Clothes Show London

One of the mini regrets of my life is never making it down to The Clothes Show Live. I loved the show when it was on BBC back in the 80s (yeah I know I am showing my age) and I also liked it when it made a return a few years ago. The event started in London in the late 80s and then moved to Birmingham a few years later. I always meant to make it up there but never got round to it so last year I was pleasantly surprised to hear that it was returning to London. Clothes Show London is aimed at a slightlt older crowd but netherless the aim is still the same which is to offer a great fashion experience to the capital's fashionistas and boy did they succeed. The event runs for three days and is jam packed with fashion and beauty events with a dash of music on top. There were performances by Paloma Faith, new 'male' band The Wanted and a selection of indie rock bands performing at the Sketchbook Magazine stand. Celebrities in attendance were former Clothes Show presenter, Caryn Franklin, TV presenter, George Lamb and his father Larry Lamb, fashion journalist, Hilary Alexander and Hollyoaks stars, Ricky Whittle and Stuart Manning. The venue was packed with stands selling clothes, make up and offering beauty and health tips. After a wander round and a visit to the press office, I decided to check out the fashion show.

This fashion show was like no other that I have seen. For a start it was huge with a whooping 415 outfit changes presented by 40 fabulous models and dancers in eight different scenes. The concept was based on fashion cities around the world such as Tokyo, New York, Paris, Milan and, London. Set to fantastic back drops that celebrated the cities's style. High street, designer, boutique and couture; it was all here. The show kicked off with an image of the world globe and an icon making its way to. Tokyo. We were treated to a. Martial arts dance which was fast and furious and then the fashion began with Shibuya girls and guys parading down the stage. We moved onto New York with its Hip Hop era with breakdancing and grafiti in the background. Then there was there was a Sex and the City lifestyle with Macy's as a backdrop. Then it was onto Rome with clothes that featured the sexiness and sassiness of Italian style. Pretty soon it was Paris and this section paid homage to Moulin Roiuge with lots of ruffles pieces, suits and elaborate head wear. Last but certainly not least was London featuring the punk scene, Carmaby Street and 80s fashion. The funkiness of Brick Lane was featured and we reached full circle with the naughties and the re embracement of Brit fashion. The whole show has a lot of energy from start top finish.

Talking of Carnaby Street, this little nugget in West London celebrates 50 years of fashion and music so it is only fitting that they occupy a stand that recreates that magic. The stand consisted of the iconic Carnaby arch with a selection of the famous streets that make up this popular street as well as brands like Pepe London, Lee Jeans, Make Up Store and Lazy Oaf. Also the wonderful people from Sketchbook Magazine have a space where they hosted up and coming bands. Clothes Show London is a fun event which is perfect for a girl's day out. My only gripe is with the prices: the cheapest was £26 and you had to pay £8 for a goodie bag which contained a programme and a discount card. The platinum premium tickets were a whooping £38 which included the goodie bag and a premium seat at the fashion show. I find this pricing excessive because when you think about it you are simply paying to go shopping; there are no exclusive events there that you cannot get elsewhere. In my opinion I don't think visitors were given real value for money. Note to organisers - introduce an early bird booking price of £20 which includes a goodie and entry to the fashion show. 

Clothes Show London ends today at 6.30pm. 

Sketchbook Pop-Up Shop

The introduction of the iPad has had all the techie enthusiasts jumping up and down and the pending UK launch will see the biggest buzz since the magnificent iPod dropped a few years back. But why is the iPad so important? Well for instance it means that it will change the future of publishing as we see it. The medium of the iPad makes it easier to absorb digital magazines and flick from page to page seamlessly. So this is great news for aspiring publishers and editors who will be able to create wonderful magazines without worrying about printing and production costs as well as storage. If it wasn’t for this platform, publications such as Style Sample, Glossy and Ghubar would not exist. Also print magazines would lose an arm in which to promote their current issue such as Stylist magazine who put their latest issue online for all to read. Which leads me to Sketchbook Magazine which is a publication which celebrates creativity all over the world. The first issue launched last October and paid homage to fashion blogging by featuring Susie Bubble on the cover. Unlike most traditional print publications, Sketchbook is available on print on demand in the UK, USA and Canada and has 7,000 readers. Not to rest on their laurels, the Sketchbook posse decided to launch a pop-up shop off Carnaby Street to celebrate 50 years in fashion and music in the Newburgh Quarter of Carnaby Street. 

