Posted by Bethan Holt, Fashion Junior at Large
As I write this, Olympic fever is catching fast. It's difficult to recall that there are other things happening in the world besides a two-week long sports day. But there are, lots of them very serious and important but also happenings from the wonderful world of fashion. So before you go off to dress head to toe in gold and wave union jack flags while drinking Pimms all night (or is that just me?), here's the latest...
Happy Birthday to Christopher Kane, who celebrated his 30th yesterday!
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| Mr Kane in 2007 when he was 24, cute! (from list.co.uk) |
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| A look I love from Christopher Kane Resort '13 (from style.com) |
You don't get much more British than Downton Abbey, the period drama which has been a huge hit over its last two series both here and in the US. So much so in fact, that Ralph Lauren's AW12 show was entirely inspired by the 1920s aristo fashion of the show and it was the talk of US press and buyers we met in Paris. Let's face it though, cutting edge fashion endorsements don't come more major than LOVE magazine which is a kind of seasonal indicator of what's really key.
The latest issue- entitled 'A Costume Drama'- stars Lady Mary, Lady Sybil and Lady Edith in a high fashion meets decaying Edwardian shoot by Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott. The girls are styled by LOVE Editor-at-Large Katie Grand who also works with Marc Jacobs and Giles Deacon among others- remember Giles' burnt out medieval AW12 show? Or Marc's floppy hats, 18th century coats and steam engine at Vuitton? We sense an obsession! The new issue, the with editorial input from Alex Fury and Lulu Kennedy, is out on Monday. And I can't wait so much that I tried to buy one yesterday.
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Lady Mary a.k.a Michelle Dockery bursts out of her corset in the name
of fashion, what would Matthew say? |
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Laura Carmichael plays Lady Edith who never usually gets the chance to strip
off on TV, given that she's the super straitlaced sister |
We've highlighted before the frankly awful practise of copying in the fashion industry- and we don't mean 'inspired' but full-on trying-to-be-identical. Now
Mother/ Daughter copycat duo Linda and Courtney Allen from New York have been ordered to pay a mahoosive $44 million in damages to Coach after they set up two websites selling counterfeit versions of bags from the much sought after American label. The judge Coleen MacMahon told the court that "This award may be crippling, but it is plainly needed to prevent Allen from going back once again into the business of counterfeiting.". It was not the first time Linda Allen had been prosecuted- in 2007, she was sued by Chanel over 'the same exact illegal conduct'. Copycats, you have been warned!
London has so many great schemes to support designers at every stage on the road to establishing viable businesses. Two of these were in the spotlight this week. First of all, Fashion Forward which is a kind of follow on from NEWGEN announced that eBay would become its new sponsor. This means that Fashion Forward recipients, Mary Katrantzou, Louise Gray, Henry Holland and James Long will all receive grants and advice to help with their SS13 shows and beyond. Not only is this great news for the designers but it's also an interesting move for the auction site which is a favourite of fashion lovers looking for bargains. eBay has become an even more credible high fashion destination of late as celebrities chose it to auction their clothes for charity- Carey Mulligan sold her Prada dress from the Met ball and Princess Beatrice got £80,000 for Children in Crisis and UNICEF by flogging her infamous Royal Wedding hat.
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Louise Gray AW12- her next collection will be sponsored
by eBay (image from catwalking.com) |
The winners of the latest prizes from Vauxhall Fashion Scout, which is a first rung on the ladder for designers, were also announced this week. The Merit Award goes to Heohwan Simulation while the Ones to Watch winners are Hellen van Rees, Ming Pin Tien and Hana Cha. The Merit Award is worth £25,00 over 3 seasons and all the winners get unprecedented exposure at both London and Paris fashion weeks. Judging by this cohort of prizewinners, it's quite clear that minimalism, architecture and menswear are still big influences on emerging designers.
HEOHWAN SIMULATION
CHARLOTTE SIMPSON
HANA CHA
HELLEN VAN REES
MING PIN TIEN
If you need something else to get excited about aside from sport then perhaps we can interest you in the
forthcoming release of Carine Roitfeld's CR Fashion Book on September 13th. A new website emerged this week-
crfashionbook- where readers can pre-order. If the mere thought of a new publication from the former Editor of Vogue Paris weren't enough then there is a taster image to tantalise further. This involves Juliet Ingleby strolling virtually naked through a cemetery save for a swathe of purple fabric and flanked by three leather clad, veiled fellow models. The scene is captured by Sebastian Faena and is prone to being mistaken for a shot from a war and death themed porn film.
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| A taster image from Carine Roitfeld's new book (image from fashionologie.com) |
Two of the most enigmatic (sort of) figures in fashion got together this week when
Karl Lagerfeld shot Victoria Beckham for a forthcoming front cover of French Vogue. Mrs B kept her Twitter followers updated on the backstage details via several twitpics, including one of her in a bath robe sitting on the famous staircase from which Mademoiselle would observe her shows. And if you're a Chanel fan with a predisposition to jealousy, then don't even look at the photo of rows of Chanel gowns and jewels.
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| Backstage at the Lagerfeld/ Beckham shoot- looks like Chanel galore! |
King Karl hotfooted it from his VB shoot to London to give us all a pre-Olympic fashion treat. He was here to open his Selfridges pop-up which will be selling his latest eponymous which is full of reference to the the Games, including plenty of gold, silver and bronze as well as medal motif. Lagerfeld turned up fashionably late for the event- two hours in fact. Nevertheless, this did little to dampen the excitement of many a tweeter who was feverishly awaiting his arrival. Daphne Guinness, Tallulah Harlech and Edie Campbell were among those on hand to welcome the designer when he eventually showed up at the reception. The Guardian's Jess Cartner-Morley
wrote a fascinating piece about the might of the King Karl show which is a great read.
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| Karl and Daphne at Selfridges on Tuesday evening (image from dailymail.co.uk) |
As promised in last week's news round-up, we're on celeb beach fashion watch. here are our top 3 from this week:
Gisele 'confirmed' her pregnancy via allowing herself to be photographed with a slightly protruding stomach on the beach. Good job about the bump really which deflects from the wet patch/ print on her crotch which the tabloids might otherwise have had a field day over...
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Image from dailymail.co.uk
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| Image from telegraph.co.uk |
Finally, Lady Gaga has eschewed the concept of swimwear/ underwear and posted a picture of herself apparently naked on Twitter. The fact she's in an armchair in a darkened probably disqualifies her from any 'Best Beach or Summer Look' competitions.
Finally, Sample Sale alert! Print the pic below and you'll get £5 off.
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