Best Wishes for the Year of the Horse

Happy New Year to all Chinese communities around the world!
May you all enjoy galloping success in the Year of the Horse!

Photos by Lucia Carpio for MY FASHION CONNECT.

National Gallery brings warmth to London with exhibition of Van Gogh's Sunflowers. Little Sun lamps provide support for third world country.

For many of us here in the UK, we are suffering from a case of water-fatigue with all the rain we have been getting in the past two months (and more is predicted for days ahead) and we are missing the sun.

London’s National Gallery has gratefully come to the rescue to provide warmth for our spirit at least, by staging a special exhibition of two of Dutch artist Vincent Van Gogh’s “Sunflowers” oil-on-canvas paintings - which is on until April 27, and admission is free.

A selection of sourvenirs on sale at the National Gallery shop.
Photo by Lucia Carpio for MyFashionConnect

To view the various shades of the yellow hue through these still-life masterpieces displayed side by side is a rare and unique experience,  as this is the first time in 65 years to have such an opportunity. One of these is the National Gallery’s own, the other is on loan from the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.

While this current installation revives our interest in the great masters, surely with the current fashion trend being faunt and fauna, bouquets and flowers, they provide inspiration for those working in design, as proven by Italian luxury designer brand Dolce & Gabbana which showed a Alta Moda (Haute Couture) collection of floral-decorated creations including one dress with a replication of Van Gogh Sunflowers, at the Spring/Summer 2014 couture shows in Milan a few days ago.

But for the everyday enjoyment of common folks, the Van Gogh masterpieces have inspired The East India Company whose tea master, Lalith Lenadora has created special herbal tea blends by taking inspiration from some of National Gallery’s masterpieces, including the Sunflowers.  Lalith carefully selected paintings that engaged him and resonated with his sensibilities, according to a representative at a recent tea-tasting event.  Lailith had spent many hours working closely with The National Gallery, studying and pondering over the paintings, to bring their essence to life in blends of fine teas, flowers and fruits. 

For inspiration, Lalith had selected two of Van Gogh’s paintings.  One is the Sunflower, and the other is A Wheatfield, with Cypresses, which is also a National Gallery treasure.

The tea inspired by Sunflowers features a blend of Chamomile, Rose Buds and Orange Petals.  Like the paintings, the tea blend gives a calming effect, and also infused with a refreshing fruity note.

The other tea in the collection had been inspired by Claude Oscar-Monet’s, The Water-Lily Pond and his Thames below Westminster.   All available in the National Gallery shop in London.

German artist Olafur Eliasson with Little Sun

Photo: Studio Olafur Eliasson

Now for all sun worshipers, a project called Little Sun has been developed by the artist Olafur Eliasson and engineer Frederik Ottesen with the purpose of helping people in off-grid communities.

Little Sun is a high-quality solar-powered lamp, which is rechargeable and can be used the whole evening after 5 hours in the sun.  

Little Sun at Tate Modern, London.

Photo: Studio Olafur Eliasson

Little Sun is not a charity but a short-term project aimed at donating lamps to areas without electricity (known as 'off-grid' areas), but the focus on the longer-term is to build profitable local businesses that distribute Little Sun light. Little Sun currently has distribution in seven African countries: Zimbabwe, Uganda, Kenya, Burundi, Senegal, Ethiopia, and South Africa, as well as in the European Union, the United States, Canada, Australia, and Japan.  

If you are interested in buying Little Sun and thus help to support the 3rd world, click HERE to go their website.

The new look of Doctor Who has been revealed. Get the Look from British brand Crombie!

 

It has finally been revealed - the official costume of the new Doctor Who - the 12th Doctor to be played by Peter Capaldi.  

It turns out that Peter has a lot in common with the coat - which is set to drive a new trend for fans.  

The Doctor’s new look sees him swapping bow ties for a sleek and sharp coat by British brand Crombie; a rebellious twist to the iconic Time Lord, as well as a nod to Peter’s and Crombie’s shared Scottish roots.

The Retro coat is a Crombie classic, present every season.

Distinctive features of the Retro are its pillar box red lining, its fly-fronted cut with darting for shape, and its velvet collar.

The cloth is a hard-wearing Melton, the most traditional of all British coat cloths due to its durability and longevity. The Retro coat style is also available in the Crombie Made-to-Measure service, allowing the customer to design his own version down to the button.

New launches spotted at SCOOP International fashion fair in London

This season’s SCOOP International fashion trade fair held in London earlier this week, held concurrently at the Saatchi Gallery on King’s Road and also Phillips Gallery near Victoria Station, was a good opportunity to seek out new and  interesting British brands, especially in the area of bags, footwear and scarfs.

