Underworld.

 

Victoria Secrets first preview of their Fashion Show 2011 is something to be desired. The imaginary persona given off in the ever so exaggerated underwear, takes you through a wonderland of made up things. When scanning through the photographs with a feeling of ‘wow’, I started to imagine a mix match of tea parties, bubbles, and butterflies. If only we could wear this sort of underwear every day!

Talk That Talk.

So today sees in the new album of Rihanna. Amazing I must say!

Not that I want to talk about her music- her clothes go through a funfair of changes, one of my favourite styles was when she boasted her loud album through her look. She showed the world that clashing is the way forward- pink and red had never looked so good together. Putting her own edge on sweet girly garments made me fall in love! Tight bralets? Tick. Flowy floral mini’s? Tick. Knee high socks? Tick- A match made in heaven?! Oh and the backdrops of pink fields and millions of different colour roses? Fair to say I am hundred percent jealous.

However a new album brings in a new style and controversy with that. We had a small taste of it in her past album but this time the new album freely has the line ‘suck my cockiness and lick my persuasion,’whatever Rihanna does- it works. The style bought now is current and out there, a rocky theme mixed with vintage. The doc martins, suspenders and stupidly large denim jacket look is something we have seen before, but Rihanna just works it so utterly well. I'm sure this is will be a look that will fill magazines to come in the next year, Thankyou Rihanna!

Valentino S/S 2012

Most loved!

After being blessed with an able look at Spring/Summer 2012, I truly fell in love with Valentino. As I am not usually fond of his heritage trends, this one was completely different for me, it just echoed a pretty and angelic personality.

The fine detail and beautiful pastel colours had me hoping that the high street would incorporate his style to something cheaper for the likes of me!

Lace, chiffon and gentle studding obviously looks like a match made in heaven!

Candy.

It seems pink hair is all the rage at the moment! All in time for Amelia Lily to make her amazing comeback to the xfactor. Not only is she a breath of fresh air to the xfactor (safe to say I was gutted when she got booted off), she screams style. Her rocky personality and fashion compliments her pink hair (courtesy of xfactor makeover), perfectly. Charlotte Free, a catwalk model, portrays exactly how pink hair can go with anything, she dresses from punk to girly chick. What is perfect is that it can add that rocker edge or it can add that extra cuteness to a girly girl. 

-If you want to read more on this topic, check out;

http://www.vogue.co.uk/beauty/trends/spring/summer-2012/coloured-hair-inspiration-from-bleach-salon-london-and-thakoon

Fashion in other eyes.

Today, a Southampton variety voiced their opinion on what fashion means to them.

“I generally keep to my dress code from work which is at Warren James, so black and white/smart is always on the agenda” work uniform and smart wear is becoming more common than casual wear and often more fashionable, proved by Beki Taylore, 20 years old. Similarly Joseph Parker explained: “Mixing a smart turn on English heritage theme with a contemporary twist gives me the classy blazer and stylish chino look”.

There is  a pattern with favourite key items in the publics wardrobe. Joseph Parker who studied Graphic Design said: “My Zara suit jacket is my most loved item at the moment as it sets off any outfit”.  Emma Cooper, 18 years old echoed: “Skinny Jeans will always be a key item, makes any outfit match”. Ginette Main a 30 year old publican admitted: “I could not survive without my black wrap dress which to the eye, slims me”. The mum of three, conscious of her weight, added: “Whenever I put weight on the black dress gives me the motivation to lose weight. The best thing about the dress, is that I can dress it down and dress it up”. Finally Tommy Moyce who spent £80-£150 on clothes last month proudly said: “I cannot live without my Vans, because they are my most recent and most worn buy so far, they also go with mostly everything in my wardrobe”. Evidently items that were versatile were key items of clothing that the public couldn’t live without.

Emma Cooper a student studying Fashion Marketing revealed: “I admire Fearne Cotton for clashing patterns and colours, something that I have emulated in my own style, I also love her vintage trends and rocky personality”. Whereas Beki Taylore commented on influential fashion idols as: “I don’t exactly have a fashion idol per say, if I see someone wearing something in the street and I like it, I will try and incorporate it into my own style. Working in the town, I see a lot of different styles, which helps”. Equivalently Joseph Parker, a 20 year old, Graphic Design Student and Tommy Moyce, a 24 year old, exercise teacher from Southampton  both quoted how no fashion icon is influential to them but technology forms help aid their style. Joseph Parker said: “GQ magazine and TV helps me with my decision on clothes”. Tommy Moyce said: “TV helps massively with style, the programme Skins that featured ‘Cook’ influenced my style for a long period”.

