Fashion Voyeur

People will stare, make it worth their while.

Categories: The Archives, The Fashion Closet

On Trial: The iPhone XS Camera

When it comes to cameras, I’m one of those Bloggers who uses a cellphone for everything and there are a few reasons for that, the main one being that my EDS and Fibromyalgia just don’t like lugging round more equipment than the bare minimum.  These days with cellphone cameras packing a pretty decent punch, they’re keeping people like me pretty happy when it comes to taking decent pictures and building in edit-ability.  The front runners as we know are always Samsung and Apple (Apple fangirl over here) but Huawei are coming up trumps with their latest offering and the camera capability is even being compared to that of a DSLR.

With Apple now churning out two Key Notes per annum and with it that usually means two specs of iPhone, one on the “budget” end of the Apple spectrum and one more high end, products have never been more accessible.  For 2018 Apple have focussed more on the iPhone X spec and scrapped its previous fascia for this new edge to edge design.  When Three UK invited me to East London to take an iPhone XS out for a spin I jumped at the chance to photograph some of the most vibrant street art in the UK, after all, where else does the art change as quick as the staircases in Hogwarts?

Arriving at Old Street I was given a quick tour of the new functionality in the iPhone XS, basically if you shoot in Apple’s Portrait Mode (a Blogger’s staple) which blurs the background and sharpens the foreground – nine times out of ten, the iPhone XS floods this mode with light and allows you to sharpen or thicken the level of blur enhancing the effect.  Pretty neat right?  It’s a small change, and it’s the only change, but trust me, it makes a huge difference.  Just the amount of light that makes it into the shot is worth it.

The iPhone XS also seems a little more intuitive when you ask it to focus on something too, obviously the iPhone X was almost a prototype for Apple, it was completely new technology and as an iPhone X owner I’m a fan, but having used the iPhone XS I can see those refinements in action and see how well they work.  What the iPhone XS is good at doing is picking up depth and both perceiving and translating that into an image.  It’s also able to filter light across an image to great effect in the same way you might use it in a selfie to create a halo, by splitting the colours like a rainbow.

Shooting with the iPhone XS as a point and shoot camera is a dream.  There’s no facility to shoot in raw like there is with the Huawei P20 Pro or Mate 20 Pro so it comes down to weighing up what you use the phone for in its entirety.  Personally I’m an Apple fan girl through and through and I’m not sure anything could make me part with any of my Apple products; even when I’ve hated them, I always end up loving them.  Apple’s choice of apps and ease of use far outweigh those of the Android platform for me.

The iPhone XS though is one of those that you just click with, the absence of the home button might frustrate legacy iPhone users for around two hours, then you’ll forget you ever used one.  Editing images is easy within the camera software itself, however if you’re an avid photographer caught without your camera and find yourself shooting on this device, you can always shoot on raw via the LightRoom app; something photographer (and now mate) Rob Percy taught me.

Basically if you’re wondering whether it’s worth an early upgrade then it comes purely down to affordability.  I loved it and the ease of use and slick new touches were great, it’s less of an upgrade and more of a refinement, to me, it’s what the iPhone X should have been when it was released last year.  If you can afford it go for it, if you can’t then wait, there might be something better round the corner when your upgrade is due.

Pixie

Categories: The Archives, The Fashion Closet

Kicking off the Festive Season with Mulberry Lights

Is it just me or does it feel like Christmas has snuck up on us out of nowhere this year?  I think with every year that goes by, I feel a little less ready, and a little less prepared – which I’m sure  is the exact opposite of what life experience teaches us.  Anyway, this year for most of the last few weeks I’ve been up and down to London working on a top secret project meaning that I’ve been to lots of different and exciting events whilst I’ve been in the capital.

In the run up to Christmas London is an exciting place to be, first up I got to go to #MulberryLights.  It’s a festive light installation from Mulberry (yes the English heritage brand behind the bags), they’re a brand I’ve worked with quite a bit over the years, from the days of Emma Hill, right through to Johnny Coca and that period of uncertainty in-between.  A few seasons ago Mulberry even created my own custom backpack for me which is still one of my favourite pieces for travelling.

So, #MulberryLights.  A completely new concept for Christmas 2018 tapping into the art market, it’s basically a series of illuminating interactive experiences that celebrate how light, colour, shapes and people come together to create a modern British Christmas.  It was a celebratory event that kicked off the festive season on Regent Street right before the Regent Street switch on which saw those gorgeous fluttering angels make a return to the shopping district.

