Amelia’s Magazine | Vintage at Goodwood: Festival Preview

Bobbin Bicycles wall
Natasha-Thompson-Bobbins-Bicycles-Girl-Cape-Illustration
Bobbin Bicycles by Natasha Thompson.

I first heard of Bobbin Bicycles just over three years ago, shop when as a nascent bespoke bike company they contacted me to suggest featuring some of their imported upright Dutch bicycles in my Amelia’s Magazine fashion spreads. This was a canny move from husband and wife team Tom Morris and Sian Emmison because I am a big fan of cycling and we shot Bobbin Bicycles several times for the final print issues of the magazine.

Bobbin Bicycles tom and sian
Tom and Sian in Bobbin Bicycles. All photography by Amelia Gregory.

Today Bobbin Bicycles has grown into a well known business that employs six people and is set to open a bespoke and vintage bike repair workshop. They’re launching their own brand of upright Bobbin Bicycles in Australia, visit this to be followed shortly thereafter in the USA and are set to produce their own brand of Bobbin Bicycles branded panniers and capes. They’ve quickly become the go to people for the kind of upright bicycle that is increasingly favoured by townie types looking for sturdiness and style, buy information pills and indeed they’re so busy that Sian barely has time to say hello as she poses for a photo before returning to the phones in her subterranean office below their lovely shop in St John Street, Islington in North London. Instead I catch up with the lovely Tom in the basement of their bulging store to find out a little bit more about Bobbin Bicycles.

Alexis-West-Bobbin-Bicycles-tom morris
Tom Morris by Alexis West.

The love affair with bikes (and with each other) began long ago in Amsterdam.
Both Tom and Sian were fine artists living abroad who fell in love with riding Dutch bikes. It was about a whole lifestyle that was old fashioned, elegant, relaxed and most of all sociable, for in Amsterdam it is not uncommon to ride in groups and chit chat along the way. They were commissioned to film a bike race for the Dutch Arts Council, and the rest, as they like to say, is history.

Fast forward to 2001. London. The daily grind.
On their return home to the big smoke Tom found work in advertising, and Sian worked for cult furniture company SGP, which is based on Curtain Road. But they dreamed of something more… and so in-between freelance work they started to import bikes from Holland. At first this meant touring around Holland in a van to pick up bikes which they shipped back to the UK to sell from a storage unit. Within weeks they had moved onto Eyre Street Hill in Farringdon, where they shared a space with watchmakers and jewellers.

Bobbin Bicycles bells

Their glamourous “atelier showroom” was a bit like Turkish gambling den.
No one else had thought to specialise in Dutch bikes and soon their appointment only showroom was so popular they were selling ten bikes a day. Being well schooled in the ways of branding they targeted their customers with great care: Tom draped a curtain over the grottier bits of the workshop and played nice music. Customers got the “wow” factor when coming in off the street and soon the national newspapers started to call when they wanted a story about upright bikes.

Pashley began to stalk them.
Bobbin Bicycles had moved to Arlington Way by the time that Pashley paid them a secret visit. Thinking that not everyone wants a Dutch bike Tom had already approached the well known British brand, but he was unaware of the mutual interest. Pashleys are smaller in size and offer more gears, plus they offer the added bonus of all British manufacture UK. Fast forward to 2010: Bobbin Bicycles now operates from a lovely little shop in Angel and is one of over 100 UK stockists of Pashleys, but who else can boast their very own exclusive colour range? At Bobbin Bicycles you can now pick up the Pashley Provence in a special mint or mustard colourway.

Bobbin Bicycles

Upright bikes have become a lot more fashionable of late.
As more cyclists take to the roads many are choosing to ride sit-up-and-beg bikes of the type that Bobbin Bicycles sell, and lots more bike manufacturers are “having a pop” at simple upright bikes. Downstairs Tom shows me some new Globe bikes made by the huge company Specialised. People are now making appointments to visit Bobbin Bicycles from as far away as LA and Russia. *NB: I do not condone travelling across the world to purchase a bike. But definitely buy a bike. Everyone should have one.

Bobbin Bicycles baskets
Piles of baskets in the basement of the shop.

Steel or aluminium? Why, what’s the difference?
Pashleys are made with a beautiful thin lugged steel frame, but most modern bikes are made from lightweight aluminium that makes for a more juddery ride, though they are definitely not as heavy when lifting up steps. Bobbin Bicycles can cater to all your upright wishes and stock a huge range of brands including the wonderfully named Swedish Skeppshult.

London has way more cycling tribes than other cities.
In other cities the cyclists tend to look quite homogeneous, but here in London we have many different identifiable types. Tom was amongst the first to label the big three cycling tribes for an article in the Independent. The Traditional, Fold-up and Fixie tribes can now be broken into multiple subsets and mash ups, including the Fixed Tweed tribe.

Tweed Run by Emma Raby
Tweed Run by Emma Raby.

Bobbin Bicycles ran a tea stop for this year’s Tweed Run.
The Tweed Run is perfectly Bobbin: an annual celebration of all things upright and traditional about cycling. This year they presented a prize for the best decorated bike to a lady from Holland, who arrived with an old 70s shopper decorated with a multicoloured knitted saddle cover and matching dress guards on the back wheels.

Tweed run by Maria del carmensmith
The winning bike by Maria del Carmen Smith.

Boris bikes. Good news for Bobbin Bicycles.
Tom loves the idea of cycling into town on Boris bike and then getting a cab back. Or simply having the option to avoid the horrors of the night bus. Even though the amount of money spent on cycling in the UK is a fraction of what is spent in countries such as Denmark, Holland and Germany the new London bike scheme will undoubtedly encourage more people to cycle. Here’s how it goes: people will try them out instead of investing in a cheap bike from Halfords. Once they get into the idea of cycling they will realise how heavy and unwieldy the Boris bikes are and will decide to graduate onto something nicer. Hopefully a Bobbin Bicycle, for instance.

boris bike by vicky yates
Boris Bike by Vicky Yates.

Collaborations are good fun.
In the cabinet behind me are wonderful bowler and deerstalker hats designed to fit over helmets. They were made by the historically influenced milliner Eloise Moody, who has also created a sexy reflective nurses cape. Bobbin Bicycles will launch their own range of panniers and capes for spring 2011, and the shop stocks lots of small boutique brands you would not find elsewhere. They’ve provided bikes for a Mark Ronson video and the newspapers always come knocking when they want to borrow a pretty upright.

Abi Daker - Eloise Moody - bikes
Eloise Moody by Abigail Daker.

They are moving back to Arlington Way.
Well, in a manner of speaking. The shop in Angel is bursting at the seams and they’ve decided to open a new workshop on Arlington Way in October, just three doors down from their previous location. Dedicated Bobbin mechanics will specialise in the servicing of vintage bikes and hard to get components such as hub gears. But all cyclists will be welcome.

Bobbin Bicycles jewellery
Bobbin Bicycles jewellery.

Vintage Goodwood here we come.
Bobbin Bicycles have provided Vintage at Goodwood with a fleet of promotional bikes so that they can flyer all over town. They have a pitch at the festival alongside the Old Bicycle Company from Essex – which specialises in Penny Farthings. Sadly, here we don’t come. Amelia’s Magazine has not been made welcome at Vintage at Goodwood.

The independent bike shops all get along.
And why not? They all specialise in their own thing, and quite often a boyfriend and girlfriend will come into Bobbin Bicycles with different ideas of what they want to ride. The girl wants an upright, the boy wants a fix. So they send him down the road to Condor Cycles or up the road to Mosquito. Yes, 80% of their customers are female, possibly down to the attitude and service of Bobbin staff, which is deliberately very accessible and non technology based.

Winter Cycling by Joana Faria
Winter Cycling by Joana Faria.

Top tips for autumn and winter cycling.
Many people are merely fair weather cyclists (not me!) but cycling through the British winter will keep you warm. You’ll arrive at work with a good feeling inside, blood pumping, ready to get down to business: you don’t get that sitting on an overheated bus. But make sure you have decent lights because they’ll make you feel really smug when it gets dark early. Get a good cape to whack over the top of your clothes if it’s raining. Waterproof trousers are not a good look but leather jackets are. They keep the wind out and they look good too. Stay on your bikes! Honestly, it’s by the far the best way to travel at all times of the year. And I speak from experience.

You can visit the friendly staff at Bobbin Bicycles at 397 St John Street, London, EC1V 4LD or you can drool over their website here. And do say hello at Vintage at Goodwood.

Bobbin Bicycles SHOP

Natasha-Thompson-Bobbins-Bicycles-Girl-Cape-Illustration
Bobbin Bicycles by Natasha Thompson.

I first heard of Bobbin Bicycles just over three years ago, no rx when as a nascent bespoke bike company they contacted me to suggest featuring some of their imported upright Dutch bicycles in my Amelia’s Magazine fashion spreads. This was a canny move from husband and wife team Tom Morris and Sian Emmison because I am a big fan of cycling and we shot Bobbin Bicycles several times for the final print issues of the magazine.

Bobbin Bicycles tom and sian
Tom and Sian in Bobbin Bicycles. All photography by Amelia Gregory.

Today Bobbin Bicycles has grown into a well known business that employs six people and is set to open a bespoke and vintage bike repair workshop. They’re launching their own brand of upright Bobbin Bicycles in Australia, page to be followed shortly thereafter in the USA and are set to produce their own brand of Bobbin Bicycles branded panniers and capes. They’ve quickly become the go to people for the kind of upright bicycle that is increasingly favoured by townie types looking for sturdiness and style, dosage and indeed they’re so busy that Sian barely has time to say hello as she poses for a photo before returning to the phones in her subterranean office below their lovely shop in St John Street, Islington in North London. Instead I catch up with the lovely Tom in the basement of their bulging store to find out a little bit more about Bobbin Bicycles.

Alexis-West-Bobbin-Bicycles-tom morris
Tom Morris by Alexis West.

The love affair with bikes (and with each other) began long ago in Amsterdam.
Both Tom and Sian were fine artists living abroad who fell in love with riding Dutch bikes. It was about a whole lifestyle that was old fashioned, elegant, relaxed and most of all sociable, for in Amsterdam it is not uncommon to ride in groups and chit chat along the way. They were commissioned to film a bike race for the Dutch Arts Council, and the rest, as they like to say, is history.

Fast forward to 2001. London. The daily grind.
On their return home to the big smoke Tom found work in advertising, and Sian worked for cult furniture company SGP, which is based on Curtain Road. But they dreamed of something more… and so in-between freelance work they started to import bikes from Holland. At first this meant touring around Holland in a van to pick up bikes which they shipped back to the UK to sell from a storage unit. Within weeks they had moved onto Eyre Street Hill in Farringdon, where they shared a space with watchmakers and jewellers.

Bobbin Bicycles bells

Their glamourous “atelier showroom” was a bit like Turkish gambling den.
No one else had thought to specialise in Dutch bikes and soon their appointment only showroom was so popular they were selling ten bikes a day. Being well schooled in the ways of branding they targeted their customers with great care: Tom draped a curtain over the grottier bits of the workshop and played nice music. Customers got the “wow” factor when coming in off the street and soon the national newspapers started to call when they wanted a story about upright bikes.

Pashley began to stalk them.
Bobbin Bicycles had moved to Arlington Way by the time that Pashley paid them a secret visit. Thinking that not everyone wants a Dutch bike Tom had already approached the well known British brand, but he was unaware of the mutual interest. Pashleys are smaller in size and offer more gears, plus they offer the added bonus of all British manufacture UK. Fast forward to 2010: Bobbin Bicycles now operates from a lovely little shop in Angel and is one of over 100 UK stockists of Pashleys, but who else can boast their very own exclusive colour range? At Bobbin Bicycles you can now pick up the Pashley Provence in a special mint or mustard colourway.

Bobbin Bicycles

Upright bikes have become a lot more fashionable of late.
As more cyclists take to the roads many are choosing to ride sit-up-and-beg bikes of the type that Bobbin Bicycles sell, and lots more bike manufacturers are “having a pop” at simple upright bikes. Downstairs Tom shows me some new Globe bikes made by the huge company Specialised. People are now making appointments to visit Bobbin Bicycles from as far away as LA and Russia. *NB: I do not condone travelling across the world to purchase a bike. But definitely buy a bike. Everyone should have one.

Bobbin Bicycles baskets
Piles of baskets in the basement of the shop.

Steel or aluminium? Why, what’s the difference?
Pashleys are made with a beautiful thin lugged steel frame, but most modern bikes are made from lightweight aluminium that makes for a more juddery ride, though they are definitely not as heavy when lifting up steps. Bobbin Bicycles can cater to all your upright wishes and stock a huge range of brands including the wonderfully named Swedish Skeppshult.

London has way more cycling tribes than other cities.
In other cities the cyclists tend to look quite homogeneous, but here in London we have many different identifiable types. Tom was amongst the first to label the big three cycling tribes for an article in the Independent. The Traditional, Fold-up and Fixie tribes can now be broken into multiple subsets and mash ups, including the Fixed Tweed tribe.

Tweed Run by Emma Raby
Tweed Run by Emma Raby.

Bobbin Bicycles ran a tea stop for this year’s Tweed Run.
The Tweed Run is perfectly Bobbin: an annual celebration of all things upright and traditional about cycling. This year they presented a prize for the best decorated bike to a lady from Holland, who arrived with an old 70s shopper decorated with a multicoloured knitted saddle cover and matching dress guards on the back wheels.

Tweed run by Maria del carmensmith
The winning bike by Maria del Carmen Smith.

Boris bikes. Good news for Bobbin Bicycles.
Tom loves the idea of cycling into town on Boris bike and then getting a cab back. Or simply having the option to avoid the horrors of the night bus. Even though the amount of money spent on cycling in the UK is a fraction of what is spent in countries such as Denmark, Holland and Germany the new London bike scheme will undoubtedly encourage more people to cycle. Here’s how it goes: people will try them out instead of investing in a cheap bike from Halfords. Once they get into the idea of cycling they will realise how heavy and unwieldy the Boris bikes are and will decide to graduate onto something nicer. Hopefully a Bobbin Bicycle, for instance.

boris bike by vicky yates
Boris Bike by Vicky Yates.

