Yesterday I went to the Fashion and Textiles Museum in Bermondsey to see an exhibition called Horrockses Fashions: Off The Peg Style in the 40's and 50's. I was really looking forward to it as I have been looking at a book of the same name lately.



The bright pink museum which houses the somewhat small exhibition is a bit of a hassle to find but worth it. The exhibition looks at the textiles designers who designed the prints



As well as the designers who designed the dresses. I found part where they talked about the 3 key dress designers very interesting. One made 'bread and butter' designs (a phrase that will always stick out to me because once, years ago, we were given a talk by a textiles designer and he mentioned in passing bread and butter designs, and later a girl put up her hand and asked what a sandwich design was) another made complicated designs and a third who followed the Paris couture fashions.



The exhibition also talks about the ladies who wore the dresses. They were designed for the newly booming market of traveling abroad and someone once commented that you could tell a British lady by her Horrockses dress.


This photograph is of the lady who owned the dress below on the far right, wearing it on holiday. It was a really nice thing to see.


they were popular for newly-wed ladies to wear on their honeymoon, and whist the prices were expensive (£80- £120 in today's prices) meaning they were mostly for well-to-do fans, many regular girls would save their wages specifically.



Princess Margret and the duchess of Kent were fans as well as the Queen. They also made house coats which were acceptable to receive guests in the evening in.



and beautiful evening wear. I really liked the evening wear especially the red dress.



It also said that advertising in vogue added an extra 2 shilling to the cost of each dress.



I love floral print dresses so i really enjoyed this, and at £3.50 for students and £6 for everyone else, it's not bad value.



I also liked that in the guide you get 2 recipes, which i may scan in and put up.

Nadia xx

Lula Pop-Up

After reading about it everywhere, I finally found the time to visit the Lula pop-up shop.

It was alot smaller than i was expecting.

it also could have used a mirror since i couldn't look at myself in the monchino sunnies.

and maybe a changing room too.

i loved this velvet skirt.

and you could buy all the covers of the latest issue of Lula so I added 2 more to my collection.

and i got a big heart shaped lollypop.

Tbh I was more impressed by the mannequins by each of the escalators.


I wonder how many cocktails i'd have to drink to make my own one of these?



As well as the displays around the store.



Cakes and shoes. what more could you need?

Nadia xxx

I have been meaning to post this for ages....

At uni we had a bunch of talks from various people in industry (Orla Kieily, Sibling, WGSN but to name a few) about how they got started, important things to remember when you're looking for work, that sort of thing. And the one point everyone wanted to drive home was how important making videos for collections was. So one that note, I thought I'd share some of my favorite fashion videos....

Let's kick things off with knitwear that goes bump in the night at sibling. This homage to bad old horrors showcases their brilliant forth collection.





I love the Erin Fetherson Videos






But my favourite is this one, Wendybird, starring kirsten Dunst and made by Ellen Von Unsworth,about a group of factory workers who find a magic box of clothes. Sigh....





And another directed by Ellen Von Unsworth, this time with Zooey Deschanel.





From Orla Kiely, this one featuring my favourite: TWINS!






Not strictly fashion but how can anyone resist this Dior Ad directed by Sophia Coppela with Brigitte Bardot playing in the background. I once read that all the things she does in the ad are things that Sophia felt a Dior girl would do.






And finally I'm a Lula Girl so of course this one from Lula.




Nadia xx

Ernesto Neto at the Hayward

Stumbled across the Ernesto Neto exhibition at the Hayward Gallery with my sister. I looked at his work in my first year and really liked it so I was pretty pleased to come across this show. It was a combined exhibition of his work and a show called 'The New Decor' which was a collection of works by different artists who have challenged the functionality of interior products. Apart from a giant slide/bed, there wasn't alot that excited us in this bit so we hurried onto Neto's part. Ernesto Neto makes installations using stocking-like fabric, which he stretches or fills to create weird shapes. For this show he has made an amazingly colourful cave which you can walk through and touch. Lots of fun.

