SKETCHBOOK MAGAZINE'S MARVELLOUS POP-UP SHOP

Posted by Fashion Junior at Large

Besides its eye-catching cover - a soft wispy pencil sketch of Susie Bubble - I'll admit I didn't know all that much about Sketchbook Magazine. That all changed two days ago, when the team welcomed more than 300 people to their Carnaby pop-up shop. Just hours after the launch party one fan tweeted that the evening felt like falling into the pages of the magazine. How right she was...

(That's me trying not to get cupcake crumbs stuck to my lipstick at 1:12)

The Sketchbook pop-up shop was the brainchild of Rachel Menashy (a final year Fashion Promotion and illustration student) who pitched the idea to editor Wafa Alobaidat in January of this year. As Sketchbook is all about innovative talent and creative collaboration it didn't take much to persuade the contributors to get behind the project. 

 Rachel enlisted the help of Sister PR, who in turn secured the space (a shop at number 10 Newburgh Street) and the 500 members of the Sketchbook family did the rest. Every inch of white wall became a blank canvas, and 48 hours of solid illustration later, it was covered. 

Entering the world of Sketchbook is intoxicating. Not least because of the smiling faces of all the proud contributors. Wafa told me that she has met at least 5 people every day since she started the magazine a year ago. Her vision was always to support the creative community, and Sketchbook strive to find a place for every person with a desire to get involved.

Such a huge network of creative contributors came in handy when the team were dreaming up events to fill the three week occupancy. Lectures, workshops and discussion panels enlist the knowledge of people like Laetitia Wajnapel (Mademoiselle Robot blog), Becky Smith (LuLa, Twin magazine), Rosie Wolfenden and Harriet Vine (Tatty Devine), Samir Clerc and Zoe Knight (Wolf and Badger) and Viking Wong. And best of all the whole shebang is free! I'll be making frequent visits over the next few weeks, and so should you.

Check out the Sketchbook blog for frequent updates and listings on all the goings on down at the pop-up shop, or get drip fed info by following Sketchbook magazine on Twitter.

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IT'S ALL ABOUT FASHION ILLUSTRATION

Posted by Fashion Junior at Large

Business of Fashion ran a story on Marco Santaniello recently - a t-shirt designing blogger for MaxMara, who creates Rubik's Cube inspired illustrations of fashion industry figures. His pictures are really putting a sunshiny spin on my grey Monday.

BryanBoy

Susie Bubble

Agyness Deyn

Anna Wintour

Become a fan of Marco on Facebook until his website gets up and running. Hmmmm.I wonder if he accepts commissions?

After going on about this or that fashion illustrator over the past few months I've finally decided to try it myself. I'm sure you've heard by now that the wonderful Sketchbook Magazine are throwing open the doors of their pop-up shop for a launch party tomorrow evening. Expect a multitude of talks and workshops from 31st - 19th April all held at number 10 Newburgh Street (W1). I've signed up for several events including a fashion illustration workshop taught by Gabriela Mot this Saturday at 12pm. Can't wait!

New issue of Sketchbook Mag

Click here for a list of all the goings on at the Sketchbook pop-up shop over the next few weeks, and be sure to reserve your place by emailing the team at rsvp@sketchbookmagazine.com. 

Pic credits: Marco Santaniello courtesy of businessoffashion.com

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BRYANBOY BLOGS HIS WAY INTO US VOGUE?

Posted by Fashion Junior at Large

If ever there was a fashion blogger living the dream it's Bryan Boy. He's friends with Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana, Marc Jacobs named a bag after him, and now the twittersphere is alight with speculation that the boy wonder might be joining team (US) Vogue. Possibly as part of the soon to be re-launched Vogue.com.

Whilst I was trying to get to the bottom of all the gossip following his visit to Conde Nast last week I came across BB's CV circa 2007:

Bryan, who was 25 at the time, explained that this was the first resume he had ever written: 'I've never submitted a resume to anyone, never been on a job interview, never had a company ID, and never dealt with an icky department called human resources'. Well what a first attempt!

Career Objective: I want a job where I'm surrounded by lots of clothes, accessories and cute guys. Also, I want a fantastic blonde female co-worker who will be my ultimate fag hag and we'll play dress-up and drink champagne whenever our boss is gone. (Ya gotta admire his honesty!)

Work Experience: N/A (Love it! - Work experience? Pa! Who the hell needs it)

Hobbies and Interests: Fashion, travel, entertainment, celebrities, models, weight-loss (I like the last two best)

Please tell me this is the resume you sent to Anna Wintour Bryan!

