Cutie

Earlier on the in the year I helped a wholesaler known as Cutie. I worked as a stylist on their photo shoot and had to step in as model too when one of the ones we had booked didn't show. You can see them in the photos of Pure London bellow.

I also designed and merchandised their space at Pure London (which is a weekend showroom for fashion wholesalers). The event is covered by Drapers magazine and out of the hundreds of wholesalers there, Cutie got a piece written about them because they liked the space I had designed. Unfortunately I wasn't told until it was too late to buy a copy and I haven't been able to get hold of the article.







For the show I made these fabric mood boards, using the fabric the dresses were made from. They now hang in Cutie's showroom, which is on Great Portland St.

Window Displays Vintage Basement

This window I went for sheer vintage, as if its straight out of Just William!

The window is now sexy red sequins. There was a lot of goth chic on the A/W 2010 catwalk so I tried to put a vintage twist on it.

Vintage Clothing

The idea of 'Vintage Shops' fascinates me. On the one hand I love them, the whole experience feels like you could come across something that isn't just an item of clothing but a real treasure; something that will feel like a comfortable friend as soon as you put it on and look stunning. Then again I see a lot of crap stock, things that clearly aren't either old or special. Things that just fill the space; floor fillers. They look old, maybe because they're dirty, but take a closer look and you'll see its brand new, maybe made to look old or maybe just second hand. In the book Shopping for Vintage, Funmi Odulate states that ' vintage fashion is clothing that is at least 25 years old', which if you look in a lot of stores claiming they sell 'vintage' clothing, simply isn't the case. I see a lot of clothing from the 90's coming in and first of all I think was this item really that nice in the first place and secondly I look at the price tag and think that I have seen something very similar in a charity shop for 70% less.

Having said that I do think that the fashion for vintage clothing is brilliant. Its recycling, which is ethically sound and it causes people to be more creative with their dress. Fashion is so diverse and I think this is a lot to do with people buying vintage clothing. It lends itself so well to creativity because there's no one way to wear it. You can make it look modern by mixing it with skinny jeans or you can look like your straight out of a period drama. You can make it grungy, geeky, elegant, sophisticated just by choosing your pieces carefully and mixing it appropriately.

Also, vintage has helped abolish bad stereotypes around charity shops. I remember when I was young in the 90's sportswear brands were the hight of fashion and I was so ashamed that my mum used to take me into charity shops. In primary school one of my most vivid memories is of being in the school hall for assembly and the head mistress saying that she heard track suits were going out of fashion. She made a joke with a teacher saying maybe in a few years time old fashioned school uniform will be what everyone is wearing. At this point my friend turned round to me and said 'even if that is in fashion I will never wear it, I love Nike'.

The head mistress wasn't far wrong though! Alexa Chung is often inspired by vintage school wear and I cant go to Brick lane without seeing old fashioned school shoes worn with little socks and bear legs. People now appreciate the worn, old fashioned look and one of the cheapest ways to get it is from charity shops. Unfortunately living in London you dont really see many amazing charity shops but I went to Tenteton in Kent and the charity shops there had a really good selection of clothes. Some of the things I found would definitely have been sold in vintage shops. The fashion for Vintage must have helped charity shop's trade improve.

In my opinion Vintage has helped charity shops (which can only be a good thing), improved fashion and allowed people to be more expressive with clothing and it is recycling the old, so it is green. Some vintage shops are mildly taking the piss with prices and the things they try to pass off but what else do you expect from clothing?? Most high street shops make a horrifically massive profit in comparison! So, in conclusion, hurrah for Vintage and all the joy it can bring!

Tube Etiquette

I am just back. Back from the glorious, beautiful north devon, where the scenery is breath taking and the locals are interesting and friendly. Back in London. Back to work.

The way I travelled back was by train and then by tube and there is no more shocking way to return to the busy bustling city of London. I honestly felt like I saw more people on my tube journey than I had in my whole weeks trip.

