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LEA T- MUSE TO GIVENCHY'S RICCARDO TISCI

Picture and text by Vogue France

Some of you will know the picture but I am again and again fascinated by it. OK, this year was the year of the transsexual in fashion circles. As you might remember, Tisci used Lea T in his AW10 add campaign, Acne developed in conjunction with Candy magazine a shirt collection all modelled by transsexuals, the androgynous star male model Andrej Pejic whose angelic feature brought him to walk women shows as well as men shows.and asked what he feels about it he answered: '... Every man wants to wear a dress once in a while...' but I really admire and being stunned by the honesty and beauty of this picture above and and the bravery of the French Vogue to put a picture like this into a polished luxury magazine. But this honesty and bravery which I credit to the unfortunately meanwhile 'former' editor in chief Carine Roitfeld and her team in Paris. This picture, with its vulnerability, shows that nature has so many beautiful different facets and that beauty can not be defined by sex instead by the magic aura of an individual being like Lea T. I really want to see more of her in the future and hopefully our fascination with transsexual and its discussion and depiction of  it in an honest and non- judging way will not be just a fad but bringing more tolerance to the ones who are considered as different and often excluded from the rest of society. Looking forward to 2011 and I wish you all

                      A HAPPY NEW YEAR - 2011- CHEEEERS!!!

CUSTOMISING AN OLD H&M SHIRT WITH A SELF MADE SILK COLLAR

 I bought this shirt from H&M years ago and decided to throw it away. But as I was posting a month ago I will try not to throw away the clothes I am not wearing anymore and I will make an effort avoiding to support our buy- wear- chuck- away- half- a- year- later society. I got really nice silk fabric from work which I also rescued from the dust bin. The silk were sample materials for ties. I will comment on the steps in order to cover the collar of the old shirt and give the shirt a new lease of life again. I hope I can inspire you also to throw away less and re-use your old clothes.

Step 1: Here you can see the fabric and the shirt. Step 2: I did not make a photo of it. Actually you take a piece of paper ( can be baking paper which is quite strong and slightly see through). You put the paper on the collar and draw the shape of the collar. After you have done that you can make the outline more neat by re-drawing the line with a ruler. Than you also draw the seam allowance which is 1.5 cm or half an inch.

 Step 3: Pin the collar pattern to the fabric and cut it out.

 Step 4: Pin the cut out fabric to the collar and be careful the there is an equal amount of seam allowance all around the shirt collar.

 Step 5: This is now the tricky bit- sewing the cut out fabric on to the collar. You can use a sewing machine but like for most of us, it takes less experience to sew it on by hand. Since you have a good amount of seam allowance you can fold the fabric over at the edges which will avoid that the fabric edges are going to fray while wearing and washing the shirt.. Below you can see the half stitched- on collar.

Step 6: After you finished the sewing, you can iron and  press the collar carefully with a low temperated iron and a bit of steam.  Below again you can see the finished shirt worn with a cream coloured, mohair jumper with by H&M's TREND LABEL.

I hope this exercise has not been too difficult to follow and do it yourself. I think just that we should be more aware about the waste we are producing and 'every little helps' to rescue our planet which is being destroyed by a society which throws away everything without a blink of the eye even if the goods are not broken. I hope you will enjoy it and as a last little advice invite a friend ( nothing against our sex but a female friend who can sew will help a lot) and do it together which is really fun than. 

Love and good luck - The Fashion Philosopher 

P.S. Before I forget it since the shirt is cotton and the collar brocade silk in this exercise you might wonder how to wash it. I have never brought my silk clothes to a dry cleaner. Always wash your silks, cashmeres and wools with a decent amount of shampoo (yes, shampoo, a mild product with e.g. chamomile it good enough) and the cold hand wash level is switched on your washing machine. I have had never any problems with shrinkage but again it is important that the water temperature is cold and the washing machine is on hand washing mode.

CHRISTMAS 2010 BARGAINS

It is my favourite time of they year-guess Christmas?- no WINTER SAALLEEEESSS!!!!!- since you might remember I just quit my job to start freelancing in fashion as stylist and designer. Since I just started out, money of course is really short! But there is always a little bit put aside for some bargains. So, have a look what I snapped up in the sales. Here the first one now-  Beige roll neck- Shades of Grey by Mica Cohen ( Topman )

                                          

Again- Beige roll neck by Shades of Grey by Mica Cohen ( Topman ). Since the winters in London are getting colder I decided I need a couple more roll neck jumpers. This jumper from Shades of Grey is actually quite simple it has just the row of buttons at the collar, which I find quite handy if you come into the warm and cosy inside and you can simply open up the roll neck. The material is woven as if  layered which also gives an interesting effect as well as the rough edges. This jumper is a really good basic and it will keep warm when temperatures are plummeting.

