Fashion Voyeur

People will stare, make it worth their while.

Categories: Fashion

The Perfect Ganni Seersucker Dupe Dress

Remember the Ganni Seersucker minidress that sent Instagram into a near meltdown last Summer?  Well that gorgeous check pattern in its unmistakeable black and green hue is going nowhere this Summer and the puff sleeve, swing hem shape is sticking around all season.  That particular Ganni dress was produced in a soft cheesecloth type fabric and I’m here to show you how you can recreate the look for a fraction of the price with 100% of the style, and some of the sustainability factor (not that Ganni is particularly known for its sustainability credentials).

Take one high street dress, I’ve always told you that it takes a half a season for the British high street to pick up on pieces at the top end of the fashion chain and turn them into pieces for consumption at the mid to bottom end of the fashion chain, that’s how this thing works.  It takes Fashion Editors and journalists to spot those pieces, models and influencers to max out on them and then the high street to respond to that need after the social media responses are generated in terms of your likes and comments.  Those pieces are then produced in a direct response to what you, the consumer expects, wants and needs as a forecast for the season ahead based on what was popular in the previous season – these are called micro-trends.  Ok, fashion lesson over, on to the dress and this one is a doozie….

Pixie Tenenbaum wears a green and black checked minidress dupe of the Ganni Seersucker minidress at St Mary's Inn in Morpeth
Lime Green Seersucker dupe £35.00 at Topshop

It’s an almost exact replica of the fabric in terms of wearability, it’s got that same cheesecloth type feel with the banding that runs through the checks.  The sleeves stay puffed up (the Ganni dress has to be re-puffed regularly if that’s the look you’re going for), and this one doesn’t have a deep v-neck which is good if you’re particularly flat chested like me.  It’s empire cut so is almost a fit and flare style from the bust out, a very flattering cut on most shapes, especially given its shorter length.

Pixie Tenenbaum wears a green and black checked minidress dupe of the Ganni Seersucker minidress at St Mary's Inn in Morpeth
Lime Green Seersucker dupe dress £35.00 at Topshop

We all know the Ganni Seersucker sold like hot cakes when it was reduced in the sale to £150, but this Seersucker dupe from high street giant Topshop is just £35.00 and you can buy it here, but be quick because I can’t see this one sticking around.  It’s the perfect seasonal transition dress paired with opaques, a light polo neck and boots and then on its own for lazy Summer days and vacations paired with cowboy boots.  Of course if you’re not sold on the empire line and puff sleeves – I get that it’s not a look for everyone – but you want in on the pattern, then Topshop also have this straight bodied version available with frill detailing on the front if this is more your thing for £39.99.

Either way, get amongst it Voyeurs, this is one with a decent amount of wearability in it.

Pixie

Categories: Fashion

Olivia Rubin’s 80’s Inspired Rainbow for FW20

On a cold wet February day in London the fashion elite gathered for Olivia Rubin’s rainbow coloured presentation and for twenty minutes we completely forgot about the weather and focussed completely on animal print hearts, polka dots and the swishing of silky tiers as they sashayed past us up the makeshift runway.

Models lined up on the runway at the end of the Olivia Rubin FW20 Fashion presentation at London Fashion Week in February 2020

Rubin is known for her use of colour. She’s become synonymous with it, whether it’s pastels, prints, primary colours or checks, all of the above work themselves seamlessly into one collection because colour is the common denominator. Like RIXO, Olivia Rubin is a “sunny” designer, one that has the feel good factor, you know that when you slip on an Olivia Rubin dress, your mood will lift, and trust me, it really does.

Her Fall Winter collection for 2020 is no exception – filled with sequins so tiny they’re almost fluid, tye dye ombré that was made for lazy vacation evenings and 80’s inspired silhouettes that look achingly cool when complimented with colour blocked opaque tights and wide sash belts; a look I’ll definitely be wearing next season and undoubtedly beyond.

The most easily wearable and relatable look though is seen in Rubin’s signature rainbow colours draped effortlessly through tiers of fabric in either mini, midi or maxi dresses made from swathes of silk and sequins. With wide boat style necks these gorgeous swishy frocks are sure to keep your spirits high when temperatures begin to drop in September, and with her high end high street price point, they’re pretty affordable for us mere mortals too.

