Coco Chanel

In 2001 Walter Van Beirondonck curated Fashion 2001 Landed/Geland in Antwerp, which to date still stands as the best exhibition (actually a series of events and exhibitions, which took over the whole city) I have ever been to.  Stephen Jones and his partner the lovely Craig took me under their wing and together we went to museums, shows and supper.  One event called 2women celebrated  two women who have indeed changed the course of 20th century womenswear: Coco Chanel who liberated us from frills, corsets and hobble skirts and Rei Kawakubo whose Japanese ultra-modernity redefined what it is to be glamorous without overt sexual display.  One evening a Comme Des Garcons show was presented to an eager audience filled with the Antwerp Six and their coterie, who I observed all quite happy to sit together, unruffled by rivalry and show their admiration for Rei’s remarkable designs.  That afternoon an 18th Century house in the city had been taken over for an exhibition to celebrate all things Chanel.  From a room laid out with bottles of No. 5 in a huge 5 pattern, to an enclosed room filled with black and white images of her monochromatic universe; it really was an extraordinary day, celebrating two extraordinary women.

This Wednesday I am very excited that my local bookshop Daunt Books is hosting an event to celebrate, discuss and challenge assumptions about Chanel with another iconic woman from the 20th Century, Wallis Simpson at Keat’s House.

Wallis Simpson

Both known for their personal taste and unorthodox lives, I love the idea of placing them together, since both in their ways  were utterly radical, breaking through convention, class system strictures, albeit with a constant veneer of stark style where noone was either too rich, or too thin.

If you are free this Wednesday, I would utterly urge you to join me, my dear friend Lizzie from Mishka Vintage and others paying homage at the talk by Justine Picardie and Anne Sebba, authors of Coco Chanel, A Portrait and That Woman, the story of Wallis Simpson.  I can’t wait to hear them in conversation, having just finished Picardie’s biography last week.  Keat’s House is a ridiculously gorgeous venue at the bottom of a beautiful lane of houses close to Hampstead Heath: part of the reason why I love North London.  £5 including wine.

Sometimes I forget why I love clothes, why I persist in wearing heels and a hat when it really is far faster in flats, I lose sight of my truth: that style has its story and its power potency.  After this talk, I am sure I will remember and revel in the reasons why I love shoes, chiffon and sequins quite so much.  I expect to be re-enchanted.

Keat's House

To book online, please go to:-

http://www.dauntbooks.co.uk/events.asp

For more information regarding Landed/Geland:-

http://www.contemporaryfashion.net/index.php/none/none/104/uk/exhibition.html

PRET A PORTAS: AN INTERVIEW WITH MARY PORTAS FOR THE OPENING OF HER SHOP AT HOUSE OF FRASER. BY TAMARA CINCIK.

Mary Portas is a brilliantly British phenomenon. She transformed Harvey Nichols into the shop we all wanted to spend in; then she marched onto our TV sets, teaching her retail mantras to failing businesses, the charity market. From OAPs working in charity shops, to overly hair-gelled estate agents, her refreshingly real retail prowess made for gripping viewing, as we saw her map out how they could improve their businesses, we all felt her verve, her potent power at seeing where things could improve and wanted so much for them to listen. 
Now with her store-within-a-store at House of Fraser on Oxford Street, Mary has identified a gap in the mid-market high street here in the UK, the over 40s stylish woman. Cecilia Chancellor is the model: a face at once familiar to anyone who remembers ‘The Face’ or my old boss the talented stylist Anna Cockburn’s 90′s fashion shoots and I think the perfect fit for Mary’s store and its image. En route to a Cornish weekend away she kindly answered a few questions about the store and why someone like me (a new mother with so little time to shop, that service now more important than ever) might like to go there.

1) Mary Portas at House of Fraser is a new collaboration for Mary, in that it brings her manifesto – her Maryness to Oxford Street, to a department store and therefore to a mass market who know and love her from her TV shows. How different do you think this is from what is on offer currently on Oxford’s Street, or indeed ‘the’ high street?

Mary: Because I’ve created a curated space; everything in it has been edited down for grown up women in mind. Where there’s just too much stuff in the shops my space cuts through all of that to exactly what women need and want. Then the design of the shop is hugely important; the space and the staff is all geared towards a great experience. You’ve got to see it and feel it to totally get it. Bring your baby in, the staff will take care of you and him and give you coffee….

