East London's finest

For the first time since it opened earlier this year, I went to Westfield shopping mall in Stratford. While indoors, the cleanliness and beauty of the stores made me forget I was in East London. That was until someone on the top floor decided to spit all the way down to the ground floor, landing roughly 20 centimetres infront of me. 
The stores inside were also a bit of a let-down. Although presented very well, they weren't shops you would expect to find in a high-end shopping mall, with no signs of French Connection or Ted Baker. Instead, there was phone shop after phone shop, followed by Boots and a few cafe's. I couldn't help but wonder where all the clothes were!
As you get upstairs it gets a little better, but that's only due to the fact that Topshop, River Island and Zara are up there. Other than that, it was very disappointing, nice to look at but no substance.

I have to say next time I won't be wasting my time paying for the extra zone on the train. Take me straight to White City.

The most magical place on earth

I don’t doubt that when I mention the name Annie Leibovitz you know who I’m talking about, but for those of you who don’t let me give you a quick insight.

Leibovitz is an incredible American photographer responsible for those fabulously sexy Rolling Stones covers we have all seen plastered over peoples bedrooms walls. Photographing portrait images, usually of ‘A List’ celebrities, she has quite a breath-taking portfolio. But to me, her most fantastic work came about when she collaborated with Vogue for a Disney themed shoot, dressing those loved ‘A Listers’ as our favourite movie characters. In 2007, the Walt Disney Company asked Leibovitz to do a shoot of celebrities in various roles for their “Year of a Million Dreams” campaign which included photographs of David Beckham, Beyonce and Scarlett Johansson. The images were spectacular and gave Leibovitz a quirky, Tim Burton style edge. These are a few examples of her Disney themed images from the last 10 years. I'll leave it up to you to work out which celebs feature.

A university photography project has challenged me to create original fashion images for a specific publication. After looking at these images and others from the Alice in Wonderland shoot Leibovitz did for Vogue, I have chosen to go down a similar route and create Disney themed photo's, also for Vogue, to celebrate the future release of the Disney film 'Magic Kingdom'. This film is to be about a young child who witnesses the Magic Kingdom Park characters and attractions come alive, so for my shoot I will bring in as many relevant props as well as suitable 'fashionable' clothing to fit the style. Obviously, the standards are way higher in Leibovitz's work than I ever could achieve, but I can dream. I'll be sure to post the final images here for you to see.
Wish me luck.

The most beautiful store in the world

For some, the word Biba means nothing. For others it may be a word they simply recognise. For most, it was a way of life.

Biba was once described by the Sunday Times as ‘The most beautiful store in the world’ based in Kensington, West London. Barbara Hulanicki was, along with her husband, the founder, designer and commissioner of everything experienced within the Biba store. Not a single item entered the store without her approval, giving her the title of one the greatest British designers.

People in the 1960’s and 1970’s became infatuated with not just the clothes, but the store too. With an intense interior and everything so carefully thought out, it has to be the one place that given the chance, I would go to extreme lengths to visit. I cannot help feeling a sense of disappointment that the store, to me and many others, will only be witnessed through photographs.

As the store grew, it continued to move to larger stores finally ending up as a seven storey department store on Kensington High Street. The store contained everything Biba, from clothes to washing powder, dog food to stationary, all branded with the famous Biba logo.

Although being recently re-launched in House of Fraser, the original items tend to be found at, at least 3 times the original value, making the collection more of a desire than anything else, completely satisfying the title ‘vintage’ that most women adore. The clothing found in the Biba concessions are not like those that appeared in the original store, sadly ruining the Biba name and the younger generations that may not have heard of this brand, are being fed this false image of such beautiful clothing. The store itself was also a huge part of the Biba image which is not portrayed in House of Fraser.

A current project for university has asked us to come up with an idea and produce a 6 month campaign to make this idea come to life (obviously not literally). My idea is to re-launch Biba as a stand-alone store in its old location of Kensington, taking it out of House of Fraser. The research and planning is all too exciting and I can only pray that one day soon, someone, if not I, will go through with the idea and make it as beautiful and classic as it once was, as I strongly believe everyone with a love of fashion deserves that experience.

“Biba fulfilled the Rock and Roll promise to live fast, die young and leave a beautiful corpse”.

"Change the world, one sequin at a time" - Lady Gaga

Browsing (stalking) Facebook the other day I came across a photo of my friend wearing some incredible blue glitter covered shorts (yes, the glitter phase is worsening). I decided then and there that I HAD to have them!

Now I could have probably guessed where they were from as not many shops could pull of blue glitter short shorts without them looking tacky, but I had to get my friend to confirm they were from Topshop, where else.

Not a day goes by that I don’t think of these sparkly little beauts, but to my dismay they are £40 and being a student, it takes a lot of debate before committing to such a buy. My head is screaming no but my heart seems to be winning the battle. They are still in my online shopping bag, just sitting there waiting to be purchased.

After some more research and a lot of shopping, I came across another pair of MUST HAVE sparkly shorts, although this time in French Connection. Not quite as short as the Topshop ones but equally as beautiful, these statement shorts come in at an incredible £82. Obviously I will not be buying these ones anytime soon but I thought I'd give you the chance to admire and desire after them just as I am.

As for the Topshop shorts, will I or won’t I? That’s a question even I cannot answer.

So I thought I'd update you all. The fabulous Topshop shoes that I was pining for, unfortunately I still do not own them but I've landed myself a fantastic alternative for LESS THAN HALF THE PRICE!!!

And the best thing is, they aren't even tacky! Okay they shred my feet everytime I put them on but I'm willing to grin (moan) and bear it as they are just so beautiful.
This is my official letter of thanks to New Look, you really have made my week/month/year.