Among those that caught my eye was the new British handbag and scarf brand Mury which showcases designer Anja Mury’s ability to combine urban chic with functionality for her range of simply shaped bags, shoulder pouches, clutches and shopping bags, as well as cotton scarfs that sport the same geometric designs.

The debut Mury collection features 3D graphic designs screen-printed on canvas with a definite London Urban feel.  While the bags are made in Britain, the materials are made in high-tech fabrics developed in Italy.   The canvas is first coated with PVC before being printed, then a textured finish is applied to create a 3D effect. And Anja's passion for blending experimentation with functionality are evident in the range of modern designs. The bags are padded and have a luxurious touch, while answering to the demands of modern urban living. Although the brand is just one year old, designer Anja Mury had worked for a number of top names in the industry, including Vivienne Westwood, Pringle of Scotland under Clare Waight Keller (now Chloé) and under Alistair Carr (ex Balenciaga) and Peter Pilotto.

Also making a debut launch this season was footwear brand NEON.  Emphasising the brand’s Born in Britain concept, managing director Sarah-Jayne Newey, explained that NEON focuses on British craftsmanship and manufacturing.   

Wearing one of her new trainers in an electric blue,  Sarah-Jayne explained that the shoes are comfortable to wear because they are inbedded with a memory foam that cushions the feet.   Sarah-Jayne said she has more than 10 years’ experience in the footwear fashion industry working for large retailers, but noticed a real gap in the market for a luxurious, stylish and yet comfortable trainer, so NEON was born.  “I am always on the go, I like to look good  and with my finger on the pulse of up and coming fashion trends and market changes,  I wanted to create a shoe that fit my look, and got me from meeting, to event, to exercise class – all form part of the inspiration for NEON."

Many of the NEON trainers feature the entire shoe, including the wedge and laces, in a single block colour and for the Autumn/Winter 14-15 collection the colours are rich and bold, and the leather ranges from a beautiful soft nubuck in Peroxide White to a fine grain leather in Pool Blue.  

“After spending years working with factories abroad and import/export regulations I decided to look at what the UK had to offer in terms of footwear manufacture.  We pride ourselves on British craftsmanship when it comes to luxury items such as yachts, motor cars and fashion clothing so why not offer the same precision service when it comes to shoes? Our materials are all sourced in the UK; a favourite of mine has to be the Kid skin – it is supple and velvety,” said Sarah-Jayne.
Surely, Neon is on the right track.  The trainer is one of the hottest footwear trends to-date, in-line with the current sportswear movement, as demonstrated by Chanel where Karl Lagerfeld models wore trainers with their couture outfits at the Spring/Summer 2014 show. 

Photo by Lucia Carpio for MyFashionConnect.

Beautifully designed scarfs in silk as well as wool at Age of Reason also caught my attention, where designer Ali Mapletoft was keen to show off her range of alluringly designed digital prints translated onto oversized scarfs, headscarves, snoods and wraps - all made in England.
The colours of Age of Reason AW14 collection are amazing - blazing from phosphorescent blues to vibrant hues of pink and yellow, accentuated by Ali's confident strokes.

Photo by Lucia Carpio for MyFashionConnect.

When the conversation touched on design concepts, Ali said she draws inspiration from a wide range of subjects, from African Art to Japanese print and infrared technology.  There is also one of a punky Tudor queen and a few featuring surreal landscapes.  There are shawls also fringed with pom-poms or feathers for a luxurious touch.  

Ali showed me one particular head-scarf measuring 70x70 cm (as seen here) that has been selling extremely well in the new Galeries Lafayette department store just recently opened in Shanghai, China.  It sports the message - I will never Surrender - that gives it an edgy touch.  That's the quirky sense of humour that makes British designers so sought-after in China and around the world.

Weekend Max Mara presents Monochrome with a twist - using a special yarn.

Weekend Max Mara is known for its high quality fashion designs for the contemporary woman and a recent project sees them moving to new platform with the use of a special yarn that is made of recycled plastic bottles.

The new Weekend MaX Mara Spring/Summer 2014 collection features an oversize herringbone check that gives a directional edge to the range of Monochrome looks, a key trend for this season.  What's more interesting is that the range is made of a special Italian-made hi-tech fabric, using a recycled yarn called NewLife™ .

This is part of a special project of the brand that underlines the constant commitment of the Group in the search

of new and best performing raw materials, as part of the creative process.

The use of NewLife™ is significant because this yarn is obtained by converting recycled plastic bottles in Italy and transformed into a polymer spun into yarns by means of a 100% Made in Italy mechanical rather than through a chemical process.