The series is basically a giant sensory room using light and music as one big art installation.  Eerie readings from Dr Seuss’ The Grinch are performed over 90’s trance music to light projections at 100 Regent Street.  It’s a pretty amazing sight to behold, but one that’s very difficult to explain, basically, I could have spent hours and hours in there, it’s completely transfixing and sadly one with a super limited run.

The creative in me loved everything about it, the concept, the modernity and the fusion of fashion, art and inclusivity.  With Mulberry’s direction still not fully realised, perhaps this is a hint at a new market for the brand.  With share prices at an all time low it’s about time this English stalwart tried something new.

Pixie

Categories: The Archives, The Fashion Closet

Jayne Pierson SS19 at London Fashion Week

This season Jayne Pierson showed her Spring Summer 2019 Collection ‘Because de Change’ as part of the British Fashion Council’s London Fashion Week at the Conde Nast College of Fashion and Design.  Known for her art driven collections, for SS19, Pierson literally took the canvas to the body and let the art do the talking.

As with every season, this runway show told a story, award winning designer Pierson used a diverse cast of models to tell and conceptualise the story of the contemporary woman who refuses to conform to societies outdated expectation.  Pierson seeks to redefine what it means to be a woman who has her own aspirations and what it means to fulfil them.

The woman who wears Jayne Pierson is complicated, just like the designer herself.  Her stream of consciousness is sublimated with her seemingly random set of doodles and scribbles on her garments but these actually seek to convey her most inner self.  Her deepest thoughts and feelings are displayed and valued as contemporary art.  She wears these garments as an armour to empower and celebrate herself, ourselves and our sublime differences.

Because de Change explores the recent criminalisation of hate crimes based on sexuality, disability, race, religion and gender and serves as a platform to talk more widely about consent, harassment, hate crime and the abuses of privacy and trust.  Digital prints for SS19 are historic but surprisingly topical looking at very current and political subject matter such as up-skirting, religious iconography, motherhood, the gender pay gap, and size-ism.

Pierson is known for pushing the boundaries and taking conversation into her collections, as a lot of designers are now doing.  This season we’ve seen Teatum Jones take their round table discussion to the mainstream accompanied by a presentation for SS19 with similar topics up for discussion.  More and more designers are using their roles to bring the discussion to #MeToo, #TimesUp or discrimination and it’s becoming more widely accepted that this is now just a part of the fashion industry.

The Because de Change Collection is inspired by organic shapes created with perfect symmetry and balance.  The silhouettes in this collection are crafted in the spirit of luxury and pay homage to re-appropriation and the cultural process of reclaiming artefacts.  Luxury takes on a brutal harmony, exploring and reabsorbing subcultural styles and commodification.

Jayne Pierson creates directional, luxury womenswear that redefines the female form in empowering and uncompromising garments in leather pleating, luxe woven fabrics, future print, silks and draped leathers. Juxtaposing innovative material directions with avant-garde details inspired by a warped sense of history and intangible glitches in space and time, where historical references get confused and hybrids emerge, the collection encompasses high-end details and signature premium finishes.  Because de Change SS19 integrates hand-painted leathers with engineered historic digital prints and woven painted fabrics. Delicate hand embroidered tulle, mesh and lace, silk jersey and lace lingerie contrast with structured architectural silhouettes. Colours are bright yellow, teal blue, lamb nappas and a pop of primary red leathers.

More over, Pierson bucks the fashion industry norm when it comes to models and puts together a diverse cast every season – and that’s what was on everyone’s lips as the vestibule emptied out after this show.

Pixie

Categories: The Fashion Closet

Tata Naka SS19 at London Fashion Week

To showcase their Spring Summer 2019 collection, Tata Naka designers Tamara and Natasha Surgulaze chose Dartmouth House as the most fitting setting for their Roman inspired pieces.  The design due were influenced by Roman and greek statues and Roman Emperors Augustus, Tiberius and Titus in particular.

They also drew inspiration from the clothing worn by Roman soldiers; draping togas and tunics along with heavy pleating which represents the pteruges which were worn by greek and Roman warriors.  It’s a strong collection which works well in its rotation presentation format and is complimented by opulent surroundings and a soundtrack provided by a solitary guitar player in the corner of the room.

When Brian and I arrive at the presentation we hustle to the front to avoid catching our own reflections in the huge mirror in any of our photographs, the first thing we notice is how poor the lighting is.  On the plus side however, because of the presentation format we’re able to take advantage of an editorial set up and catch an outfit change too.