Pixie

Categories: Fashion

What I Wore: Gunne Sax Prairie Dress

When it comes to searching for vintage clothing you most likely have your favourite eras.  Whether it’s the swinging sixties, the flamboyant eighties or the prohibition era – there’s something out there that makes everyones heart flutter.  For me it’s the prairie dress.  Obviously you know this already because I’m always swanning around in them but there are a few different houses and designers who were particularly fantastic at creating the perfect prairie dress.  Roberta and Gunne Sax were two of them who set the bar for the likes of Batsheva and The Vampire’s Wife in 2018 and 19.

Recently I asked a vintage seller I know to help me find an original Gunne Sax dress, a pre-McClintock Gunne Sax with a billowing, layered skirt and a high neck.  Thinking this was an impossible task – she came up trumps with the most beautiful dusky pink dress from the archives.  Ever.  How she managed to track it down I’ll never know.

Gunne Sax is expensive.  For vintage.  It’s not as expensive as regular old high street and it’s still a sustainable option.  They’re very hard to come by and the sizing is tricky to get the hang of as it works from 1-11 rather than 0-whatever and it’s loosely based on the US sizing system.  Gunne Sax sizes are real small but once you find your groove with them they’re absolute keepers.

This one is better than anything I ever could have imagined from a commission, when you ask someone to find something for you you never know what might turn up but this is like something that got up and waltzed off the set of a period drama straight into my wardrobe.

The high street might have jumped on the prairie dress trend, but damn, they really don’t make ’em like this any more!

Pixie

Categories: Fashion, Models

Amy Thomson FW19 Loved And Lost

Whenever my London Fashion Week schedule is finalised I always check it for my favourites.  No we all know that fashion is fickle and whilst designers and their PRs move increase their audience and range with each new season, there’s always the case that some designers don’t make it back on to the schedule for whatever reason too.  This season my beloved Starsica left a crucifix shaped hole in the schedule without any explanation, and another designer I was devastated to see missing was Amy Thomson.  You might remember I covered her fabulously kitsch pink presentation at Fashion Scout last season which just screamed Barbara Cartland in the most fashion way possible, I mean I almost threw my credit card at the girl it was so fabulous.  I wanted everything.  This season I was excited, but it wasn’t meant to be.  Or so I thought.

I arrived home from London, a little later than planned, to find an email from Amy, explaining that she wouldn’t be showing this season, however that she was still around and had indeed produced a small collection for FW19 entitled Loved And Lost.  I mean I love it already, the title, the personal contact, – I’ve failed to mention that Amy is an illustrator so the email is filled with hand drawn pink and red hearts so I’m already feeling a connection…..

Amy Thomson Loved And Lost FW19 Copy for Fashion Voyeur by Pixie Tenenbaum

So, basically with each collection that Amy Thomson produces, there’s a story.  With this one it’s a playful, childhood romance remembering treasured memories, emotions and relationships.  This feminine filled love affair explores characters from the overwhelming love of your first crush to your first end of the world falling out with your BFF.  Loved And Lost is inspired by romance, by relationships with objects and people at different stages of your life from a child’s perspective.  Thomson has a real talent for asking the viewer questions that take them back to their youth and ask them to reimagine and re-examine, in this case it’s remembering your first overwhelming love.  Maybe it’s a first pet, a toy, or even a first sweater that you’d wear over and over.  Amy Thomson is asking us to remember, reimagine and to fall in love all over again.

Red is obviously a key tone throughout the collection for FW19 and it’s tonally matched with hues of precious pink, powerful purple and even a hint of teasing turquoise.  Romance is a strong vibe and the use of texture conveys that well with faux fur outerwear complimenting the exaggerated full frill silk garments that hooked me in last season.  Foiled leathers add in further sparkle and there’s an added element of hand embroidery this season.

Thomson has ditched the large scale illustrations this season and instead focuses on illustrative playful motifs that are built up using text and slogans like ‘crushin on you’ and ‘teenage love shrine’ to further narrate the collective prints.  This season brings with it a collaboration with Sassy Freak and some super freaky jewellery to further illustrate the narrative around this collection.  Clip on earrings – very 1980’s hot mamma and one hell of a pair of glam-ma glasses with a pearl chain so glam-ma doesn’t lose ’em.