The manufacturing process is highly innovative, fully traceable, entirely mechanical and the Made in Italy label means the quality is impeccable.  The special yarn allows considerable savings in water and energy resources and a significant reduction of carbon dioxide emissions.

Being responsible to the environment and society, the group Max Mara also has installed 11,000 solar panels

for the production of eco-friendly electricity.

Sustainability, quality and attention to fashion blend in this cutting-edge style project by Max Mara Weekend,

which proudly stems from 100% Italian research.

About Newlife™
Newlife™  combines fashion with innovation, combining 30 years of textile expertise of Saluzzo Yarns to create a completely new kind of yarn 100% made in Italy.
It is created using a High Tech Conversion Model that transforms 100% traceable post-consumer plastic bottles into an unrivaled high tech quality polymer while generating considerable savings in water -94%, energy consumption -60% and carbon emissions -32% as per Life Cycle Assessment conducted by ICEA. Newlife™ is also GRS certified by Textile Exchange and is certified by Oekotex.
The Newlife™ yarns platform comes in a wide range of counts with multiple functional performances offering incredibly different choices in terms of applications in textile productions: fashion, casual wear, lingerie, outdoor, luggage, workwear, sportswear, labels, ribbons, automotive, home textiles and outdoor furnishing. The Newlife™ yarn range allows the creation of fabrics and garments that comply to sustainability requirements.

Monochrome the way to go for Spring 14

Victoria Beckham, Derek Lam and 3.1 Phillip Lim are among a host of key designers seeing Mono this coming Spring 2014 season.  Now on-line fashion retailer Goddiva is also embracing the Monochrome trend with Gusto, giving the trend a fresh modern take for its Spring 2014 collection.  The range will be available on the site from 24th January.   

As for British designer brand James Lakeland, inspiration is drawn from the 1960s for his new OP ART collection for Spring/Summer 2014.  

Note the clean-line tailoring in bold graphic prints.  
The collection includes sharp tailored trousers, blazers and blouses as well as short and sassy shift dresses in a timeless Monochrome palette.  Also popping up in the range is a canary yellow for a shot of modernism, such as the collar of a monochrome lozenge print dress and matching jacket; a sleeveless striped shift mini dress; a tight cigarette trouser worn with a clashing print monochrome blouse.  

When viewing the range, you can almost imagine the Go-Go music - the beat of the Swinging 60s - playing in the background.

The Motorbike Jacket for her from Barbour and for him from Ada + Nik AW 2014 collections

The leather biker’s jacket – made famous in the 1950s by sexy Hollywood heartthrobs – Marlon Brando and James Dean continues to be a fashion must-have even today, as it conjures up a carefree image with a rebellious streak.

Here above is an updated version from the autumn/winter 2014 women’s collection of Barbour International which has collaborated with Australian deluxe street wear brand Francis Leon.  The Nightrider collection takes its inspiration from a new breed of fearless heroine bikers, combining Francis Leon’s signature sport lux styling with Barbour’s motorcycle heritage.  The garments demonstrate futuristic functionality whilst still maintaining a strong Barbour International look and feel.  In addition to the  constructed jackets are quilted options and knitwear. The collection will be in selected stores worldwide from July 2014.

Earlier this month during London Collections: Men in London, British designers Ada Zanditon and Nik Thakkar unveiled their joint men’swear collection – Ada + Nik - featuring a number of their signature leather bikers’ jackets  in their new Autumn/Winter 2014 collection, entitled the Dark Wolf. 

Here are couple of examples of their desirable jackets taken from the catwalk show.

‘The Dark Wolf’ runway show was held at the ME London Hotel sponsored by Snow Queen Vodka.  

Ada + Nik entered the fashion world to critical acclaim in June 2013, and has been described as “the most refreshing new menswear line to emerge in recent years”. 

Co-created by two established industry influencers with a combined 15 years of experience, ‘the dark wolf’ explores a progressive noir aesthetic with a Bauhaus masculine silhouette.  

True to form, the designers pushed boundaries to reveal new shapes for the urban male.

The collection showcased thirty styles.  In addition to the leather biker jackets, there were versatile outerwear and intriguingly bold geometrically cut separates. 

Italy's foremost Menswear fair Pitti Uomo recorded a successful event

This season’s Pitti Immagine Uomo, the menswear fashion industry's prestigious trade fair held in Italy twice a year, has concluded its 85th edition in Florence five days ago, registering positive results, prompting the organisers to feel positive about the recovery of the industry. 

Raffaello Napoleone, CEO of Pitti Immagine said they registered 30,000 visitors, of which 21,000 were trade buyers, a 4% increase over the fair held in January 2013. “Italian attendance was also up: we could not hope for more. This is extremely gratifying and we are filled with enthusiasm about the June 2014 fair”.  

