Tailored and timeless: Oakwell Couture

 

Omg! London Fashion Week starts tomorrow. I always forget which season it is and which season is coming up, though I’m not sure that’s so important?

Just before my recent break from blogging, ShopCurious was invited to British couturier Nicholas Oakwell’s glamorous catwalk show at Claridge's. It’s so refreshing to see stylish and timelessly elegant clothing that is simply impossible to replicate in chain stores or on the internet. And to see a salon complete with grand piano, dressed with orchids - and scented by Roja Dove candles.

The workmanship that goes into creating these garments is extraordinary. Oakwell’s latest collection combined Art Deco elegance with vintage Victorian touches.Couture dresses and jackets featured feathers, fur, frills, pleating, bold geometric designs - there was also ruching, and even the odd ruff (not sure if that’s an Art Deco, or even a Victorian fashion trend for that matter). There were also retro hair rolls aplenty. But my favourite dresses were the ones that sparkled… Yes, I’m a sucker for sequins – and chandeliers - just see how they shine in my video:

Will you?

PS Here’s Oakwell Couture's video of the complete collection (without the added shimmer!)

Mirroring the metropolis

The world we’ve created for ourselves consists of cities in a state of constant flux. Buildings, streets - in fact, whole communities are monitored by 24 hour CCTV. Yet we still choose to live together, as a group, in places with towering buildings…and lots of other people around us.

Our ongoing love of the city is demonstrated in the recent resurgence of Art Deco-style, skyscraper inspired design. Read more about this, and the impact of the all-seeing eye of Big Brother upon the world of art and design, in ShopCurious's latest Curious Trends posts.







Meantime, here’s some information on a forthcoming photographic exhibition that also draws inspiration from the metropolis: Diemar/Noble Photography’s Land/City/Real/Imagined is a curated selection of work by leading photographers, with the city as its theme. Running from 25th August until 1st October, the show is divided into two sections ‘land’ and ‘city’, it even includes NASA photographs of the surface of the moon.

One of the more classic shots on display is Berenice Abbott’s 1936 portrait of the 'Irving Trust Building, 1 Wall Street' (left).






Also included is an awe-inspiring image by British photographer, George Rodger. Taken on the 102nd floor of New York’s Empire State Building in 1950, this coolly conveys the excitement of looking out over the great metropolis.

Colombian born, London based photographer, Manuel Vazques captures the surreality of our surveillance society in works from his ‘Traces’ project (see top right), carried out at Atocha railway station in Madrid, scene of the 2004 terrorist attacks.


Vazques' images bring to our awareness the curious paradox of public space, where anonymity and scrutiny co-exist. In a society full of prying eyes, we have the ability to be both spectator and actor…

Are you?

Skyscraper heels at LFW

Contrary to popular belief, trudging around fashion trade fairs, hiking across town to showrooms and standing in queues at fashion shows is far from glamorous. It’s also pretty demanding on the feet – especially if, like me, you’re partial to shoes of the high-heeled variety.

Whilst I’ve a weakness for arty and unusual shoes, I’ve noticed that heels seem to be getting higher and higher. When I saw the unique shoe designs by Joanne Stoker at London Fashion Week, I thought she was trying to cash in on this trend with her new ‘Empire States’ collection.






Inspired by Art Deco architecture, the handcrafted Plexiglass heels of Joanne’s shoes are designed to replicate masterpieces from the New York skyline. (Thankfully, no one's tried to base a shoe design on London's Shard of Glass).

Anyway, Joanne informed me that, although her ‘skyscraper heels’ give the impression of being high, they’ve been made with comfort and wearability in mind - and the method of construction means they’re actually only medium-high...






The angular shapes and mosaic style decorations are curiously creative and original, but however easy they are to walk in, the tower block shoes look rather more clunky than, say, the elegantly aerodynamic, space age designs of Chau Har Lee.











When I first saw Chau Har Lee’s designs last year I forgot to mention that we’ve some similar perspex wedges at ShopCurious. Ours are from one of Tom Ford’s early collections for Gucci in the 1990s and feature an angular silver ‘G’ buckle.

I think it’s great when shoes double up as collectable works of design art.

Do you?

Biba's everlasting appeal

Little did the architects of the Big Biba store in London’s Kensington High Street know they were helping to create a legend. During its brief existence from 1973-75, the opulent emporium was hailed as ‘the most beautiful store in the world’.










Even Mr Al Fayed would have been impressed with the shop’s extravagant Art Deco interior, which was reminiscent of the glamorous, golden age of Hollywood.