Seriously though, he's come a hell of a long way and we have our fingers crossed for him. It would be a victory for bloggers everywhere.

Images: Bryanboy.com

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KATE MOSS, MARGHERITA MISSONI, ALEXA CHUNG - THEY'RE NOT SO DIFFERENT FROM YOU AND I AFTER A COUPLE OF DRINKS...

Posted by Fashion Junior at Large

So, I might be really slow off the mark here but I only just discovered Purple Diary - the blog of Olivier Zahm, editor and founder of Purple Fashion magazine.

I recently read an interview with him on Style.com (in which he opined that 'The internet is a medium for interaction. Not for creativity' and that the economic downturn was ficticious - 'There is no crisis. I don't see the crisis') and he explained that the blog functions like a journal for him: 'An intimate diary mixing intimacy and privacy with my public life and creating a contrast between what's really private, sex and love, and what's really public, a party, a fashion show an exhibition.'

The result is a string of photographs - some Terry Richardson style titillating girlie shots, others after hours parties with the fashion crowd - that made me feel like I was having a nose on a friend's Facebook page. Only instead of pictures of my friends looking drunk and silly in Yates (I joke - they very rarely go there) it's photos of Daisy Lowe and Stefano Pilati looking drunk and silly at a PFW after party. Voyeuristic heaven!

Check out this small selection from the past week and a half....

Alexa Chung sitting on the pavement having a (niftily cropped-out) fag. You can take the girl out of East London...

Margherita Missoni - This is inevitable if your namesake is a lethal tequila cocktail.

Daisy Lowe and Terry Richardson. Uh-oooooh!

Olivier with a demurely tipsy Kate Moss (having a good sniff of her hair by the looks)

Sonia Sieff and Stefano Pilati (REALLY) enjoying that 4am smoke.

Pixc credits: Olivier Zahm - Purple-diary.com

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IS THE INTERNET ENABLING 'STYLE THEFT' ON A GLOBAL SCALE?

Posted by Fashion Junior at Large

'The Internet does for fashion what the mircowave does for food'

 Take a look at this very trendy older gentleman shot by Scott 'The Sartorialist' Schulman. Judging by his clothes where would you guess he is from? Paris? Florence? New York? Milan maybe? Let's be honest, he could reside in any stylish city in the western world (Apart from London. The weather is a bit too sunny and the gentleman a little too jovial to be London). 

This was the analogy Ben Beaumont-Thomas of Bad Idea Magazine used to introduce 'Fashion's Microchic Shake-Up' - a talk held in the basement of Shoreditch's The Book Club. He wanted to demonstrate the profound affect the internet - street-style blogs, social networking and all that jazz - has on the way we dress. Welcome to the age of 'Microchic'; the global homogenisation of hyper-personal style.

Phew big words! Maybe it's best we stick to Ben's street style example for simplicity's sake. On the first day of London Fashion Week I was stopped by WGSN who wanted to photograph me in this outfit:

(Velvet Jacket: vintage, Leather Jacket by Topshop, Bag: Jimmy Choo for H&M, Trousers by French Connection, Shoes by Office)

 For those who are not familiar with WGSN, it's a trend forecasting website. The world's biggest fashion brands subscribe for a hefty yearly fee and in return they get a constant stream of information and inspiration to feed their creative vision (this kind of explains why all designers seem to miraculously agree on the trends each season). 

One of the resources they provide is street style reportage. One individual's style might inspire a designer who then shows, for example, patterned satin trousers in their next collection. Those trousers are then copied by high street stores, and eventually feed back down to the consumer on the street. It's one big marvelous cycle! This tool also means that a t-shirt worn in a Tokyo club could be emulated by Topshop and end up on a Londoner's back within a matter of weeks. Virtually instantaneous global style!

Street style blogs have a knack of celebrating subjects with a flair for individualistic or slightly unusual dressing (like our trendy older gentleman above). Our access to these sites allows us to cherry-pick influences from the wardrobes of stylish people across the world - establishing a uniform of global cool which is visible from Copenhagen to Sydney. 

The second part of the talk enlisted the help of Iris Ben Davis (CEO of Style Shake - a site which allows shoppers to design their clothes from scratch), Helen Brown (founder of Catwalk Genius - where fashion fans can buy shares in the businesses of new designers they love), and Ruth Marshall-Johnson (senior editor of WGSN). These are three women who are very much in the business of Microchic and their predictions for the future of fashion pretty much pickled my brain...

