OUR NEW GIRL CRUSH: NEW MODEL LARA MULLEN

 Posted by Bethan Holt, Fashion Junior at Large

Lara in Vogue (by Josh Olins)

Lara Mullen has the kind of story which will have teenage supermodel wannabes everywhere turning green with envy. She has the fairytale 'normal school girl to fashion favourite' which so many now seem to wish will be their reality. For Lara, it is. A year ago she was just another Northampton girl and now she is FEAL's latest model crush- as well as a top pick for the previous two seasons of catwalk shows as well in in demand for shoots. She captures the spirit of now with her strong but still wistful, girlish and very English look.

Lara, with her mussed up hair and startled ice blue eyes, stars in April Vogue's "The White Album" shoot, styled by Lucinda Chambers,  confirming her hot new model status. Vogue clearly share our Lara love because they also tip her "soulful look" to be a key face of the future.

And it's not just  Vogue who are fuelling Laramania. This weekend, the Telegraph charted her last crazy six months flipping between fashion weeks, major shoots and hanging out in her school common room.  She also  blogged during Paris Fashion Week for Style.com about what it's like being a new model. Basically, we're all enraptured with the way she presents fashion to us as well as the tale behind the face.

Herein lies a kind of tumblr of images which sum up why we are we are majorly crushing on Miss Mullen right now...

Lara in Vogue (by Josh Olins)

Lara in Vogue (by Josh Olins)

Lara in Vogue (by Josh Olins)

Lara in Vogue (by Josh Olins)

Lara Mullen in SS12 POP

Backstage at Nina Ricci AW12

Lara walking for Jil Sander AW12 (Image from catwalking.com)

Walking for Prada AW12 (image from catwalking.com)

Walking for Alexander Wang SS12 (image from catwalking.com)

Lara Mullen for Jonathan Saunders Pre-Fall SS12 (style.com)

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HELLO AZEALIA BANKS AND YOUR CUTE JUMPER

Posted by Bethan Holt, Fashion Junior at Large

Azealia loves her Mickey jumpers (image from GQ.com)

THE new girl to buzz about is Azealia Banks, who has just topped NME's Cool List. The rapper from Harlem could not be more different from last year's winner Laura Marling, a folksy singer from a sleepy Hampshire village. Azealia Banks is culture's new naughty girl; where last year we hankered after the whimsical, goody two shoes vibes of Marling, that all feels a bit, well, quiet now. Banks is here to shout and swear us into a mad, hopping dance through the streets. And as she demonstrates, there's really just one uniform for that- a Mickey Mouse jumper.



Azealia looks super cute with her plaits, denim cut offs and cartoon tee- like a girl playing out in the summer holidays. Oh, but then she opens her mouth and all kinds of naughty words come out- beware of watching the video if you're a bit sensitive. She told GQ that the reason I, being English, love her song is because it makes me feel like I could have a shouty, sweary strop:

'I think that's a lot of the reason why people relate to it so much, because everybody wants to say, "F*** you!" I think by virtue of English culture being so polite, I feel like there's definitely a part of every English person that just wants to be like, "Aargh!" That's why it's picking up so much over here'

AAARGH exactly! I do think that however many times you want to scream c*nt, it's always that little bit more charming coming from someone with a childish quirk about them. I have to admit, I wouldn't be writing about Azealia if she'd been looking all tough in scary leathers and spikes. Instead, I see her as embodying so many things in the melting pot of mainstream Western culture right now. As the FashEd wrote earlier in the week, everything's got a bit BORING of late so listening to Banks is like turning all that on its head, shaking us awake and saying COME OUT TO PLAY. Her lyrics aren't the most profound ever and revolve quite a bit around sexual innuendo but at least they're challenging and provocative. She's an angry young woman. Her tangled but beautiful music reflects the frenzy felt by so many young people right now. From a fashion perspective, doing all this in a Mickey Mouse t-shirt takes what she's saying to another level. There's so much novelty, childish fashion on its way next year that the only way to do saccharine sweet without veering into vom territory is to add some Banks-ish attitude.

If a Disney jumper doesn't float your boat, a frill sock is a nice nod (image from GQ.COM)

 I'm afraid I can't direct you to anywhere where you can purchase Azealia Banks' particular brand of f*ck you attitude but there are lots of Mickey tees about to get you started. Much more fun than a Colin Firth Christmas jumper.

Sweet and sparkly Minnie from Iceberg SS12

Classic Mickey £25 from truffleshuffle

Sweetly pink sweatshirt £30 Rokit

And for all our American readers, a special Happy Holidays Mickey jumper, in honour of Thanksgiving...

Happy Holidays! £24 Beyond Retro

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GIRL CRUSH: MARY KATRANTZOU

Posted by Bethan Holt, Fashion Junior at Large

Today is 'We <3 Mary' day here at FEAL HQ- last night I was lucky enough to meet the fabulous Greek designer herself at an event hosted by My Daily. This morning, the FashEd and I have been singing the praises of her bubbly, all-embracing approach to interacting with her fans, as well as her talent for combining print and shape in ever more visionary ways. Basically, Mary Katrantzou is our new girl crush because she can be a consumately professional design extraordinaire and a really nice person all at the same time! In this spirit, Mary has joined My Daily as a Contributing Editor; alongside her avid tweeting and enthusiasm to build the best possible website this makes her one of the most web savvy, and accessible, young designers out there.

