Fashion Voyeur

People will stare, make it worth their while.

Categories: The Archives, The Fashion Closet

What I Wore: Styling the Racing Aesthetic Trend

The racing aesthetic has been bubbling under for a little wile now.  After appearing on the runways in Spring 2016 it’s been one of those trends that’s gathered pace until it literally bursts through the pack to claim first place.  The Fenty Puma Spring Summer 18 collection saw motocross inspired designs take centre stage, whilst actual motocross riders put on an x-rider style stunt show around the models.

By the time the Fall Winter 18 show season rolled around, the racing aesthetic trend was well and truly cemented.  Designs from Off – White, Supreme, Fenty Puma and the final “See Now, Buy Now” TOMMY x GIGI collection, aptly named “Speed”, featured motocross style pants and chequered flag detailing meaning only one thing:  the high street would soon follow.  Now this is a tricky trend for the high street to respond to, it calls for high quality materials and tricky top stitch and pipe binding techniques – it’s easy to fall short of the finish line if you get this trend wrong and trust me, that’s easy to do.  The look is straight off the 1980’s speedway, get it right and you’re guaranteed a place on the podium, get it wrong however and you’re likely to end up with a ride through penalty and find yourself way down at the back of the grid with zero style points.  The trick to pulling it off?  Something that pays homage to the original style aesthetic and attitude in abundance.  Check and check.

Pixie Tenenbaum wearing GIGI x TOMMY Leather Speed Pant £410

When you’re styling out the race inspired trend steer clear of pleather, vinyl, plastic or any other types of trashy fabrics.  This look works because it stays pretty true to the original aesthetic.  If you’re looking for motocross inspired pants, they’re pretty hard to find.  I have the TOMMY x GIGI Leather Speed pants and whilst they look great, the quality is appalling, at £410 Tommy Hilfiger should be exercising better quality control, I’ve ordered these three times now and the first two pairs arrived with the seams slashed.  The third pair hasn’t fared much better, after just 10 minutes of wear they were already torn.  Not cool Gigi, not cool.  I adore these pants and yeah, I look cool AF in them but I’m seriously thinking of switching to these:

4 images of the Wreckreation Superchargers collection which is a series of items based on the motocross trend and not fitting a specific ideal
WRECKREATION

Wreckreation’s Supercharger trouser is a great alternative and the brand is based right here in the North East.  When it comes to nailing the trend these are probably your best option.  Fashioned from sturdy denim in a whole variety of colourways, these are hardwearing, durable and on trend.

When it comes to race inspired clothing the Forever 21 x Honda collection is pretty damn good and very authentic looking.  Remember, the idea is not to sex up the look, it’s to try to keep it pure.  If you start throwing PVC and stiletto heels in there that’s a whole different ball game.  Primark are likely to pick up the trend if you’re on a budget, expect lots of black and white race themed flag detailing and leggings with go faster stripes down the side.  Remember, show season is a full season ahead of the high street so you can expect to see this trickle down over the coming months.

Handy with a sewing machine?  Grab some ponte style leggings (like a heavier jersey style) and add your own coloured panels with brightly coloured fabric – it’s something I’ve done before and it’s definitely not as easy as it sounds, this is definitely one for people who are confident at sewing and crafting, oh yeah, and uber patient.  If it pays off they look great, mine definitely had a short shelf life!

Found something awesome that fits the racing aesthetic?  Then hit me up and I’ll see you on the grid….

Pixie

Categories: The Archives, The Glorious North East, The Lifestyle Edit

Forsyth & Reed Breakfast Review

Clayton Road in Jesmond has undergone something of a resurgence recently.  From the OGs, those who spotted the potential on this largely undiscovered shopping street, like hair maestro’s Hooker & Young, to the newest kids on the block, Forsyth & Reed, Clayton Road has become a real destination.  The best thing?  There’s free parking.

Ok, that maybe a gross over exaggeration, it’s not the best thing about it.  The street is largely made up of independent North East Businesses and this time I’m in this leafy suburb to review the breakfast menu of hip new eaterie, Forsyth & Reed.  Early one (rare) sunny Saturday morning in March, Bo, Plankton and I landed on Clayton Rd right outside this quirky cafe.  The outside fixtures set the tone for the experience, black gloss fronting with heavy gold external downlighters and heavy red drapes – it feels like we’re about to step into an olde world theatre.

On the inside its an eclectic mix of old and new, with it’s bold sapphire blue wall and mismatched furniture it feels as if the owners responded directly to the wishes of every North East millennial.  A quick browse at the breakfast menu offers up a decent variety of options.  Whether it’s a simple bowl of granola or a Full English Breakfast, there’s something there for most tastes and we opt for Eggs Royale (me), Full English (Bo, obvs) and Poached Eggs on Toast with an optional sausage (Plankton).

