Amelia’s Magazine | Pre- London Fashion Week S/S 2011 On Schedule Womenswear, Part One: New Designers

London Fashion Week Illustration by teabelle

This September London Fashion Week enters the courtyard of Somerset House for its third season. Over the next week Amelia’s Magazine will be previewing both the on and off schedules, viagra 40mg naming the designers to firmly keep your eyes on.

For our first preview we have selected designers who have been showing solo for less than six seasons and have already caused quite a stir within the fashion industry.

Hannah Marshall

You may already be aware of Hannah Marshall’s darkly bold shapes without being aware that you are watching a Hannah Marshall in Florence and the Machine’s music video: The Drumming Song. As an introduction it does not prepare you for the exquisite inkiness of Marshall’s colour palate or embrace of the female figure her clothes propose.

Hannah Marshall by Naomi Law

Watching her S/S 2010 show in an old post office building in Holborn, look was breathtaking. As the models stalked through the space, viagra approved the inky blue effervesced in the dim lighting. Marshall’s A/W 2010 named ‘An Army of Me’ was a continuation of stark cuts along the shoulders, waists enhanced or lost by the cut of jacket alongside bodycon dresses produced in luscious velvet.

Mary Katrantzou

Mary Katrantzou has been experimenting with the boundary pushing possibilities of digital print since her A/W show 2009. The occasional harshness of the prints are softened through Katrantzou’s application of the technique to silk.

The collections are a celebration of the decorative and her clothes are littered with references to the excess of the Baroque or the Rocco periods of art and architectural history.

Mary Katrantzou by Meeralee

However it would be a mistake to confuse these prints as a gimmick, Katrantzou’s interest spreads to the cut of the dress, producing a series of structural tailoring which serve embellish the texture of her designs from short frocks to elegant gowns. Amelia’s Magazine welcomes the break from the increasing dominance of minimalism.

Michael van der Ham

Michael Van Der Ham’s described his a/w 2010 collection of dresses as 3D collages, through which multiple fashion references were stated by an insatiable contrast of colours, fabrics and textures. During graduate season earlier this year his design influence could be felt across the catwalks. What will s/s 2011 bring for van der Haam?

Michael van der Ham by Lulu Biazus

Louise Gray

Central Saint Martins MA Graduate, Louise Gray was a recipient of Lulu Kennedy’s and Fashion East’s ever on the button talent for spotting innovative designers. Gray showed with Fashion East for three seasons, before staging solo presentations with the support of NewGen.

A Louise Gray exhibition begins life at London Fashion Week almost completely bare, before exploding in riotious colour as the exquisite detritus from her presentations fill the space. The clothes, a combination of traditional stitch and embroidery create intriguing collections.

Louise Gray by Jessica Stokes

Amelia’s Magazine’s are delighted by Gray’s decision to stage the collection on a catwalk at On|Off for S/S 2011.

David Koma and Holly Fulton

For S/S 2011 Holly Fulton and David Koma. will share a catwalk, Amelia’s Magazine have been watching Koma since his debut as Fashion Scout’s merit winner a year ago this September and cannot wait to see what the designer holds in store.

David Koma by Stuart Whitton

Holly Fulton first blasted onto the scene as part of Fashion East for two seasons, before launching her successful solo a/w 10 collection at London Fashion Week in February 2010. Fulton’s monochromatic colour palate was interspersed with a healthy dose of pop art.

Holly Fulton by Francesca Bourne

The clothes structure referenced the Fulton’s interest in off duty/on duty French daywear crossed with the elegance of Dr Zavargo. Amelia’s Magazine found ourselves bewitched by the bold graphic prints bordering on the illustrative that adorned the collection.

Fashion East

For ten incredible years Fashion East have been at the forefront of spotting and supporting graduates who develop into ‘the’ sought-after designers of our generation.

Heikki by Gemma Randall

This year’s crop are as delectable as ever as Lulu Kennedy introduces Saint Martins MA graduate Simone Rocha and fellow Royal College Graduates Felicity Brown and Heikki Salone.

The excitement of a Fashion East catwalk lies in their ability to reinvent what it is to be feminine and this season is no exception.

