Blown away by Qasimi

Well i do not even know where to start... This morning i was totally and utterly blown away by the SS10 Qasimi show, not simply just because of the champagne reception, or the industrial grandeur of the show location but by the sublime and opulent spendour that came down the runway. The new collection based on ancient spiritualism from a Byzantium era showed strong sculptural and embellished shoulders, on the boldest and bravest of colours. Shocking blood red, deep blues and bold maroon, with a wealth of gold embellishment. Being a magpie myself, it is everything i adore. The collection oozed sophistication and femininity, a strong femininity and independence with the models mirroring a cross of futuristic goddesses and chic 80s female power dressing. The collection started off with the intense colours on the geometric pieces and moved onto Grecian flowy floor length and sometimes flowery dresses, all heavily brocaded with the lustful laser cut gold mirror sequins, beading and Swarovski crystals. The show was such a success and i couldn't stop click click clicking away with the old iPhone. Here are some pictures of the collection, sorry for the blurry-ness, those models sure can walk fast in those heels! I caught up backstage with Khalid after the show whose excitement and happiness with the shows immediate positive response could be seen on his face...

Look at the amazing embellished spats, on closer inspection backstage, these are removable and can be attatched onto any shoe! Bloody fantastic, and so clever, i can not wait to get me a pair! Talk about recession friendly or what..? Just add to any shoe...!The Spats...

The jewellery in the show was designed by Scott Wilson for Qasimi, showing geometric angular neck pieces, bracelets and earrings. My favourite is by far the earring, i would love to add this to my collection...

This is the piece i fell totally in love with! Looks great no..? I want it. Who says less is more? In this case more is more, and the more i look at the collection, the more i want to be surrounded by it!

Khalid and myself after the show, backstage.

Burberry Prorsum SS10 pre-show prep...

Sneak Peek at Katie Eary SS10 collection

So i popped over to see the lovely Katie Eary for a long overdue visit to her studio/home, and with less than a week to go to the menswear day, as you can imagine stress levels were high. I was lucky enough to peek at the upcoming SS10 collection, but you will have to wait till Wednesday 23rd September for coverage of the MAN day to see the full collection. But i do have something to tease your taste buds...

That's it!
That's all your getting!
OH, but it left you wanting more, right? Oh Celia, You Tease!

* Happy Fashion Week everyone!*

10 Reasons i want to be a Topman

Wednesday night saw the advent of London fashion week, and cracking off in great style at the Topman second floor launch party at the flagship store in Oxford street. The brand spanking new second floor, albeit slightly smaller and less sparse as the previous one menswear floor, the addition now brings several new long awaited perks for the guys including a branch of EAT cafe, a concession of Sharps barbershop, a larger vintage and concession area, with more from Sam Greenberg, and my personal favourite a larger more concentrated version of the Topman Lens (or at least it felt larger than before....). Here are my favourite picks from the new Topman menswear department...

1. Dexter Wong coat

2. Carolyn Massey shirt and 3. Blazer

4. Topman Design long johns

5. Topman Design Harrington style work coat6. Topman design grandad shirt7. Carolyn Massey bobble hat (modelled by the Lovely Nic Sprackman)

8. Christopher Shannon shirt

9. James Long biker jacket

10. Jacket by Humour

This is probably one of the most exciting thing to happen in menswear in a long time. Two whole floors dedicated solely to menswear, i could have spent all night there (If the champagne hadn't run dry!).

A mini glimps at Acne SS10

So today was a great example of my last blog post about the fashion press working at super sonic speeds ahead of the season available in the shops. With the gross horrible weather and the definite feel of autumn around the corner, i spent today salivating over the Acne SS10 look books, dreaming of the light fabrics against my skin, their wide brimmed hat shielding me from the sun, the angular shapes of the blazers with nothing more than a sheer belly top on underneath, alas i look out of the window and sigh... not for another 6-7 months i fear. Last night was the Acne SS10 presentation at the Curve Gallery at The Barbican Center which was a was a static presentation with male and female models wearing the coming garms of my favourite brand. Here are a few pictures, i have got my hands on so far. More to come. Please note my wish list begins:-fantastic triple pin heel sandal boot-Amazing silver sunglasses by Husan El Odeh (as the model pictured wearing them told me, they are completely impractical if you are walking a dog or want to look at anything below the bust of anyone- but who needs practicality when you look amazing!)
Its not fair, i want it all!
*more concise blog post on the Acne SS10 to come (I lost my trusty iPhone at the weekend at carnival so i am currently camera-less and phone-less, well at least i have my Acne)*

