Head On at the London College of Fashion

The exhibition space at the London College of Fashion is somewhat limited in size, yet one room and adjacent cabinets are certainly used to maximise impact in the new millinery show: Head On.

"While contemporary society no longer dictates the daily use of hats, the appetite for millinery on the catwalk, in editorial and even on the high street, continues to flourish," says the preamble. Focusing on decorative millinery, the exhibition features mannequins styled to incorporate headwear as part of a total look. 

Dress by AF Vandervorst, hat by Stephen Jones

Dress by Giles Deacon, millinery by Stephen Jones

You would probably get very odd looks if you wore any of these outfits - and the curious headwear doesn't look to be very practical. However, ShopCurious drew attention to the emerging trend of promoting fashion as art some years ago.

Dress by Gareth Pugh, headwear by Philip Treacy

Dress by Yiqing, headpiece by Paul Stafford

The show runs until 23rd March, so do pop in to see the display if you are in the Oxford Street area. 

Will you?

Flowers, frills, feathers and fans

 

The Queen was dressed simply, in powder blue, for the first day of Royal Ascot. My own curiously cobbled together outfit comprised of faded pastel shades – I customized an old pair of Top Shop shoes with ‘found’ floral embellishment, which I’d purloined from a vintage hat the night before. Thankfullly, I found a pair of 'nude' tights before I left too...

I wore one of the 'mad hatter' creations from my extensive millinery collection, along with a Missoni (thrift shop) dress, a vintage couture jacket and a 1950s beaded bag,which was borrowed from ShopCurious. Amazingly, I didn’t spot anyone wearing anything similar…

Along with the inevitable red, white and blue, hat and dress trends on Tuesday seemed to fall into several categories: Floral hats – ranging from modern, nature inspired to old fashioned bathing cap style.

Frills (and later in the day spills) were spotted on hats and dresses alike.

      
































Feathers were everywhere – occasionally getting in the way.

One lady couldn’t get enough of them and took a spare hat along, just in case her companion didn't turn up for afternoon tea.

Flying saucer hats were also in evidence, like the ones worn by retro girl-band, The Tootsie Rollers (below right). 

And there were Far Eastern style fan-pleated numbers too.












As well as fitted trouser suits. One woman sitting under an escalator reminded me of Diane Keaton. Whilst another seemed to be wearing her pyjamas.

Then there were the fashion mavericks – like Tracy Rose, who never conforms to any style but her own. 

I also noticed a couple of girls with crazy tattoos. And, from afar, saw a fabulous pair of striped-heeled sandals.

    

After a fun day of fashion spotting, I pirouetted back to the car park. Next time I might even watch the races..

Will you?

PS check out men’s racy Ascot fashions in today’s post at The Dabbler.

Arty, attention-grabbing accessories

Last week’s unusually warm and sunny weather had me skipping out all over the place to arty events, hence the lack of blog posts. One of the more glamorous was a party at Sketch in Mayfair, to celebrate Shingai Shoniwa (of the Noisettes) and hatmaker Katherine Elizabeths’ new millinery collaboration.

One of the biggest hat trends is customization. Hats are being embellished with all sorts of curiosities and turned into works of wearable art. It’s fun to create your own millinery masterpiece too – in fact, Katherine Elizabeth holds hat parties and day-long millinery classes, at Craft Central in Clerkenwell. The next one is this Saturday 22nd.

Now the weather’s taken a wintry turn though, I feel more like hibernating. Forget going out to fashion tribe gatherings, all I want to do is sit in front of the television and cozy up to something soporific, like the X-Factor, with a nice mug of cocoa (Ha! That must account for the curious spelling in my latest post at The Dabbler…)

This morning it was actually cold enough to contemplate wearing gloves - which by the way, also seem to be getting an arty makeover this season. I’ve been waiting for ages to try out the luxuriously embroidered new gloves by eccentric Englishman Mark H at ShopCurious. Mark’s oddly extravagant OR WOT! designs are a small but valiant contribution towards saving niche handicrafts of the British manufacturing industry… Now I’ll raise a cup of cocoa to that.

Will you?

Hats, history and racing fashion

Styles have changed dramatically over the past 300 years, but the tradition of the Royal Ascot race meeting has remained an annual fixture of the summer social season. The event has become an occasion for racegoers from all over the world to indulge in a little English eccentricity – wearing quirky hats, unique accessories and curiously original clothing.

I’m not sure whether Royal Ascot has always been as much about the fashion as the horse racing, but photographic evidence from past decades shows that dressing up has certainly been a major part of proceedings.




In celebration of the 300th Anniversary of Royal Ascot, the display of vintage photographs of royals and celebrities at the event includes this stylish shot of Sophia Loren in a wonderfully wide brimmed hat - along with pictures of some of the more curious clothing, like these over-the-top outfits from the ‘swinging sixties’:
















Nowadays with catwalk shows, a Fashion Bar and live televised fashion commentary, Royal Ascot has become a firm favourite with fashionistas and designers alike.














Like most women, I'm not so much interested in the racing as the parade of hats, handbags and amazing attire on show. Apart from the official dress code, the way people choose to ‘dress up’ is a matter of personal taste... On the first day, yesterday, I noticed that flowers were very much in fashion.




















I wore Vivienne Westwood with a recycled hat, accessorized with a floral hairslide, found in a drawer just before I left. I jazzed up my look with quirky '70s style snakeskin shoes, a vintage basket bag and a tasseled natural stone necklace from ShopCurious – worn sideways, of course.




















Some ladies opted for the retro look – from 1930s floaty tea dress to 1950s prom style.




















Others were more fashion forward, like Vivienne Westwood's head of couture, in a futuristic flying saucer hat by Philip Treacy – and a rather arty looking Aussie visitor.




















One lady definitely stood out from the crowd in a pearl encrusted, rose-adorned Marie Antoinette style wig. A simple, cat-eared hat by Stephen Jones was also rather different from the mainstream.




















Men are able to express their individuality at Royal Ascot too. Photographer, Francis Mander, arrived looking as though he was ready for a spot of farming. And one chap, wearing a pith helmet, had obviously got on the wrong ‘plane.




















Some wore exotic headgear and brightly coloured waistcoats.




















And David Shilling’s Royal Ascot birthday tribute topper was madly marvellous.



















From old to new, there were some blinging accessories on show as well - from rhinestone bejewelled antique watches to crystal covered mobile 'phones.


























Best of all, it was a lovely sunny day, and everyone seemed to be smiling…

Are you?