Cinema Against AIDS

 

Thursday saw the 20th annual Cinema Against AIDS benefit which raised over $25 million for amfAR, a charity which works to fight HIV/AIDS.

 

The night included a fashion show with a gold theme, featuring outfits from well-known and up-and-coming designers. There were a lot of stunning women's looks including a show-stopping satin dress from Armani Prive and a classic  gold skirt suit from Channel.

 

However, it was the men's looks that really interested me, while some of them were beautiful there were a few outfits that were more eye-watering than eye-catching.

My favourite outfit from the night was by Tarun Tahiliani. rather than being brash the gold theme was channelled through a subtle shade of grey with a hint of metallic. The simple jacket with a neru collar and plain piping was perfectly understated and combined perfectly with a pair of loose, dull gold trousers, reflecting the designers Indian heritage but blending it with a western tailoring style.

 





both images
http://www.vogue.co.uk/spy/celebrity-photos/2013/5/24/amfar-gala/
 



 

 

On the other hand some of the mens outfits took the gold theme to the opposite extreme. Thom Browne's outfit for the show was completely bewildering and seems like a list of all the sartorial errors it is possible to make.

- metallic three piece suit

-matching tie

-anchor prints

-exposed stomach

and the grey fluff escaping from his trousers.... what are me meant to make of that? Thom Brown is a designer known for his bizarre creations but this outfit is something else!





Let Work Out

 

It's currently the middle of exam season and some of you may know (especially those that follow me on Pinterest http://pinterest.com/GHardingFashion/) I am a bit of a fitness freak. My favourite way to spend revision breaks it to head to the gym or do some Pilates, so I thought I would share the clothes I want to be working out in this summer.

Sweaty Betty is one of my favourite brands for workout clothing. Their designs are really colourful and fun,  they would make anyone want to go and work out. For me the best piece in the summer collection are these ombre running capris, they have a classic shape  but the quirky detailing, I especially like the pink piping on the side seam, make them stand out.

Sweaty Betty Ombre Capris http://mysuperficialendeavors.blogspot.co.uk/

Nike is a  name synonymous with work out clothing and there is a good reason for that; their clothes are functional, comfortable, attractive and reasonably priced. There are some parts of your gym bag that aren't worth skimping on and a good sports bra is one of them but Nike prove that they don't need to be ugly. This constellation print bra is so eyecatching you might be tempted to wear it on it's own, but it also offers support and  is made from moisture wicking fabric to keep you comfortable.

Nike Pro Printed Sprots Bra

http://store.nike.com/gb/en_gb/?l=shop,pdp,ctr-inline/cid-300/pid-709699/pgid-709701

 

 

 

 

 

 I couldn't write about workout clothes without mentioning my current fitness inspiration Cassey Ho, not only does she create great Pilates workouts (POP Pilates) but she also designs a fitness range.  This includes a line of inspirational tops in a range of bright, fun colours. So if you need and extra motivation to get down to the gym you can pop on one of these to get yourself going.

 

 

 

 

 

Blogilates Top

 http://shopblogilates.com/collections/tank-tops

What's Next?

So I have just handed in my final project of my second year and so I'm starting to look forward to my placement year which I will be starting in June.

I have managed to secure a placement with Temperley in London in their pattern cutting department, which will be an amazing opportunity and I can't wait to start! Although I specialise in menswear at university I am going to be working for a company which sell very feminine women's clothing, I think this will really help me develop as a designer and pattern cutter as it will mean I have experience in both areas.

Temperley London Pre-Fall 2013
http://www.fashionising.com/runway/b--temperley-london-pf-13-36893.html

A placement year is not compulsory on our course but I think it will give me a greater insight into the industry and will hopefully make me more employable, it seems almost impossible to get a job without this kind of experience. However,  there are a number of challenges associated with internships and placements as many are not paid and a number of companies including The Arcadia group have run into trouble in recent years and have now started paying their interns.

Last summer I worked for a small children's wear  company over the summer, although I learnt a lot from it, especially the stages involved with staring up a business, I don't think it was worth the amount I ended up spending on transport and living in London. So although gaining work experience is an important thing to do I think it is better to work with companies which have an established internship programme to ensure you are getting the most out of your time and not just working for free.

I'd love to know what you think of internships, did you do one? are you planning on taking a placement year? Do you think they are worth it?

Twisted Tradition Project

This is the final stage of a project I have been working on for the last few months. It is based around the ideas behind the Slow Fashion movement promoting the use of environmentally friendly fabrics, ethical manufacturing and lower levels of consumption.

Below are the flat drawing boards and a few illustrations of the collection I have designed which is aimed at men between 30 and 50 incorporating punchy colours, tradition fabrics, reflective tape 9 for the avid cyclist) and detachable elements to make  garments multi-functional and trans-seasonal.

