LFW S/S15

I've wrote about some of my favourite collections from London Fashion Week. Like my NYFW post, I am quite late when publishing this, however it doesn't matter because it's not S/S15 until next year!

Georgia O'Keeffe's own personal style (of clothing not painting) was the main concept behind Eudon Choi's S/S15 collection which was shown on the first day of London Fashion Week. When comparing a photograph of the artist to the clothes on the catwalk, you will recognise that any of these garments could have come from a modern O'Keefe's wardrobe. I am quite interested as to why Choi had chosen her as his main inspiration as opposed to a well known style icon. Maybe he looks up to her as an artist, or maybe he wants to show her as an individual behind all of her paintings or maybe he feels as though her style would fit in comfortably within the trends of today. It's possible that all of these reasons are correct, however one thing I do know is that Eudon Choi approached this season with pure originality and he did certainly encapsulate both the masculine dressing of O'Keefe and the femininity that she portrayed within her art. The show started off with some men's inspired, black tailoring in the form of loosely fitted blazers and skirts. Almost immediately after, these garments were followed by two slouchy dresses made out of smooth, shiny fabric, one of which was a pastel pink and the other a baby blue. Black tailoring quickly followed. Throughout the entire show, the changes of structure and colour tones within the garments purposefully continued to signify the two characteristics that were part of O'Keefe's aesthetic. The lighter garments developed into white and pink floral prints whereas the darker apparel grew looser and baggier in a comfortably stylish kind of way. The assortments occasionally crossed paths, for instance, a densely collared, black jacket featured a soft-hued patch on its right breast, whereas flimsy, asymmetrically hemmed dresses combined both the colour black and a white, repetitive flower print.
All in all, the designer is still keeping to his origins of menswear tailoring whilst developing his own approach to the 'girlier' side of womenswear. This very strong collection explored talents in both of these areas.

Oversized, leather floppy hats took social media sites Twitter and Instagram by storm this season. The culprit responsible for this trend was JW Anderson. The hats establish the definite key themes running through the designer's assemblage as they incorporate both oversizing and leather. Oversized, curved lapels that were bounded with black leather could be seen on a shortened, trench coat. Enlarged metallic buttons and jigsaw piece chokers sparsely populated the collection, whilst leather appeared in the form of crinkled, elbow-length gloves and as full garments. Leather corsetry was additionally layered over the top of knitted, just-above-the-knee dresses. The designer himself described the collection as 'suspended architecture'. The structural features of many garments fit this description perfectly. For example, a piece of material had been designed to hang over the shoulder as opposed to be fitted and abstract shapes hung down the front of many attire.
For me, this is one of my favourite collections of the S/S15 fashion shows so far. I do have an admiration of floppy hats and leather, however there was something more to the collection which set it apart from the usual.

Richard Nicoll captured the attention of many by sending a 'tinkerbell' dress down his runway. If you don't know which dress I'm on about then you definitely have some fashion week catching up to do. Futuristic, fibre optic threads appeared on many slinky, seductive, slip dresses giving the show a magical ambience. The dresses, especially the acclaimed finale piece, could be described as having a characteristic of an enchanted jellyfish. The collection may seem too surreal to be practical, however, the garments could definitely be worn as eveningwear and in most cases, daywear. Satins and sheer fabrics had been crafted into delicate, lightweight dresses that were held up with spaghetti straps. The collection included metallics (anything metallic I will wear) and edgy, chunky knitwear combinations whilst also experimenting with ginghams in new ways of blazers and overalls with low-waisted cut outs. Subtle coloured chiffons and organzas created sculptured halter neck dresses and had a subtle paisley print vibe on the go. The compilation has been expressed as easy going with a new direction. Although a lot of different textures and materials have made up the collection, I still feel as though it can be summarised as having a gentle and graceful approach to the future of fashion. 

