VAUXHALL FASHION SCOUT- ARE THEY REALLY ONES TO WATCH?

Posted by Fashion Junior at Large

London is indisputably the home of young design talent- this is a city which, through its amazing educational institutions (Central St Martins, London College of Fashion, Royal College of Art etc.) and funding initiatives, nurtures young talent which then goes global- if Giles does end up going to Vuitton as some think may be the case now that he has ended his work with Ungaro (and if Marc goes to Dior- so many ifs!) then he will be the latest in a long line of British designers to be at the helm of major fashion houses.

The Vauxhall Fashion Scout is one of the ways that young designers are being supported. Yesterday I went along to their graduate showcase at Freemason's hall  to see whether these really could be future design stars.I have two favourites who I'll tell you about first. These are not from the main Ones to Watch show which showcased Alice Lee, Phoebe English, Shao Yen and Malene Oddershade Bach.

Manuela Dack

Manuela Dack, a graduate of Middlesex, had some beautiful sheer fabrics with beaded fringing panels. Her colour palette was a very fresh mix of mint green, cream and grey with some orange pops in the beaded bits- the sum of this was extremely wearable, beautifully ladylike pieces so I am not surprised that The Shop at Bluebird, the cool yummy-mummy department store destination on King's Road, has snapped her up. Just as important as the clothes is the personality behind them and when I met Maunela she was charming, switched-on and passionate about her collection. It is useful too for Manuela that her clothes fit the prevailing fashion mood which is chic and feminine and not too OTT.

Manuela Dack

Images from manueladack.com

My other top pick was Masc, the label from Duncan Shaw and Belinda Yick. The duo graduated from Nottingham Trent in 2007. Since then, Duncan has completed the Institut Francais de la Mode's Masters in Fashion Design programme in Paris. They began Masc in 2011 so have some perspective on the realities of the design world compared to those fresh from their courses which seems to me no bad thing at all.

Masc

Belinda was  a wonderful model for their collection which was inspired first of all by the wings of an aeroplane- I think one of my favourite things about fashion is learning where an idea orginates for a designer and how they progress. That industrial shape was in evidence throughout Masc's collection, whether it was a group of wing shapes combined to form a striking, angular skirt shape or a single pleat at the back of a skirt. Just as with Manuela, these guys are switched on and likeable, certainly not on an arty cloud nine. The colours were minimal to say the least, with just black and flesh on offer for the current collection so the focus really is completely upon the structure and silhouette. Their shapes are angular but still uber flattering and right for all kinds of women. I hope some canny buyers snap them up soon.

Images from Masc

Other highlights:

Stephanie Grace Foy

Stephanie Grace Foy SS12 (Styled by Lauren Eva, Model Linnea Landan, Photographer Miss Aniela, asst, Matt Lenard, MUA Rachel O'Donnell)

Yasmin Kianfar

Yasmin Kianfar

 I suppose it's the nature of young designers but it seems to me that there's not THAT much to any of these collections. There are maybe three or four beautiful pieces. So then it's all about the potential which is shown in those few examples. That's quite a lot of pressure. 

Great prints also from Anna Lee, who was inspired by Ophelia and the ocean.

Anna Lee

And from the Ones to Watch show:

Phoebe English-

Phoebe English

This coat from Shao Yen is my top overall piece from the whole exhibition. Beautiful. 

Shao Yen- Fun, playing with textures, versatile but still very elegant.

THE WEEK IN FASHION 1/8-5/8

Posted by Fashion Junior at Large.

Back from our summer sojourn, here is a round-up of the week's fashion news. Enjoy!

Karl Lagerfeld has been spotted in St. Tropez sans sunnies, we kid you not! The man behind the mask is revealed.

Model Laura Bailey is the BFC's new cultural ambassador. You can follow Laura's fabulous fashion life and her work as a BFC ambassador over at her Vogue blog.