Collaborations are good fun.
In the cabinet behind me are wonderful bowler and deerstalker hats designed to fit over helmets. They were made by the historically influenced milliner Eloise Moody, who has also created a sexy reflective nurses cape. Bobbin Bicycles will launch their own range of panniers and capes for spring 2011, and the shop stocks lots of small boutique brands you would not find elsewhere. They’ve provided bikes for a Mark Ronson video and the newspapers always come knocking when they want to borrow a pretty upright.

Abi Daker - Eloise Moody - bikes
Eloise Moody by Abigail Daker.

They are moving back to Arlington Way.
Well, in a manner of speaking. The shop in Angel is bursting at the seams and they’ve decided to open a new workshop on Arlington Way in October, just three doors down from their previous location. Dedicated Bobbin mechanics will specialise in the servicing of vintage bikes and hard to get components such as hub gears. But all cyclists will be welcome.

Bobbin Bicycles jewellery
Bobbin Bicycles jewellery.

Vintage Goodwood here we come.
Bobbin Bicycles have provided Vintage at Goodwood with a fleet of promotional bikes so that they can flyer all over town. They have a pitch at the festival alongside the Old Bicycle Company from Essex – which specialises in Penny Farthings. Sadly, here we don’t come. Amelia’s Magazine has not been made welcome at Vintage at Goodwood.

Bobbin Bicycles wall

The independent bike shops all get along.
And why not? They all specialise in their own thing, and quite often a boyfriend and girlfriend will come into Bobbin Bicycles with different ideas of what they want to ride. The girl wants an upright, the boy wants a fix. So they send him down the road to Condor Cycles or up the road to Mosquito. Yes, 80% of their customers are female, possibly down to the attitude and service of Bobbin staff, which is deliberately very accessible and non technology based.

Winter Cycling by Joana Faria
Winter Cycling by Joana Faria.

Top tips for autumn and winter cycling.
Many people are merely fair weather cyclists (not me!) but cycling through the British winter will keep you warm. You’ll arrive at work with a good feeling inside, blood pumping, ready to get down to business: you don’t get that sitting on an overheated bus. But make sure you have decent lights because they’ll make you feel really smug when it gets dark early. Get a good cape to whack over the top of your clothes if it’s raining. Waterproof trousers are not a good look but leather jackets are. They keep the wind out and they look good too. Stay on your bikes! Honestly, it’s by the far the best way to travel at all times of the year. And I speak from experience.

You can visit the friendly staff at Bobbin Bicycles at 397 St John Street, London, EC1V 4LD or you can drool over their website here. And do say hello at Vintage at Goodwood.

Bobbin Bicycles SHOP

Natasha-Thompson-Vintage-Goodwood-Illustration
Vintage at Goodwood by Natasha Thompson.

I must admit, approved I’ve had my reservations from the start. Right from the moment when they wheeled out that universally irritating celebrity known as Lily Allen. Young, for sale rich, famous and by all accounts a pain in the butt. Best known amongst the vintage community for out-bidding everyone else on all the best clothes at auction. Admittedly the closest I have ever got to Lily Allen was when she nonchalantly flicked cigarette ash on me as I passed her huge chauffeur driven four wheel drive on my bike one day last summer. But I think this tells me enough.

Vintage at Goodwood is a new festival. A new festival afloat in the sea of other festivals now populating British weekends throughout the summer months. Not a weekend goes by without at least two or three wonderful festivals that I know about to chose from, and many others that I don’t. Trying to find a niche market that hasn’t already spent as much as they can afford on summer festival frivolities is surely not an easy thing to do. Not surprisingly Vintage at Goodwood hasn’t sold out in it’s first year.

lilyallen-vintage dress(by cat sims)
Lily Allen in a vintage dress by Cat Sims.

So, they’ve done a notably huge amount of advertising – plastering everything from Bobbin Bicycles to bus billboards with the distinctive Vintage at Goodwood posters, which proclaim a festival that places as much emphasis on art, fashion, film and design as it does on music. All well and good, it’s a trend pioneered by the likes of Latitude and Secret Garden Party, but I’ve yet to fathom exactly how the mix works this time round. The only emphasis I can see has been on ‘curating’ a very large shopping area: even John Lewis gets a presence on their old-fashioned High Street.

Vintage at Goodwood poster
A Vintage at Goodwood poster near Brick Lane.

And who, exactly, is the “glamping” crowd they want to attract? “Vintage” as a lifestyle choice is something wholeheartedly embraced by people on a budget who like to champion an individualistic, upcycling, DIY aesthetic. Many of my readers for instance. Why, I’ve been wearing Chazza clothes since I could walk into a shop. Beyond Retro is my local store. Okay, since from about 1999 I’ve mainly favoured clothes from the 1980s over anything earlier, but today even this most silly of decades gets the Vintage treatment at Vintage at Goodwood.

But the Goodwood Estate also hosts Goodwood Revival – a glamourous motoring and aviation event aimed at people with a little bit more money than your average Vintage Enthusiast of the kind I speak of. It’s been written about in posh supermarket Waitrose’s own magazine, and fawned over by the right wing press. “They are used to catering to Goodwood Revival, who are basically mostly very wealthy, vintage car/plane owners… and where people ONLY seem to care how much money/how many stately homes you have.” This is clearly a festival with pretensions to be more than the mere stamping ground of a bunch of fashionable east end types. And yet many of these very people are the ones making the festival happen. Thrifty vintage enthusiasts fill the vintage shopping area with their stalls. They’re volunteering their time to be stewards of boudoirs. Vintage bloggers have written glowing posts about how much they look forward to the festival, thereby ensuring there is huge amounts of hype online to compliment the more traditional advertising. But are these very same people being looked after by the corporate wheels of Goodwood, Freud Comm and co?

JuneChanpoomidle-VintageGoodwood
Illustration by June Chanpoomidle.

At Amelia’s Magazine we’ve always tried to support as many small festivals as possible, especially the new ones, the ones focused on green issues and the ones that will appeal to our readership. You’d think, given this quote in the Telegraph (soz) today, that I would be the ideal kind of press to invite along to Vintage at Goodwood. “Vintage fashion is a win-win. It’s about upcycling, recycling, thriftiness and great design. I felt this was the right time to celebrate it and show people how good vintage links music, fashion and film.” Does this sound anything like the kind of stuff we promote on this blog, day in day out? Only this week we’ve published interviews with Think, Act, Vote and Bobbin Bicycles, both of whom have a presence at Vintage at Goodwood that gets a mention in our blogs.

Unhappy at the way that the press team for Vintage at Goodwood dismissed me without so much as a by your leave, and uneasy about the complaints I noted on the Vintage at Goodwood Facebook site regarding a lack of transparency over ticket pricing a few weeks ago, I decided to dig around for a bit more information. Someone, somewhere clearly has money. Freud Comm are the huge corporate PR agency responsible for the massive amounts of press you see. They also look after Nike, Asda, KFC, Sky, the Olympics and drinks giant Diageo, who has close ties to the festival. Cheap they cannot be to hire.

I am small fry to Freud, as are all those other eager bloggers. Freud doesn’t even have a twitter feed. Or a blog. They are beyond such things. But they also don’t understand the power of such things. Or maybe they would not be so dismissive of those with such close ties to the market they are trying to reach.

Glamping By Jessica Sharville 2
Glamping by Jessica Sharville.

As soon as I started to ask around I discovered a lot of unhappiness… and I was only scratching the surface. Bloggers that have gushed about Vintage at Goodwood for months had applied for press passes only to be turned down this, the week before – forced to purchase their own tickets to experience the festival they so much wanted to write about. Even seasoned journalists writing for big websites have been turned down. Now I’m no marketing genius, but it seems to me that if you have a new festival, and you haven’t sold out, it makes no sense at all to turn down any enthusiastic journos. After all, it costs the organisers nothing to let people in for free, and our eagerness should be appreciated because it doesn’t come without costs to us when we don’t have huge expense accounts to fall back on (travel and food soon mount up). Presuming that Vintage at Goodwood would like to continue next year, surely it’s a wise idea to maximise your chances of positive press from day one? For this very reason I will always send a press copy of Amelia’s Anthology of Illustration to any blogger that asks, no matter how well read their website is, or not. I appreciate that you want to spend time writing about my project. (ask away)

But there’s more…. getting Vintage at Goodwood off the ground has not been without its casualties along the way. And here you’ll have to bear with me if I adopt an air of secrecy – many of these people are still going to Vintage at Goodwood anyway – but tell me this, does this sound like a happy bunny? “It is a real shame as I have not met one person who is genuinely excited to go. Most are curious about how bad it will be and want to see it fail due to the poor behaviour from the organisers.”

Vintage illustration by Nathalie Laurence
Vintage illustration by Nathalie Laurence.

As Vintage at Goodwood have decided to focus on the shopping aspect of the event the costs of stalls have spiralled, well out of the reach of many young Vintage Stockists. A key curator has dropped out. One Vintage Enthusiast who shall remain nameless told me that “It’s all a big money making sham.” Many things will cost more (on top of the ticket price) during the festival. Another told me “I may as well rent a shop in Brighton for a month for the price they were asking for a pitch the size of a stamp.” I find all of this desperately sad. As a way of life Vintage is not about this. I understand the need for a new festival to break even, but at the expense of all those who help out along the way? It’s just not right.

Another quote: “I have heard nothing but bad things which is so sad as I have high hopes for the event.” I really wish I was able to get along to Vintage at Goodwood to make a judgement on it myself. As a concept it sounds great. Many many good friends will be attending, including Tatty Devine, Supermarket Sarah, Bobbin Bicycles, Think, Act, Vote… the list goes on. I would have loved to have covered the green lectures and meet the people who attend in all their fabulous finery. Vintage as a lifestyle is something I wholeheartedly support. As are festivals. Can you imagine a better bunch to photograph, illustrate and talk about for Amelia’s Magazine?

Wayne in Blue and Ochre by GarethAHopkins
Wayne Hemmingway (he’s behind Vintage at Goodwood) by Gareth Hopkins.

Sadly it is not to be. I can’t afford to pay for a ticket, especially given the time it takes me to write a festival up, which usually approaches a week and bearing in mind that no one pays me to write. It’s also very tiring (as anyone working the festival circuit will tell you), which is why I’ve stayed at home in London for the past few weekends – although I had set aside time to visit Vintage at Goodwood and see if it lived up to the hype. Instead I hope to hear from others who are going, fingers crossed. And do tell me your thoughts too, especially after the event. I hope you have a truly wonderful time if you are going, either as a punter or a contributor. Everyone. But organisers, remember this. Look after your team. They are what will make Vintage at Goodwood what it is, not the rich people glamping it up in luxury teepees and yurts. Don’t forget what Vintage as a lifestyle truly means…

* I did make it to VAG in the end… My review of Vintage at Goodwood is now online and you can read it here.*

Categories ,Bobbin Bicycles, ,cat sims, ,Gareth Hopkins, ,Jessica Sharville, ,John Lewis, ,June Chanpoomidole, ,lily allen, ,Natasha Thompson, ,Nathalie Laurence, ,recycling, ,Supermarket Sarah, ,Tatty Devine, ,Think Act Vote, ,Upcycling, ,Vintage at Goodwood

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Amelia’s Magazine | Vintage at Goodwood: Festival Preview

Bobbin Bicycles wall
Natasha-Thompson-Bobbins-Bicycles-Girl-Cape-Illustration
Bobbin Bicycles by Natasha Thompson.

I first heard of Bobbin Bicycles just over three years ago, shop when as a nascent bespoke bike company they contacted me to suggest featuring some of their imported upright Dutch bicycles in my Amelia’s Magazine fashion spreads. This was a canny move from husband and wife team Tom Morris and Sian Emmison because I am a big fan of cycling and we shot Bobbin Bicycles several times for the final print issues of the magazine.

Bobbin Bicycles tom and sian
Tom and Sian in Bobbin Bicycles. All photography by Amelia Gregory.

Today Bobbin Bicycles has grown into a well known business that employs six people and is set to open a bespoke and vintage bike repair workshop. They’re launching their own brand of upright Bobbin Bicycles in Australia, visit this to be followed shortly thereafter in the USA and are set to produce their own brand of Bobbin Bicycles branded panniers and capes. They’ve quickly become the go to people for the kind of upright bicycle that is increasingly favoured by townie types looking for sturdiness and style, buy information pills and indeed they’re so busy that Sian barely has time to say hello as she poses for a photo before returning to the phones in her subterranean office below their lovely shop in St John Street, Islington in North London. Instead I catch up with the lovely Tom in the basement of their bulging store to find out a little bit more about Bobbin Bicycles.

Alexis-West-Bobbin-Bicycles-tom morris
Tom Morris by Alexis West.

The love affair with bikes (and with each other) began long ago in Amsterdam.
Both Tom and Sian were fine artists living abroad who fell in love with riding Dutch bikes. It was about a whole lifestyle that was old fashioned, elegant, relaxed and most of all sociable, for in Amsterdam it is not uncommon to ride in groups and chit chat along the way. They were commissioned to film a bike race for the Dutch Arts Council, and the rest, as they like to say, is history.

Fast forward to 2001. London. The daily grind.
On their return home to the big smoke Tom found work in advertising, and Sian worked for cult furniture company SGP, which is based on Curtain Road. But they dreamed of something more… and so in-between freelance work they started to import bikes from Holland. At first this meant touring around Holland in a van to pick up bikes which they shipped back to the UK to sell from a storage unit. Within weeks they had moved onto Eyre Street Hill in Farringdon, where they shared a space with watchmakers and jewellers.

Bobbin Bicycles bells

Their glamourous “atelier showroom” was a bit like Turkish gambling den.
No one else had thought to specialise in Dutch bikes and soon their appointment only showroom was so popular they were selling ten bikes a day. Being well schooled in the ways of branding they targeted their customers with great care: Tom draped a curtain over the grottier bits of the workshop and played nice music. Customers got the “wow” factor when coming in off the street and soon the national newspapers started to call when they wanted a story about upright bikes.

Pashley began to stalk them.
Bobbin Bicycles had moved to Arlington Way by the time that Pashley paid them a secret visit. Thinking that not everyone wants a Dutch bike Tom had already approached the well known British brand, but he was unaware of the mutual interest. Pashleys are smaller in size and offer more gears, plus they offer the added bonus of all British manufacture UK. Fast forward to 2010: Bobbin Bicycles now operates from a lovely little shop in Angel and is one of over 100 UK stockists of Pashleys, but who else can boast their very own exclusive colour range? At Bobbin Bicycles you can now pick up the Pashley Provence in a special mint or mustard colourway.