For a/w 2010 Heikki Salone presented the tomboy, dressed in black cobwebbed knitwear, that you would wear until it crumbles finished with DM boots. A look -potentially- for fans of Janey from MTV’s hit TV series Daria.

Felicity Brown and Simone Rocha by Gareth A Hopkins

Felicity Brown’s delectable designs are a lesson in vibrant romanticism, a feat not surprising considering her training at Alberta Ferretti, Loewe, Lanvin and Mulberry.

In contrast Simone Rocha’s monochrome MA collection displayed structured modern cuts interspersed with a playful nod towards femininity by her inclusion of netted fuchsia headpieces.

Amelia’s Magazine wait with baited breath to see all of the aforementioned designers collections for s/s 2011.

Categories ,BFC, ,David Koma, ,Fashion East, ,Felicity Brown, ,Francesca Bourne, ,Gareth A Hopkins, ,Gemma Randall, ,Hannah Marshall, ,Heikki Salone, ,Holly Fulton, ,Jessica Stokes, ,lfw, ,London Fashion Week, ,Louise Gray, ,Lulu Biazus, ,Lulu Kennedy, ,Mary Katrantzou, ,Meeralee, ,Michael van der Ham, ,Naomi Law, ,On Schedule, ,Simone Rocha, ,Stuart Whitton, ,Teabell, ,teabelle

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Amelia’s Magazine | London Fashion Week S/S 2012 Catwalk Review: John Rocha

John Rocha SS 2012 by Sarah Harman
John Rocha S/S 2012 by Sarah Harman

Harold Tillman, information pills Hilary Alexander and James Goldstein were just a few of the fashion bigwigs to take their prime seating positions in anticipation of the latest John Rocha collection. This was much the same scenario when I attended Rocha’s show last season and the high-flying professionals seem to have become a favoured crowd for Rocha’s front row. And it’s not surprising when, information pills needless to say, cure the designer is a long-standing, treasured feature of London Fashion Week who is widely celebrated and, most of all, respected.

John Rocha by Duilio Marconi 1

John Rocha SS 2012 by Duilio Marconi 2

Model Abbey Lee Kershaw opened the show and took to the runway in the opening outfit. Sporting an all-black voluminous textured dress, her entrance had photographers’ flashes illuminating the BFC tent. Kershaw, who was finally dubbed a supermodel this year by V magazine, had also been presented as a key feature in Rocha’s A/W 2011 show back in February, suggesting that Rocha has seemingly taken quite a shine to the 24 year-old Australian.

John Rocha SS 2012 LFW by Nicola Ellen 2
John Rocha S/S 2012 by Nicola Ellen

John Rocha SS 2012 by Duilio Marconi

John Rocha SS 2012 by Duilio Marconi

Also just like last season, (Rocha loves his traditions!) the models were styled with wind-swept nymph hair and long braided plaits. Make-up was minimal, pure and simple with pale fresh-faced skin and nude colouring; an overall effortless ethereal look to compliment John Rocha’s signature design ethic.

John Rocha SS 2012 by Duilio Marconi

John Rocha SS 2012 by Duilio Marconi

John Rocha SS 2012 by Duilio Marconi

John Rocha SS 2012 by Duilio Marconi

Much to their delight, I’m sure, John Rocha was one designer that gave models’ skinny-pins a short break from killer heels. In their place were black platformed flat sandals, adding an updated feminine grunge look (minus all the pain!).

John Rocha SS 2012 by Duilio Marconi

John Rocha SS 2012 by Duilio Marconi

John Rocha SS 2012 by Duilio Marconi

John Rocha SS 2012 by Duilio Marconi

John Rocha SS 2012 by Duilio Marconi

John Rocha SS 2012 by Duilio Marconi

John Rocha SS 2012 by Duilio Marconi

John Rocha SS 2012 by Duilio Marconi

John Rocha SS 2012 by Duilio Marconi

John Rocha SS 2012 by Duilio Marconi

 Rocha SS 2012 LFW by Nicola Ellen 1
John Rocha S/S 2012 by Nicola Ellen

To name a few of the many more intricacies that went into Rocha’s elaborately crafted collection, ribbons were attached to hair and hung long next to plaits and all models sported either wire or feather headdresses. The problem with this idea was that because Abbey had opened the show in a wired headdress with black feathers, I was almost convinced that a major fashion disaster had occurred. Models were appearing with bare wire headdresses; no feathers. They looked absolutely bizarre so I naturally assumed that their feathers must have fallen off. What a nightmare, I thought. This wasn’t the case at all. It was purposeful. Just John Rocha keeping us on our toes, I suppose.

