ISTANCOOL & DAPHNE - TOTALLY INSPIRATIONAL

Posted by Fashion Editor at Large

So at the weekend I was lucky enough to be invited to Istancool (sponsored by Turkish Airlines, though I flew BA and they LOST MY LUGGAGE). It was a brilliant arts festival arranged by Liberatum Global, an organisation headed up by an inspiring 26-year-old Indian man by the name of Pablo Ganguli. I have posted this snap taken by the chic be-turbanned jeweller Waris (House of Waris) because it was taken an hour after I was reunited with all my belongings, among which nestled this winner of a dress by Roberto Cavalli which I couldn't wait to slip into after three days wearing the same T-shirt and Houlihan's. It's the best snap taken of me for ages, and makes me smile everytime I look at it.  I am standing at the gates of the Topkapi Palace on my way into an amazing dinner hosted by Jefferson Hack and AnOther Magazine. See their reports of the event here. It was an unforgettable night. Look out for more about Istancool in next weeks Grazia.

During day two of the event Daphne Guinness (now ensconced at Haute Couture goings on in Paris from where I write) dropped in with her new beau, a handsome philosopher, to the Istanbul Modern contemporary art museum. Here she is on the top floor of the museum having a moment while she overlooks the Bosphorus towards Suntanahmet, the historical centre of Istanbul. She was feeling wistful and told me she had not been to the city since 1989. Following this she sat in discussion with Philip Treacy to talk about their working relationship; she being an avid consumer of his incredible hats. This ine, Philip told me was "inspired by a wimple, and  is made from plasticised net." It all became very emotional when Philip broke down in tears when talking about their much loved and missed friend Isabella Blow. During his teary moment his partner Stephan reached over to whsiper in my ear that Istanbul had been Issy's favourite city.  Of course we all now know that Daphne Guinness is now the custodian of Isabella's entire collectiojn of fashion. Something she spoke about at length in the FT this weekend. Read it for yourself. It will give you a glimpse of the utter one-of-a-kind-ness of this extraordinary woman.

Like I said I'm in a very hot and steamy Paris right now. Off to see Givenchy Haute Couture in an hour. Then I meet BryanBoy for the first time, and buy him tea and cake. Then CHANEL!

IT'S ALL ABOUT FASHION ILLUSTRATION

Posted by Fashion Junior at Large

Business of Fashion ran a story on Marco Santaniello recently - a t-shirt designing blogger for MaxMara, who creates Rubik's Cube inspired illustrations of fashion industry figures. His pictures are really putting a sunshiny spin on my grey Monday.

BryanBoy

Susie Bubble

Agyness Deyn

Anna Wintour

Become a fan of Marco on Facebook until his website gets up and running. Hmmmm.I wonder if he accepts commissions?

After going on about this or that fashion illustrator over the past few months I've finally decided to try it myself. I'm sure you've heard by now that the wonderful Sketchbook Magazine are throwing open the doors of their pop-up shop for a launch party tomorrow evening. Expect a multitude of talks and workshops from 31st - 19th April all held at number 10 Newburgh Street (W1). I've signed up for several events including a fashion illustration workshop taught by Gabriela Mot this Saturday at 12pm. Can't wait!

New issue of Sketchbook Mag

Click here for a list of all the goings on at the Sketchbook pop-up shop over the next few weeks, and be sure to reserve your place by emailing the team at rsvp@sketchbookmagazine.com. 

Pic credits: Marco Santaniello courtesy of businessoffashion.com

BRYANBOY BLOGS HIS WAY INTO US VOGUE?

Posted by Fashion Junior at Large

If ever there was a fashion blogger living the dream it's Bryan Boy. He's friends with Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana, Marc Jacobs named a bag after him, and now the twittersphere is alight with speculation that the boy wonder might be joining team (US) Vogue. Possibly as part of the soon to be re-launched Vogue.com.