Bobbin Bicycles

Upright bikes have become a lot more fashionable of late.
As more cyclists take to the roads many are choosing to ride sit-up-and-beg bikes of the type that Bobbin Bicycles sell, and lots more bike manufacturers are “having a pop” at simple upright bikes. Downstairs Tom shows me some new Globe bikes made by the huge company Specialised. People are now making appointments to visit Bobbin Bicycles from as far away as LA and Russia. *NB: I do not condone travelling across the world to purchase a bike. But definitely buy a bike. Everyone should have one.

Bobbin Bicycles baskets
Piles of baskets in the basement of the shop.

Steel or aluminium? Why, what’s the difference?
Pashleys are made with a beautiful thin lugged steel frame, but most modern bikes are made from lightweight aluminium that makes for a more juddery ride, though they are definitely not as heavy when lifting up steps. Bobbin Bicycles can cater to all your upright wishes and stock a huge range of brands including the wonderfully named Swedish Skeppshult.

London has way more cycling tribes than other cities.
In other cities the cyclists tend to look quite homogeneous, but here in London we have many different identifiable types. Tom was amongst the first to label the big three cycling tribes for an article in the Independent. The Traditional, Fold-up and Fixie tribes can now be broken into multiple subsets and mash ups, including the Fixed Tweed tribe.

Tweed Run by Emma Raby
Tweed Run by Emma Raby.

Bobbin Bicycles ran a tea stop for this year’s Tweed Run.
The Tweed Run is perfectly Bobbin: an annual celebration of all things upright and traditional about cycling. This year they presented a prize for the best decorated bike to a lady from Holland, who arrived with an old 70s shopper decorated with a multicoloured knitted saddle cover and matching dress guards on the back wheels.

Tweed run by Maria del carmensmith
The winning bike by Maria del Carmen Smith.

Boris bikes. Good news for Bobbin Bicycles.
Tom loves the idea of cycling into town on Boris bike and then getting a cab back. Or simply having the option to avoid the horrors of the night bus. Even though the amount of money spent on cycling in the UK is a fraction of what is spent in countries such as Denmark, Holland and Germany the new London bike scheme will undoubtedly encourage more people to cycle. Here’s how it goes: people will try them out instead of investing in a cheap bike from Halfords. Once they get into the idea of cycling they will realise how heavy and unwieldy the Boris bikes are and will decide to graduate onto something nicer. Hopefully a Bobbin Bicycle, for instance.

boris bike by vicky yates
Boris Bike by Vicky Yates.

Collaborations are good fun.
In the cabinet behind me are wonderful bowler and deerstalker hats designed to fit over helmets. They were made by the historically influenced milliner Eloise Moody, who has also created a sexy reflective nurses cape. Bobbin Bicycles will launch their own range of panniers and capes for spring 2011, and the shop stocks lots of small boutique brands you would not find elsewhere. They’ve provided bikes for a Mark Ronson video and the newspapers always come knocking when they want to borrow a pretty upright.

Abi Daker - Eloise Moody - bikes
Eloise Moody by Abigail Daker.

They are moving back to Arlington Way.
Well, in a manner of speaking. The shop in Angel is bursting at the seams and they’ve decided to open a new workshop on Arlington Way in October, just three doors down from their previous location. Dedicated Bobbin mechanics will specialise in the servicing of vintage bikes and hard to get components such as hub gears. But all cyclists will be welcome.

Bobbin Bicycles jewellery
Bobbin Bicycles jewellery.

Vintage Goodwood here we come.
Bobbin Bicycles have provided Vintage at Goodwood with a fleet of promotional bikes so that they can flyer all over town. They have a pitch at the festival alongside the Old Bicycle Company from Essex – which specialises in Penny Farthings. Sadly, here we don’t come. Amelia’s Magazine has not been made welcome at Vintage at Goodwood.

The independent bike shops all get along.
And why not? They all specialise in their own thing, and quite often a boyfriend and girlfriend will come into Bobbin Bicycles with different ideas of what they want to ride. The girl wants an upright, the boy wants a fix. So they send him down the road to Condor Cycles or up the road to Mosquito. Yes, 80% of their customers are female, possibly down to the attitude and service of Bobbin staff, which is deliberately very accessible and non technology based.

Winter Cycling by Joana Faria
Winter Cycling by Joana Faria.

Top tips for autumn and winter cycling.
Many people are merely fair weather cyclists (not me!) but cycling through the British winter will keep you warm. You’ll arrive at work with a good feeling inside, blood pumping, ready to get down to business: you don’t get that sitting on an overheated bus. But make sure you have decent lights because they’ll make you feel really smug when it gets dark early. Get a good cape to whack over the top of your clothes if it’s raining. Waterproof trousers are not a good look but leather jackets are. They keep the wind out and they look good too. Stay on your bikes! Honestly, it’s by the far the best way to travel at all times of the year. And I speak from experience.

You can visit the friendly staff at Bobbin Bicycles at 397 St John Street, London, EC1V 4LD or you can drool over their website here. And do say hello at Vintage at Goodwood.

Bobbin Bicycles SHOP

Natasha-Thompson-Bobbins-Bicycles-Girl-Cape-Illustration
Bobbin Bicycles by Natasha Thompson.

I first heard of Bobbin Bicycles just over three years ago, no rx when as a nascent bespoke bike company they contacted me to suggest featuring some of their imported upright Dutch bicycles in my Amelia’s Magazine fashion spreads. This was a canny move from husband and wife team Tom Morris and Sian Emmison because I am a big fan of cycling and we shot Bobbin Bicycles several times for the final print issues of the magazine.

Bobbin Bicycles tom and sian
Tom and Sian in Bobbin Bicycles. All photography by Amelia Gregory.

Today Bobbin Bicycles has grown into a well known business that employs six people and is set to open a bespoke and vintage bike repair workshop. They’re launching their own brand of upright Bobbin Bicycles in Australia, page to be followed shortly thereafter in the USA and are set to produce their own brand of Bobbin Bicycles branded panniers and capes. They’ve quickly become the go to people for the kind of upright bicycle that is increasingly favoured by townie types looking for sturdiness and style, dosage and indeed they’re so busy that Sian barely has time to say hello as she poses for a photo before returning to the phones in her subterranean office below their lovely shop in St John Street, Islington in North London. Instead I catch up with the lovely Tom in the basement of their bulging store to find out a little bit more about Bobbin Bicycles.

Alexis-West-Bobbin-Bicycles-tom morris
Tom Morris by Alexis West.

The love affair with bikes (and with each other) began long ago in Amsterdam.
Both Tom and Sian were fine artists living abroad who fell in love with riding Dutch bikes. It was about a whole lifestyle that was old fashioned, elegant, relaxed and most of all sociable, for in Amsterdam it is not uncommon to ride in groups and chit chat along the way. They were commissioned to film a bike race for the Dutch Arts Council, and the rest, as they like to say, is history.

Fast forward to 2001. London. The daily grind.
On their return home to the big smoke Tom found work in advertising, and Sian worked for cult furniture company SGP, which is based on Curtain Road. But they dreamed of something more… and so in-between freelance work they started to import bikes from Holland. At first this meant touring around Holland in a van to pick up bikes which they shipped back to the UK to sell from a storage unit. Within weeks they had moved onto Eyre Street Hill in Farringdon, where they shared a space with watchmakers and jewellers.

Bobbin Bicycles bells

Their glamourous “atelier showroom” was a bit like Turkish gambling den.
No one else had thought to specialise in Dutch bikes and soon their appointment only showroom was so popular they were selling ten bikes a day. Being well schooled in the ways of branding they targeted their customers with great care: Tom draped a curtain over the grottier bits of the workshop and played nice music. Customers got the “wow” factor when coming in off the street and soon the national newspapers started to call when they wanted a story about upright bikes.

Pashley began to stalk them.
Bobbin Bicycles had moved to Arlington Way by the time that Pashley paid them a secret visit. Thinking that not everyone wants a Dutch bike Tom had already approached the well known British brand, but he was unaware of the mutual interest. Pashleys are smaller in size and offer more gears, plus they offer the added bonus of all British manufacture UK. Fast forward to 2010: Bobbin Bicycles now operates from a lovely little shop in Angel and is one of over 100 UK stockists of Pashleys, but who else can boast their very own exclusive colour range? At Bobbin Bicycles you can now pick up the Pashley Provence in a special mint or mustard colourway.

Bobbin Bicycles

Upright bikes have become a lot more fashionable of late.
As more cyclists take to the roads many are choosing to ride sit-up-and-beg bikes of the type that Bobbin Bicycles sell, and lots more bike manufacturers are “having a pop” at simple upright bikes. Downstairs Tom shows me some new Globe bikes made by the huge company Specialised. People are now making appointments to visit Bobbin Bicycles from as far away as LA and Russia. *NB: I do not condone travelling across the world to purchase a bike. But definitely buy a bike. Everyone should have one.

Bobbin Bicycles baskets
Piles of baskets in the basement of the shop.

Steel or aluminium? Why, what’s the difference?
Pashleys are made with a beautiful thin lugged steel frame, but most modern bikes are made from lightweight aluminium that makes for a more juddery ride, though they are definitely not as heavy when lifting up steps. Bobbin Bicycles can cater to all your upright wishes and stock a huge range of brands including the wonderfully named Swedish Skeppshult.

London has way more cycling tribes than other cities.
In other cities the cyclists tend to look quite homogeneous, but here in London we have many different identifiable types. Tom was amongst the first to label the big three cycling tribes for an article in the Independent. The Traditional, Fold-up and Fixie tribes can now be broken into multiple subsets and mash ups, including the Fixed Tweed tribe.

Tweed Run by Emma Raby
Tweed Run by Emma Raby.

Bobbin Bicycles ran a tea stop for this year’s Tweed Run.
The Tweed Run is perfectly Bobbin: an annual celebration of all things upright and traditional about cycling. This year they presented a prize for the best decorated bike to a lady from Holland, who arrived with an old 70s shopper decorated with a multicoloured knitted saddle cover and matching dress guards on the back wheels.

Tweed run by Maria del carmensmith
The winning bike by Maria del Carmen Smith.

Boris bikes. Good news for Bobbin Bicycles.
Tom loves the idea of cycling into town on Boris bike and then getting a cab back. Or simply having the option to avoid the horrors of the night bus. Even though the amount of money spent on cycling in the UK is a fraction of what is spent in countries such as Denmark, Holland and Germany the new London bike scheme will undoubtedly encourage more people to cycle. Here’s how it goes: people will try them out instead of investing in a cheap bike from Halfords. Once they get into the idea of cycling they will realise how heavy and unwieldy the Boris bikes are and will decide to graduate onto something nicer. Hopefully a Bobbin Bicycle, for instance.

boris bike by vicky yates
Boris Bike by Vicky Yates.

Collaborations are good fun.
In the cabinet behind me are wonderful bowler and deerstalker hats designed to fit over helmets. They were made by the historically influenced milliner Eloise Moody, who has also created a sexy reflective nurses cape. Bobbin Bicycles will launch their own range of panniers and capes for spring 2011, and the shop stocks lots of small boutique brands you would not find elsewhere. They’ve provided bikes for a Mark Ronson video and the newspapers always come knocking when they want to borrow a pretty upright.

Abi Daker - Eloise Moody - bikes
Eloise Moody by Abigail Daker.

They are moving back to Arlington Way.
Well, in a manner of speaking. The shop in Angel is bursting at the seams and they’ve decided to open a new workshop on Arlington Way in October, just three doors down from their previous location. Dedicated Bobbin mechanics will specialise in the servicing of vintage bikes and hard to get components such as hub gears. But all cyclists will be welcome.

Bobbin Bicycles jewellery
Bobbin Bicycles jewellery.

Vintage Goodwood here we come.
Bobbin Bicycles have provided Vintage at Goodwood with a fleet of promotional bikes so that they can flyer all over town. They have a pitch at the festival alongside the Old Bicycle Company from Essex – which specialises in Penny Farthings. Sadly, here we don’t come. Amelia’s Magazine has not been made welcome at Vintage at Goodwood.

Bobbin Bicycles wall

The independent bike shops all get along.
And why not? They all specialise in their own thing, and quite often a boyfriend and girlfriend will come into Bobbin Bicycles with different ideas of what they want to ride. The girl wants an upright, the boy wants a fix. So they send him down the road to Condor Cycles or up the road to Mosquito. Yes, 80% of their customers are female, possibly down to the attitude and service of Bobbin staff, which is deliberately very accessible and non technology based.

Winter Cycling by Joana Faria
Winter Cycling by Joana Faria.

Top tips for autumn and winter cycling.
Many people are merely fair weather cyclists (not me!) but cycling through the British winter will keep you warm. You’ll arrive at work with a good feeling inside, blood pumping, ready to get down to business: you don’t get that sitting on an overheated bus. But make sure you have decent lights because they’ll make you feel really smug when it gets dark early. Get a good cape to whack over the top of your clothes if it’s raining. Waterproof trousers are not a good look but leather jackets are. They keep the wind out and they look good too. Stay on your bikes! Honestly, it’s by the far the best way to travel at all times of the year. And I speak from experience.

You can visit the friendly staff at Bobbin Bicycles at 397 St John Street, London, EC1V 4LD or you can drool over their website here. And do say hello at Vintage at Goodwood.

Bobbin Bicycles SHOP

Natasha-Thompson-Vintage-Goodwood-Illustration
Vintage at Goodwood by Natasha Thompson.

I must admit, approved I’ve had my reservations from the start. Right from the moment when they wheeled out that universally irritating celebrity known as Lily Allen. Young, for sale rich, famous and by all accounts a pain in the butt. Best known amongst the vintage community for out-bidding everyone else on all the best clothes at auction. Admittedly the closest I have ever got to Lily Allen was when she nonchalantly flicked cigarette ash on me as I passed her huge chauffeur driven four wheel drive on my bike one day last summer. But I think this tells me enough.

Vintage at Goodwood is a new festival. A new festival afloat in the sea of other festivals now populating British weekends throughout the summer months. Not a weekend goes by without at least two or three wonderful festivals that I know about to chose from, and many others that I don’t. Trying to find a niche market that hasn’t already spent as much as they can afford on summer festival frivolities is surely not an easy thing to do. Not surprisingly Vintage at Goodwood hasn’t sold out in it’s first year.

lilyallen-vintage dress(by cat sims)
Lily Allen in a vintage dress by Cat Sims.