2) What I love about Mary is her direct no-nonsense charm: she gets straight to the point and we admire her all the more for it. It became a saying in our house: ‘what would Mary say?’ when we experienced bad service in a shop or restaurant. With online shopping so prevalent now, is service even more important for retail’s survival? Will we pay a little more for a little more?..

Mary: Service is a no brainer. Customers want service that includes knowledge. The staff in the Mary shop had an exam before they were allowed near the shop floor. When they serve you,  they will be able to tell you everything about everything in the shop; right down to how the shoes were made, and the essential oil in my candles and the story behind each one.

3) The over 40′s woman Mary has identified is a largely untapped  resource in fashion, which I agree is more fool the industry, as these  are the women whose kids have grown up, who have worked hard and
have  more money available to shop. What do you feel are the differences in their needs and wants from a shopping experience and how are you satisfy this?

Mary: This is the no bullshit audience. They want quality at a
reasonable prince, they want sexy shoes that won’t kill their feet,
they want modernity and style that reflects where they’ve got to in
their life and their achievements. Its not twee. Its slick and cool.
No-one on the high street is doing this.

4) My mother is an extremely glamorous 60 year old: ex rocker, child of the 60′s; well-versed in the ways of boutique shopping, as she started with Biba and Bus Stop. These babyboomers are the ones with
the cash, more than my generation are in lots of cases AND they are eternally youthful, way more than their war bride parents were. However they don’t like showing their knees and i saw alot of above
the knees looks on your website. Is this something, along with the arm coverage Mary has identified, which you are intending to add into the collections?

Mary: You can’t lump 40 year olds next to sixty year olds. Melanie is 40 next year! I’m sure you are in your mid thirties, you would not want the same things as someone twenty years older than you, it’s about a spectrum. There are a few above the knee dresses because the audience is grown up women; and not everyone wants to cover their knees! There are also below knee dresses; structured high-waisted leggings that are like spanx for your lower half, and pencil skirts that hit below the knee, as well as wide leg trousers. Later in the season, I’m proposing chic tunics to wear with those structured leggings and it is such a good look on a grown up woman. So many people are asking about this; I’m not dressing geriatrics. I want modern women through the door; if you don’t like your knees, that where the super high denier tights I’ve come in. My hosiery collection is designed to go with the dresses; the colours are great.

5) I love the collaborations with British brands, such as Clarks and Biba. What more are in the pipeline?
Terry de Havilland perhaps, Eley Kishimoto? For those of us who like our fashion more edgy than Clarks can offer, but still want it age appropriate and fabulous?

Mary: I haven’t collaborated with Biba; Biba is a sub-brand of House of Fraser’s and nothing to do with me! Working with Clarks has been a phenomenal experience for all of uson both sides, and the whole point is that my shoes look nothing whatsoever like trad Clarks. The Clarks elements incorporated into myshoes is the high quality production values, old-school workmanship,and best of all the inbuilt comfort technology. We’ve developed our own colours, leathers, and lasts.  This is Clarks, but not as you know it.

6) Christian Lacroix once told me that women over 60 tend to stop buying fashion. What can you do to entice them back into your shop?

Mary: Nothing, I’m not trying to entice anybody over 60. I’m trying to entice women with modern minds who don’t go around with a number attached to their sense of who they are.

7) What trends can you see translating from the catwalk into your store, ie appropriate for the market you have identified, in the next season?

Mary: I don’t see this market as a sub-group who are inspired by different trends than the rest of the market. This market is living in the same cultural landscape as everyone else; their needs are just slightly different, their desires are more sophisticated, and they put up with less crap because they can spot it a mile off. These are women, who if they had the budget would be shopping at Prada, Marni, Jil Sander, Donna Karan and DvF. There is nothing out there for them at a mid-to-premium high street level.  My sister is at the top of her profession in the NHS; but she could never stretch her salary to Prada, only on big birthdays. When she came to my shop she was like a kid in a candy store.   We’ve already set down some of our Spring 2012 trends. We’re feeling for sleek 1990’s inspired modern sporty silhouettes; we’ve got some spectacular prints in development with a contemporary artist, and there is a definite 1930s feel of opulence and elegance in the air inspired by the chic of Nancy Cunard and Diana Vreeland.

Do you intend to take this to other stores after London?

Mary: Yes. Manchester is next.

9) How hard is service with a smile?