A reason to embrace the cold- Full Circle

One of the depressing and often disorientating things about working in fashion is the industry's advanced time scales that magazine and press often have to work in. As some of you know, i was in Milan and Paris reporting for Buckstyle in June 09 for menswear fashion week seeing the spring summer 2010, almost a year before it is due to hit the shops! Meanwhile the last fashion week i attended for menswear, autumn winter 09 in January is already old news in my mind (as the next season has shown already) and it has not even hit shops yet. The upcoming London Fashion Week in less than a month will not hit stockists till at least February/March next year and for all press the Xmas season started 2 months ago. It can sometimes be a real head spinner, planning and shooting a winter story in 30 degrees heat, or vice versa, a summer swimwear in single figure celsius. It is so easy in this industry to jump ahead and of the gun, so i decided to consult my AW 09 look books and refresh my memory of trends and fashion of the coming season... Instead of coveting next spring summer key pieces prematurely, i want to jog the memories of the more urgent season ahead. I was delightfully caught off-guard upon perusing the Full Circle look book. Within their 29 pages of womenswear i picked up a few amazing key items that i would love lining my wardrobe in the coming months.*

Mmmm! this delectable short leather dress, i cant wait to get my hands on this most especially, this will see me through the season, any event or party. Just need to get my hands on the perfect heels.

These Balmain effect shoulders on this outerwear coat. Perfect length, great funnel neck and petite waist, but will have to watch out taking peoples eyes out on public transport.

Not sure which of these i love the most, the drop crotch tailored trouser or the sculptured drape shoulder on the blazer. I suppose they can be worn together, or separately with different pieces.

Off the shoulder jumpsuit with the carrot leg pant.

Last but no least, i feel like i must get into the spirit of the coming cold front. Yes, i know premature after the scorching weekend we had, but then look at the grey/white skies we have today. Gotta think ahead!

It is brilliant collections like this that make me not want to bypass the cold and dreary-ness of the upcoming 6 months of AW ahead.

*curiously and for some reason, all the key pieces i loved were black... Is this some sort of premonition of my AW wardrobe, i fear so.

Girl Power

Last week i became slightly obsessed with black and white photographic printed shirts with female specific imagery...(random i know). These are a few of my favourite... Electronic Poet at Oki-ni.com, £39

Topshop, £20

Peacocks, £10

Lee, £27.99

Insight, £27.99

Asos, £45

Lazy Oaf= Bang on!

£35

Aren't these to die for? I am in love these, they are by Lazy Oaf a jewellery brand which you might have heard of started in 2001 by Gemma Sheil, an illustrator and doodle fanatic. I first stumbled across the jewellery brand last year when i ventured into their store in Kingly Court. I instantly was drawn (pardon the pun) to the cute illustrative pieces including a metal illustrated face on a pendant : £16, and this cute decision pendant:
£18

The store has a fun, colourful sweetshop ambiance, with so much to stimulate the eyes, and everything i just wanted to touch and explore. I love these and cant wait to get my hands on one of these bangles designed by Steven Shein. There is something so moreish about looking at them, their geometric pattern and shapes and the sumptuous colours( i am literally salivating as i type!), i would pile them up to my elbow and wear them with the pride of a warrior!
Upon perusal of their website there is more and more i want. Here is my Top 5 from Lazy Oaf:

£16

£16
£24

£8

£15

Excuse 2: My-Wardrobe.com

So, as one of my excuses for slack blogging recently, this one being shooting for My-Wardrobe.com, I give you my recent offering to the menswear style feed:



