Fashion Voyeur

People will stare, make it worth their while.

Categories: Fashion

The Best Styling Tips For A Black Tie Event

Black tie dress codes these days can be so simple for men to achieve.  Hand them a basic black dinner jacket and some cut crease trousers and they’re done, to a pretty slick and acceptable standard too.  They have a few choices to make when it comes to selecting a shirt and bow tie, but there’s generally minimal stress over a black tie dress code for men because the title is geared towards them, the guidelines are clear.  

For women however, black tie events can be a minefield.  What’s acceptable?What’s not?  Who is the audience?  It’s not always clear what you can wear for a black tie event and you don’t always know just how formal you can, or indeed should be going.

As a reader I’m assuming you’re a person with an interest in style and fashion and will most definitely have some sort of personal persuasion when it comes to shopping.  Taking that into account as a fellow Fashion Voyeur I’m certain you’ve been in the predicament of standing in front of your closet faced with the dilemma of not wanting to arrive to whatever unknown event you’re attending wearing something that’s too casual and both look and feel out of place; but also not want to overdress.  

If you do have a formal event on the horizon and you’re unsure what to wear, check out these styling tips for formal events. 

A close up image of some off the rack formal gowns

Choosing The Dress 

The term black tie very obviously refers to men’s dressing for formal occasions and it’s expected that they wear a black tuxedo where you see this on an invite.   Think Daniel Craig in Casino Royal and you’re on the right track.  Some events are more lenient these days and may permit different colours, but for the most part, it’s best to stick to black.

There are no hard and fast rules for women and black tie is open to interpretation and of course allows for a little stylistic twist.  This has pros and cons as it means that choosing a dress (or a tux a la Cara Delevingne) can be tough, remember there’s a lot more choice for women on the high street and we also have a heap of vintage stores we can trawl through too of we want to tick the sustainable fashion box.

Cara Delevingne wearing a black tuxedo and top hat to Princess Eugenie’s wedding
Cara Delevingne in black tux and top hat combo

As a general (unwritten but mostly observed) rule, formal dresses and gowns for a black tie event should always be floor length.  A cocktail dress can work if stipulated in the invite, and another industry tip is that it’s best to stick black – think Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany’s – yes, we’re still observing those age old traditions.

If the dress code states ‘Black Tie Optional”, then congratulations, you’ve just been granted your get out of jail free card and been given that extra bit of freedom when it comes to choosing an event dress.  Sure, there’s still a dress code and there’ll still be eyes on you, but you definitely have some more style choices and can definitely lift that hem to cocktail length or higher if you wish.  Looking for something completely different and want to make sure that nobody else in the room will be wearing the same outfit as you?  Then the vintage option is on the table for you as well.  Sure some vintage evening dresses are a little too extravagant for a strict black tie event, but if it’s black tie optional you should definitely consider it, after all, how many events do you get to guarantee all eyes are on you?

Julia Roberts wearing a red dress in Pretty Woman
Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman

When it comes to choosing the colour, black is the safest and if you’re bothered about that sort of thing – it’s the most flattering option.  You can absolutely wear other colours but it’s generally expected that attendees stick with something classic like red or a navy, and don’t go for anything too bold.  (Please be aware, I’m not giving advice here, just facts).

How To Accessorise 

Once you’ve selected a dress you can turn your attention to accessories to complete your outfit.  Jewellery is the obvious choice when building a formal outfit and there are a few different options.  When you are wearing a formal dress, small understated pieces of jewellery are always a safe bet.  Simple vintage style pendants and stud earrings are ideal for a black evening gown.  If you’re looking to strike out with statement jewellery alongside your formal wear then your outfit will take more “build time” as you construct either the jewels around the dress, or the dress around the jewels  – depending on which you found first, so that you don’t overcrowd your final look.

With a little direction and that all important invite, hopefully we’ll have you shining bright like a diamond at your next black tie event.

Pixie

Categories: Fashion

PRITCH London Divine Beings London Fashion Week

With London Fashion Week about to kick off for another season there are always a few pre-season openers that warm up show season nicely.  We all know that New York Fashion Week isn’t what it used to be and with many of us no longer even optioning it as freelancers since the division of Fashion Month and instead opting for season openers like these instead, which give us an insight into Fashion Week on our home turf ahead of time.

