Wildlife Works

With the global traveller as inspiration, organic label Wildlife Works presented a casual and relaxed collection for spring/summer 2009, with a showcase of separates providing a highly commercial look.

Ruffles of soft silk were seen on sheer floaty tops and tiered dresses, safari shorts held their own alongside casual cargo-inspired jumpsuits, and linen dresses were a focus arriving in maxi-length loose-fit shapes, or thigh-skimming A-line styles.

Colours were muted in fawn, antique white, gold chartreuse and pale shades of blue and green offset by black. But it was the subtle prints that were a particular highlight, taking inspiration from tribal patterns on some styles, while incorporating an oversized embroidered paisley on others.

Written for Fashion Network WGSN September 08

Steve J & Yoni P

Drawing inspiration from architecture and fine art, Steve J and Yoni P presented a collection that incorporated sculptural frames and structural silhouettes this season. Elaborate origami-like pleats, folds and ruffled embellishment featured on tailored pencil skirts, columnar dresses or babydoll styles exaggerated by caged skirts.

English wool was juxtaposed with Italian silk, arriving in a palette that took influence from Danish painter Asger Jorn: orange, pink, blue and white formed the base, while a futuristic metallic mesh in both gold and silver acted as an accent.

Known for their eclectic styling, models were sent down the runway clutching stuffed toys and baskets of flowers, while butterflies and oversized spheres hung on their heads and off their hair, further cementing a feeling for the brand's trademark of modern quirkiness combined with cultural reference.

Written for Fashion Network site www.wgsn.com

Ipso Facto

Glamour goths Ipso Facto are rumoured to be designer Yves Saint Laurent's influence for their newest collection. With a sixties edge to their sultry style, it's no wonder the fat cats of the fashion and music world have sat up and listen. For those that know me however, I had my hair cut before I knew about them. Listen to their music on www.myspace.com/ipsofactomyspace.

Ipso Factor

Rumours have it that the designers at Yves Saint Laurent used glamour goths, Ipso Facto as inspiration for their new collection. With their sixties inspired hair, sultry looks and chic sense of style, they've made the fashion and music industry sit up and listen. Circle of Fifths and Ears and Eyes are two of their best tracks on My Space.
www.myspace.com/ipsofactomyspace

Why don’t you be a teacher?

After getting down to the final two for an editorial assistant position, I was very disappointed yesterday; when I found out I’d been pipped to the post by my competitor. A tearful conversation with my mum followed, with her saying, “why don’t you be a teacher”.
If ever there were a comment to pull me out of my sorrowful depression, this was it. Yes, of course I could go and be a teacher, civil servant or something equally as boring. It is in fact, without sounding superior, what a lot of struggling graduates end up doing, when the reality of chasing their dream slaps them in the face. But after 3 years of studying for a degree, and further 2 years of struggling towards my goal, I’m not quite ready to give up yet.
I remember being around seven or eight years old when I wanted to be a ballet dancer, farmer and author. I can still say that at the age of 24, the ballet and farming went out the window but writing is still there as the only real thing I want to do in life.
The only problem is that getting in to a competitive industry is bloody hard, but only makes it even more attractive. The job I went for paid a pitiful £12,000 but the interview process was still followed by a writing test and a nerve wracking 3 week wait. To then find out you haven’t got it, is just very, very depressing.
They say that good things come to those who wait, and hopefully that also rings true for those prepared to work their arses off – for free no less, all for the sake of their art. In the mean time I will carry on the path to following what I really want in life, and as the debt gets bigger and the dream even harder to obtain, I’ll keep the fear of becoming a teacher firmly in sight.

The Do

Since my move to London I have been plagued by trendy hairdressers with asymmetrical hair and European accents. They chase you down the street, approach you in Topshop and see mug written all over your face. They spot the northern twang in your accent and promise you of modelling jobs and easy money- a mistake I will pay for over the next four or five months.
So, I had already been approached by a smooth talking, Romanian hairdresser and had managed to turn his offers down. “But you have great face,” he says. “Please won’t you think about it, I will make you look great”. Mullets must be big in Romania right now.
A victim to my own vanity I accepted, ignoring any shred of common sense I had. As I walked through the flashy doors and greeted the trendy receptionist I thought, “It’ll be fine, they know what their doing. Boots sell their shampoo”.
Three hours later, I was still sat in the executions chair staring at my deranged reflection. “Stop, Stop,” I cried as he came towards me with an electric razor. “You must calm down, you are so stressed” he told me firmly. “I can’t stop now, it will be unbalanced”. With half my hair above my ears and the rest lying in straggly rat tails to my shoulders, I looked like an extra from Lord of the rings. “I don’t like it,” I said as the Creative Director poofed around me making effeminate comments such as “It’s gorgeous, wonderful, and really effective”. I looked as though I’d suffered a moment of madness and hacked at my hair with a pair of kitchen scissors. I would have fitted in famously on the set of ‘This is England’.
With tears threatening to stream from my eyes, the hairdresser took several pictures of me while a group of his colleagues cooed and complimented me. With the face of a surly child, I repeated, “I don’t like it, I look awful”. I then decided I’d had enough and put on my coat. “So you’re going then?” he asked. As I told the hairdresser, I am a writer, not a model.
One of the worst parts of this sorrowful story is the fact that I work opposite the salon. I’m now in a predicament similar to that of seeing an ex everyday. We exchange awkward hellos and I sometimes even hide. The situation is not ideal.

Portobello Road

When I decided to visit Portobello market on a blustery bank holiday Friday, I was open minded and excited. My only point of reference so far was Hugh Grant’s Notting Hill and a brief memory of Geri Halliwell buying her infamous union jack dress there in the nineties.
The streets have traits of Glastonbury festival, with its rich cosmopolitan influences, incense burning and independent stores. It’s refreshing not to see a H and M or Topshop and enter into a world that advocates originality, English eccentricity and style. Portobello road oozes it from every nook and cranny.
The market offers countless stalls that sell everything from exotic jewellery, ex military jackets and intricately painted pottery. The place has an amazing sense of self about it, and is somewhere you really want to dive in and be a part of.
Of course, there are the scensters, the trendies and the yuppies, who might I add have latched on to this plastic coloured sunglasses trend a little too hard. I counted at least seven of its victims on a twenty-metre stretch.But then there are the locals, the stall holders, and the people running the kids club at the church. These are the people that make a place like Notting Hill great. They bring a collaboration of races, cultures, ages and classes, bringing the global eateries, amazing collections of dusty records and vintage clothes. They made this a place the scensters want to be seen in and the tourists want to visit, and what a big mish mash of a place it really is. But, gosh, didn’t they do a good job

Art on the underground

Has anyone seen thos posters on the underground that say "If you don't like your life then change it"?
I love it. I would like to have it as a poster to stick on my bedroom wall for whenever I'm having a bad day. Does anyone know anymore about art on the underground?