Vivienne Westwood will front an international government campaign

Westwood’s Star Role

VIVIENNE WESTWOOD will front an international government campaign. The advertisements will be shown on giant billboards worldwide, promoting all things British. The GREAT project celebrates areas of British excellence - technology and innovation, entrepreneurship, creativity, knowledge, green, heritage, sport, shopping, music and countryside - and Westwood has been chosen to represent the creativity category.

SEE 15 REASONS TO LOVE BEING BRITISH

Prime Minister David Cameron first announced plans for the initiative in September 2011, with the aim of highlighting Britain as a great destination to visit, live, work, study, invest and do business.

YOU SHOULD SEE: Vivienne Westwood'a latest catwalk show...

YOU SHOULD SEE: What Westwood wore to meet the Queen...

Source: VOGUE - ELLA ALEXANDER 19 July 2012

Dior - Raf Simons' debut Dior show

Dior’s New Look

THE fashion world has given its seal of approval to Raf Simons' debut Dior show yesterday - a collection he wanted to link "to the codes of Dior", but with "more energy". The show was watched by the cream of the industry, including Riccardo Tisci, Marc Jacobs, Donatella Versace, Diane von Furstenberg and Alber Elbaz.

SEE THE SHOW PICTURES HERE

"Before the show, I found it difficult to imagine what Raf would do at Dior," admitted Versace, "but from the very first look today it made total sense."

"[It was] absolutely poetic," Elbaz told the Guardian. "It was perfection. Today was a beautiful marriage between a designer and a house."

"Raf Simons did a SUPERB Dior show! Very DIOR! Another talented Belgian! Love Diane," Tweeted von 

Furstenberg last night.

"It was what you hoped for and more - it was such a beautiful homage to Dior, a mix of the modern, clean and unexpected with a real lightness of touch," Lucinda Chambers, Vogue fashion director,  told us. It was more elegant than elegant and he trod a brilliant line of being him and being respectful of Dior, I loved it."

READ THE SHOW REPORT IN FULL HERE

Jacobs told WWD that the collection was "absolutely magnificent", while Tisci called it "very Raf".

LVMH chairman Bernard Arnault also offered Simons' his praise: "I didn't want to rush," he told WWD of his year-long search to find a creative director for the label. "It was really a question of choosing the best person for the job, and he stood head and shoulders above the rest: the greatest talent of the moment for Dior, the greatest house in the world."

One of the most talked-about debuts in fashion history, Simons offering mixed his signature minimal, aesthetic with the pretty, femininity of Dior - signifying that the future of this iconic brand lays in very safe hands.

SEE SIMONS' DIOR DEBUT

Dior has been the centre of fashion gossip since February last year, when its then-creative director, John Galliano, was arrested formaking anti-Semitic remarks in a Parisian bar and sacked two months later in April. The rumour mill went into overdrive regarding which designer might succeed him, with mooted names having included  Jacobs, Tisci, Haider Ackermann, Hedi Slimane,Stefano Pilati and  Erdem.

READ ALL THE TWISTS OF THE DIOR STORY HERE

YOU SHOULD SEE: The Dior show archive...

YOU SHOULD SEE: Raf Simons' biography in full...

Source: VOGUE - ELLA ALEXANDER 03 July 2012

London Collections: Men

London Collections: Men

BRITISH menswear is finally ready to fly solo. This weekend, from June 15 - 17, 54 shows are taking place across the capital as part of the inaugural London Collections: Men spring/summer 2013. The event begins tonight as HRH The Prince of Wales, himself a master of timeless tailoring, gets set to host the opening reception at St James' Palace. After that, drinks at Tommy Hilfiger, before embarking on a busy weekend of shows, presentations and dinner parties.

The London Collections: Men will also showcase the work of designers previously more associated with womenswear. Christopher Kane, Richard Nicoll, Jonathan Saunders and Meadham Kirchhoff are all raring to go, with Nicoll and Kirchhoff debuting their very first menswear collections this Sunday.