The shop launched on 2nd April in conjunction with the release of the second issue of Sketchbook Magazine – the idea was the brain wave of Rachel Menashy who is responsible for the marketing/events and PR aspect of Sketchbook. She is also a final year student at UCA Epsom where she is studying Fashion Promotions and Imaging and the pop-up store is part of her final year project. The team worked together day and night to assemble everything together, painting, plastering, banging and basically doing everything to get the Sketchbook shop up and running. The results were worth it because the space looks amazing. It covers two floors; upstairs is where the exhibition takes place and downstairs is where the screening rooms are and where the events take place. 

There is even a little area where you can buy stuff like Sketchbook t-shirts, prints, illustrations, postcards and magazines. The décor is all tranquil white with lots of artwork and photos and it really is a peaceful haven that you can just step into to escape the hustle and bustle of Carnaby Street. As well as looking pretty the pop-up shop also has a functioning purpose with workshops, lectures and discussions relating to blogging, fashion and journalism. My favourite aspect of the shop is the wall (check out the pic above) which holds illustrations of the Sketchbook family. I went down to check out the pop up store last Friday and had a brief chat with the lovely Wafa (who I featured in In the Editor's Chair in February) and Rachel who gave me a lowdown on the shop and we took some pictures. Lovely lasses they are too. The pop up store is open till 19th April so go down and check it out and have a chat with the team. 

Sketchbook Pop-Up Shop, 10 Newburgh Street, Carnaby Street, London W1F 7TN.

You can check out the Sketchbook Blog here where the team are covering the events at the shop.  

NB: Just heard that the Pop-Up Shop will be open until 13th May! 

Fashioning February: In the Editor's Chair - Wafa Alobaidat

We are barely three months into the year yet bloggers have been talked about non stop since 2010 kicked in. From little Tavi's offending bow at New York Fashion Week to an avalanche of articles which have hyped up the bloggers and editors divide. This debate continued onto London Fashion Week when the unruly behaviour of a few blogger's were criticised. It looks like bloggers who have been warmly received by fashion brands might become the victims of a backlash. However every cloud has a silver lining and among these major faux pas have been a couple of exciting initiatives that surely will prove to be the saviour of bloggers. The Independent Fashion Bloggers Evolving Influence conference took place in New York last Monday and boasted several panels of respected bloggers who tackled issues such as ethics, professional blogging and marketing. The event was packed to capacity and the organisers had to create a space where people could watch the event on a screen. The event was also streamed online so bloggers all over the world could watch and this went down a treat. This takes me to Sketchbook Magazine which launched last August with a fashion blogger issue and as well as having Susie Bubble on the cover it featured interviews with other high profile fashion bloggers. Sketchbook is the baby of 23 year old Wafat Alobaidat who yearned to create a magazine which brimmed with illustrations, drawings and images that celebrated young talent. Wafat describes her magazine as part portfolio and character sketch and also rammed with fashion, art and culture. What is more remarkable about the publication is that it is one of few style magazines that is available by print on demand. I caught up with Wafat to find out the magazine, blogging and anything in between.

How did you get into journalism?
I started reading and writing at a very young age. I wrote short stories, kept journals, reported my daily life on a daily basis. I got some of my work published with a local newspaper and a local magazine a few years back, and a poem I wrote won a national contest in the US. I also started blogging when I was a student at Chelsea College of Art and Design and started to develop my writing there. I worked with many editors and writers after university and started to write for publications like Prim Magazine and Borderline in NY and Style Bazaar in London. Right now I still consider myself a journalist in a sense that through Sketchbook I assign stories to my writers, and keep the ‘reporting’ bit in check.  

Describe the concept of Sketchbook Magazine.

Sketchbook is a new quarterly magazine that showcases established and emerging creative talents in fashion, design and culture with a focus on features, photography and illustration. Featuring original sketchbook graphics, exclusive interviews with scientists in jelly and photographers in Africa, We present our finds in a raw and exposed fashion. In Sketchbook, it’s not just about the product itself, but also about the beauty of the process of conceptualization, creation and appreciating the means to an end. Sketchbook aims to provide an entrance into the minds of switched-on, aware and intelligent creative’s and inspire those who wish to be part of such an innovative industry. I wanted to create a publication rich with mood boards, illustrations, and bursting with ideas. I wanted it to be edit-free and advertise-less and full of workshops and spaces. 

The design is very glam, how did you decide on the art design of the publication?

The design for the first issue is very clean and straight forward which is still not how I envision Sketchbook. I want to do Sketchbook justice and really embrace the rawness, cuts, tears, look and feel of a sketch book. I am really looking to create an unconventional magazine free of guidelines, I want Sketchbook to explore different themes and styles in each issue, and try to get closer to what a sketch book really is, or try to explore the concept of a sketch book in each theme. 

