COUTURE BY ROYAL APPOINTMENT

Norman Hartnell 1953. My interpretation of the exhibition-poster, 

reworked in photoshop

-Couture by Royal Appointment, is a new Exhibition at The Fashion and Textile Museum in London, which was founded by British designer, Zandra Rhodes in 2003.
Today the Museum is redeveloped and operated by Newham College and is a hub of learning, ideas and networking for the fashion and jewellery industry.

"The exhibition by the designers to H.M. The Queen: Norman Hartnell, Hardy Amies and milliner Frederick Fox, celebrates the timeless elegance of London couture and explores how the Queen’s patronage of groundbreaking British designers helped put London on the international fashion map after the Second World War".

Before Sir Norman Bishop Hartnell (1901 - 1979) opened his house in 1923, there was little typically British couture. His elegant gowns attracted royal and aristocratic customers.
Known for the design of the Queen's wedding dress in 1947 and Coronation Dress of 1953, the iconic dress of the mid twentieth century, Hartnell expressed the characteristics and the quality of British high fashion and set the standard for generations to come.

He even inspired Christian Dior and was also acknowledged by Coco Chanel.

Sir Hardy Amies’ career began as designer at Lachasse, noted for its tailored suits. He was in tune with Christian Dior’s New Look, by 1951 Princess Elizabeth ordered from him, and as Queen Elizabeth II did so for the next five decades.

Amies became a successful menswear designer in 1959 with the first recorded men’s catwalk show. The clothes were fashionable and affordable, and the bespoke tradition continues today.

The Exhibition also highlights the milliner’s role in London couture through the work of Australian-born designer Frederick Fox
His most famous designs are the hats he created for Queen Elizabeth, Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, and many celebrities worldwide.

Original black and white photos reworked in Photoshop

Hartnell to Amies - Couture by Royal Appointment opened 16 of November and is running until 23 of February 2013. Another good reason to go to London.

THE EYE HAS TO TRAVEL

-Is the title of the book about the famous editor of Harper´s Bazaar and Vogue, Diana Vreeland that was published last year by her daughter in law, Lisa Immordino Vreeland.

Called the "High Priestess of Fashion," Diana Vreeland (1903–1989) was an American original whose impact on fashion and style was legendary.

She became the fashion editor of Harper’s Bazaar in 1936, where she worked for 25 years, before taking over at Vogue. Vreeland established herself as a controversial visionary with an astonishing ability to invent and discover fashion ideas, designers, personalities, and photographers.

This year a Documentary by the same name has been released. The documentary celebrates the highs of her career and reveals her personal history, vulnerabilities, steely determination and divine triumph.

-A must-see for any fashion enthusiasts.

ACCOUNTABILITY AND CONSCIENCE

Todays issue is to important to pass unnoticed.
As a major player in fashion you can´t just Cash In, you have to be responsible for your products.

The danish fashion-company Bestseller with the brands Vero Moda, ONLY and Jack & Jones, is being blamed by Greenpeace, for producing products containing chemicals, that can affect the health of the consumers.

Eleven out of 14 products that were investigated by Greenpeace contained NPE/Nonylphenol Ethoxylates, a chemical that tranforms into NP/Nonylphenol and can disturb the balance of hormones, not only of consumers, but also the workers and population of the countries, where the production is taking place.

The Governments in these countries has a responsibility as well, to create a safer enviroment for their workers and populations.

Even though Bestseller, H&M, Adidas, Abercrombie  Fitch etc. demand the suppliers not to use these pruducts, it is hard to control what is going on so far away.
The competition of the suppliers are strong, so they are probably using the cheapest dye and so on.
These populations also looks here and wants a higher salery. . . so the question is, if Bestseller and other fashion-companies can demand them to stop, without paying more for their products.

I think this gives even more reason for the companies to move back the production. . . as I wrote in this previous post.
It will be much easier for the fashion-companies in terms of communication, production-control and logistic. On top, it would create more jobs here.

In return the governments should make it more attractive for the Companies to stay by giving them better conditions.

Do YOU really care or you just want cheap clothes?

PRICELESS EXPERIENCE

-What is experience worth and how to value it ? Have you ever had difficulty pricing your own work ?

Paloma Picasso by David Downton 1999

Learn from this story about Picasso :

-There was a woman strolling along the streets of Paris, when she spotted Picasso sketching near a sidewalk cafe.

"Not so thrilled that she could not be slightly presumptuous, the woman asked Picasso if he might sketch her, and charge accordingly. Picasso obliged. In just minutes, there she was: an original Picasso."

"And what do I owe you?" she asked. "Five thousand francs," he answered.

"But it only took you three minutes," she politely reminded him. "No," Picasso said, "It took me all my life."

Experience is very underestimated these days. But I think it is a matter of confidence and how much you value yourself. Because when all comes to all, experience is priceless.

WEARABILITY

  Marc Jacobs for Louis Vuitton Spring 2013

Have you ever wondered why you rarely see anyone in the clothes from the big fashion-houses Ready-to-wear collections.

After taking a look at the latest collections at style.com, I have been thinking about today's fashion and have noticed the big contradiction between the showpieces and what people actually wear.
When you look at how people dress in the streets on a daily basis, it is very basic, more practical and loose fitted outfits than on the catwalks.

That's because the big fashion-houses mainly are using their Haute Couture Collections to brand their name and get some attention from the media, to sell perfumes and accessories.

But, the collections were nevertheless quite inspiring. My friend, Rikke and I were amazed to see that our approach were quite similar to what is going on. I especially liked Gucci.

The High Street Brands gets inspiration from these shows to do more affordable clothes for the mass-marked.

But we are going to challenge that, to make affordable and wearable quality design, to keep and wear more than one season! Couldn´t that be nice?

Photos from V magazine.com and Madame.lefigaro.fr

A BRIDAL FEATURE

One of my first assignments, when I first opened my shop, was given to me by a local fashion-journalist, Ulla Sandberg.
She asked me and two other local designers to give our take on an unconventional bridal gown for their special wedding-section.

It was a welcoming commission and the attention meant a lot for my business. My proposition turned out like this. . .

It was back in 1991, but I wonder if time has made brides more courageous. Would you wear something like this today or do you prefer a more traditional gown ? -Any reactions ?

THE MINDSET

-A follow Up on my previous post. 

The mindset  is of course important, when you generate Ideas. Because the Ideas are dependent on how you think.

If you feed your mind, it will always produce something. . . So be careful how you feed it. There is good and bad impressions out there. so my advice would be: -Be open, but selective.

The inspiration comes from a book I just finished. About how you can change your life, when you change your thinking.