Style Shake has made bespoke available to the masses, and even more significantly it has made bespoke affordable (mainly because, Iris told us, being online keeps overheads ultra low). So what does this mean for bricks and mortar stores? Will online bespoke businesses eradicate fast fashion? Or will our penchant for social shopping prevail?

The panel's coverage of the latest technologies was also beyond interesting. Augmented Reality will let us 'try on' clothing virtually with the use of our humble webcams. 3D printers will allow us to 'print' out our purchases (I don't quite understand this. Get on to Wikipedia for a more articulate explanation), and 3D body scanners will ensure our bespoke designs fit perfectly. Apparently software is even being developed with will allow us to virtually 'feel' the material - emulating the tactile experience many of us value as part of the shopping experience.

Super fascinating (if a little mind boggling) right?


Pic credits: TheSartorialist, Fashion156.com

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THE ISSUE OF THE DAY IS STILL THE PERVADING PRESENCE OF BLOGGERS AT THE SHOWS

Posted by Fashion Junior at Large

 As I may have mentioned, I recently joined Twitter. Whilst I can grasp the simple task of a Facebook status style tweet, I haven't yet mastered the twitpic or the direct message etc, so have been attempting to pick it up by reading the tweets of the people I follow. In the last couple of hours there has been much discussion (mainly amongst the well known bloggers) over this article from The Global Herald.

Yet again the editors versus bloggers debate is being wheeled out with the latter being described as 'awkwardly dressed pseudo-fashionable young things who were pushing themselves towards the free press patisserie with aplomb'. Sigh. Like many teenage girls who aspire to inhabit the world of fashion journalism I never fantasised about writing online. I fell in love with the tangible aspects of the magazine. The smell of the pages, the cool smoothness of the cover, the weight of the printed product, which seemed to denote substance and knowledge of subject. But things change. The first time I meet the Fashion Editor at Large she told me ‘print is shrinking. Online is now the future’ – And just like that I knew I had to embrace a new medium for my passions. Whether bloggers carry clout in the industry is no longer debateable – they’re usurping front row seats at Dior couture right from under the noses of seasoned fashion journalists – but just how erudite and relevant their opinions are seems to be a constant point of contention. 

Maybe the reason the so-called ‘Tavi backlash’ has been ignited is because, whilst we all enjoy her insightful musings, some of her harsher critics simply believe she is not qualified to write for POP and schmooze back-stage at the Paris couture shows. In their view it’s all about knowing one’s place in the fashion pecking-order, or as Robin Scott says 'There is a food chain at work here, and those with dot blogspot or dot wordpress in their domain name should know that they are at the bottom of it.' 

But seriously, what about our very own Fashion Editor at Large and other seasoned writers who take up blogging? It adds a whole new dimension to the blogosphere. 

Scott does make some important points - some print journalists who take an anti bloggers stance need to understand that 'the very blogs they deride ... are read by far more – literally millions more – people than their own articles will ever be'. We need to address the issue of space at fashion Week in terms of the quality of the attendee's output as well as quantity of readers they draw. It's a complex task. 

Do you know what the most widely read magazine in the UK is? Take a Break. Yes Take a Break! It gets almost one million readers per issue, sells two copies every second and is the 4th biggest selling magazine in the world! It has a far far greater number of readers than say Vogue or ELLE, which fall near the bottom of the pile in terms of monthly sales. Sometimes things surprise you. Blogs are extremely widely read, and the well written ones are extraordinarily influential. 

All the nay-sayers have to eventually accept that things move on, and that print and online can co-exist. Way back in the day photographers were banned from catwalk shows and journalists had to be a dab hand at sketching the collections. Now we have Tavi, Bryan Boy, Suzie Bubble et al bridging the gap between mere mortals and the ethereal people of fashion society with their commentary.  It’s progression, and that is what this industry is all about.

Pic credit: tardeotemprano.net

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AMERICAN VOGUE CELEBRATES FASHION BLOGGERS! OH HAPPY DAY!

Posted by Fashion Editor at Large


When I was on holiday in Cape Town this new year I spent a magical new years eve with Matthew Brookes who told me he had photographed the worlds most recognised fashion bloggers for the March edition of American Vogue. My main reaction was WOW! I was so proud of Matthew for getting such a high profile feature to photograph. It was only later the 'if only' feeling kicked in. Despite my existing status as a respected print fashion writer of 14 years standing, I humbly realised I was also someone merely starting out as a fashion blogger.