Who is behind Sketchbook Magazine?

I started masterminding Sketchbook Magazine a year ago, so I was on my own for a while. I accumulated all the illustrators, designers, etc that I wanted to collaborate with. Features editor, Luma Bashmi joined six months later and she is my right hand person, overseeing the quality of all the features, does all the proof-reading and helps me run the whole Sketchbook brand (from Sketchbook TV, the magazine, the blog). Ekaete our content manager is our full time staffer and one of the core members of the magazine. 

How many members of staff work on the magazine? 

There are four full time staffers working with me and Luma at Sketchbook quarters, we have eight part- time interns who come in to write, report or blog for Sketchbook Magazine. 150 people have been involved with the first issue and 200 for the second issue. We also have a 15 member film crew made up of Komal Verma the executive producer of the webispodes, and Jospeh Salmassian who is our producer, and the rest are technicians, and sound editors.  But overall we have about 500 members of the Sketchbook network. I like to think of it as a huge family. 

Describe a day in the life of Wafa Alobaidat.

A day in my life consists of the following: Waking up at 9.30am, getting dressed (usually in something comfy and converse), cleaning up the studios, having breakfast (which is now becoming two cups of lemon and ginger tea and some fruit), and then everyone starts showing up at 10.30am. I usually start with checking the Sketchbook website, the blog, our sales through magcloud.com, our Twitter pages and start replying to anyone who has left any responses, and updating statuses. I then start going through my email (which takes me forever) and I start forwarding emails to Fiona Gandy, our press officer, and content for the next issue to Ekaete Inyang, my content manager. There is usually a list of to do’s to go through, writing up proposals, getting back to distributors and printers. Meanwhile everyone at the office is blogging, chasing up stories and planning events. We break for lunch at around 1pm. Luma and I used to cook for staffers which was really fun but the group just got so much bigger and we had to stop. We still make brownies when we can and there is plenty of choc and junk foods to snack on in the kitchen. We usually work till about 6.30pm, even though I tend to stay on the computer way longer than that. But every day is interesting - we always send our bloggers and writers to cover last minute events and sometime we find ourselves scrambling to get in touch with our TV crew who have to get to a location usually to interview an A-list designer in a matter of hours. Luma and I try to meet at least five designers a day to look through their portfolios and to commission new work. Every day is exciting and I love it. The best days are when we get to meet interesting people in the industry, or look through a great portfolio, and hopefully we still have time to go out and meet friends at night for some dinner, or invite them over for coffee and cake. 

Which blogs do you check out regularly?

I check out Style Bubble on a daily basis - it’s the one blog that I go back to for references and inspiration. My blog lists includes The Sartorialist, The Face Hunter, Yvan Rodic, Garance Dore', Sea of Shoes, Tavi-New Girl in Town, Mykromag, Abdul Lagerfeld,, Notes by Naïve, Fashion Toast, SHOWstudio blog, Kate Loves Me, Gala Gonzales’s Am-Lul’s blog, Creative Review’s blog, and Dazed Digital. I always try to check out The Business of Fashion, Style.com, Vogue.com a few times a week.

What magazines do you read? 
I read Dazed and Confused, Interview, POP, Love, Another Magazine, Another Man, Fantastic Man, Vogue UK, Crash, Evening Standard Magazine, Wallpaper, Monocole, Grafik, Amelia’s Magazine, Lula and Prim Magazine. 

What tips do you have for anyone who wants to become a magazine editor?

It’s a full time job getting the first issue together - I had no life in the first six months of putting the magazine together. You have to really be able to sell the idea to contributors and potential editors, so constantly being enthusiastic and positive about the project is a must. You can’t do it alone, you have to delegate responsibilities to people you trust who share your vision of the product. You must find a space to meet with your team and create a hub for activity whether it’s your living room or university library. You must be able to meet with people you want involved with the magazine. Have a unique selling point for your magazine – for Sketchbook magazine it’s the fashion illustrations, and blogger profiles that differentiate us from other magazines. Think digital – you have to be able to have a huge web presence to exist as a publication. Take advantage of media networks like Twitter, Facebook, Ping, Ying, Google Wave. Create blogs, update them regularly, upload your magazine onto issuu to gain a readership and following. There are so many exciting online ventures that you can get your magazine in. You can now buy Sketchbook as a book from Lulu.com, and buy a PDF of the magazine through e-junkie and Exact Editions. 

You can buy a copy of Sketchbook Magazine here.

You can read Wafa's blog here.

You can follow her on Twitter here.