Well it seems like the 1960’s suit has taken over, at Balenciaga, Marc Jacobs, and now as Sonia Rykiel’s first resort look. But the rest is much more wearable… in fact, maybe even too wearable for Sonia Rykiel. I remember when I worked there we were always toning things down for the American market, which usually resulted in a watered down collection for the US, which was just boring. I hope this isn’t part of their new strategy, to penetrate the American market, because Sonia Rykiel is a brand about fantasy, and they shouldn’t lose that.

I love…

perfectly cut trousers, and a cool t-shirt. Love the colours here, too.

zigzags.

more great trousers. And the pastels accented with black.

feminine, french, Sonia Rykiel dresses.

I loathe…

blazer lapel suspenders on trousers.

that this outfit looks like H&M. The trousers are fantastic, but don't look expensive.

Read the rest of my resort coverage here.

All images from Style.com.

The glass pyramid on the grounds of the Louvre, over top the Carrousel du Louvre.

Women’s Wear Daily announced today that the Carrousel du Louvre will not longer be one of the official Paris fashion week venues. According to WWD,

“The underground network of catwalks was conceived and constructed specifically as a communal venue for the presentation of fashion shows. It opened for the spring 1994 couture season, with Karl Lagerfeld’s Chanel haute couture the first collection shown. The Carrousel was intended as an indoor improvement to the tents that for years had been installed seasonally in the grounds surrounding the Louvre. Though a major hit in the early days, the past decade has seen a flight of fashion majors from the venue. The Chambre Syndicale is said to be looking at other venue possibilities in the center of Paris.”

This news makes me a bit sad, since I attended and worked at many shows in the Carrousel, and therefore it has sentimental meaning to me. There are so many good things about that space: it is near Colette, you don’t have to wait outside when in line to enter a show, the backstages are actually big enough to properly get ready for the show, it is in the center of Paris, and it is near several museums (in fact, it shares a building with the Louvre and the Musee des Arts Decoratifs.) But it is true that the space can get a bit boring and predictable, there are only so many different ways you can transform a room.

On that note, I’d like to start a new feature on Searching for Style, called Fashion Moments. This will be an opportunity for me, and hopefully (eventually) some guest authors, to write about some fantastic fashion moments they have had. I’d like to start with my first experience at a Paris fashion week show, which was not at the Carrousel du Louvre, but was truly a defining moment for me.

My first real catwalk show experience was backstage at Sonia Rykiel, sometime in the late nineties. The show was in the Espace du Moulin Rouge, so part of the famous cabaret venue in Montmartre. The backstage was TINY, in fact, everyone was on top of each other, screaming. It was dark, and usually the hair/makeup area is separate from the dressing area, but the backstage was so tiny we were all squished in together. It smelled of…backstage of a cabaret. Cigarette smoke, foundation, and sweat.  I was dressing Kirsty Hume, who was so nice (I had requested to dress her, I loved her.) Stella Tennant was being dressed next to me. Naomi Campbell arrived ten minutes before the show was scheduled to start, so she was rushed through hair and makeup while all the backstage photographers were clamoring to get photos of her, and everyone (the photographers, hair, makeup, and dressers) were screaming “Naomi” to get her attention. It was chaos. They played Michael Jackson’s Don’t Stop ‘Til You get Enough during the show. I was this little Canadian girl, who had no idea what was going on, only that I had to make sure the models didn’t steal the shoes, and that Kirsty got into her outfits on time. Magic.

Images: pyramid and Moulin Rouge.

I watched this very interesting TED talk last week, it is Johanna Blakley talking about “copyright law’s grip on film, music and software barely touches the fashion industry … and (how) fashion benefits in both innovation and sales.” The video is 15 minutes long, but defintiely worth watching, and it also raises some intersting points about copyright protection in the fashion industry.

The video looks at how the fashion industry had fewer regulations than other creative industries, and how fashion ideas are very difficult to protect. The first example she discusses is that of Miuccia Prada, when out shopping, buys a vintage Balenciaga jacket, in order to copy the idea and put it into her own collection. My readers in the fashion industry will be aware of this type of activity, it is called research. Essentially, part of the process of finding ideas for a collection is to take other designer’s clothing, and translate it for your own collection. As the TED talk points out, in some industries this might be considered copyright infringement. In the case of fashion, it is just how we get our ideas.

Left, Steve Madden shoe, right, Balenciaga shoe.

Is this wrong? Sometimes, yes. It is wrong when Steve Madden takes Balenciaga’s shoe design,  makes a few minor changes to it, and sells it as his own. It is wrong when Topshop copies Chloé’s dress design (and they had to destroy over a 1000 dresses when Chloé protested over the design.) But top designers don’t do that, they are much smarter and much more imaginative. And they don’t want to copy other designer’s work, they just want to be inspired by it.

Left, See by Chloé dress, right, Topshop dress.

