SUMMER SAMPLE SALE EXCITEMENT!

Posted by Melanie Rickey, Fashion Editor at Large

OK, its hot and its payday week. What better reason do you need than to go buy some amazing summer fashion? I've got a reason: sample sales. The five best possible sample sales EVER in my humble opinion are on this week in London.

UPDATE:... TODAY 10am-7pm....Zadig and Voltaire at 182 Westbourne Grove, W11 2RH


Here they are:

MCQUEEN 

ALEXANDER MCQUEEN: Tues 29th May (12-9pm), 30th May (10am- 9pm), 31st May (10am-9pm) and 1st June (10am-8pm) at TheWestminster Rooms, The Old Sessions House, 22 Clerkenwell Green, EC1R 0NA

KANE 

CHRISTOPHER KANE: 31st May at The Mercer Street Studios, WC2E 9QE with prices starting at £5. 

ERDEM

ERDEM: Tues 29 May (9am-8pm) & Wed 30th May (9am-6pm) at Future Gallery, Covent Garden. AW11 & previous seasons + accessories

J.W 

J.W ANDERSON: June 1, 5-9pm, 73-75 Shacklewell Lane, Studio A007, E8. Cash only.

Oh and one for luck: 

JOSEPH: 

Tues 29th May (10am-9pm) and Weds 30th May (10am-8pm) at The Music Rooms 29, South Molton Lane- Alaia, Lanvin, Balenciaga, Givenchy, Celine and more at 80% off!!!! 

COLOUR.... MY EYES ARE DANCING

Posted by Bethan Holt, Fashion Junior at Large

Bright eyes... Meadham Kirchhoff beauty looks from AW12 (image from www.lloyd-evans.com)

Maybe it's the sudden turn in the weather from bright to dismal, or perhaps it's the amount of time the FashEd and I spend looking at the specifics of colour in our consultancy projects, or it could be that walking into most stores at the moment involves being confronted with such powerful, undiluted palettes. Whatever it is, my eyes have become addicted to complete overdoses of rich and saturated tones, whether it is the tangerine neon of the jumper I bought the other day, or the bloody rich maroon in J.W Anderson's AW12 collection, the picture of which I just cannot stop looking at. I feel like the pastel trend which so dominated the SS12 catwalks hasn't quite hit my consciousness yet. In fact, in a few weeks time these could become a diluted antidote to the intensity which is pervasive in my mind right now.

My colour obsession... JW Anderson AW12 (image from catwalking.com)

The road to York through Sledmere by David Hockney 1997 (from www.hockneypictures.com)

It was on a visit to the Royal Academy's David Hockney exhibition (a few days before it closed) a couple of weeks ago that I felt like my colour channel was  properly attuned. The only way I can even begin to describe the feeling of looking at a Hockney painting is that it makes your eyes dance, so vibrant are the colours and the ways they're combined. The images which I have included here do not even begin to visually describe the effect of seeing a Hockney original. I would love to know how he achieves this insanely concentrated bouncing-off-the-canvas-it's-so-bright effect.  His eye transforms the gentle browns greys and greens of the natural landscape into cyan blue leaves, lilac roads and pink skies. They're delicious and unexpected combinations.

More felled trees on Woldgate by David Hockney 2008 (from www.hockneypictures.com)

And the book I most want to read right now? A Pantone Colour Book. Odd, I know given 
that I'm more often found with my nose buried in classic literature but the thought of looking
 at that faded, brownish paper and uniform black type just makes my heart sink, especially
 when I could be poring over seven pages of 'pink' representations. 

I like to think that this new found colour obsession might be my version of patriotism, 
given the upcoming Jubilee, bear with me here. One of the highlights of this month's 
Vogue is the back page on which the magazine charts Her Majesty's colour choices 
over the course of a year. It looks to me like The Queen might also be a fan of the Pantone 
book, so considered are her head-to-toe choices of hue, from the palest of lemon curd 
yellows to the rubiest of Wizard of Oz reds she seems to have worked her way through 
them all. I can imagine her handing her circled colour choices to her dressmaker Angela 
Kelly as reference guide to her latest outfit creation.  

Devastatingly, I don't have my own Angela Kelly to rustle up something in my latest
 colour whim so I will amuse myself a while longer looking at my new favourite Tumblr,
 RAINBOW C-O-L-O-U-R-S

The Queen in colour (image from www.dailymail.co.uk)

LONDON FASHION WEEK MEN'S DAY: J.W ANDERSON AW12 - AN ISOLATED MAN

Note from Melanie Rickey, Fashion Editor at Large

Recent journalism graduate Joshua Drew has been interning with us at FEAL for the last fortnight, and in that time his flair and passion for menswear has been so infectious, I just had to assign him the task of covering Men's Fashion Day in London on Wednesday. So while I was in the recovery position following London Fashion Week, Mr. Drew hit town.

Guest Post for Fashion Editor at Large by Joshua Drew 

J.W Anderson fuelled the fire of menswear on Wednesday, and boy was it a scorcher!  As the first menswear designer to showcase his new collection, entitled ‘Chamber of Isolation’, the venue was claustrophobic to the backdrop of heavy industrial beats. A spooky start to a theatrical collection. Fitting considering Anderson’s background in theatre.

A fitting venue for a show entitled 'Chamber of Isolation' in the old Central St Martins building. 

If the music didn’t have you shaking in your boots then you were most certainly moonwalking, as footwear, in collaboration with Aldo Rise, came in white or black leather mixed with plaid wool. Trousers came in the form of flares, a trippy throwback to the 80s with zip detailing, a theme throughout menswear which we’re loving this season.

J.W Anderson AW12  (photos: catwalking.com)

“I keep asking myself, does menswear exist anymore?” said Anderson in typically rhetorical form backstage. “Everything seems so sartorial nowadays. Menswear is dry. It needs a certain awkwardness about it.” Anderson seemed like just the right candidate to shake things up a little. His gender bending designs steered far away from any sartorial references and instead injected quilted skirts over leather flares. Potentially not every man's dream wardrobe staple and not a new concept for Anderson. Yet it was his knitwear pieces with their rope detail embellishment which proved most wearable this season. You wouldn't have to be a typical Anderson man to pull off one of these statement items.

J.W Anderson AW12 (photo: catwalking.com)

Inspired by the idea of bad taste and good taste he certainly left his collection open to criticism.  His man was futuristic, moody and isolated. Yet Anderson, true to form, struck a confident and rebellious collection. Who doesn’t love a rebel? 

(Photo: Fashion Editor at Large)