Hello Fashion Magazine

In our family there's a tradition that when you rock up at the house of a family member to stay with them for a couple of days they will put a stash of treats in your room to make your stay more enjoyable. These usually include chocolate and a magazine. Recently I stayed with my Aunt in St. Albans and she left the most recent copy of Hello Fashion Magazine (HFM) on my bed. Now, I read A LOT of fashion magazines: Elle, Vogue, RED plus all the weekend newspaper magazine supplements (Guardian, Times, Telegraph) but I had never heard of HFM. I devoured it in the space of an hour and when I got back to my office I subscribed to the magazine for a year.

I am loving, Hello Fashion Magazine. Here's why:

 Interviews with not your typical Hollywood A-listers

Recently they've had DJ and pop-stress Whinnie Williams and Charlotte Watts (her off of the Rolling Stones Charlie Watts lineage.)

1 buy 4 ways

This is awesome - it's my MO to get more wear out of your wardrobe and this page really inspires me to look at things differently.

HFM is cheap

You can buy Vogue for £3.99 - (like buying a book) or if pennys are tight try HFM. It's a quid. A whole English Pound. £1. Whereas the equivalent, LOOK magazine features bargain basement High Street, HFM features labels which teeter at top end high street and designer but there's a something for everyone: fashion, lifestyle, beauty, interviews.

Which magazines do you enjoy reading and why?

Til next time...x

The Wardrobe Angel

Kudos to Suzy Menkes - Why Fashion is Crashing

So why am I hailing Suzy Menkes today? Her Vogue article "Why Fashion is Crashing" published earlier this week detailing the punishing schedule of high end fashion and reflecting on the departure of Raf Simons from Dior is why;

January is haute couture; March is ready-to-wear; May is cruise; July couture again; September ready-to-wear again; November resort - or is it cruise again? Add to this the advertising campaigns, personal appearances, store openings, global visits, trunk shows, museum exhibitions, interviews, Instagram - and it's a wonder that any designer is prepared - or able - to keep up the pace.

The fashion industry is the largest polluter after the oil industry and an estimated 20% of industrial water pollution comes from textile dyeing and treatment. This environmental cost doesn't stop fashion labels churning out over 50 collections year and with Suzy Menkes summation of what's happening at the top of the fashion tree, it seems the term "fast fashion" can now be applied to both ends of the fashion spectrum - high street and designer.

Suzy Menkes with Raf Simons (right) and Nicolas Ghesquière

Picture credit: Jean-Luce Hure

So what's next? Will fashion implode? This article, for me, is a warning shot that fashion, high and low, simply can't continue at the pace we have become accustomed to over the past 10 years, something has got to give and by something, I don't mean designer's well-being.

Our expectations of the fashion industry have the power to change the fashion industry 

If we consumed less fashion, less fashion would be produced. We didn't always have fast fashion, we can do without it again. All hail slow fashion!

Read the full article here. 

London Fashion Week - The British Red Cross Take Over

We all pour over fashion magazines thinking about what to buy next, grieving over what's missing from our wardrobe, wishing we had a spare pile of dosh lying around to splurge on the look of the season. But the clothes on the catwalk are unachievable for many which is where fast fashion comes in with its catwalk replicas made by exploiting workers and the environment. Not so win win. 

But. Something AMAZING happened on Saturday in the British Red Cross shop on Buckingham Palace Road. Something that deserves a mighty, huge fanfare and deafening applause: the case for shopping second hand, vintage and charity shop clothing just got a hell of a lot stronger. Emma Slade, a personal style favourite of mine, took catwalk looks direct from the shows at London Fashion Week and recreated them using clothes from the rails in the charity shop - no mean feat when a fashion show lasts less than 5 minutes and looks disappear in the blink of an eye. 

With the intention to

"prove that you don’t need a big budget to be on trend, that fashion is for everyone, and that shopping sustainably by buying charity shop and second hand clothing is cooler than you ever imagined"

Emma Slade created and styled a series of phenomenal looks which in my eyes are WIN-WIN for all. Not only does it show you that style doesn't come from splashing loads of cash but that charity shops can have the latest trends even quicker than the High Street, you've just got to have a bit of imagination to put the looks together. 

You can even purchase the items on eBay with all proceeds going to The British Red Cross: 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/cln/emm.slad/London-Fashion-Week-Looks-SS15/120764807010

Emma, I salute you. Now where can I get one of those IMMENSE black head bows???

This week I have mostly been....

Styling clients in Wilmslow and Durham showing them how to organise their wardrobes, get more wear out of old clothes by combining them into new outfits, and how to get clothes altered to give them a new lease of life.

Chowing down:

Sausage cassoulet – tasted even better re-heated on Day 2.

Slow cooked courgettes – my Mum had a glut in her allotment so I took some home, smothered them in olive oil, fried them with garlic and lemon zest and hoped for the best.

Courgette Flower

 

Restaurant quality?

Revelling in:

Other people creating more ways to wear Refinery 29

This stylish blog showcasing after 50 awesomeness Une femme d'un certain age

Greedily reading:

The True Price of Fast Fashion - A great article from magazine BUST comparing fast fashion and independent clothing retailers

5 Women that changed the world of fashion – via Eluxe magazine

Feasting my eyes:

There was talk of going to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park but then out came the sun and dried up all the rain.