I would really appreciate any feedback you can give me on my work.






Flat Drawing Board

 

 

Illustrations

 



Flat Drawing Board





Yohji Yamamoto

Here is a quick look at one of the projects I did earlier on this year. It is targeted at the eponymous brand of Japanese designer Yohji Yamamoto, it is quite a conceptual brand but based around an ethos of high quality clothing following classic tailoring techniques.




Yohji Yamamoto Moodboard

Yamamoto's  usual colour pallet is dark with accents of red, to reflect this I chose to base my collection around the concept of shadows, playing with layers of sheer and opaque fabrics and creating contrast between loose flowing shapes and more structure pieces. Below are the illustrations I created for this project.



Yohji Yamamoto Illustrations

Can I kick my fast fashion habit?

 

As you've probably gathered from my recent blog posts my work this semester has focused a lot on sustainability within the fashion industry. It is a subject I have been interested in for a while but learning more about the reality of how and where our clothes are made has really made me want to change the way I shop for the better.

The fashion industry uses huge amounts of resources: water, energy, chemicals, oil, the list goes on, but it is also responsible for terrible pollution from the use of pesticides and dyes as well as the exploitation of workers around the world.


Water Pollution caused by textile dying
 http://we.thinkaboutit.eu/profiles/blogs/nightmare-maritsa-river-with



We all know that Primark is bad but the reality is many of the high street chains people perceive as offering better quality and ethics don't, Zara for example, despite charging much more for their products were recently at the heart of a scandal involving the use of slave labour in their factories.  As consumers we have very little concept of where our clothes come from or how they are made and what I have realised from my research is that often companies don't know either due to the complex supply chains in the fashion industry.



3% of Hong Kong's daily textile waste

http://www.ecouterre.com/16-foot-mountain-of-clothing-illustrates-hong-kongs-daily-textile-waste/

I am as guilty as anyone of shopping and not thinking about what it is I am buying, what its made from and who they are made by but I've decided that I need to change my shopping habits.
There are a lot of ways to wear more sustainable clothes, the most obvious one is to buy less and wear what you already have. If you think about the amount of energy, resources and time that goes into each garment you own it makes no sense to leave half of them in the back of your wardrobe and then throw them straight into landfill.



Another way to be more sustainable is to buy from charity and vintage shops. Reusing clothes means your are consuming less virgin materials and  making use of what has already been produced. Another great idea is upcycling, either by adapting your old clothes or buying from companies that remake second hand clothes. A brand I really admire are Goodone who produce beautiful clothes from second hand clothes and industrial waste fabric, the designs are really modern and wearable, breaking the stereotype of what 'ethical' fashion looks like.

Goodone AW 2012 collection

There are a lot of companies out there that are doing a lot to improve how sustainable they are, one of the aspects of this is improving the tractability of products so consumers know where their clothes have come from. Nurmi are a band that really focus on this element of their business producing garments that not only are low impact but can be traced back to their source. I really love their jeans which are made from hemp and organic cotton and produced in Finland.

Nurmi Jeans

Unfortunately buying sustainable fashion is more expensive than high street clothing and in reality a lot of people will choose the £2 Primark T-Shirt over the more expensive organic cotton, ethically sourced version. But on the other hand by cutting back on the impulse buys in the Topshop sale you will save money allowing you to invest in better quality clothing that doesn't cost the earth, that's my plan anyway!

Havana Forgets

Earlier in the semester I did a project based on the concept of memory, the brief was to create two outfits that reflected the nature of memory as well as a personal or collective memory.

I chose to focus on a trip I took to Cuba a few years ago, the country fascinated me as it was a place of so many contrasts and overlapping influences. The difference between the crumbling houses and the pristine state owned hotels and the legacy of past leaders in the colonial facades,vintage American cars and  revolutionary murals really inspired me so I started to combine my memories of the Cuba with the history of the country.






Havana Forgets Moodboard



 

 

 

The mood of my collection was based around the ideas that the influences of the past are fading in Cuba not just physically, in the crumbling buildings built by the Spanish, but also in the memory of the population. I also wanted to focus on the contrasts existing in the country, the iconography of the revolution that is still so prominent while economic restrictions are being relaxed, overturning the established communist ideals.

 

 

 

The collection I created used layers of laser cut fabrics in a pattern mimicking the peeling paint of old Havana, distorted images of Che Guevara representing the relaxing of the communist systems, and contrasting textures to portray the ideas of the old and new. The colour pallet was mostly muted reflecting how memories fade over time but also drawing on the colours of the derelict buildings in Havana.

 

 

Havana Forgets Final Outfits