UCA Graduate Magazine Shoot 2

The 2nd shoot in the magazine in contract to the 1st shoot is a lot more fun and playful while at the same time it carries the same  dark undertones. Illusions play a key part in this shoot with different make up techniques manipulating facial features. 

Photography: Eeva Rinne

Stylists: Amy Warner, Thomas Ramshaw

Styling Assistants: Abby Lake, Warren Leech

Models: Anna (Nevs), Cassandra

Hair and Make Up: Dean Woodvine  

UCA Graduate Magazine - Shoot 1

This shoot follows on from the show concepts, still using the Fox Sisters as a reference......

Photography: Eeva rinne

Stylists: Amy Warner, Thomas Ramshaw

Styling Assistants: Abby Lake, Warren Leech

Models: Morris (premier), Gemma Deeks

Make up: Jessica Warner

Hair: Katie Arnold

GFW in a Nutshell

UCA Rochester graduates showed their final collections at Earls Court on Monday (woooo), and Me and my friend Amy Warner got to style the show as well as styles two editorials for our Universities graduarte magazine. So I thought id talk about some of the inspirations behind the show and the magazine shoots.

Soooooo going back a few months .. me and Amy where given a loose theme and some key words to start with, what caught my attention was the word 'Illusion'. I then did some research into illusions and magic and came across the story of the Fox Sisters. The story goes that  in 1848 the 3 siblings started what we now know as a seance, or in other words they communicated with with dead. However surprise suprise the whole act was a con, the noises that people where hearing in the room where just one of the sisters knocking on the floor boards with their dodgy toe. Although people in them days were a sucker for a quick thrill, remember they didn't have iPads and Macbooks to keep them entertained. So here is the creepy part .... The Sisters took their act to a town in America called Rochester .... which is also the name of the town where my University is based, finding this out made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up...  I knew I had to do something with this story.    

Below is a little disturbingly good video that tells the story of the Fox sisters and shows how their life's slowly fell apart.

On a lighter note .. Here is Most Haunted presenter Yvette Fielding getting put in her place by a 'ghost' LOL

Also Christ Church Spitalfields was the perfect venue for the internal show, I couldn't believe our luck! 

We now had a narrative, the models on the runway were to carry a similar creepy/eary/ghostly characteristics as the Fox Sisters. The hair for the models was inspired by the Fox sisters own style. Slicked back hair with a dominant hair parting became a strong feature of the siblings so we wanted to take this and develop it for the UCA show. To create a ghostly impression we wanted to give a sunken eye with a tint of peach/red to give the impression that the eyes are saw from crying. The strong dark cherry lip  helped give an added kick to some of the looks that were lacking colour.  

And ....  this is what we got 

More pictures on Vogue.co.uk click here

The Celebrity Invasion

The fashion world has become victim to celebrity culture over the past fews years. Dozens of trespassing celebrities think that they can walk straight into this world of ours and take residence. Kylie Minogue, Dannii Minogue, Fearne Cotton and Pixie Lott are a number of celebrities to over step the mark. My patience has been tested with the news of another celebrity hopeful named Diana Vickers. In this brief article i want to talk about the effects of celebrity and fashionista integration, the good and the bad.

Exhibit A, Miss Lindsay Lohan, back in 2009 she became ‘artistic adviser’ at Emanuel Ungaro. Needless to say she made a mess here as big as her own on/off relationships. Style.com’s Nicole Phelps described the S/S 2010 debut as a ‘bad joke’ and ‘disappointing’. Mounir Moufarrige, Ungaro’s chief executive justified the decision of choosing Lohan by saying that it would ‘bring a bolt of attention, good or bad’, and that it certainly did. However this wasn't the first shock tactic card played by Moufarrige, back in 1997 he replaced uncle Karl at Chloé with Stella McCartney, just after her central saint Martins show.

However the day ‘K-day’ dropped in 2007 the fashion world changed.. a bit. Kate Moss’s collection for Topshop sold out almost instantly and i must give it to her some of her designs (that she stole from classic vintage pieces) were pretty cool. If anyone is to blame its Kate for setting off this celebrity/hight street love affair.

My final example is Victoria Beckham, already confessing to the fashion bible that she does not draw her own designs but simply ‘tie things together’, she is definitely on the right track. As soon as I heard she wasn't one of these pop singer/designer wannabes (pardon the pun) but simply a ‘tie things together girl’ i took her a little more seriously, and yeah some of her dresses look great and i wish her the best of luck but for the rest of you celebs out there who have that ‘passion for fashion’, step back.

Wonderland Internship

So iv finished my internship at Wonderland magazine and though id share some piccies on my very own blog.

This is the office in Notting Hill, it can get a bit messy at times, but this is no ordinary mess, this mess consists of Chanel hotpants, Louis Vuitton S/S 11 trousers and the odd Loewe Skirt. It was fun sorting out this trunk of treasures however returning the loot was a pain, a pain that lasted weeks!

I also understood why so many editors were so slim, its because their too busy to eat! This is a picture of my breakfast/lunch one day while i was helping out at a photo shoot for Man About Town magazine. I was up at 4.45am and didn't finish work till 7pm!

We shot on location at some picturesque farm near Essexs. I was also lucky enough to meet Boo George the photographer who's work has featured a number of times in my favorite magazine ever LOVE as well as countless of other established magazines such as Vogue, i-D and Arena Homme +, google Boo and have a look.  Not only was he a brilliant photographer but he also had a good scene of humor!

The new issue is out now so you best go ahead and get a copy  

p.s. keep your eyes peeled for my name in the credits! 

Pretty in Elie Saab

Its Couture this week, a busy time for any dedicated fashion blogger. So far Elie Saab is my favorite to win, it gave us much more drama and excitement then traditional houses such as Chanel, and yes Karl Lagerfeld did reinvent the classic Chanel suit ... again. 

The Big Push

So im going to push this blog thing big time as i hear its a good thing for a CV etc, also strangely enough i enjoy writing on here as if im some popular/celebrity blogger so ill stick to that. soooo ...

My new project is on niche brands, at first you might think 'whats the problem', well my problem is MOLTON BROWN! I have to come up with a new promotional strategy for the brand as well as a shop report and a marketing report. Unfortanily MOLTON BROWN does not get my creative juices flowing at all, although do watch this space.