So, they’ve done a notably huge amount of advertising – plastering everything from Bobbin Bicycles to bus billboards with the distinctive Vintage at Goodwood posters, which proclaim a festival that places as much emphasis on art, fashion, film and design as it does on music. All well and good, it’s a trend pioneered by the likes of Latitude and Secret Garden Party, but I’ve yet to fathom exactly how the mix works this time round. The only emphasis I can see has been on ‘curating’ a very large shopping area: even John Lewis gets a presence on their old-fashioned High Street.

Vintage at Goodwood poster
A Vintage at Goodwood poster near Brick Lane.

And who, exactly, is the “glamping” crowd they want to attract? “Vintage” as a lifestyle choice is something wholeheartedly embraced by people on a budget who like to champion an individualistic, upcycling, DIY aesthetic. Many of my readers for instance. Why, I’ve been wearing Chazza clothes since I could walk into a shop. Beyond Retro is my local store. Okay, since from about 1999 I’ve mainly favoured clothes from the 1980s over anything earlier, but today even this most silly of decades gets the Vintage treatment at Vintage at Goodwood.

But the Goodwood Estate also hosts Goodwood Revival – a glamourous motoring and aviation event aimed at people with a little bit more money than your average Vintage Enthusiast of the kind I speak of. It’s been written about in posh supermarket Waitrose’s own magazine, and fawned over by the right wing press. “They are used to catering to Goodwood Revival, who are basically mostly very wealthy, vintage car/plane owners… and where people ONLY seem to care how much money/how many stately homes you have.” This is clearly a festival with pretensions to be more than the mere stamping ground of a bunch of fashionable east end types. And yet many of these very people are the ones making the festival happen. Thrifty vintage enthusiasts fill the vintage shopping area with their stalls. They’re volunteering their time to be stewards of boudoirs. Vintage bloggers have written glowing posts about how much they look forward to the festival, thereby ensuring there is huge amounts of hype online to compliment the more traditional advertising. But are these very same people being looked after by the corporate wheels of Goodwood, Freud Comm and co?

JuneChanpoomidle-VintageGoodwood
Illustration by June Chanpoomidle.

At Amelia’s Magazine we’ve always tried to support as many small festivals as possible, especially the new ones, the ones focused on green issues and the ones that will appeal to our readership. You’d think, given this quote in the Telegraph (soz) today, that I would be the ideal kind of press to invite along to Vintage at Goodwood. “Vintage fashion is a win-win. It’s about upcycling, recycling, thriftiness and great design. I felt this was the right time to celebrate it and show people how good vintage links music, fashion and film.” Does this sound anything like the kind of stuff we promote on this blog, day in day out? Only this week we’ve published interviews with Think, Act, Vote and Bobbin Bicycles, both of whom have a presence at Vintage at Goodwood that gets a mention in our blogs.

Unhappy at the way that the press team for Vintage at Goodwood dismissed me without so much as a by your leave, and uneasy about the complaints I noted on the Vintage at Goodwood Facebook site regarding a lack of transparency over ticket pricing a few weeks ago, I decided to dig around for a bit more information. Someone, somewhere clearly has money. Freud Comm are the huge corporate PR agency responsible for the massive amounts of press you see. They also look after Nike, Asda, KFC, Sky, the Olympics and drinks giant Diageo, who has close ties to the festival. Cheap they cannot be to hire.

I am small fry to Freud, as are all those other eager bloggers. Freud doesn’t even have a twitter feed. Or a blog. They are beyond such things. But they also don’t understand the power of such things. Or maybe they would not be so dismissive of those with such close ties to the market they are trying to reach.

Glamping By Jessica Sharville 2
Glamping by Jessica Sharville.

As soon as I started to ask around I discovered a lot of unhappiness… and I was only scratching the surface. Bloggers that have gushed about Vintage at Goodwood for months had applied for press passes only to be turned down this, the week before – forced to purchase their own tickets to experience the festival they so much wanted to write about. Even seasoned journalists writing for big websites have been turned down. Now I’m no marketing genius, but it seems to me that if you have a new festival, and you haven’t sold out, it makes no sense at all to turn down any enthusiastic journos. After all, it costs the organisers nothing to let people in for free, and our eagerness should be appreciated because it doesn’t come without costs to us when we don’t have huge expense accounts to fall back on (travel and food soon mount up). Presuming that Vintage at Goodwood would like to continue next year, surely it’s a wise idea to maximise your chances of positive press from day one? For this very reason I will always send a press copy of Amelia’s Anthology of Illustration to any blogger that asks, no matter how well read their website is, or not. I appreciate that you want to spend time writing about my project. (ask away)

But there’s more…. getting Vintage at Goodwood off the ground has not been without its casualties along the way. And here you’ll have to bear with me if I adopt an air of secrecy – many of these people are still going to Vintage at Goodwood anyway – but tell me this, does this sound like a happy bunny? “It is a real shame as I have not met one person who is genuinely excited to go. Most are curious about how bad it will be and want to see it fail due to the poor behaviour from the organisers.”

Vintage illustration by Nathalie Laurence
Vintage illustration by Nathalie Laurence.

As Vintage at Goodwood have decided to focus on the shopping aspect of the event the costs of stalls have spiralled, well out of the reach of many young Vintage Stockists. A key curator has dropped out. One Vintage Enthusiast who shall remain nameless told me that “It’s all a big money making sham.” Many things will cost more (on top of the ticket price) during the festival. Another told me “I may as well rent a shop in Brighton for a month for the price they were asking for a pitch the size of a stamp.” I find all of this desperately sad. As a way of life Vintage is not about this. I understand the need for a new festival to break even, but at the expense of all those who help out along the way? It’s just not right.

Another quote: “I have heard nothing but bad things which is so sad as I have high hopes for the event.” I really wish I was able to get along to Vintage at Goodwood to make a judgement on it myself. As a concept it sounds great. Many many good friends will be attending, including Tatty Devine, Supermarket Sarah, Bobbin Bicycles, Think, Act, Vote… the list goes on. I would have loved to have covered the green lectures and meet the people who attend in all their fabulous finery. Vintage as a lifestyle is something I wholeheartedly support. As are festivals. Can you imagine a better bunch to photograph, illustrate and talk about for Amelia’s Magazine?

Wayne in Blue and Ochre by GarethAHopkins
Wayne Hemmingway (he’s behind Vintage at Goodwood) by Gareth Hopkins.

Sadly it is not to be. I can’t afford to pay for a ticket, especially given the time it takes me to write a festival up, which usually approaches a week and bearing in mind that no one pays me to write. It’s also very tiring (as anyone working the festival circuit will tell you), which is why I’ve stayed at home in London for the past few weekends – although I had set aside time to visit Vintage at Goodwood and see if it lived up to the hype. Instead I hope to hear from others who are going, fingers crossed. And do tell me your thoughts too, especially after the event. I hope you have a truly wonderful time if you are going, either as a punter or a contributor. Everyone. But organisers, remember this. Look after your team. They are what will make Vintage at Goodwood what it is, not the rich people glamping it up in luxury teepees and yurts. Don’t forget what Vintage as a lifestyle truly means…

* I did make it to VAG in the end… My review of Vintage at Goodwood is now online and you can read it here.*

Categories ,Bobbin Bicycles, ,cat sims, ,Gareth Hopkins, ,Jessica Sharville, ,John Lewis, ,June Chanpoomidole, ,lily allen, ,Natasha Thompson, ,Nathalie Laurence, ,recycling, ,Supermarket Sarah, ,Tatty Devine, ,Think Act Vote, ,Upcycling, ,Vintage at Goodwood

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Amelia’s Magazine | Vintage at Goodwood: Festival Preview

Bobbin Bicycles wall
Natasha-Thompson-Bobbins-Bicycles-Girl-Cape-Illustration
Bobbin Bicycles by Natasha Thompson.

I first heard of Bobbin Bicycles just over three years ago, shop when as a nascent bespoke bike company they contacted me to suggest featuring some of their imported upright Dutch bicycles in my Amelia’s Magazine fashion spreads. This was a canny move from husband and wife team Tom Morris and Sian Emmison because I am a big fan of cycling and we shot Bobbin Bicycles several times for the final print issues of the magazine.

Bobbin Bicycles tom and sian
Tom and Sian in Bobbin Bicycles. All photography by Amelia Gregory.

Today Bobbin Bicycles has grown into a well known business that employs six people and is set to open a bespoke and vintage bike repair workshop. They’re launching their own brand of upright Bobbin Bicycles in Australia, visit this to be followed shortly thereafter in the USA and are set to produce their own brand of Bobbin Bicycles branded panniers and capes. They’ve quickly become the go to people for the kind of upright bicycle that is increasingly favoured by townie types looking for sturdiness and style, buy information pills and indeed they’re so busy that Sian barely has time to say hello as she poses for a photo before returning to the phones in her subterranean office below their lovely shop in St John Street, Islington in North London. Instead I catch up with the lovely Tom in the basement of their bulging store to find out a little bit more about Bobbin Bicycles.

Alexis-West-Bobbin-Bicycles-tom morris
Tom Morris by Alexis West.

The love affair with bikes (and with each other) began long ago in Amsterdam.
Both Tom and Sian were fine artists living abroad who fell in love with riding Dutch bikes. It was about a whole lifestyle that was old fashioned, elegant, relaxed and most of all sociable, for in Amsterdam it is not uncommon to ride in groups and chit chat along the way. They were commissioned to film a bike race for the Dutch Arts Council, and the rest, as they like to say, is history.

Fast forward to 2001. London. The daily grind.
On their return home to the big smoke Tom found work in advertising, and Sian worked for cult furniture company SGP, which is based on Curtain Road. But they dreamed of something more… and so in-between freelance work they started to import bikes from Holland. At first this meant touring around Holland in a van to pick up bikes which they shipped back to the UK to sell from a storage unit. Within weeks they had moved onto Eyre Street Hill in Farringdon, where they shared a space with watchmakers and jewellers.

Bobbin Bicycles bells

Their glamourous “atelier showroom” was a bit like Turkish gambling den.
No one else had thought to specialise in Dutch bikes and soon their appointment only showroom was so popular they were selling ten bikes a day. Being well schooled in the ways of branding they targeted their customers with great care: Tom draped a curtain over the grottier bits of the workshop and played nice music. Customers got the “wow” factor when coming in off the street and soon the national newspapers started to call when they wanted a story about upright bikes.

Pashley began to stalk them.
Bobbin Bicycles had moved to Arlington Way by the time that Pashley paid them a secret visit. Thinking that not everyone wants a Dutch bike Tom had already approached the well known British brand, but he was unaware of the mutual interest. Pashleys are smaller in size and offer more gears, plus they offer the added bonus of all British manufacture UK. Fast forward to 2010: Bobbin Bicycles now operates from a lovely little shop in Angel and is one of over 100 UK stockists of Pashleys, but who else can boast their very own exclusive colour range? At Bobbin Bicycles you can now pick up the Pashley Provence in a special mint or mustard colourway.

Bobbin Bicycles

Upright bikes have become a lot more fashionable of late.
As more cyclists take to the roads many are choosing to ride sit-up-and-beg bikes of the type that Bobbin Bicycles sell, and lots more bike manufacturers are “having a pop” at simple upright bikes. Downstairs Tom shows me some new Globe bikes made by the huge company Specialised. People are now making appointments to visit Bobbin Bicycles from as far away as LA and Russia. *NB: I do not condone travelling across the world to purchase a bike. But definitely buy a bike. Everyone should have one.

Bobbin Bicycles baskets
Piles of baskets in the basement of the shop.

Steel or aluminium? Why, what’s the difference?
Pashleys are made with a beautiful thin lugged steel frame, but most modern bikes are made from lightweight aluminium that makes for a more juddery ride, though they are definitely not as heavy when lifting up steps. Bobbin Bicycles can cater to all your upright wishes and stock a huge range of brands including the wonderfully named Swedish Skeppshult.

London has way more cycling tribes than other cities.
In other cities the cyclists tend to look quite homogeneous, but here in London we have many different identifiable types. Tom was amongst the first to label the big three cycling tribes for an article in the Independent. The Traditional, Fold-up and Fixie tribes can now be broken into multiple subsets and mash ups, including the Fixed Tweed tribe.

Tweed Run by Emma Raby
Tweed Run by Emma Raby.

Bobbin Bicycles ran a tea stop for this year’s Tweed Run.
The Tweed Run is perfectly Bobbin: an annual celebration of all things upright and traditional about cycling. This year they presented a prize for the best decorated bike to a lady from Holland, who arrived with an old 70s shopper decorated with a multicoloured knitted saddle cover and matching dress guards on the back wheels.

Tweed run by Maria del carmensmith
The winning bike by Maria del Carmen Smith.

Boris bikes. Good news for Bobbin Bicycles.
Tom loves the idea of cycling into town on Boris bike and then getting a cab back. Or simply having the option to avoid the horrors of the night bus. Even though the amount of money spent on cycling in the UK is a fraction of what is spent in countries such as Denmark, Holland and Germany the new London bike scheme will undoubtedly encourage more people to cycle. Here’s how it goes: people will try them out instead of investing in a cheap bike from Halfords. Once they get into the idea of cycling they will realise how heavy and unwieldy the Boris bikes are and will decide to graduate onto something nicer. Hopefully a Bobbin Bicycle, for instance.

boris bike by vicky yates
Boris Bike by Vicky Yates.

Collaborations are good fun.
In the cabinet behind me are wonderful bowler and deerstalker hats designed to fit over helmets. They were made by the historically influenced milliner Eloise Moody, who has also created a sexy reflective nurses cape. Bobbin Bicycles will launch their own range of panniers and capes for spring 2011, and the shop stocks lots of small boutique brands you would not find elsewhere. They’ve provided bikes for a Mark Ronson video and the newspapers always come knocking when they want to borrow a pretty upright.

Abi Daker - Eloise Moody - bikes
Eloise Moody by Abigail Daker.