Whilst I was trying to get to the bottom of all the gossip following his visit to Conde Nast last week I came across BB's CV circa 2007:

Bryan, who was 25 at the time, explained that this was the first resume he had ever written: 'I've never submitted a resume to anyone, never been on a job interview, never had a company ID, and never dealt with an icky department called human resources'. Well what a first attempt!

Career Objective: I want a job where I'm surrounded by lots of clothes, accessories and cute guys. Also, I want a fantastic blonde female co-worker who will be my ultimate fag hag and we'll play dress-up and drink champagne whenever our boss is gone. (Ya gotta admire his honesty!)

Work Experience: N/A (Love it! - Work experience? Pa! Who the hell needs it)

Hobbies and Interests: Fashion, travel, entertainment, celebrities, models, weight-loss (I like the last two best)

Please tell me this is the resume you sent to Anna Wintour Bryan!

Seriously though, he's come a hell of a long way and we have our fingers crossed for him. It would be a victory for bloggers everywhere.

Images: Bryanboy.com

AMERICAN VOGUE CELEBRATES FASHION BLOGGERS! OH HAPPY DAY!

Posted by Fashion Editor at Large


When I was on holiday in Cape Town this new year I spent a magical new years eve with Matthew Brookes who told me he had photographed the worlds most recognised fashion bloggers for the March edition of American Vogue. My main reaction was WOW! I was so proud of Matthew for getting such a high profile feature to photograph. It was only later the 'if only' feeling kicked in. Despite my existing status as a respected print fashion writer of 14 years standing, I humbly realised I was also someone merely starting out as a fashion blogger.

To be recognised by American Vogue as a significant example of the new breed of fashion bloggers would be totally beyond! Still, I'm not bitter. I'm delighted for Bryanboy, Garance Dore, and especially for North Londoner Catherine Kallon of redcarpet-fashionawards.com for making the US Vogue cut. Also highlighted is personal lifestyle chronicler Todd Selby, beauty blogger Michelle Phan, Michelle Obama watcher Mary Tomer  and my blog crush, street style photographer Tommy Ton of Jak&Jil. Go, go, go guys! By showing us YOUR world view, edited by you without censorship, you have demonstrated the power of the people to cut through the hyperbole of constructed media and deliver the simplest most wonderful thing: the refreshing truth. You are the inspiration for the unpaid labour of love and personal commitment that is fashioneditoratlarge.blogspot.com! Thankyou and big love from Melanie Rickey of Fashion Editor at Large xxxx

WILL FASHION BLOGGERS CHANGE THE WORLD?

Posted by the Fashion Editor at Large

On Fashionblogs from Mary Scherpe on Vimeo.

Thanks to BryanBoy's ever on it nature, today I happened across this fascinating dialogue between Suzy Menkes and Mary Scherpe from Stil In Berlin, the German street photography blog. Apart from Sarah Mower, who embraced the Internet medium as early as 2000 by writing her catwalk show reviews online for Style.com, Suzy Menkes is the fashion doyenne who closely examines the changing nature of fashion's relationship with the online universe, and also accurately communicates it to the world at large. Her story on Balmain vs Balenciaga, writtern during the SS10 r-t-w collections, was just brilliant. Rumour has it that Anna Wintour has banned the word blog from being uttered in her presence. I think this story could be true, but only because she doesn't like the sound of the word itself. I can relate to that. Obviously I love blogging. But three of them on a Sunday the week before the end of January can only mean one thing - I had better stop procrastinating and  DARN WELL DO MY TAX RETURN.  

WHAT HAPPENS AFTER WE ALL GO HOME FROM THE SHOWS?

Posted by the Fashion Editor at Large

So, what do we fashion pro's do after the shows? Its a question I'm always asked. If you are someone like the superfabulous-blogger (but fashion newbie) BryanBoy, you go to America to see you sick Aunty (hope she is OK, Bryan). If you are a proper fashionista with a proper job and everything, you come home from the shows and ....

1) On the first couple of days back I tend to regress to being 14 on the sofa while watching re-runs of CSI (Miami or Las Vegas) and eating microwave Spaghetti Hoops. Meanwhile my family shouts at me for absolutely anything/nothing because they are annoyed with me for being away and being back. Every fashion editor I know experiences a version of this.