Big Biba wasn’t just about style – it was the first lifestyle store. Here a young girl could “buy not only a new wardrobe, fully co-ordinated from head to toe, but also a complete range of cosmetics and soft furnishings, together with the washing powder to care for her clothes, and food to go with it, all presented in the distinctive Biba packaging.”

Alternatively, she could lounge around in the shop-windows (as Biba didn't have window-displays), or sip cocktails upstairs amongst the flamingos that lived in the Roof Garden, or in the Rainbow Room, where live music was performed.








'Biba style' was characterised by flowing lines, floppy hats and… pickled onions! For all it’s curiously cool, stylish charm – Biba was peculiarly quirky and eccentric: Even the food hall displays were in the shape of baked bean tins and Campbells soup cans. But it was the Biba logo that was immediately recognizable on the vast majority of the products.


Biba also produced a mail order catalogue, with girls wearing the complete Biba look – from clothing to makeup and accessories. The Biba look consisted of what Hulanicki called "Auntie colours" - which she said ‘look like a funeral.’ The predominant shades were blackish mulberries, blueberries, rusts and plums.



























































































































If you’d like to see more of images of the store and Biba’s designs, how about this fabulous, collectable coffee table book from ShopCurious. ‘Welcome to Big Biba’ features over 150 colour photographs from the seven storey department and is signed by designer, Barbara Hulanicki herself, as well as the book’s creators.











In addition to selling stylish fashion, Big Biba was a social network and curiosity shop all rolled into one. I have a feeling the legend will live on and on... I'm curious to experience Biba’s next incarnation – and see the website.

Are you?

Memories of maharajas

If you’re in London this weekend and looking for something worthwhile to do, you might find it difficult to choose between the gazillions of things on offer. However, if you can get in, I’d recommend the new exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum: Maharaja - The Splendour of India’s Royal Courts.










Maharaja means ‘great king’ - and the curiosities on display certainly show the wealth, power, and cultural influence of this stylish, princely ruling class – as well as their observance of ‘rajadharma’: the duties and behaviour appropriate to a king. Apparently, the vision of a king in all his splendour is believed to be auspicious – there's even a term, 'darshan', the propitious act of seeing and being seen by a superior being.



Some of the highlights on display include a procession scene that includes a life-sized elephant, complete with ornamental chair … plus the elephant sports its own ultra-dangly stylish silver earring. Another centerpiece is an original Rolls Royce 'Phantom I' car that is stunningly huge, with magnificent sweeping lines – a veritable style icon, and suitably fit for a maharaja.






There is also the gloriously glittering patiala necklace, a ceremonial piece that was re-set by Cartier for the Maharaja Bupindha Singh and would have even Mr Graff drooling. There are several quite extraordinary saris belonging to maharanis (maharajas' wives), including one in divine satin with spider-like coral sequin detail - bang on trend, though almost a century old … And there's a fabulous Art-Deco mirrored men’s Cartier dressing table set that’s to die for. The vintage fans with peacock feathers and exquisitely enamelled handles are awesome. By the way, the peacock is the national bird and is thought to provide a watchful eye over the people of India.





The exhibition covers the life of the maharajas during a period from the end of Moghul rule in the early 18th century up to the partition of India in 1947. There is plenty of evidence of the generous patronage provided by the maharajas, including some curiously contemporary modernist pieces of furniture by Eckart Muthesius, the architect of the most recent palace, commissioned by the Maharaja of Indore in 1930 – along with portraits by the French artist, Bernard Boutet de Monvel.




Although their cultural heritage and traditions are still appreciated to this day, due to escalating costs and dwindling incomes, most of the Indian princes have sold off their assets, transformed their palaces into hotels, or even opened their own museums.








We’re not suggesting that you attempt to follow in their footsteps, but, if on visiting the V&A, you acquire something of a fondness for elephants and jewels, we’re sure you’ll like this rather charming and totally unique Indian silver lucky elephant charm necklace with semi-precious stones that’s available at ShopCurious.



Do you?

Art Deco accessories

Here’s a 21st century synopsis of some reasons why you might consider investing in rare and beautiful Art Deco accessories:

Buying vintage is an eco-friendly form of recycling. Just look at this fabulous original 1920s belt (right) that’s made from hand painted seeds.



Most pieces from this era are 100% handmade, using totally natural materials – and even today, it's not too difficult to source items that simply scream 'style with brains', if you're curious enough to seek them out.