They are moving back to Arlington Way.
Well, in a manner of speaking. The shop in Angel is bursting at the seams and they’ve decided to open a new workshop on Arlington Way in October, just three doors down from their previous location. Dedicated Bobbin mechanics will specialise in the servicing of vintage bikes and hard to get components such as hub gears. But all cyclists will be welcome.

Bobbin Bicycles jewellery
Bobbin Bicycles jewellery.

Vintage Goodwood here we come.
Bobbin Bicycles have provided Vintage at Goodwood with a fleet of promotional bikes so that they can flyer all over town. They have a pitch at the festival alongside the Old Bicycle Company from Essex – which specialises in Penny Farthings. Sadly, here we don’t come. Amelia’s Magazine has not been made welcome at Vintage at Goodwood.

The independent bike shops all get along.
And why not? They all specialise in their own thing, and quite often a boyfriend and girlfriend will come into Bobbin Bicycles with different ideas of what they want to ride. The girl wants an upright, the boy wants a fix. So they send him down the road to Condor Cycles or up the road to Mosquito. Yes, 80% of their customers are female, possibly down to the attitude and service of Bobbin staff, which is deliberately very accessible and non technology based.

Winter Cycling by Joana Faria
Winter Cycling by Joana Faria.

Top tips for autumn and winter cycling.
Many people are merely fair weather cyclists (not me!) but cycling through the British winter will keep you warm. You’ll arrive at work with a good feeling inside, blood pumping, ready to get down to business: you don’t get that sitting on an overheated bus. But make sure you have decent lights because they’ll make you feel really smug when it gets dark early. Get a good cape to whack over the top of your clothes if it’s raining. Waterproof trousers are not a good look but leather jackets are. They keep the wind out and they look good too. Stay on your bikes! Honestly, it’s by the far the best way to travel at all times of the year. And I speak from experience.

You can visit the friendly staff at Bobbin Bicycles at 397 St John Street, London, EC1V 4LD or you can drool over their website here. And do say hello at Vintage at Goodwood.

Bobbin Bicycles SHOP

Natasha-Thompson-Bobbins-Bicycles-Girl-Cape-Illustration
Bobbin Bicycles by Natasha Thompson.

I first heard of Bobbin Bicycles just over three years ago, no rx when as a nascent bespoke bike company they contacted me to suggest featuring some of their imported upright Dutch bicycles in my Amelia’s Magazine fashion spreads. This was a canny move from husband and wife team Tom Morris and Sian Emmison because I am a big fan of cycling and we shot Bobbin Bicycles several times for the final print issues of the magazine.

Bobbin Bicycles tom and sian
Tom and Sian in Bobbin Bicycles. All photography by Amelia Gregory.

Today Bobbin Bicycles has grown into a well known business that employs six people and is set to open a bespoke and vintage bike repair workshop. They’re launching their own brand of upright Bobbin Bicycles in Australia, page to be followed shortly thereafter in the USA and are set to produce their own brand of Bobbin Bicycles branded panniers and capes. They’ve quickly become the go to people for the kind of upright bicycle that is increasingly favoured by townie types looking for sturdiness and style, dosage and indeed they’re so busy that Sian barely has time to say hello as she poses for a photo before returning to the phones in her subterranean office below their lovely shop in St John Street, Islington in North London. Instead I catch up with the lovely Tom in the basement of their bulging store to find out a little bit more about Bobbin Bicycles.

Alexis-West-Bobbin-Bicycles-tom morris
Tom Morris by Alexis West.

The love affair with bikes (and with each other) began long ago in Amsterdam.
Both Tom and Sian were fine artists living abroad who fell in love with riding Dutch bikes. It was about a whole lifestyle that was old fashioned, elegant, relaxed and most of all sociable, for in Amsterdam it is not uncommon to ride in groups and chit chat along the way. They were commissioned to film a bike race for the Dutch Arts Council, and the rest, as they like to say, is history.

Fast forward to 2001. London. The daily grind.
On their return home to the big smoke Tom found work in advertising, and Sian worked for cult furniture company SGP, which is based on Curtain Road. But they dreamed of something more… and so in-between freelance work they started to import bikes from Holland. At first this meant touring around Holland in a van to pick up bikes which they shipped back to the UK to sell from a storage unit. Within weeks they had moved onto Eyre Street Hill in Farringdon, where they shared a space with watchmakers and jewellers.

Bobbin Bicycles bells

Their glamourous “atelier showroom” was a bit like Turkish gambling den.
No one else had thought to specialise in Dutch bikes and soon their appointment only showroom was so popular they were selling ten bikes a day. Being well schooled in the ways of branding they targeted their customers with great care: Tom draped a curtain over the grottier bits of the workshop and played nice music. Customers got the “wow” factor when coming in off the street and soon the national newspapers started to call when they wanted a story about upright bikes.

Pashley began to stalk them.
Bobbin Bicycles had moved to Arlington Way by the time that Pashley paid them a secret visit. Thinking that not everyone wants a Dutch bike Tom had already approached the well known British brand, but he was unaware of the mutual interest. Pashleys are smaller in size and offer more gears, plus they offer the added bonus of all British manufacture UK. Fast forward to 2010: Bobbin Bicycles now operates from a lovely little shop in Angel and is one of over 100 UK stockists of Pashleys, but who else can boast their very own exclusive colour range? At Bobbin Bicycles you can now pick up the Pashley Provence in a special mint or mustard colourway.

Bobbin Bicycles

Upright bikes have become a lot more fashionable of late.
As more cyclists take to the roads many are choosing to ride sit-up-and-beg bikes of the type that Bobbin Bicycles sell, and lots more bike manufacturers are “having a pop” at simple upright bikes. Downstairs Tom shows me some new Globe bikes made by the huge company Specialised. People are now making appointments to visit Bobbin Bicycles from as far away as LA and Russia. *NB: I do not condone travelling across the world to purchase a bike. But definitely buy a bike. Everyone should have one.

Bobbin Bicycles baskets
Piles of baskets in the basement of the shop.

Steel or aluminium? Why, what’s the difference?
Pashleys are made with a beautiful thin lugged steel frame, but most modern bikes are made from lightweight aluminium that makes for a more juddery ride, though they are definitely not as heavy when lifting up steps. Bobbin Bicycles can cater to all your upright wishes and stock a huge range of brands including the wonderfully named Swedish Skeppshult.

London has way more cycling tribes than other cities.
In other cities the cyclists tend to look quite homogeneous, but here in London we have many different identifiable types. Tom was amongst the first to label the big three cycling tribes for an article in the Independent. The Traditional, Fold-up and Fixie tribes can now be broken into multiple subsets and mash ups, including the Fixed Tweed tribe.

Tweed Run by Emma Raby
Tweed Run by Emma Raby.

Bobbin Bicycles ran a tea stop for this year’s Tweed Run.
The Tweed Run is perfectly Bobbin: an annual celebration of all things upright and traditional about cycling. This year they presented a prize for the best decorated bike to a lady from Holland, who arrived with an old 70s shopper decorated with a multicoloured knitted saddle cover and matching dress guards on the back wheels.

Tweed run by Maria del carmensmith
The winning bike by Maria del Carmen Smith.

Boris bikes. Good news for Bobbin Bicycles.
Tom loves the idea of cycling into town on Boris bike and then getting a cab back. Or simply having the option to avoid the horrors of the night bus. Even though the amount of money spent on cycling in the UK is a fraction of what is spent in countries such as Denmark, Holland and Germany the new London bike scheme will undoubtedly encourage more people to cycle. Here’s how it goes: people will try them out instead of investing in a cheap bike from Halfords. Once they get into the idea of cycling they will realise how heavy and unwieldy the Boris bikes are and will decide to graduate onto something nicer. Hopefully a Bobbin Bicycle, for instance.

boris bike by vicky yates
Boris Bike by Vicky Yates.

Collaborations are good fun.
In the cabinet behind me are wonderful bowler and deerstalker hats designed to fit over helmets. They were made by the historically influenced milliner Eloise Moody, who has also created a sexy reflective nurses cape. Bobbin Bicycles will launch their own range of panniers and capes for spring 2011, and the shop stocks lots of small boutique brands you would not find elsewhere. They’ve provided bikes for a Mark Ronson video and the newspapers always come knocking when they want to borrow a pretty upright.

Abi Daker - Eloise Moody - bikes
Eloise Moody by Abigail Daker.

They are moving back to Arlington Way.
Well, in a manner of speaking. The shop in Angel is bursting at the seams and they’ve decided to open a new workshop on Arlington Way in October, just three doors down from their previous location. Dedicated Bobbin mechanics will specialise in the servicing of vintage bikes and hard to get components such as hub gears. But all cyclists will be welcome.

Bobbin Bicycles jewellery
Bobbin Bicycles jewellery.

Vintage Goodwood here we come.
Bobbin Bicycles have provided Vintage at Goodwood with a fleet of promotional bikes so that they can flyer all over town. They have a pitch at the festival alongside the Old Bicycle Company from Essex – which specialises in Penny Farthings. Sadly, here we don’t come. Amelia’s Magazine has not been made welcome at Vintage at Goodwood.

Bobbin Bicycles wall

The independent bike shops all get along.
And why not? They all specialise in their own thing, and quite often a boyfriend and girlfriend will come into Bobbin Bicycles with different ideas of what they want to ride. The girl wants an upright, the boy wants a fix. So they send him down the road to Condor Cycles or up the road to Mosquito. Yes, 80% of their customers are female, possibly down to the attitude and service of Bobbin staff, which is deliberately very accessible and non technology based.

Winter Cycling by Joana Faria
Winter Cycling by Joana Faria.

Top tips for autumn and winter cycling.
Many people are merely fair weather cyclists (not me!) but cycling through the British winter will keep you warm. You’ll arrive at work with a good feeling inside, blood pumping, ready to get down to business: you don’t get that sitting on an overheated bus. But make sure you have decent lights because they’ll make you feel really smug when it gets dark early. Get a good cape to whack over the top of your clothes if it’s raining. Waterproof trousers are not a good look but leather jackets are. They keep the wind out and they look good too. Stay on your bikes! Honestly, it’s by the far the best way to travel at all times of the year. And I speak from experience.

You can visit the friendly staff at Bobbin Bicycles at 397 St John Street, London, EC1V 4LD or you can drool over their website here. And do say hello at Vintage at Goodwood.

Bobbin Bicycles SHOP

Natasha-Thompson-Vintage-Goodwood-Illustration
Vintage at Goodwood by Natasha Thompson.

I must admit, approved I’ve had my reservations from the start. Right from the moment when they wheeled out that universally irritating celebrity known as Lily Allen. Young, for sale rich, famous and by all accounts a pain in the butt. Best known amongst the vintage community for out-bidding everyone else on all the best clothes at auction. Admittedly the closest I have ever got to Lily Allen was when she nonchalantly flicked cigarette ash on me as I passed her huge chauffeur driven four wheel drive on my bike one day last summer. But I think this tells me enough.

Vintage at Goodwood is a new festival. A new festival afloat in the sea of other festivals now populating British weekends throughout the summer months. Not a weekend goes by without at least two or three wonderful festivals that I know about to chose from, and many others that I don’t. Trying to find a niche market that hasn’t already spent as much as they can afford on summer festival frivolities is surely not an easy thing to do. Not surprisingly Vintage at Goodwood hasn’t sold out in it’s first year.

lilyallen-vintage dress(by cat sims)
Lily Allen in a vintage dress by Cat Sims.

So, they’ve done a notably huge amount of advertising – plastering everything from Bobbin Bicycles to bus billboards with the distinctive Vintage at Goodwood posters, which proclaim a festival that places as much emphasis on art, fashion, film and design as it does on music. All well and good, it’s a trend pioneered by the likes of Latitude and Secret Garden Party, but I’ve yet to fathom exactly how the mix works this time round. The only emphasis I can see has been on ‘curating’ a very large shopping area: even John Lewis gets a presence on their old-fashioned High Street.

Vintage at Goodwood poster
A Vintage at Goodwood poster near Brick Lane.

And who, exactly, is the “glamping” crowd they want to attract? “Vintage” as a lifestyle choice is something wholeheartedly embraced by people on a budget who like to champion an individualistic, upcycling, DIY aesthetic. Many of my readers for instance. Why, I’ve been wearing Chazza clothes since I could walk into a shop. Beyond Retro is my local store. Okay, since from about 1999 I’ve mainly favoured clothes from the 1980s over anything earlier, but today even this most silly of decades gets the Vintage treatment at Vintage at Goodwood.

But the Goodwood Estate also hosts Goodwood Revival – a glamourous motoring and aviation event aimed at people with a little bit more money than your average Vintage Enthusiast of the kind I speak of. It’s been written about in posh supermarket Waitrose’s own magazine, and fawned over by the right wing press. “They are used to catering to Goodwood Revival, who are basically mostly very wealthy, vintage car/plane owners… and where people ONLY seem to care how much money/how many stately homes you have.” This is clearly a festival with pretensions to be more than the mere stamping ground of a bunch of fashionable east end types. And yet many of these very people are the ones making the festival happen. Thrifty vintage enthusiasts fill the vintage shopping area with their stalls. They’re volunteering their time to be stewards of boudoirs. Vintage bloggers have written glowing posts about how much they look forward to the festival, thereby ensuring there is huge amounts of hype online to compliment the more traditional advertising. But are these very same people being looked after by the corporate wheels of Goodwood, Freud Comm and co?

JuneChanpoomidle-VintageGoodwood
Illustration by June Chanpoomidle.

At Amelia’s Magazine we’ve always tried to support as many small festivals as possible, especially the new ones, the ones focused on green issues and the ones that will appeal to our readership. You’d think, given this quote in the Telegraph (soz) today, that I would be the ideal kind of press to invite along to Vintage at Goodwood. “Vintage fashion is a win-win. It’s about upcycling, recycling, thriftiness and great design. I felt this was the right time to celebrate it and show people how good vintage links music, fashion and film.” Does this sound anything like the kind of stuff we promote on this blog, day in day out? Only this week we’ve published interviews with Think, Act, Vote and Bobbin Bicycles, both of whom have a presence at Vintage at Goodwood that gets a mention in our blogs.

Unhappy at the way that the press team for Vintage at Goodwood dismissed me without so much as a by your leave, and uneasy about the complaints I noted on the Vintage at Goodwood Facebook site regarding a lack of transparency over ticket pricing a few weeks ago, I decided to dig around for a bit more information. Someone, somewhere clearly has money. Freud Comm are the huge corporate PR agency responsible for the massive amounts of press you see. They also look after Nike, Asda, KFC, Sky, the Olympics and drinks giant Diageo, who has close ties to the festival. Cheap they cannot be to hire.

