Chain after chain . . .

This girl I spotted in a fantastic haberdashery/fabric shop down Dearing Street.

www.macculloch-wallis.co.uk

Check it out if you like to make beautiful clothing. The main reasons for this blog was the shop assistant. Her neck was draped with an assortment of necklaces, mainly chains, in a variety of gold and silver. Many people would agree these two types of metallics don't ordinarily work together. But I believe this shop assistant has pulled it off rather superbly.

It has given me a sudden erge to trek round Brick Lane in search for some lost jewellery treasure.

Photo shoot for Ted Baker S/S 11 collection

The Ted Baker team of House of Fraser, Oxford St, decided to get together one sunny Sunday morning and take some shots of their favourite outfits for this summers seasons collection.

www.tedbaker.com

Ted Baker new summer season prints

Being a bit of a print diva I have found the Ted Baker design brand has really cought my eye with the diversity of print styles and techniques all rolled into one season. Here are some examples . . . .

Mirror Imaging

The is mirror image print is of photographs from a woodland stream. Print named 'enchanted forest'. The print has been mirrored then flipped upside down. So at first it is rather hard to suss out exactly what you are lookng at, this I like to think is a good thing. Mirror imaging is starting to become overused but it is still refreshing to see a simply beautiful piece created.

Hand drawn
At the opposite end of the digi mirror print is use of hand drawing. Below is my favourite print out of the all. I find the colour pallette refreshing. This mint green colour hasn't been used very much recently so maybe it's time for a come back?

The cut is simple however the attention to detail, green piping around the waist band and pockets, highlights the print and emitts a unique radience. The colour pallette also allows a wide range of block coloured tops to be matched.


Placement
Hummingbirds always look beautiful whatever you put them on. However I think this placement could have been done a bit more skillfully. Perphaps going around the body opposed to being just positioned at the front of the dress?

Traditional
The floral print will never die out as it's audience is still as strong today as it was 100 years ago. this year Ted Baker hunted for vintage prints and this is their own take on their research.

And of course all foral prints have to go some form of frilly top, scarf or hand bag. This print has a wide market, striking through all ages. So it's no wonder Ted Baker hasn't demolished using tradiotional florals just yet.

www.tedbaker.com

Author Shoes

One early Saturday morning on my stroll through central I noticed a shoe shop I had never seen before. And being a keen bee on shoes I found myself being quite shocked by unknown building. The name of the shop was called Author.

The interiors consisted of antique images lining the walls with old type writers, vases and such other objects dotted amongst their delightful range of shoes. At first I believed it to be a boutique but soon found out there are more dotted around London.

www.authorshoes.com

The pair of shoes that truly caught my eye were some Melissa red ankle boot jellies. As I was unable to acquire my own personal photo of the beauties I have a reference from their website to show you.

Melissa - The red shoes

This shoe has been created through a collaboration with Gaetano Pesce, a renowned Italian architect designer. The design allows you to individually tailor the shoe to your preference. Each circle can easily snipped off with a pair of scissors to suit your desired creation.

I am undecided wether I would take a pair of scissors to such unique shoes. 

Would you?

Mary Katrantzou - The art of print

I man said to me once that the usage of print in fashion is just a fad. Everything comes and goes and print will come to the end of its cycle again. My reaction first reaction was stunned silence. How can a man be so narrow minded about he evolution of fashion? My next reaction was to pity this man when it dawned on me that he didn't have the skill to create such beautiful art work, hand drawn or digital. Therefore  took upon himself to shun the world of the print artists.

Yes the style of print goes round in cycles. Digital print is still swimming at the peak of its cycle. With, personally, Mary Katrantzou as the leader for this seasons A/W 11 collection. Lets celebrate the beauty that is being spilled on to the catwalks and anticipate what is to come next for the print world.

'The woman in the room' is the core idea for this collection. Katrantzou imagines the woman as a connoisseur, surrounded by beautiful objects.

This collection to me proves that it is possible to combine any colour combination, pattern and theme together. Of course great skill  and hard work allows these beautiful combinations to collaborated.  Mary Katrantzou's collection proves, in my opinion, that fashion produces two of the key ingredients every human mind needs. 

Beauty and art. Everything else follows after this.

www.marykatrantzou.com

Pierre Garroudi A/W 11 Collection - Back stage scenes

Pierre Garroudi A/W 11 Collection - more images from the show.

www.pierregarroudi.com 

Photo shoot in Beaconsfield - miniature town

The summer was going to end when I went to Beaconsfield. Along with a great team, we went back to English town 80 years ago, which was an amazing experience, especially that everything was so tiny...

Hundreds of kids, brought by parents to have some fun before the school starts again, wrrrr :), were ideally composed with the little buildings. That all was making me feel like being in some kind of Wonderland. Thanks to fantastic workers, we got the permission to cross the fence and STEP ON THE GRASS!!! I was so happy but at the same time really worried that our little onlookers will start joining us. :)) Luckily we avoided that disaster as patient parents answered all of their questions regarding their eventual accompanying. We got a small room where we could set up and start prepping. 

                                            2 in 1 model and make up artist :) both GREAT!!!

As models at my photo shoots usually play roles of strong, powerful and quite edgy women, this time was similar. Is there any better place to show off your power than small cute model village? Beaconsfield was perfect. Collecting wardrobe for the shoot I picked up mostly leather, latex stuff, studded belts, high heels etc, all in black. Kids were getting more and more excited, hearing some strange noises coming from our room, gathered and started peeping through the window. The model was ready, having on all over black, quite strong make up, leather, studds etc, looked some kind of scary, comparing to little ones wearing colourful outfits. Being quite afraid of the crowd reaction, we left the room, moving towards the actual square. Passing by kids, we heard lots of "ohh ahh", then suddenly 2 little girls said to the model "You look like a princess" We were melted. Kids know best but do really princesses look like that?? 

                                                  

                                        
 I was amazed how detailed was the town, look at this little train going around                  

We all were going very well but Stefano - hair stylist didn't feel fulfilled as the second model didn't turn up, he couldn't do much styling. After sometime he realised that I have got potential to replace her. Or maybe my long hair was asking him for some styling??? lol Anyway I agreed to make him happy and decided to have some fun and try some modelling. 

                                                    

                                                      

Black sheep :)

   No doubt about who rules the town :)

One of the most amazing things about styling is that there are never 2 exactly the same shoots, but it doesn't mean than some people will never use the same location. A few months later I got a vintage British Vogue issue, December 2006 and I found a picture of one of my favourite models - Erin O'Connor , which was taken by one of my favourite photographers - Mario Testino. 

 Setting of the picture looks familiar :))) What more, Erin posed exactly in the same spot 4 years earlier :)) (Fate or pure coincidence??? lol ) Anyway maybe Erin helped with building, (good for her), but I rule the town :) lol

:))))