GREAT BRITISH HERITAGE

Celia-Jane Ukwenya, Fashion Editor at Buckstyle, explains why this will play a big wardrobe role this season

Great British Heritage. I am sure for a lot of us, this conjures up images of muddy boots, long walks in sparse fields, watching the Polo, and stuffy well-to do toffs playing croquet on the lawn - “Tally Ho, Pip Pip” and all that! Yes, before the tune of “land of Hope and Glory gets too loud, read on…
In the months leading into winter “Great British Heritage” will mean a whole lot more than that, with key elements creeping into your everyday attire. The catwalks were awash with garments mirroring this theme; Lou Dalton with her embellished chunky knits and cord riding trousers and Moschino with their claret colours reminiscent of old English public school uniforms. Vivienne Westwood’s show was awash with a major gardening and great outdoors theme, with Burberry reiterating its classic Burberry tartan in their collection. This trend is all about turning away from casuals such as denim. Think durable waxed cotton jackets and coats to the style of Barbour’s Olive Classic Beauford jacket. Cord blazers worn in the traditional navy and tan like this Tobacco cord Sports blazer by Polo Ralph Lauren or pushed to the extreme in punch packing pink, green and red corduroy trousers (think eccentric Englishman). Traditional British fabrics such as tweeds and herringbone will be key and integral and can make the look more directional. Great British designers such as Burberry (new this season to my-wardrobe.com), Paul Smith, and Grenson will be taking centre stage. Team traditional navy, beige and stone colours with strong clashing patterns like a flash of tartan or a plaid print.



Here, this stone Burberry pac-a-mac trench coat is put together with a Polo Ralph Lauren plaid shirt and a classic straight leg chino also by Burberry, rolled up at the ankle of course for that relaxed English county walk feel. Finish the look with these Grenson brogue style ankle boots and this navy dog print scarf by Paul Smith.

All clothes available at My-Wardrobe.com

More great excuses to come!

Excuse 1: Jonny Woo for Wound Magazine

Without sounding like “that” kid at school (you know the one at school who always made excuses for everything), I feel that I need to blog about some of the things I have been up to. Just to validate my month long sietsta from blogging. Its not on, but I have been tres busy. Working myself ragged. So I was approached by Wound magazine to make a costume for Jonny Woo, the performance artist and drag act, for a guerilla activity they were filming for an event. The event was the launch of Wound Digital, Wound media’s online digital output where readers can read a digital format of the magazine as well as download a Wound iPhone application. Anyway, my job was to design the costume for Jonny for a wild goose chase from the ICA to the Wound office where Jonny would be chase by fashionisto’s all through Trafalgar Square, Leicester Square, China Town, parts of Soho and ending in Covent Garden. The event was a success apart from a minor glitch with sound and lighting… Here are the pictures, I think you will find the goose costume is pretty fabulous!

WILD GOOSE CHASE - Jonny Woo from PRICKIMAGE on Vimeo.

Ill be A|wear-ing it!

A new brand and a new means of myself squandering my hard-earned cash on much needed frivolous fashion has recently come under my radar. By new I mean recently under my radar. Said brand that I have been shouting high and low to anyone that would listen, is Dublin based womenswear fashion brand a rival to Topshop as I have been told by those who know A|wear. The season of Christmas press day came and went almost as silently as that proverbial tree falling in an empty forest, if I wasn’t there it didn’t happen. I did manage to make time from shooting, writing and costume making… (blog post to come) to pop over to the Yellow-Door press day (Yellow door deal with my favourite of favourites Acne)- Would I have missed that for anything? The answer is no, not for a thing!

A|wear “a high street brand with a boutique heart” really did impress me with the directional and on trend pieces on show, items similar to that of fashion forward Topshop but at a fraction of the price. In the showroom my wide open eyes darted from a fitted blood red winter coat to a Chanel style cardigan and I am happy to say I am now also the owner of my very own piece of A|wear. This lovely studded clutch. I feel like I am part of something new and exciting. If anyone asks me where did you get that bag, I will say with pride A|wear!



Here is a top 5 of key items I will be after in the next coming weeks:







Tell your friends!