Mary: I only employ happy people, service with a smile comes
naturally to them.

http://www.houseoffraser.co.uk/Mary+Portas/MaryPortas,default,pg.html

http://dianepernet.typepad.com/diane/2011/08/pret-a-portas-an-interview-with-mary-portas-for-the-opening-of-her-shop-at-house-of-fraser-by-tamara.html

http://vagabondiana.blogspot.com/

My friend Ellie is a writer for magazines as glorious as Lula and Elle.  She recently gave birth to Doris Donne and true Cockney, and like me (and Natasha) a Scorpio.  See below for her recent interview with me for her gorgeous blog, which allows her free-rein for any uncommissioned musings and is a glorious read.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 3, 2010

she’s tamtalizing

‘I find the fashion farce hard to take seriously.’

My mind is full of starter notes on things to look up when I have time. A brain full of boxes to come back to. A reading-list to last a lifetime. There are thousands of things in there from my boyfriend that I shall shuffle through in months to come, but another mind that constantly gets my own ticking is that of my friend, the fashion stylist Tamara Cincik.

This was going to be a short visual post; a few questions to Tamara on dressing Bat for Lashes lady-lark Natasha Khan for the Brit Awards, but I took a u-turn when Tamara, an eternal piece of passion cake, sent over a feast festooned with references. I love references, the short summaries of what gets people going. As I’ve said before, anyone with a passionality is interesting to uncover. So instead of cutting out anything ‘non-Natasha,’ I wanted more of Tamara’s take on anything. Her gypsies, 1960′s acid trips and Anne Boleyn. Some more boxes to tick soon. I’ll leave you to do the same.

Tamara’s take on …

… dressing Natasha for the Brits

I wanted it to feel and look like tarnished Hollywood. Natasha [left] had a book about the Hollywood designer Valentina [above] who would go to premieres in the 1940′s looking amazing; so utterly glamorous! I wanted Natasha to look like her own version of this: beyond any trends, dancing to her own rhythm and not at all looking like a generic pop star.

Natasha is very strong on accessories and knows what she likes: she wanted to have the gold sequin bow hat made, which I thought looked adorable and slightly off – which is always cool! And she loves Pamela Love’s jewellery, so we called that in and to be honest that was her choice, but I thought it was totally gorgeous and through pawing over Pamela’s jewellery it is clear she was right!

Jackie Tyson created the rainbow eyelash Natasha wore for the Brits and does her make-up for lots of red carpet events. However Natasha is amazing at make-up and lots of photos you see of her on TV or at festivals, she has created the looks herself.

… enhancing an existing stylish ‘flair’ rather than controlling it

It’s vital to work with Natasha in a collaborative dialogue. Image and style are intrinsic to her, as is how she feels – you can hear in her music that she works from an emotional, uncompromising place and she constantly works at this on all level. We send references back-and-forth and discuss ideas and images and then hone these into a total look design. I’ve recently worked on her tour outfits (she is currently in South America with Coldplay) and for this, I sent her a whole ream of designs and ideas and then we edited them and added her ideas in to create a bunch of looks for her to wear on stage.

… why even stylish stars needs stylists

Natasha has great ideas about how to dress and what to wear, she is very clear about how she likes to look and feel. For me, her style is more individual and quirkily iconic, rather than following fashion trends religiously and I celebrate that. Working with me as her stylist allows me to oversee that side of things for her more easily; she can trust my judgement and I always make sure she is involved and updated. I can access the labels, tailors or pr’s as of course I already know so many people through my other styling work, so in a way I can feed ideas and information through and then we can collaborate without her being bogged down with the admin-side.

…the importance of style in determining the success of a musician today

It’s vital: the world is so media-savvy that unless someone is the new Neil Diamond or Seasick Steve, I think it is kind of key.

… her life ambitions

I always thought I would grow up and become a gypsy, and travel about with my hair catching warmth in it’s curls and wearing broderie anglaise on tanned olive skin, barefoot. Then I did that. Or I thought I would live in Paris with a talented artist. Then I did that too. Then I decided it was time to grow up and become a serious careerist, so now I spend my day playing with clothes, and my summers growing vegetables at our allotment and my evenings reading Tudor history in the bath for hours, trying to work out why Henry V111 seems to have murdered everyone he loved. I find the fashion farce hard to take seriously and the regime of work and self-discipline hard to commit to after years of wriggling out of any form of control. [Tamara, above, on her 'festival of love'-themed wedding day. No wriggling out of that one.]