Smart and stylish Beki Taylore acknowledged: “I think a lot of different things form fashion, music culture is a big one and I think most of the style we see today is heavily influenced from historical fashion from back in the 20’s up to the 90’s”. But not everybody would read with this view. Basingstoke based, Ginette Main explained how she thought marketing played a part in forming fashion…“Shops promote new styles and trends, and what more of an accessible way to enter in to fashion than take a walk down the high street”.

BY AMY BLANCHARD

To show, not tell.

When journalists use unfavourable analysis, it often proves harder to read and offensive to some of the audience. Adjectives demonstrate one of the reasons journalistic skills can struggle. Often adjectives are classed as a lazy and ineffective way of describing, also generally overused. An irritation within the text is the bad usage of adjectives especially when hyphenating. The correct way in practicing this is to hyphenate when using an adjective and a past participle of a verb together for example ‘sapphire-tinted glasses’. Furthermore, the second way of hyphenating correctly is when using an adjective and a noun together for instance ‘blue-chip share’. Lastly always hyphenate if the adverb and the adjective produce a new adjective ‘well-known artist’.

An infamous quote in the writing business is “to show, not tell”. May this be a lesson to knowing the difference of adjectives in column writing and news story writing. News journalists often keep their writing short and sweet, due to the limited amount of space they have to write (sometimes known as ‘writing tight’). On the other hand, column writers habitually use passages of descriptions to evoke an image in the readers head. Although indifferently they are both just as effective in transmitting feelings.

A trouble within writing with adjectives is that it can go two ways, one, it can frequently hinder a journalist’s opinion by showing their bias. Two, over usage of adjectives can cover up a journalist’s lack of hard facts. Moreover this leads to the audience losing confidence in what they’re reading creating an unsuccessful piece of work.

In the past, a cub reporter wrote “The National Waterworks and Sewerage Authority had a remarkable record for April- it provided water all day round”. The editor sent back the report with a note: “Remarkable is not a reporting word. Leave the adjectives to the columnist. We just tell the facts. Write your story so that the readers will say: ‘That is remarkable!’ For adjectives then, the rule is: “Do not use any – if possible. People will understand you better without them.” This conveys the moral “to show, not tell”.

Within Fashion Journalism, adjectives still play a big part. In some conditions you could say writing for fashion is tougher for the reason that there is a certain amount of expressing words for fashion and finding new ones can be tricky. Alike to news writing, there are a limited bunch of adjectives that are over used and overall just should not really be there and an amount that are crucial. Some adjectives that have shaped and formed the journalistic world of fashion are “Boho Chick, Preppy, Retro and Working girl”.

In assumption, adjectives are far more affective to keep short within news writing and reporting whereas in column writing, adjectives are key to arouse an image within the readers head. Finally inside Fashion Journalism, adjectives have played such a vast part in the audience understanding fashion fully. Therefore adjectives are a hard Reuters to get right but used correctly, they can create a very successful and lesson able piece of writing.

BY AMY BLANCHARD

Franky.

We at Franky are taking a peculiar liking to the matchup between Sass and Bide and River Island this season, a Mexican wear or a Franky love?…we bring you the blanket poncho. Of course, we want to spoil you and introduce different styles which are imprinted on this new buy and items to go lovingly together.

In our escaping way yet high street obsessed personality, we thought it would be a bloody good idea to give you a taster of Sass and Bide’s cultural influences from Africa and South America, yet show all of you the way to emulate the look without entering the overdraft. Although the collection features our edgy flair, a feel of relaxed and calm remains.  Similarly, River Island’s Aztec woolly jumpers and ponchos have a relaxed and comfortable touch but feature a pretty cool edge.

Sass and Bide

River Island

Sass and Bide’s motive for the collection was aimed at the ‘curious and creative’, we thought perfect for our readers. We know at Franky, we wouldn’t usually feature a higher end designer collection like Sass and Bide but we wanted to show off how undeniably Sass and Bide are at the top of their game with recent collections.

River Island and Sass and Bide being our main focus point at the minute, we couldn’t help but scan our way through high-street super buys still, luckily we did, as we found an amazing poncho blanket for an outrageously cheap £10 at Primark.  Due to that find, we advise you fall in love with Sass and Bide and River Island, as well as broadening your horizon to the variety extravaganza that is the high street.

Due to the amount of Aztec material on the high street and catwalk this A/W, the range varies from dresses to coats and everything in between. Therefore we thought it would be ideal to create a one-off fashion extend, this meaning that clothes designed for A/W  being continued into Spring season, a A/W/A if you will!

The team at Franky, have thought up a decent idea to get you readers to send in your pictures rocking our ‘Sass and Bide goes high street’ look. Our wished-for trend would definitely have to be Aztec against rocking reds, leather motorcycle jackets layered over the top and beehive’s piled on top of the head.  