It's not going to be all Savile Row and dapper gents though. Joining the polished institutions - Hackett, Dunhill, Richard James, Patrick Grant's E Tautz and Hardy Amies, to name but a few - are Fashion East's wildly individual MAN initiative, Lee Roach and JW Anderson. On Friday, London College of Fashion will host its first standalone menswear show in the vaults of the Royal Society - featuring new collections from recent alumni.

READ THE FULL MENSWEAR LINE-UP HERE

British menswear has always been about mixing tradition with an edge only London streets can provide. What started out as a single day that closed London Fashion Week, is hopefully on its way to becoming an establishment. 

YOU SHOULD SEE:  What Dylan Jones told us about the new men's initiative...

YOU SHOULD SEE:  All the action from the men's catwalks in Paris and Milan...

Source: VOGUE - ANZEJ DEZAN 14 June 2012

London Collections: Men

London Collections: Men, kick-starting the menswear calendar from Friday 15th June 2012, provides a new opportunity for the British Fashion Council (BFC) to unite fashion and digital innovation, encouraging engagement with this brand new menswear showcase through social media, live streaming and fashion film.

All shows at The Hospital Club, the event hub, will be live streamed online. Anyone can watch these shows at home or on the move, whether on their home computer, portable device or smart phone www.londoncollections.co.uk/live. The Topman Design show will also be live streamed from the Topman Venue at the Sorting Office, WC1.

As well as live-streamed shows, the screening room at The Hospital Club will have a dedicated film programme, curated by the BFC Fash/On Film sponsored by River Island panel. London's rich cultural landscape inspires and contributes to the success of British menswear and this unique relationship will be showcased by the feature films screened: Test Presents will host an evening with DJ and fashion luminary Jeffrey Hinton who will be showing excerpts from his unique 80s film archive, panel member Kathryn Ferguson will discuss fashion film with female menswear designers and GQ.com's Jamie Millar will introduce a film that exemplifies men's style for him. The BFC have teamed up with Dazed & Confused who will present 'RISE Menswear SS13', their selection of emerging talent - Alex Mullins, Claire Barrow and Craig Green - who have produced films to showcase their collections with Dazed directors Alex Sainsbury, Fumi Nagasaka and Zoe Hitchen. These will be screened on Saturday afternoon.

The Fashion 2012 Menswear Committee will share their London Collections: Men moments on the BFC’s new Pinterestaccount. Influential figures within the menswear industry including Jeremy Langmead (Editor-in-Chief, MR PORTER.COM) will create daily virtual pin boards of their favourite catwalk looks, street style and inspiring moments from the event.

The public can get involved: followers can Tweet or Pin their outfits and menswear street style photos, whether taken at the event or anywhere in the world, using the hashtag #ManAboutTown. These will all be collated into a dedicated pinboard and Facebook album, aiming to provide a crowd-sourced visual collection of the best of British men’s style.

The BFC continue to work closely with Twitter to promote conversation around London Collections: Men using the hashtag #londoncollections. Q&A sessions will be held over the 3 days from the official @BFC account. Tweeters can pose questions in real-time to members of the Fashion 2012 Menswear Committee including designer Alex Bilmes (Editor, Esquire) and designer Richard James (#AskLCM). The London Collections: Men Timeline will take to Twitter, keeping track of the shows throughout the week with live updates of start times (#LCMtimeline). The Show Schedule is sponsored by Swarovski, the Official Timepiece of London Collections: Men.

To coincide with The Prince of Wales officially launching London Collections: Men at St James's Palace on Thursday 14th June, the BFC have worked closely with St James's Palace to create an interactive image gallery dedicated to his style. From highland tartans to Savile Row suits, the user can click on the Prince’s outfits to discover the origin of each item and more about the brand. His preferred London brands are also plotted on a map with a picture of the related outfit.

The gallery will be a key feature of the London Collections: Men website. The site, and newly launched mobile site, both feature maps of menswear show, event and showroom locations, as well as hotels, bars and restaurants. Users can create their own online personal calendar for the event, and use the website for directions between the shows; all features of the site that aim to use digital to simplify and maximize the visits of press and buyers to London Collections: Men.