John Rocha SS 2012 by Duilio Marconi

John Rocha SS 2012 by Duilio Marconi

John Rocha SS 2012 by Duilio Marconi

John Rocha SS 2012 by Duilio Marconi

John Rocha SS 2012 by Duilio Marconi

John Rocha SS 2012 by Duilio Marconi

Just as was the case with his A/W11 collection, the colour palette was ultra-minimal with neutral tones dominating throughout. In fact, there were only three colours on the agenda; all rich-black ensembles led to cream creations which then led to head-to-toe stark white. With only black, cream and white, the focus shifted away from colour to texture instead. Texture was intricately and ornately crafted with Abbey’s opening black raffia dress, raw raffia that made up other ensembles, loops of black rubber and Lurex threads intertwined in the cream and white garments.

John Rocha SS 2012 by Duilio Marconi

John Rocha SS 2012 by Duilio Marconi

John Rocha SS 2012 by Duilio Marconi

John Rocha SS 2012 by Duilio Marconi

John Rocha Catwalk LFW by Nicola Ellen jpg
John Rocha S/S 2012 by Nicola Ellen

John Rocha SS 2012 by Duilio Marconi

John Rocha SS 2012 by Duilio Marconi

John Rocha SS 2012 by Duilio Marconi

John Rocha SS 2012 by Duilio Marconi

Towering tall over John Rocha, Abbey Lee Kershaw once again led the Hong Kong born designer down the catwalk for another of his gracious finales. And, as has become tradition, he placed a kiss on Abbey‘s cheek at the feet of the snapping papz, and then John Rocha was off, thanking and bowing to the audience as he went.

John Rocha SS 2012 by Duilio Marconi
All photography by Duilio Marconi

Categories ,Abbey Lee Kershaw, ,Amelia’s Magazine, ,BFC Catwalk Space, ,BFC Showspace, ,BFC Tent, ,black, ,british fashion council, ,Cream, ,Debenhams Rocha, ,Duilio Marconi, ,Georgia Takacs, ,Harold Tillman, ,Headdresses, ,Hilary Alexander, ,Hong Kong, ,James Goldstein, ,John Rocha, ,lfw, ,LFW S/S 2012, ,LFW S/S12, ,London Fashion Week, ,London Fashion Week S/S 2012, ,London Fashion Week S/S12, ,Lurex, ,Myth, ,Mythologies, ,Myths, ,Nicola Ellen, ,Nymphs, ,Raffia, ,Rubber, ,S/S 2012, ,Sarah Harman, ,Simone Rocha, ,Somerset House, ,Texture, ,Warriors, ,White

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Amelia’s Magazine | Port Eliot Festival 2014 Review: Books, Food, Comedy, Craft & Fashion

Port Eliot Festival by Maia Fjord
Port Eliot Festival by Maia Fjord.

I’ve been meaning to take in Port Eliot festival for several years but it has always been just that little bit too far away. This summer we were able to attend, thanks to a holiday in Cornwall with family.

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Once more we were blessed with a weekend of near perfect sunshine, ideal for wild and muddy swimming in the adjacent river, and the grassy banks were packed when we arrived on Friday afternoon. It’s a relatively small festival, which meant that we could pop up our tent quite close to the action. Beyond the main tented areas we traversed overgrown rhododendron paths, frolicked in a full sized maze and emerged with a spectacular view of the impressive aqueduct beneath which a couple of stand up paddle boarders were dwarfed.

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Port Eliot is not your average festival; here the usual music takes a back seat to other offerings: literary, foodie, comedic, crafty and fashionable. Thanks to some well placed connections it has built a bit of a reputation as the fashionistas’ festival, and despite the distance from London the big names return year after year. It was telling that (in comparison to my adventures at Green Earth Awakening) all the people I ran into on the site were friends I know from working in fashion.

