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Amelia’s Magazine | Corrie Nielsen: London Fashion Week A/W 2012 Catwalk Review

Corrie Nielsen A/W 2012 by Gaarte.

London Fashion Week kicked off for me this year with a brilliant showing from Corrie Nielsen, who looked to the Scottish Highlands for inspiration in Vestiarium Scoticum. Named for an infamous book describing the provenance of Scottish tartans, this collection harks back to Corrie’s long lost heritage: her ancestor John S. Burns emigrated to America during the Revolutionary War and this collection is dedicated to both him and her grandmother Tollie.

Corrie Nielsen AW 2012 photography by Amelia Gregory

Corrie Nielsen A/W 2012 by Gaarte.

Vestiarium Scoticum opened with a bold red tartan dress, adorned with asymmetrical panels of black chiffon ruffles. Hair was tied back into a sleek low bun with ‘face lace’ fretwork painted across the side of the foreheads by Phyllis Cohen. Buns are big for A/W 2012, you heard it here first.

Corrie Nielsen AW 2012 photography by Amelia Gregory

Corrie Nielsen by Angelica Moreno
Corrie Nielsen A/W 2012 by Angelica Moreno.

Beautifully tailored creamy blouses were buttoned high at the neck to offset supremely wearable tartan separates with a lady like feeling of propriety. In contrast a girly pleated tartan skirt was paired with a gauzy polka dot blouse, knee high post box red socks and flat shoes.

Corrie Nielsen AW 2012 photography by Amelia Gregory

I was particularly enamoured of the hair pieces by milliner Emma Yeo, which featured fine laser cut wood that echoed the long tapered pheasant feathers.

Corrie Nielsen AW 2012 photography by Amelia Gregory

This season the key focus was on a draped shawl shape that crumpled in waterfall-like waves across the torso, or swung jauntily across shoulders to culminate in finely structured peplums jutting from the waist, a favourite shape of Corrie Nielsen‘s.

Corrie Neilsen A/W 2012 by Sam Parr.

Corrie Nielsen AW 2012 photography by Amelia Gregory

Corrie Neilsen Check Skirt by Sam Parr
Corrie Neilsen A/W 2012 by Sam Parr.

The last two dresses featured the huge extravagant tumbles of fabric for which Corrie Nielsen has become famed, gloriously theatrical showstoppers with tiny waists and sweeping trains. Not for nothing has Corrie Nielsen become the heir apparent to the Westwood crown.

Corrie Nielson A/W 2012 by Carol Ryder.

All photography by Amelia Gregory.

Written by Amelia Gregory on Saturday February 18th, 2012 10:22 pm

Categories ,A/W 2012, ,Angelica Moreno, ,BFC Showspace, ,Carol Ryder, ,Corrie Nielsen, ,Emma Yeo, ,Face Lace, ,Forward PR, ,Gaarte, ,Gabriel Ayala, ,Gazelli, ,John S Burns, ,lfw, ,millinery, ,Peplum, ,Phyllis Cohen, ,Revolutionary War, ,Ruffles, ,Sam Parr, ,scotland, ,Sheer, ,Tartan, ,Tollie Burns, ,Vestiarium Scoticum, ,Vivienne Westwood

Amelia’s Magazine | An interview with jewellery designer Daisy Knights

Illustration by Emma Block

From student life to Vogue fame in one action packed year, page cure Daisy Knights’ creations have already been snapped up by our most loved style icons and proved that ethically responsible jewellery can still be achingly cool.

Splitting her time between the simple life in the countryside and the rush of her production process, buy Daisy tells us a little bit more about the passion and inspiration behind her jewellery collections and what the future holds for this wonderfully British label.

Your collection has taken off at incredible speed, viagra dosage how does that feel?
It’s great, I’m so happy that people want to buy and wear my designs! I saw my bracelets in Vogue this month and had a moment of “wow, this time last year, I was at university and now my jewellery is in Vogue!”

Illustration by Holly Trill

Two of your pieces, the Oxidised Feather ring and the 22 Karat Skull ring have recently been worn by Daisy Lowe and Alexa Chung, two of the UK’s biggest style icons. Did they approach you personally or was it just a wonderful surprise?
Well, we share the same publicist who made them aware of my pieces and happily, they seemed to love them!

Which inspirations lie behind your jewellery designs?
Every collection is named after a friend and I use them as a muse for that collection. I aim to embody that person in the collection, My new one is Talullah, after my friend Tallulah Harlech.

You pride yourself on having an ethically responsible ethos throughout your collection, is this something you have always had a strong belief in?
My workshop is in Britain and even my pouches are made here. I really try to be responsible but it’s not possible yet to get everything transparent sourced, which is what I hope for one day! There are so many grey areas within the industry in regards to where things come from. Keeping things in Britain means I know every person working for me, I know exactly how things are made and every person in my workshop is a highly skilled craftsman/woman. It means that my prices are higher than if I used a factory in India or China but I think the kind of people who buy my jewellery respect that it is very high quality and British made.

