80s-tastic Jale & Ulfire

I've got that Friday feeling (at last!) and so today I am celebrating all things print.  Expect crazy colours and purrrfect patterns from some of my press days from last week.  Like these amazing(ly chavtastic) Jale & Ulfire shell-suit fabric pieces.  This material really has to be seen to be believed - it has such an unusual texture, a bit like semi-transparent shiny paper (imagine spilling oil on filter paper) and the 80s colouring is so bad it's good.  Just don't stand near any naked flames. 

And for those of you who are wondering, the name of the brand comes from the colours described in the novel A Voyage to Arcturus by David Lindsay:

 "Just as blue is delicate and mysterious, yellow clear and unsubtle, and red sanguine and passionate, so he felt ulfire to be wild and painful [and] jale [to be] dreamlike, feverish, and voluptuous."

You never stop learning.
xxx
Duck 

A very special invitation

So you have probably realised I'm not exactly the King (Queen...) of the Great British Highstreet, as Gok likes to call it.  Case in point, I sleep in a House of Holland slogan tee-shirt (well, what else are they good for now?), my favourite accessory is a lurid green organza Issey Miyake bow-tie, and today I am wearing head-to-toe Castelbajac to work in a theoretical materials science office.  BUT I was very very excited when I opened up this invitation to the Arcadia Group press day next week, because I am in fact a secret lover of Topshop/Topman.  When I was a teenager, Topman was full of what looked (to me at least) like cheaply-made clothes for boys with very little style (hoodies in thin fabrics, straight-leg stone-washed jeans and t-shirts with almost offensively garish prints).  But in the past couple of years, the brand has grown up and collaborations with designers like Mjolk and Carolyn Massey have completely won me over.  And then there is the Topman Ltd brand offering special capsule collections of very affordable, and yet covetable items, as well as Topman Design which shows at LFW and is starting to create, rather than follow, fashion trends.  Just this month alone I have picked up some fabulous black wool wrist warmers and some grey marl oversized long-johns.  Their website is updated so regularly that I only allow myself to look at it once a fortnight. 

Turning to Topshop, the list of successful collaborations is seemingly endless: Ann-Sofie Back, Ashish, KTZ, Meadham Kirchoff...  All this means I'm more than happy to turn a blind eye to Kate Moss's overrated collection.  And of course there is the Topshop version of Topman's Design: Topshop Unique.  A fashion article about Topshop couldn't also fail to mention the whole Topshop/NewGen collaboration with the British Fashion Council and the Topshop show venue during LFW, allowing the brand to support many of the up-and-coming designers I hold dear to my heart. 

So let's just say I more than a little keen to see what these two great brands have in store for us next season.  And who knows - maybe they'll also be able to convert me to other highstreet shops...?           

xxx
Duck

House of Flora SS11

The only way to beat the gale force winds sweeping the nation today and keep your 'do intact is to try out one of these faaahhbulous headpieces (or you could just take a taxi into the office like I opted for this morning...).  Taking the idea of wigs to the next dimension, I absolutely love House of Flora's rigid felt creations.  And not just for Halloween - I'd be quite happy popping down to Waitrose in one of these (though maybe not Tesco's...).  There are also some Haus-of-Gaga style sunglasses.  I just wonder - where do they go from here?  And when will they start producing accessories for other brands?  I can totally see collaborations with Jean-Charles de Castelbajac or Ágatha Ruíz de la Prada, or even, dare I say it, La Gaga herself...

xxx
Duck

PPQ - Fancy a fez or two?

Now you probably know I'm not the biggest fan of PPQ.  Not just because they like to leave me standing out in the cold on a six-monthly basis, but also because of the collections(here and here).  Having said that, I would rather like Santa to send me over a pretty little fez for Christmas... 

xxx
Duck

Snow SS11 Press Day: Fanny & Jessy

Good morning on this frosty day!  I thought I'd spice up your and my wintry week with a quick look at playful Fanny and Jessy,a brand I have heard a lot about but never really taken a close look at until last week.  The eponymous pair (who both studied at LCF) have worked for hot London stylist-cum-designer Nova Dando as well as Parisian Anastasia & Duck favourite, Jean-Charles de Castelbajac.  Their young street look has a masculine/unisex edge to it which is so London right now (probably why it was picked up for the Queen of ugly-sexy herself, Lady Gaga, for her tour this year).  For next season they have gone mental with the metal chains, embellishing shell-suit type jackets and leathers trousers to the point of no return.  The trousers seriously weigh a tonne - I really think La Gaga is the only woman on the planet who could be bothered to wear them for longer than 10 minutes, but the rest of the collection is really fun and surprisingly wearable despite first appearances.  Personal favourite?  The sheer black blouse/body which would be great over a 90s crop-top/sports bra. 

