Happy New Year Kiddies!

Happy New Year!

We're all still here! So the world didn't end this 2012... shame! But this year looks for an interesting year.

Firstly we have the Olympics in London, however much to my disappointment I'll be watching on the TV as I did not make the draw (unlike those happy residents of London on the TV adverts). Pray we finish building it and I'm sure all will go swimmingly!

We also celebrate the 200th anniversary of the birth Charles Dickens! Anyone play the quiz from the Independent on New Years Day? Ah well no worries there's plenty of time to indulge yourself in his brilliance! And in Shakespeare's for that matter as April hosts the World Shakespeare Festival. London should see some excellent cases of his work and also the exciting release of King Lear with Al Pacino playing the mad old boy!!

Diamond Jubilee marks the 60th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth's reign. So more excitement from those over passionate royalists out there! Also celebrating their 60th anniversary is Chloe. The luxury Parisian fashion house has influenced the fashion industry and Gaby Aghion is to thank for her introducing Ready-to-Wear (Pret-a-porter). So for any fashionistas out there make sure you don't miss any chance at a glance of the work of my favourite designer this year!

Yohji Yamamoto

For part of my course we had to research a designer and then design a collection that fits in with their brand ethos. This is the outcome:

Christmas!!!

Ok, firstly I must apologise for not keeping up to date with blogging, but it happens. Finally I have finished for Christmas and it feels soooo good! Had a ridiculous amount of work which I have to say makes me feel like Leeds University may look down on us designers! And therefore our tutors make us do so much work to compensate. I mean I am not afraid of hard work, but trust me if you follow any other fashion design students from Leeds University you will soon find out!

Its Christmaaaaasssss!

So secondly it's one of my favourite times of year because a) LBD's come out to play with beautiful shoes (: this years edition of mine are - http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=HARLEQUIN+Bow+Sandal+silver&um=1&hl=en&sa=N&rls=com.microsoft:en-gb:IE-SearchBox&rlz=1I7GGLL_en-GBGB397&biw=1366&bih=530&tbm=isch&tbnid=9cnQoCPZ1PvTSM:&imgrefurl=http://www.polyvore.com/harlequin_bow_sandal/thing%3Fid%3D42362102&docid=1kRmNbDXpWykyM&imgurl=http://www.polyvore.com/cgi/img-thing%253F.out%253Djpg%2526size%253Dl%2526tid%253D42362102&w=300&h=300&ei=hfTsTtXvAsXo8QP9wayiCg&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=0&sig=111082572739460672328&page=1&tbnh=163&tbnw=175&start=0&ndsp=12&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0&tx=78&ty=105 )

b) it's my birthday on 3rd January and I am 21 years old!

c) London comes to life.

I <3 London at Christmas and the highlight is probably Selfridges beautifully constructed window displays. How I would love to work on their design team! The icy white theme this year makes up for the lack of snow we have currently and McQueen features, reflecting the brilliant year they've had. The amazing White Christmas windows on Oxford Street left me bumping into walkers by, making me quite the hypocrite due to my views on tourists in London!

The windows pulled you into a trance with warped Christmas songs being played, creating a huge music box as well as display cabinet. Well and truly stunning and no I will not show a photo! You must go and see for yourself!

Proposal

As we know, vintage clothing is as popular now as ever before. Bespoke clothing that also makes ourselves feel better about our 'carbon footprint'. Therefore I propose an idea, with the help of a marketing group: to organise a group of students to help create a new clothing range from recycled materials. How? Oxfam recently closed their Duncan Street store to be replaced by a vintage store. This perhaps demonstrates how charity stores are not choosing their products correctly or targeting at the wrong market. Around Duncan Street, we see a huge range of excellent vintage Shops. The Oxfam that once stood there did not use the location to its full potential.

Therefore I hope to get permission from Oxfam in Headingley, Leeds to allow us to use the floor space after hours, and materials donated to create a new collection of clothing to be sold in Oxfam. Any volunteers or ideas contact me! This is a chance to get your designs out there and be involved in a prestigious charity!