To be recognised by American Vogue as a significant example of the new breed of fashion bloggers would be totally beyond! Still, I'm not bitter. I'm delighted for Bryanboy, Garance Dore, and especially for North Londoner Catherine Kallon of redcarpet-fashionawards.com for making the US Vogue cut. Also highlighted is personal lifestyle chronicler Todd Selby, beauty blogger Michelle Phan, Michelle Obama watcher Mary Tomer  and my blog crush, street style photographer Tommy Ton of Jak&Jil. Go, go, go guys! By showing us YOUR world view, edited by you without censorship, you have demonstrated the power of the people to cut through the hyperbole of constructed media and deliver the simplest most wonderful thing: the refreshing truth. You are the inspiration for the unpaid labour of love and personal commitment that is fashioneditoratlarge.blogspot.com! Thankyou and big love from Melanie Rickey of Fashion Editor at Large xxxx

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TECH-CESSORIES FOR FASHION WEEK

Posted by Fashion Junior at Large

Hopefully the Fashion Editor at Large and I will both know how to mobile blog by Friday (in fact we are just this second trying to teach ourselves). If not I'll have no choice but to drag my chunky Toshiba PC (a cheap emergency purchase after my last computer was stolen from my empty house during Nottinghill Carnival) from show to show in a disgracefully ugly laptop bag. Please god don't let it come to that!

In an ideal world I would be carrying one of these:

 

YSL, Downtown Laptop Case, $1795

  

Mulberry Bayswater Sleeve £349.95

Aspinal, London Ladies Laptop Bag, £375  

  

Mulberry Daria Tote Laptop Bag, £599  

Fendi Laptop Sleeve, £255 

Credits: apple.com, net-a-porter.com

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TAVI OUSTED BY YOUNGER BLOGGER?

Posted by Fashion Junior at Large

The haters who speculated that everybody's favourite teen blogger Tavi Gevinson was being aided by a 'Team Tavi' have finally been silenced by the insightful opinions she voiced at the Evolving Influence Fashion Blog Conference hosted by the Independent Fashion Bloggers in NY last night.

Here's her take on the editors Vs. bloggers debate:

'A lot of it is kind of made up. I think it started to sort of come back and gain a little more momentum when a Grazia writer was sitting behind me and couldn’t see because of my hat. But like I saw what [she] Twittered, which was ‘Can’t see behind Tavi’s bow,’ and it’s like, I think [she was] just sort of like making a joke. But then it was like [transfers to ominous voice-over voice] ‘Bloggers and Editors at War — which side are you on?’

Read the full story at The Cut blog.

Meanwhile Racked.com are introducing guest blogger Katie as their New York fashion week critic. By the way she's only five. (Those jokers)

Katie hobnobbing with fellow blogger Bryanboy

Katie's show notes...vital I think you'll agree.

Picture credits: racked.com, nymag.com

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MY NEW CROWN PRINCE OF STREET STYLE BLOGGING

Tommy Ton of Jakandjil.com photographing Sally Singer of US Vogue in Paris

I have always been a street style watcher. A fashion stalker. A lot of my trend ideas come from seeing what people choose to wear, how they wear it and where they are when they're wearing it. It is a language all on its own. I was checking into The Sartorialist long before it became a cult blog, providing pithy captions for his subjects in my head, and then whenever I saw the man himself, Scott, at the shows or outside the Paris hotel he and I used to stay in (not together) I loved to watch how he blatantly sized men and women up on the street. He got away with it because he had a camera around his neck. Lucky.

Recently, I have added another fashion-stalker street-snapper to my love list. It's Tommy Ton from Jak & Jil  who has an eye for a picture that makes me think he is a beauty editor, accessories editor, fashion editor and art director all rolled into one. He loves an amazing shoe and bag, and has an eye for the more unusual composition that I find stimulating in my fashion head.  

This week in my mothership publication, the wonderful Grazia, I did a piece on Tommy Ton with a selection of pictures, but we could only fit in one. Because Tommy so kindly gave us several pictures to use, I thought it would be a shame to waste them, so I am showcasing them here.

What I like is that Tommy is capturing this Dior show as we journalists see it from the front row, complete with photographers, standing people, PR's, show producer's, discerning couture clients and of course the beautiful model in her Christian Dior Couture finery, in view.

When I tracked him down for Grazia I spent ten minutes outside the Chanel couture show on Rue Cambon asking hooded figures with cameras around their neck, are you Tommy Ton? Finally the real Tommy revealed himself.  And here is Tommy! How cute?

