Elephant Invasion

Elephants have arrived in London! There are 258 in total, in a parade from Heathrow to Greenwich. In an big initiative both to celebrate the Asian elephant and to draw attention to the fact that it is under serious threat of extinction,  conservationist Mark Shand has devised this show and hopes to raise much-needed money by auctioning them off on July 3rd . I apologise for the occasional dodgy shot, I was in a moving vehicle for some of them.

Also this will be my last post for a week or so…. I’m off to Bali tonight, really looking forward to some R&R although the weather report says rain and 30C  so not great for the hair but at least I can catch up on my reading, and swimming in the rain has to be one of life’s great pleasures. Have a good week.

Browns: 40 Years of Fashion Innovation

I went to see  this exhibition created to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Browns today and it exceeded expectations. The ground-breaking history of Browns is widely known – established in 197o by the now legendary Joan Burstein and her husband , it was the first boutique to offer fashion in a totally innovative way and to bring to Britain international designers unfamiliar even to the fashion-buying public. She was also responsible for launching the careers of  Donna Karen, John Galliano, Hussein Chalayan and Alexander McQueen, to name an elite few. The exhibition is staged on the first two floors of a large block off Carnaby Street, London W1, which are due to become offices. It is spacious and light, with limed wood floors and a great selection of mainly dresses lent by owners and illustrated with really incredible photography by Paolo Riversi.  There is archive material of early Browns lookbooks and a collaboration with Vogue in which Browns featured in double page black and white spreads which are dispayed as giant blow up pages.  I loved it and really recommend you should try and see it if you can before it closes on 30th May.

The legendary Mrs Brown herself

Two of Nicholas Kirkwood’s amazing shoes

A early Brown’s lookbook

Alexander Wang

Hussien Chalayan A/W 01 ‘Map Reading’ collection

Roksanda Ilincic in Rick Owens

Alexander McQueen, lent by Daphne Guinness

Detail of an Alexander McQueen dress, lent by Trudie Styler

Amanda Harlech wearing John Galliano’s 1984 graduate collection

Romeo Gigli  A/W 1989

Liberty Ross in Christopher Kane

Giambattista Valli A/W 2005

Acne A/W 2009

Silvia Fendi in Ashish A/W 2005

‘Beyonce’ dress by David Koma A/W 2009

Gareth Pugh in Thierry Mugler A/W 1988 jacket and 1996 PVC trousers

Detail from Sonia Rykiel A/W 1999

Editorial

A little top heavy with editorials this week  but I am just finding so many that I like! Photographer Lachlan Bailey captures model Anna Maria Jagodzinska in ‘Kiss the Sky’ for Chinese Vogue. I love the way the backdrop doesn’t change, essentially it’s painted wood stacked together, but by changing the angles, the lighting and the mood each picture is totally different and beautiful. The pastels look so great with the textured clothes and the paleness of her skintones.

Source: FashionGoneRogue

Editorial

For me this editorial is all about why I work in fashion and why it can be inspirational. This whole story hinges on amazing styling, which is not always the case on a shoot where sometimes the client’s requirements or the vision of the photographer can overshadow the stylist’s talent. Here the very creative Damien Foxe has mixed up a variety of patterns in jewellery, headpieces and bags so that rather than clash they add up to a complementary whole with the kaleidoscopic clothes. From the supplement of the FT How to Spend It, photographed by Andrew Lee, behold the ever amazing Alex Wek  in ‘Global Gathering’.

Source: FashionGoneRogue

Cover Try

This is W magazine featuring Cate Blanchett, shot by photographer Craig Dean and styled by Lori Goldstein. I love the serenity of the cover, she looks elegant but also powerful. It’s good to see a woman managing to capture that power without aggression or needing to go down the super sexy route. The laid back styling helps to underpin this; you don’t need to drape an actress already known for her poise and cool charm in overly fussy clothes or jewellery. She looks amazing.

Wmagazine.com

J to L-O HELLO

Behind the scenes from Vogue Italia May 2010, Jennifer Lopez is directed by Michelangelo Di Battista for this video. Looking high fashion and super sexy.

Toast to That

I was at the press day for the label Toast yesterday. The brand was established in 1997 and has grown steadily and successfully since then. The ethos for this brand is simple and elegant styling and a good quality product. Yesterday’s launch was for their new A/W ’10 collection and it featured a range from everyday separates to more statement pieces.  I particularly liked the huggable knits and some great jewellery. The four lines ranged from Indian paislely patterns and opulent colours to strong British tailoring and oxford brogues.

Street Art

Wherever I go I really enjoy graffiti, from seriously done artwork to the odd scruffy doorway and these are some of my photos from around New York.

New York via Eyjafjallajokull

So I’m back from New York despite some disruption from the ash cloud coming out of the unpronounceable Icelandic volcano. Ironically it was a much longer flight on the way out as we went over and round the offending volcano in order to avoid the debris.  I had a great time – I love that city! I stayed down in Tribeca overlooking the Hudson hence all the sunsets, sunrises and buildings – but who can resist all that light and reflective glass. Then there’s the contrast with the harder more industrial edge of the place and the great graffiti, which I’ll post up later. The weather was a bit of everything (except snow for once) and here are some of my photos.

Between the Covers

This is “Get Back In Your Book” by Lissy Laricchia, a series of photographs in which the leading characters  literally float back into their stories. Really interestingly produced.

Source: todayandtomorrow.net