The Anglaise.: July 2010

Friday, 30 July 2010

Sounds of Summer.

Can't listen to this enough, it instantly transports me to a beach in Ibiza sipping on cocktails.

Marks and Spencer, Elleuk.com and the Royal College of Art have teamed up to create a fashion line of 10 pieces to be sold in M&S. Elleuk.com leaked the first piece for our perusal today. It is designed by Anna Smit and will be available along with the others in stores and online from September.

Thursday, 29 July 2010

Midnight in Paris.

Carla Bruni has been filming for Woody Allen's new film Midnight in Paris, set for release in 2011. Though not every French national's favourite, it will be interesting to see how the beautiful ex-model and first woman of France will perform in her cameo alongside Owen Wilson.

Source: vogue.com

Get connected.

It's old news that the fashion press is taking presidence on the web. For me, it is my first go-to for fashion news, images and updates. However, the emergence and power of online magazines is striking and I think this is where the fashion press is headed in the near future. Online shopping websites, such as Net-a-Porter.com and ASOS.com, are producing high-quality, glossy, cutting edge fashion editorials - good enough to rival the printed press in my opinion. Take for example, Net-a-Porter's recent and God created woman spread featuring iconic designers such as Isabel Marant with a deliciously French touch of styling.

This month, it's ASOS's turn to take the limelight with Olivia Palermo, powerfully styled by Zeba Lowe, taking up an impressive 13 pages of their 100-page monthly online magazine (http://www.asos.com/Women/Magazine/Womens-Magazine-Asos/Cat/pgehtml.aspx?cid=6200).

Fashion has gone cyber and it's there to stay.

Source: asos.com

ASOS Magazine, August 2010

Wednesday, 28 July 2010

Alice Grantley.

My friend has just set up a new company called Alice Grantley, creating t-shirts and canvas bags. Deers, brogues, rockets, fairgrounds and Paris form the images for her delightfully whimsical designs in an array of colours - big and small (even for children!) Prices range from £8-18. The pieces can be bought here http://alicegrantley.tumblr.com

Chéret at Les Arts Décoratifs, Paris.

The other day I was fortunate enough to experience a wonderful exhibition of the work of Jules Chéret, poster designer extraordinaire, at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris. A plethora of illustrations, pastel drawings, prints and paintings his work has a magical quality that evokes whimsical childhood and the intoxicating power of Belle Epoque France, specifically Paris.

Chéret was the innovator of the Belle Epoque poster that trigger the affichomanie (a poster-craze) which dominated Paris at the time (the late 1800s). He was also avant-garde in his use of chromolithography, the art of printing with colour, something that was groundbreaking in the early Belle Epoque.

Others, such as Toulouse Lautrec, Steinlen and Mucha followed in his footsteps, but Chéret was the true father of this poster-mania that began to dominate the streets of Paris as well as the advertising industry. The streets became explosions of colour as Belle Epoque posters adorned the otherwise black and mundane streets.