Illustration by Matilde Sazio

Each one of your pieces is hand made from recycled materials, which is becoming increasingly popular in a society where everything seems so disposable. Is this something you aim to maintain and something you think your buyers appreciate above anything else?
I don’t want the main aspect of my jewellery to be that it is recycled. For my brand, it’s about the design and the recycled silver is just a plus! Not every piece is recycled silver but the majority is. For example, the chain is not recycled because it’s not possible to obtain. I would love my jewellery to be made from ethically mined silver rather than recycled but right now, not enough is produced and I’m not even sure it is possible yet, so right now recycled is better than nothing. I do hope, however, for it to be ethically mined silver one day in the future. My fine jewellery and bespoke engagement rings are ethically mined gold and diamonds.

You personally make one of your designs, the Studded Wrap Around ring, at your home workshop away from production, is there any particular reason as to why you chose this one to work on alone?
I don’t ever want to be separated from the making process and this is a very popular piece so it’s nice to feel involved. I also make the Michelle stacking rings and a few others. It keeps my skills up for when I make engagement rings and bespoke pieces! I hate being away from the bench and I’m constantly making new samples for collections or adding pieces to existing ones.

Illustration by Cat Palairet

Are there any designers out there that you would compare yourself and your work to?
At this early stage in my career, (I only graduated from Central Saint Martins last year) I’m not sure I could compare myself to anyone yet! However, my favourite designer is Matthew Williamson and I like to think my jewellery matches his clothing quite well!

Which of your pieces are you the most fond of?
My favourite piece has to be the new skull ring that I’ve done in an exclusive collection for Urban Outfitters… it’s not out yet though so you will have to wait and see!

What do you get up to in the spare time that you have away from designing?
I live in the Cotswolds and I love going for country walks with my boyfriend and our dog, Ace Ventura Pet Detective (Ace for short). There’s a great pub in my village called the Falcon Inn which serves amazing locally sourced food and I love sitting by the fire there. I also love to sail and surf and when my boyfriend is back from work (he’s a pilot in the RAF) we go on surf trips together. I also love going to the British Museum and the V&A.

What does the future hold for Daisy Knights?
Well hopefully it holds a long and happy career. But for the immediate future keep your eyes peeled for my new Spring/Summer collection…

Written by Siobhan Fagan on Thursday January 13th, 2011 6:30 pm

Categories ,Ace Venturer Pet Detective, ,Alexa Chung, ,Britain, ,British Museum, ,Central Saint Martins, ,Cotswolds, ,Daisy Knights, ,daisy lowe, ,Diamonds, ,Emma Block, ,ethical, ,Falcon Inn, ,Feathers, ,Gold, ,jewellery, ,Matilde Sazio, ,Matthew Williamson, ,Silver, ,skulls, ,Talullah Harlech, ,Urban Outfitters, ,va, ,vogue

Amelia’s Magazine | Made In Britain – Art Exhibition, London Miles Gallery

Work by Mr. Penfold.

There has been a lot of excitement in Pop Surrealist Fanboy circles about the big show of American work in Bristol this summer. So the London Miles gallery’s latest exhibition is a very timely wake-up call to the fact that Pop Surrealism, with its Graffiti and Lowbrow fellow flavours, has a very natural home here in the UK. We’re so culturally jam-packed with icons, ironies and idiosyncrasies, its a recipe fit to burst kola-kube-sour onto your culture buds.
But any recipe needs skilled chaps and chappesses to cook it up. London Miles has done well to gather so many first rate artists, and the artists have done very well to respond to the British theme without being gimmicky or repetitive.
Andrew Rae depicts the “Great White Hunter”, a British Raj-style heartless toff in the colonies with massive moustache and blunderbuss, his Chai Wallah at his side, as they stand atop a pile of murdered target practise – a tiger, a unicorn, an elephant, a mermaid. All rendered in a gauche Tintin outline with a dulled palette of Imperial Tales for Boys, circa 1930.

The Great White Hunter
“Great White Hunter” – Andrew Rae

Contrast that with Kevin Wayne’s bas-relief revision of Richard Hamilton Pop Art masterpiece “Just what is it that makes today’s homes so different, so appealing?”, now titled “…so depraved, so appalling”. He seems to suggest that, while people in the 60s thought the 60s was a bit crass, we in the present are far too witless and lost even to know that anything’s gone wrong.

Society
“Society” – Studio Diablo

Studio Diablo, on the other hand, presents us with “Society”, a bold and happily overpopulated image that chronicles one day’s happy-snapping on Brick Lane, cool people at the front, street cleaners at the back, the bagel guy half way down, set against East London’s beautiful streetlamps, CCTV cams and a lovely grit-salt bucket. It’s a big draw, and soon has a crowd standing around it only a little bit smaller than the one in it. It also doubles up as a partytime Banksy version of Where’s Wally. (I spotted him quick)
Other standout works include a a high-speed procession of three-eyed horses and assorted oddbods through the sky, driven on by the excitement of tea (by an artist called Mooselumps), a lovely bold pig-faced man asking for two sugars in his tea (by Mr. Penfold), and a surly Peckham Skingirl (who looks like she could use a nice cuppa, by Mr. Frivolous). And Xue Wang applies the laws of Mark Rydenism to Britishness by way of a very creepy big-eyed-girl in a chastity belt with a Henry VIII puppet.