Every season I look forward to seeing what designer Mary Katrantzou has to offer. With good reasoning too. Her dresses aren't simply just dresses, they are pieces of art. The amount of effort and detail Katrontzou puts into her designs is extremely admirable. 
Katrantzou has recently steered away from her usual colourful printing techniques and is now experimenting with embroidery and appliqué. Her garment close ups from a/w14 stresses just how much detail can be woven into one small piece of fabric with so much colour and layering. Her brand is certainly taking a new direction, and I absolutely love the new Mary Katrantzou.
Geography is her key theme for S/S15. Yep, geography is now cool. Pangaea, the supercontinent that formed over 300 million years ago featured in this collection. Why? Maybe because Mary Katrantzou has established her brand over these past five years so well that she  is now so globally famous that it would be rude not to make a statement out of this achievement.
Her collection started off in neutral tones and slowly developed into densely packed, multi-coloured embroidery. Sheer fabrics were used to separate 'Pangaea' and additionally, prehistoric creatures are embedded into her beautiful textile artworks. In terms of garments, short skirts with a split at the thigh, trousers with sheens, elongated, tulle skirts, and long sleeved shift dresses dominated the catwalk. A fan of colour or not, everyone is in love with this collection.

This is quite a long blog post, but I'm going to stop here or else I'll be writing a short novel. Thanks for reading! xx

NYFW S/S15

I have decided to break down New York Fashion Week (Spring/Summer 2015) into short summaries of my favourite collections. Although I am quite late in posting this, I thought NYFW has been amazing, possibly better than ever.

Firstly I will start with Jason Wu. He is the guy known for dressing Michelle Obama at the very young age of 26 (correct me if that's wrong) and since then he has had extreme amounts of attention. This is no surprise because his designs are impeccably beautiful in a very subtle way. 

The tones in which he has used for S/S15 start off in earthy shades, however, as the collection progresses, Wu encounters denser colours of navy and he has draped sassy, sparkling fabric into luxurious evening gowns. The two floor length gowns shown at the end are my particular favourites. The designer has also experimented with textured, translucent fabric using the monochrome colours of black and white. The fabric is quite an interesting feature and I am counting it to be one of the key trends next Summer. 

The garments that I would most likely have in my wardrobe (if I could afford them) came from Prabal Gurung, the designer from Nepal. His colour palette included white (at the start) and greyish-blues (at the end). The garments shown in the second half of the show were exquisite. Immense amount of detail was embedded through prints and textures. The designer played around with frills making them appear like never before - I hate the thought of frills however I would definitely wear these dresses! I have posted photos from this show on my Instagram feed (@beccanaughton1). 

Alexander Wang is set to release his clothing line for H&M this Autumn (which will no doubt sell out within hours). His S/S15 collection has surely shown no disappointment. I would 100% wear most of the garments sent down the catwalk and usually I am not that into the sporty aesthetic that Wang is famous for most. He encorporated sharp tailoring in the form of blazers and amazing trousers into his clothes, as well as including the well known sportswear inspiration. He has captured both workwear and sportswear in one outfit. 

Many eager Victoria Beckham fans tuned in to the live streaming of her S/S15 show on the Sunday of NYFW. I waited patiently for her show to begin to find out that I'd actually missed it (Well done me!).

However, I did immediately scoured through the internet, finding photographs from the show! She's not only soon to open her first store at London's Dover Street in Mayfair, but within this collection she has displayed her first shoe line which includes pointy cowboy shoes (some featuring pink appliqué flowers) and platforms. Clothes-wise, Beckham chose her iconic midi dresses and military inspired coats mostly in subtle colours apart from the bright, pink, flowery jacket. 

Victoria revealed that her collection was designed to establish her brand, making references to past collections and her staple pieces.

Diane Von Furstenberg displayed clothes that can only be named as 'The Perfect Summer Wardrobe'. For anybody, may I add. It included enlarged gingham prints and flirty, fun frocks. She started with monochrome colours, in which garments with a beautiful print of a tree appeared. She swiftly moved onto girly pinks and oranges, which resulted in Naomi Campbell closing the show in a lovely, 'cute' dress featuring double-layered frills at the hem. AFterwards, DVF appeared all smiley and happy to greet her friends wearing a green, printed shirt dress from the collection (every single shirt dress was pure luxury and I envy anybody who gets to wear one). I am not very girly, however I would happily wear every one of these garments! 

Marc By Marc Jacobs (Luella Bartley and Katie Hillier's second fashion week) displayed a collection of latex leggings and cropped, bright, binded jackets with bold prints. It's said to be inspired by house music and they additionally opened the show with the song 'My House'. Luella and Katie are certainly establishing their vision for the brand from an early point in their reign, and seem to have nailed a street-style based theme already. 

