Bright Lights, Big City

Bit of a lengthy post this one is, but wanted to share some of my snaps with you from my latest trip to the Big Apple! Literally got back this morning and had such an amazing time. This was my second time returning to the city, and I just love it. You can have to get past some of the occasional rude people you come across, huchum, the cabbies, but apart from that there's so much to do and see there, you can never say you've truly seen it all. 

The trip was my 21st birthday present so of course it involved a lot of shopping but I wanted to take in a few of the sites. I've done the typical tourists bits in a previous trip such as the Statue of Liberty (which I couldn't get in the crown because of the 9/11 attacks unfortunately) and the Empire State Building but mostly wanted to see things like the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Public Library - to have my Cary Bradshaw moment of course.

Something I did take in a lot of was the huge department stores visual merchandising. I don't know if it's just me, but it seems there is a huge amount of spent on it. Every designer shop managed to catch my eye. This could be because generally all the stores windows, especially on Fifth Avenue, were so huge, but I found it really impressive. I'd never been into Saks or Bergdorf's which was a really nice experience. I don't know how I'd compare it to our Harrods or Selfridges, but the displays where definitely immaculate.

These really are just a select few of the hundreds I took, I couldn't possibly list all the good things to see and do as there are sooo many. Definitely do the most touristy bits and dedicate a couple of days to them and then days for shopping and other sites like that otherwise I feel I walked back on myself when I tried to cram in too much in one day. Any good recommendations of things to see and do in NYC that aren't the norm? Always wanted as I know i'll be going back, even if it takes me another few years to get there.

Mag Mad - V

Second on the list is V!

V Magazine
Issue - Fall, Issue 85
Price ( I paid) - £10
Editor - Stephen Gan

The first thing you notice about V is the paper size. It’s A3, which isn’t typical of high -end fashion magazines, but I like it, as I feel you can see more of the images. I have found magazines that are this size generally have more editorial than features in them, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing and have found this is definitely the case with V.

The cover has minimal content, using san serif font instantly giving it a modern feel. Moving onto the contents page, they introduce serif fonts in the main body text but generally use san serif fonts throughout which I like. Also I feel the font is quite small but compared to the page size, it makes it feel like when the page is full of text that you’re getting a lot of information. The text width grows from close together to quite wide in their title fonts, which again emphasizes its graphic nature, yet is still easy to read. The stand out title of the magazine covers the whole front image, and takes on a different matter texture compared to the majority which is gloss and is something I really like. This is also they’re signature attribute that they use on every issue, again emphasizing there identity in the magazine industry.

Graphically, I feel it’s strong and the imagery used throughout runs consistently. They vary from a one, two and three grid and column system; with the majority of one column pages being on less important ones such as the contents page, where the images behind take president. Although they are a lot of ads alike Paris Vogue, you get straight into content it seems a lot sooner and you get a lot of it with a tiny dose of an advert here and there but it’s not as noticeable to some magazines. Stories range from interviews with Oprah Winfrey and Lee Daniels and their cover star Lady gaga. The ‘Icons’ feature was lovely to read as they feature content from Cher to Liza Minnelli. The set up on a page makes it easy to read and has fluidity into the next without seeming too dramatic of a change.

The balance between fashion and lifestyle is good; it particularly focuses on editorial, which are really striking and thought made the magazine quite unique. One article featured photography by Bruce Weber, which I’ve previously looked at as part of my degree, so it was nice to see some more of his work in a current publication.

With it only being their 85^th issue, I really enjoyed reading V, its nice to have a change from Vogue and ELLE, which sometimes I feel you get the same from, even with the revamp that ELLE had last year. However, it’s not an easy one to carry around with you if you have little space and arm strength due to its size.

It Would Be An Honor

New York label Honor has come to the UK! It will be available via the designer online store Matches and is available as I type.

The brand is said to be similar to that of Miu Miu, but more affordalble. With the cheapest item being a silk blouse at £575, I wouldn't exactly call that affordable but compared to a similar tee from Miu Miu which is around a similar price, it could be seen as that to people who buy designer on a regular basis.

Taking a sneaky peak at their runway collection from last years New York Fashion Week, it's a brand packed full of colour, and fun colour at that. Giovanna Randall, who founded the brand back in 2010, has used a range of pink hues, pretty prints and girly trims.

I can definitely see a resemblance to Miu Miu, specially with the use of embellishments and I have my eye on a really fun twin heart blouse with matching trousers. But at $950 each, its slightly out of a students price range. What are your thoughts on the brand?

WANT WANT WANT

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.

GFW Take 4!

It's so close now! 11 days!
Colin McDowell is doing an industry talk with Mary Katrantzou Tuesday 4th which is nearly sold out so need to get in their quick if you want a seat.

GFW has also gone international this week - with one student from some of the most prestigious schools across the world getting to showcase their work. Some of the schools keen to get involved are Parsons New York, where Marc Jacobs studied, Instituto Marangoni Italy, where Domenico Dolce honed his craft, and BUNKA Japan, where Kenzo and Yohji Yamamoto studied. This is super exciting as the whole purpose of GFW is to showcase the rising new talent in the fashion industry as the likes of Stella McCartney and Christopher Bailey all made their debut to the industry. The international showcase is on Monday 3rd at 11am, and tickets are going like hot cakes so again get in there quickly.