel.com/presskit/uffie/links.html

Twightlight Shoot

Above is my first shoot as fashion ed. We attempted a twighlight theme, with more of a high street twist, pictures were shot in my local graveyard.

Will be a 4 page spread in November issue of Nerve*. Ideas for December?? Hmmm.