Fashioning February: Behind the Scenes at London Fashion Week

New York Fashion Week comes to an end today and after seven days full of fun, frolics and fashion, tomorrow the fashion pack descend upon England for London Fashion Week. Over the next five days we expect to see collection after collection being displayed at Somerset House and various trendy venues around the capital. However, behind every show is a team of stylists, PRs, hairdressers and make up artists who make sure everything looks uber perfect. Thomas Walker is a make up artist who will be working hard backstage making the models look absolutely flawless.

I have been a freelance make up artist for two years however I have worked in the industry for 10 years now. This year I will be keying the make up for the Thomas Tait show which I look forward to working on every season because Thomas like myself is a perfectionist, so we always create something wonderful. I adore working with him. This year I am working on other top secret projects. Even though I'm only working on the one show this season a lot of time is spent prepping, researching looks; the side to my job I love. Along with the other top secret project I'm working on I'd say life over the Fashion Week period will be pretty hectic. I adore the backstage vibe, some find it stressful however I love it. Everybody is just working towards creating art at the end of the day so we all just wanna get our work down. I am an extremely calm person so it takes a lot for me to get stressed I love it. I always look forward to Ashish, Vivienne Westwood and of course Thomas Tait. However all the shows are great as they create trends that I can incorporate into my work.

To keep up with Thomas's movement during London Fashion Week follow him on Twitter

London Fashion Week September 2010

I was planning on attending New York Fashion Week but well that didn't work out so I decided to make the most of being in the UK and spend a few days at London Fashion Week. Unfortunately I didn't apply for tickets for the main catwalk shows and I wasn't in the mood to gatecrash so I decided to attend the events I did actually have an invite to. All of these events were off schedule (which means shows that are not taking place at the British Fashion Council tent) and darted across different parts of London. On Thursday there was Fashion Diversity at Islington Metal Works, Friday was The Look Show at The Saatchi Gallery, Saturday was Fashion Mavericks at The Strand Palace Hotel and Monday was Untold at The London Design Museum. I will be covering these events during the next few posts and filling you in on all the details.

Whitney in the City

So Whitney Port made her debut in her new show, The City which aired last night on MTV with a bumper edition. The City is a spin off of the popular so-called reality show, The Hills which is set in LA and in which Whitney is a co-star. After spending many years as an intern at Teen Vogue and stylist at PR company, People's Revolution as well as lending a sympathetic ear to the doe eyed Lauren, Whitney has swapped LA for NYC. She lands a plum job as PR for Diane von Furstenberg (DVF) and moves in with her old mate Erin Williams in a cool apartment in the Gramercy area of Manhattan. The perks of moving to a new city means meeting new people and checking out exciting bars and restaurants. We are introduced to Whitney's co-worker, the divine Olivia Palermo who is a high profile socialite or social as she prefers to be called. Olivia is quite clearly the catalyst to Whitney as Heidi is to Lauren in The Hills but with much better connections. Erin offers the fun factor and a lending ear particularly when it comes to guys. Talking of guys this is where the intro to The City differs from The Hills in that the guys are featured in the opening credits. One of then is Jay Lyons, a musician who Whitney met when she came to NYC for her job interview. She is quite clearly smitten with him but whether he feels the same way about her is to be seen. Then there is Adam Senn, a restaurateur and Jay's flatmate who is new to NYC as well.

This new reality show has been covered extensively in the media and blogsphere which is no surprise considering the phenomenon of The Hills. Aesthetically, The City is definitely easy on the eye and with the almighty Big Apple as a backdrop, how can you go wrong? As a TV show the plot leaves a lot to be desired; a considerable amount of time was spent on Whitney's love life. Is Jay a two-faced, two-timing snake? The answer is that Jay lacks so little charisma and presence that it was hard to care. Aside from her first day at work and New York Fashion Week, very little is seen of Whitney in her workplace which is very worrying as it was Lauren and Heidi's glam jobs that made The Hills the success it is. Olivia is a very different proposition; yes she has a life fuelled with dinner parties, lunches, fashions shows and celebrity galas but she has an edge to her that makes her interesting. For a start she is described as a real life Blair Waldorf; she even has her own publicist and is constantly being mentioned in gossip blogs and newspapers and she even has a fan blog that focuses on her life. Rumour has it that she runs her own PR agency which would make sense as she is trying to build her brand. I would say that The City has a long way to go before it earns the right to be called the reality version of Sex and the City. Still it was good to see Kelly Cultrone in the programme and more interesting are the reports that Kelly is to get her own show.