I am small fry to Freud, as are all those other eager bloggers. Freud doesn’t even have a twitter feed. Or a blog. They are beyond such things. But they also don’t understand the power of such things. Or maybe they would not be so dismissive of those with such close ties to the market they are trying to reach.

Glamping By Jessica Sharville 2
Glamping by Jessica Sharville.

As soon as I started to ask around I discovered a lot of unhappiness… and I was only scratching the surface. Bloggers that have gushed about Vintage at Goodwood for months had applied for press passes only to be turned down this, the week before – forced to purchase their own tickets to experience the festival they so much wanted to write about. Even seasoned journalists writing for big websites have been turned down. Now I’m no marketing genius, but it seems to me that if you have a new festival, and you haven’t sold out, it makes no sense at all to turn down any enthusiastic journos. After all, it costs the organisers nothing to let people in for free, and our eagerness should be appreciated because it doesn’t come without costs to us when we don’t have huge expense accounts to fall back on (travel and food soon mount up). Presuming that Vintage at Goodwood would like to continue next year, surely it’s a wise idea to maximise your chances of positive press from day one? For this very reason I will always send a press copy of Amelia’s Anthology of Illustration to any blogger that asks, no matter how well read their website is, or not. I appreciate that you want to spend time writing about my project. (ask away)

But there’s more…. getting Vintage at Goodwood off the ground has not been without its casualties along the way. And here you’ll have to bear with me if I adopt an air of secrecy – many of these people are still going to Vintage at Goodwood anyway – but tell me this, does this sound like a happy bunny? “It is a real shame as I have not met one person who is genuinely excited to go. Most are curious about how bad it will be and want to see it fail due to the poor behaviour from the organisers.”

Vintage illustration by Nathalie Laurence
Vintage illustration by Nathalie Laurence.

As Vintage at Goodwood have decided to focus on the shopping aspect of the event the costs of stalls have spiralled, well out of the reach of many young Vintage Stockists. A key curator has dropped out. One Vintage Enthusiast who shall remain nameless told me that “It’s all a big money making sham.” Many things will cost more (on top of the ticket price) during the festival. Another told me “I may as well rent a shop in Brighton for a month for the price they were asking for a pitch the size of a stamp.” I find all of this desperately sad. As a way of life Vintage is not about this. I understand the need for a new festival to break even, but at the expense of all those who help out along the way? It’s just not right.

Another quote: “I have heard nothing but bad things which is so sad as I have high hopes for the event.” I really wish I was able to get along to Vintage at Goodwood to make a judgement on it myself. As a concept it sounds great. Many many good friends will be attending, including Tatty Devine, Supermarket Sarah, Bobbin Bicycles, Think, Act, Vote… the list goes on. I would have loved to have covered the green lectures and meet the people who attend in all their fabulous finery. Vintage as a lifestyle is something I wholeheartedly support. As are festivals. Can you imagine a better bunch to photograph, illustrate and talk about for Amelia’s Magazine?

Wayne in Blue and Ochre by GarethAHopkins
Wayne Hemmingway (he’s behind Vintage at Goodwood) by Gareth Hopkins.

Sadly it is not to be. I can’t afford to pay for a ticket, especially given the time it takes me to write a festival up, which usually approaches a week and bearing in mind that no one pays me to write. It’s also very tiring (as anyone working the festival circuit will tell you), which is why I’ve stayed at home in London for the past few weekends – although I had set aside time to visit Vintage at Goodwood and see if it lived up to the hype. Instead I hope to hear from others who are going, fingers crossed. And do tell me your thoughts too, especially after the event. I hope you have a truly wonderful time if you are going, either as a punter or a contributor. Everyone. But organisers, remember this. Look after your team. They are what will make Vintage at Goodwood what it is, not the rich people glamping it up in luxury teepees and yurts. Don’t forget what Vintage as a lifestyle truly means…

* I did make it to VAG in the end… My review of Vintage at Goodwood is now online and you can read it here.*

Categories ,Bobbin Bicycles, ,cat sims, ,Gareth Hopkins, ,Jessica Sharville, ,John Lewis, ,June Chanpoomidole, ,lily allen, ,Natasha Thompson, ,Nathalie Laurence, ,recycling, ,Supermarket Sarah, ,Tatty Devine, ,Think Act Vote, ,Upcycling, ,Vintage at Goodwood

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Amelia’s Magazine | London Fashion Week S/S 2011 Catwalk Review: Christian Blanken


Illustration by Gareth A. Hopkins

As I have found with all the Portico Rooms shows, this site pills they never start on time. I arrived too early again but on this occasion, had the pleasure of watching Blanken being interviewed outside on the balcony, and the models (slightly last minute?!) being taught the walk timings.

Christian Blanken’s sport luxe approach to fashion has always intrigued me – before this weird jogging bottoms with heels trend came along, I thought him very clever to be able to make casual(ish) clothes look very special. However, therein lies the problem – its still just very sports luxe. He followed the trend this season of sticking to neutral and block colours – white, grey, black and the occasional gold lame looking dress or top. Favourite pieces for me included the floor length white dress with silver edging, and all the gold spangly numbers.


Illustration by Gareth A. Hopkins

True to form, innovative and technologically advanced fabrics featured at the forefront of his designs. Using inspiration from 1920s and 1930s (although I couldn’t see it) and designer Claire McCardell (famed for clean, functional designs), I feel that the collection played it very safe. His signature clean lines, and the mixture of luxury fabrics and textures with a sportsy feel are all there, but nothing earth shattering.





Interestingly, for ‘Nine’ he included three of Britain’s most prominent Olympic hopefuls – Jodie Williams, Tasha Danvers and Vicki Barr who all did a sterling job at modeling the clothes.


All photography by Amelia Gregory

To be honest, I am slightly disappointed. I expected more from the designer. As you can see from the photograph above, it was a very neutral colour scheme with the odd pair of black sequinned leggings (I like very much) and gold lame dresses/playsuits.

The stains which myself and others in the front row noticed on some of the clothes, and the typos in the press release didn’t help.

Categories ,Amelia Gregory, ,Amelia’s Magazine, ,Christian Blanken, ,Claire McCardell, ,fashion, ,Florence Massey, ,Gareth Hopkins, ,illustration, ,lfw, ,London Fashion Week, ,neutral, ,Olympic hopefuls, ,Portico Rooms, ,review, ,S/S 2011, ,Somerset House, ,Sports Luxe, ,Womenswear

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Amelia’s Magazine | London Fashion Week A/W 2011 Presentation Review: House of Worth Couture Lingerie

House Of Worth SS12 by Gareth A Hopkins
House Of Worth Couture Lingerie A/W 2011 by Gareth A Hopkins.

As I had arrived at Claridges Hotel ridiculously early to see the House of Worth, approved Couture Lingerie Collection, purchase I was able to admire the interiors, more about the fresh flowers, the gold and white pillars and air of fragrance. With a click of my heels on the marble floors to the French Salon and the Drawing Room, I knew what I was about to see was special, and I wasn’t wrong.

HOUSE OF WORTH Worth Couture Lingerie ‘Inside Out Affair’ Collection Review
HOUSE OF WORTH Worth Couture Lingerie ‘Inside Out Affair’ Collection Review
House of Worth by Claire Kearns
House Of Worth Couture Lingerie A/W 2011 by Claire Kearns.

This was a static exhibition and catwalk with an opportunity to see up close the finest details and feel the fabric between my fingertips, not only on the mannequins, but on the models too. I also had an opportunity to talk to the Head Designer of House of Worth, Giovanni Bedin, about the collection.

HOUSE OF WORTH Worth Couture Lingerie ‘Inside Out Affair’ Collection Review
HOUSE OF WORTH Worth Couture Lingerie ‘Inside Out Affair’ Collection Review

HOUSE OF WORTH Worth Couture Lingerie ‘Inside Out Affair’ Collection Review
Head designer Giovanni Bedin talks with a model. All photography by June Chanpoomidole.

House of Worth Illustration By Kassie Berry
House Of Worth Couture Lingerie A/W 2011 by Kassie Berry.

My reward for arriving early was the chance to see the models getting ready ‘backstage’. The models sported loose ringlet curls with nude lipstick and minimal smoky makeup that were applied right in front of me, making the space feel really intimate.

LFW house of worth phoebe kirk
House Of Worth Couture Lingerie S/S 2012 by Phoebe Kirk.

The lingerie collection features balconette and triangle style bras matched with full briefs and thongs, and many outfits shown at Claridges consisted of two layers: long sleeved leotards that covered the fingers combined with a basque or crinoline. There was virginal white lace, sensual black satin tulle and ravenously seductive velvet that featured a recurring circular boned motif in elegant bows and ribbon shapes. By combining the simplicity of a circle with the frills of satin and tulle Giovanni marries the feminine with a more modern aesthetic.

House Of Worth SS12 by Gareth A Hopkins
House Of Worth Couture Lingerie A/W 2011 by Gareth Hopkins.

Giovanni Bedin told me that this lingerie collection is an evolution of the previous couture S/S 2011 collection in Paris whereby he became interested in the techniques required to make a jacket or a dress and how these could be applied to underwear. Giovanni strongly believes that Lingerie is Sexy and has so much to say about the wearer that it should not be hidden as mere underwear. He urges the wearers of Worth Lingerie to be versatile; to mix and match the ready-to-wear and couture lingerie with outerwear.

House of Worth by Lianne Harrison
House Of Worth Couture Lingerie A/W 2011 by Lianne Harrison.

House of Worth by Kristina Vasiljeva
House Of Worth Couture Lingerie A/W 2011 by Kristina Vasiljeva.

HOUSE OF WORTH by GEMMA TRAVIS
House Of Worth Couture Lingerie A/W 2011 by Gemma Travis.

Versatility is Giovanni Bedin’s strength; as in his previous summer collection the basques are all detachable and easily customisable so that they can be worn as outerwear. When I overheard the models talking they were discussing how comfortable the House of Worth lingerie is to wear, and how they might customise them to wear them on a night out. The House of Worth lingerie range plays with contrasting combinations of design detailing that would befit the modern sensual woman, and wearing one of these outfits as outerwear would definitely be a conversation starter.

LFW house of worth phoebe kirk
House Of Worth Couture Lingerie A/W 2011 by Phoebe Kirk.

When I asked Giovanni Bedin what’s in store for the future he said ‘a development of ready-to-wear lingerie and couture‘ – thereby not letting on too much… but I think we can be assured that there will be more masterpieces from Giovanni Bedin in the near future. All in all, I felt suitably inspired and excited by this new venture for the House of Worth.

HOUSE OF WORTH Worth Couture Lingerie ‘Inside Out Affair’ Collection Review
HOUSE OF WORTH Worth Couture Lingerie ‘Inside Out Affair’ Collection Review
HOUSE OF WORTH Worth Couture Lingerie ‘Inside Out Affair’ Collection Review
HOUSE OF WORTH Worth Couture Lingerie ‘Inside Out Affair’ Collection Review
HOUSE OF WORTH Worth Couture Lingerie ‘Inside Out Affair’ Collection Review
HOUSE OF WORTH Worth Couture Lingerie ‘Inside Out Affair’ Collection Review

Categories ,balconette, ,basque, ,Bra, ,Claire Kearns, ,Claridges Hotel, ,Claridge’s Hotel, ,couture, ,crinoline, ,Gareth Hopkins, ,Gemma Travis, ,Giovanni Bedin, ,House of Worth, ,illustrators, ,Inside Out Affair, ,Juliette Fazekas, ,June Chanpoomidole, ,Kassie Berry, ,Kristina Vasiljeva, ,lfw, ,Lianne Harrison, ,lingerie, ,London Fashion Week, ,Melissa Bell, ,Nici Harrison, ,Phoebe Kirk, ,Ready-to-wear, ,RMG Public Relations, ,S/S 2012, ,Static exhibition, ,The Drawing Room, ,underwear

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Amelia’s Magazine | London Fashion Week A/W 2011 Presentation Review: House of Worth Couture Lingerie

House Of Worth SS12 by Gareth A Hopkins
House Of Worth Couture Lingerie A/W 2011 by Gareth A Hopkins.

As I had arrived at Claridges Hotel ridiculously early to see the House of Worth, approved Couture Lingerie Collection, purchase I was able to admire the interiors, more about the fresh flowers, the gold and white pillars and air of fragrance. With a click of my heels on the marble floors to the French Salon and the Drawing Room, I knew what I was about to see was special, and I wasn’t wrong.

HOUSE OF WORTH Worth Couture Lingerie ‘Inside Out Affair’ Collection Review
HOUSE OF WORTH Worth Couture Lingerie ‘Inside Out Affair’ Collection Review
House of Worth by Claire Kearns
House Of Worth Couture Lingerie A/W 2011 by Claire Kearns.

This was a static exhibition and catwalk with an opportunity to see up close the finest details and feel the fabric between my fingertips, not only on the mannequins, but on the models too. I also had an opportunity to talk to the Head Designer of House of Worth, Giovanni Bedin, about the collection.

HOUSE OF WORTH Worth Couture Lingerie ‘Inside Out Affair’ Collection Review
HOUSE OF WORTH Worth Couture Lingerie ‘Inside Out Affair’ Collection Review

HOUSE OF WORTH Worth Couture Lingerie ‘Inside Out Affair’ Collection Review
Head designer Giovanni Bedin talks with a model. All photography by June Chanpoomidole.

House of Worth Illustration By Kassie Berry
House Of Worth Couture Lingerie A/W 2011 by Kassie Berry.

My reward for arriving early was the chance to see the models getting ready ‘backstage’. The models sported loose ringlet curls with nude lipstick and minimal smoky makeup that were applied right in front of me, making the space feel really intimate.

LFW house of worth phoebe kirk
House Of Worth Couture Lingerie S/S 2012 by Phoebe Kirk.

The lingerie collection features balconette and triangle style bras matched with full briefs and thongs, and many outfits shown at Claridges consisted of two layers: long sleeved leotards that covered the fingers combined with a basque or crinoline. There was virginal white lace, sensual black satin tulle and ravenously seductive velvet that featured a recurring circular boned motif in elegant bows and ribbon shapes. By combining the simplicity of a circle with the frills of satin and tulle Giovanni marries the feminine with a more modern aesthetic.

