FASHION IN CLOSE UP

Posted by the Fashion Editor at Large

I was just going through my pictures from the press days, and apart from being in a thrall to my girlfriend's camera - a sexy black Nikon D90 - I continually marvel at the incredible detail a multi-million pixel digital camera picks up. Its all too easy to think of high fashion and connect that mentally with a catwalk image and forget about the craft and hours of skilled work that goes into a finished garment.
So just because I can, I'm posting close-ups of some of the SS10 pieces I've been admiring recently.

McQueen fabric

                                                                                                                                                            

A hand-finished corset top with beading and lacing by Antonio Berardi

Galliano shoes that come with a detachable bangle, so the heel of your shoe matches your bangle. 

This the bottom section - as in rear end - of another McQueen dress

A close-up of an Erdem fabric. Exquisite. I would like to put it on my wall.

Leather cut out jacket by Graeme Black. I would love the technicans behind all these fabrics to talk me through sometime.

STOP THE CLOCKS! Nick Kirkwood does FLAT shoes!

Posted by the Fashion Editor at Large

How happy am I? I was wandering through the uber-slick press day held by Relative MO at London's Fashion Central aka Somerset House this week (where everything is happening - even a Tiffany sponsored ice rink, if you please) when I happened upon Nicholas Kirkwood's new shoe collection for SS10.

I am a huge Kirkwood fan. His shoes are beautiful. Wearable sculptures. My friend Yasmin Sewell has the sexiest pair he ever did, black grosgrain high heels with a pearl wedged inbetween the heel and the sole. And he is lovely. A real gentleman; even when we are falling out of Le Baron at two in the morning on one of those very rare Paris nights out at the end of the show marathon.

ANYWAY. The point of this post was in the headline. Up to now Nick has always done very high heeled shoes. And he did do lots of them for SS10 too. But I'm not showing you them, sorry, I was so excited by the flats I forgot to photograph the high heels.

Reason is I'm five foot nine and a bit, so I don't need to wear high heels in my daily life, only when I'm going for car-to-bar/restaurant, an awards ceremony or something - so about once a week. But I do like a beautiful flat shoe, and lo and behold here are Nick's! He obviously picked up on the new fashion mood in the air for a shoe that is not so ridiculously high.

I love how Nick has made his flats so feminine, but not too girlie. He even paid attention to the heel and gave them that sculptural edge he gives his high heels. So without further ado, lets feast our eyes on them. Ok, so "feast" is not really the word. A flat doesn't give me fashion goosebumps, but there is the large advantage that here are Kirkwood shoes we can wear all day and can feel more pleasure than pain.

I like the ones with the contrast tips.

 

The Fashion Junior at Large (who you will meet very soon) loved these.

These are the sculptural heels I was telling you about.

NEXT BIG THING....a bit more Katie Rowland

I've been getting asked more about Katie Rowland, and her Ring Me ring. So here are more details and more gorgeous Rowland jewellery. Oh and she has just delivered her first jewellery collection for Agent Provocateur. Can't wait to see that.

I rather adore the amethyst knuckleduster, (below) of if you prefer there is also smoky quartz one in 18 ct gold plate. Both cost £250 from Katie Rowland.

This is the amethyst one:

This is the quartz one:

And just because inside all of us lurks a Cheryl Cole fan, Katie told me that Mrs Cole had worn the below at the Manchester auditions for X-Factor. Oooooohhh! It costs £460.

AND FINALLY..... In my previous post I failed to mention the price for my favourite Rowland product, the Ring Me ring. So here is the image again.

The Ring Me is available in silver (pictured on the left) from £395 and in18ct gold/black (pictured above right) from £960 - each come boxed with a mini printing kit containing two mini ink pads for your purse. All you need to do is contact Katie so she can make it for you with the words or digits of your choice.



BASTA!

THE NEXT BIG THING....IN JEWELLERY

Posted by the Fashion Editor at Large

The SS10 press days can be a stress to get to when you're juggling deadlines, but are so worth it. Especially when a designer you haven't considered before talks you through their work and you get that internal jolt of inspiration/recognition that tells you that you are seeing something new and exciting or clever and fun. I’ve seen so much exciting stuff which I will bring to you between now and the end of January when the collections actually come in. And when the January sales are on – BELIEVE ME – you will need this blog to keep you going. ANYWAY. Top of my mind over this last week are Katie Rowland and Jordy Askill two young jewellers  I encountered at Blow PR and Starworks respectively. Jewellery is definitely having a creative renaissance. I was going to put my good friend and charge Dominic Jones on here too, his new work is so insanely beautiful, but he made me promise not to - well it is his AW10 colllection!! Guess we will have to wait for that, but I'll get first look!

