I had total outfit envy on Tuesday morning when Cora stepped out of her room in this combination…
Outfit of the Day:
Jumper & Dress: Forever 21
Shoes: Topshop
Necklace: Accessorize
OOTD
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Tag Archives: fashion
Poser Estelle // Paris problème de Amy
Amy asked Estelle:
“I’m going on a weekend break to Paris soon and I need your help! I’m after an outfit which is stylish, yet practical – obviously Paris is the fashion capital of the world but it’s also pretty cold at this time of year!
Must be suitable for walking around the city (skirts will need to be windproof for climbing the Eiffel Tower…)
Any suggestions?”
Bonjour Amy,
So you need something stylish yet substantial – well how about this outfit for Parisian chic…
Now you might think a Breton stripe top is too predictable but how about a skirt? Make it a pencil skirt like this one from Jaeger to avoid a Marilyn Monroe moment at the top of the Eiffel Tower…
Add thick tights for warmth and combine with a cropped jumper, try pale pink …
Or what about this one? Think French lace…oh la la
French dressing is all about being prim and polished, these shoes will finish the look off perfectly, accessories with red lips and nails…
Ayez un grand week-end Amy!
Hello, My Name is Paul Smith…
This weekend some friends and I took a look around Paul Smith’s first ever shop, watched one of his catwalks, viewed his shops from around the world and took a look into his personal collection of artwork…
How did we do it? Well I’ll let you into a not so secret, secret. You can do it too! All you need is a ticket to the Design Museum, London.
“The Design Museum takes you into the world of fashion designer Paul Smith, a world of creation, inspiration, collaboration, wit and beauty”.
Entering the exhibition through a replica of Paul Smith’s first ever shop, the exhibition takes you on a journey through the inner workings of his mind: his influences, his personal work spaces, his hobbies and so forth . What’s more though, is that you not only learn about what influences the great man himself, but you too go away with a desire to create and unleash your inner designer…
What Wendy Wore…
It wasn’t only Wendy’s words that were inspirational, her style was too.
Steal Wendy’s look with this from ASOS:
add these bright beauties:
Nikki Perforated Mirror Leather Lace-Up Oxfords £109.03
And finish with a slick of red lipstick and top knot for a truly designer style…
And what do you wear when interviewing a such a fashion icon? Well what about this…
Cardigan and cami: Both Topshop
Tartan Trousers: River Island
Loafers and necklace: Both Zara
Wendy Dagworthy: The Interview
Last week I met Wendy Dagworthy at her office in the Royal College of Art to talk career choices, doll house’s and silver shoes. Read on for the full interview…
After completing a pre dip at Medway College of Art and a foundation course, Wendy went onto study fashion at Hornsey College. It seemed that ever since she was a little girl creating soft furnishings and clothes for her doll house and dolls (which she still has today!), she had an enthusiasm for styling and design…
Were there ever any doubts?
“No I don’t think there were any doubts at all. The foundation and pre dip was fantastic, we did absolutely everything you could possibly do. Fine art, silversmithing, ceramics, life drawing, printmaking, photography. I mean we just did the whole lot, which they don’t anymore, which is a shame. Then at the pre-dip you specialised in the discipline you wanted to go into and I went into fashion. I think cause I always made all my own clothes and loved fashion that was what I always wanted to do”
But was this choice your own choice or did your parents have any influence?
“No just me. My parents were great as they never pushed you anywhere, they just let us do what we wanted to do. So that was great and I’m a firm believer in that as well, to not try and force your children into an interest”
At the tender age of 22, most of us are still in education,flying back to the nest, or experiencing a mid-twenties crisis. However you’d just become your own boss – how did you do it?
“I suppose it was slightly unusual, but I’d worked for another company [Radley] for about a year or so and as I started my own company I cut down on days. So I gradually phased out working for someone else. I started [the business] because I really wanted to do something I believed in, it’s very hard to do something that your heart’s not in. Plus it was a lower level of the market than I wanted to design for. I always used to make all my own clothes and clothes for friends anyway, I think at the time it was all glitter jackets and satin. One of my friends knew a shop on the Kings road and she wore one of my jackets there one day, the shop assistant asked her where she got it and she told her it was one of mine. So she encouraged me to go along and try and sell the stock to them. So I made all the jackets up on my sewing machine, which was present from my parents for my 21st. [laughs] I’ve still got it and I still use it. That’s where it all began really. I just rang shops up and asked them if they’d like to see my new collection”
Do they still do that sort of thing now-a-days?
“Well I suppose you could still do that, but there’s London Fashion Week now”
The most important week in the British Fashion calendar – London Fashion Week may not have been so important if it hadn’t been for Wendy and her designer peers…
“Back then there wasn’t really London Fashion Week for designer clothes, it was more ragtrade, held at Earls Court and Olympia, you know real ragtrade. A group of us through Annette Worsley Taylor got together, and we were selling at that point but just through shops. We were all designers, there were probably about 10/12 of us and we thought ‘let’s show together’. So we rented a hotel, had a little fashion show, where we all put 3 things in each and invited the press and buyers . It was all very democratic, it was run by designers not by anyone else as such.”
Now the current recession has affected us all, well Wendy’s been through two and is still firmly on top. I wanted to find out how it had really affected her…
“It makes you stronger, it makes you realise things don’t go on forever and things will change.”
Do you thinks it’s affected the fashion industry as a whole?