Check out Blue Rinse, who sell clothing made from recycled fabrics too (however not  for charity).
http://www.bluerinseleeds.co.uk/

Three Lefts???

Just a quick one because I can't not share this with you.

I bought a pair of boots from Topshop and when I got home realised that the shop assistant had put two lefts in the shoe box. Grrrr! How annoying, considering I live a half hour walk from town and have a busy work schedule at uni! Ok fine then I'll go back the nest day to change them.

So I did. At the counter she apologised and brought another size 5 of the same shoe in, "Oh these are last chance so your lucky we have them in your size!". Guess what? The one she brought to the counter was also a left foot!!!!! Ahhhhh. "Sorry that was the last one of this shoe," she says. I couldn't believe it and was obviously very upset!!! How can that be?? Eventually we got there because the display shoe was a size 5 RIGHT! (Even though I didn't get any discount for it having been a display shoe - where are our consumer rights??)

Anyway I don't min because look how beautiful they are:

http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=topshop+oxblood+ankle+boots&um=1&hl=en&sa=X&rls=com.microsoft:en-gb:IE-SearchBox&rlz=1I7GGLL_en-GB&biw=1366&bih=517&tbm=isch&tbnid=T51t8UJZlvv3zM:&imgrefurl=http://www.everystyle.co.uk/womens/ADRIEN-Shiny-Chelsea-Boots__892754.html&docid=XpFrgVNPQ9skhM&imgurl=http://www.everystyle.co.uk/products/215x322/892754_OXBLOOD_ADRIEN-Shiny-Chelsea-Boots_1.jpg&w=215&h=322&ei=DBqgTvGwFoqMswaYxJCaAw&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=250&sig=111082572739460672328&page=3&tbnh=144&tbnw=119&start=43&ndsp=14&ved=1t:429,r:10,s:43&tx=90&ty=73

Celebrities

So another one of my housemates who is also in the design school at Leeds University joined me in the downward spiral of not being able to keep up with all the coursework we have! Depressed, poor and no motivation to go out. Luckily for her she has lovely friends who came up to surprise her in Leeds last Saturday. Oh yeah, forgot to mention one of her best friends is Pixie Lott. Heard of her? No didn't think so!!! Had an great night meeting my housemates friends and acknowledging how down to earth Pixie is despite her celebrity status and success.

During her time here though I realised how dispensable designer clothes seem to be for successful professionals like Miss Lott. I blame the designer entirely. They pander to their designs being noticed, quite the opposite of Yohji Yamamoto's ethos. They will give away their beloved pieces of art, just so it has a glimpse of fame in the papers due to the celebrity wearing it. Maybe the papers are more to blame? But that's a whole other story!!!!!

Currently at uni I'm working on a shirt dress and already it's so treasured to me! I would only ever want somebody who loved it for the design etc. to wear it. Most importantly in this blog: the message I'm trying to get across is a) it is ok to wear something than once and b) designers!!! - remember why you started designing in the first place. It's not all about the fame - but the passion like Pix!

Yohji!

So... just in case you've never heard, I thought I'd speak about Yohji Yamamoto. I didn't know much about him until I had to do research for one of my modules and visited his store in London. At first it made me think it was a shame that not many people know about his work as it is so unique, beautiful and meaningful. I felt like there wasn’t enough credit behind what he does and his ethos (he once joked he may be the last designer from Japan to still manufacture in Japan)! However after researching him in depth I realised that that was the reaction he wanted from his work. He doesn’t want fame for what he does and certainly doesn’t care about money, claiming bankruptcy in 2009! Yamamoto almost reminds me of a fashion Radiohead equivalent!! Ha!


Yohji creates his collections, all made in Japan, with the main emphasis on black and the cut of the clothes. I think this sums him up well as a designer; “I think perfection is ugly. Somewhere in the things humans make, I want to see scars, failure, disorder, distortion.”

I think we need more designers like Yohji; who set their own trends; don’t care what the industry thinks of their style (was sniggered and booed at in his debut runway collection in Paris 1981); and have modesty in their designing.

Who couldn’t like this guy?:

sounds interesting? take a look: http://www.yohjiyamamoto.co.jp/