GIRL POWER: FORGET SUPERMODELS, ATHLETES ARE WHERE IT'S AT

Posted by Bethan Holt, Fashion Junior at Large

We can never hope to achieve this...

But we can get close to this

"Girl power" has had a sudden resurgence in usage these past two weeks. As we have witnessed women breaking records, running fast and far, jumping high and long and displaying seemingly inhuman feats of strength, agility and physical skill there has only been one way to sum it up in a Twitter hashtag and that is #girlpower. Whenever another Team GB female (or females) won a medal, "Girl Power" was sure to be trending and appearing in Facebook status updates within minutes. It feels like a breakthrough. You only have to take a glance at the dreaded DM's sidebar of shame to see that a little something has shifted. In the last fortnight those stories about Kim Kardashian's gym visits or TOWIE Lauren's latest diet have been significantly peppered with stories of women who have triumphed to win medals or just compete, whether that's Saudi Arabia's Sarah Attar running 800m as her country's first ever female track and field competitor or Gemma Gibbons winning her Judo semi-final and mouthing "I love you, Mum" towards the sky, before going on to win Silver. Where girls have been really quite unpowerful in celebrity media until now, the Olympic athletes have shown that girls can worry about more than boys and fat bottoms. Hadley Freeman and Elizabeth Day (both at The Guardian) have written in the past day or two about how we can embrace Olympic athletes as our new body image role models. You see, anyone can look like an Olympic athlete because these men and women come in all shapes and sizes but are united by the fact that they are the very best version of themselves. You don't have to be freakishly tall, thin and ethereal as you do to even approach supermodel standards. While Kate, Naomi, Stella et al looked awesome last night in their golden Brit designed gowns, we could never hope to emulate their figures because they have one in  trillion kind of genes. But go for a run, swim some lengths, pedal a few miles, lift a few weights and elements of an Olympian body will be yours. We need to harness the girl power.

THE WEEK IN FASHION: 6th- 10th AUGUST

Posted by Bethan Holt, Fashion Junior at Large

Greeting fashion fans, news is back again after little break for attending some Olympic events which included seeing Team GB win a gold and two bronze at the rowing last Friday. The FashEd has been having fun at the beach volleyball, boxing and swimming- lucky thing. Even though it's August, there's still plenty of fashion news to report this week...

Ryan Lochte is undoubtedly the breakout star hottie of this Olympics with many, including myself, religiously tuning in to watch his races in the hope that we'll get a wink or some other kind of high jinks at the end. The team at US Vogue anticipated Lochte mania so made him star of their June Olympic cover, alongside Hope Solo (a FashEd favourite) and Serena Williams. However, it seems the public weren't quite so into the idea as the edition has been the worst seller of the year so far, ouch for Ryan. Although, I like The Cut blog's assessment that it was probably more to do with Serena and Hope's dodgy nude swimsuits than the star swimmer. Plus, US Vogue went one better than any UK glossy by choosing actual Olympic athletes to grace their cover. Mr Lochte can also take consolation from the fact that US Vogue's bestselling star has been Adele on the March issue- she was British Vogue's worst selling cover girl last year.

American Vogue's worst selling June cover (image from nymag.com)

In other Lochte news, we can apparently expect a fashion line sometime soon. We already knew that Ryan has quite specific ideas about what he likes a girl to wear and now it seems he might be taking the matter into his own hands after his agent confirmed that there are a number of brands interested in collaborating with the swimmer on a fashion line. He's also looking at offers for reality TV shows. I think we can expect to see even more of Mr Lochte, not that I'm complaining.

One of the big fashion events in August is the unveiling of the look magazines have gone for on their August covers. This week, it's a battle of the blonde music stars in pink with Lady Gaga on US Vogue and Gwen Stefani for US Harper's Bazaar. Given that was relatively scarce on the catwalks, it's an interesting coincidence that both titles have gone for a similar look. Stefani's editorial, photographed by Terry Richardson, gives further leverage to the top knot trend (is that still a trend, or just a thing now?) while Gaga looks like a kind of cartoon mermaid.

Gwen Stefani in Alexander McQueen and top knot in Harper's Bazaar (image from harpersbazaar.com)

Gwen in Alexis Mabille custom hat (image from harpersbazaar.com)

Lion haired Gaga in custom Marc Jacobs on US Vogue's September issue (image from nymag.com)

And it may not have been released yet but Dazed and Confused's upcoming Azealia Banks cover has already caused controversy. It is seen to be so troublesome in fact that in some countries it won't get a place on the newsstands at all. The Dazed and Confused team tweeted:

Dazed and Confused ‏@DazedMagazine

Just been told our upcoming @AZEALIABANKS cover has been banned from 7 countries so far. Thank God for the Internet, huh?