While we wait, we sip on some of the best coffee I’ve had in a long time, thick but not syrupy and with a hint of bitterness that lets you know it wasn’t over roasted.  Preparation is fast and all of our food arrives at the same time meaning there’s no waiting around for somebody’s food and secretly hating them while you do so.  As we gaze lovingly at the breakfast feast on the table in front of us, it’s clear that preparation and aesthetics are equally important at Forsyth & Reed and both Bo and Plankton give me the death stare as I tell them they must wait until I’ve photographed it for you lovely lot, before they dive in and demolish it.

Eggs Royale
Full English Breakfast
Poached Eggs on Wholemeal with a Sausage

The breakfast is good.  I mean really good.  Poached eggs are easy to get wrong but these ones are perfection, small, round and full of flavour.  The egg whites are almost yoghurty, there’s no loose white and the yolk is soft and oozes when cut – exactly as it should.  Y’all know Bo is a difficult dude to please but he’s pretty confident that this is in his “Top 5” cooked breakfasts, he’s a very harsh critic so this is damn good praise.  Plankton ate both poached eggs in four bites, with no toast – that’s how good they were.  The eggs in the Eggs Royale were offset perfectly by the cooler smoked salmon and Hollandaise sauce.  Served atop a lightly toasted English muffin, just enough to give it a crisp outer edge, but still fluffy in the middle.  It’s how I’d like all of my breakfasts from now on please.

The space itself is busy, despite being new to Clayton Road, there’s a constant foot flow whilst we’re sat there and staff are friendly and attentive making sure that everyone gets a choice on where they’d like to sit and a drinks order is taken as soon as you’re seated.  The decor is what really draws you through the door though, despite having that deep blue wall the place is still light and airy.  There are a selection of newspapers and local magazines on display for customers to read and there’s no sign of the bullshit local rags, you know the ones I’m talking about Voyeurs.

We hung around and chilled long after we’d finished our breakfast, it has that feel to it, like you’re chilling in someone’s front room and there’s no hurry to leave.  If you’re a person who indulges in the sport of people watching, there’s a higher seated area in the window which offers prime viewing for such an activity.  There’s a constant stream of people who visit Forsyth & Reed in the time that we sit, and whether they’re ordering dishes from the menu prepared in the kitchen, or counter top cakes, everything that’s served looks delicious and the couples and families around us offer each other a taste of their food – a sure sign that it’s good.

On the go without time to stop for a cooked breakfast?  Then you’ll love this, remember that coffee I mentioned?  It’s half price as a carry out before 11am and before 11am good coffee is all you need right??

Pixie x

Categories: The Archives, The Fashion Closet

Can the iPhone 8 Plus Cut it as a Camera?

I was recently set a task by Three (that’s the phone peeps), to capture some awesome fashion pictures on the iPhone 8 Plus.  With my task and a little bit of guidance pre-shoot, I decided there was no better place than London Fashion Week for the job.

Ok, first things first, this phone is a little bigger than I’m used to.  It’s nice and light and if you’re a pre-gen 8 iPhone user you may or may not know about the Portrait feature within the camera options.  Basically, you know those photos you see on every Bloggers Insta feed where the product in the font of the shot is crisp and clear but the background is blurred?  That’s been shot on Portrait mode and it’s the feature you never knew you couldn’t live without.  It was first introduced on the iPhone 7 Plus and further refined for the 8 Plus and X models, it allows you to shoot in incredible detail from further away.

So, the aesthetic of the phone is like any standard iPhone, central Home button at the bottom with fingerprint or passcode unlock feature, all pretty standard.  The camera is where this phone really shines, the True Tone technology automatically adjusts white balance to match the light around you and the colour vibrancy is the best in the industry.  Fact.

So what’s so special about the camera on the iPhone 8 Plus?

Well, this one has a more advanced 12MP camera than previous iPhones.  The sensor is bigger and faster and the colour is deeper and more vibrant.  Throw in optical image stabilisation for both still photos and videos and you’re looking at something that’s been designed to rival a DSLR.  If you use the zoom function on your cellphone camera then you’re probably already aware that the quality diminishes drastically when you start zooming in, with iPhone 8 Plus, the wide‑angle and telephoto lenses on iPhone 8 Plus enable optical zoom, as well as digital zoom of up to 10x for photos and 6x for videos meaning that you can get in closer without sacrificing quality.  I’ve tried it and it’s not an overstatement.

