ACforAG '15 Collection.

Alexa Chung's influence within the ACforAG collaboration is clear as Alexa's trademark Parisian chic aesthetic is merged with a dying trend, denim. Denim has been cut and styled every single way possible over numerous seasons and this collection brings nothing new. Stone-washed denim shirt dresses and boring boot-cut jeans brought no raw artistic flare expected from Chung but rather, left a deflated launch audience to "ooh" and "ahh" over Alexa's block printed name on the label. The only individualistic pieces presented were a mumsy denim shift dress with a ruff-like neckline and off-white jumpers with french print loosely translating to "I have the soul of the wave", very "coffee shop hipster"-esque. 'Wearable' is quickly becoming a dirty word in the fashion industry and one has to consider if this launch would have been as successful without the excited bubble of Alexa's appearance.





[ Ill be doing a guest-post over on Shy,Strange,Manic about the actual event and I may do another here about the interview she did at the launch, so look out for those!]

Faces of Fashion: Leigh Bowery.

Notorious king of the club-kids turned murderer Michael Alig was recently released from prison after 17 years for murdering fellow club kid “Angel” Mendez. His release has thrown “club kid culture” back into the limelight thanks to the modern medium of social media where Michael interacts with fans. But it wasn’t just in New York that “club kid” culture thrived, here in London it survived via Leigh Bowery.

                                  

Australian-born Bowery made his name in London thanks to his “pro-weird” stance on fashion and its prevalence in performance art. Bowery saw himself as a piece of walking art and used this ideology as influence in his seven collections which premiered at London, New York and Tokoyo fashion week. His collections were a mash of conceptual surrealist culture presented as couture. One of Bowery’s most famous pieces was a full form oil black cat suit made of wet look PVC and covered everything but the mouth with an added power-tail hairpiece on top. London was a place where “freak” thrived in the underground scene but Bowery pulled the fashion of the movement from its roots to the surface of society.

             

After cultivating the fashion industry Leigh became fascinated with club culture and decided to migrate the clubkid lifestyle to London through his club Taboo where he, like many clubkids, worked as a promoter. Taboo became a hit and attracted celebrities such as Boy George who developed a close friendship with Bowery. Taboo quickly became known for its quirky underground atmosphere and the enormous amount of drugs that passed through it, two things considered fundamental to the club kid movement.

Taboo was Bowery’s gateway for the young and rebellious of the time to access a medium of art in juxtaposition of the “norm”. However it appeared to be short-lived as Taboo was shut down in 1986, but this didn’t deter Leigh from continuing his stint in the spotlight.

                                        

Leigh went on to thrive within the art world as a budding friendship grew between himself and Lucien Freud who painted Leighs best friend Sue Tilley in “Benefits advisor sleeping,” which went on to break the world record for “highest paid for a painting by living artist” at £17.2 million. It was at this point that a silencing reality came crashing down for Leigh as he was diagnosed with AIDS.

Soon after Leigh decided to pose for several completely nude paintings for Lucien Freud. Through the eccentric makeup and outlandish outfits, the bravest costume Bowery ever wore was his own skin.

                                         

Leigh passed on the 31^st of December 1994, and still Bowery was determined to live on, as he asked his friends to “Tell them Iv gone to Papua, New Guinea”.

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Julien Macdonald SS/15.

Julien Macdonald’s Ready-to-Wear SS/15 collection was a slow burner.

Awash with geometric Great Gatsby style prints and knee-length bodycons, the opening pieces were nothing too show stopping. The audience were more preoccupied spying Abbey Clancy and Tanya Burr in the FROW than the designs they had come to see. Macdonalds usual audience don’t seem the type prepared to spend a mint on such boring run of the mill pieces and if he knows his demographic at all, who is he designing for?

The drab opening left the press curious, Macdonald’s usual style was pushing out high glamour from start to finish, all embellished trumpet dresses with a blinding amount of glitter. So far the collection was boring and deflatingly highstreet, nothing to call home about.

When half the collection had been shown the show started to pick up as a sweetheart off the shoulder cut empire line dress stormed the runway in a flurry of tulle and metallic lace. A somewhat jellyfish silhouette reminiscent of scuba diving, a very subtle nod to summer.

Fashion photographer Dan Cowley said the pieces were “Remarkably crafted” and while this is true, Macdonald has upcycled many elements of his collection from AW/14, same hair, same makeup, and same materials. Most of the gowns were chiffon and lace with diamond encrusted detail and had a subtle Aquamarine theme. An idea that has proved popular so far for the coming season and is very in character for Macdonald compared to previous seasons.

The flourishing finale fresh out of the studio was a floor length lace wedding dress with a short train. The detailing was nestled and layered around the lower region of the dress and thinned out towards the top to give a faux nude look. The traditional essence of the piece was skewed as the model-bride had ditched the veil and instead had pieces of lace instilled in her hair. As his first wedding dress on the catwalk it was impressive. Simple and elegant but not what he is known for, could this be symbolic of change at the atelier of Macdonald?