Me, the Fashion Junior, with Mary Katrantzou

 MyDaily editor Libby interviewed Mary last night and they covered everything from Mary's switch from studying Archtitecture in the US to Textile Design in London to the difference between a size 10 Mary dress and a size 14 ('the bigger the lady, the more print she gets'). Mary had plenty of snippets to divulge about how her business will grow in the future. Next June, she is hoping to launch her first pre-collection. She also wants to respond to all the interest men have shown in her designs- her SS12 blazer has been a popular order from the boys- by launching her own men's line in time. Bigger ambitions include a stand alone store in the middle of London, in a space which she can change all the time to suit the prevailing themes of her designs.

This blazer was inspired by simple Helmut Lang shapes from the 90s (image from catwalking.com)

Actually, Mary is a big fan of London. She claims that she would not be in fashion at all if it weren't for the world-renowned MA course at Central Saint Martins; she was tempted to stick to Textile Design but couldn't forego the opportunity to study under the guidance of Professor Louise Wilson whom she says 'gave me the confidence to talk about my work and forced me to develop a signature'. Mary was adamant that she'll be staying in London and showing her work in the young design context of London Fashion Week rather than trying to compete with bigger labels in other cities.

The final look from Mary Katrantzou SS12- The shape of a flower was the silhoutte which underpinned this collection (image from catwalking.com)

After the interview, I asked Mary how she was feeling about the timing clash of London and Milan fashion weeks in February. She acknowledged that it would be difficult but her spin made me think about situation differently. From a buyer's perspective, she suggests, London designers are currently among the most attractive because they pose less risk and can be more flexible than big, well-established labels. In the current economic climate, in which retail is taking quite a bashing, buyers like the fact that they can negotiate more on delivery times and minimum orders with the smaller labels, many of which are based in London. Crucially, their commerciality and growing reputation as exciting designers mean it's not a compromise for customers. Mary was also quick to point out that her designs and those of her peers are frequently being included in big editorial shoots around the world. The Katrantzou show is usually scheduled for the Tuesday of fashion week, by which time 'all the models have left for Gucci' so facing obstacles because of schedule clashes in nothing new for the Katrantzou team to deal with.

Mary Katrantzou AW11, photographed by Sean and Seng for POP

The FashEd interviewed Mary for the current issue of POP- I've included it here and we defy you not to have developed a full blown girl crush by the time you've finished. When I mentioned to Mary that I worked with Melanie, she was full of love for this piece. My Daily is also offering the chance to win a dress from Mary's SS12 collection- and if you're not a lucky winner and budgets don't stretch to the real Mary thing, you only have to hold out until February when her capsule collection for Topshop drops, hurrah!

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MY NEW YORK MODEL CRUSH: TATI COTLIAR + STYLISTS HIT THE RUNWAY!

Posted by Fashion Editor at Large

Tati modelling Marc Jacobs AW10  

  

Tati modelling for Rodarte SS10

Tati's first shoot

One of the fun things about doing shows, is spotting new modelling talent. It has been the same faces on the runway for a few years now, so the Marc Jacobs show last night was a pleasure as his casting agent worked with a rich new seam of new modelling talent. Tati, (above) is a teenager from Buenos Aries who gave up studying cinema to model. She has been working just a year, and yesterday opened the Marc Jacobs show, which signifies she is seen as a rising star. Tati also stars in the new Vivienne Westwood campaign photographed by Juergen Teller, but he doesn't capture her beauty at all. She is my new favourite brunette (sorry Freja). Better still Marc decided that size two teenagers were not the only choice for his runway, and he did a bit of studio casting, picking two of his creative stylists, Camille Bidault Washington, (below) and Suzanne Deeken, (bottom). Maybe next season Marc could do a spot of "street casting" at the Fashion Editor at Large office?

Picture credits: Catwalking.com; Reed+Radar

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MY GIRL CRUSH ON CAREY MULLIGAN

Posted by the Fashion Editor at Large

Carey Mulligan in Nina Ricci chatting with Tom Ford on 17th January after the Golden Globes

I've never seen a movie that prominently features Carey Mulligan -something I plan to rectify as soon as possible by watching An Education - but I did see her at the Royal Court a few years ago in the play The Seagull and recall her from Pride & Prejudice. The relationship I am building with the 24 year old currently, though, is through her frequent red carpet outings. Her choice of designers is fascinating - she has worn copious amounts of Prada, as well as Lanvin, Bottega Veneta, Marni and two relatively unknown labels. The first being up-and-coming designer Prabal Gurung (I know, what a mouthful!) and Vionnet the french fashion house that, under new design leadership, is currently taking the fashion world by surprise at its fabulousness. I am a fan of every single outfit choice Carey has made since October, (and would like to take a moment to congratulate her stylist, Tiina Laakkonen) I can agree that she deserves the "new Audrey Hepburn" tag but more than that there is something so refreshing about her demeanour. She is cute and vulnerable and real, and looks like she is brilliantly surprised by her success. More than that she looks like she is super-connected to her emotions and feelings and is comfortable in her own skin. She allows nerves to creep in because why the heck wouldn't you be slightly bricking it in front of the world's paparazzi on a red carpet somewhere in Hollywood? I shan't say any more than that other than to show you why Carey is my girl of the moment. Bring on the BAFTA'S!

Carey Mulligan wearing Lanvin for the SAG Awards on 23 January

Carey in Marni on January 15th

 

With her mother Nano who is a college lecturer in Wales

In gorgeous Bottega Veneta

WearingVionnet

In SS10 Prada, lovely

Carey wearing Prabal Gurung

Photo Credits:

Rex Features

Getty Images

Wire Image

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