Material Girl: Review

I can't remember the last time I sat down and watched a proper British drama series that made me feel so inspired and excited that I could not wait to see the next episode. Oh I lie, I do remember it was This Life and the year was 1996; I had finished my BA and was at journalism college and the debutante professional lives of five every so crazy lawyers who shared a house in South London had me gripped. With vivid sex scenes and colourful language and explosive storylines, This Life was Sex and the City before the iconic show became Sex and the City. Then there was the wonderful Cold Feet which charmed the us with the lives of three couples based in Manchester. Well since This Life sadly disappeared from our screens in 1997 and Cold Feet in 2003,  I have migrated to US TV shows like Lipstick Jungle, Gossip Girl, 90210, Melrose Place and the Canadian import, Being Erica. Aside from soaps like Eastenders, Brit TVvery rarely got a look in. During the noughties Sarah Parish ruled the Brit drama roost with roles in Hearts and Bones, Cutting It, Honest and Mistresses. I never really took to Cutting It, Mistresses was ok but I never warmed to any of the female characters and I totally missed out on Hearts and Bones. This is why the arrival of Material Girl (read my preview post) has been hugely anticipated by me and fellow fashionistas.

Material Girl (based on the book, Fashion Babylon by Imogen Edwards Jones) is the story of Ali Radcliffe played by Lenora Crichlow, an aspiring designer who decides to set up her own label after being treated badly by her boss who is the very successful but neurotic Davinia Taylor played by Dervla Kirwan. She goes into partnership with Marco Keriliak played my Michael Landes who studied at St Martins with Davinia and is keen to even a score with his nemesis. The series is set in the busy hub of London's East End and we are introduced to Ali's colourful set of friends which consists of Alex, a fellow designer who works for Ali's rival, Mimi who works at a glossy magazine and Lydia who is one of the country's top models. We see Ali go head to head with the spiteful Davinia who will stop at nothing to jeapordise Ali's career. The show starts off spendidly with shots of Champs-Elysees where Ali is helping Davinia prepare for her show at Paris Fashion Week. The rapid shots really evoke the pace and excitement of the fashion industry particularly when Fashion Week is on.  Like other glam shows such as Ugly Betty and Sex and the City, Material Girl could be enjoyed purely on the scenery which is totally vibrant and rather eclectic. The outfits have taken quite a bit of a panning by fashion journalists but considering that we see Ali dressed in play suits, capes, vintage shift dresses and of course elegant stilettos which are all key looks for any decent fashion lover I beg to differ. But hey what do I know? I only follow fashion right. Yes, Material Girl may be full of cliches albeit bitchy boss, the must have gay BF, the wacky and out there pal and the trusted bestie but it is a really good show and very enjoyable. We need more Brit dramas like this please, in fact we need more Brit dramas period.

Material Girl airs on Thursdays at 8pm on BBC One

Win a Signed Copy of Wedding Babylon

Imogen Edwards-Jones - author of Hotel Babylon, Pop Babylon and Fashion Babylon which has been made into a TV series (read here) is at it again. She has released a book that spills the beans about the UK wedding industry. She takes us behind the scenes of the excesses of the industry and focuses on the real life bridezillas. To celebrate the release of Wedding Babylon we have 30 signed copies to giveaway. All you have to do is tell me who starred in the hit film Four Weddings and a Funeral and email the answer to ondolady@googlemail.com by 4th July.

The potential for things to go horribly, horribly wrong is never higher than at a wedding. Wedding Babylon reveals all.... the scams which inflate the prices of everything from flowers to cakes to marquee hire, stories of high jinxes at the alter and disastrous low comedy in the speeches!! Everyone loves a good wedding.

Wedding Babylon is available to buy for £14.99 from Amazon here.

Join the Wedding Babylon Facebook fan page here.

Diffusionistas: Opening the Doors of Fashion for All

After reading a blog by Susie Bubble where she raved about The Look, a six part fashion documentary series that aired on BBC 4 last December I decided to have a peep myself. I tuned into the last part, The Power of the Press, which delved into the relationship between the designers and journalists. Halfway through watching I had a sense of deja vue; then it dawned on me that I had seen this programme before. Circa 1995 and fresh out of University I watched this same documentary which featured a very young and glam Lowri Turner – check her out with the Veronica Lake look – I instantly fell in love with the fashion industry. So this show was kind of pivotal to me. The Look was about the psychology and the business of fashion and it touched on issues such as catwalk and modelling, the power of labels and diffusion lines.