Maybe its because I'm a Londoner.

Hey everyone,

A lot of exciting things have been happening with me lately, mainly due to the fact that Iv recently moved to London! I must have gotten too in tune to the "£2 a pint" north because I cant help but scoff at every product/bus fair/tube fair/ticket price/service tip.....basically anything that costs anything and being a student on top of all this isn't really fair on my bank balance. Being in the busy city has kept me on my feet and being the cheapskate I am Iv devised a list of the best apps to save you bucks and help you get around in London!


1. Timeout London:


Timeout London is a great app that let you know what's going on in and around your area and central London, It gives recommendations for everything from Art Galleries and events to café's and restaurants and on top of that it shows you how to get tickets to events cheaper than the door price. If you're really stuck on places to go then you can just hit the "most popular" button and it will show you what everyone else liked. This is a good app for Planning


2. City Mapper:

Citymapper is an app which uses your current location (Location button on for this app) to help you find any destination you need to get to whether it be a pub, shop or tube station. You just type where you want to go and hit "Get Route" and the app takes you to a page of travel options (see second image). It gives you options for walking, bus, bike, taxi, tube, what's safest for rain and it will calculate how much it will cost and how long it will take you to get there. Once you've chosen your transport method it takes you to a map which has the instructions laid out beneath an aerial view map of where you are. It even has a working compass on the map so if you're walking in the wrong direction it will tell you! This app is great for Travel.

3.Runtastic:

If, like me, you don't want to pay for the gym but still fancy staying in shape then Runtastic is perfect. It uses your location to map out your running journey and works similarly to the Nike+ app in the sense that it shows you how long you've been running, how many calories you have burned and lets you choose what music you'd like to listen to while you run. It also has a feature for speciality training such as 10k training, weight-loss and marathon runners. It also gives the option of "story running" in which the app uses your earphones to deliver a live-story that is affected by your running. For example, you may be running from zombies and the earphones will reflect that as you hear them getting closer behind you. You have the option of one free story "run for those who cant" and the rest are around the 99p mark. This app is perfect for Fitness.

4. Farm Hero Saga. 

I'm recommending Farm Hero Saga because its my go-to when im on the Tube. 1. You don't need internet to use it, AWESOME 2. You don't need signal to use it, AWESOME 3. Its really fun and occupying for when you have long distances to travel, AWESOME. Just try and not play this while walking anywhere because you WILL get too involved in the game and end up shouting "oh crap" in public and/or walking into a small child. Lesson Learned. This app is good for Killing Time.


xoxo

Fashion-Fox.


PS. Apologies if this is becoming confusing, since beginning my degree in Fashion Journalism I have decided to revert back to my original alter-ego "Fashion Fox" and I am happily back into the swing of blogging regularly and have some great posts and videos scheduled for you guys.

Street Style: London Fashion Weekend.

So last week I attended London Fashion Weekend and reported the Julien Macdonald catwalk for Platfform magazine, it was seriously mindblowing, mainly due to the sheer amount of embellishment and detail in all of the pieces. Whilst milling around the little shopping stalls etc quite a few outfits caught my eye so I decided to photograph them for you all, enjoy!


We bumped into the lovely Celia Orford keeping it simply stylish by wearing block colour basics, mainly blacks and pastels, but jazzing it up with a fabulous faux-fur caramel coat from Zara (around £100). I especially love the black skinnies and black heeled ankle boot combo as it brings an essence of effortless style while keeping the attention on the coat.

Jessie took the opposite approach by using layering to create an effortlessly chic piece. I feel like this outfit is a good representative of London fashion culture as it uses a mix of street and high fashion to create one overall piece. The bottom is very tailored and floaty whereas the top is all about textures and layering to create a cluster and fall effect.
Coat: H&M
Necklace: Zara.
 Catheryn Smith wore this bubblegum pink soft box coat, a reoccurring theme at London Fashion Weekend was defiantly the emphasis on outerwear as the main focus piece, as is evidenced here by the large overcoat taking main stage within the piece.
Coat & Glasses: Both ASOS.

Nasreen used a variety of textures and colours to create this outfit. A blue fur coat, Lime silk scarf and Fringed suede boots combine to create a crazy mash-up of all this seasons trends.
Coat: Topshop
Necklace: Accessorize.

Micheal Taylor incorporated a traditional British heritage within his piece as he adds a red tartan scarf to a quilted coat. He also carries a rough and ready brown leather duffle bag, the ideal balance between prim and country. The white shirt underneath his coat was customized by Micheal to add black buttons which give the shirt an overall sheer look
Coat: River Island
Bag: ASOS

Joao + Yvonne channeled a very Italian style outfit with sharp tailoring an classic prints. Joao wore a cape coat he had made in Portugal with Italian Leather gloves and a crisp white shirt and trouser combo. Yvonne wore a gingham coat from Paul and Joe coupled with a simple lilac shirt dress. LFW brought a whole mix of different cultures into one place.