“A Grand Cavalade of Brew House Streamer a la Mode.” – Mooselumps

Don’t get the idea that everything here would fit neatly into a “California goes Laaandaan” Juxtapoz compendium. A lot of this work comes from purely British veins of illustration, graffiti and image. There has been a great liberation on both sides of the pond. This exhibition is the strongest sign yet that British talent no longer faces the choice between hiding away or selling out to the Saatchi scene. As recent years on Brick Lane have shown, barriers are coming down between art and graphics, plus a lot of disciplines we used to have to look down on.

“High Tea” – Xue Wang

“English Rose” – Ink Fetish

This is the best show I have seen for a while, in one of London’s tastiest spaces. Energetic, democratic, authentic, and even, dare I say it, affordable. It doesn’t have a big ego, doesn’t puff itself up. It just does what it says on the tin, as gleefully as possible. If Britain’s really got talent for a new dawn, this is the place to watch.

London Miles Gallery

Speaking of talent, the show runs concurrently with a little solo show corner. The work of Illustrator artist Mesh 137, a supafly stylist of the first order. Check out his orange teapot. Both shows until October 1st. Visit www.londonmiles.com for more know-how.

Written by Gareth David on Wednesday September 15th, 2010 2:10 pm

Categories ,Andrew Rae, ,art, ,banksy, ,Britain, ,Graffiti Art, ,illustration, ,Ink Fetish, ,london, ,London Miles, ,lowbrow, ,Pop surrealism, ,Studio Diablo, ,Xue Wang

Amelia’s Magazine | Festival Preview: Secret Garden Party

secret garden party

Out of all the festivals that fill the calendar over the British summer, medical none are quite like the Secret Garden Party. Every year friends come back, page wide-eyed, stories tumbling from their mouths about the fantastical things that they have seen and experienced. Last year’s festival had a whole stage on a boat in the middle of the lake on site (above) – as the festival was brought to close on the final night the ship was fully exploded in a mad orgy of fiery violence. It sounds like it was brilliant. Every year they have things like this.

It’s a strange festival in that the attraction is not so much the lineup (good as it may be), or the site (beautiful though it is), but the other people who attend. The organisers explain it best:

“We provide the Garden and plant the seeds, but you nurture its life and allow it to blossom. It is your party – your creative participation allows the festival to rejuvenate & regenerate. Our number one rule is that the festival must facilitate your participation.”

Simple, eh? This means that there’s a very blurred line between performers and attendees, leading to a merry atmosphere that’s had people deliriously happy since 2004. It may not have the ‘big’ names that characterise the larger, more corporate festivals, but that’s not the point (and, as the four friends who run the festival say, “there’s something unsettling about relaxing in a field in the summer underneath a giant Pepsi logo”). This sharing, communal atmosphere is largely responsible for the festival’s grand reputation amongst the partying people of Britain.

There are still stages and tents and acts and headliners, of course. This year there will be performanes from artists as diverse as Mercury Rev, Fionn Regan, Eliza Doolittle, Mr Fogg, Marina & the Diamonds, and Crystal Fighters (but that’s just scratching the surface of the lineup). They’ll be appearing on the different stages and in the different tents across the site – wonderfully-named things, they are. There’s The Great Stage (aka the main stage), or the Wild Stage (bands play to the audience from a treehouse), or The Pagoda (a DJ arena, backed by a Peter Foster-designed pagoda), or The Feast of Fools (a medieval banquet experience underneath a huge, ancient oak), or… well, take your pick, there are 14 different locations to choose from, all of them suitably wacky and enticing.

This year’s theme (for there is always a theme) is ‘Fact or Fiction’. Again, in the festival’s own words:

“In 2010 The Secret Garden Party will be prizing open the chinks in man’s most carefully constructed edifice: Reality. The Garden will be exploring the illusions, visions, theories, fantasies, mysteries and legends that have created a rich world between Fact and Fiction.”

The idea is to come in a costume that’s stranger than fiction. Whether that is entirely logically possible is a moot point – it’s all about having as much of a party as possible by exploring the inventive ideas of the past, present, and future. Plus it’s a chance to dance in a field dressed like Bowie in Labyrinth. No?

Ah, Secret Garden Party. Between the hippie girls with flowers in their hair to the massive raves in the woods at night, there’s a lot of space to do your own thing. It’s a festival all about doing what you want to let yourself have a good time, and in the process get other people to enjoy themselves more through the power of community. It’s all very excellent.

Written by Ian Steadman on Tuesday May 4th, 2010 9:10 pm

Categories ,Bowie, ,Britain, ,crystal fighters, ,Eliza Doolittle, ,festival, ,Fionn Regan, ,ian steadman, ,Marina & the Diamonds, ,Mercury Rev, ,Mr Fogg, ,Secret Garden Party, ,summer

Amelia’s Magazine | Corrie Nielsen: London Fashion Week A/W 2012 Catwalk Review

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