Mind the Gap

London.  I forgot how these streets are like self-proclaimed catwalks.  Sprees of ready-to-wear fashion at your fingertips and some all-not-to-ready-to-ever-be-worn ensembles strutting down the pavements.  Stages where you can flaunt your wears and promote your identity, not matter what that may be.

This city is a cradle of trends, some genuinely original and some contrived in their frenzy to regurgitate the trends or beat them.  And ironically they just fall into another stereotype right? Mohicans with studded leather battle against twinsets and pearls (no doubt a flourish from Miss Middleton's influence).  Some perfectly groomed and others seemingly dressed in what could only be the results of tragic jumble sales in the suburbs... surely?  Who pioneered these wars between such fashion tribes I wonder? Estranged fashion identities merely cohabiting together.
 

It's practically balmy by London standards (I'm wrapped up in a sweater and biker) and there is all too much more than appropriate lily-white flesh on display.  That's what I love about this place.  Where back home the average sub-60 kg girl blushes over her under-toned underarm, these girls couldn't care less if their love-handles submerge their tube, waisted skirts, spilling out from beneath their crop tops .   Positively unbecoming, positively refreshing.
 

I forgot what a rush this place gives me and I wonder if there is at all a quiet place where you can read a book  unless locked in a toilet cubicle... Oh wait there is public transport of course.  How could I forget those tube rides?  Me, all of 5 ft 2 nestled into a complete stranger's 5oclock armpit, our arms entwined as we awkwardly grip the railings above our heads.  Ironic how invaded personal space can be here in a nation that all too often remains impersonal with each other.  Sometimes I feel like I missed the memo banning communication on the underground, like someone switched it onto mute.   Usually the only banter comes after the 7pm runs when the local pubs have loosened the white collars and stiff upper lips and we all forget the ban on conversation.

This city boasts creativity unabridged and raw.  And there ARE those who defy the gods of the catwalks and their deemed rightful trends.  These are the unique whose fashion fancies seem unrestrained.  Here some rockabilies, there some prims in pretentious hats... They all embrace this lawless existence of style where anything goes and nobody knows.

 

I know whether or not to believe the myth that they dress like this in the hope of being spotted, snapped and liked but my optimism yields me to think they are just dressing as they do for the sake of it, for the sake of being and for expression's sake alone and that not doing so is just not an option.  Whatever it may be it makes me all too conscious of my boring ensemble based on practical travel-packing and  it offers a breeding ground for bloggers and style hunters.  They thrive on the array of material at their fingertips.  Snap, snap, snapping away.  Guilty.

  

Whatever form, there is this unmistakeable, unstoppable energy that makes my heart-beat quicken and my being yearn for this city and all it has to offer.   Hello London, I've missed you.
 

Pop goes the runway

 

There is no denying the massive influence of the 60s on this season’s fashion and so it is little surprise that there is a bit of unearthing of the most iconic artistic movements of the decade.

Pop art in all its explicit and inferred forms is exploding (as in “crash” “boom”!) across the fashion scene and designers are alluding to it from the daisies at Prada to the comic like florals at Holly Fulton to the tongue and cheek prints at Henry Holland.

Prada

Henry Holland

This association with the movement seems topical and timely as Lichtenstein’s work is currently being exhibited at the Tate.  He who made the comic strip iconic is on display at the most famous gallery, on the world’s runways, and even the high streets themselves.

Some of Lichtenstein's most famous works and the fashion derived from them

The high street giants like Topshop can't escape the craze and sporty ensembles are littered with slogan knits, comic speech bubbles prints and comic book-inspired graphics.

Topshop

This trend especially leans itself towards knits such as this season’s hottest micro top which bares the midriff completely and is typically cut-away at the armholes with a higher neckline.  This as well as printed jumpers seem the perfect canvas for the pop sensations strewn across them.

Andy Warhol, who’s signature pieces depict mundane, commodities such as soup cans as well as the icon, Marilyn Monroe (arguably another commodity of the time), also leaves his mark on this season’s fashion.  

Some of the most famouse pieces I spotted at my visit to MOMA last week notibly Warhol's depictions of  Marilyn and the Campbell soup cans

 

 

Val Garland, makeup artist at Henry Holland, said “Andy Warhol was my magic inspiration”.  Even the deep side parting on the platinum hair displayed at Marc Jacobs hinted at the typical style of Edie Sedgwick, Warhol’s muse.  The similarities too apparent to be coincidence don't you think?

Edie Sedgwick in the 60s

Model at Marc Jacobs SS13

The Japanese retailer, Uniqlo has incorporated some of Warhol's most famous works into its prints for the Summer collection.  I spotted the opening whilst on the streets of New York last week...

Ironic perhaps that now these artworks proclaiming the art of the mundane commodity, are merely being translated into a wearable commodity themselves...

The Pop art movement is being revisited in a big way and all prints associated with it.  So pull out your old, now vintage, Disney tees and suddenly you are pop on for one of this season's coolest looks...

Hair today... Gone tomorrow

So a closer look at the hottest of hair dos from S/S'13 and I’m suddenly completely conscious of my top-knot which has become a bit of a uniform style for me whilst travelling.  There is only so much I can accomplish in a plane washroom mirror but I’m drooling after these chic looks from the runways and vow to attempt them once I am back in a constant time-zone and within the vicinity of my tools!

Rodarte

Marc Jacobs

Issa

 

This season, the runways offered us quite a variety of trends up top.  Whether you’re a no-fuss kind of gal or an OTT sort, there is something for you.

First up… the modern minimalist.  This, I’m afraid, I can only lust after as no amount of hair-spray will tame my curls into such sleek performance as was sported on the catwalks.  The rules for this look are ‘strict and sleek’.  Hair is scraped back into low buns or pony tails and bold partings reign.

It’s time to draw the line ladies!  Adopt a severe middle parting as seen at Givenchy or play with geometric partings as seen at Gainfranco Ferre or just a super deep part, seen at Chloe.  Whether it’s a complete comb-over or sleeked-back version, this look is all about being angular, superflat, neat, sharp and at times quite futuristic.  Although the look at Stella McCartney was more low key and easy… so distinctively Stella.

On the opposite side of the spectrum are the 60s inspired looks.  Yes, this is all about the typical volume but this is 60s like you’ve never seen it before and the characteristic beehives and bobs are injected with newness especially via hair accessories!  Armani and Vuitton, Fendi and Marc Jacobs all stood for gallant accessories from bows and veils to even orchids seen at Issa.

No doubt that these fab looks will be over before I’ve invested in my superhold hairspray, but I will definitely be embracing them for now…

My illustration of the top hair trends from S/S'13