Earlier this week PRITCH London gave us just that.  The invite said simply ‘Divine Beings’ with a nod to Greek mythology in its illustration and its evening slot and dreamy church location hinted its opulence.

Pixie tenenbaum holds up the invite to the PRITCH London SS20 runway show pre-London Fashion Week in September 2019

PRITCH London is a brand known for its non-conformist luxury and distinctive use of sustainable leather, something that they’ve worked hard to source.  With Divine Beings, PRITCH London aim to elevate the wearer to divine, almost god-like status – translating the power of ancient Greek mythology through striking silhouettes completely unexpected and seemingly impossible in a fabric as unyielding as leather.

The story behind this vibrant collection comes from designer Federica Braghieri’s passion and desire to illuminate the more obscure Greek goddesses who are more often historically overlooked, or misrepresented, in favour of more serene, quieter beings.

“Hecate, the three headed goddess of magic and the night, known for her ability to see past, present and future, is depicted more rarely than the gentler Aphrodite or Athena, but for us this divine being represents the multifarious expression of the collection.”

Historically depicted carrying flaming torches through treacherous night journeys, the colour palette of the Divine Beings collection reflects the mysterious tales of the goddess Hecate.   Red, yellow and copper intertwine with black and grey through various leather weaving and pleating techniques developed by Madara Rozensteina to create an almost water like texture, the garments themselves flow softly on the runway and it’s only on close inspection that they appear heavy as leather is.

There’s a cute little use of fuzzy felt type faux fur early in the show (London Fashion Week has been fully fur free for a few years now), which gives a nod to the season we’re actually in as well as some Spring Summer 20 forecasting which is real nice – perhaps a glance into the future of a new type of co-ed show?

Either way, I’m a sucker for leather and PRITCH London definitely know how to work with it.  From those tight little box pleats that don’t cram in extra weight – something that’s hard to achieve with a heavy fabric, right through to those fit and flare body harnessed blazers; suffice to say, PRITCH London delivers eloquence whilst challenging the fashion status quo.  Divine Beings is a real celebration of non-conformist skill and craftsmanship that deserves to be appreciated up close.

Pixie

Categories: Fashion, Uncategorized

What I Wore: Wear The Dress Day

Every season there’s a dress that seems to become an overnight sensation.  The truth of it is that it begins its life on Instagram, shared by Bloggers, Digital Editors and even regular fashionistas like you who have inadvertently become Influencers by buying it, wearing it, photographing it and sharing it with your friends, family and followers.

This year’s must have dress hasn’t conformed to any trends – I say that in a hushed tone as it’s a bit of a dirty word right now – it’s a simple shape that can be worn over and over again.  A simple white dress with a polka dot motif, it’s up there with the most classic of designs and works for day and evening.  The dress, as I’m sure you know is from Zara and is lovingly referred to as the Hot 4 The Spot dress.  It even has its own Instagram account and at just £39.99 it’s a piece that will transcend seasons and work hard in your wardrobe long after the social media furore has died down.

Pixie Tenenbaum wears THAT Zara Hot 4 The Spot dress made famous on Instaf=garm on Wear The Dress Day August 22nd 2019

Such is the love for the Hot 4 The Spot dress, that Conde Nast orchestrated a global Wear The Dress Day event on August 22nd 2019 with Glamour Magazine hosting a party in London in the same day.  Unbelievably, on August 22nd #WearTheDressDay and #Hot4TheSpot held the worldwide top trending hashtag positions on social media for the entire day.  That’s the power and influence that fashion has when people decide to come together over something.  One simple dress.

I bought the dress early and it hung on my open clothes rail for a little while, I even thought about taking it back because I thought it might be a little see though (it’s not).  Then I saw a community of women unfolding online, connecting over something they love and conversing about it in their own little space and I thought to myself, that’s something I can get down with.  Plus, the dress is undeniably lovely and universally flattering.

I wore mine for the first time to The Cosy Club in Durham when we were invited to a menu review.  I noticed right there and then that something amazing happens when you wear the Hot 4 The Spot dress; people gravitate towards you either to ask you where the dress is from, to compliment you on it, or because they’re wearing the very same dress and want to revel in your style choice.  Sartorial sisterhood achieved with one simple decision.