Tommy is wearing Alexander Wang boots

Later that day I interviewed him on the phone while he was trying to tap into some free wi-fi on the streets of Paris so he could send his pictures from the day to his blog. And he told me his story. He is 25 years old, and lives in a suburb of Toronto called Oakville with his Vietmamese parents. He started Jak & Jil four years ago, documenting the “not very glamorous” local Toronto nightlife because he was bored. "There wasn't much going on in Toronto." So he decided to spread his wings; "I wanted to take photos in the fashion capitals at their fashion weeks," he says. So that's what he did. I remember him in Paris a few years ago asking all us fashion editors if he could photograph our shoes. (He has a shoe fetish, how perfect and shiny are his Wang boots above?).  His perseverence has paid off; his talent has been spotted and he has been adopted by none other than Vogue editor Carine Roitfeld who has given him a page in this month's Paris Vogue. Not only Carine, in fact, but Anna Wintour too who is tapping him for the relaunch of Vogue.com later this spring. “At the Dior show I was sat behind Anna Wintour, and she turned to say “Hi” to me,” he says in amazement. He deserves the recognition. His pictures are beautifully composed, yet surprisingly he is not a trained photographer. “I just click away and hope...” he says, being modest. He definitely has the fashion eye; and he is in love with with fashion. “Fashion is everything to me; it’s all I care about” he says. Aaah.

I am anti-fur by trade, but even I have to admit that coat with those shoes on that bike with those glasses and the turban looks amazing.

THANKYOU SO MUCH TOMMY!
Melanie xx
Photos (not of Tommy Ton) are by Tommy Ton for http://www.jakandjil.com/
Tommy Ton photos by an as yet unnamed friend....

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REVENGE ON THE FASHION WANNABE'S

Posted by the Fashion Editor at Large

There is much fuss being made in the corridors of power in fashion about un-schooled interlopers crashing the scene. And there is a back atcha element to the exchange too, as bloggers get het up about fashion editors getting het up about them.

The online fuss that came out of fashion blogger Tavi's head bow obscuring the view of my colleague Paula Reed of Grazia made me realise that there is some genuine animosity towards fashion professionals from the fashion writers in the blogosphere. WHY???  I can't fathom it. We trained, earned ourselves jobs in fashion, carry them out professionally and are doing our jobs when we attend shows. We also promote fashion bloggers, read them, and support them. In my case I've become a fashion blogger too! What IS the problem?

So, I had to laugh at the gall of these two muppets, opps, I mean two posh prep school kiddies whose attempt to foil New York Fashion Week by hacking databases and putting themselves into the seating plans of major New York fashion shows got foiled.

I have to hand it to Becca Shumlin and Remy Renzullo (above), though, their ticket request letter was pure (misguided, yet twistedly correct in its structure) genius!

Hi [redacted],

This is Remy Renzullo, requesting an invitation for Alexandre Herchcovitch's Fall/Winter 2010 show. I work as a freelance stylist, currently working with the future first lady, Deborah Shumlin, of Vermont for the campaign trail and hopefully elected office. More information can be found here: http://www.shumlinforgovernor.com. In addition I have been signed on to contribute to a new fashion magazine, FUTURE. I would love to have seats or standing if available for myself and Rebecca Shumlin, the magazine's editor-in-chief and daughter of the future governor and, myself. Please let me know if this will be possible.

Thanks so much for your time,

Remy Renzullo

Read the full, hilarious story from Gawker here. Then worry that the future of fashion could be in the hands of the Remy's and Becca's of this world, and with PR's who want to give show tickets to people with those kind of credentials!



Photo credit: Getty Images.

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WILL FASHION BLOGGERS CHANGE THE WORLD?

Posted by the Fashion Editor at Large

On Fashionblogs from Mary Scherpe on Vimeo.

Thanks to BryanBoy's ever on it nature, today I happened across this fascinating dialogue between Suzy Menkes and Mary Scherpe from Stil In Berlin, the German street photography blog. Apart from Sarah Mower, who embraced the Internet medium as early as 2000 by writing her catwalk show reviews online for Style.com, Suzy Menkes is the fashion doyenne who closely examines the changing nature of fashion's relationship with the online universe, and also accurately communicates it to the world at large. Her story on Balmain vs Balenciaga, writtern during the SS10 r-t-w collections, was just brilliant. Rumour has it that Anna Wintour has banned the word blog from being uttered in her presence. I think this story could be true, but only because she doesn't like the sound of the word itself. I can relate to that. Obviously I love blogging. But three of them on a Sunday the week before the end of January can only mean one thing - I had better stop procrastinating and  DARN WELL DO MY TAX RETURN.  

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