|
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Check out my photos on Facebook
Saturday, October 25, 2008
2008 spring-summer fashion trends for females
It's about time to dress up for spring! It's the time to manage your wardrobe and get some fashionable pieces for refreshing spring weather and hot summer days. Let's take a look at hottest trends for spring and summer 2008.
Designers often choose muted shades for autumn-winter collections, and spring-summer often stuns with vivid colors. The trends of 2008 are no exceptional: We will see bright and bold colors on clothing, accessories and everything you can wear. Even "Technicolor brights" - neonic pink, green, yellow and orange - are fashionable once again. If clothing of such colors is too bright for you, pick several accessories to highlight your regular wear. Purple was the hit of the past season and it is still around for spring and summer 2008. But the shade of colors has changed a lot: forget the deep purple and violet, meet lilac, subtle amethyst and lavender tones. The sweet lilac shade fits another hot trend of summer 2008, the pale azure denim fabric.
If you're looking for trendy patterns of spring-summer 2008, reveal the blossom of your beauty with floral prints. Look for clothes with flower motives all over them, because a single herb embroidered on a blouse or jacket is not enough. If you don't feel like wearing colorful floral patterns, there's another classic combination ready for spring and summer. It doesn't matter if you choose black on white or white on black - it will be the most fashionable pattern of the season. All possible combinations of 
B&W ruled the runways and they will rule the streets for sure. Let's not forget ethnic trend; it's on top once again. Choose tribal inspired patterns and ikat fabric clothing and combine it with chunk tribal jewelry to create a safari-chic image.
Can you imagine spring fashion without a skirt or a dress? Spring and summer trends wouldn't be complete without amazing dress. Squishy skirt is the top for spring and it will hold its positions on summer as well. Choose high-waist silk organza skirt to stun everyone. This type of skirt looks great with another fashionable detail: the cropped jacket. The fashionable length of skirt and dresses became shorter; even though the knee-length remains popular, the hottest trend is a few inches above the knees.
Feminine glamour will take over all the women. Forget the image of bad girl and look like a lady, because you are one. Highlight your figure with lovely little dresses and see-through details. Naughty decorations are recommended for spring and summer of 2008: outfit decorated with ribbons, lace and bows will make you feel and look very feminine. Corset as outwear is trendy once again; wear it on top of shirt for sexy sophisticated look. The trend of transparent clothing doesn't make you walk around half naked: playing hide-and-seek with several layers makes you appear mysterious and alluring. Glamorous ancient Roman
inspired dress is another fashionable wear of spring and summer 2008. Choose intricate pleated dress, one-shouldered dress deco...
2008 spring fashion trends for males
Renewing one‘s wardrobe is usually a more difficult task for men, since women's fashion trends are a more popular topic by far, they can find many recommendations online and in magazines. However, fashion for males is also constantly evolving and one shouldn't be afraid to try something new on. Let‘s have a look at men‘s fashion for spring 2008.
Plaid fabric is going to be the most popular for suits and especially pants. It's the traditional British image, but it has a new twist, which will attract men of all ages. Plaid pieces are not only for elderly men: the new plaid fabric might surprise you with eye-catching colors, such as yellow, pink and turquoise. Designers recommend wearing one plaid piece at a time: choose either pants or a shirt or a jacket, but not all at once. And if you do choose to wear two or more pieces of plain clothing, refrain from using different patterns.
There‘s another change in fabrics as well. The sheer shirts often seen in Latino fashion takes a step into masses. It fits any occasion: you can choose to wear a sheer shirt under a jacket for a formal meeting and leave your jacket at home for a daring look on your night out.
White suits are another classical detail that‘s going to be at the top this spring. Of course, they are not meant to be worn by anyone, but if you choose to do so, you will definitely look refined and sophisticated. It doesn‘t have to be a tuxedo: white casual clothes are popular as well. Choose a white top to toe look for the hottest spring image.
Don‘t be affraid of pink: it‘s not only for little girls. While women tend choose neonic shades of pink, men should concentrate on light pink clothes for spring 2008. Light pink shirts and ties will be especially trendy. If you want a safer color, choose muted orange - it will be fashionable too.
Patent leather pants will be a dedication to bold men this spring. Who doesn‘t want to look like a rock star? Such a style is sure to attract quite a few gazes and charm everyone arround. If you‘re afraid you‘ll make a huge fashion mistake by wearing these pants, choose a classic combo: black skintight pants and a white shirt. Unfortunatelly patent leather doesn‘t look good on everyone, but if you have a slim build, leave your doubts behind and go with leather. If that‘s too daring (or German) for you,
look for accesories made out of patent leather.
