Yesterday saw the beginning of the Paris showroom for my New Gen counterparts which was opened by special brunch hosted by Sarah Mower (who is a BFC board member). I asked Ashley Fletcher from the inimitable Louise Gray studio to fill us in on the happenings. The turn out was conde-nastically considerable with attendees including Angelica Cheung, Alexandra Shulman, Kate Phelan, Franca Sozzani and Kazuhiro Saito. But the headline biller was Anna Wintour who was anticipated to arrive at 8 a.m which may have potentially unnerved the troops buy apparently the experience was lovely and similar to that of meeting the queen! Thanks to Ashley also for the images of Louise at her Paris stand, her presentation in London and the video for her new collection by Cameron Smith. Best of luck guys, bag lots of buyers and keep the British flag flying to bring them all back here for next season please! Fingers crossed!
A few of my favourite things aligned one day when video directors Colin Henderson and Daniel Brereton worked with stylist Kim Howells to shoot Golden Silvers for their new single noir thriller "True Romance". With all these elements in the melting pot, the elixir was surely going to be medicinal magic. And so it is, if you need a fix of giggles for your funny bones, tune in. This is bloody hilarious! I got in touch with Colin and Dan to find out how the collaboration came about. At the initial meeting they discovered a mutual appreciation for all things pop and Prince relate,d which gives some indication to the purple hue of the set. The concept of their direction was to have the band performing on a fictional foreign language TV show. By researching videos of music shows from around the world, from the past and present, they decided to create a fictional country with it's own language. To illustrate this, watch the outtake footage here of the presenter Gabriel. The other stop-motion film below is by the band's resident photographer Graham who mixed his backstage snaps to the soundtrack of the single's remix by Michachu. If the green makeup reminds of you a certain genius video for Metronomy, there is no coincidence. In addition to Metronomy, the duo have also art directed the likes of Late of the Pier, Esser, Best Fwends, These New Puritans. This is the 1st feature that they have shared directorship and when I asked them to list their future dream clients a mix of Girls Aloud and thecocknbullkidd arose...............so watch this space! These outtakes were kindly sent to me by the guys (http://y-o-tube.blogspot.com/). Check http://goldensilvers.co.uk/category/video/ for news from thier recent world trip and further details....................
One of the referee's for my application to the New Gen award was Susie Bubble who has been a constant support and championer of my career. She dropped by the exhibition for our film presentation and took the opportunity to film Craig and I for her video wall on Dazed Digital.com. At each fashion week she is asking designers what they would like to transform into for a montage of soundbites from each city. As we are all tired and stressed the varying answers are quite surreal and funny. The most amusing from London is predictably Peter Jensen who single handledly never fails to CRACK ME UP! The other thing that made me laugh is Craig who says that he would like to be a cake because they are sweet. On that day I remember he was particularly over-tired and distracted with organising his film and runway show which were in a few hours of each other. His conversation consisted mostly of single word responses being "Sweet". That word even managed to get into this quote too but most probably totally subconsciously! Bless! Sweet!
Kathryn Ferguson has put together another stellar film screening as the fashion event of "Birds Eye View" festival. Last year the show reel was followed by a talk with Penny Martin and Toyin which was a great insight to the realm of all female film making. The video which I made for LFW to showcase my A/W09 collection has been added to the itinerary and fits very neatly into this parameter as the majority of the team were coincidentally female...........Director,, stylist, hair team, makeup team, choreographer, cast............ A few of the team also worked on the latest film by Hannah Marshall which will also be showing next Thursday. Here are some screen grabs for the film by Monica Elkelv and Darren Smith. In contrast to Hannah's trademark black palette, here are some multicolour shots from my film by director Elisha Smith-Leverock. At the first New Gen seminar I attended Hannah and I sat next to each other in perfect harmony looking like the exact personification of ying and yang. I was wearing all white with my long blond hair and Hannah dressed head to toe black with her long hair. Perhaps we should consider exploiting this spontaneous synchronicity to full affect for future photo opportunities! It must have looked quite weird, like we were characters that had just stepped off a chess board. (Hannah is showcasing her new collection in Paris from today until the 11th in a shared showroom with Marios Schwab, Peter Pilotto, Husam El Odeh and Josh Goot. "Rainbow Wave" is at 13 Rue De Sevigne, 75004)
This weekend sees the first ever screening of Oscar Wilde's Salome at the National Film Theatre with a specially commissioned score written and performed live by Bishi. It features music in collaboration with composer Neil Kaczor, who is also the pianist in her band. Bishi has always had an interest in the crossover between music and film. Apparently she has had an amazing time working on the project and learning all about the original production with the complex and fascinating interrelationships behind the scenes. The incredible looking set was based on Aubery Beardsley's illustrations from the book's artwork and costumes were designed by Valentino's wife?! The screening is going to be hosted by Immodisty Blaize and is part of the current "Bird's Eye View" festival at the BFI. Check the link for tickets...................... Thank you to Mishkin for supplying me with this iconoclastic image of Bishi which they worked on with set designer/stylist Alex Cunningham.
One of the nicest unexpected things to occur over the duration of my stand at LFW was to have an illustrator come and draw my pieces live and direct. Kila Carr- Ince was comissoned by The Daily to cover my collection by getting creative and colourful. I was so touched that time, effort and consideration went into the feature that appeared in the paper last Monday. Kila brought inks, paints and various pens to my exhibition space and spent substantial time reinterpreting my craziness in her sketchbook. Here is the result that was published which really captures the essence in a refreshing way compared to a straight forward digital snap. Kila coincidentally also has her own accessories line of hand painted wooden necklaces and illustrated pin badges which she sells at the Brick Lane boutique Lik & Neon. Beautiful!
During London Fashion Week I diligently stood by New Gen stand and talked more in 4 days than I have before in my whole life. For anyone who doesn't know me, I am a girl of few words. On the whole, I opt for silence over conversation and after 2 months of studio cabin-fever, I was unwittingly thrust into an interrogation carnival freak show. I even had to talk to Sarah Brown (PM's wife) and concentrate double hard on not letting tourets take over. As a consequence of duty to my sponsership, I could not attend any other shows. But my blog wing-man Ben did the rounds and kept pace with Menkes furious scribbling with high octane camera antics. I think he had a blast running around seeing collections and meeting random fashion folk en route. He has sent me many many fantastic snapshots and here i have selected the best according to my vision. The press has been flooded with repetitive imagery so hopefully this is a slightly different angle. Enjoy! Images by Ben Fern (Roksanda Illincic, Craig Lawerence, Holly Fulton, Johnny Woo, Cooperative Designs)