One look at your outfits and you’ll never want to change. We at Franky, hope you carry on using high street at its exceptional best, waiting for us to throw another trend in the mix!

BY AMY BLANCHARD

Wrong Seasons.

Sass and Bide’s collections always immediately scream references to cultures around the world. With colours most definitely accentuating the culture influences, unusually the colour palettes seem to have taken a turn around in this year seasons, firstly we visit earthy and copper tones through Spring/Summer 2011 to arrive in Autumn/Winter with eccentric prints and bold statement colours, some may say the wrong way round. However, a very interesting and different take to apply to the Autumn/Winter’s habit of classical tailored suits and chunky knits. 

This fresh and exuberant collection features silhouettes of flowing kaftans and ponchos creating that feel of hot holidays and travel, clearly demonstrating that the cold weather doesn’t need to bring our clothing and style down to a duller level. Accessories were beautifully matched, carrying on the flashes of coral and citrus colours, such as yellow cuffs, tribal feathered necklaces and block patterned clutches.

The two Australian based women are renowned for their carefree and original hypothesis. Their Autumn/Winter collection of tribal traits most probably should have been a given, for its strong and wacky injections of prints, colours and silhouettes. A match made in heaven for a perfect highlight to the first day at London Fashion Week!

Practice makes perfect.

My first ever double page spread! It is no lie that writing is one of my excitements, also what I have followed through from year (too young to remember) to now in University. It‘s no surprise that my mum tells me stories of how when I was a youngen, I use to make her read me magazines while I was on the toilet; embarrassment! There is no doubt about it that this first achievement which earned me a distinction, made me really proud! If you would like to read through the article, it is a made up story of how a woman called 'Amelie Depaul' move from Paris to the UK to be chief editor at Elle UK.

An extra touch.

Going back to my passion for design, I created these computer aided drawings in Adobe Illustrator. These projects really interested me in college, seeing the transformation from paper to computer screen was really different. Finally the effects you can use and create on Adobe Illustrator are beyond cool, so if you’re looking for a way to add that extra touch to your drawings then invest in Illustrator and Photoshop.

A magazine about myself, vain!

So since I was a little girl, I have always wanted to work with magazines. What involvement has come clear since enduring courses on Fashion. My aim is to be editing and working with articles, features, columns and the list goes on…however I have always had a passion for design. I decided to base this magazine cover on myself (not vain). It was a trial and error but looking at the final outcome, I personally think it looks quite quirky and different.

Enchanted Palace.

This is one of my favourite designs ever! I love this dress to a stupid measure, it is beyond tight but I refuse to believe it will not fit very well! I based this dress on a project called Enchanted Palace, I took my route down to Imperial Russia and all things involved. My main focus was Faberge eggs, which if you look closely I have tiny little versions on the bodice of the dress. These beads are from a fantastic shop in Paris called ‘La Boite a Perles’, if you are looking for beads, there is nothing that you cannot find in this shop! The Enchanted Palace exhibition I took more influences from as well is in Kensington, London. It still features now so most definitely worth a trip to inspire yourself.

BCOT Fashion Show 2011.

My collection on the catwalk! A very proud moment haha!

BCOT Fashion Show was a massive success, such an amazing event to be part of and I would recommend this course to any aspiring Fashion students leaving school. The weeks leading up aren’t as shiny but overall, the knowing of the show being at the end of your second year in college motivates you to achieve things you didn’t even know you were capable of. Not only was it huge amounts of fun and laughs, the finalisation of the show gave us the grades we needed to get into university and be where we are now. 

Take a look: http://boodle.bcot.ac.uk/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=2389

The Cake Shop.

A couple of pictures of my own collection, my influences of the clothes I made were particularly 1950's housewives and cupcakes! Endearing in this journey had its trials and tribulations but I'm thoroughly proud of the outcome. 

These mood boards were my drawing board for influences! This research pretty much shaped and formed my whole collection and accessories.All created in Adobe Illustrator!

A definition of 'bootyshorts'.

If you wanted me to sum up my blog and I in a picture, this would be it. I created this profile board to portray my goal in life; a magazine editor! Unfortunate to some, I am quite out there, I love conveying this in my style and personality. The suitcases display my passion for travelling, if only I had enough money to do it more often!

The Mystery of Glass.

Myself, a definite stranger to modelling, helped out a friend; Charlotte Dickinson to portray part of her interesting and innovative collection. The collection was called “The Mystery of Glass”, exploring different ways of reflecting glass into garment construction. For instance, pvc was a huge element.

A Montage.

Consider this a dedication to Jessica Latchman, a good friend who I picked to model in mostly all of my photo shoots. She is persistent and understands what I as a photographer want! Love this girl, check out her blog;

2ndhandcinderella.blogspot.com