The begining of spring 2008 might be too cold for shorts, but it‘s the right time to get into cropped pants. Almost every designer has cropped pants in his spring-summer 2008 collection. If you‘re about to pick a new sweater, choose a buttoned cardigan and you won‘t be wrong. The prep school image is very trendy, men can choose either a one-colored sweater or pick something with funny patterns such as argyle or stripes. One must note that buttoned cardigans work well on formal occasions as well as free time activities.
Saturday, October 11, 2008
It's official: high heels do make you look sexy
Heels make a lady feet look smaller and her gait becomes much more refined, making her calves and shins tensed and elongated. They also keep a woman's posture bolt upright.
Walking in heels makes the movement of a woman's lower limbs more sensual. In fact, high-heeled shoes adjust women's body proportions to come closer to perceived ideals, as well.
Researchers at the University of Wroclaw in Poland asked more than 200 men and women to rate the attractiveness of diagrams of seven men and seven women with varying leg lengths.
Both the sexes said that a leg length that is 5 per cent longer than the norm for a person's height is ideal.
Thus, if the average leg length of a 5ft 5in woman is 30in, as measured from the sole of the foot to the crease where the thigh meets the pelvis, a woman this height could make her legs look 5 per cent longer by wearing 1.5in heels.
In the study, legs that were 10 per cent longer than average were also considered sexy, but legs 15per cent longer were not.
Generally, if someone's between 5ft 4in and 5ft 8in, heels up to 3-3.5in will flatter their proportions - anything higher starts to look odd.
Also, focusing on proportions, a study at University College in London found the ideal female figure had legs exactly 1.4 times the length of the upper body, which is the legtotorso ratio of Nicole Kidman, Naomi Campbell and most other supermodels.
Friday, October 10, 2008
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Monday, September 22, 2008
Leader of the fashion pack: Why Mandi Lennard is more than simply a PR
Thanks to the extensive media coverage now given to all things fashion-related, young designers can move from cult status to stardom increasingly swiftly. Key to any such meteoric rise to the top, however, are those working behind the scenes.
With this in mind, it is to the legendary fashion PR Mandi Lennard, whose London-based company this year marks its 10th trailblazing anniversary, that many past and present young design talents here owe a serious debt. The designer Kim Jones, for example, worked closely with Lennard even before he graduated from Central Saint Martins in 2001. These days, having proved himself internationally as a serious talent, he is the creative director at Dunhill, and remains good friends with his earliest supporter.
Lennard is not so much a straightforward press officer, however, as a fosterer of fresh talent and a symbol of the more adventurous elements of London's fashion scene. In her trademark caps, dripping in Chanel and Vuitton jewellery and sporting elaborate nail art and parkas from ultra-niche Japanese labels, she is equally at home promoting must-see catwalk shows and events and securing collaboration and sponsorship from major international brands for her often impoverished charges, as she is hanging out with club kids in east London.
On a rare sunny morning in the run-up to London Fashion Week, Lennard's spacious and eccentric Hoxton showroom sounds and looks superb: hip-hop beats from DJ Premier throb at a decibel-defying level and rail upon rail of her clients' ingenious designs vie for attention – including vibrant Cassette Playa clobber and Gareth Pugh's creations – amid well-used pieces of classic 20th-century Italian furniture and walls adorned with works by Tracey Emin or kooky neo-Pop Art prints.
Having grown up in Leeds, she recalls her early fashion experiences when visiting London: "I'd go to Jean Machine on Oxford Street, where staff on roller skates had to go into the window display to get out the baseball jacket with a huge 'M' on it, just for me! The magic I recall from this is how I want guests to feel at our events."
Employed at the local Benetton, she then worked her way up to being an area manager in London, before becoming a buyer at Browns for six years, and starting her own agency in 1998 for the sheer indulgence of working with everything she loved.
"My friend Gil rented me a desk for £20 a week off Bond Street," Lennard remembers. "It was terrific fun – you have nothing to lose when you start a business, although I lost count of the number of times in the first year my head fell on the desk in despair!
"My first client was Dazed & Confused magazine, which paid me £150 a month." Other early clients included Eley Kishimoto: "Mark Eley came to see me with some of their designs and we clicked instantly when I said, 'You've just brought me Emily Bishop's wardrobe to see!'."
Then there was the soon-to-be unveiled Browns Focus boutique: "I told Mr Burstein, the owner, that he was really silly not to use me as I was on his doorstep and he knew me – within five minutes, his daughter called me and asked me to launch Browns Focus."