House Of Worth SS12 by Gareth A Hopkins
House Of Worth Couture Lingerie A/W 2011 by Gareth Hopkins.

Giovanni Bedin told me that this lingerie collection is an evolution of the previous couture S/S 2011 collection in Paris whereby he became interested in the techniques required to make a jacket or a dress and how these could be applied to underwear. Giovanni strongly believes that Lingerie is Sexy and has so much to say about the wearer that it should not be hidden as mere underwear. He urges the wearers of Worth Lingerie to be versatile; to mix and match the ready-to-wear and couture lingerie with outerwear.

House of Worth by Lianne Harrison
House Of Worth Couture Lingerie A/W 2011 by Lianne Harrison.

House of Worth by Kristina Vasiljeva
House Of Worth Couture Lingerie A/W 2011 by Kristina Vasiljeva.

HOUSE OF WORTH by GEMMA TRAVIS
House Of Worth Couture Lingerie A/W 2011 by Gemma Travis.

Versatility is Giovanni Bedin’s strength; as in his previous summer collection the basques are all detachable and easily customisable so that they can be worn as outerwear. When I overheard the models talking they were discussing how comfortable the House of Worth lingerie is to wear, and how they might customise them to wear them on a night out. The House of Worth lingerie range plays with contrasting combinations of design detailing that would befit the modern sensual woman, and wearing one of these outfits as outerwear would definitely be a conversation starter.

LFW house of worth phoebe kirk
House Of Worth Couture Lingerie A/W 2011 by Phoebe Kirk.

When I asked Giovanni Bedin what’s in store for the future he said ‘a development of ready-to-wear lingerie and couture‘ – thereby not letting on too much… but I think we can be assured that there will be more masterpieces from Giovanni Bedin in the near future. All in all, I felt suitably inspired and excited by this new venture for the House of Worth.

HOUSE OF WORTH Worth Couture Lingerie ‘Inside Out Affair’ Collection Review
HOUSE OF WORTH Worth Couture Lingerie ‘Inside Out Affair’ Collection Review
HOUSE OF WORTH Worth Couture Lingerie ‘Inside Out Affair’ Collection Review
HOUSE OF WORTH Worth Couture Lingerie ‘Inside Out Affair’ Collection Review
HOUSE OF WORTH Worth Couture Lingerie ‘Inside Out Affair’ Collection Review
HOUSE OF WORTH Worth Couture Lingerie ‘Inside Out Affair’ Collection Review

Categories ,balconette, ,basque, ,Bra, ,Claire Kearns, ,Claridges Hotel, ,Claridge’s Hotel, ,couture, ,crinoline, ,Gareth Hopkins, ,Gemma Travis, ,Giovanni Bedin, ,House of Worth, ,illustrators, ,Inside Out Affair, ,Juliette Fazekas, ,June Chanpoomidole, ,Kassie Berry, ,Kristina Vasiljeva, ,lfw, ,Lianne Harrison, ,lingerie, ,London Fashion Week, ,Melissa Bell, ,Nici Harrison, ,Phoebe Kirk, ,Ready-to-wear, ,RMG Public Relations, ,S/S 2012, ,Static exhibition, ,The Drawing Room, ,underwear

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Amelia’s Magazine | Jasper Garvida: London Fashion Week S/S 2012 Preview Interview, part two

Jasper Garvida illustration from the S/S 2012 collection

A main inspiration for the S/S 2012 collection is the painting Autour d’un Point by Frantisek Kupka, visit this which gave the collection its name. What drew you to this particular work by the bohemian illustrator, painter and graphic artist Kupka?
Coincidentally, a new film about Diana Vreeland has just come out called The Eye Must Travel and Autour d’un Point means ‘around the point’. They both are about your eye travelling around, but the painting made me think of the core. When you look at something, your eye goes around it, and you look at the point of it, as in ‘what is the point’? So I found myself inspired by how the painting drew me to a centre point through moving my line of vision around, and what I felt came from the centre of a human being, the heart. How you feel affects how you see things, and if you are open to everything and your heart is open you are able to see the ‘real thing’ in others, the core. To me, when I start a collection it’s really based on how I feel, which I try to translate into clothes, into sound and the senses. And this is why I was inspired by the painting, which I spent the entire afternoon gazing at, thinking about what it was saying to me, enveloping myself in the painting so much so that I can just close my eyes and picture it perfectly.

You’ve obviously got a very strong emotional connection to your work, which I love. Maybe it’s part of why people respond to your clothes so well?
I’m a sensitive and emotional person! When I’m dressing people, I never like to force something on them; I know that for a woman to look incredible she has to feel comfortable inside. There’s nothing worse than going out and not feeling yourself, which I’ve experienced. Trying to be something other than what you are will never work.

Jasper Garvida S/S 2012 illustration by Gareth Hopkins

How was Project Catwalk as an experience?
For me it was really emotional, and I never expected to win it. All the people involved were incredibly talented, and I’m still in touch with all of them. The show helped me reveal myself as a person, as I’m a naturally very shy. I wanted to do Project Catwalk to show my family what I’m all about, as they’d never been to any shows or really seen me as the now grown-up designer. I also hadn’t come out to my family yet to tell them I was gay, so I really wanted them to understand my industry, my world and me. It was difficult as I hadn’t seen my parents for two years, and I had to tell them right there and then backstage at the final catwalk show about my life and my partner. Naturally, I was afraid as I didn’t want to disappoint them or upset them, and I wanted them to accept me. I felt that if I could do something for them to feel proud and happy about the person that I am, that maybe they could accept me. So I did they show, and I couldn’t have been happier, as it opened up my parents’ point of view towards homosexuality and me as an adult with a business of my own. Now, we are closer than ever. So having said that, doing Project Catwalk was one of the best things I’ve ever done, and being myself gave me the confidence to do what I do now.

I love how all of your collections highlight and explore the contrast between the delicate and the strong through your use of silhouettes and fabrics along with hand-embellished details, which it sounds like we are going to see even more of in your S/S ’12 show. Why do you think this is a recurring theme in your work and how you like to dress women?
As I’ve said, never like to push a look onto women, I see myself as a servant to women and their clothing needs! I love creating my embellishments by hand, accentuating parts of a woman’s body like the neck one season or the shoulder another season. Little features and touches go a long way and celebrating the female figure doesn’t have to be something that’s obvious or in-your-face.

Diana Vreeland and her striking sense of style with a passion for the exotic is one of the main inspirations for your collection this season, so I’ve got some Diana-inspired questions (with her memorable answers) for you:
What character in history would you most like to be? (Diana once said she would have liked to be Queen Elizabeth the 1st in all her finery and various intricate hairstyles, which sparked a giggle between Jasper and me about the random dramatic tangents she goes on).

I would have to say Jesus Christ. I try to live my life in goodness; I try to treat people the way I like to be treated. I’m also quite devoted to what I do, I’d do anything for it, which is how passionate I am. I try to be as good as I can and give as much as I am able to.

Jasper Garvida S/S 2012 illustration by Sam Parr

Which era in fashion history have you found most exciting and why? One that Diana loved was the 1920’s, as she has just started to live in Europe, and she felt it defined history with startling backless and knee-length dresses, as well as the artists, music and ‘newness’ surrounding it all.
I’m going to say the same as Diana (he’s a true Vreeland fan) and pick the 20s, as it was a time was fashion ‘became fashion’ and before then only the rich could afford it, and the 20s changed all of that, allowing everyone to enjoy fashion. Without that, I don’t think I would be able to do what I do today. So much was happening, as women were cutting their hair short, throwing out the corset and wearing trousers. It allowed women to use their looks to really make a statement, which is what fashion is to me. It’s quite symbolic, women being rebels and using fashion as power.

Diana was extremely positive about Royalty: I love royalty. They’re always so clean… and the way they dressed. What comes to mind when you think about the new wave of attention Kate Middleton and her sense of style has attracted? (Particularly as you create bridal dresses alongside your main collections).
The wave of New Royalty today, particularly Kate Middleton with her new role, does get a lot of attention. I think that the way she portrays herself is a great example to young people. I love her sensibility; she doesn’t necessarily have to wear designer clothes, and she personifies it all being about how you present yourself. It’s important as a public figure to keep in mind that you’ve got a responsibility towards other people whether you like it or not. You’re in the public eye and in Kate’s case she’s won their admiration. Having the privilege of being Royalty can’t be taken lightly, and with that comes responsibility. In that position especially, you’ve got to think of others and not just yourself.

Diana was extremely well known for her Harper’s Bazaar Why Don’t You… column with suggestions like Why Don’t You… Wear violet velvet mittens with everything? Have an elk-hide trunk for the back of your car? Hermès of Paris will make this. Have your cigarettes stamped with a personal insignia?. What Why Don’t You… suggestions would you come up with?
Why don’t you… eat ice cream in the rain?
Why don’t you… wear a coloured wedding dress instead of white?

Jasper Garvida S/S '12 illustration by Amber CassidyJasper Garvida S/S ’12 illustration by Amber Cassidy

While showing at London Fashion Week is an intensely exciting experience for designers, it requires a cool head and inner calm to make sure everything runs smoothly. How do you prepare for the day of the show to help you stay on top of it all?
I like to be as organised as possible. I give myself a deadline of the week before the show, which is when I like to have everything finished. Any stress or worrying can be done before that deadline, as I need to be calm and focused for my team. The day before the show, I like to get up at 6am and sit somewhere in silence or with calming music. I then play the entire day of the show in my head, visualising the prep backstage, the sound of the music, and the entire catwalk show from the first girl out to the finale when they all walk out together. This way, when it comes to the day of the show I’ve seen it all before already, so I’m calm, collected, and positive.

Your collections are getting stronger with more admirers each year, what can we expect from Jasper Garvida in the future?
In the future, I’d like to be able to get more time to focus even further on the collections, always refining and developing the quality and look of each season. I want to keep working towards providing that ‘surprise element’ in my work, always exploring new things and never being categorised.

Jasper will be showing his Spring/Summer 2012 collection on Monday the 19th of September 2011 at the Bloomsury Hotel during London Fashion Week.

Categories ,Alia Gargum, ,Aliyah Hussain, ,Amber Cassidy, ,Autour d’un Point, ,Diana Vreeland, ,Frantisek Kupka, ,Gareth Hopkins, ,Harper’s Bazaar, ,jasper garvida, ,Kate Middleton, ,Lady Gaga, ,London Fashion Week, ,preview, ,Project Catwalk, ,Queen Elizabeth I, ,Sam Parr, ,Spring/Summer 2012, ,The Bloomsbury Hotel, ,The Eye Must Travel, ,Womenswear

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Amelia’s Magazine | Jasper Garvida: London Fashion Week S/S 2012 Preview Interview, part two

Jasper Garvida illustration from the S/S 2012 collection

A main inspiration for the S/S 2012 collection is the painting Autour d’un Point by Frantisek Kupka, visit this which gave the collection its name. What drew you to this particular work by the bohemian illustrator, painter and graphic artist Kupka?
Coincidentally, a new film about Diana Vreeland has just come out called The Eye Must Travel and Autour d’un Point means ‘around the point’. They both are about your eye travelling around, but the painting made me think of the core. When you look at something, your eye goes around it, and you look at the point of it, as in ‘what is the point’? So I found myself inspired by how the painting drew me to a centre point through moving my line of vision around, and what I felt came from the centre of a human being, the heart. How you feel affects how you see things, and if you are open to everything and your heart is open you are able to see the ‘real thing’ in others, the core. To me, when I start a collection it’s really based on how I feel, which I try to translate into clothes, into sound and the senses. And this is why I was inspired by the painting, which I spent the entire afternoon gazing at, thinking about what it was saying to me, enveloping myself in the painting so much so that I can just close my eyes and picture it perfectly.

You’ve obviously got a very strong emotional connection to your work, which I love. Maybe it’s part of why people respond to your clothes so well?
I’m a sensitive and emotional person! When I’m dressing people, I never like to force something on them; I know that for a woman to look incredible she has to feel comfortable inside. There’s nothing worse than going out and not feeling yourself, which I’ve experienced. Trying to be something other than what you are will never work.

Jasper Garvida S/S 2012 illustration by Gareth Hopkins

How was Project Catwalk as an experience?
For me it was really emotional, and I never expected to win it. All the people involved were incredibly talented, and I’m still in touch with all of them. The show helped me reveal myself as a person, as I’m a naturally very shy. I wanted to do Project Catwalk to show my family what I’m all about, as they’d never been to any shows or really seen me as the now grown-up designer. I also hadn’t come out to my family yet to tell them I was gay, so I really wanted them to understand my industry, my world and me. It was difficult as I hadn’t seen my parents for two years, and I had to tell them right there and then backstage at the final catwalk show about my life and my partner. Naturally, I was afraid as I didn’t want to disappoint them or upset them, and I wanted them to accept me. I felt that if I could do something for them to feel proud and happy about the person that I am, that maybe they could accept me. So I did they show, and I couldn’t have been happier, as it opened up my parents’ point of view towards homosexuality and me as an adult with a business of my own. Now, we are closer than ever. So having said that, doing Project Catwalk was one of the best things I’ve ever done, and being myself gave me the confidence to do what I do now.

I love how all of your collections highlight and explore the contrast between the delicate and the strong through your use of silhouettes and fabrics along with hand-embellished details, which it sounds like we are going to see even more of in your S/S ’12 show. Why do you think this is a recurring theme in your work and how you like to dress women?
As I’ve said, never like to push a look onto women, I see myself as a servant to women and their clothing needs! I love creating my embellishments by hand, accentuating parts of a woman’s body like the neck one season or the shoulder another season. Little features and touches go a long way and celebrating the female figure doesn’t have to be something that’s obvious or in-your-face.

Diana Vreeland and her striking sense of style with a passion for the exotic is one of the main inspirations for your collection this season, so I’ve got some Diana-inspired questions (with her memorable answers) for you:
What character in history would you most like to be? (Diana once said she would have liked to be Queen Elizabeth the 1st in all her finery and various intricate hairstyles, which sparked a giggle between Jasper and me about the random dramatic tangents she goes on).

