The Work of Bert Stern

Bert Stern was a legendary figure in the world of contemporary photography. With him sadly dying in the past month, I decided to take a look into his work, as I hadn't really seen much of it.

Even with just one simple google search, a lot of the images that appeared on the first page where images I've seen before, but haven't realised he was the photographer. He began he's career as a mail-room boy at Look Magazine where he formed a close relationship with young staff photographer Stanley Kubrick.

He's mostly known for the collection of work 'The Last Sitting' which consists of 2,500 photographs of Marilyn Monroe for Vogue which were shot over a three day period six weeks before her death. The images have been published into a book, first back in 1982, and again in 2000, which you can still purchase to this date. He's also photographed Lindsay Lohan imitating this very same shoot (can you spot which one she is in the photos below? CHEEKY CHALLENGE. Along with Marilyn and Lindsay, he's also photographed Audrey Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor and Madonna just to name a few.

As well as snapping A-listers, Bert launched his career with the infamous 'Driest of the Dry' Smirnoff Vodka campaign which saw a rise in sales that no one could of imagined, this is what rocketed his career at the tender age of 25 and made America into a vodka drinking country.

Sterns use of imagery really catches a moment, as if the camera wasn't there in the first place; natural. This is what I really love about it, and for future projects use him as big inspiration.

Paris Fashion Week Round Up

Yeah I know I am a bit late off the band wagon here but I've been away, started my placement for uni la la la and general life has been getting in the way but anywho, onto the point of the post-
To kick off the week of Haute Couture was Versace with none other than Naomi Campbell. This was upon Donatella's request which I found quite interesting. Of course Miss Campbell wouldn't turn it down. Nonetheless she looked stunning in an embellished black one-piece. Versace's inspo for the collection was the elegance of black and white photos and old old films which she has clearly executed beautifully. What a way to have kicked off the weeks events. Surprisingly, a lot of the pieces seemed a lot more wearable than your average haute couture piece, such as one black figure-hugging cocktail dress. Stop dreaming Grace

Naomi for Versace

Another shocker of the week was the re-appearance of Schiaparelli. Christina Lacroix produced a one of collection that would not go on sale for any price, and I mean ANY! Did he miss a vital trick here? But maybe Lacroix just wanted to create a buzz for the fashion industry and potentially steal the so called 'spot light' of the week as it were. Especially with some pieces going for as much as £80,000. However it was not shown through catwalk but installation at the Musee Arts Decoratifs. I've just got to say, those pom pom hats (if I can call them that) are insane

Schiaparelli installation with sketch

One of my personal favs of the week was Isabel Marant. With the immanent arrival of her colab with H&M looming fast, she didn't fail to deliver with her own brand. Everything shown I just loved and could wear easily; monochrome till I die people! What were your highlights of the week?? I'd love to know.

Isabel Marant

The New Shopping Mecca

Regent St and Conduit St are set for some new additions this year which could mean mecca status for them. The American Label J Crew is coming to Regent St and will be its first store outside of North America. This is HUGE and the whole of the industry is anticipating it. Another much anticipated brand is none other than Dior to Conduit St. Favourited by Michelle Obama, will take over from the store on Bond Street. The retail space they are inhibiting is meant to be one of the most expensive in London. Definitely go big or go home, but Dior would.

I think the coach loads of Chinese tourists will be taking a detour on their way to Bicester village to these two destinations with yet more stores due to open.
One store that has already opened is Maison Berluti. It's the first store the bespoke menswear brand have in the UK. The space is over 354 square feet, spread over two floors. The second floor dedicated to VIP's only with services to cater to the most prestigious of clients and even have leather antique club chairs for you to relax and speak to their specialist team.

Another menswear brand that has it's eye on Regent Streeet is Hackett. They're looking to take over the Ferrari store, which opened there is 2009. The space costs over £1.1m for the year to rent the 11,000 sq ft space so this is no rash decision for the brand.