Ouvrir

•  Répondre 
•  Retweeter 
•  Favori

Thank the lord indeed for the internet as if reports are to believed, Ms. Banks is pictured blowing up a bright pink (continuing the above theme) condom- the accompanying caption reads 'Azealia Banks blows up'. Obviously we haven't seen the cover- we have to wait til Monday- but surely the powers that be could have pretended Banks was just attempting a bubblegum blowing world record?

Naughty, moi? Another Azealia Banks cover (image from style.mtv.com)

SHOPPING NEWS #1: Browns, the independent London boutique responsible for launching the careers of   the likes of McQueen and Galliano, and Farfetch.com, the site which brings together designer pieces from boutiques across the world, are two FEAL favourites. As of this week, we can now shop Browns on Farfetch.com after a new partnership was announced which also includes Miami's The Webster. It's another milestone in the increasing importance of the being strategic about your online retail, as Francois Henri Pinault of PPR discussed in an interview about his digital strategy with Business of Fashion. He talks about making the online experience more luxurious by adding the option for fittings appointments to the e-tail sites of his brands, which include Gucci, Stella McCartney and Yves Saint Laurent.

SHOPPING NEWS #2: FYI the owner of Zara, Armancio Ortega, is now the third richest person in the world. That is probably because he gets a significant proportion of the monthly pay packet of women (and plenty of men) the world over.

A couple of dates for your diaries:

AUGUST 23rd: Louise Gray's collection for Topshop will be available online and in selected stores. There are six pieces of clothing to go alongside the beauty range which promises to be mega fun if Gray's bright and beautiful catwalk shows are anything to go by. I love what Louise has to say about the collection: "My mainline collections have always been about pushing optimism, colour and fun and I wanted to bring that to the Topshop collection as well. I want the Topshop girl to stay out all night in it!".

Sequins galore! Louise Gray x Topshop (image from vogue.co.uk)

AUGUST 17th-19th: I'll race you to the Sunspel Sample Sale, taking place from 10-7 at the Truman Brewery with up to 80% off their brilliantly designed, made in Britain basics, something for boys and girls alike.

VIDEO OF THE WEEK #1: We're all getting more and more interested in where and how what we wear is made. Now, purveyors of excellent sunnies RETROSUPERFUTURE have made a slightly science-y video showing us how their glasses are made. If you're into that sort of thing, it's quite mesmerising.

Manufacturing Super from retrosuperfuture on Vimeo.

VIDEO OF THE WEEK #2: Solange Knowles was this week announced at the new face J. Crew's younger sister Madewell- a match made in fashion heaven. The brand had to chose well if they were to match last year's collab with Alexa Chung. Here's a backstage video of Beyonce's little sister shooting the new campaign. I'm so happy I'm going to New York later in the year so I get some of this stuff for myself



FINALLY, most our favourite celebs are in hiding (Kristen Stewart) or cavorting on beaches, so  we're looking elsewhere for our fix of stylish people to ogle. Step forward Olympic athletes: it's the rhythmic gymnasts vs. the sychronised swimmers- any favourites?

Rhythmic gymnastics, Australia (image from telegraph.co.uk)

Rhythmic gymnastics, China (image from telegraph.co.uk

Rhythmic gymnastics, South Korea (image from telegraph.co.uk)

Rhythmic gymnastics, Uzbekistan (image from telegraph.co.uk)

Russian synchronised swimmers (image from zimbio.com)

British sychronised swimmers (image from olympic.org)

Sychronised swimmers from Ukraine (image from theweek.co.uk)

American synchronised swimmers (image from people.com)

THE FASHLYMPICS: SANYA RICHARDS ROSS AND DEE DEE TROTTER

Posted by Bethan Holt, Fashion Junior at Large

Dee Dee and Sanya (image from zimbio.com)

Last night, Sanya Richards Ross of Team USA won Gold in the 400m, yay for her! 
However, what she maybe doesn't know yet is that she and team mate Dee Dee
 Trotter (who took the Bronze) have been jointly awarded FEAL's Gold Medal for
 fusing fashion and the Olympics- they've won the Fashlympics. Sanya and Dee
 Dee put to serious shame those of us who skulk through our workouts in bare faces
 and old t-shirts through their utterly genius combination of regulation kit and 
personal style. They're like the girls at school who somehow manage to make
 their uniform look good. Obviously, not many people broadcast their exercise
 routines live to millions around the world so really we can understand why they
 put in the effort.