I would have to say Jesus Christ. I try to live my life in goodness; I try to treat people the way I like to be treated. I’m also quite devoted to what I do, I’d do anything for it, which is how passionate I am. I try to be as good as I can and give as much as I am able to.

Jasper Garvida S/S 2012 illustration by Sam Parr

Which era in fashion history have you found most exciting and why? One that Diana loved was the 1920’s, as she has just started to live in Europe, and she felt it defined history with startling backless and knee-length dresses, as well as the artists, music and ‘newness’ surrounding it all.
I’m going to say the same as Diana (he’s a true Vreeland fan) and pick the 20s, as it was a time was fashion ‘became fashion’ and before then only the rich could afford it, and the 20s changed all of that, allowing everyone to enjoy fashion. Without that, I don’t think I would be able to do what I do today. So much was happening, as women were cutting their hair short, throwing out the corset and wearing trousers. It allowed women to use their looks to really make a statement, which is what fashion is to me. It’s quite symbolic, women being rebels and using fashion as power.

Diana was extremely positive about Royalty: I love royalty. They’re always so clean… and the way they dressed. What comes to mind when you think about the new wave of attention Kate Middleton and her sense of style has attracted? (Particularly as you create bridal dresses alongside your main collections).
The wave of New Royalty today, particularly Kate Middleton with her new role, does get a lot of attention. I think that the way she portrays herself is a great example to young people. I love her sensibility; she doesn’t necessarily have to wear designer clothes, and she personifies it all being about how you present yourself. It’s important as a public figure to keep in mind that you’ve got a responsibility towards other people whether you like it or not. You’re in the public eye and in Kate’s case she’s won their admiration. Having the privilege of being Royalty can’t be taken lightly, and with that comes responsibility. In that position especially, you’ve got to think of others and not just yourself.

Diana was extremely well known for her Harper’s Bazaar Why Don’t You… column with suggestions like Why Don’t You… Wear violet velvet mittens with everything? Have an elk-hide trunk for the back of your car? Hermès of Paris will make this. Have your cigarettes stamped with a personal insignia?. What Why Don’t You… suggestions would you come up with?
Why don’t you… eat ice cream in the rain?
Why don’t you… wear a coloured wedding dress instead of white?

Jasper Garvida S/S '12 illustration by Amber CassidyJasper Garvida S/S ’12 illustration by Amber Cassidy

While showing at London Fashion Week is an intensely exciting experience for designers, it requires a cool head and inner calm to make sure everything runs smoothly. How do you prepare for the day of the show to help you stay on top of it all?
I like to be as organised as possible. I give myself a deadline of the week before the show, which is when I like to have everything finished. Any stress or worrying can be done before that deadline, as I need to be calm and focused for my team. The day before the show, I like to get up at 6am and sit somewhere in silence or with calming music. I then play the entire day of the show in my head, visualising the prep backstage, the sound of the music, and the entire catwalk show from the first girl out to the finale when they all walk out together. This way, when it comes to the day of the show I’ve seen it all before already, so I’m calm, collected, and positive.

Your collections are getting stronger with more admirers each year, what can we expect from Jasper Garvida in the future?
In the future, I’d like to be able to get more time to focus even further on the collections, always refining and developing the quality and look of each season. I want to keep working towards providing that ‘surprise element’ in my work, always exploring new things and never being categorised.

Jasper will be showing his Spring/Summer 2012 collection on Monday the 19th of September 2011 at the Bloomsury Hotel during London Fashion Week.

Categories ,Alia Gargum, ,Aliyah Hussain, ,Amber Cassidy, ,Autour d’un Point, ,Diana Vreeland, ,Frantisek Kupka, ,Gareth Hopkins, ,Harper’s Bazaar, ,jasper garvida, ,Kate Middleton, ,Lady Gaga, ,London Fashion Week, ,preview, ,Project Catwalk, ,Queen Elizabeth I, ,Sam Parr, ,Spring/Summer 2012, ,The Bloomsbury Hotel, ,The Eye Must Travel, ,Womenswear

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Amelia’s Magazine | Central Saint Martins: Ba Fashion Graduate Show 2011 review, the winners

Flaminia Saccucci by Laura Warecki
Flaminia Saccucci by Laura Warecki.

Central Saint Martins showed for the last time at York Hall on Tuesday 31st May. I sat next to someone from L’Oreal – the principle course sponsors who fund the yearly awards show. There’s no wonder that Central Saint Martins fashion students are able to put on a professional standard graduate show, case what with the huge amount of monetary help that the course attracts. But there’s a reason why Central Saint Martins attracts the cash – the standard of design on show for 2011 was unremittingly high and in the next few blog posts I’ll pick out my favourites from an extremely talented bunch. First up, malady though – the winners.

Momo Wang by Karolina Burdon
Momo Wang by Karolina Burdon.

Momo Wang was the very deserving joint second runner up in an awards ceremony presented by Hilary Alexander and delivered by Meadham Kirchhoff and Sarah Burton. Or as Hilary put it: “You know Sarah; wedding dress, Pippa Middleton’s bum, need I say more?

Central Saint Martins Ba Show 2011-Momo Wang. Photography by Amelia GregoryCentral Saint Martins Ba Show 2011-Momo Wang. Photography by Amelia GregoryCentral Saint Martins Ba Show 2011-Momo Wang. Photography by Amelia GregoryCentral Saint Martins Ba Show 2011-Momo Wang. Photography by Amelia GregoryCentral Saint Martins Ba Show 2011-Momo Wang. Photography by Amelia GregoryCentral Saint Martins Ba Show 2011-Momo Wang. Photography by Amelia GregoryCentral Saint Martins Ba Show 2011-Momo Wang. Photography by Amelia GregoryCentral Saint Martins Ba Show 2011-Momo Wang. Photography by Amelia GregoryCentral Saint Martins Ba Show 2011-Momo Wang. Photography by Amelia GregoryCentral Saint Martins Ba Show 2011-Momo Wang. Photography by Amelia GregoryCentral Saint Martins Ba Show 2011-Momo Wang. Photography by Amelia Gregory
Momo Wang. All photography by Amelia Gregory

Her playful print presentation featured smiling girls with pigtails and balloons, bubble machines, dragon headgear and a mish mash of tribal influences thrown together in a unique and inspiring way. Super talented and with a refreshing take on the typical catwalk show.

Ivan Curia Nunes by Gareth A Hopkins
Ivan Curia Nunes by Gareth A Hopkins.

Central Saint Martins Ba Show 2011-Ivan Curia Nunes. Photography by Amelia GregoryCentral Saint Martins Ba Show 2011-Ivan Curia Nunes. Photography by Amelia GregoryCentral Saint Martins Ba Show 2011-Ivan Curia Nunes. Photography by Amelia GregoryCentral Saint Martins Ba Show 2011-Ivan Curia Nunes. Photography by Amelia GregoryCentral Saint Martins Ba Show 2011-Ivan Curia Nunes. Photography by Amelia Gregory
Ivan Curia Nunes.

Ivan Curia Nunes also came joint second, with his stylish sandy menswear, definitely one of the most instantly wearable collections on the catwalk.

Central Saint Martins Ba Show 2011-Nicholas Aburn. Photography by Amelia GregoryCentral Saint Martins Ba Show 2011-Nicholas Aburn. Photography by Amelia GregoryCentral Saint Martins Ba Show 2011-Nicholas Aburn. Photography by Amelia GregoryNicholas-Aburn-by-Victoria-Haynes
Nicholas Aburn by Victoria Haynes.

I hadn’t been so impressed with the cutting in Nicholas Aburn‘s collection, but maybe the first runner up was just unlucky enough to have been lumbered with the most gargantuan models in the show.

Central Saint Martins Ba Show 2011-Nicholas Aburn. Photography by Amelia GregoryCentral Saint Martins Ba Show 2011-Nicholas Aburn. Photography by Amelia Gregory
Nicholas Aburn.

He completely won me over by the time he had walked to the end of the catwalk, smiling like a little imp as the models towered over him in their 80s influenced tailored striping and printed outfits, topped off with some eye-catching wide rimmed hats.

Central Saint Martins Ba Show 2011-Flaminia Saccucci. Photography by Amelia GregoryFlaminia-Saccucci-by-Rebecca-Elves
Flaminia Saccucci by Rebecca Elves.

First prize went to Flaminia Saccucci, who showed an extremely confident and unusual latex printed floral collection in shades of pink, green and yellow featuring tyre printed legs that continued racing over waistlines and across bosoms.

Central Saint Martins Ba Show 2011-Flaminia Saccucci. Photography by Amelia GregoryCentral Saint Martins Ba Show 2011-Flaminia Saccucci. Photography by Amelia GregoryCentral Saint Martins Ba Show 2011-Flaminia Saccucci. Photography by Amelia GregoryCentral Saint Martins Ba Show 2011-Flaminia Saccucci. Photography by Amelia GregoryCentral Saint Martins Ba Show 2011-Flaminia Saccucci. Photography by Amelia GregoryCentral Saint Martins Ba Show 2011-Flaminia Saccucci. Photography by Amelia Gregory
Flaminia Saccucci.

Sadly none of these students appears to have a website. Since this is a gripe that I fear I may have to repeat far too often over the next few weeks I’ll say it just this once during my reports from the Central Saint Martins show. Pffffff.

My next blog will be online soon because there was plenty more to get excited about from 40 graduating students.

Categories ,80s, ,Awards, ,Central Saint Martins, ,CSM, ,Flaminia Saccucci, ,florals, ,Gareth A Hopkins, ,Gareth Hopkins, ,Graduate Shows, ,Hilary Alexander, ,Ivan Curia Nunes, ,Karolina Burdon, ,L’Oreal, ,Laura Warecki, ,Meadham Kirchhoff, ,Meadham Kirchoff, ,menswear, ,Momo Wang, ,Pippa Middleton, ,print, ,Rebecca Elves, ,Sarah Burton, ,Tribal, ,Victoria Haynes, ,York Hall

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Amelia’s Magazine | Central Saint Martins: Ba Fashion Graduate Show 2011 review. Womenswear tailoring.

Tracey Wong  CSM by Laura Frame
Tracey Wong by Laura Frame.

Womenswear tailoring at Central Saint Martins centred around a classical monochrome base exemplified by James Nolan, malady who opened the whole show with a high collared nanny wielding a giant old fashioned pram. Models with pin rolled hair were lent a strict air with shiny tight leather gloves.

Central Saint Martins Ba Show 2011-James Nolan photography by Amelia GregoryCentral Saint Martins Ba Show 2011-James Nolan photography by Amelia Gregory
James Nolan. All photography by Amelia Gregory

Mathilde le Gagneur showed a floaty commercial collection of tie-waisted garments to traditional church music. I liked the twirly number at the end.

Central Saint Martins Ba Show 2011-Mathilde le Gagneur photography by Amelia GregoryCentral Saint Martins Ba Show 2011-Mathilde le Gagneur photography by Amelia GregoryCentral Saint Martins Ba Show 2011-Mathilde le Gagneur photography by Amelia GregoryCentral Saint Martins Ba Show 2011-Mathilde le Gagneur photography by Amelia Gregory
Mathilde le Gagneur.

Li Wai Yin was all about the block coloured tailoring. Pointy hats and overlong sleeves emphasised the strong minimalist shapes.

Central Saint Martins Ba Show 2011-Li Wai Yin photography by Amelia Gregory
Li Wai Yin.

Khrystyna Fomenko presented a strong and highly wearable collection based on golden and pastel shades with wide palazzo trousers and multi height hem lines. We did an interview with Khrystyna Fomenko back in 2009 – why not take a gander and see just how much her style has changed since then!

Central Saint Martins Ba Show 2011-Khrystyna Fomenko photography by Amelia GregoryCentral Saint Martins Ba Show 2011-Khrystyna Fomenko photography by Amelia GregoryCentral Saint Martins Ba Show 2011-Khrystyna Fomenko photography by Amelia GregoryCentral Saint Martins Ba Show 2011-Khrystyna Fomenko photography by Amelia GregoryCentral Saint Martins Ba Show 2011-Khrystyna Fomenko photography by Amelia GregoryCentral Saint Martins Ba Show 2011-Khrystyna Fomenko photography by Amelia Gregory
Khrystyna Fomenko.

Hannah Barr showed flouncy pleated and backless numbers in lacy blues and coppery knits.

Central Saint Martins Ba Show 2011-Hannah Barr photography by Amelia GregoryCentral Saint Martins Ba Show 2011-Hannah Barr photography by Amelia GregoryCentral Saint Martins Ba Show 2011-Hannah Barr photography by Amelia Gregory
Hannah Barr.

Tracey Wong incorporated jutting beaded ornamental panels onto pastel and black dresses of intriguing proportions.

Tracey Wong by Laura Frame
Tracey Wong by Laura Frame.

Central Saint Martins Ba Show 2011-Tracey Wong photography by Amelia GregoryCentral Saint Martins Ba Show 2011-Tracey Wong photography by Amelia GregoryCentral Saint Martins Ba Show 2011-Tracey Wong photography by Amelia GregoryCentral Saint Martins Ba Show 2011-Tracey Wong photography by Amelia GregoryCentral Saint Martins Ba Show 2011-Tracey Wong photography by Amelia Gregory
Tracey Wong.

Christopher Tai’s collection was a bizarre ensemble of loose fitting pieces and unflattering wired accessories that curled up the arm.

Central Saint Martins Ba Show 2011-Christopher Tai photography by Amelia GregoryCentral Saint Martins Ba Show 2011-Christopher Tai photography by Amelia Gregory
Christopher Tai.

Satoshi Kuwata did ruched and draped pastels with interesting hem lines and button detailing. A very strong collection.

Satoshi Kuwata by Casey Otremba
Satoshi Kuwata by Casey Otremba.

Central Saint Martins Ba Show 2011-Satoshi Kuwata photography by Amelia GregoryCentral Saint Martins Ba Show 2011-Satoshi Kuwata photography by Amelia Gregory
Satoshi Kuwata. All photography by Amelia Gregory

Categories ,Casey Otremba, ,Central Saint Martins, ,Christopher Tai, ,Graduate Fashion Week, ,Hannah Barr, ,James Nolan, ,Khrystyna Fomenko, ,Laura Frame, ,Li Wai Yin, ,Mathilde le Gagneur, ,Satoshi Kuwata, ,tailoring, ,Tracey Wong, ,Womenswear, ,York Hall

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