Thank you for reading all that, a London Fashion Week post will be on it's way soon! 

I haven't posted photographs due to copyright circumstances. 

Piet Mondrian

I visited the Tate art gallery in Liverpool last week to view the currently ongoing exhibition 'Mondrian and his studies'.

The exhibition is focused on the artist Piet Mondrian's life which takes you on a journey through the different stages and movements he made. From Holland he moved to France and changed his last name Mondriaan to the more Parisian-sounding 'Mondrian' (the deduction of the 'a' made a lot of difference) and studied there for many years. (The artist did move back to Holland for WW1, but returned to Paris when the war was over.)

Following Paris the artist moved to London however he only stayed in this location for a short period of time before leaving for New York two years later. He died in Manhattan in 1944 aged 71. 

The artist not only made changes to his location in life, but he constantly messed around with the arrangements of composition in his famous primary coloured block paintings. He seemingly did not feel comfortable staying in one place for too long whether that would be through painting or the way he lived.  

Above is a model of what one of Piet Mondrian's study looked like. 

Below is a picture of a Mondrian inspired shift dress designed by Yves Saint Laurent in 1965. The dress is part of the Mondrian collection and is made of silk crepe. 

'Mondrian and his Studies' is on until the 5th October 2014 at Liverpool's Tate Art Gallery. 

Today I'm wearing..

Double denim! Topshop crop, black jeans and jewellery all my own. The top's probably too short (sorry) but oh well it's Summer. 

I'm wearing a necklace that my boyfriend bought for me and I don't usually wear it but I'm growing to like finer jewellery and I think it looks really nice with this top as it doesn't make my outfit look overly done.

I've opened an online shop!

I've been wanting to open an online shop for a while now to sell things that I design and make. I thought that with it being the Summer holidays now is the perfect time. 

My shop is found on Etsy (think Ebay with a creative edge and handmade goods) and is named PAISLEYELEPHANTSTALL (take a look now if you want, the link is found below). I wanted my stall to have a theme quite different to my own personal style of design and art (which is pretty dark) so therefore after being inspired by one of my favourite musicians, Jimi hendrix, and the bohemian side of Kate Moss' style, the shop is focused on colour, patterns and detail (lots of beads, fringing and sequins!). 

To start off, I have made six unique bracelets created with satin ribbon and embellishments such as beads, sequins and embroidery which surround the main feature of a patterned button found in the centre. I've decided to create small items and accessories such as these bracelets as a starting point to the shop and as I progress with designs and direction I will eventually move on to clothing (the most exciting part!).

I have no intentions of making a profit through the shop so I will try and price my items at a low cost. The reason behind setting it up was to give myself more experience as a seller selling online and as a designer designing in a different kind of style to what I am used to. (Although I would be made up if the shop sold one item at least!)

These bracelets are all priced at £3. If you're interested visit the shop: 

https://www.etsy.com/shop/PAISLEYELEPHANTSTALL

Follow the Instagram account too: PAISLEYELEPHANTSTALL 

Fashion blogger post featuring quite tight shorts

I thought I'd start blogging my outfits as it's something I've wanted to do for a while to play with my own personal style and I've been inspired by other fashion bloggers. 

Today's outfit consists of a fancy shirt from Resurrection (a vintage inspired boutique on Liverpool's Bold Street), shorts from Forever 21 (quite a risk seeing how tight they are), one vintage ring, one ring from Amsterdam, a Gustav Klimt inspired phone case from Giant Sparrows (Klimt is one of my favourite artists), a pair of brogues from ASOS and an Art Nouvea inspired necklace.

Barbarella

A couple of months ago I wore a Barbarella inspired outfit that I forgot to blog about. For those who don't know, Barbarella is the main character played by Jane Fonda in the late sixties in the film 'Barbarella Queen of the Galaxy'. 

A great part of the sixties was influenced by the first man in history to step on the moon which meant that designs in fashion and home interior entailed space-age and futuristic elements. Barbarella was a film created on the same inspirations. 

Barbarella wore a lot of metallic clothing and interstellar embellishments. This inspired my to purchase the asymmetric, metallic skirt seen in the picture below. 

Skirt:ASOS, Crop Top: Topshop, Lipstick:Maybelline, Sandals: Topshop, Phone Case: Topshop