1. Beige roll neck- Shades of Grey by Mica Cohen ( Topman )

2. Blue Brothel Creepers by Asos Collection ( Asos )- a great bargain. I got them for £ 13.00, compared to £ 80.00 at Topman. OK, they are not the originals but I do not care. I have never had Brothel Creepers. I just started to love them. You know, sometimes when you see a clothing item very often and you never are interested in the item and suddenly- BANG!!- after years you stop and think-' Hmm, actually I think I've got to get them'! I do not know what to wear with them and how to style them right now but clothing items like that have often helped me to broaden my style and have given  a fresh breath into my wardrobe. I really love them and the price was brilliant

3. 'Degas' heavy knit cardigan by All Saints (All Saints)- All Saints- my old time favourite of all the high street premium brands. I must confess I always find something at All Saints. OK, SS10 was a weak season but AW10 you could get your hands on some of the nicest authentic Nordic Fairisle jumpers around and I also found one of the nicest sheep- skin- sort of- aviator jackets which looked much better than most of the other 'affordable' versions on the high street. The 'Degas' cardigan is really warm and I got used to wear it more and more often instead of my winter coats or jackets. Just layer  a chunky, long and heavy cardigan with a jeans shirt and nice jumper underneath and a cool snood and you are warm enough to face the cold. By the way this was a 'good- bye' present in form of a voucher from my colleges at Hackett, my former employer. Thanks a lot guys. Will never think of you again ( ha ha ha).

4. Black top by Sparks ( Behave). Unfortunately, you can not see the materials and the cut properly ( After I loose my Christmas pounds I will model it). Actually, the top is quite boxy and long (almost to my knees).  It is also really black. The material is making the top interesting- it is a sort towelling material but somehow not as soft as the normal towelling of which towels are made of. But it gives the black a certain texture. I really love the brand Sparks. They design and produce the brand in the UK ( not China!) but keep the prices rather low. I bought the top above for £ 30.00 in the sales but usually the prices range from £ 25.00 to £ 60.00 for a jumpers or shirts to £ 80.00 for really brilliantly cut a pair of trousers. I already bought a shirt and a pair of trousers form Sparks at Behave. I will post properly about  the brand and the shop soon.

While I was copying the photos for this post I stumbled across this picture. I would like to  introduce you, please - HERR PAULI ( Mr Paul). The second love of my live. He is the cutest cat in the world. He loves fashion as much as I do and here you can watch him modelling his favourite New Years smoking by 'Catlavin'. He is quite avantgardistic cat, as you can see, he is wearing the silk smoking without the famous brightly coloured over- sized  bow ties, favoured by 'Catlavin' designer 'Catber Elbas', as we all know,  but with a simple white cashmere roll neck by 'Cat Sander'. And for a dramatic entrance he decided to put on green optical lenses. I think he looks so stunning and elegant but still simple and graceful. I just adore him.......!!!!! and hope you do it too.

CARINE ROITFELD QUITS VOGUE PARIS

Drawing by aleXsandro Palombo

FASHION ECCENTRICS 1:

On the 17th of December a new life is starting for me. I used to work in the Wholesale department  for the luxury mens fashion retailer Hackett London.  I decided recently to quit my job and embark on a 'creative' fashion career. Ok, admittedly, I learned a lot during my time working in admin, too. I think to know the whole process of  fashion production and distribution might proove to be quite helpful  in future. But I want to close this chapter and open a new one. Above you can have a glimpse what my mornings will look like when I start being self - employed ( I wish...).

Inspired by the book 'ECCENTRIC GLAMOUR' by Simon Doonan - creative director of Barney's and and more time on my hands for my blog- I will start presenting  to you, the people - past or present - who I consider to have had brilliant fashion-taste, fashion-elegance or fashion-eccentricity, with loads of money or no money at all... they just need to have one point in common - a great sense for fashion. I will call these presentations: FASHION ECCENTRICS.

I will start with the Empress of all Fashion Eccentrics the Hon. Miss Edith Sitwell DBE - poet, writer, aristocrat and fashion icon par excellence. She had a terrible childhood, not least because her father made her undertake a "cure" for her supposed spinal deformation, that apparently involved locking her into an iron frame. Together with her two brothers she belonged to the avantgarde of literature in the 20's and 30's of the last century. I think she is just the kind of person I admire!

She stood 6' ( 1,83 m) and looked a bit like Queen Elizabeth I. She was in the conventions of the Edwardians, actually conceived as 'ugly'. But instead of hiding herself, she embraced her unusual features and emphasized them with all this beautifully crafted jewelery with gowns of brocade or velvet with gold turbans and a plethora of rings. Her beautiful hands were covered by rings - one more unusual than the other with huge stones and again unusually cut stones and unconventionally designed mounts.

 

Although from an aristocratic back ground - she always struggled financially since her father did not leave her a lot and she never married within her social circles. But she made the best of the her situation and kept the most important aspect of an artist - her freedom. I just love her- she was always interesting to look at and the archetype of a great 'FASHION ECCENTRIC'. I hope I have made you interested in her. At a time when 'indivdualty' has gone lost in a sea of chain stores and globalisation, which gives you three Uniqlo's within 300 meters on even the same road side of Regent Street (London, UK) just sparated by two more H&M's. I think we should learn from these people and take them as a role model.