… her life guru

Ram Dass is a spiritual teacher from the States who harks back to the time of Ken Keseyand Timothy Leary. He was an academic who took acid in those early Ivy League tests in the 1960′s and the trip totally changed his life: he dropped out of his professorship and began working with the counter-culture leaders of the era. From this he went to India and renounced his material life and lived with his guru for many years, before coming back to the west to teach.

He became one of the first westerners to go to India and try to reason with his life in a non-materialistic way, so his message is totally approachable and yet intelligent, marrying these worlds, yet there is something very Californian-meets-Woody Allen about his delivery, which I enjoy. Totally mesmerised by The Merry Pranksters as a teenager, I did all I could to recreate that life: going to India at 19, falling in love with a San Franciscan biker who taught Tibetan monks English while his mother read tarot back in Berkeley, and later being a huge part of the squat rave scene here and in Goa. Although there is the potential for his work to sound like the naffest kind of psychobabble, he is so intelligent that somehow brilliantly in the ease, there is genius.

… her inspiration

Stylist Karen Binns has this way of engaging with the world and her work which I find utterly captivating: she was a part of 1980′s New York and there is this, combined with 1920′s black cultural glamour-meet- classic Hollywood fantasia and I love it. Through her work you see how fashion is an escape and a message.

… her style icon

I was obsessed with time travel as a child and for some reason Anne Boleyn was my consistent starting point for dreamtime travels: I would oscillate between her, Elizabeth 1 and Mary Queen of Scots as a child at the French court – all very Tudor-specific! Anne was clearly highly intelligent; she grew up in the Burgundian court where women were expected to be well-educated and witty. She brought this finesse back with her from France and through her, England changed religion, changing it’s course forever from medieval to early modern. Anne was stylish in that I love her French hood and ‘b’ chain ensemble. I’ve recently read two books on her and it’s fascinating how each author has their own perspective about what is true and thereby we can see what is true is always subjective.

Princess Tamara [above] with her own prince in their own ‘Pink Tower.’

POSTED BY VAGABONDIANA AT 8:55 AM 2 COMMENTS

LABELS: BAT FOR LASHES, NATASHA KHAN, TAMARA CINCIK

Karen in a taxi with Hector Castro en route to a Giles show one LFW

Karen Binns has been a close friend for nearly a decade: I wore sequins and deco to her wedding, she was the only person crying at mine (and i thought i was the hopeless romantic!)…

Whenever I might need feedback on an idea I am working on, Karen’s advice always pushes me further: she seems to talk in big, inspiring visual metaphors, they are colorful, filled with hope and potential.  I have never had a bad night out with Karen, she is so much more fun than me: from Paris parties, to London clubs, via tea on Brick Lane, or hot chocolate at Angelina’s (our Paris Fashion Week office), we can talk for hours about Jack Cardiff or Edith Head, I always come away from meeting Karen feeling great – and that is a real and rare talent.

Her work in the music industry is well-known: over a decade working with Tori Amos, she put Estelle in silver and makes her shine, while Mr Hudson is hot now thanks to her and various pairs of slim fit slinky trousers.  Meanwhile she is creative consultant for Bernard Chandran, who’s international view of glamour i always enjoy at LFW and has launched her own magazine What? which gives a forum for the new and a place to see Karen’s world on paper.

Feeling glam to me is having matching socks on, a cab booked in your name, cocktails in the nice glasses, an amazing view, all the mates there and the music playing exactly what
you want to listen to.
It’s definitely an armour and mantra to my life.

i dont even know what my real hair colour is anymore as been dying it for so long. Ive even dyed my roots at the moment as it looked better so I have no real idea of what its
like underneath.

i like stomping around in platforms… it makes it more fun to go out when you have stilts on.

I use ical for work stuff but I also like mt handwriting so use a diary where I write more personal activities and have a notebook of one continous ‘to-do-list’.

I have dance music in my soul. I like music made with computers.

Jean Paul Gaultier, Maison Martin Margiela, Moschino but I cant imagine that happening and i could never be bothered to elbow my way to the front or bottom of it.  LOVE ebay,
HATE sample sales.

I’ve always been a child of my time and thought whatever was going on then was the best thing ever. But really I want to live in the future. Im really excited about the future.
Theres certain things that really annoy me about now, that will all be invented and
solved in the future.