Mr. Napoleone added: “Among both the vendors and those who staged special events, we found a desire to grow, to  strengthen their presence on existing markets and to conquer the new and emerging ones that sent many quality buyers to the fair. We also saw that there was considerable teamwork among the vendors and retailers, ready to meet the needs and desires – and problems - of the many and different consumers that make up the market”.

From the opening ceremony in Palazzo Vecchio all the way through the fashion events held around the city, Pitti Immagine Uomo 85 (Florence, 7-10 January 2014) was marked by an atmosphere brimming with energy.  

The exhibitors, representing more than eleven hundred brands showing their 2014/15 fall-winter collections at the Fortezza da Basso demonstrated that research and innovation were key for developing designs for the coming season.

Pitti Imagine reported that the non-Italian visitors came from 120 countries around the world.  The number of buyers from the USA – the fundamental market in terms of prestige and as the global benchmark - rose by 10%. 

The number of visitors from Asia came in force.  For example, while Japan buyers were the largest group from their continent, buyers from South Korea – the new and promising frontier in Asia – went up by 5%. Excellent turnouts also recorded from Sweden, Holland, Eastern European markets, Canada, Australia and the Arab Emirates.   Others came from Central Asia, the entire Middle East, Oceania, South and Central America and Africa.

And here are the figures for the top 20 foreign markets that attended Pitti Uomo:Japan (833 buyers), Germany (749), Turkey (562), Great Britain (554), Spain (535), Holland (456), China (431), France (372), South Korea (323), Russia (290), Switzerland (280), United States (256), Belgium (231), Austria (175), Sweden (126), Greece (126), Portugal (116), Hong Kong (89), Denmark (79) and Norway (64).

Photos above supplied by Pitti Uomo.

Yak Wool knitwear available now in the UK at online boutique site.

While many of us are probably dreaming of warmer climes, winter is still with us here in the UK.  But luckily so far we are not experiencing anything like the temperatures recorded lately in North America, nor in the Tibetan plateau where it can drop to below -30°C during the winter.  The latter is where one can find Yak wool, or Khullu.  

A hand-woven Plateau Carreau scarf made in 50% Yak wool, 30% sheep wool and 20% silk scarf in flagstone grey,, measuring 70x190cm.
To view the product on ...in-a-strange-land.com, click here.

According to Norlha, a company founded in 2007 by a mother and daughter team who combined their love of textiles with the desire to establish a sustainable project in Tibet, Yak Wool is as soft as cashmere, warmer than merino and stronger than sheep wool and is also a sustainable material.  Tibetan people have been working with this material for years.  The Yak wool can only be hand-picked from 2 year old animals.  It then takes each expert spinner one month to spin 2KG of wool from 300kg of raw material.

Hand-woven scarf in 70% Yak ‘khullu’, 30% silk scarf.
Click here for more details from on-line boutique. 

Norlha employs nomadic yak herding communities for a portion of the year to weave their products, which includes a range of scarves and knitwear made from 100% yak wool and blended with either cotton or silk, thus providing the herders with a way to diversify their income in a world where choosing to live a traditional lifestyle can leave people below the poverty line.

Now on-line boutique, … in-a-strange-land.com is bringing the Yak knitwear to the UK.

Founder Joseph Burns of ...in-a-strange-land said,  “I’m delighted to be the first retailer to bring these wonderful products to the UK.  The Norlha brand fits perfectly with our ideals at …in a strange land and by selling online we’re very excited to be able to offer these luxury products at truly competitive prices.”

Founded in July 2013, …in a strange land’s mission is to buck the mass-market trend with unique, hand-crafted products that have been responsibly and ethically sourced with minimal impact to the lifestyles of the producers and their environment. …in a strange land is a sole trading company and based in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire.

For further information on …in a strange land, visit their website . 

Floral Colours - Inspiration for Design and Fashion at Wiseley Garden

World colour authority Pantone named Radiant Orchid as the key colour of 2014, as has been seen on many catwalk collections for Spring/Summer 2014.

Orchid as seen at The Glasshouse, RHS Wiseley Garden, Surrey, UK.

To get inspiration of this unique colour, one can pay a visit to the RHS Wiseley Garden in Surrey, UK.  In The Glasshouse, I found a number of varieties such as the orchid shown in picture above that gives a wonderful purple tone.
But why stop there.  Here are a few more options of delicate and sweet floral colours found at Wiseley Garden.

STREPTOCARPUS

PELARGONIUM TRANSVAALENSE

NERINE "HITOMI"
All photos by Lucia Carpio for MY FASHION CONNECT.