Current beneficiaries of the Lennard touch make for a who's who and what's what of all that is deemed cool: Aitor Throup, Roksanda Ilincic, the Brazilian footwear label Melissa, David David, Pam Hogg, plus Pop magazine and Bistrotheque (the restaurant, arts space and cabaret bar, with whom she is helping to launch Flash, a temporary eaterie within the Royal Academy of Arts, this November). Not to mention Danielle Scutt, House of Holland and the hot new hatter Nasir Mazhar (all awarded British Fashion Council/Topshop New Generation sponsorship), and MAN (the London Fashion Week menswear event she helped to launch three years ago with Topman).
Lennard has also this year worked with Burberry, Nike, Moët & Chandon, MAC, Colette and Pitti Immagine, and for London Fashion Week she organised some very high-profile parties.
Collectively, then, this stable of clients gives her a strong power base. Hence, every influential stylist, fashion editor and journalist regularly passes through the showroom, and many top recording artists, too: Rhianna, Kylie, Kanye West, Dizzee Rascal, Roisin Murphy and Gwen Stefani have all had their existing style credentials further boosted by a visit.
Lennard's approach to PR is, however, discerning and modern – never desperate or Ab Fab naff: "It's gut feeling. I work on instinct. It's not difficult to get press on my clients so I police the interest in them rather than promote them openly." She continues: "I'm a brand protector – I can't stand hype, so I do everything possible to hold them back. Laying a foundation is key – once you have that, hype can't touch you. As an agency, we are incredibly focused, we don't waste time on stuff that isn't what we want."
And that is? "We want glamour at an international level – W magazine, Japanese and American Vogue – we want to work with top creators. My clients demand this audience; they are working so hard in freezing studios without any bucks."
Surprisingly, perhaps, it initially took some coaxing to persuade her to agree to be interviewed; that less-is-more approach to promotion seemingly carries through into a (very Northern) reluctance for blowing one's own trumpet: "You can hit a brick wall if you do that sort of thing!" she says, laughing. Others in her orbit prove far more eager to big up her achievements, though: Melanie Rickey, fashion news and features editor of Grazia magazine, says: "She supports those who need to be supported with no agenda, but with conviction. And there's not enough of that in this world."
The stylist Thom Murphy is another fan: "I have worked closely with her for 10 years, and she is what most PRs can only dream of being." And Ben Reardon, editor of i-D magazine, enthuses: "I love my Mandi! She sends work emails all through the night – does she ever actually sleep?"
Gareth Pugh (with whom Lennard has worked since his first season in 2005) sums her up thus: "She believes in all of her clients. She works as hard, if not harder, than her designers do. She knows when to say no, and does so, often. Her reputation precedes her. What I love, though, is that she doesn't take herself too seriously."
As the phones ring with increasing frequency, Lennard, amazingly calm amid the storm, needs to crack on with tackling that day's 38 page-long to-do list. Small wonder that the fashion website hintmag.com described her as "London's hottest PR".
"Well, that's nice," she says, with a smile. "But, of course, I don't want to peak just yet, thanks."
Public relations, private lives
Making a living promoting someone else's talent is far from easy. The push-pull of getting clients noticed for all the right reasons, while keeping your own head – and keeping it well out of the spotlight – is a balancing act that not all PRs pull off.
The stock-in-trade of the fashion PR, both real and fictional, includes the wooing and wining and dining (aka bribing) of clients, the choosing of magazines that will be allowed to feature their creations, and the ruthless cutting of guest lists and banning of journalists. These powers are behind the image of the fashion PR as both fawning and ruthless, as embodied by Edina and Patsy in the TV series Absolutely Fabulous'.
It was the late Percy Savage, who died earlier this year, who really created fashion PR, advising Christian Dior to employ Yves Saint Laurent in 1955, and creating the first celebrity whirlwind (now a PR staple) when he persuaded Elizabeth Taylor to wear Lanvin to a film premiere in 1954. He famously said of his trade that "PR is vitally important because it costs so much less than advertising". The fomenting of hype with merely a sighting here and a guest list there is a skill that is hard to learn, but is invaluable – after all, everyone wants to be part of something to which they haven't been invited.
Disciples of Savage know that the first rule of PR is to spin the story, rather than star in it. Someone should have told this to the celebrity agent Lizzie Grubman, the PR Machiavelli behind Britney Spears and Jay-Z, whose cover was blown when she drunkenly reversed her SUV into a crowd outside a club, after shouting, "Fuck you, white trash!". She was charged on 26 counts.
As self-appointed patrollers of profit and propriety, PRs deal with the whims of designers, celebrities and the general public. Many PRs are like mothers to disobedient children; others are spiritual rocks; some are just good friends. Tom Cruise famously ditched his publicist and replaced her with his Scientologist sister. After much ill-advised leaping around on Oprah's sofa, his subsequent film was a flop.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)