Obviously wearing a dress is easy, especially when it’s instafamous.  You can choose to accessorise to the absolute max in order to stand out from the crowd, or let the dress do the talking and keep things real simple.  I wore mine with Vionic Kanela boots (a PR gift), frilly socks and a Zara leather jacket I bought in Monaco around eight years ago which I wear all the time.  It’s a simple look and once which received a multitude of compliments that night!

Did you participate in Wear The Dress Day or even just get your hands on the dress and love it?  Did you customise it to make it that little bit different?  Drop me a comment below and let me know.

Pixie

Categories: Fashion

Westminster Menswear Archive announces Invisible Men Exhibition

Drawing exclusively from the Westminster Menswear Archive, Invisible Men covers the last 120 years of predominately British menswear through the display of over 170 garments, the majority of which have never been seen on public display – until now.

The Archive itself consists of over 1700 menswear artefacts spanning the last 120 years and features predominantly garments designed and made in the UK or those that have influenced the development of British menswear and style.

Invisible Men

Opening in October 2019, this four-week exhibition is arranged into twelve sections, presenting designer garments alongside military, functional, and utilitarian outfits.  It explores the design language of menswear, which predominately focuses on the replication of repeats archetypal functional garments intended for specific industrial, technical or military use.

“This exhibition showcases the strength and diversity of the Westminster Menswear Archive collection and its significance as an educational and research resource. The range of pieces that we have means, for example, that we can display an original USAF 1950’s flight jacket alongside a variety of different designer interpretations. By giving our students the opportunity to study original garments, the collection feeds their creativity and design knowledge.”  Dr Danielle Sprecher, Co-curator of Invisible Men

Invisible Men seeks to illustrate how designers have disrupted these conventions through minimal, yet significant modifications to produce outcomes that both replicate and subvert their source material.  Through this approach, the language of menswear has developed an almost fetishistic appreciation of the working man in all his heroic iterations, referencing the clothing of seafarers, soldiers, athletes, firefighters, road workers, and explorers. 

The endless replication, appropriation and interpretation within menswear has meant that the meaning and function of the original archetypes has become diluted and has faded with each reiteration.

This design strategy has, for the most part, allowed men and what they wear to avoid scrutiny: these garments have remained invisible within fashion exhibitions in favour of presenting menswear largely as the story of the dandy or the peacock male.

This exhibition aims to shine a light on these invisible men.

Professor Andrew Groves, Curator of Invisible Men said “Both in museums of the decorative arts or dedicated fashion museums, menswear is significantly underrepresented. Despite the explosion in fashion exhibitions in recent years, menswear is still marginalised or excluded from the history of dress. Its inclusion often framed in the well-worn tropes of the ‘dandy’ or ‘peacock’.   I started the Westminster Menswear Archive in 2016 through frustration that students and designers in industry were unable to see historically important examples of menswear, which is not the case with womenswear which is readily available in exhibitions and galleries.

“Within the last three years, we have amassed over 1700 examples of menswear design, and the archive has proved extremely popular with students and industry visitors alike.  We are beginning now to tell the untold story of menswear, and I’m incredibly excited that this exhibition will allow the public to see highlights from the collection, most of which have never been on public display before.”  Professor Andrew Groves, Curator of Invisible Men

I am also hopeful that it will lead to other institutions and museums to address the history of menswear in a more meaningful way and to give it the prominence that it deserves within their exhibition programmes.”  

Highlights of the exhibition include:

  • A section devoted to examples of Alexander McQueen’s early menswear designs covering the years from 1997 to 1999.
  • A section devoted to the C.P. Company Urban Protection range that was launched in 1998 and has been highly influential on a generation of menswear designers.
  • Examples from contemporary British menswear designers including Craig Green, Liam Hodges, A Cold Wall, Aitor Throup, Burberry, and Palace.
  • A range of designer ‘source garments’ covering military, industrial and occupational garments including items from the British Army, the Royal Air Force, Greater Manchester Police, the General Post Office, and Her Majesty’s Prison Service.

Invisible Men will run from October 25th to November 24th and will be open Wednesday to Sunday 11am to 7pm so make sure you take the closures into consideration if you’re planning a visit.  The great thing is that it’s free entry so it’s a good one for fashion students or if you just have some time to while away before catching a train home and want to take in something of value that isn’t aimed purely at London tourists.