If you know of any other brands opening on Regent or Conduit St comment below, as I'm set to find any others. It's a big year in shopping for these two destinations, be sure to check it out!

Beat The Fashion Bloggers Competition!

Ever thought you could out-dress a fashion blogger? Well this is the competition for you. Style.co.uk have given you the chance to have a look at 5 fashion bloggers and a trend they have suggested, style it and tweet or email your picture in. The lucky winner would win up to £1000 to spent at Oxygen Boutique, and London Fashion Weekend Tickets - who wouldn't want to win that!?

Here are the themes:
1. Heritage set by Blogger Kristin Knox from The Clothes Whisperer
2. Sixties set by Laetitia Wajnapel from Mademoiselle Robot
3. Winter Florals set by Ella Gregory from Coco's Tea Party
4. Forties set by Kelly Morris from What She Said

When you've styled your outfit, you can tweet it to @StylistMagazine with the hashtag #beatthefashionbloggers OR email your picture to beatthefashionbloggers@stylistmagazine.co.uk with the trend you've styled in the subject bar. For more info, visit http://www.stylist.co.uk/fashion/beat-the-fashion-bloggers-competition

Good luck Fashos!

LFW September 2013 NEWGEN

Now the London Collections are over it's time to start thinking about September London Fashion Week - The January of Fashion.
This year it'll be running from 13th-17th September. The BFC have selected 9 lucky up and coming designers to show this September in the new designer initiative, NEWGEN sponsored by Topshop.

Five of the designers have been sponsored to show on the catwalk, four for a presentation and one for an exhibition. One of the first catwalk sponsors is Jackie Lee for J J.S Lee. The Korean born designer is described as being 'chic' and a 'minimalist.' Another lucky winner is Brazilian Lucas Nascimento who graduated from the London College of Fashion in 2008 and has spent the last three seasons showing in Rio Fashion Week - didn't even know that existed! He likes working especially with knitwear and enjoys created silhouettes that you wouldn't expect to see from it. Thirdly, Marques'Almeida, the design duo that are Marta Marques and Paulo Almeida. (The next Dolce & Gabbana? We'll see.) They met at fashion school in Portugal, where they both graduated with Distinction. They both then moved to London and gained experience at vivienne Westwood. There work has been described as 'raw', 'young' and 'effortless.' Fourthly is Simone Rocha who's work is 'modern, strong and romantic' The Dublin based designer also graduated from Central St Martins. Sister by Sibling has three co-designers; Sid Byran, Joe Bates and  Cozette McCeery. They're from London, Leicester and Yorkshire and have said expect everything to be knitted - I'm intrigued by these three.

One of the first Presentation sponsors is 1205 by Paula Gerbase. Another graduate of CSM, she has 5 years experience working on Savile Row. So we can expect immaculate tailoring from this girl. Secondly, Nazir Mazhar - who I've previously mentioned in a post (this guy is doing well for himself.) And Lastly, Sophia Webster, who has been the design assistant at Nicholas Kirkwood since graduating from RCA in 2010. Expect, feminine lines, and single soles.

The one exhibition winner is Liam Fahy due to his innovative shoe designs. While studying at DeMontfort he won the Drapers Footwear Designer of the Year, so we can expect some major shoe poor from this guy.

Over all looking through some of the designers work, I'm excited to see what they pull out of the this September. I may also have the chance to work during the week as I'm now a uni student, which is such an exciting opportunity which I missed out on back in January. Will keep you posted if I do or not but definitely look up these lucky designers.

Bored Barbara

According to Barbara Hulanicki, women today dress poorly because we are slaves to fashion. She believes fashion makes us all dress the same. I guess this can be true in some respects as people who have an interest in fashion and trends are likely to follow them. There are some braver people out their that do take risks with what they wear, and wear things which you don't normally see every day but we're not all as brave as those people.