KATIE ROWLAND

It was her “Ring Me” ring that did it. Katie is a 28 year old London jeweller who this year has won a string of prestigious awards (see below) but her stroke of genius for me is a ring that, in back to front text, has Ring me and your number stamped into it. All you need to take out with you is a tiny ink pad to make it work. When you see a boy or girl you like just rotate the ring on the ink pad, and in one slick move roll it up the arm, (of whatever body part is available to you) of the person you desire. “It’s really naughty”, giggles Katie. “It makes me quite bold. When I made my own version with my mobile number on I went a bit crazy with it. The next day I got a few calls, but I couldn’t remember who they were!” The idea behind the Ring Me ring was the calling cards of Victorian Ladies who would hand out cards with just their names on. “My Ring Me ring brings the idea of a calling card bang up to date,” says Katie.

http://www.katie-rowland.com/
WINNER OF COUTTS NEW JEWELLER AWARD 2009
WINNER OF LONMIN'S DESIGN INNOVATION AWARD FOR PLATINUM 2009
WINNER OF THE SONAMA-CUTRER DESIGN AWARD 2009



JORDY ASKILL

Meadham Kirchoff SS10 Image courtesy of Catwalking.com

Jordy Askill is one of those rare artist/jewellers who use their creative experiments to inspire very pretty

commerical pieces, and some thought provoking high fashion work too. Jordy is a an Australian who worked with Tusbi/Ksubi in Sydney before moving to London. Now he creates these anodised sculptures from animation programs he develops on his computer. How amazing is that horse sculpture? I love it. He told me its costs £1000. As does the People sculpture below. I think they are worth every penny. From them come his adorable heart rings (above), and can't wait to see whether his Meadham Kirchoff sculptural headpieces (yes those are lots of little people, plus for the Meadham Kirchoff brogues he placed said mini metallic people to the back heel of the shoe like spurs). I can see how his thinking process works. I'm looking forward to seeing a lot more of Jordy in the coming months. He is one to watch.

http://www.askillprojects.com/
His work is available at Dover Street Market
He is represented by Starworks.

THE FASHION EDITOR AT LARGE UNMASKED

My friends and work colleagues say there is no point in me being anonymous for this blog as everyone knows it’s me anyway and whats the point. So, OK, my name is Melanie Rickey. I love being a fashion journalist. But “fashion journalist” is not what I write when I’m filling in forms under “occupation”. I write “journalist.” That is what I am. I am driven by a need to understand the world around me and inform or explain it to those who don’t have the time to find out, but are still curious, interested or maybe just a bit obsessed. My specialist subject is fashion. I totally love main-lining the zeitgeist but equally what I do is about respecting the integrity and creativity of the people who make fashion happen. It’s also about recognising the good and the great from the bad and the ugly. Oh, and exercising my trend divining gene. I love to sniff out a trend. I’ve been writing for print media for twelve years and have worked for everyone you can think of in the British press including The Independent, The Daily Telegraph, The Sunday Times Style and have been with the amazing Grazia since its very first issue nearly five years ago, and my current role there is as Fashion Editor at Large. Hence the idea for my blog. A fashion editor out and about and at large is what I am, and that is what I bring to Grazia and my blog. I also write for American, Australian and Japanese press. Yet despite my hard earned professional status, there is still something of a teenage fashion superfan about me. I really enjoy the infectious excitement of Bryanboys blog - he is a bonafide superfan pressing his pretty nose up against the window of the industry – and now he’s in it too. Likewise, look at the success of Susie Lau’s Style Bubble blog. Both of these bloggers have crossed over into the industry from being amateurs. And I’m in the industry and sort of crossing over by adding blogging to what I do. I’m a professional journalist and editor working in the heart of the industry. Yet, this parallel of reporting and blogging feels totally right. There's so much that I store for later use in print that never makes it to publication. Or stuff I want to talk about with my friends, except that they are not interested in what model I've got a crush on this week, what shoe I can't stop wearing, or more important issues as to where fashion is going, how it is changing and who is changing it. Who ever heard of someone making their career their hobby aswell? Not me, but what I do know is that my blogging life has begun.