No, no resolutions are great. I make them, I break them but there are lots of new moons and months to start all over again.

Dolly smouldering at my hen'na night last August

She’ll hate me for it when she’s 50 (but then, when she’s 50 she might well be pushing my feather and sequin covered wheelchair!..), but to me Anna is Dolly.  She came to work for me several years ago, dressed in love heart printed jeans with mules and a headscarf (chic I thought to unpack boxes); she was nicknamed Dolly by day 2.

Through countless jobs, in a variety of madcap situations, we second-guessed each other, joined at the hip.  I always knew by the amount of notes made, how stressed she really was.  Now Nicola Formichetti’s assistant, Dolly was my bridesmaid this Summer, and for a day lived out her dressing up box fantasy of being a fairy for a day and a night.

I am sure her psychedelic dreams and fairy-filled daze will be the landscape of her own work.  I hope so.

t q1
We both love a dash of glamour and a mix-it-up cocktail of the
unexpected.  What does feeling glamorous mean to you and is it an
armour?

I was thinking just this morning that i will never be glamorous.
When i dress i don’t dress to be or particularly feel glamorous, i
just feel like myself….i dont think that glamorous is really me
however much i would aspire to it – i think its more of a mix it
up cocktail of the unexpected.

Its not an armour, its just what makes me feel happy.

tq4

I would make everyone be nice to each other and stop wanting to hurt  or harm each other. Also I would fast forward time to show people what
will happen if they don’t start looking after their planet very soon!

I  do have a song lyric tattooed on me though – from Lykke Li ‘little
bit’
I just like anything that makes me feel happy! Usually upbeat, electro
poppy stuff!

I would love to be wearing Pierre Cardin, Viktor and Rolf, McQueen,  Gaultier

Swinging 60′s baby

Work harder at everything. be nice to everyone. eat less carbs

To read Dolly’s own blog, please go to: http://annatrevelyan.blogspot.com

New year, new resolutions: daily exercising, writing more, meditating and being more a-a-aware – I know, I know, here she goes again on her Tamarama missions…  BUT, a spot of q & a’s from women I admire, doesn’t feel too hard to handle and I hope that their pearls and quirky uniqueness will feel refreshingly like harbingers of hope for a zingy new decade.

Mandi Lennard is one of the most notoriously hard working women in the fashion industry: those 4am emails sent selling the scoop on a new designer, pinged over from her Blackberry, are not mere urban legend.  We’ve known each other for more years than I can remember, Browns for both of us is a bit of a family tree.  Her press days are always the most carefully thoughtful, with amazing presents, always a concept and complemented with the best goodie bags ever!

Mandi answered my q&a in typically super-quick time; here is the first in my series of q&a blogs for the new year, hope you like them!!!

Mandi in a gorgeous Roksanda Ilincic creation.

Mandi and Roksanda have worked together since Roksanda started her house.  I love and aim to 24/7 live in the romance and glamour of Roksanda’s world, nothing bad could happen to you there, festooned with blowsy roses in slinky satin, this is a place where women are film star icons with tapered waists and contrasting ribbon tips and you always get your man –   I was absolutely, tingily-thrilled, when Mandi spoke with Roksanda to help me source my dream rose festooned pale pink wedding dress this Summer from her S/S 09 collection.

t q1
I feel you’ve done so much to promote British Fashion, I remember your
saying your dream was to find the next galliano, do you feel you have
( I feel you have) and if so how many hours per day has it taken you
to get there?!

I don’t remember saying that!  I’ve never really had an agenda, just to surround myself with stuff that’s cool, crazee and inspiring – it’s always
been a vanity project!

Alex Brownsell – she’s brilliant – she could do it blindfolded – she cuts and she’s a hardcore blowdryer too – she does quite a few of us at once – we’re
neighbours and it’s always fun

I’ve always liked a platform, never dainty so kitten heels aren’t really for me – if it’s a flat, it’s usually trainers

I guess a bit of eye contact, humility and common sense never did anyone any harm…

I love old skool stuff – at the moment though i can’t get enough of Kid Cudi and if I listen to something random on youtube it’s usually Nas – i always
find lyrics inspiring, and i love taking them out of context – it’s fresh
comment…

Not into sales

South Bronx mid-80s

Try to make more time for my friends

restraint

To read Mandi’s blog, please go to: http://blogs.colette.fr/mandi/