For years architects have been trying to be bands, getting together and giving themselves names like Superstudio, MUF and Archigram. But apart from As Four – who were all sleeping together – fashion labels have resisted. Fashion designers haven’t really gone in for being in a band thing either – until now. Brazilians Alloyha Copacabana describe themselves as a “visual band”. The music they perform is totally incidental to their obsession with dressing up, constructing looks and being seen – all normal everyday fashion stuff – but they’re amazing at it and are pretty famous in São Paulo. Read more »
Samantha Pleet’s romper room
Though not explicitly evocative of the dirty classic New York groove, Samantha Pleet’s clothes are the perfect combination of girly and rough-and-tumble. Her style directive involves the flounce of a woodland elf without being overly delicate or perishable, unlike some other designers channeling forest nymphs these days (heads up, Erin Featherston). In it’s eighth season, her line has already established itself as the costumer of the indie-elite, but somehow manages not to offend those of us on the anti-side of quirky. I was lucky enough to hang in the dressing room with Pleet and her girls while they got ready for her SS 2010 presentation.
Bitches getting hitched
Do you see what happens when gays get rights? All those fat, ugly, angry, loud people carrying signs and that weird symbol of two sticks crossing at right angles with a dead guy hanging off it were totally right: homosexuals are all perverts who will fuck anything and should not be allowed to get married. Because then shit like this happens…
London College of Fashion BA catwalk show
Alex Rosewald’s model appeared unhurt after parachuting in through the roof.
The LCF show featured a marathon of 28 collections hand-picked from the graduating class. To be honest, they could have been even more picky, because it lasted for an unfathomably long time. Still, despite the arduous task of sitting through it all, a lot of the collections were worth the effort. Read more »
Queuing: the new black?
Cheap by anyone’s standards
It is perhaps heartening to realise that money doesn’t always guarantee instant access to the best that fashion has to offer. Sometimes, you just have to queue. But usually that queuing takes place at a hideous hour. In the hideous cold. With a hangover.
Queuing has never been part of my adult life. When I was younger, things were different: it was normal to wait outside gigs from midday just to ensure a place in the front row. But even that seemed pointless past the age of 15.
And yet a whole decade later I’m up at the crack of dawn twice in a month, queuing for the H&M Comme collaboration and the Angels Vintage Sale. And while the H&MxCDG yielded reasonable results, the Angels sale simply revealed that there are thousands out there even more desperate than myself. And by populating the front of the queue these people render my queuing attempts almost pointless.
For those blissfully unaware, Saturday’s Angels Sale saw the famous costumiers sell off a warehouseful of their old stock, priced by the bag for the equivalent of around £1 an item. Attracting a level of interest that clearly no-one expected, the keenest vintage hunters camped out a whole day in advance to snag those original 60s dresses and discarded Dr Who costumes. Read more »