The design research process involves many sources of inspiration, including travel abroad, books, artwork, and culture. Designers also buy clothing for inspiration, which can include very vintage pieces, old costumes, traditional dress found on their trips around the world, and other pieces of old clothing. Sometimes they take inspiration from other designer’s work, usually old work, but sometimes newer work, although it is almost never direct copies of recent designer’s work. I am sure Miuccia would take the aforementioned vintage Balenciaga jacket, and transform it into her own design, making serious modifications ot the original piece.

When I was at Sonia Rykiel, we used to have a guy, (who had the best job in the entire world) whose role it was to travel to flea markets around the world, and buy items of clothing and accessories that he felt we could use as inspiration for our collections. (Don’t ask me how to get into this line of work, if I knew, that is what I would be doing.) One season he brought us a whole bunch of bags, which I assumed were all vintage pieces. At the end of the season, we got rid of the ones that hadn’t been used, so I was allowed to take two home.

A few weeks later, I discovered that one of the bags was sold in a Paris shop, located quite close to our design studios. I also realized that the bag was a design from a new brand, and was being sold as part of the current season. Soon after, I noticed that the second bag was also from a young designer’s current collection. Basically, the items we were using for ideas for our future collection were not only old vintage pieces, but also the work of unknown young designers trying to break into the industry.

At the time, it came as a surprise to me. Then I learnt that this was commonplace in the industry. The young designers were coming up with great ideas, and we were considering stealing them. Those two particular bags never influenced our collections, although I am sure that we had at some point copied other designer’s work.

Left, Marc by Marc Jacobs, right, Wallis.

There are few laws that really protect garment designs, but the ones that exist are set up to protect large companies, and rarely small designers. When Steve Madden copied Alexander McQueen’s boot, they sued him. But when a small designer gets copied by a larger brand, there isn’t much that they can do. Big brands like Louis Vuitton and Gucci have to deal with thousands of counterfeits, therefore they need to rely on the strength of their brands and the quality of their product, to convince customers that the cheap knockoff at a fraction of the price is not worth buying. But small companies, who don’t have powerful brand identities and legal teams, struggle to protect their designs and brand identities.

Left, Alexander McQueen, right, Steve Madden.

What can we do about this? Nothing really. It is the reality of the industry, which is cut throat for nearly everyone in it. Not all big brands copy from young designers, but many do. Fast fashion brands often steal ideas from designer brands, and they are rarely caught out, because copyright laws make it very difficult for designers to protect their ideas.

Sucks, doesn’t it? If you are a small brand, and patenting, trademarking, and even registering design ideas is too expensive for you, there are a few ways you can protect yourself. Keep records of everything you do. If your design is copied, you can use items like press clippings, documents from factories/printers/photographers, etc… as evidence that you designed the idea before the other company. The old fashioned way of sending yourself a copy of all your designs, before they go out into the public domain, can also help. A postdated, stamped, sealed envelope can be used as evidence in court, just make sure not to open the envelope!

Read other Fashion 101 posts:

Fashion 101: How Magazines Cover Trends

Fashion 101: Where do Fashion Trends Come From?

Fashion 101: Designers with Two Jobs

Fashion 101: How Haute Couture Works

Fashion 101: Magazines and their Advertisers

Image sources:
Alexander McQueen and Steve Madden shoe.
Chloé and Topshop yellow dresses.
Steve Madden and Balenciaga lego shoes.
Marc by Marc Jacobs and Wallis floral dresses.

If you want to see more, Fashionista’s Adventures in Copyrights posts a lot of the high street copies.

A Spring Summer 2010 trend feature from online retailer Asos.com.

I’d like to do a Fashion 101 post about fashion trends and forecasting, since it’s an area that I work in, and find quite fascinating. In fact, I am going to write two posts on fashion trends, the first one will focus on how trends come about, and the second one about how magazines present trends. I feel bad for being so mean to the magazines, and revealing their dirty tricks, but in this day of absolute transparency (thanks to the internet), I think its only fair that the readers know how things work. But first, let’s talk about where fashion trends come from.

One of the questions I often get asked is “Why do designers have the same ideas at the same time?” and by answering this, I am sort of answering the question “Where do trends come from?”

A Spring Summer 2010 trend feature from luxury online retailer Net-A-Porter.com.

Designers don’t all have the same ideas at the same time, as we saw on the Fall Winter 2010 catwalks, not everyone was doing the same thing. But there were certainly a few things that repeated: there were a lot more curvy, feminine silhouettes, lots of designers were reviving 90’s minimalism, and there was a lot of sheepskin. So how does this happen? Do they all have a chat and decide what they are going to do? No, in fact its the opposite, designers are very secretive about what they do, until after their catwalk show. They have the same ideas at the same time because they are exposed to similar influences and they are looking for inspiration at the same time.

A Spring Summer 2010 trend feature from Topshop.com.