Vintage is often much less expensive than its modern equivalent – take this authentic 1930s quilted python skin bag (left) and art deco clutch (right) from ShopCurious, for instance – curiously cheap and chic compared to most of today’s designer snakeskin bags.




Unique accessories from any era are highly collectable and can be a great investment too - especially well designed, high quality items of jewellery and stylish silk scarves that have timeless and lasting appeal.

There’s no denying it, Art Deco style is curiously cool – whenever, wherever ... have you seen Bebaroque’s Cleopatra tights and this amazing rhinestone encrusted headpiece? You're not drooling ...

Are you?

Ageless Art Deco

The 1920s heralded a new age of glamour and saw the beginnings of our ever-growing obsession with youthfulness. The fashion for face lifts started at this time and, in 1927 (according to the Literary Digest), New York based dermatologist, Dr Charles F Pabst, advocated legislation to save American women from the effects of their “frantic and artificial efforts to make themselves beautiful”.

He argued that “The skin of a civilized man – and woman – is a delicate organ, as delicate as the heart, which works 24 hours a day, adjusting the temperature of the body, keeping infection from entering. It requires little external aid except daily washing in lukewarm water with a mild soap…”






He continued…“ The French Government recently adopted a law…in the French colonies, against mutilating the skin by the barbarous scarring of faces, stretching of lips and slashing the body. For such practices, in which the savages indulge in their mistaken pursuit of what they consider beauty, the French now impose jail sentences and fines…” Pabst felt that the US Government should follow this example and pass a similar law to affect women undergoing facial surgery, only making the punishment much harsher – to account for the fact that “the American woman has civilization and education on her side and yet she indulges in more savage methods of mutilating her skin.”


It would be really fascinating to hear the views of any of the pioneering ladies who underwent face lifting procedures during the 1920s or ‘30s, though I doubt that many, if indeed any, are still alive today. I suspect that nowadays, if you can afford plastic surgery, it might be considered much more daring and individual to refuse to succumb to the surgeon's knife.


Meanwhile, there’s plenty of surviving evidence of the labours of past female beautification in the form of unique and timeless treasures from the Art Deco era. At ShopCurious, we’ve some fabulously stylish 1930s hand held mirrors and dressing table sets, as well as a vintage Art Deco manicure set in its original ruched-silk lined, papier mache box.

From the 1920s onwards, the first beauty parlours also started to appear. Prior to the '20s, it wasn’t thought at all proper for ‘nice girls’ to use cosmetics. By the way, if you’re curious to know more about authentic 1920s and ‘30s style makeup, I’ll be revealing some unusual non-invasive beauty secrets of the time in my next blog.

Are you?

Nouveau Victoriana

Blogs this month will have the theme of ‘faded glamour’, as I take a look at fashion and style from art nouveau to art deco. Let’s start in La Belle Epoque, the French named ‘beautiful era’, that began in around 1890, lasted until the First World War and was a period of unparalleled opulence and extravagance.

Fortunately, thanks to the likes of our beloved British treasure Top Shop, these days buying the latest fashionable designs (or at least good copies) isn’t confined to the super-rich, as it was in late Victorian times. However, if you’re looking for high quality, original vintage items from yesteryear, you’ll still have to pay a pretty penny.






At ShopCurious, we’re offering an authentic, museum-quality, dark mauve velvet and jet-beaded Victorian mantelet style cape – it’s in excellent condition and wouldn’t look out of place on the catwalks of 2009. What’s amazing about this piece is the extraordinary quality of craftsmanship and the ornate embellishment, as was characteristic of luxury items, available to just a select few at the time.








Not only is this cape a perfect example of its type, but it also has several trademark features:

- front tails, called lappets
- long moiré ribbon streamers at the back,
- a small peplum to accommodate the bustle of a typical Victorian dress
- decorative Spanish matador style epaulets called mancherons
- passementerie/jet and bead fringing in the Spanish matador style



















The mantelet (a new and shorter form of cape) evolved from the earlier Victorian (and longer length) mantle cape. Around this time, fashion was very much in transition and was beginning to reflect the decorative style of art nouveau - with its flowing, organic lines and curved, corseted shapes.

This fine cape comes from Bond Street in London, where the fashions of the day were dictated by mature, matronly women like Queen Victoria and later Queen Alexandra - but a fabulously stylish, timeless and individual piece like this is the sort of thing that almost anyone could wear these days. You don’t have to look like Kate Moss …

Do you?