Laura in Stella sunnies (image from her Vogue blog)

Just to rub further salt in the wound of English fashion- lovers who are unlikely to see the ridiculously successful McQueen 'Savage Beauty' exhibition, Daphne Guinness' vast collection is now to go on show in New York. If you are lucky enough to be in NY then the Met will open until midnight this Saturday and Sunday to allow as many people as possible to see the McQueen exhibition before it closes. So there's really no excuse to miss out! The Met's exhibition REALLY needs to come to London.

The exhibition will feature pieces from Isabella Blow's archives which Daphne owns. Left to right- Amanda Harlech, Phillip Treacy, Daphne Guiness and Isabella Blow (Image courtesy of fuckyeahisabellablow tumblr)

Congratulations to Jaime Perlman who is jumping up from the position of Art Director of British Vogue taking over from former Creative Director, Robin Derrick. We also hear that Fran Burns is to take up a new Fashion Editor role at the title in September, amazing news! 

Jaime Perlman

Looking good Frannie!



Vanity Fair has released its annual Best Dressed list, and the criteria seems to be erring towards judging somewhat classic dressers. Unsurprisingly, most of the coverage has focused upon miss MOR herself Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge and her third place entry. But we would like to draw your attention to the extreme chic of the glamorous wife of the Emir of Qatar, Sheikha Mozah bint Nasser Al Missned. Sheikha Mozah's family own Harrods, which we are sure makes her very happy in terms of fulfilling her prodigious shopping habits. She is known to have the largest collection of Christian Louboutin shoes in the Middle East, and harbours a passion for pearls. Here is a woman who makes wearing a turban aspirational.

She looks almost normal here 

But not here, with Prince Charles. (Image from Zimbio.com)

With Carla Bruni, who topped the list. Image from GraziaDaily.co.uk

The FashEd recently blogged about her involvement with Vauxhall Fashion Scout.This week the initiative announced its new 'One to Watch' picks. They all look very similar to one another, don't you think?

The work of Phoebe English (from anothermag.com)

Jessie-J wearing Shao Yen (image from his site)

One of the looks from Malene Oddeshade Bach's Middlesex BA show (image courtesy of catwalking.com)

Knitwear from Alice Lee (Image courtesy of Vogue.co.uk)

 Strictly speaking, this is last week's news but we just wanted to re-share the excitement of learning that Grace Coddington is to write a book! Many may be expecting that her memoirs  will re-ignite the Grace vs. Anna debate which was sparked by The September Issue, which they both starred in. However, we're also fascinated to hear about Grace's long and illustrious career taking her from Welsh school girl to being a fashion industry superheroine. This should be a fashion history lesson as well as insight into the mind of a very creative and somewhat shy woman.

Grace on the cover of Vogue in August 1962 (Image from Styleite.com)

A more recent shot of a heavenly Grace (from businessoffashion.com)

Finally, we are adoring these shots of wonderwomen Beyonce Knowles and Jane Fonda posing for W magazine and Harper's Bazaar US respectively. They both model key pieces from the AW11 collections and boy, do they wear them well. There are no more words...

Beyonce in Dolce and Gabbana (Image from swide.tumblr.com)

How amazing does Jane Fonda look in Stella McCartney's AW11 dress? (Image from Dailymail.co.uk)

  

With thanks to:
Fashionologie.com.
fashion.telegraph.co.uk
vogue.co.uk
theindependent.co.uk,
nymag.com/daily/fashion
vanityfair.com

ITS THE VAUXHALL FASHION SCOUT MERIT ** STAR!

Posted by Fashion Editor at Large

One of the huge privileges of being the Fashion Editor at Large and working with Grazia is that, for the last four years, I've sat on the NEWGEN panel for London Fashion Week. NEWGEN is about recognising and nurturing fresh new talent, and giving it a platform through TopShop sponsorhsip. When I see how well former NEWGEN designers such as Chris Kane and Erdem are now doing, the rewards speak for themselves.

But NEWGEN is not the only fashion sponsorship program in town as I discovered when asked to sit on the selection panel for Vauxhall Fashion Scout. VFS is the junior version of NEWGEN. David Koma graduated from VFS to NEWGEN 18 months ago, and indeed got noticed when his VFS show was rammed and editors tried to squeeze in to his off-schedule event housed at their permanent show space at the Freeemasons Hall in Covent Garden. In short, Vauxhall Fashion Scout is a force for good.