Where to shoot my iPhone 8 Plus Photo Challenge

I took the iPhone 8 Plus to the FW18 season of London Fashion Week and had to plan how to complete my photo challenge.  I wanted to make sure I could get some really awesome photos that focussed on and showcased the pieces in each collection without the distractions of audience etc. so that I could really showcase the qualities of this cellphone camera.  The best place to do this?  In fashion presentations – the perfect opportunity to showcase what this nifty (not so) little iPhone can do.  Presentations allow you to get up close and personal with the garments and capture every tiny little detail, provided your equipment is up to the job of course.

How to use the iPhone 8 Plus as a Camera

Ok, the idea of this project was to show you that the iPhone 8 Plus can be a great alternative to carrying around a DSLR camera.  Yes, a DSLR will give you the most crisp pictures you can imagine with exceptional depth of field, but, if like me, you’re an out of towner attempting to travel light and post quickly, sometimes a cellphone is just the best option out there.  with the iphone 8 Plus it’s a simple as opening the camera, pointing and shooting.  There’s no set up required, no apps needed and the focus is automatic, allowing you to select the part of the image that you want to be the central point.  Clever stuff.

Shooting with the iPhone 8 Plus

Ok so it’s a pretty big phone, we know that.  If you’re already in Camp Apple then you’ll be familiar with phones of this size as it’s the same as the 6 and 7 Plus models.  It’s uber light which means it’s pretty easy to just whip out and shoot with.  One thing to note is that because it’s pretty big, shooting is probably a two handed job.  It’s very responsive, once you’ve selected something to capture there’s an on screen option to focus available light on your chosen target, or leave the phone to adjust automatically, then you simply click.  It can handle multiple frames (non-burst) in quick repetition and doesn’t distort image quality in doing so, meaning that shooting runway shows was a breeze too.  In the past I’ve struggled to capture decent runway images as cellphone cameras haven’t been so great with multiple things moving in one frame.  That is until now.

Show me the images man!

Ok, ok, so, at London Fashion Week presentations take place in a variety of locations, some are super bright and lit for press, others are in low light or natural light.  The iPhone 8 Plus managed well in all of those situations.  In low light it photographs “as seen” meaning you see on camera, what you see in real live and then need to manually adjust which is super simples.  I adjust using the functionality within the iPhones own photo viewer but Lightroom is pretty good too if you can get to grips with all of the different settings.  I didn’t plan for that and because of the rate of image turnover at London Fashion Week, I stuck with what I know which worked really well.

Paul Costelloe FW18
Merchant Archive FW18
Merchant Archive FW18
Alexander White FW18
Minki FW18

You can see the different lighting situation and how the phone camera has managed to pin pont detail with in each capture.  From the wet look hair in the Minki Presentation, to the blanket skirt colour spot detail at Merchant Archive, for a cellphone, you’ve got to admit, that’s pretty damn good.  So, how would it cope with multiple moving targets, say on a runway?

Fortie Label FW17
Paul Costelloe FW17
Malan Breton FW17
Starsica FW17
Fortie Label FW17
Starsica FW18

These motion stills were all taken from varying distances, some using the zoom function which didn’t appear to distort the images.

What will it cost me?

It’s an iPhone, you already know it’s not going to be cheap.  The good news is that it’s not the top of the range iPhone, that honour goes (at the time of writing) to the all singing, all dancing iPhone X.  The iPhone 8 Plus comes in two capacities: 64gb and 256gb which retail at £799 and £949 respectively.  If you’re browsing the Apple website and thinking, “but the non plus version of the iPhone 8 is a bit cheaper, I’ll go for that”, DON’T.  The regular iPhone 8 model doesn’t come with the same camera functionality, Apple use that extra handset size to pack in a double lens feature that offers that Portrait mode functionality and crisp zoom.  Trust me, if you’re investing, opt for the Plus.

Yes, it’s a lot of money, but the chances are you drop that kind of money on a cellphone regardless.  Plus, if you’re a Blogger who doesn’t want to have to carry a camera around on quick shot assignments, particularly at London Fashion Week where there are multiple shows each day, all over the city, then the iPhone 8 Plus from Three might just be your new best friend.  You’re welcome.

 

Categories: The Archives, The Fashion Closet, The Glorious North East

What I Wore: To the Duke Ata Clubhouse Launch

Voyeurs, this event has been a long time coming.