A diffusion line is a collection that a designer creates specifically for a store. Pieces from the catwalk cost a fortune and not many people can afford it so the designer makes a line that is cheaper and more affordable. This line goes into the shops but sits as a second, third or sometimes ever fourth line of the brand. Successful diffusionistas are DKNY, Marc by Marc Jacobs, Miu Miu by Prada, D&G, McQ by Alexander McQueen and of course Armani whose is the master of this. Previously diffusion conjured images of cheap and badly made garments but now they have earned a certain amount of kudos and are often the designers’ bread and butter. We all know that collections do not sell but diffusions do and like hot cakes. Look at Debenhams who introduced lines by a cohort of designers such as Julien McDonald, Betty Jackson, John Rocha and Ben de Lisi into the store. H&M got in on the act in a big way a few years back by commissioning Karl Lagerfeld to design a collection and although the store were left with racks of clothing left the collaboration did a lot to raise the profile of the store. Since then H&M have collaborated with designers such as Viktor and Rolf, Stella McCartney, Roberto Cavalli and Comme des Garcons and sold bucket load of clothing.



This quote from the book, Fashion Babylon written by Imogen Edwards-Jones in 2006 sums up the whole designer and high street relationship perfectly.

"There isn’t a British designer who doesn’t have a high-street store behind them, except McQueen but then he is backed by Gucci so he can afford not to. But for the rest of us, high-street backing buys us freedom. It pays the bills and gives you a more constant cash flow than if you had only two collections and two drops a year. All you need to do is walk past the designer stores in the West End on a Saturday afternoon to see how much ready-to-wear needs the high street. The big designer stores are empty. There are just not that many people in the world who can afford to pay £1,500 for an unstructured cotton jacket."

Well if diffusion lines are not your bag but you still fancy a slice of the action you can buy the perfume, sunglasses, bag, cuff links, underwear, scarves etc. Designers have no qualms lending their name to products other than their collections. Following the lead of Pierre Cardin who started this trend off back in the 60s by selling his name to 800 products that turned him into a household celebrity. This is why perfumes are so popular; those who cannot afford the brand can buy a slice of the lifestyle and feel like they are part of it. The designers are happy because they do not have to invest any money into the production, distribution and marketing and yet they are exposed to a mass global market. Basically it is a win win situation for all parties involved.

Babylon Mania

Oh happy days, I have heard some news that has turned my gloomy week into a great one. The lovely Rachel Zoe will be coming back to our screens after her docu show, The Rachel Zoe Project has been commissioned for a second series. However, the cherry on the top of the cake is news that Hotel Babylon, the TV series that exposes the seedy goings on in the hotel industry is to have a baby sister. BBC TV producers are bringing Fashion Babylon to the small screen in time for next spring. The book which is penned by Imogen Edwards-Jones gives us a huge insight into the perils of the high end fashion industry and exposes the world of haute couture seen through the eyes of an anonymous fashion designer. As well as Hotel Babylon, the Babylon franchise consists of Air Babylon, Pop Babylon and Beach Babylon. A new title, Wedding Babylon will be released next year. The show will be produced by Carnival, an independent production company that also makes Hotel Babylon. They have also optioned Air Babylon as well so it looks like it will soon by Babylon mania.

Pop Babylon

Not very long ago I used to look at famous pop stars on TV and be envious of how rich they were what with their multi million album deals and super glam lifestyles. Little did I realise that things were not as perfect as they seemed. Musicians and singers were nothing more than commodities and the music industry is very little about talent and more about unit sales. Once the poor artists has signed on the dotted line they were fleeced by their managers and label mercifully. Hence the dynamic initiative by Hamfatter, a rock band who appeared on this week's business reality show, Dragon's Den pitching for investment. When asked why they did not go down the conventional route of record labels, they put it simply, "when you sign with a record label you are given an advance as you would have when buying a house, at the end when you have paid back that advance you own your home, however in the music industry, the record company would still own your material." A no brainer. Yet this is just the tip of the iceberg of the debauchery that goes on in the music business which is captured perfectly by Imogen Edwards-Jones in her new book, Pop Babylon. The 'Babylon' books go behind the scenes of a glamorous industry and exposes all the scandals and lies. Pop Babylon is no different and shows us exactly what it takes to create a top selling boy band and the huge engine that ticks behind them. Lots of juicy secrets are revealed and mark my words you close the book feeling very sorry for those pop tartlets.

Imogen Edwards-Jones's bestselling series, Hotel Babylon is now a popular TV series which she followed up with Air Babylon, Fashion Babylon and Beach Babylon. She works in conjunction with anonymous insiders to get these sensational stories which really bear their fruit in the scintillating Fashion Babylon. This is one of my favourite books of all time, it is told through the eyes of an established up and coming designer and teaches you all the tricks of the trade. Such as how many designers pay a visit to a certain vintage store in Notting Hill to get ideas, how they buy a white shirt from a high store, replace the label with theirs and send it down the runway and slap huge mark ups on their pieces. It is all here and if you love your fashion, you will adore this book.

Pop Babylon is out now!