The most coveted sponsorship prize from VFS is the Merit Award. The recipient gains a fully sponsored catwalk show and exhibition space at Vauxhall Fashion Scout during London and Paris Fashion Weeks, and three years business support. I have to say that when I first saw the upcoming September  SS12  Merit Award winners Leutton Postle, comprising knitwear production expert Samantha Leutton, and CSM  MA 2011 graduate Jenny Postle, I was somewhat lost for words with a sense of awe at the handmade brilliant madness of the work. At first it was as if Michael Van Der Ham had taken crystal meth, but then it sinks in that this is ALL KNITTED....

Jenny Postle's Central Saint Martin's MA graduate show

With knitwear having a resurgence much in the same way print has done over the last five years, Leutton Postle have possibilities for growth and development that we can't even imagine yet.

The girls mission statement: "[our work] freely embraces riotous colour, unusual surface texture and rich pattern to create beautifully offbeat knits for women. Each piece is handmade and aims to produce truly original couture-quality knitwear by pushing the boundaries of technique and design."

Kicking off their business with a sponsored catwalk show is most fortuitous; now its over to them to design and create summer knitwear (a challenge) that will keep the Browns Focus customer (they have an exclusive AW11 deal with the above collection with the store) and hopefully others clients and retailers happy.

I know all of us on the panel of VFS are very much looking fowarsd to the Leutton Postle show in September.

Photos: Catwalking.com

FASHION JUNIOR'S LFW ROUND-UP

Posted by Fashion Junior at Large

TRENDS TASTER:

 The conspicuous zip...

 

Burberry Prorsum

Bryce Aime

Anything sheeny, shiny and metallic...

 

Aquascutum

 

Matthew Williamson

The shearling jacket...

Julien Macdonald

Burberry Prorsum

FASHION WEEK FUEL:

Fashion week sponsors, Mercedes Benz, put these much appreciated hampers in the boot of their cars. I think everybody had one too many jelly babies. Thank god also for the coffee carts and the Topshop Hot Choc Stop in the courtyard at Somerset House.

FASHION EXTREMEISTS:

These two were causing quite the reaction all over town. Who are they? What do they do? I'm desperate to know!

COOLEST INVITATION:

Ashish's paper boat was my favourite.

MOST CONTROVERSIAL COLLECTION:

 

Fashion Editor at Large loved Meadham Kirchhoff's AW10 collection for its brave rawness. Others were not so keen.

BEAUTY TRENDS:

Firstly buns - every other person was rocking one. This was my effort.

Secondly red hair. At one show I counted 10 redheads in my immediate vicinity. Is Florence Welch to blame?

SECRETS OF THE FASHION WEEK VENUES:

Underneath all the gloss this week I saw flashes of London's history. Down in the under-belly of Somerset House - in the passages which host the Fashion East show - are graves. In the deeds of the building this area is referred to as 'The Dead House'. Creepy!

Vauxhall Fashion Scout moved to the Freemason's Hall this season, and the girls who write the VFS blog spotted this. On first impressions it's a painting of King Edward VII, but look at it in a different light and a second face appears.

LIFE SAVING PRODUCTS:

Fashion Editor at Large and I both use Lucas' Pawpaw Ointment, and it was a lifesaver in this week's icy weather. Forget 8 Hour Cream, this is the new cult product that should be in your handbag.

Pic Credits: Chris Moore / catwalking.com, thefashionscout.com

HERMIONE DE PAULA'S AW10 COLLECTION EMERGED FROM ICE

Posted by Fashion Junior at Large

I attended a lot of the off schedule shows this season (whilst Fashion Editor at Large hit all the big names and will be posting on them asap) which means I spent a fair amount of time in the Freemason's Hall covering the Vauxhall Fashion Scout designers. You might recall I was particularly excited about their Merit Award winner Hermione de Paula.

