Posted by Rebekah Roy on September 27th, 2008
Daisy de Villeneuve is the type of artist that once you start to recognize her work you’ll see it everywhere.
Her illustrations have a unique child like quality to them: I just love them!!! She’s designed Topshop’s quirky shoeboxes, customized Moet & Chandon bottles for Colette’s 10th anniversary, designed for Nike, the V&A Museum, has published 2 books and has done hundreds of other things. Every month you’ll see her work in one of the major fashion magazines.
So it’s not surprising that the Gap featured her in their Autumn Winter campaign and she will also be in the Holiday 2008 campaign for Christmas!
I asked Daisy de Villeneuve, a true fashion industry insider for a quote to use during my Viktor & Rolf fashion talk at the Barbican.
In your opinion, what’s the best way for someone to create their own distinct personal style?
The best way for someone to create their own distinct personal style is to be unique. Be original in your clothing choices, do not follow trends as you can end up looking like everyone else. I always like to take inspiration from other decades & mix my clothing to include vintage, designer & high street.
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Tags: Daisy de Villeneuve, Gap, High Street, illustrations, inspiration, magazines, Nike, The Barbican, The Gap, trends, V&A Museum, Viktor & Rolf
Posted by Rebekah Roy on June 27th, 2008
To celebrate the launch of The William and Judith Bollinger Jewellery Gallery the V&A Museum invited Comfort Station amongst 18 other designers & artists to create an exclusive piece of jewellery as part of their “Cherry on the Cake” collection.
I love this necklace:inside the book are secret treasures & inspirations from the V&A including fabric samples, prints, wallpapers, ink drawings, illustrated catalogues.
Comfort Station was started by the lovely Amy Anderson after completing a fine art degree at the Ruskin, Oxford. Amy had many adventures from working in sculpture, photography and video installation all before creating bags fashioned in oak and jewellery with secrets & hidden messages. Each piece of jewellery is handmade in the Comfort Station studio in East London.
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Posted by Rebekah Roy on May 15th, 2008
The Story of The Supremes from the Mary Wilson Collection
The Supremes – Mary, Diana and Flo, and later Cindy Birdsong, Jean Terrell, Lynda Lawrence, Scherrie Payne and Susaye Green were glamorours, strong and sexy looking women. I can’t wait to see this exhibition, it’s on until October 19th at the Victoria and Albert Museum (London). I feel spoiled for choice living in such a big city – there are always so many exhibitions and event to see and it’s easy to put something off and see it later and then you realize that it’s gone…I do love going to see fashion exhibitions – seeing into someone else’s wardrobe and how they create their own style is very telling. I’d love to be a bit more glamorours. When I think of the Supremes I think of real glamour. You might say that there is still lots of glamour in the music world – but a lot of it for me is hit and miss, one day it might be really beautiful, and sensual and then another day it might be a bit cheap & tacky looking. Maybe modern glamour is more about making an effort – looking dresses up. Nothing beats old school glamour!
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Posted by Rebekah Roy on January 19th, 2008
Liberty of London: Designs of Our Times
Anna Buruma is the archivist at Liberty of London and she spoke at the V&A’s Friday evening talk. (You can see her in the 3rd image, she’s wearing a black dress with a red necklace). I wanted to go to this lecture because Liberty has been such an important part of London’s fashion history for more then a century and I also love some of their handbags!
Sir Arthur Lasenby Liberty opened his first shop with three employees on Regent Street in 1875, where he sold ornaments, fabrics, antiques and artifacts from Japan and the Far East. Liberty quickly expanded to include fashionable clothing and furniture as well as decorative items such as vases, clocks, jewellery, textiles, and wallpapers. In 1877-78 the South Kensington Museum (now the V&A) purchased antique embroideries and rugs from Liberty.
Liberty catered for an eclectic mixture of popular styles while developing his own distinct style. Although many designers and artisans worked for Liberty, the store’s policy of maintaining the anonymity of its designers allowed the shop to create the Liberty Style. In 1890 Liberty opened a shop in Paris, and the shop became synonymous with Art Nouveau, so much so that in Italy the new style became known as Stile Liberty!
In 1884, Liberty asked architect-designer Edward William Godwin to set up the “Artistic Costume Studio” to showcase Liberty designs and fabrics. They made dresses for its elite clientele, including Isadora Duncan and Mrs. Andrew Carnegie. Proust bought his ties there, and Gilbert and Sullivan dressed their casts in his fabrics. The demand Liberty created for his fabrics was greater than the resources of his suppliers and he decided to import ready woven fabric and dye and print them in the UK. Liberty relied on the experts of two printing companies: Thomas Wardle of Leek, in Staffordshire and Edmund Littler of Merton Abbey in Surrey. By the 1890s Merton Abbey was sending its entire production to Liberty and in 1904 Liberty purchased the company.
Liberty had become famous for its prints and textiles and by the 20th century Liberty fabrics were used by great designers like Paul Poiret, Yves Saint Laurent, Cacharel and Jean Muir.
It’s important to understand how relevant and popular these prints still are today. Just take a look at Luella using Liberty prints for her Spring 2008 collection!
Sir Arthur Lasenby Liberty – timeline:
born August 13, 1843
1864-1874 Worked at Farmer and Rogers’ Great Shawl and Cloak Emporium in London, and later at the firm’s Oriental Warehouse.
in 1875 Rented 1/2 of a shop 218A Regent Street and named it the “East India House”
expanded the shop 1876, 1878, 1883, 1924;
produced Liberty Art Fabrics, from 1878;
introduced Umritza Cashmere, 1879;
opened furnishing and decoration department, 1883;
debuted costumes, 1884;
introduced jewelry and metalwork, 1899;
opened Birmingham branch, 1887;
open Paris branch, 1890;
became public company, 1894;
died in May 11, 1917
Liberty of London, of course, continued on well after the death of Sir Arthur Lasenby Liberty, expanding it’s operations even further:
opened branch in Manchester, 1924;
established Liberty and Company Ltd., wholesale company, 1939;
acquired Dutch firm, Metz and Company, 1973;
expanded men’s offerings in flagship store, late 1990s;
opened U.S. distribution center in Fort Worth, Texas, 2000;
acquired by real estate company Marylebone Warwick Balfour, 2000.
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Posted by Rebekah Roy on December 16th, 2007
I went to see The Golden Age of Couture exhibition at the V&A. Before going in I had a look at the permanent fashion gallery and I never expected to see a Juicy Couture tracksuit in the V&A, but there it was… I actually like these tracksuits but I don’t think they should be worn in public unless you’re a model, on your way to a shoot. There are several benefits when a model wears a tracksuit to a shoot: it doesn’t leave any elastic marks so her skin looks smooth and there is less retouching to be done. Also the model is warm & cozy while she gets her hair and make-up done, and the jacket has a front zip so she doesn’t have to lift it over her head and ruin her hair! But really why would anyone wear a velour tracksuit on the streets of central London? I hate it when I see girls on Oxford Street with big logos on their bum and they’re usually wearing knockoffs and a fake LV bag – which is even worse. Maybe it’s just that they want to feel like a model or a celebrity for a day…
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