Erwin Blumenfeld @ Somerset House

Today I visited the beautiful Somerset House to see the exquisite Blumenfeld exhibition. If you've not heard the name before, Blumenfeld is one of the most influential photographers of the twentieth century, renowned for his highly imaginative and innovative photographs which featured in some of the most highly regarded fashion magazines of the 40s and 50s such as Vogue and Harpers Bazaar.

As an avid vintage lingerie and stockings fan, this was one of my favourite shots!

Vauxhall Art Car Boot Sale

The Vauxhall Car Boot Sale is not your typical car boot - no rummaging through somebody's old clothes or broken bits of electronics, nor is it like your typical art gallery - nobody in uniform staring you down if you step a little too close to the red rope or telling you off for taking pictures. This car boot certainly has a bit more of a celebrity status, with people camping out the night before to grab the just-for-the-day artworks. It's coming up to it's tenth anniversary, and will be held at Brick Lane Yard Car Park on June 9th.

More Ravensbourne @ GFW Sneak Peeks!

Last week I was lucky enough to sit in the entire day with the Level 3 Fashion students whilst they photographed their lookbook! The lookbook will be on everybody's chair at the show (which is now sold out!), so look out for my name in there as I spent the day editing the photos ;)

Although I do have the images myself, I don't think it would be fair for me to post them so prematurely prior to the show itself so here's the bits that were snapped during the lookbook making process!

Hermes @ Saatchi Review

Yesterday afternoon I had the lovely opportunity to make it down to Sloane Square with my fellow Fashion Promotion peeps to go and see the Hermes exhibition on at the Saatchi gallery. We were there on the first day of it opening, and the exhibition finishes on Sunday, so if you can get down there quickly! I have to say I was really taken aback by the exhibition, it was free so I wasn't expecting a lot from it, maybe just a few bags in cases and scarfs on display, but boy was I wrong!

Karen Walker X Advanced Style

Designer Karen Walker has collaborated with with photographer Ari Seth Cohen of Advanced Style - a blog that I have loved and read regularly for a while now, so I was excited to see the campaign!

Sexism in Fashion

The objectification of women in fashion is not something new - it's been going on for decades and shows no sign of dying just yet. It's a strange notion that whilst fashion is made for women prominently, we're also oppressed by it. Why is misogyny so prevalent in an industry that is considered feminine as a whole?

Alexandra Shulman @ Rave

We all had the fantastic privilege to have Alexandra Shulman, the editor of British Vogue with us yesterday evening. I think I can speak for us all when I say we were all very excited and anticipated her arrival! When she walked in it a hush came over all of the babbling fashion and photography students.

Ravensbourne @ GFW Sneak Peeks

I've been following Ravensbourne Fashion's Twitter  in the lead up to GFW, and they've been posting some very exciting snippets of what is to come from Rave at Graduate Fashion Week this year. I'm really looking forward to seeing all of this in action, but for now their Tweets are keeping me going! Go ahead and give them a follow to see more of this:

A hint of Natalie Finch's collection

+ Size

My all-time favourite plus size blogger, Erin from Zero Style

The market for "plus size" clothing in has increased by almost 50% in the last five years, making it a £3.8 billion industry. It's kind of crazy that there's still brands out there that don't cater to this customer despite it being the majority rather than the minority any more. This size is not a niche. 40% of the population in the UK wear a size 16 and over.

I find it really bizarre that hardly any high street stores and high end designers are tapping into this market whatsoever, it seems that they would only lose money by continuing to do so. A lot of high street shops even do Petite ranges rather than Plus Size! From these figures we know that this is a very small market, at least in the UK. It kind of seems like the high-street is grasping onto that exclusivity that designer brands so pride themselves on.

A very recent example of this happening is the CEO of Abercrombie & Fitch claiming he only wants the "thin and beautiful people" to wear his brand. Not only is this an utterly ridiculous form of elitism suggesting that thin is equivalent to beautiful but it's also a huge contradiction considering that Mike Jeffries is anything but 'thin' and 'beautiful'. Not only is this awful publicity for the brand it's also terrible business considering that two-thirds of American's are considered plus-size. And besides, who really wants to wear A&F...

Another dilemma with plus size branding is that even the brands that do it, do it terribly. But it's now becoming a lot better, so which are the brands who are doing it right?

