Arga Arga Bridal Fashion Show

Hello everyone! 

I'm baacck after too long a time really! It's just the last uni shoes are keeping me very busy- I'm working 10am till 8pm every day at the moment :p

But today I bring you some pictures of the bridal fashion show I helped dress on a couple of weeks ago.

The company I was getting experience with was called 'Arga Arga Bridal' (they have a website so definitely give them a Google!)- I met the designers at Brides the show last year and amazingly they kept me in mind and got in contact with me to help out at one of their line launch bridal fashion shows!

It was very exciting as there were hair and makeup people behind the scenes too and the dresses are so beautiful (why they caught my eye at Brides the show!!!). They are different to the traditional white wedding dress as the cuts are often so interesting and Arga Arga are known for incorporating beautiful hand worked embroidery into their dresses also.

Now enough of my waffle here are a couple of shots from the day :) :

It was so great to get the experience I'm very grateful and will definitely be keeping in contact with the designers- hopefully they will have more events I can help out at In  the future!

My next post will be about the dress I have just finished for my recent uni show :)

Speak to you all again soon and I hope you are well,

Bye xxxXxxx

Vodafone London Fashion Weekend!

Hi everyone! 

I hope you are all doing fabulously :) 

As I mentioned, the Saturday just gone, I went to London Vodafone Fashion Weekend. For anyone not sure of what that is exactly ill give a quick explanation :) London Fashion week happens 2 times a year but the shows at london fashion week are open to trade/by invite only. London vodafone fashion weekend happens in the weekend after london fashion week at Somerset house and is an event which shows some different catwalk shows and has pop up shops and is an event anyone can buy tickets for and join in the fun! :)

Also each VLFW a designer is asked to design a tote bag- which you get one of filled with goodies if you come to the event. Last time I posted when I went in September Lulu Guinness designed the tote bag, but this time around it was Pringle of Scotland:

I really like the cable knit design- it is quite a simple design- but very stylish I think. Very different to last year's so keeps things interesting! :p

This time me and my mum went to one catwalk as we found we preffered the designer catwalks to the trend ones.

The show we got to see was Halston Heritage. This was a brand/designer I was not overly familiar with so it was good to learn more.

Here are some shots of the outfits in the show:

My favourite pice of the whole catwalk was the pale green shirt dress with teaches over shirt that ca  be seen at the front of this picture- looks fairly simple at first but there is some interesting pattern cutting and construction going on there!  I would also definitely wear it in the summer! 

I love getting a shot of when all the models are walking down the runway- always looks cool and dramatic! :p

Overall I preffered last year's designer catwalk- Nicholas Oakwell Couture as the designs were so intricate and beautifully worked and some really interesting cuts. But as I said it was still good to see a different designers work and there were a couple of pieces I really liked.

I can't wait to see what VLFW offers this September when it rolls back around! :p

Speak to you all again soon with news on my first ever college show!

Bye xXxX

Women Fashion power exhibition!

Hi,

I hope you are all doing fabulously :) 

A week or so ago me and my friend Grace from college went to see the Women, Fashion, Power exhibition at the Design Museum in London. It was a really cool exhibition- looking a the the clothing of some very influential women in the world throughout history and now in the modern day. And there were lo just examples of interesting womenwearclothing and shoes too.

From visiting I did manage to tick one thing off my bucket list!!- to see a garment worn by Lady Gaga with my own eyes in person!! Look, I saw this black plastic bag dress worn by Miss Gaga herself!:

One of my other favourite pieces was this strappy black bolero type piece with these amazing metallic/almost holographic plastic pieces protruding from the sleeves:

Isn't it really intriguing? I mean you would definitely make an entrance in that!

And next up in my photo highlights tour- shoes! Here were my two favourite pairs. Wearing with attitude is a must :p they are pretty fierce. But what do you expect from an exhibition entitled women  fashion power...

And lastly these brilliant hats- by the one and only Phillip Tracey of course :) The one comes across as like transforming you into a mystical bird but I might have to go with the one in the middle if I could only have one as that looks soo warm and it is still very cold! :p

I would recommend a visit if you are near the design museum. There is tons more cool items to see that I couldn't possibly cover them all in this post :p

see you all again soon- with news of my show makes for college!  Yes I am now on my first show- which is why I have been so busy these last few weeks.  And I will also be bringing photos and news from Vodafone Fashion Weekend at Somerset House in london (as I visited in September) as I am heading there on Saturday!  :D

Bye till then! Xxxxx

Bonobos Fashion Challenge!

Hi,

As I mentioned in a previous post I was selected to take part in a Fashion challenge organised by the Menswear brand Bonobos. They sent me a few exclusive pictures from one of their latest collections (which you can view/buy: Here! ) and my challenge was to create a complimentary womenswear look. I spent quite a while looking at the different images and in the end there were two that particularly stood out to me- I loved the way that the men seemed to be looking at someone entering the room. I decided that the men were looking at my beautiful, complementary dressed, woman making her grand entrance. I imagined what she would be wearing to make them the perfect power couple (and to be making him stare so intensely)!

I will now present my designs. Here was the first image I chose to design for:

I loved how smart this suit looked whilst still being quite playful. Here is my complementary womens look:

The fabric darker fabric which makes up on side of the dress is supposed to be the same fabric that the men's suit is made from- I loved the idea of using the same fabric but in a way that it is not too obviously matchy-matchy with the suit. The diamonds on the cuff of the sleeve and in a pattern on the bottom of the dress add a bit of sparkle. The belt is attached into the front and back seam and s inches in the slightly flowier white portion of the dress. The fastening would be an invisible zip on the back down the seam which would end under the collar part (so but of the collar that tails off would be peppered etc.. down so it could be folded back to access the zip). You can see the dart placement on the white side of the dress. On the checked portion there would be a double pointed  dart which runs vertical between the bust and the hip, and similar in the back but between the shoulder blade and a dart running from the shoulder to the shoulder blade (as on white side also) the checked side needs more shaping as it doesn't have the little belt piece to sinch it in. Sorry for anyone who didn't want so much construction detail- just as a maker I think about all these things and it is nice to let you all know that my design is possible in real life seeing as I have only sketched it.