xx
Duck

Snow SS11 Press Day: Joanne Hynes

Joanne Hynes is an Irish graduate of CSM who has been making waves with her designs across the water in her native Ireland.  Despite having dressed fashion celebs like Jacquetta Wheeler and Daphne Guinness I'm pretty sure you can only find her wares in Dublin right now, although I'm also guessing she'll be stocked in the UK soon since she was showing at the Snow press day.  Not all the pieces were really my kind of thing - a little bit too commercial or, dare I say it, sometimes frumpy - but there was something eye-catching about this black and gold bustier below and the one-shouldered sweep of fabric across the black lace dress.  The chunky jewellery is very different and actually quite wonderful - large statement pieces à la Marni, encrusted with gems, beading and threads galore.  I would be very happy with a necklace like that... 

xx
Duck

Snow SS11 Press Day: Pam Hogg

Another designer I was happy to see at the Snow press day was Pam Hogg, to whose show at LFW I had been very kindly invited, but had to miss because of my favourite personal development course in Oxford... Cough...  Anyway, I was certainly in for a surprise!  Pam is well known for her fluorescent and metallic catsuits but it seemed to me she had changed tack completely as I was presented with a collection of very commercial accessories in buff canvas and brown leather with gold fastenings.  Don't get me wrong, these were not unpleasant - I am actually very keen on the double-handled satchel with buckles - but it was certainly not what I was expecting.  However, going through the rest of the collection, this accessories line started to make a little more sense.  The straps, for example, also crop up on coats and jumpsuits which would be well-suited to ye olde fashioned insane asylum (did anyone else dream of being a character in Girl Interrupted or The Bell Jar as a teen?) and certainly have more of Hogg's flare for the dramatic.  There were, however, also the classic metallic pieces (here with floaty chiffon sleeves attached) and some stretchy items with a wood-like digital print.  As a whole, the collection was disjointed and lacked any cohesive thread, but I can certainly see that Pam is trying to step out of her rock-and-roll comfort zone, and I like where it's going...

xx
Duck

Snow SS11 Press Day: Violet Darkling

I was really quite excited to see Violet Darkling's jewellery at the Snow press office because I had come across them the evening before in Wolf & Badger and had completely forgotten the name, even though I had attempted to take some blurry (aka tipsy) photos on my phone.  For some, the rose gold tinge of these pieces might be a little bit tacky in its shininess, but for me (after maybe a month or two of hard wear to soften the sheen), these animalistic trinkets are gothic gems.  The skulls are a little reminiscent of McQueen jewellery, but the bears, tigers and organic additions help to carve out an individual look for the brand.  I shall certainly be heading back to Westbourne Grove sometime soon to give the necklaces and rings a test-drive...

Also stocked in Harvey Nichols.

Grrrrr
Duck
xx

Wolf & Badger

On Wednesday night Anna and I headed over to a fancy dress party at a relatively new store just off Westbourne Grove, Wolf & Badger.  The theme was obviously Halloween-related, but the party really served to launch their next season of up-and-coming designers, who can change up to every three months in the store.  Some of the costumes were quite incredible, especially milliner Louis Mariette's entourage, whose extravagant headpieces were matched with expert make-up and even a full-on wedding dress.  There was also a female Uncle Karl and a piece of walking, talking roadkill.  Naturally, the store owners themselves came dressed as a wolf and a badger (who was particularly cute).  Both Anna and I wore Castelbajac; me, a duck (well, of course!) and she, a kooky clown.  We also bumped into a tipsy Amy Jackson (of Big Brother fame), an artist we studied with at Oxford and who has modelled for Anna's jewellery company.  I had never been over to the store before, which opened in February this year, but I will certainly be going back considering the wonderful mish-mash of designers, and some truly fabulous accessories including those solid metal skulls...

Many thanks for inviting us to the party!
xx
Duck

The day of a thousand press...errr...days

 
OK so I didn't really go to a thousand press days, but I did arrange to take yesterday off work to go to four press events I really wanted to check out - BLOW, Snow, Exposure and ASOS. Even though I only did four press days, this was still pretty exhausting (also fitting in an early Christmas shopping trip and seeing an art film by one of Meera's tutors at Goldsmiths) and I have a massive memory card stuffed with photos of SS11 pieces to show you! Here is a just a taster of what's to come - I'm going to try and have one blog post per designer/brand since there are so many things I'm excited about. Also, I'll need to wait a little while before showing what ASOS has in store for you because they want to keep the press under wraps until after their American preview day.  How many of the brands do you recognise...?

I just had time to finish off the day with dinner at Yauatcha with Anna, Meera and Chris.  Chris and Meera had the special meal for two, I had a few vegetarian pieces and Anna had...a lychee martini.  Gotta love the bright green mushroom dumplings!

xx
Duck