Vauxhall Motors (the prime sponsors) and Fashion Scout are both keen supporters of emerging British fashion talent and innovative design, and their partnership contributed a great deal to Hermione's first successful solo show:

 

  

  

 

This collection was a departure from last season's soft rose coloured hues. It was graphic and monochrome with shapes which served to exaggerate the female form. 

After all the applause had subsided I managed to get a word with Hermione backstage:

E: This was you first solo show – how did it feel?

H: Really nerve wracking. I was more worried about the attendance than the actual show. You know when you throw a party and you panic that nobody will turn up?

E: What about the run up? Did anything go wrong or was it all smooth sailing?

H: It actually went well. This was the first time I’ve been super organised with my time. Having said that there was an episode with the snow, and then everyone got sick so I think I did the whole collection in a month and a half.

E: What was the inspiration for this collection?

H: Ice. I started off making my prints from ice sculptures. I borrowed a freezer from my local corner shop and it filled up my front room. I stuck half mannequins in it and sculpted around the form. Then I photographed the end product and used that as a starting point. In previous seasons I’ve used fresh flowers for my prints, this time I put the flowers in water and froze them, and created the wor4k from the result. 

E: What were the locks and keys about?

H: It was kind of based around the idea of chastity belts. I used skeleton logo keys – everything has a lock and key because each piece is precious

E: What’s the next step?

H: I’m really excited to be with Vauxhall Fashion Scout. Who knows? David Koma and William Tempest have done really really well from this platform. We’ll have to see.

Hermione's SS10 collection is currently stocked at Browns Focus.

Photos: Catwalking.com

VAUXHALL FASHION SCOUT PROVE OFF SCHEDULE SHOWS ARE THE ONES TO WATCH

Posted by Fashion Junior at Large

Fashion Editor at Large recently voiced the theory that my generation – enthralled by reality TV shows like Project Catwalk and *ahem* The City – have come to see fashion as a form of entertainment unto itself. She assures me that when she was my age seats were hard to fill and the whole show-scene was a very business-like affair compared to the front row celebrities, bloggers, blaggers and show-crashers of recent seasons.

I think she’s right. Possibly because the champagne reception, the goody bags, and the paparazzi-esque street style photographers create a general air of privilege and exclusivity normally reserved for celebrities.

Of course there will be actual celebrities in attendance, and those celebrities understand how important it is to associate themselves with the right labels. Last year Beyonce and Cheryl Cole expressed a propensity for new designers when they both wore David Koma, thereby propelling him to top of the agenda in editor's meetings at the major fashion magazines. Off the back of the resulting buzz off schedule has become the new ‘on’ schedule, and Vauxhall Fashion Scout has had to move to the Freemasons Building to accommodate a 20% increase in demand for seats.

Competition for space is particularly fierce for the winner of this season's Merit Award - Hermione de Paula – whose prints look like reflections on a rippling lake.

"Hermione is extremely talented and is becoming renowned for her beautiful prints. Last season we showcased her as part of our Ones to Watch show which resulted in a huge amount of press coverage and her work being picked up by Browns Focus"

Martyn Roberts, Director, Vauxhall Fashion Scout

 

de Paula (who is of course a St. Martins graduate) will have her first stand-alone catwalk show sponsored by Vauxhall Fashion Scout as part of the Merit Award initiative. She will also receive PR and sales support through a tailored mentoring program which will help cultivate her talent and push the nitty gritty business aspects of the enterprise forward.

Judges - including Vogue.com's Jessica Bumpus, Jemma Dyas from Browns Focus, and Susie 'Bubble' Lau - look for 'creativity, quality of work, and business development' in a Merit Award winner, and the bar has been set pretty damn high by previous winners like these two:

David Koma

And William Tempest

 

But if you really want to get a handle on who the big fashion stars of tomorrow are today, get a front row, second row, or even a standing ticket to Ones To Watch. This season's geniuses in the making are ASKH, David Longshaw, Eudon Choi, and Florence Kozuch.

 

Log on to FEAL on Friday 19th and find out which one I predict Cheryl will be wearing in a few months time...