ASOS Curve

 ASOS Curve have really stepped up their game recently, with many of their regular-line clothes now being available in the Curve range which goes up to a dress Size 28. And it's actually really stylish and gorgeous! None of those horrible shapeless garments here.

ModCloth

ModCloth is an American online retailer who have a gorgeous array of plus size clothing. I especially loved this swimsuit! They specialise in vintage-inspired clothing. They go up to 4XL and a really big choice of styles.

SimplyBe

SimplyBe is exclusively sizes 14-32, and they also provide menswear! I feel like this brand is a little more hit and miss however I think these pastel trousers and peplum are really on-point and fashionable.

They Call Me Mellow Yellow

According to WGSN and other trend sites yellow is going to be the colour of the season this year! It's not usually a colour I would head straight for but with a little bit of sun in the UK I think I can be persuaded.

You don't have to go all-out highlighter yellow though, you could go for a more lemon yellow, a mustard yellow (which will stay with you until Autumn/Winter), or simply a nice bright yellow! It can be a subtle hint of yellow or a full-on yellow outfit if you're feeling daring. Here's some pictures I've found for yellow fashion inspiration..

Bruce Davison, Untitled from Subway, 1980
[This jumpsuit's colour looks so amazing against her skin]

Manifesto of Style

Myself at Brick Lane!

1. Don't follow trends like a sheep - especially if you feel that they don't suit you.

2. Comfort is key - You might look hot in those 7 inch heels but walking with a hobble is categorically not. Be practical to an extent but that doesn't mean you need to get out the anorak.

3. Confidence is everything - if you act like you're beautiful and you feel good then it will radiate off you no matter what. If you think good thoughts then it will show. Sometimes in my head I imagine I'm Scarlet Johansson...

4. In relation to confidence, dare to be different. It's okay to go against your better judgement at times and wear something unusual, you might find it beneficial and you could get lots of compliments! People admire those who are different, and if they don't it's because they don't like what they don't understand.

5. Embrace the stares. From a young age I've had "looks" from people for my fashion sense. Sometimes these are looks of admiration and sometimes it's "oh dear what is she wearing?!". Either way, who cares, they're looking at you and nobody else. You caught their eye and that's better than being a wallflower (although that can have it perks... mind the pun).

6. Only buy something if you think you will still be thinking about it that night - I use this rule so often. If I'm not sure about something at first and I can come back to it, I'll go home and see if I'm still thinking about the item and then go back and get it if I am! This saves a lot of impulse buys for things that will end up screwed up at the bottom of your wardrobe.

7. Never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever dress for a man! I really cannot stress that enough. In fact, never dress for anybody else other than yourself. Unless it's to look better than everyone else, then I fully endorse that!! But dressing for somebody else only sacrifices your individuality.

8. All black always looks good. I don't care if I look like a goth, Karl Lagerfeld makes it look chic and so can everyone else.

9. You don't have to have the "perfect" body - one of my favourite phrases at the moment is "How to get a bikini body - put on a bikini". As I said in number 3, confidence is everything and you will look amazing in whatever you wear as long as you feel it.

10. Kitten heels are never okay.

Graduate Fashion Week 2013

So GFW is nearly upon us! Showcasing the work of over 1000 graduates from some of the most innovative and influential universities in the UK, Graduate Fashion Week bridges the gap between education and employment. This event will be one of the most important in any talented design student's career as they will be putting their work out there for the industry to see. 

George at Asda

Has Street Style Had it's Day?

Is street style as inspiration losing it's touch? The Sunday Times pointed out that many extroverts go out of their way to be photographed at Fashion Week by going dressed outrageously, playing on the shock factor in order to get the attention of street style photographers. Because of this farce, is it possible that street style is now becoming redundant as a valid form of inspiration, to see what's bubbling up? Are these individuals contaminating "real" street style?

Alexandra Moon Age

Church Lookbook Part 2

The (New) Age of Couture

Valentino

Haute Couture shows are an absolute spectacle - they express infinite possibility, fantasy garments and pure extravagance. However, at a price of around £60,000 a pop it never really makes any money at all - it's all about the showiness of it all, the theatrics. Or so it used to be. With the rise of the super-young and super-rich, couture is selling like never before.