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I liked the mix of activities, but it took awhile to get used to the workings of this festival, where queueing is a prerequisite for popular talks and workshops (I am very bad at queues, and never more so now that I have a toddler in tow). My partner tried to hear Martin Parr speak on several occasions (about his new film, which was also showing) before we finally tracked him down on the Sunday at the Dovegrey Reader tent, where the audience could sit out on the grass (and knitting is de rigeur). Lucky then that Martin Parr was speaking so many times! And obviously taking the opportunity to snap away at this most middle class of festivals. The favourite thing I took from his talk was his admission that he takes huge amount of photos, because most of them are crap. I have always believed it’s all in the edit so it was good to hear that Martin thinks so too.

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Port Eliot Festival 2014 Review-0017
I didn’t have so much luck joining an Anthropologie workshop, having arrived at the allocated time to book a class, only to find they were already full. Instead I learnt how to crochet (at last!) with Ros Badger at The Badger Sett.

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Port Eliot Festival 2014 Review-0010
Plenty of authors were on hand to talk about and then sign books but I only caught small parts of many talks due to toddler demands. Viv Albertine talked very engagingly about her new book Clothes Clothes Clothes Music Music Music Boys Boys Boys which I am desperate to read (Luella Bartley spotted in the audience), and I enjoyed listening to Richard Benson talk about rural life and his new book The Valley, but not so much Gruff Rhys on his US adventures (he didn’t engage). Susie Bubble was front row for a chat with fashion designer Simone Rocha and I bought a signed copy of Babette Cole’s new children’s book, inspired by her lodger, pictured above in dreadlocks and bunny ears.

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Port Eliot Festival 2014 Review-0007
In the beautiful Walled Garden the fashion set held arty sewing workshops and a catwalk show for tweenies. I admired a clever bunting made from colourful hair weaves and the dexterity of The Flower Appreciation Society, ensuring that many ladies at the festival sported beautiful real floral headdresses.

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Port Eliot Festival 2014 Review-0012
Every time we tried to get to the kids’ Hullabaloo area I got lost in the winding labyrinth of paths. Once there we discovered plentiful crafty workshops, theatre productions, a bouncy castle, puppet shows and comedy. Speaking of which, I managed to contain Snarfle for long enough to hear most of Robin Ince’s genius set.

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The main house was home to displays of crocheted tea cosies, cakes, flower arrangements and scarecrows. We didn’t visit the foodie tent but admired the stage set up from afar. Instead we frequented the Hix pop up in the Orangery, with food supplied by Fortnum & Mason. It was a pricey meal but we enjoyed the incongruous silver service. Elsewhere we dined on Cornish seafood, wood fired pizza and local ice cream. Food was a definite highlight!

Port Eliot Festival 2014 Review-the odd folk
Port Eliot Festival 2014 Review-love nor moneyy
Port Eliot Snarfle and Sheepie
In the early evenings Snarfle and I headed to the smallest music tent, where he jumped around to the ramshackle and rather brilliant The Odd Folk one night and electro powered drum n bass anthems from sister act Love Nor Money on the next. He is now obsessed with ‘rock guitar’ as well as banjo. Thank goodness his Sheepie doubles as a guitar/banjo/ukelele stand in.

Categories ,2014, ,Anthropologie, ,Babette Cole, ,books, ,Clothes Clothes Clothes Music Music Music Boys Boys Boys, ,comedy, ,Cornwall, ,craft, ,crochet, ,Dovegrey Reader, ,fashion, ,festival, ,Food, ,Fortnum & Mason, ,Green Earth Awakening, ,Gruff Rhys, ,Hix, ,Hullabaloo, ,knitting, ,Love Nor Money, ,Luella Bartley, ,Maia Fjord, ,Martin Parr, ,Orangery, ,Port Eliot, ,review, ,Richard Benson, ,Robin Ince, ,Ros Badger, ,Sheepie, ,Simone Rocha, ,Snarfle, ,Susie Bubble, ,The Badger Set, ,The Flower Appreciation Society, ,The Odd Folk, ,The Valley, ,viv albertine, ,Walled Garden

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