Here's a few photos I took...

Lucy x

Sheena, Take a Bow

In 1926 Coco Chanel produced the first LBD and Vogue proclaimed that the LBD would become “a sort of uniform for all women of taste.” And starting on 1^st May 2009 Sheena Matheiken set out to follow that rule and raise some much needed funds for Akanksha Foundation (who help to teach kids in the slums of India)

Sheena (with the help of her friend Eliza Starbuck) she created 7 identical LBDs that could be worn front ways – backways – unbuttoned – buttoned up. The dresses were practical and designed with New York living in mind. Then for 365 days, one year, she would wear the dress everyday, dressing it up, dressing it down and accessorizing with vintage finds and hand-made goodies and then blogging about it. Each day she set aside one dollar meaning that in the year she will have raise enough to send one child in India to school.

The front of the dress on the 1st of May 2009.

And wearing it the other way round on the 2nd of May 2009

How do you dress such a plain dress up? Like this of course....

What about halloween....? This will do it....

Sheena talks of school uniforms and how everyone customizes them, trying to let their personality show through and how this project is an ‘exercise in sustainability’.

Here are some of my favourites from the last year.

And my favourite of the year... 25th December

They completed the project this year on May 1st 2010 having raised over $100,000. It certainly helped that not only is Sheena super cute but has an excellent sense of style.

Sheena and Eliza are looking into having the dress manufactured for everyone to wear, and more excitingly a pattern so that you can sew your own. I’ll be the girl in the floral one.

You can read more about it here as well as donating.

Nadiaxx

I need this in my life.

But it's sold out :(

This carebear suit is part of a new collection at ASOS called HIT. They have sourced the more quirky pieces of fashion from around the world, with a new one each week.

Past pieces have included

this be-sequined ipod/blackberry pouch from dry-clean-only favourite Sophie Hulme

and super cool friendship bracelets from Louise Grey.

Nadia xx

Soon, soon I will climb from this blackened earth into the diffident light.

These words taken from Sue Hubbard's poem Eurydice were the inspiration behind the creative genius that is Susan Penn's Graduate Collection 2010.

Kingston University Student, Susan Penn was inspired by the piece after seeing it written on the Waterloo underpass and this sparked an avenue of research which was to lead to the development of her first collection.

The complete poem Eurydice by Sue Hubbard.

The influence of the written piece has been carried through to the images used in Susan's look-book. These photographs were taken in the dark with the model being lit only by small torches, held by two people in the darkness. The torches were darted around in constant movement to light various aspects of the garments, as the model rotated during the long exposure setting.

The technique used to produce these photographs gives the illusion of illuminated prints and gives movement to the garments when the model is static in a pose.

The collection itself consists of five floor length dresses, which have been described as 'statuesque', and a sixth look derived of a floor length skirt teamed with a paneled drape top tucked in to it's waistband. The pieces look even more impressive when viewed coming down the catwalk.

Here you can see how the print panel in the draped top works in conjunction with the matching skirt to make the two garments almost appear as one, in keeping with the rest of the collection. Susan has featured luxurious velvets and used devore as an alternative to print.

My favourite piece in the collection is the fully printed dress in silk crepe. During the production of the collection it became affectionately known as 'the river dress' due to the way it moved when the model walked down the runway. The print and clever pattern cutting have been beautifully considered and combined to create this flowing masterpiece.

It wouldn't be fair to not mention this skillfully executed chiffon print dress. The bright red silk habitai lining bringing out the reds in the printed chiffon,work with the silhouette to make a piece that is both elegant and sophisticated.

As the models lined up at the top of the catwalk during the Kingston University Graduate Fashion Week Show, it became even more evident that Susan Penn has successfully created a collection of pieces that work together brilliantly but can also hold their own.

For more information on Susan Penn and her work you an contact her via email.

ss.n.penn@googlemail.com

Hannah xx