The fashion industry is small, and whether you are living in Paris, London, or New York, you are going to be exposed to similar inspirational influences as other designers. Firstly, everyone starts their research process after the shows, so in March while most of us were digesting the Fall Winter shows and wondering what we were going to buy come September when the collections were arriving in store, designers are off researching their Spring Summer 2011 collections. They will be looking at similar things, like art exhibitions, new creative work (design, architecture, fine art), new bands or other performance artists, interesting films, new books that have come out (and I don’t mean paperbacks, I mean visual books with creative work, like retrospective books or photography books), etc… Some designers will go off to foreign countries to get inspired, but they may have also been inspired by their last holiday, which was probably to some trendy holiday hotspot that many other designers went to as well. Everyone is exposed to similar ideas, and because designers have often been trained in the same ways, they just tend to move in the same directions. They “feel” things at the same time.

The images from the book Vacant inspired collections by Luella (punk styling), Sonia Rykiel (studs on shoes and knitwear), and Emanuel Ungaro (punk-style clothing.)

I hope this isn’t to vague, but I can give some examples. When I was in Paris in 2000, a book called Vacant: A Diary of the Punk Years 1976-1979 came out. It was full of photos from the punk years, and I remember quite a lot of designers bought it. At the time, studs weren’t that commonplace in fashion (not like today) but there were quite a few designers who were influenced by this book. At Sonia Rykiel, we added these fantastic studded shoes to our collection, inspired by the book. We also stuck studs to our knitwear. At Emanuel Ungaro, they featured punk and rockabilly looks on their catwalk, and blasted Billy Idol during the show. Luella named her collection “Daddy, who were The Clash.” So that punk trend was probably kicked started by the fact that everyone bought that same book.

The next step would be for the magazines to pick up on the “punk” inspiration, and they present it to their readers as the newest trend. I’ll explain more about that part of the process in the next Fashion 101.

Babyshambles and other London indie rock bands inspired Dior Homme.

Was it a coincidence that Sonia Rykiel and Emanuel Ungaro had similar inspirations, when in fact the design teams were friends? No. There is no doubt in my mind that the sharing of ideas between different designers contributes to the fact that there are similarities between collections, even if it is completely unintentional. I remember one season at Sonia Rykiel when we had put a very bright, brash yellow into our collection. we we were worried the the colour was bordering on tacky. Three days before the show, one of our fabric suppliers accidentally delivered a role of fabric to us, which was meant to be going to Louis Vuitton (whose design team, at the time, were very friendly with the designers over at Sonia Rykiel.) Louis Vuitton’s fabric was in the exact shade of yellow that we had put into our collection. The fabric suppliers begged us to return it immediately and not breathe a word about it, which we did. But we also breathed a huge sigh of relief that we weren’t off the mark with our bizarre yellow, because if Louis Vuitton were doing it, then it was definitely going to be cool.

To the left, Sonia Rykiel, other images, Louis Vuitton. All Spring Summer 2000. The yellow looked a lot more garish in real life, in these photos it looks a lot milder.

It is really interesting to track trends through fashion, because you can usually tie trends to something visually exciting that impacted the designers at the time of their research: The Memoirs of a Geisha film came out before Dior did their spectacular Spring Summer 2007 couture show, which was heavily inspired by traditional Japanese kimonos. Chloe’s 2001 horses collection came out shortly after the publication of a book called Rodeo Girl, which featured photographs of cowgirls. In 2005, Hedi Slimane was inspired by the sleazy indie rock bands of Camden Town, like Pete Dogherty and Babyshambles, for his Dior Homme collections.

The Rodeo Girl book inspired this Chloe collection, with images of horses.

So that’s why I tell people who are interested in getting into trend forecasting to be on the ball about…everything. Especially things that are visually interesting. You never know who or what is going to inspire the next major fashion trend.

Memoirs of a Geisha inspired Christian Dior Haute Couture.

One important issue I didn’t explain is the role of the trend forecasters, who generally tend to be inspired in the same ways as designers do. It is rare that a luxury brand designer will get their trends from a forecaster, high end brands have their own ideas, and those ideas will in turn affect the fast fashion trends. Trend forecasters usually sell fashion trend concepts to fast fashion brands, or companies who don’t have strong enough design teams, although some luxury brands will use trend forecasters for ideas on colour and fabric.

All catwalk images from Style.com.

Read other Fashion 101 posts:

Fashion 101: Designers with Two Jobs

Fashion 101: How Haute Couture Works

Fashion 101: Magazines and their Advertisers

I am still getting my head around Quebecois French. It is very different from French French, and sometimes I feel like the words have just been invented. “Programmation” is an example of this, which as far as I am concerned, is not the right word to describe a schedule, but according to Montreal Fashion Week, it is. (Paris Fashion Week calls it “Les Calendriers.”)