The pieces are beautiful, prints include hand drawings of Roman busts, these have been replicated and drawn in a classical style and coloured in Tata Naka’s signature, bespoke style.  There are also marble and leopard prints throughout the collection on uber light fabrics including silks, linen, lurex and jacquards meaning the drape fits the style perfectly.

Symbols associated with ancient Greek mythology such as Gorgoneion and Griffins are also woven into the collection.  Lifted from the armour of Roman and Greek warriors these ancient symbols provide the imagery for antique gold embroidered appliques, ornamental needlework in which pieces of fabric in different shapes and patterns have been sewn together to form the pattern.

For SS19 there’s also a capsule collection of jewellery in collaboration with Angela Puttini in Capri featuring enamel drawings of Tata Naka prints in black gold with natural pearls and coloured stones.  It really is a beautiful collection, it’s just a shame the lighting wasn’t great otherwise these pictures could have been fantastic.  All of these images were taken on an iPhone 8 Plus kindly loaned to me by Three UK for the duration of London Fashion Week.

Pixie

Categories: The Archives, The Fashion Closet

Fyodor Golan SS19 at London Fashion Week

Fyodor Golan is a house that manufactures fragile silhouettes with great quality, with a youthful look.  My very best but least eloquent way of putting it, is that they are the best at creating a niche something for everyone, which other people are creating poorly for a target audience only.  With me?  No, I thought I’d lost you.  You’ll need some imagery to see what I mean.  The house  produced its SS19 collection Lost & Found which showed at the BFC showspace at London Fashion Week this season and I was lucky enough to have a front row seat – literally the best place to take you on a guided tour of this epic collection.

“Sporty survivalism guided us through the understanding of water as the source and a symbol of progression.  Castaway elements found on beaches, from seashells and pearls to plastic waste, influences fabrications and detailing”  FYODOR GOLAN

Models took to the runway like a tribe of ocean warriors, real, sustainable pearls are used as a feature detail throughout the collection in their raw form and inspiration was taken from painter Jamie Adams in some of the collaged pieces used.  80’s shapes appeared on the runway in the form of puffball skirts, elongated shoulders, peplum minis and wingback skirts, something that makes me nostalgic every time they come back around and I’ll definitely be embracing those shapes next season.

This season Fyodor Golan collaborated with SEGA’s Sonic The Hedgehog with a focus on the earlier pixelated imagery which adds another nostalgic touch to the collection using cyan blue, cerulean, cobalt and fuchsia to highlight tones and texture throughout to great effect.  Looking throughout the collection there were so many standout pieces for me in terms of editorial, including the first look out the gate and a dramatic wing flare skirt with blue and white chevron stripes that I’d literally book for a shoot tomorrow.

“Working with SEGA using the early Sonic (The Hedgehog) made perfect sense to our Lost & Found collection.  We wanted to explore Sonic’s iconic look into items that would feel like your favourite childhood pyjamas contemporarily reimagined.”

The set itself was sculpted from flowers and abandoned fishing nets to emulate coral covered driftwood, Fyodor Golan are another design team to have teamed up with the charity Plastic Oceans UK in order to help reverse the damaging impact the fashion industry has on the oceans, or at the very least to support ocean clean up and the repurposing of waste found in our oceans.

Lost & Found is a co-ed collection meaning that it was shown on both men and women, and garments were designed with neither a male nor female body in mind.  All shirts and sportswear produced within the collection is also completely gender unbiased so there’s no male or female section when ordering from the brand.  This athleisure, I could easily see it appealing to the male and female fashion market and anyone identifying anywhere inbetween, I mean that white suit on the right?  I’m already dreaming of how I’d style that up.

So, to refer back to my earlier statement, you see highstreet brands who target a very small portion of it’s already limited audience, then they make something, poorly.  For example, New Look make a leopard print skirt, they take a classic pattern which appeals to about 70% of its audience and then make it into a very, very young shape which further cuts its audience.  They then make a poor fabric choice, usually something textured, either shiny, or “feely” like cheap velour, and then overlock it meaning that it’s prone to ruching and it effects the way the garment then hangs.  Every choice narrows down the audience in a negative way.  Fyodor Golan do the opposite.  They take a youthful idea and make it appeal to a majority market.  It’s refreshing and the quality of each piece is just perfection, it’s a rare find in fashion.

This one set the bar high for me, it helped that I arrived fresh off a plane from Mahon and was greeted by a team of smiling PRs, something pretty rare in fashion, and everyone I was sat with was really, really lovely.  Day one of London Fashion Week, I’m calling this one a 10.

Pixie

Pixie Tenenbaum Editor's signature with fashion illustration graphic