Here is the 2nd image from Bonobos that I chose:

This suit is razor sharp!  I was definitely drawn to the more formal looks- probably because the drama of them. The little pattern on the fabric and the velvet shawl collar are the accents I like the most- I tried to feature the velvet and patterned fabric in my womens wear design as I again liked the matching, but not in too-obvious-a-way look:

The draped strappy straps at the top I envisage being velvet roleau, as I mentioned above to compliment the velvet shawl collar (these fasten into either side of the CB seam- lining up perfectly of course! And into the top of the back of the dress). The fishtail part of the dress made from similar fabric to the diamond patterned suit fabric. The hanging ruby and gold coloured jewel piece adds some extra glamour and also I like the idea of its movement as it hangs- rather than being stitched down.The seam lines a fairly clear in the sketch if this dress and again I imagine there being a CB invisible zip.

I hope you like my designs, please do comment below to tell me what you think- honesty is fine! :)

And I would also like to Thank Bonobos for contacting me about taking part in this challenge as It has been really exciting and fun challenging myself to come up with new designs.

Speak to you all again soon,

Bye xoxoxo

London Fashion week and London Vodafone Fashion Weekend

Hi,

As most of you will probably know, not so long ago it was London Fashion week (It is Paris fashion week now and before that it was Milan fashion week  and before London FW was New York FW and Milan Fashion week!!!). It is a pretty exciting time as it means lots of designers showcase thier new, exciting designs and ideas (for SS15 this time) and if you love sewing clothes and interesting pattern cutting like I do the fashion weeks= fun and excitement!  :)

My mum and I were lucky enough to be in London on one of the days of LFW and we saw some pretty cool stuff. First, all the banners in Oxford Street (one of the bustling hubs during LFW as all the designer shops are there):

 

In the middle of Oxford Street a photo shoot with a model was happening!  I don't know who for but it was cool and I managed to get a snap:

I also saw the beautiful shop windows of Burberry,  containing thier AW14 hand painted coats, shoes and bags which I had seen in all my vogue,  marie claire and Elle magazines- They look just as beautiful in real life- which is impressive!:

Burberrys was by far my fave shop display in the whole of Oxford Street. I only window shopped down Oxford Street as everything is too expensive!  

For a while now Vodafone have hosted LFWeekend

the weekend after LFW. This September (there are two a year) was the first time I have ever been as it is only in the last year that I have studied the fashion calendar to work out when all the exciting stuff happens!

VLFW takes place at Somerset House (another hub during LFW as some catwalk shows do take place there). My mum booked for us too see both the catwalk shows on the day we went- designer and trend... On the front row!!!!! (Or F'row as it is known in the biz. Lol! )

It was so cool - like being a celebrity and it was the first time I have ever seen a fashion clothing catwalk before.

Here was my view from the first show:

The first show was a trend show(what you should be wearing now :p AW14). I won't waffle on, I will let the clothes speak for themselves. But I will say that the catwalk was arranged by outnet.com so if you see anything you really like you can go to thier site and pick it up :p:

The last look was an Oscar De Larenta  dress, very pretty I thought:

The next catwalk we saw was a Nicholas Oakwell Couture show. I will definitely be letting these clothes speak for themselves as they were amazing!  Couture means 'high sewing' and relates to pieces which can take hundreds if not thousands of hours to make due to highly technical construction and or lots of intricate hand sewn embellishments. I felt very lucky to see such things in the flesh moving past me- not behind museum glass as they usually are:

Amazingly technical beading went into this dress!:

And the designer himself came out at the end! :D He was very interesting to listen to and he told us about how detailed his design process was down to him even imagining the perfume the lady he is designing for would wear!:

Here is the entry to the catwalk:

Hehe,  and here are the queues outside of it:

Another cool thing I got to do at LVFW was get a models headshot done :) and try a 4D virtual reality experience to see what it was like to be a runway catwalk model! I put these big goggles on then when I turned my head I could see photographers etc.. to the sides of me etc.. and you walk on the spot whilst you see the runway and everyone to the sides of it- it was very fun and super realistic but kinda hard to explain :p

The tote bag for this year was designed by Lulu Guinness. It came full of little goodies which I have been using and enjoying:

I think that is about it for my account on VLFW :)

But... I still have one last thing.... You have made it through my post so I thought you deserved a treat.....

*****A GIVEAWAY*****

To let a special winner get a slice of the action of VLFW I am giving away a selection of goodies from the day!!!!!!:

- An essie 'Naughty nautical' nail polish

- Maybeline 'Great Lash' mascara

-A catwalk guide from the day with pretty pictures and more explanations on the trends

- And 2 pretty picture cards/business cards too :)

The giveaway is open to anyone anywhere. All you have to do to enter is leave a comment below- let me know your fave fashion magazine for fun If you want and if course some way to contact you if you win!

To get two extra entries post a link to this giveaway or my shop via your twitter or Facebook or a blog, anything really! Also if you buy anything in my shop you will also automatically be given 2 extra entries :)

The giveaway will close on Friday the tenth of October and the winner will be announced on the same day.

Well done for making it all the way through this super long post, I hope you enjoyed the flurry of fashion and good luck to all those who enter the giveaway :)

See you all soon,

Bye xxx