Anyway, I wanted to check out some of the Montreal Fashion Week shows, so I had a look at their website. As expected, there was a mix of beautiful, boring, and hideous. Firstly, I’d like to suggest a new Canadian fashion regulation. Thou shalt not walk on the catwalk if thou is not a model. A professional model. Why is it that designers in Canada seem to think it is acceptable to use girls on their catwalks or photoshoots that are not models? Many of you think being a model is easy, but its not so easy that anyone who is thin and tall can do it. You need to know how to walk, and you have to be photogenic. Beautiful does not equal photogenic. There seems to be a lot of girls on the Montreal Fashion Week catwalks that were not professional models (let me take this moment to say that contortionist does not equal model either.)

To the left, we have a catwalk model. To the right, we have a normal person posing as a catwalk model, and looking silly as a result.

This reminded me of a little story from my Sonia Rykiel days, so allow me to go off topic for a moment. One of Sonia’s friends, a famous author, had a daughter who dreamt of walking on the Paris Fashion Week catwalks. I dream of being a prima ballerina, but does that mean I deserve “just a little chance” with the Russian Ballet if my dad has words with the guy who runs it? No. This woman’s daughter, lets call her Amélie, because I can’t remember her name, and probably shouldn’t mention it anyway, was given the chance to walk the Sonia Rykiel catwalk show, because it was her “dream.”

The head of press, who at the time was Jerome, one of the most brilliant and insanely evil press guys I have ever met in my life, was fuming when he heard the news, because bad model = no photos of that outfit. But Sonia was insistent. The girl came on for a fitting, and I had to teach her how to walk. I didn’t do anything to comfort her, in fact, I made a point of letting her know how disgusted I was with her presence. But I don’t think it was until show day that she truly realized how idiotic she looked amongst the professional models. Amélie was a size 36 shoe which is tiny (most models are tall and therefore have big feet) so we had to put three insoles into her shoes, which made walking hard. And she realized that she’d have to change in front of everyone else, which included models, dressers, Sonia Rykiel staff, hair and makeup team, security and photographers. And its not until you have to be in some sort of state of undress, next to a bunch of top models who are also in states of undress, but have killer bodies, and are totally at ease walking around in a thong in front of the whole world, that you realize you are totally out of place. I could tell Amélie was very uncomfortable, and I took that last opportunity to throw her a glare of disgust. She did the show, she hardly got photographed, and that was that.  I encourage everyone to follow their dreams, but I think people need to be realistic. If you’re 26, a size 4, and 5′4″ tall, its unlikely you’re ever going to be a top fashion catwalk model, so I’d suggest you consider pursuing a new dream.

So, back to Montreal Fashion Week. Aside from the fact that there were a few models that didn’t really look professional, I’d say there was some pretty good stuff. I’ve done my Love and Loathe by brand.

I Love…

Denis Gagnon
“Recognized for his approach “couture” of the leather (his favorite material), his precise cuts and his talent to create spectacular air silk rooms pieces, Denis Gagnon is one of the most important Canadian designers of his generation.  Denis Gagnon’s collections are presented in the biggest magazines and the media all the seasons.”

Denis Gagnon's use of materials and textiles. The fringes look great and he cuts a sophisticated dress. You can see that each piece is very considered.

Marie Saint Pierre
“Marie Saint Pierre is one of the top Canadian designers and has been for the past 22 years. Ingeniousness, versatility and movement are at the heart of her work. The quality of her work was rewarded on numerous of occasions, including the award given by ‘l’Ordre national du Québec.’”

simple, interesting cuts with the focus on one key detail. The stuffed fabric embellishments look almost like jewelry.

Muse by Christian Chenail
“Muse creator Christian Chenail is the perfect example of longevity in the Quebec’s fashion world. He presented his first collection “Muse” in 1989, opened his first boutique on Saint-Denis street, in Montréal, in 1993, received the Griffe d’Or award in 1996, seven Fondation mode Matinée awards, three Montréal design awards (Creativity, Summer 1998, Favourite Summer and Winter 1998) and, opened his second boutique “ Muse” in Quebec City in 2003. Initially, he started as an architect, but quickly turned to fashion at the age of 26″

some very interesting cuts, particularly the look on the left. Although I feel some of the pieces lack refinement, the cuts are beautifully executed and the collection looks very strong.

I Loathe…

Coccolily by Naana Tennachie Yankey
“Ghanaian designer Naana Tennachie Yankey travelled from the UK to the US to find her niche in the fashion industry. She apprenticed under Marc Jacob’s tutelage in New York before graduating from the Academy of Arts and Design in Montreal. An internship with Eve Gravel inspired her to branch out on her own. Through her diverse travels and colorful heritage, Naana’s approach to fashion has become edgy, yet sensual and bold. ”

that this is just bad, tacky evening wear. And the models do not look like fashion catwalk models, at all (look at their facial expressions!)

Helmer
“After 20 years of high fashion and theatrical costume design in Paris, Helmer, Fashion designer-embroider and tailor, teaches at the ‘Arts Libres’.”

when a designer tried to design five collections, and present it as one. There is way too much going on here, and none of it is any good, aside from some of the basic menswear, although professional male models would have made it look even better. The bright coloured prints are terrifying, although not nearly as scary as the shirtless guy wearing the hooded multicoloured jacket and pants.