It was quite hot on the tube and a saturday, which meant the carriage was full of Weekenders. I dont mean to sound like a knob but seriously, during rush hour its horrible, sweaty and packed but tubes at the weekend can be almost equally infuriating. People just dont seem to know what they're doing or where they're going. And no one is in a rush. I know being in a rush is supposed to be a bad thing but when Im on the tube I spend the whole time wanting to get off. Its not a place I want to be. So rushing seems more logical to me and therefore groups of people that walk all together in a line blocking anyone from getting past annoy me. Its part of tube etiquette to have spacial awareness and to think of others. For instance not all people have the day off. A lot of people work weekends, therefore they may be in a rush!

Another part of tube etiquette is noticing how your way of standing/sitting in the carriages may be affecting others. There was a very inconsiderate person who, while on a particularly hot carriage, decided to stand in front of the door with the window, blocking any breeze that may have been able to flow through the carriage. Not only this but he spread his whole mighty frame across the window and then allowed a look of serene pleasure to affect his sweaty face. It felt as though he was doing it for a joke.

Lastly, and maybe one of the most common offenders of tube etiquette is the way some people sprawl across the seats. Sat between two men who need to assert their man hood by spreading their legs as wide as possible is not only uncomfortable, but also feels somehow demeaning, as though I am less of a person because I need or perhaps deserve less space. Why do they do it? I cannot understand, the only reason I can imagine plausible is not physical but mental, must be something to do with the ego and therefore the best way to look at it is with pity. Ah that feels better!

On a different note, I took 6 rolls of film while I was on holiday with my brand new Diana F+ Lomo camera and they shall be developed by tomorrow so that is very exciting. I will put some up, hopefully some of them will come out ok!

All Saints, jobs and university

My other place of work is All Saints where I'm a 'visual specialist' (fancy talk for visual merchandiser). I did an overnight shift last night to install august's directive and I think it went pretty well. They're quite an intense company to work for and they're always amending the store visuals and giving updates. I think this is because the head office is in one of the stores so the directors see what the shop floor looks like everyday and know how they want to improve it.

I used to work for Gap doing visual merchandising too, but I prefer it at All Saints. It's a lot more challenging and they have an interesting, strong brand feel. BUT, I really want to get off the shop floor and get what I have stupidly come to call a 'proper job'. Not that I don't think what I'm doing is proper, it's just that I spent most of my teenage years on the shop floor and I assumed that going to uni would immediately take me off there and onto something else. What bollocks. I blame society and culture, as I do for many defects.

Back to my point though, I need something else. At the moment I am destined to be one of the millions of graduates not using their degree (mine being Design and Advertising). I really enjoyed university as I'm sure most did, although I have to say, anyone who cackles and says 'lazy students', stereotyping them as binge drinking, oversleeping layabouts can jump off a cliff. It was fun but it was hard and stressful and a massive learning curve. Most graduates in my position probably feel like I do; a bit lost, a bit undervalued for what they're capable of and most of all worried about the huge dept hounding them every day and keeping them awake at night. Fun? Not particularly. I am looking into jobs that would match my skill set and there seem to be a few. I'm still working on my book (fancy talk for a portfolio) in my spare time, so maybe I will end up using my degree as it was intended.

Vintage Basement: Flyers

The Vintage Basement: Photos

Spring/Summers Florals.

Nauticals for spring.


When everyone was festival mad I tried to reflect this in the window.

I try to follow fashion trends to drive business. This window display was inspired by the khaki and safari styles that were on the catwalk for spring summer 2010.

I did this window display for the first week of the World Cup. I tried to use England's colours and there was a football and flag involved too!

Easter=Easter Eggs.

Beach themed window, looked better in the sun!

The shelves used to look like horrible and cheap mdf nightmares so I found a really old map of london, photocopied it and stained it and then used bricolage to cover them.