Take 5, Think Pink

Lets all take a minute to think pink!  If you haven’t noticed baby pink is here, there and everywhere at the moment, and quite frankly I love it! Here’s some pictures to get you in the pink. 

Graduate Fashion Week 2013

As a student coming to the end of my first year, I can’t even begin to imagine how fashion graduates are coping as Graduate Fashion Week speeds towards them.  Excited, anxious, tired, nervous, elated – probably each of those emotions and more within the space of each hour – I mean, it’s not quite the same as having a deadline for an essay, is it?

We, the lucky viewers, however, can just look forward with excited anticipation, to see the results of their hard work, be inspired and perhaps be there at the moment when a great, new, world class talent is discovered.

Earls Court is hosting the event from Sunday 2 - Wednesday 5 June.  More than one thousand students will be showcasing their work and hoping to attract sponsors and investment to put themselves, their skills and designs firmly on the fashion world map.

Over 20,000 guests will watch 22 catwalk shows and visit exhibitions at more than 40 universities.  The scale of Graduate Fashion Week is amazing.  These are the places where designers such as Alexander McQueen and John Galliano were ‘discovered’ by the industry and the moment experienced by their contemporaries.  Exhibition tickets cost £10.50, catwalk shows between £17.50 and £25 for each individual university.

Universities showcasing their work include Ravensbourne, Bath Spa, De Montfort, UCA, Bournemouth, Kingston and Manchester Metropolitan.  All information on the event can be found at http://www.gfw.org.uk

Not to be missed!

The Rise of Luxury

We are all continually made aware of the difficult economic state in Britain and how our high streets continue to suffer.  In the past twenty years or so our obsession with bargain hunting has grown, feeding the market for cheap, disposable fashion and high street knock-offs from catwalk shows. 

But as many of us have had to cut back on spending in the last few years, it seems that there has been a rebirth of higher-end spending on fashion items.  More of us are now saving to buy quality investment pieces rather than spending less but buying more.  Perhaps buying more, cheap, poor quality clothes is finally being recognized as an unsatisfactory quick-fix that isn’t the best way to spend the fewer pennies in many of our purses?

For many of us, buying into a luxury or heritage brand feels both safer and an investment.  Collaborations between high street brands and luxury designers/celebrities - such as H&M’s collections with Lanvin and now Beyonce,  have struck a balance between style/quality and price, convincing buyers of their worth.  Although these clothes are around 20%-40% pricier than other collections in store, you get the designer or celebrity influence at a manageable cost - how clever!  That these high street brands are showing at fashion events alongside big designer names retains our confidence, encouraging us to visit the pricier areas of their shops and reach deeper into our pockets. 

The creation of luxury collections within high street brands is also proving successful.  We can see this with the sell-out of Topshop Unique’s clothing lines and with the main buzz at this year’s AW13 fashion week: River Island’s collaboration with Rihanna.  

Will we one day say goodbye to fast fashion shops?  I for one will be happy to wave goodbye to Primark and welcome a wardrobe of well thought out and beautifully made clothing. 

Magma

Magma is on the same street and is one of four stores in London which sells artistic books, magazines, its own tee shirt designs and a few fun gift sets.

-  Started in 2000, this was their first shop- they now have four in London and a couple dotted further up north.

-  One of their stores, which focuses on products rather than books, is literally five stores down.

-  Magma started off as a book shop only.

-  They now commission illustrators and designers to produce items such as their graphic tees. These are suspended from the ceiling- almost like a product installation. They give their concepts to artists who then develop the designs, adding their own signature to the initial briefing.

-  Book sales are down thanks to competition from companies such as Amazon.

-  They have a really good line of fun, small gifts, which sell well and can’t be searched for on the web. 

-  They adjust their products seasonally and to follow current trends – featuring cycling and food at the moment! 

-  An architect has now designed all their stores. They wanted nothing pretentious in the design, preferring something that would encourage customer interaction. So their bookshelf is a metal ladder structure with wooden shelves attached and suspended- giving the feel that you can just throw the books on rather than preciously placing them! The interior of their shop five doors down is made entirely from cardboard! All their shop interiors are modular and can be dismantled in a few hours - practical and visually interesting!

-  They have had regular customers since they first opened, many from creative industries who ‘enjoy time to get away from the drawing boards and computer suites and to actually interact and browse with the books’. 

//Photography by Lillie Cooper