Micalla
“Always inspired by the stunning wonderful colors of nature and the brilliance of crystals, this Danish-born, Montreal designer, Camilla Jørgensen, founded MICALLA in 2007. Jørgensen adorns her creations with the use of some of the rarest and most beautiful natural stones found while creating. This uniqueness has put her novelty business on the fast track.”

trashy evening wear. I was really disappointed to hear that the designer behind this brand is Danish, because usually the Scandinavians have a great eye for design. This is cheap Mariposa dresses, with tacky male models. (And they ran out of men's shoes and shirts.) The exception is the dress on the right, which has clearly been designed for a stripper to wear. I have no problem with strippers, and they make the money to afford nice clothes, but keep it off the "fashion" catwalks.

Katrin Leblond
“Katrin Leblond’s fashion merges beautifully feminine details, whimsical chic and high craftsmanship. A one of a kind artist, she applies innovative and colorful aesthetic to her work, which is refreshing and joyful. Leblond is an entrepreneur and consummate artist with a vision of the world that values beauty and love in all its forms.”

when contortionists are used as models, when models have to do silly poses at the end of the catwalk, when half a butterfly is attached to the model's head, and when the clothes are not catwalk worthy, at all.

And while I’m on the subject of Canadian fashion, when I get back from Europe in April, I am going to do some features on some local brands and shops. Please send over any suggestions if you know any good ones, as I need to learn more about what is going on locally.

All image and biographies from the Montreal Fashion Week website.

What a refreshing Sonia Rykiel collection. Maybe I am biased because I used to work there, but usually Sonia Rykiel puts the same thing on the catwalk season after season. Its normally all about striped knits, lace dresses, wool jersey tailoring, and models with Sonia’s haircut. But this season’s collection feels fresh and fun and very Rykiel without being predictable.

And I love that the models all smile. For those of you that have never been backstage at a catwalk show, you may not know that the brands usually make little posters for the models to read before they go out on the catwalk. They will say things like “You’re angry!” or “You’re a sexy superstar” or “relax!” so that the models all have similar moods when they are on the catwalk. At Sonia Rykiel, our posters used to say things like “Smile”, “Hands in pockets”, and “Be Happy!” The girls do it well.

I Love…

the contrast of the knit and sheer on this outfit, the fabulous safety pin, and the giant pompom head piece.

the "very" dropped shoulder on this sweater coat.

the contrasting trim on this soft jacket.

a beautiful nude dress.

I Loathe…

a suit ten sized too big.

too may multicoloured stripes. And that black hat, it is in every Sonia Rykiel show and I don't understand why. I'm not very superstitious.

that every Sonia Rkiel show ends up with all the models on the catwalk in similar outfits. It was fun the first time, and maybe the second, but now it is gimmicky.

All images from Style.com.

Before I start this post, I just want to say that I am devastated about the death of Lee Alexander McQueen. I have decided to wait a few days to write a post about it, as I’d like to hear a bit more about the circumstances and the reactions, before I write.  I’ll post something in the next week or so. R.I.P. Lee Alexander McQueen.

It is hard now to go on and talk about fun fashion things, but I feel I am long overdue for a post about the Sonia Rykiel collections for H&M. I never wrote anything about the lingerie (I had a draft written for ages, and then it was too late,) so I definitely need to comment on that, and the knitwear coming out next week.

This body suit is pretty cool.

Not exactly a t-shirt bra, but very cute.

One of my students asked me if I was going to buy anything from the upcoming collection, and, unless I get the opportunity to do so with the least amount of effort, the answer is no. It is not because I don’t like the collection, on the contrary, it looks great but I have a lot of the real thing, so I don’t intend on buying the cheaper version.

But it looks pretty cool!

I had a look in my closet to see if I could show you all some of my fantastic Sonia Rykiel collection, and I realised that my collection consists of bags, shoes, and jewelry, I barely have any clothing at all. My Sonia Rykiel shoe collection is PHENOMENAL, with a lot of pieces that were never commercialised or that were produced in very limited quantities. My bags are mighty cool too. And the costume jewelry is fantastic. There is way too much of it to photograph tonight, so here are a few good bits.

Rhinestones, or "strass" as its called in French, are one of the key elements in all of Sonia Rykiel's collections.

My time at Sonia Rykiel was amazing, and I know I was fortunate to have worked with one of the fashion greats. She is a pretty amazing woman, and she was very invovled in all of the collections, which was rare because she was in her early seventies at the time. I can’t possibly describe the entire experience in one, or several, blog posts, but here are a few short stories that might make you smile.

My beautiful ribbon sandals.

One day Sonia took the design team to lunch at the Cafe Flore, which was across the street from the flagship store and the offices. She is known for being a bit of a swinger, and let’s just say, her love life certainly hadn’t caught up to her age. We were sitting upstairs, and a man came over to the table, which was filled with young fashion designers, good looking gays and girls, eating lunch, and right away he started chatting up Sonia. She didn’t even seem surprised. I was pretty impressed, and hope that I will still be receiving fancy pick up lines when I am 70.

