July 2003

Does anyone know where we can get info about Willie Shanks the fashion designer? All we could find was one website with a catwalk show of his collections.

Was looking through the Teen Vogue fashion forum and came across a message re bags for the fall. I am a big lover of bags ( I own too many) and it’s time to decide which to buy for autumn/winter.

There are some really nice big bags out there, which are not designer and are good quality, functional and stylish.

Check out egocentral.com….

I have never really reflected in depth upon fashion as Braga does in his essay entitled Fashion. Yes I have considered and questioned “How every season so many different designers with creative imaginations create similar trends?” I have also come to accept that we are told what we must wear every year by the fashion dictators…(although I want to be a dictator myself) I do find this a very scary thought.

I liked this essay very much, although it doesn’t highlight anything that I don’t already know. But it did make me look into why I have a passion for fashion. For me true fashion has always been Haute Couture. I have never been inclined to design ready to wear clothes. It was too ordinary. I feel couture is the love of fashion’s life, without it, it would simply exist. My heart literally skips a beat when I see a haute couture

Couture is impractical, sometimes ugly at first glance (I have never been a major fan of Vivenne Westwood but I do appreciate her work) The true beauty of couture is in the detail, the fabric and its intricate nature. Like classical music or coffee it is an acquired taste. But most important of all each garment is unique. So I sat and thought but why? Why do I like couture (my definition of fashion) so much? And my answer was simple, “Because I am couture, You are couture. God is a Fashion Designer and we are his Haute Couture collection”

“Haute couture involves craftsmanship, the skill of the seamstress and embellisher (feather makers, embroiders, milliners) who, each season, create the finery of the exceptional.”

Ossie Clark Exhibition at the V & A Museum
Victoria and Albert Museum
Cromwell Road
South Kensington
London SW7 2RL
Telephone: ++ (0)20 7942 2502
Email Address: press.office@vam.ac.uk

This is such a great fashion website…..it has good quality interviews with influential people in the fashion industry such as Kate Moss, Peter Saville, David Bailey..the list goes on…..There are pics of collections from various innovative designers. I havent finished viewing the site but I can say it is one of the best i’ve seen…