Group model shot for the Amy Thomson x Sassy Freak campaign for FW19 Fashion Voyeur Blog by Pixie Tenenbaum

What’s really cool though, are the campaign images, shot by Georgie Fen at Poodle and Blonde Location House, they’re everything you might expect from the description above, and a little bit of insider information about Amy Thomson and her design style.  Powerful, feminine and empowering, now how do I get hold of that first pink dress?

Pixie

Categories: Fashion, Models

Chanel Joan Elkayam FW19 at London Fashion Week

On the final day of London Fashion Week, usually the pace slows a little, you can start to relax, maybe even venture outside of the BFC and shop a little.  Definitely not the case for the past two seasons, in fact these past two seasons I think the final day has been one of my favourites.  I’ve been in great company, seen some awesome shows with some powerful messages, and had fun.  See in the past London Fashion Week was frantic, it lost the fun, and in the last two seasons, it got a little bit of that fun vibe back.

So often when it gets to final day you’ve overdone what’s known as the ‘treadmill’, it’s when you schlep in and out of the BFC via the same entrance and exit on a loop over and over again for shows.  There’s only so much time you can spend in the showrooms, on Day 1 they’re shiny and new and everything is amazing, but by Day 3 you know it all off by heart.  So, when the opportunity arises to go offsite, quite often you just grab it, regardless of what it is, because you want off that damn treadmill.

Day 5 provided me with such an opportunity, a fashion designer and I guess, sort of a friend of mine, Chanel Joan Elkayam was holding an on schedule, but off site runway show in Camden on a February day that could have easily been mistaken for June.  Counting Victoria Beckham and Cheryl Tweedy amongst her personal Fash Pack despite her mere 21 years, I was intrigued.

Wide shot of the models on the stage with designer Chanel Joan Elkayam after the FW19 show at London Fashion Week. Fashion Voyeur blog by Pixie Tenenbaum

There’s so much to observe about this particular show and designer and none of it is about the clothes.  First of all the show ran so late, we sat on the front row waiting for an hour for the show to start and in that time we watched as we waited, Chanel is a really interesting character.  Yes she’s a fashion designer and a huge amount of money and preparation went into what was undeniably a huge show for her, her first on schedule show at London Fashion Week and rounding off the big four for her making her the youngest ever designer to show on schedule at New York, London, Milan and Paris Fashion Weeks – a huge achievement for a woman of her age.  But here’s the thing, she wants you to notice the woman, not necessarily the clothes, and that’s unlike any fashion designer I have ever come across, ever.  I mean sure, they might say it, but this one means it.

Trust me, we had the time to watch, to observe and to listen to what was going on around us in that unintentionally long break before the show.  Chanel Joan Elkayam as a brand has always been about female empowerment, from her first collection La Sola Rosa, through to this I Don’t Follow I Lead collection.  Elkayam believes in the power of an independent woman with a sovereign mind, her press statement reads that she believes strongly in the empowerment of women, that the Chanel Joan Elkayam woman is fearless and unstoppable, powerful and completely comfortable within her own body.

It’s not often you get the chance to play sleuth at a show, or really dig into exactly what the message or methodology is when it comes to fashion because designers are so very different and relatively inaccessible.  With Chanel, you get the impression that the message is the driving force, not the collection, rather that the collection is the tool in which to deliver the message.  Her campaign for FW19, I Don’t Follow I Lead, is borne out of a need to shed conformation and constraint and to lead, as we were meant to.  Listening and watching, I genuinely get the impression that Chanel Joan Elkayam wants the world to sit up and take notice of women; all women, no matter what colour, shape, size or origin story.

Her choice of models for the show is inspired and reads like a roster for representation and diversity; transgender model and activist Munroe Bergdorf opened the show, followed by Kate Grant and a full line up of black, Asian and white models including a child model paired up in a matching outfit for the final walk.  There were older models represented on the Chanel Joan Elkayam runway and it definitely felt that representation was the strongest message of all.  Could this be a pivotal moment for London Fashion Week?  Probably not, but something tells me that this woman knows that her message is every bit as important as her product, maybe even more so in this particular case, and that’s exactly her point here.

Pixie