Sanya had the now ubiquitous patriotic nail art and both wore the equally everywhere
 fluoro trainers (of which more later in the week). But there was plenty more too. 
Dee Dee went one step better than nails and decorated her face with a sequinned 
stars and stripes motif which not only sparkled up the race track but meant that she
 looked appropriately fancy when she took to the podium to receive her medal 
rather than being the sweaty mess we have quite understandably become used to
 in the past week. You may remember how many comments were elicited by
  Lizzie Armitstead's pearl earrings which she wore to complete the 140km cycling
 road race last weekend, Sanya went one better and plumped for the interlocked Cs of
 Chanel for her ear adornment. Finally, and most impressive of all was Sanya's Azealia
 Banks-esque mermaid hair which she wore very long and loose. I'm no scientist, but surely
 she could have run a second or two faster had she not had that mane flowing behind her?
 This suggests that she was very happy to put personal style before her aerodynamics and 
feeling so confident she could win that no hair minimising measures were required. 

So, any girls out there who think that doing exercise means sacrificing looking good, 
may I present Sanya and Dee Dee, Gold and Bronze medallists AND Fashlympic
 champions....

Sanya's Chanel earrings (image from fashionista.com)

Hair like a mermaid, run like the wind (image from en.rian.ru)

Sanya Richards Ross does the Olympic nail art thing (image from theroar.com.au)

Dee Dee Trotter goes one better with her brilliant stars and stripes make-up (image from Zimbio.com)

OLYMPIC OPENING CEREMONY: THE FASHION INSPIRATIONS

Posted by Bethan Holt, Fashion Junior at Large

Wasn't the Olympics opening ceremony on Friday night brilliant? We were madly tweeting throughout the whole extravaganza and were so happy to see that the evening's costume designer Suttirat Anne Larlarb had commissioned NEWGEN designers Nasir Mazhar, Michael Van Der Ham and Christopher Shannon to create costumes for 350 dancers in the section which celebrated British music and culture- their studios are a stone's throw away from the Olympic park so it was a fitting nod to East London talent. 

Dancers at the Olympic Opening Ceremony in costumes by young Lodnon designers (image from vogue.co.uk)

A sketch of one of the dresses Michael Van Der Ham created
for the opening ceremony (image from vogue.co.uk)

The most diverse costumes of the night came from the athletes as they processed, nation by nation, into the Olympic stadium in a pageant which took almost two hours to unfold. There were some absolute howlers (hello Germany and Sweden) while most of the African nations looked completely magnificent. Our beady eyes noticed that a number of countries were wearing outfits not so very dissimilar to catwalk looks from recent seasons, so we've had some fun this morning...

COOK ISLANDS

The Cook Islands' batik prints, floral wreaths and leis were so cheerful but also reminded of a certain Mr Saunders' (who dressed Emeli Sandé for her rendition of Abide with Me) Spring/ Summer collection.

Jonathan Saunders SS12 (image from catwalking.com)

CUBA

The best outfits were those in the brightest colours and Cuba certainly delivered with their lemon blazers. As it happens, yellow has been a dominating hue in the latest Resort collections, with Valentino doing a particularly lovely version. 

Valentino Resort '13 (image from style.com)

GUYANA

The team from Guyana went for top-to-toe tailoring in their country colours. The whole look is coincidentally akin to Marc Jacobs Resort  collection.

Marc Jacobs Resort '13 (image from style.com)

LESOTHO

Ombré is such a massive trend right now that it's even spread to the remote African region of Lesotho, a favourite destination of Prince Harry's. The whole thing began on the Louis Vuitton SS12 catwalk. 

Louis Vuitton SS12 (image from catwalking.com)

MEXICO

The procession of Mexican athletes was a riot of eye popping colours and patterns. We know that Carven's Guillaume Henry took a "round the world" approach to his SS12 collection and this zig zag print is very Mexican. 

Carven SS12 (image from catwalking.com)

ESTONIA

There's a growing trend for plastering the name of your brand across your chest- see Kenzo and ACNE Resort. Estonia decided to do the same of Friday night.

Kenzo Resort '13 (image from style.com)

POLAND

Poland's female athletes went for a graphic floral pencil skirt to pep up their all white outfits. There's a not dissimilar piece in Preen's Resort offering.

Preen Resort '13 (image from style.com)

TEAM GB

Danny Boyle took us through a whole catalogue of very British things in his opening ceremony, from Mr Bean to Queen. He obviously couldn't find anywhere to slot in the national hero that is Jimmy Saville so Next, who were enlisted to design Team GB's outfits for the night, took it upon themselves to reference him in the tracksuits they made. We also noted the gold underarm patches which perhaps alluded to our gold medal ambitions, sweating gold already?

Team GB (image from Team GB's Facebook page)

Jimmy Saville works the high shine shell suit (image from digitalbungalow.co.uk)

Unless otherwise stated, all images of athletes are from USA Today and Zimbio