My university tutor has said he thinks as a whole our class dresses quite 'safe' and as Barbara says, it may be because the high street, which is what we can predominately afford (we are all students) is so highly saturated with the same things. I agree in the sense the high street is constantly competing to get the latest trends from higher end designers as quickly as possible but at the end of the day it is the person who puts together the outfit and essentially what they want to go with what. It's up to us to make that decision to be out there and quirky if we want to.

She's said: 'It's very difficult to know what to wear now. That's why I always wear black.' I agree with you there Barbara. I don't think it's necessarily if I don't know what to wear, but you can't really go wrong with black, it's timeless. As trends are recycled such as the latest 90's denim dungaree fad, this contributes to making things look samey as we've seen them before. Until we have newer, fresher trends that get everyone excited, the way people dress may still be boring.

Abercrombie Who?

Abercrombie & Fitch are an American casual wear brand aimed at 18-22 year olds male and females, and is best described as the sort of clothes the typical American college student would wear around campus. However the brand couldn't stray further than that of the 'all-American' girl and boy. They are never shy of a controversial story ranging from only employing seemingly good looking people, and around their sizing. The cast of Jersey Shore were paid not, yes PAID NOT to wear the brand because they didn't want their reputations from the show to affect the brand.

The CEO himself Mike Jeffries has said they want to cater to the 'thin and cool'; I smell a sense of alienation here. Sitting in the higher price bracket for their clothes, with jeans costing from £68-130, it still doesn't give the CEO the right to outrightly alienate potential customers.

One of their more recent controversies involves the squeaky clean American country singer Taylor Swift. They have produced a casual tee with the slogan '#More Boyfriends Than T.S' on. Yes Abercrombie, the initials really hide who you're referring to. However much this may be true, (all thinking it) it definitely did't tickle the popstar and her fans which complained so much to the brand were forced to pull the tees from the shelves. For one, I don't think a girl would want to boast about how many boyfriends she had in the first place, however even if I personally wouldn't wear it, it did rather amuse me.

It's acts like this that may put the brand at jeopardy. The young fresh faced American fans of Taylors may have been frequent buyers from the brand and because of this little stunt, may refuse to buy from them again. Even if it is a small percentage it's as good as any. This could mean that the brand is only good for the homeless.

The image above is from the blogger Jess Baker, who, after hearing Mike Jeffries latest comments about the brand has changed the logo to Attractive & Fat. I think this mock campaign is such a clever response to the CEO's potentially brand damaging comments. Even if this is the companies thoughts, he could of worded it better!? If A&F aren't careful we could be saying bye-bye to them very soon.

100 Years of Chanel

Chanel celebrated it's 100th birthday back in March at Paris Fashion Week, can you believe it!? For a brand to be around as long as this one has and still be so relevant in the market is huge. It's definitely one of the most popular and anticipated shows at PFW. The celebration has meant the opening of two new Chanel stores in London. One pop up shop in Convent Garden and a new flagship on Bond Street. The opening of the Covent Garden pop up featured Londons cabs Chanel style - they have given them the Chanel treated and painted them all different shades and branded them with the iconic cross over C's and the address of the new store - good advertising eh? 

Along with the new store openings, Karl Lagerfeld created a short film called 'Once Upon a Time' which dictates the early life of Gabrielle Chanel and her first ever store. The film features Keira Knightly who of course fronts the Chanel Mademoiselle campaigns and some of Lagerfelds favourite models; Lindsey Wixon, Saskia de Brauw and Stella Tennent. Everything from the set design to costume down to the fact it's in black and white just oozes what the brand is about and, I think, was a perfect way to represent the 100 years. The brand I feel will forever represent some of the highest of luxury and what every girl wants to aspire to own something from. Speaking from the youth of today, I think they will feel the same, however may not be aware of the brands heritage. This film is a cool and currant way of portraying that heritage as a way of not necessarily appealing to a younger market, but still making sure they'd see it. In terms of elegance and modernity, I feel Lagerfeld has kept this reputation going and will until he last days at Chanel. Anyone after him will have incredible big boots to fill.

Chanel Covent Garden (LOVE the pink london cabs!)

You can watch the video here