A good friend of mine, and one of my most favourite people in the whole world, has finally opened his bespoke menswear studio: The Duke Ata Clubhouse.  I can’t tell you how many times Duke and I have sat down to discuss plans for creating the most perfect launch event, all culminating in a home for his made to measure tailoring business, Duke Ata Bespoke.  You’ve heard me talking about Duke, we affectionately refer to each other as “my favourite” and I kind of feel like if you were to assign someone with the title of my Work Husband, Duke would be the proud bearer of this title.  Suffice to say, we’re good mates.

When Duke called me to first berate me for not keeping in touch over the past two months, and then tell me that he’d found the best location for his new studio I was psyched.  Well, less so about being bollocked for being a shit friend but the bit about the studio rocked my world because he’s been searching for what feels like forever.  As Duke and his awesome team knuckled down and got to work refining the space and creating somewhere that would feel like a real escape, I got to searching for the perfect outfit.

Duke specialises in mens tailoring, in a similar vein to Joshua Kane (without the dramatics) Duke’s work is classic, distinguished and instantly recognisable.  From the cut, to the finishing details, he’s a perfectionist and if you’ve never met this dude, he’s like a slicker, more tidy version of Andre 3000, he plays football on a weekend – I’m positive he does it in a suit.

An image of Blogger Pixie Tenenbaum wearing vintage Dieter Heupel from Trendlistr at the launch of the Duke Ata Bespoke Clubhouse in Jesmond

So, back to my outfit, when my invite landed I knew I couldn’t rock up in my usual scruffy chic and by total chance, found this vintage Dieter Heupel tailored jacket at vintage hotspot Trendlistr.  The fit is perfect and the cut is clean, it’s not my usual neckline as I usually avoid anything with a deep V, or anything that exposes my chest but the print is just too good to not wear it.  I opted to wear it as a solo piece with a black cage bra underneath to max out on that perfect fit.  As the jacket is midnight blue with varying shades of blue throughout, I paired it with a midnight blue velvet sock boot and some polished latex trousers from a fetish store in Soho.

With my pink hair and signature MAC Heroine lip, I’m chalking this up as a pretty awesome lewk.  High five, air punch emoji, winky face.

Pixie x

Categories: The Archives, The Fashion Closet

Apu Jan FW18 at London Fashion Week

Apu Jan is one of those stalwarts of London Fashion Week, one which never fails to deliver something new, whilst remaining true to its fairytale telling stylistics.  Each season brings with it a new story to be told through the garments and for FW18 the theme ‘Drifting in a Million Stars” conjured images of galaxies, space and clouds before I was even through the huge brass doors of the Grand Temple.

The Grand Temple floor

The collection is heavily influenced by science fiction literature and the swirling colours depicted in galaxies viewed from lightyears away.  As always, the Apu Jan silhouette is simple and timeless and knitwear is present throughout.  The designer is known for their unique knitwear techniques and use of luxurious wools such as cashmere (the holy grail of wool), merino and lambs wool and can make these appear as thin as silk.

As with previous collections, the soundtrack to the show was provided by DJ Question Mark and a string orchestra to set the scene, ready for take off.  I was a huge fan of the Apu Jan SS18 showcase and managed to bag a front row seat, this time I rocked up with a banging migraine (it was day 3 after all) and the kerfuffle and clanging of seats in the moments leading up to the show almost finished me off but I persevered, and I’m glad I did.

The collection was laden with intergalactic and swirling star prints which would have benefitted from an additional presentation format post show so guests could really appreciate the craftsmanship within the collection.  The drum & bass music that accompanied the show created the perfect ambience for a collection that had some serious standout pieces including a hat that has Beyonce written all over it.

A still from the Apu Jan FW18 show at London Fashion Week in the grand temple of freemason's Hall

The palette of navy and black with the odd accent colour was simple enough that it led the focus to the expert craftsmanship and tiny details in each piece.  Layered silk and elongated sleeve shapes are something we’ve come to expect from Apu Jan season after season and they were present for FW18.  However a hint towards a sleeker silhouette made a play in the show too with a couple of styles leaning toward something more tailored to the female form.

Each look was paired with simple platform, lace up shoes and pared back, natural makeup accentuated by a slick of shimmering white highlight under the eyes.  Models’ hair was scraped back into a tight, Chinois style topknot mirroring the simplicity of the shapes within the collection.  In all honesty, Apu Jan is a show you go to, to appreciate and highlight the details.  Those wonderful little details that can’t be appreciated until you see them in the flesh and it’s this that Apu Jan consistently does so well.  There are no bells and whistles, no weird and wonderful shapes to make you gasp, just good old fashioned awesome design that works on and off the runway.

Pixie

Pixie Tenenbaum Editor's signature with fashion illustration graphic