Best Wishes

I found this encouraging message in my inbox this afternoon, from the wonderfully talented Filep Motwary and Maria Mastori. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all!

I made my boy a throw

Christmas during a recession requires hand-made gifts. Cue patchwork...

Click to look at a bigger image, blogger doesn't like me today!

Start my New Year in style!

The holiday season is finally upon us - work (the 9 to 5, pay-my-bills version) has finished, shopping is almost complete and my heartbeat is starting to slow down to a normal rate once again! I've not been around the blogosphere a lot recently and for this I apologise. I won't annoy you with the various reasons for my absence as I'm pretty sure most of you will be in the same boat with the run up to Christmas. I have poked my head in a few blogs over the past couple of weeks, and have been suitably inspired by your wonderfully creative discoveries.

Competition time is here once again with the brilliant e-zine and blog fashion156. It is a competition for designers/young labels/graduates, which will see the winning pair (one menswear and one womenswear) of designers' garments stocked in the uber-trendy Shoreditch boutique Start instore and online in March 2009. Regular readers will know that I entered last year, however much to my embarrassment I only caught the competition in the last few days before submission. I literally had a couple of nights to haul together some inspiration and sketch some ideas. Someone was obviously looking down on me as I was lucky enough to reach the final 8, which resulted in me making this dress (here and here also). This year I have a whole month - submissions are due 31st January - and I am torn between ideas. I obviously work better under pressure because if I have the time to mull over things in my head, I begin to ponder, doubt, over-analyse and generally become rather self-deprecating. Anyways, this is not supposed to be a sob story, I wanted to share with you some ideas and get some opinions in return (whether this is wise or not I am unsure - the judges could be reading this, fellow contestants/designers could be reading this?!).

I have chosen the theme of the Samurai. I went to the V&A last weekend and was instantly drawn to the intricate armour and coloured prints used to adorn the bodies of the ancient warriors. I am torn between two ideas - designing my own fabric and getting it printed, creating a simple silhouette on a complex printed fabric (reminiscent of the work of Mary Katrantzou and Ostwald Helgason BOTH OF WHICH YOU NEED YOU CHECK OUT - amazing designers) or creating a complex panelled and draped dress which would require more work at the construction stage, yet may ultimately be more original. Below is my moodboard as it stands at the moment, and like I said I would love some feedback from you, my valued readers!

Click for a larger version

James Long

I'm sat at my computer wrapped in my duvet and sipping on a big mug of Lemsip, trying to suppress this awful cold/man-flu I have been hit with. My brain is really not working, so this is going to be an uber short post. Daytime TV has bored me to tears, so in between my dozing off and filling my face with crappy food I have been flicking through old magazines, reminding me of the work of James Long. He began with a focus on accessories, creating a graduate collection (from the RCA) of harnesses to adorn the male body. SS09 is obviously his latest collection, but AW08 is the collection which is really appealing to me right now - I'm sure I would instantly get better if I was wrapped up in one of his huge sheepskin coats, with a big fluffy hat on.

It's not only the medicinal qualities of his work which are attracting me to James Long right now, I love his use of Boudicca style leather belting and paneling. The collection is titled 'Modern Medieval Soldiers', so it makes sense, but I find his more armor-like pieces truly inspiring and whilst they are reminiscent of Helmet Lang, they are extremely fashion forward and make a change from the usual pea coats and suits we see in a lot of menswear.