“I think it has, yes. I think in the late nineties there were a lot of students, leaving college thinking ‘oh I’m going to be a designer’ with no thought of who they were selling to or how they were going to get it made. All they wanted to do was have a fashion show. As the recession hit quite a few people, it was the stronger ones who survived and I think that’s been good for fashion week. [before the recession] Buyers used to come over, put an order in with a young designer and they didn’t deliver or it was badly made which didn’t do London any good really. Now we’re much stronger, the designers are more, what’s the word, savvy? Business minded? Or they’re working with business partners which is the ideal thing”
You said teaching was a natural progression for you…
“I used to set a lot of projects at colleges, not just one but I taught at practically every one in the country. I did quite a bit of external examining as well, so I was quite aware of education. When I closed by business [end of 1988] I was, at the time, an external examiner for Saint Martin’s and their course director resigned that Christmas so they asked me if I’d be interested in taking over. I was like, well ok, I mean at this point it wasn’t anything permanent but 10 years later I was still there”.
So it all fell into place really?
“Yeah, I think it did really. My son Augustus was about a year or so old and it was better for him as well as I wasn’t flying all over the world, which I did a lot. When you look back you think ‘god how did I do that?!’ We showed in Milan, London, Paris and New York, [reflects] so I must have been away quite a bit really. So yeah it worked well plus I enjoy it”
What about other aspects of your career?
“I don’t do so much consulting now since Betty Jackson stopped her main line. I enjoyed curating [Club to Catwalk at the V&A] that was great, I mean who knows, maybe?!”
Why did you make the change from Saint Martin’s to the Royal College of Art?
“I was headhunted for the job here and I thought oh ‘do I want to move?’ cause I loved being at Saint Martin’s, it was great fun, we’d built up a great team together. But then i thought ‘why not?’ it’s good to have a challenge. And it’s great working here cause it’s all post graduate, so it was just the next step up I suppose.”
What qualities do believe make someone a success?
“A passion for the subject, the right attitude, not having a huge ego either- that’s not great. It’s all about having the confidence to believe in yourself and just do what you really want to do”
Have you got any stars in the making that you’re currently teaching?
“It’s difficult to name names really, but we’ve got quite a few designers doing well at the moment and hopefully you know…We have a real mix of students, from those who go and work for someone else, like high profile companies such as Burberry, Chloe and Diesel, I mean practically every company has graduates of ours – which is brilliant. Then there’s students that want to go and do their own thing like Holly Fulton, Sophia Webster [footwear], Matthew Millar [menswear] who are all doing really well. So we’ve got quite a lot of names coming through.”
Apart from your bracelets what is your favorite item of clothing or jewellery?
“Apart from them? Well they are my favorite as my husband bought me them all. [pauses] Probably at the moment – silver shoes. [points to shoes] these! It’s great cause you can wear them with anything and they just brighten it up.
As we finished the interview off she gave me some parting advice, and advice I feel that after speaking with her is something she not only preaches but also lives by:
“Be yourself and enjoy what you do”.
Shop with Friends: The Future of Shopping?
A few weeks ago I was discussing shopping online with friends (Sofa Shopping) well it seems Topshop have been taking note. Last night when I logged on to have a sneaky peak at knitwear I found a little icon at the bottom of the screen called “shop with friends”.
Simply click on the tab to link it with Facebook…
And share away!
A great medium for playing style or vile…
Estelle and the Amazing WineColour Dreamcoat
By accident I seem to have bought a colourful coat…
Now as most of you know, I’m quite a classic monochrome kinda girl who uses accessories to brighten up my look. I love colour on other people but never feel it’s quite me. Yet on Tuesday I had to return my beloved grey pea coat due to a fault. When I tried to exchange it they didn’t have any grey ones left in my size. Panic seized me, I loved the style and fit of the coat and I couldn’t be left coatless in the November chill. I was faced with no other option that to check out the other colour alternatives: black or wine.
Now black was out of the question, I’d look like I was in mourning constantly as most of my trousers/boots and shoes are also black. So I apprehensively picked up the wine coloured version, looked nervously at Cora who smiled encouragingly back and I gingerly tried it on. When I looked at myself in the mirror I was smiling too, I loved it.
So to all you colourphobes like me, try something on that’s out of your comfort zone, you never know you might like it…
Wendy Dagworthy
Remember my blog post on the Club to Catwalk exhibition at the V&A?
Well (with a little help from the Colson family) I’ve managed to secure an interview with Wendy Dagworthy!!!!
From designer to mentor to teacher to professor, Wendy’s varied career path means she is the perfect candidate for an interview for this blog. I’m sure her experiences will provide inspiration for us all.
Before I called Wendy I did some research and thought about the what the interview agenda would be, just because my blog is not a professional publication doesn’t mean I have to come across as an amateur. Needless to say, I was incredibly nervous prior to the phone call but I soon realised I had nothing to be afraid of.
As I stumbled through my pre-written script (well you can never be too prepared can you?) she graciously accepted the interview without much persuasion. She was calming and kind and from our short 5 minute phone call I could already see why her students respect and admire her.
The interview’s scheduled for Friday 15th November and I need all the help I can get, so if anyone has any questions for Wendy I’d love to hear them….and I’m sure she would too!
Scaredy Cat
Want a Halloween outfit that’s slightly more tasteful than plastic flashing devil horns?
Take a leaf out of Nicole Richie’s style book and combine a LBD with some of these lacy lovelies…
Cocktails, Career Counseling and Catch-ups
I met up with Johanna Payton again on Monday at the Hippodrome in Leicester Square. She works at the Guardian (dream job or what?!) as well as writing her own fashion blog, lecturing at London Met and lending her stylish expertise to BBC Radio!
She hasn’t got a fashion background either, as far as education goes, so she’s a great role model for me. She’s proved that with enough determination you really can get there! Her optimism is infectious, after our catch ups I always feel like I can conquer the world.
It’s not only her words that inspire, her clothes do too…
graduating in style 