Pinterest

My First London Fashion Week

Wednesday 20 February 2013

elisa
The lovely Elisa of Reward Style


wendy&daniella
Daniella of LellaVictoria and Wendy of Thankfifi who were the target of many street style photographers during LFW.  I decided I would be a street style photographer for the day. Unlike the "official" Vogue and Elle photographers, I allowed the two lovely ladies to smile instead of striking a pose or "look fierce".



The fashion industry is a completely foreign landscape to someone like me who came from a male dominated engineering background. A bit like chalk and cheese really, considering that the term "well dressed" to most of my former colleagues meant turning up with a shirt all tucked in or pants zipped up properly. And no, I'm not exaggerating either. It's difficult to put on a normal face when you're trying to hold a conversation and someone's fly isn't done. Which happens more often than not.

This has been my first foray into the London Fashion Week scene. It was a bit unfortunate that it coincided with the half term break which meant I couldn't attend more than half the events I was invited to. Bummer.

The London Fashion Week is perhaps the most pretentious, superficial and beauty obsessed world I've ever experienced to date. In contrast to my previous statement, I was equally blessed to meet with some of the most engaging and down to earth individuals who made it a memorable experience for me. Ladies, you know who you are so thank you for the wonderful time (Matches Fashion, Grazia, Reward Style, LN-CC, LellaVictoria, MirrorMe, Thankfifi).



lucasnascimento-model1
lucasnascimento-model2
lucasnascimento



Lucas Nascimento's show was intimate but still managed to make an impact with his designs. Bold, wearable pieces with clean fluid lines that will flatter women who do not necessarily have the perfect size 0 figure. The Central St Martins graduate obviously understands women and our insecurities well enough to create classic pieces but with a contemporary twist.




johnrocha
John Rocha with his chauffeur. I think I scared his wife when I couldn't stop ogling her Hermes Kelly.

jonathansaunders
Listening to Jonathan Saunders talk about his work.

The room was packed at House of Grazia with bloggers and journalists alike, all waiting with bated breath for Jonathan Saunders to arrive. A grounded, talented, witty and clearly exhausted man who deemed himself as the first generation of "normal" clothes designer. Jonathan was a Central St Martins graduate who'd attended tutorials with Roksandra Ilincic and counted Richard Nicoll, Christopher Kane and Louise Gray amongst his peers. Here are snippets of the interview.

Background: "came from Jehovah Witness background and went into furniture making because Jesus did so". Left because there wasn't any human interaction.
On social media: Previously, it used to be fashion insiders who dictated what went into press and the enormous influence they wielded but the social media along with blogging has "democratized" the whole process. Consumers are now closer to the designers more than ever.
On recession: It made him think and design more commercial and wearable clothes.

Well, it's back to planet Earth where I have a pile of dirty dishes waiting to be washed, the toilet bowl needs to be scrubbed and the mess that the 2 humans who live with me managed to generate while I was away. It was fun pretending to be a fashionista for a few days.............

22 comments:

  1. What an amazing experience! Thanks for sharing it with us.

    Rowena @ rolala loves

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yep, fashion is a young girl's game!

    ReplyDelete
  3. omg! i wish i was you ;)
    thank you for sharing. OMG.
    wonderful pictures, as always. i´m repeating myself, i know ;)
    xx doro

    ReplyDelete
  4. I love your street style photos! They look great. So glad to hear you enjoyed your first fashion week! It is a strange strange mad little world. xx

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thanks for sharing Marlene! The pics are just great and loved hearing about your experience! :)

    xxTheresa

    ReplyDelete
  6. The interesting thing is LFW seems less pretentious and fashion-obsessed (to me in photos online) than the other Fashion weeks. I guess they're all just equally on the same level of surface. With that being said, I really want to go! I'd love to see JW Anderson & Simone Rochas' shows... - Aliya :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. How lovely. And I love Wendy from Thankfifi. She's definitely my daily blog read.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I must admit it is great fun and I get just as much of a kick out of people watching as I do attending shows, I adore street style especially bag spotting!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Sounds like you had a really great experience, and I adore your photos! x

    ReplyDelete
  10. Amazing pictures - so wish I could've been there with you!

    ReplyDelete
  11. I like the smiley people photos! It looks like a really interesting experience. I'd like to be that person sitting on a step with a sandwich and a coffee just people watching.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Stunning pictures and it looks like such fun. Love your street style photos.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Congrats on your first LFW! :) What a great experience and I hope that'll be many more to come for you. Lovely pics as usual, M!

    ReplyDelete
  14. oh that sounds super fun.. ;) nice escape from reality as you put it! i should make an effort to go to sydney and melb fashion weeks this year..

    steph / absolutely-fuzzy.com

    ReplyDelete
  15. I love reading your posts because you always have a unique perspective on things and a great sense of humor. I totally relate with what you have been describing about LFW since I have just experienced the madness and excitement of the Montreal Fashion Week. Of course, it's on a different scale than New York and London, but the attitude is pretty much the same everywhere! I like the pictures you took from the catwalks and from the street. I think you can get a real kick out of these events if you enjoy watching people in the first place.
    Catherine xx
    www.pearlsandcaramel.com

    ReplyDelete
  16. So cool you got to attend LFW! The pictures are wonderful! I couldn't agree with you more. LFW or any other fashion week for that matter is such a "pretentious, superficial and beauty obsessed world". I love fashion, but come on, in the end it's just fashion. ;)

    ReplyDelete
  17. VERY interesting people you had a chance to meet! I know you took away from it a lot. Glad you went and got to see it hands on.

    http://www.averysweetblog.com/

    ReplyDelete
  18. Very fun that you got to be a "fashionista" this year! And I met Elisa briefly when she was in Dallas - so sweet! Even if you couldn't attend all of the events, it's still fab that you went to such private ones like with ahem, Jonathan Saunders! So cool M!

    xo, sam 

    ReplyDelete
  19. Brilliant photo's and it's so refreshing to her normal commentary on fashion week and the events that you got to go to. I really appreciated seeing people smiling in photographs and hearing how relatable and normal some of your meet and great were. I'm really glad you got to go especially since you got to meet J Saunders!

    - Mandi

    ReplyDelete
  20. Absolutely fantastic Marlene! With your stunning wardrobe and commentary, you definite belong on the scene. Now who do I have to talk to so I can get an invite with you next year?

    xx Jenee C.
    {camo meets couture}

    ReplyDelete
  21. I'm so jealous! But it's great to see a more personal post about fashion week, not just the run of the mill post that everyone else seems to have been doing. I'll be emailing you for your advice on going to these events, especially with Fashfest now happening in Canberra! xoxox

    ReplyDelete

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...