Tuesday 21 December 2010

Fashion In Motion








Earlier this month, I worked on the V & A fashion in motion event on 10th December. Fashion in Motion is a series of live catwalk events presented at the V&A. Featuring some of the greatest designers of our time, Fashion in Motion brings catwalk couture to a wider audience by modelling it against the beautiful backdrop of the museum.

This particular show was of parisian couturier Stéphane Rolland who is renowned for his modern and original interpretation of couture and his passion for architecture, sculpture and photography is evident throughout his collections. On 10 December 2010 Fashion in Motion: Stéphane Rolland will provide a unique opportunity to see Rolland's intricate and sensuous designs in the stunning surroundings of the V&A's Raphael Galleries.

Raised in Argentina, Paraguay and the French West Indies, Stéphane Rolland was hired by Balenciaga at the age of 20 to design menswear. Following ten years experience as designer at Jean-Louis Scherrer, Rolland launched his Haute Couture House in 2007. Since then he has built an impressive profile as a pioneering modern couturier and his clientele ranges from royalty to well-known figures in the worlds of film and music. An official member of the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture, Rolland is now working on a ready-to-wear range which will launch in 2011.

For the day I helped assist on the show, such as tickets and seating people. Rolland garments are sculptural, which shows his background of working for Balenciaga. I enjoyed the day, the clothes and models were beautiful. I was lucky enough to watch the show three times, whilst wearing a V & A logo orange facinator hat, which reminded me of something a D.R Seuss character would wear.

Photographs of the catwalk are courtsey of Beverley Ragucos. In the first photograph I am on the left and Beverley is on the right.

Sunday 12 December 2010

Christmas Wish List



This is my dream Christmas wish list, if money was no object! I would like these things:

- Rodarte, mint marble hand painted dress


- Vivienne Westwood, Melton red frock coat

-
Chloe, Elsie coral tote python bag

- Christian Loubiton, lilac pastel pumps

Monday 29 November 2010

Friday Late V&A - Give It Away















I went to the last V & A friday night late event at the end of November. The event it was called give it away, about entering into the Christmas spirit with a night of open source design events curated by students from The Royal College of Art's Design Products course. Engage in the alternative Christmas market workshops in the Grand Entrance, and make something to take home with you. Or line up for skills-sharing sessions taking place in the Sackler Centre. Also, students will be presenting new project ideas so take part by championing those you think should be developed.

The stall I felt inspired by the most was the vegetable/fruit dyes fabric printing stall, making interesting patterns. Located in the sackler centre lunchrooms. The creators were two girls
: Marta Bakowski and Dafi Reis Doran. This joint project between the two girls, showed how they took an old fashioned traditional technique, to produce new contemporay textiles. The girls are looking it to ways of making the natural food dyes pernament on fabric. Food products used to create dye were:

- Beetroot = purple
- Orange = acid yellow
- Cabbage = green
- Blueberries = blue
- Red Onion = red

Manipulating fabric, with natural products I find quite interesting. A similar idea is the product Nature paint, made out of cornish clay. My boyfriend Steven, has just finished a project with this product. He is currently on the creative advertising masters course at Falmouth. It is a eco friendly paint, which comes in a powder in a packet, instead of a tin, you just add water. Apparently the man who created nature paint,
at marketing events he will drink the paint. As it contains no chemicals, to show it is harmless.

Dior Illustrated Exhibition







Last week Wednesday, I was lucky enough to go the new exhibition at Somerset House. Dior Illustrated: René Gruau and the Line of Beauty. It was a beautiful exhibition, I enjoyed seeing first hand fashion imagery. Imagery used for ad campaigns for the brand Dior, through 50s, 60s and 70s. Mainly used to promote the brand's perfumes in magazines. There was also some garments on display, I liked the hat resembling a paintbrush and palette. With the colours of the paints, in chunky pieces of oval fabric with small coloured crystals.


Grau created mixed media illustrations using goauche, indian ink and watercolour. The illustrations were lovely to see up close, to be able to see the paint strokes was beautiful. I thought the designs, even though from mainly the 50s/60s still looked very contemporary even today. I also like the Erin Petson image, which was inspired by Grau's style. With a striking red and gold paint for the top of the girl's outfit. My favourite pictures are the ones that conceal the face, such as the one with the man holding a bunch of peonies in front of his face.

The exhibition runs till 9th January 2011.

Sunday 28 November 2010

Redesigned Website









Earlier this month I redesigned and updated my website. I have now created a fashion illustration page, which I never got round to doing in the past. Above are screen shots of the new site, in comparison to the old site I am really pleased with the outcome. My website includes a shop, this blog, and a portfolio of my textile and illustration artwork.

Saturday 27 November 2010

My Current Display - Harvey Nichols Bristol







My current display is in the Bristol branch of Harvey Nichols. It is a instore display situated by the escalators, and also the accesories department. It started in July 2010 running through to December 2010, so pop in if you live in the south west area. Only the womens fabric dolls are on show in this store.