2) Then we have to GO BACK TO WORK, where colleagues think we've been off having a long and glamorous party, and try not to sound ungrateful. Avoid croissants.

3) In my case after Paris I sat in front of my laptop for five days straight and anyalysed the shows, the trends, the pieces then created a 200 page master document that will be my bible for the next six months. Not only for work, but for what I want to buy next season. That's why my blog has been quiet. But I feel like a walking encyclopaedia. I will share it all with you over time!

4) This is the bit that we are all doing now, people! Ten days after getting back the work starts kicking in again.

a) If you are the TOP EDITORIAL STYLIST I met in the park this morning while walking my little black shaggy dog, W, then you are being booked for global ad campiagns and pitching to your magazine/s for shoot ideas. Apparently budgets are down for even the A-List stylists this season, and everyone has to fly economy. Well, Conde Nast have just made ten people on American Vogue redundant. Times are still tough.

b) If you are a FASHION JOURNALIST like me, its time to pitch feature stories, profiles, general ideas at your various editors, and attend some of the decent press days to see what is going on at street level.

c) If you are a FASHION BUYER you are only just getting back from buying collections in Paris, and are still at the CSI/Spaghetti Hoops stage, but at least you have decided what is going to be in your shop next season...

d) If you are a FASHION DESIGNER, you are looking at your books and working out if you have had a good or bad season, (us Brits are doing well becasue of good collections, and moreover a favourable Sterling exchange rate). And designers will be designing their collections for AW10/11 too.

So you see, it ain't over when the shows are over.

DO WE STILL NEED FASHION SHOWS?

PARIS TRENDING TOPIC: FASHION’S BIG CHANGE OVER TO WEB

The McQueen show Live Streaming consent form for tonights show. Do you like my hotel bedspread?

- Posted by the Fashion Editor at Large in Paris



This Paris fashion week will be remembered more for the Internet revolution (part II), than the clothes. In a digital era defining week, we have seen more journalists wielding Blackberry’s as note-taking devices than ever. Many of them filing straight to blogs, or twitpic and twitter instead of putting their notes down using old fashioned pen and paper. Next season we’ll probably all have Kindles, or something,

In New York, Marc Jacobs put bloggers, including Tavi and Bryan Boy, on the front row. In Milan, not to be outdone Dolce Gabbana put bloggers on the front row with laptops so they could cover the show live. (It was at this point, btw, that I decided to become a moonlighting blogger.)

In London Burberry put laptops on tap for bloggers who wished to report live from the party. (Didn’t see many takers, we were too busy rubber-necking Dav Patel, Frieda Pinto and Victoria Beckham.)

Anyways, now we are in Paris, and tonight Alexander McQueen is live-streaming his show to the Internet via ShowStudio.com. My invite says “if you attend this show, you will be deemed to grant your consent to being filmed”. Well the show is in three hours, and I’m getting my glad rags on now, and ringing my mum to tell her “I’m going to be on the Internet!”

All this Web hullabaloo is the cause of great debate amongst fashion’s power critics, who are wondering to themselves whether their services will be required next season. Or indeed if we need fashion shows anymore at all. “What is the point of a fashion show critic if you can see the show on the Internet?” "What is the point of a show, if you can put it straight on the Web?"seem to be the big questions. Well I guess in time, the point will be that the general public can read their critical review before deciding they want to watch the show or not. And fashion shows will become the popular entertainment everyone seems to want them to be. Not a trade show anymore, Toto!

One more thing, just been with Roland Mouret who is also filming his show to go out online. His won’t be live-streamed, but he is working with his parent company 19 – who are doing an excellent job at letting him get on with it – to create the first web fashion show you can see in hundreds of thousands of combinations. Even from the point of view of a model, or Anna Wintour (that is, if she hadn’t left Paris already.) He is using 28 camera's each with 360 scope.
This is my McQueen ticket, it's a hologram, and the girl's face becomes all pretty when you wobble it around.