These don't look like much, but the trim is real fur. And I love real fur.

If you work for Sonia Rykiel, and your name is Sonia or Nathalie, you need to adopt a new name while you are working in the company. They don’t want anyone to have the same name as the founder or her daughter. The even weirder thing was that our studio director was named Antoinette, but Sonia hated that name, so she was referred to as Louise while she worked there. Louise wasn’t her middle name or anything, it was a name assigned to her, because Sonia “liked” it.

Sonia Rykiel was not the most generous of brands when it came to giving freebies, particularly to the models. We always told the dressers to make sure that the models didn’t steal the clothing. At one show, I was helping someone dress Alek Wek, and she said she loved the shoes (I think those were the ribbon sandals shown above.) One of the senior designers said to me, “Give her the shoes! Give her the shoes!” We gave her the shoes, and what happened? A few weeks later she is photographed wearing them out, and of course they become one of the “shoes of the season.”

Yes, these ankle boots are amazing...

but even more amazing when you fold down the top and expose the pink lining. Notice the "strass" all down the side.

My favourite one-on-one Sonia Rykiel moment was when she called me in to help her tidy up the studio. I had just started there, so I felt pretty intimidated by her. Our fur supplier had dropped off some colour samples and they needed to be tidied. Now, this didn’t mean they dropped off a few bits of dyed fur, this meant we had about thirty top grade fox skins, dyed in the most beautiful colours (which, once lined with satin, sold as scarves for about $2,000 each.) She was shoving them into garage bags, and asked me to help her with it. She said they were in the way. Here I was, 20 years old, a little Vancouver girl, shoving $40,000 dollars worth of fox skins into a garbage bag with one of the most famous French fashion designers. Welcome to Paris.

My "Glam Star" strass pins.

All Sonia Rykiel for H&M images courtesy of H&M.

I definitely think that North Americans are a little less generous than the British when it comes to using the F word. I agree its vulgar and rude, but at the same time, its effective and straight to the point. I know I say it too much, but after living in London for ten years, it becomes a part of your day-to-day vocabulary. One of the biggest challenges here in Vancouver is NOT to say it in work situations, with clients or in front of students.

I suppose I became desensitized to the F word when I studied at Central Saint Martins, under the tutelage of Professor Louise Wilson OBE. Louise is the MA Fashion Course Director at Central Saint Martins, and, after my mother, is probably the person who has had the most impact on me as a person, and whom I credit for shaping me into the person I am today.

I remember during the last week of my MA, while we were finishing off our collections, I said to my friend Richard (Nicoll, a fantastic designer) that we would remember our times at Central Saint Martins as the best times in our lives. He told me that I was crazy, and he was dying to get out of there. Only a few months later, he said that I had been right.

I’ve decided to talk about Louise today because there is a fantastic article in the Guardian about her and the MA at Central Saint Martins. The article makes her sound terrifying but portrays her as one of the most influential people in the fashion world. I think when she describes her students as “lazy fuckers” she is being quite kind. She used to call us the “tragic cunts.” (Sorry, I know that is a very, very bad word, but it is a quote.) I’ve also been told my work is “shit”, I should lose weight, and that we were all hopeless. She told me I was going to fail the course so many times, that I had planned to give up fashion become a surf bum in Cape Town.

Richard Nicoll Spring Summer 2010

But this hasn’t stopped me from admiring and loving Louise. The hell she put us through prepared us for an even worse hell: the real world. I remember my first interview after my MA course at CSM was with Christopher Bailey at Burberry. He laughed at my work. Most people would have run off sobbing, but I didn’t really care. I was used to much worse. (On that note, Burberry did hire for a project me shortly after…)

What the article doesn’t fully explain, and what Louise doesn’t fully prepare us for, is the fact the 18 months in the MA studios is a holiday compared to the upwards battle you have to fight to be successful in the fashion world. I had already worked for Sonia Rykiel by the time I was at CSM, so I knew what the industry is like (and Sonia Rykiel is pretty easy compared to some brands who do everything at the absolute last minute.) We graduated at a pretty bad time, right after 9/11, so jobs were scarce, and there weren’t many options. Almost everyone started their own business, or opted to take a more quiet route in fashion. After the Burberry project, I started on my own business, and then when that wasn’t making me millions, I too opted for the quiet route.

When I look at the other graduates from my year, and other ex-colleagues from the industry, I see that nearly everyone is either a slave to the industry, or has chosen to have a life, which means a much more modest profession in fashion.

Illustration by Miss Marc by Marc Jacobs, by Will Broome.

