'Making Connections' E/P Project

Wednesday, 12 March 2008

Bite Me

Cliché as it is to quote Old Blue Eyes, it’s surely true that many a fashion designer has spied the financial success of designers showing in New York and cried, “I want to be a part of it”. There is little about New York that screams struggling designer or insufficient commercial profit. If you’re looking for money, New York is where it is.

The tricks turned to make this fashionable wallet bulge are the simplest in the book ― the mastered art of making clothes desirable, sellable, wearable. Yet nowhere has this down to a perfectly cut T like the Big Apple. In the current economic state of the flailing dollar, New York flexes its commercial muscles to capitalise on retail sales.

On the catwalks, the pulse of New York is sleek, chic and effortless, but I struggle to believe that Derek Lam, Marchesa, Calvin Klein or even Marc Jacobs, who form part of the core of this apple, are what make it so juicy. What gets me excited about New York fashion is when I hear about Consignment Stores or playful ‘Dropping’ escapades which come across as anti-establishment in the most thrilling way.

Catwalk coverage makes me feel like I’m watching New York with blinkers on, guided towards established brands and struggling to see beyond financial foreplay and celebrity rife front rows. There is no denying that New York produces some of the most beautiful, coveted garments in the world, but I’m betting that behind the fashion staples lies something a little fruitier.

Sunday, 24 February 2008

Playing to Our Strengths

England has always managed to breed eccentrics – from George III to Amy Winehouse – there is something in our culture that allows the inner oddball to flourish. It is this climate that has translated to the catwalk and made the London fashion scene the eclectic and exciting jungle of new talent that it is today, where any personality, no matter how unusual, can be expressed through clothing.

This open minded approach to fashion has been cultivated with the help of Fashion East which, under the directorship of Lulu Kennedy, has launched such names as Louise Gray, Marios Schwab, Roksanda Ilincic and Gareth Pugh. In addition to this, designers like Christopher Kane in particular, have helped draw focus back to London by proving that the fresh, sometimes unconventional, and formerly unknown, can be most breathtaking.

London is exciting because it is a city where new things happen. As a fashion capital, it is constantly building on a reputation of welcoming quirky new designers with open arms before supplying them with a platform to showcase their wonders to the world. Other fashion capitals boast their own merits, but nowhere breaks a quirky young thing like London.

http://www.fashioneast.co.uk

Tuesday, 29 January 2008

An Introduction

It was a long-standing adoration of fashion that drew me to the FJN course, though admittedly now it is journalism that has become my first love. I write because it allows me to express the thoughts I never quite manage to articulate in conversation ― when I write I'm at wittiest and most intelligent, or so I like to think. However, fashion will always have the sort of hold over me that, one day, will leave me with the window cleaning bills for removing several inches of drool from the glossy exteriors of designer shops my bank manager prohibits me from entering. The designers that keep me salivating most on a regular basis are Nicholas Ghesquiere and Christopher Bailey.

I draw inspiration from news stories, art exhibitions, books I've read, and anything topical I can relate to fashion, always trying to make connections between fashion and other aspects of culture and life. I've been fortunate enough to travel widely and last year completed work experience at a couple of publications in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. I've also indulged my interest in travel recently by working with Wallpaper* City Guides. Having briefly been to New York once before I'm really excited about developing connections with everyone at Parsons and discovering more about the life and style of a fabulous city.

Thursday, 24 January 2008

Other E/P Project Members' Blogs

'Making Connections' E/P Project - Nicky Ashwell