Pixie

Location:

Ambika P3,

University of Westminster,

35 Marylebone Road,

London, NW1 5LS

Categories: Fashion, North East

Exploring Steve Messam’s Hush

Because we made the decision to paint our Batcave and I’m an absolute shocker when it comes to ruining gloss paint.  Seriously, I can’t resist slapping a hand down in wet gloss, or at least a finger, I have to be removed from the area completely for a period of at least eight hours – we took a family trip out to Upper Teesdale this weekend to Bales Hush on the recommendation of my friend Laura from Pop Up Studio.Bales Hush is an old lead mining site on the Raby Estate in County Durham and it’s quite a site to behold anyway – it’s feature within the landscape created when miners worked the hillside by hand to expose a mineral vein, after which the land was flushed with water to reveal what was below.

Now Bales Hush is a huge gouge spanning over 400m in length and up to 20m deep in some places.  It’s an amazing natural feature that you can hike up to and through at any type of year, providing you can manage the terrain.  On Sunday we managed to catch the final day of environmental artist Steve Messam’s ‘Hush’.  A large scale, temporary outdoor art installation which occupied Bales Hush for jus 17 days over the Summer.  Inspired by the landscape, geology and mining history of the area, Hush fills the space with 5 kilometres of recyclable yellow fabric formed into hundreds of sails which flow through Bales Hush in the breeze.

Steve Messam's Hush, a large scale temporary art installation at Bales Hush in Upper Teesdale. Pixie Tenenbaum stands in Bales Hush under the saffron coloured sails. Image taken by Pixie Tenenbaum for Fashion Voyeur

We arrived at Bowlees Visitor Centre having done some advance research into the hike, there’s a much closer carpark at the foot of Bales Hush but we were looking forward to being outdoors and killing a full day with some exploring.  The hike from Bowlees to Bales Hush is around an hour (1.8 miles ish) and is over varying terrain.  None of it is particularly difficult but there are walls to climb over, a river to cross and hills to ascend and descend, so depending on your fitness levels, it may take more or less time.

The views throughout the hike are spectacular.  It’s one of those hikes that looks like it’s been pre-filtered.  There’s a section which opens up on to Christmas Trees which is just breathtaking and every now and again I spot a tiny house in the distance and wonder whether Amazon Prime deliver there.

When we reach the river, I’m tempted to just plough straight through it, then I’m reminded by Bo that I’m only around half way and still have the return journey to do in the same shoes – plus, there’s a very clear and pre-determined rock path set out for people who don’t want to get wet.  We opt for that and power on up the hill to the farm on the other side.

As we exit the farm we get our first glimpse of Hush from a distance.  The sails look like spun gold and the people like ants crawling towards it from here.  The banks either side of the gouge don’t look steep but as we get closer it’s clear to see that it’s an optical illusion.  You can approach Bales Hush from any direction, either the left or right bank, or you can walk straight through the bottom of it and then come back down on of the bank sides when you reach the end.  We did all of the above.  We walked up the left side and then explored through the middle of it – we actually spent quite a few hours up there exploring over different terrain and got caught in rain and some blistering heat too.  If you’re heading up that way, make sure you take a decent pair of shoes and something you can layer up with in case it’s cooler when you get to the top.

The installation itself is just beautiful.  It’s serene and peaceful up there despite being busy with people.  You can’t really get a sense of the scale of it in a picture suffice to say that it’s huge.  You keep walking thinking you’ve reached the end of it and it unfolds its golden sails further and further.  Another thing that’s impossible to convey is the sound; from the top you can’t hear it but once you step into the void and you’re underneath the sails you can hear the rippling of the fabric all around you like a whispering.

A large scale temporary art installation by Steve Messam occupies Bales Hush in Upper Teesdale in County Durham for 17 days over Summer 2019 photographed here by Pixie Tenenbaum for Fashion Voyeur. Large saffron coloured sails fill a natural gouge in the landscape

The hike itself was really enjoyable.  Given that I had hip surgery in April which hasn’t gone entirely to plan this felt like natural rehabilitation and it was great to be outdoors as a family doing something fun and moving around – that’s not something I’ve been able to do for a while.  Even Plankton enjoyed it and it takes a lot to motivate him to do anything, even getting him to put clothes on and leave his room is a chore.  The installation was breathtaking, I found it calming and soothing and loved being above and below the sails, Bo quite enjoyed getting in amongst them and straightening them all out and unravelling them so they could flow properly in the wind and making people’s photographs look nice – well if it keeps him happy right?

Pixie

Follow @pixietenenbaum