A thought on photography/ LFW SS13

I like these slightly obscure photographs from fashion week (above and post below). By slightly obscure I mean a photo that is not a posed, outfit shot. I mean a photo that feels almost unintentional, capturing a moment that almost was not meant to be captured. Here photography demonstrates its brilliance as documentation. Through the act of photographing, this moment can be presented side by side with another, born-to-be Kodak moment, in exactly the same size, giving them equal importance in demanding the viewer's attention. What might have passed as an unmarked, unnoticed moment in time through photography is forever immortalised.

Stolen moment/ LFW SS13

In between the snapping and posing, this happened. The tilt of her wide-rimmed hat reminds me of an old Irving Penn photo.

Feeling blue/ LFW SS13

This is what I wore/ LFW FW13

For only two hours on the only day I attended London fashion week FW13, this is what I wore. As immortalised by Anne Bernecker.

Dress by Acne, shirt by Muji, blazer by Zara, camera by Yashica.

Memories of days gone by/ LFW SS13

Now that my camera has taken a hike for good, I'm left with the only option of endlessly rehashing my old photos for some blog content. While I eventually get around to processing the film I shot on for the London fashion week that's just gone by, I've dug up from the deep recesses of my hard drive photos I took at the one before (Spring/Summer 2013) that I never even bothered posting.

& Other Stories

& Other Stories opened its first store in London today, yay! I swung by the new store on Regent Street after work to have a peep at the excitement first hand. I walked away with a lovely ink blue silk shirt. It was comparable in quality to its designer siblings but had a high street price tag.

My friend Sara's house in Newport, Wales

I took some photos at my friend Sara's house back in May I have been meaning to share with you. Sara lives in Newport, Wales and is a photography student. Her house is full of lovely little gems and treasures collected from her research into exhibitions and artists, displayed alongside darkroom test prints and other illustrations. It is also a cornucopia of art books and magazines that you can spend hours browsing and lose track of time in completely. Sara showed me the vintage peach silk jacket that her mum passed down to her, which she now wears as pyjamas. She looked very nonchalant lounging around the house in it. At the time she was curating an exhibition involving her fellow course mates at the Newport Waterfront exhibition space which she also exhibited in. I attended the opening night, which went off with a bang and had everyone gushing glowing reviews. The last photograph is a still from the film that Sara's boyfriend Michael made which he had on display at the exhibition.

Hedvig from The Northern Light shows us how it's done!

The bejewelled hands of Louisa Lau from Lust & Found at Susie Bubble's Yard Sale

I attended the bloggers' yard sale hosted by Susie Lau of Style Bubble and a plethora of other London bloggers yesterday in Holloway, literally in Susie's front yard (if I am not mistaken). So I know the saying goes that early bird gets the worm, but as a perpetual late bird, I thought I might still get the worm, but also have a lie-in. After all, how punctual can fashion people be? Very, it turns out, as I was about to painstakingly learn after arriving at half five in the afternoon, half an hour before the advertised finishing time. The rails were empty, or rather, there were no rails to speak of as the unsold items had already been packed away neatly into bags. I rifled through Susie and Hedvig's bags and suitcases respectively, and having found nothing to call mine, I was determined to nonetheless walk away fruitful. So I did the only thing which was left to do at this point - I photographed some street style. The beautiful and bejewelled hands you see above you belong to Louisa Lau, Susie's sister and also founder of Lust & Found magazine. She told me that her hands were wearing Mawi, Maria Francesca Pepe and COS that day. She had recently received a big personal order of jewellery from Maria Francesca Pepe. Needless to say, I'm jealous of her lucky hands.

I offer you fresh talents

I figured that if I posted a little bit by bit the photos I took at Graduate Fashion Week from June, I would at least show you some, which would be better than saving up for one humongous post that's complete but probably will never happen. So here I go. I'll start with one of the university whose graduates' works I was most surprised and simultaneously impressed by - De Montfort University, right in the heart of the midlands in Leicester. I must admit, beforehand I was somewhat ignorant having had my father drill into me since I was a toddler the value of going to a world-famous celebrated university. But now I know that this says nothing of its calibre of creative talent. De Montfort University was a perfect example of this. Out of all of the stalls I saw during the week, and man I saw a lot of stalls (almost all of them while teetering around in my 3-inch but still impossible heels), De Montfort Uni's might have been my favourite.

I'll just show you the accessories Today. First up is Lauren Moore, who is graduating in BA (Hons) Fashion Fabrics and Accessories. I was first drawn to De Montfort Uni's stall by one of her striking leather bags. I loved her bondage-infused leather, acrylic and metal tough aesthetic. Repeatedly I am drawn to such a look, probably because somewhere inside I fancy myself as a tough biker supermodel type, which at 5'2" I am far from. Her work eerily reminded me of Fleet Ilya, probably in the similar detailing, sharp lines and bondage influence.









Another worthy candidate was Kimberley North, who was studying BA (Hons) Footwear Design. I loved her collection of robotic, industrial-looking footwear, most likely for the same reasons as Lauren's. However, I must pick some bones with De Montfort University. Firstly, the designers' works were not clearly labelled, and with a table all of shoes of similar aesthetics, it was difficult to tell apart clearly whose was whose. Sadly, I can only show you the one photo that I am confidently sure belongs to Kimberley, which leads me onto my second grumble. I had hoped that I could make a note of the designers and make sense of everything at home with a Google search. But there was barely any information out there, and images especially, of these designers' final collections. Hence you'll have to be satisfied with the mere morsels I can offer up, until someone wiser steps forward.



Lastly I leave you with Janina Alleyne. She was by far the footwear highlight for me, and for many others it seems from the positive feedback on her project portfolio (she is the exception to my grumble. She gets my applause for her internet savvy.) She was inspired by the exoskeleton of marine invertebrates and realised her vision using 3D printing, which I gather is a method of fabricating a design made in a 3D modelling software. What do you think of the results? I thought they were amazing.







Okay, that's all for you for now. I'll share with you some more soon!

P.S. The sketches and studio photos of Janina's work are from her portfolio and the rest are by me.

Arm candy: more street style from Chelsea School of Art degree show opening night

I spotted a guy carrying the Christopher Kane PVC clutch from autumn/winter 2011 womenswear collection. He worked it with a pair of flowing silk trousers and a structured black jacket. Nice.

Lisha, at Chelsea School of Art & Design degree show opening night

London street style: at the Chelsea College of Art degree show opening night

Graduate Fashion Week 2012

I realised that it would take me some considerable time to plough through the 1200+ photos I took during the final two days of Graduate Fashion Week. I will share with you some of my photo highlights for now while I get busy with editing and thought gathering.










From top to bottom, creations by: 1 - Mariapia Mineo, UCA Epsom. 2, 3 - Zhu Liyuanzi, Istituto Marangoni Milan. 4, 5, 6 - Chloe Jones, Bath Spa University, winner of the £20,000 George Gold award. 7 - Maria Martimo, Istituto Marangoni Paris. 8 - Karen Jessen, Esmod Berlin, winner of the International award.

Congratulations to all of the winners on the final night. I am pleased that the talent and potential of those students were recognised. I'll give my own two-cents soon and mention a few graduates who didn't win or participate in the gala shows, but nonetheless deserve the recognition that their celebrated peers received.