I chose the latter, and here I am in Vancouver, not having done a twelve hour shift in several years, and having time to watch TV, walk my friend’s dog, maintain a healthy relationship with my husband, and get eight hours of sleep a night. Then there’s Neil, who left his designer job and is now teaching fashion illustration classes in New York, something he loves to do (check it out, Harbor at Dawn.) Jens (Laugesen) started his own business, and was a slave to it for many years. The only thing I have heard people say about him since he gave up his business is “he looks amazing.” Will Broome, an incredible illustrator, is still doing his own work, but judging by the amount of time he spends on Facebook, I think he too has prioritized a personal life and time with his daughter. Oonagh writes books and teaches and does projects when she wants. Dean teaches and has his own collection, but its low key and he still finds time to have a drink at the pub.

Jonathon Saunders Spring Summer 2010

On the other side, there’s Jonathon, who has been working like crazy over the past few years, first to build and then to maintain his business, and I cant even begin to imagine how he must be feeling right now, as the brand is at that stage where it will become a major player, or fade away. Bora and Miki who got a lot of attention after graduation, but then had to compete with the many new brands being launched every year. Kim, now at Dunhill, who is facing some tough criticism from the press at the moment. Another example is Susanna who is senior designer at Dior. Yes, she gets nine weeks holiday, yes she can afford amazing 5 star hotels, but she hasn’t maintained a normal social life in years. Last time I was supposed to see her, we had booked a trip to the Swiss Alps, and she had to cancel the day before because John wanted to do fittings. Did I mention her boss Steven died at a the age of 38, from a heart attack after many years of complete and total dedication to John Galliano and his work. I am sure I was not alone in thinking “that could be me if I continue to work like this…”

L'Wren Scott Spring Summer 2010

My friend Julia who started as Carine Roitfeld’s assistant, and then moved on to be a successful stylist at French, US, Japanese, and Chinese Vogues, is quite a sad story in my eyes. She was one of my best friends, but I gave up on her when she was too busy to RSVP to my wedding invitation. Florence used to sleep under her desk when she works at Alaia and now she has a job she enjoys with L’Wren Scott (Mick Jagger’s girlfriend), but it’s a small company and she works extrememly hard (I definitely didn’t complain when we walked down the red carpet with the Rolling Stones at their Shine A Light premiere in London, but I can assure you that there’s a new degree of stress when you’re not only trying to run a fashion business but also being surrounded by some of the most famous people in the world.) Avshalom, who did a short spate as creative director of the relaunched Ossie Clark brand, only to have it shut down shortly after. His own line still exists, and although he has two young children, he still has a bed set up in his office.

The higher you are, the harder the fall.

So, as much as I respect Louise and credit her for preparing us for the world of fashion, no one can prepare you for the real world, which is in many ways far more terrifying than being called a “tragic cunt”, or a “lazy fucker”. And I am sorry to all those fashion hopefuls out there thinking that the industry is all about glamour and fun. Yes, those things are definitely involved, but the industry gives a new definition to the term “slave to fashion.”

On that note, I am now going to have dinner and lie in front of the TV for a few hours. I’ll get up at 8am tomorrow, do a one and a half hour yoga class, go home and make myself lunch, and then do a bit of work and attend a meeting in the afternoon. The only deadline I have in the near future is the next blog post, which is not very stressful at all. Maybe I’ll get bored of this soon, but it is so nice, for once, not to be tired all the time.

I am sure most of the people mentioned in this article will agree that our time as fashion students were some of the best times of our lives. Students who are reading this, take note, and enjoy it while you can.

I was going to change names in this article, but then I would have had to change brands, and that would have defeated the whole purpose. I hope I haven’t offended any of my old classmates and friends, good luck to those of you still slaving away.

Images: Hello Kitty source, and all catwalk images from Style.com. Will Broome illustration from his website.

There’s been a lot in the press and blogosphere about the attention bloggers are getting, and whether bloggers have the right to be sitting front row at fashion shows and being recipients of free stuff.

It started off with an article in The Independent entitled “Fluff flies as fashion writers pick a cat fight with bloggers” which talked about the fact that many people in the industry can’t believe that bloggers are getting showered with free gifts, and that blogs “have turned into little more than mouthpieces for fashion brands, which are increasingly using bloggers to regurgitate their press releases.” (Read Kanye West’s hilarious and absolutely idiotic rant against bloggers here.)

Tavi’s hat that blocked everyone’s view. Image source.

Business of Fashion then wrote a good article about how the Independent interviewed many bloggers for the article, but failed to use any quotes from them and therefore the article was quite one-sided. There was also some other really good points made (as usual) by Imran Amed, editor of Business of Fashion, so I’d suggest you read both articles if you are at all interested in the subject. (Links here and here.) They also link to Grazia magazine’s outburst at Tavi, and her response. I don’t want to spend too much time on this but I’d like to have my say, so, here are some of my points.

Yes, there are bloggers that are not always professional and maybe they don’t all deserve the spotlight they have, but if the public support them by reading their blogs, whose exactly is judging that they “don’t deserve?” Also, there are many very interesting, intelligent, or beautiful blogs out there, and they DO deserve the attention they are getting.

Susie Bubble from Style Bubble, a well-respected fashion blog. Image source.