Check out the official blog for The City here.

London Fashion Week - September 08

It is that time of year again when we all put on our high heels and fancy frocks and head down to the Natural History Museum for London Fashion Week. That was how I spent my Monday taking in the collections by Wildlifeworks and Olanic, that is when I was not hanging out at the sub zero press office with the lovely Michelle Obi from myfashionlife and checking out the exhibition. It was just what I expected from LFW; original, creative and stylish with an uber cool vibe in the air.

The thing that stands out about LFW are the events that run alongside it. As well as the numerous parties, launches and receptions there are fantastic fashion shows that run off schedule from the main fashion shows. On/Off and Vauxhall Fashion Scout are the main two and the idea of these shows is to allow up and coming designers who cannot afford to show to LFW an avenue to show their collection. So while On/Off takes up residence at the the Royal Academy of Arts, Vauxhall Fashion Scout makes its base on Cromwell Road. Each venue comes with its own press office complete with laptops, publications and footage of the shows.

On/Off events
In it's ninth year, On/Off prides itself in nurturing new talent in the UK and have established themselves as the trendiest designer exhibition showcase. Considering that they have talent such as Sinha Stanic, Jasper Conran and Louise Amstrup onboard this is no surprise. However, On/Off is now much more than a showcase; the brand has launched the On/Off boutique with Oli.co.uk and have also embraced technology by producing video podcasts of all catwalk shows which are available to download from iTunes, Youtube as well as the On/Off website. The brand is also making it's debut at Paris Fashion Week.

Vauxhall Fashion Scout
This is the largest catwalk event in London for emerging designers and features 20 exciting shows over the course of LFW. Designers such as Jens Laugesen, Aganovich, Avsh Alom Gur, Peter Pilotto and Felder Felder have glided through. The most striking aspect about Vauxhall is the funky and vibrant press office that is located upstairs. Taking the theme from Morocco, the press office has drapes made from North African influence with beaded cushions lying casually on the sofas. Trust me it is superfly.

With all these countless activities the mind boggles when you hear the shocking news that the country's finest fashion show may be reduced from six days to four. It seems that our pals across the Atlantic are pushing for New York Fashion Week to be put back so it does not clash with Labour Day celebrations and with Milan Fashion Week refusing to budge this puts the pressure on LFW. The decision is set to be announced tomorrow so you can imagine that the British Fashion Council along with all the Brit fashionistas will be glued to the news.

Update
Well it's smiles all round today as it has just been announced that London Fashion Week will be keeping their five days. An agreement was reached by all four fashion meccas which will accommodate all events.

Project Catwalk 3

Don't laugh but I only signed up for Sky last year so I missed out on the first series of Project Catwalk with the divine Liz Hurley. I am now rapidly catching up via YouTube. I am beginning to wonder how I ever coped before that amazing invention. I throughly enjoyed the second series of Project Catwalk albiet my shock when dumpy, Kelly Osborne was given the presenter's gig. No matter how I try I cannot bring myself to like that girl. Maybe it is her awful dress sense, her obnxious manner or the fact that she possess no talent whatsoever. Anyway - mini rant over - as you all know the second series ended with wonder boy, Wayne Aveline taking the crown and all the perks that came with it. I had my bet on Monika Rene with her flair and feistiness. Didn't you just love the sparring contest between her and Julien McDonald?

The third series started a few weeks ago and I have managed to catch some of it but what I have seen it seems to be more fight than fashion. Contestants bickering over trivial matters. Anyway it is the same format as last year; 13 contestants competing for the sum of £25,000, a spread in Grazia magazine and the chance to design a clothing range for catalogue, Oli. Now I am not one to turn my nose up at clothing labels but surely no aspiring fashion designer wants to be associated with a catalogue. It would be different with if you were an established designer and created a diffusion range to bring in some readies and make your line more accessible. The winner of Project Runway gets to show at New York Fashion Week, now that in my opinion is huge and much more beneficial to any designer's career than a catalogue deal. So how about next year's winner getting a gig at London Fashion Week? That is something I would love to see.

Project Catwalk 3 is on Sky One on Wednesday at 9.00pm