How can magazine criticize bloggers for getting free stuff? The whole concept of a magazine is based on advertisers, if you can’t afford to advertise on their expensive glossy pages, they won’t talk about you. 90% of Vogue’s content is covering advertisers’ product, so those are the brands that can afford $25K per page. And I can guarantee you, the magazine staff gets TONS of free stuff, it’s disgusting how much. Magazine staff generally gets paid quite poorly, but the perks are well worth the low salaries. So if editors are allowed free stuff, why aren’t bloggers?

Plum Sykes, another Vogue-employed boring socialite. Image source.

But the main point I’d like to make is that the fashion industry is extremely critical, brutally unethical, and totally elitist. And the way that people make it to the top is highly unfair. Will someone find me a major fashion industry player who WAS NOT born into a rich family, or has famous parents? Because seriously, nearly everyone (aside from designers) in the industry comes from money and fame, and that’s how they get their break. I like that bloggers don’t have to be socialites or from a rich family to get their voice out into the industry.

There are some exceptions of course, and particularly in Britain, you can come from nothing and make it as a designer, but if you look at who is making it big in the fashion industry, most of them come from money or fame.

Lou Doillon. Image source.

Take Lou Doillon as an example. Famous mom (Jane Birkin) meant she got the chance to be famous herself. I worked on one of the Sonia Rykiel shows that was her first catwalk show, and I had to teach the girl how to walk! She had no clue what the hell she as doing, but everyone loved her because her mom was famous. She is pretty, but I’m sorry to say it, never was model material. But who cares, famous mom = you are famous too.

How about Stella McCartney, Jade Jagger, Leah Wood. The Rolling Stones and The Beatles offspring make up a fair percentage of famous people at the moment.

Carine Roitfeld, editor of French Vogue may have started as a model, but let’s not deny the fact that she is bourgeois through and through.

Tamara Mellon, CEO of Jimmy Choo, whom I respect, would have never gotten anywhere without Daddy’s£150K “loan” to start up a little company with her friend Jimmy Choo.

Nearly all the girls at Vogue have come from money, and you’re seriously looked down on if you aren’t.

I’m just flipping through January’s issue of US Vogue, and who is mentioned in the magazine? Sofia Coppola, talented, but would not have stood a chance without her last name. Vanessa Traina: famous for nothing except having Danielle Steel as a mother.

Check out Vogue’s masthead:

Anna Wintour: father was a newspaper editor, and rich.

Alexandra Kotur: grew up in a rich family and mother worked as an illustrator for Vogue.

Plum Sykes: came from a rich family in England.

Rosamond Bernier: Was friends with Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse when she grew up.

Marina Rust: great great granddaughter of Chicago department store magnate Marshall Field.

Tonne Goodman: husband is a Gimbel of the Gimbel’s department story family and the stepson of director Sydney Lumet.

The list could go on…and it’s the same at nearly all of the major glossy magazines. They are almost all socialites or from money.

Now, you don’t go into the fashion industry because you think it will be ethical and fair and nice. I am used to it, and I’ve learned to accept I’ll never be an editor of Vogue because my Dad isn’t famous and my mother is not a socialite, and I wasn’t a model when I was growing up. But the thing that ANNOYS the hell out of me is that all of these elitist journalists are getting in a huff because there are bloggers that aren’t socialites from wealthy families are getting attention and free stuff. Well, if the growth and popularity of the fashion bloggers means that the socialites are going to get less front-row seats at shows, and less free stuff, I am all for it.

I LOVE the idea of public opinion and readership numbers being the reason why someone gets attention, not because they’re rich so they got a job at Vogue.

(One day I’ll tell you the story about a Vogue-ette I know who used to be completely normal and then suddenly developed a pout and a posh accent when she started working for Vogue. There are probably many stories like that…)

Jason Matlo had a party last night in his studio for his friend Brad. My husband was the only straight guy amongst five women and at least forty gay guys, and he lasted over three hours. What a star!

Lyndi Jane from Style Republic Magazine, Jason, and TJ.

Rebecca and Brad, who both work for Holt Renfrew.

I am so jealous of Brad’s glasses, the shape is fantastic. But he says they came from a dollar store, which means its not worth getting a pair. I don’t like to spend money putting lenses in frames that might not last.

Danielle, Wen-chee, James, and me (wearing H&M top and skirt, COS waistcoat, Ash shoes, and Hermes jewelry)

Christina and Leila, whose red vintage Balenciaga dress looks amazing.

I can’t remember who this girl was, and I am sorry its not the most flattering of photos, but she deserved a mention. She turned up wearing a full space suit with proper space helmet, and then took that off to reveal this combo. I am loving the American Apparel two tone tights with Sonia Rykiel for H&M lingerie bodysuit.

One thing Vancouver girls do really well is nails. Everyone seems to have cool manicures here.

Jason said the bakery could not understand why he wanted a white cake with white icing. I love it. Tone on tone cake decoration is the way forward.