Aurasma will bring London Collections: Men to digital life with the BFC and MR PORTER.COM. The windows of the Hospital Club will feature a life-sized catwalk illustration: using their mobile device, passers by simply need to download the MR PORTER Style Help app and hold it over the illustration, at which point it will spring to life with the latest catwalk footage from London Collections: Men. Aurasma is a new technology that is capable of recognising images and objects in the real world and seamlessly integrating them with rich video content and audio.

The BFC’s digital innovation strategy aims to harness technology and creativity to promote British designers to global audiences.

To see a full schedule of events and presentations in The Hospital Club’s screening room, visit: www.londoncollections.co.uk/lineup

To view the British Fashion Council’s brand new Pinterest account:

www.pinterest.com/britishfashion

To see full schedule of the guests for Twitter Q&A, visit:

www.londoncollections.co.uk/TwitterQA

www.twitter.com/BFC

For press enquiries regarding London Collections: Men please contact:

Will Rowley, British Fashion Council, +44 (0) 20 7759 1968

will.rowley@britishfashioncouncil.com

Dame Westwood Fight

Westwood Fight

VIVIENNE WESTWOOD has criticised plans of a London council to ban charity Scope from basing its clothing banks on council-owned land in Bromley. Instead, private company Veolia will run its own banks and is planning to recycle or sell the donated clothes for a profit, with the council taking a percentage of the profits.

"Charity shops are part of the fabric of our great city, but this short-sighted approach is totally unfair and damages charities at the expense of a quick buck," Westwood told the Evening Standard.

Scope, which has raised £360,000 from selling donated clothes in the Bromley area over the last ten years, provides support for disabled people and their families.

"Is this really what the public wants to happen when it donates unwanted clothes?"asked Scope chief executive Richard Hawkes. "We urge councils to think twice before deciding to sell off these sites. They make a big difference by supporting the work of charities like Scope."

YOU SHOULD SEE: What Westwood wore to meet the Queen...

YOU SHOULD SEE: Westwood inside Vogue's June issue...

Source: VOGUE - ELLA ALEXANDER 28May 2012

Jacobs Unleashed

Jacobs Unleashed

MARC JACOBS loves to smoke - "smoking's the best! Smoking and sleeping are the two best things in the world" - but he hates people talking about when he was a "fat heroin addict," mostly because it's totally inaccurate.

"That was the stupidest thing I ever heard," he said, "because first of all I was never a fat heroin addict, I was a skinny heroin addict - and I got over that luckily. I was fat when I stopped doing drugs, not while I was doing drugs. I don't know anyone who's fat when they're doing drugs."

SEE JACOBS' STYLE EVOLUTION

He also gamely acknowledges that consumers have no need to buy his creations for his own label or for Louis Vuitton - but do so for the same reason that he'd like a private jet: luxury.

"Luxury is anything you don't need, right?" he told Germany'sInterview magazine. "I mean you need food, water, clothing, shelter… but good wine, good food, beautiful interiors, nice clothes; those aren't necessities, they are luxuries - it's all luxury. I mean, I'd love to have a private jet - I know people who fly by private jet all the time… I've hitched a ride a few times and it is not overrated at all; it's a great way to travel!"

READ MARC JACOBS' BIOGRAPHY

He also revealed all about working with his now-friend Victoria Beckham on an advertising campaign for his label in 2008, long before she launched her eponymous brand.

"Victoria would never have been the type of person that I think anyone would have thought of as our customer," Jacobs said. "[She] liked the idea very much and was totally into it so I said to Juergen Teller: 'Let's treat her like she's a kind of product.' Because she is, she's created herself… And the first image you saw was just her legs coming out of a shopping bag."

YOU SHOULD SEE: Marc Jacobs, then and now...

YOU SHOULD SEE: Marc Jacobs' latest show for Louis Vuitton...

Source: VOGUE -  LAUREN MILLIGAN 08 June 2012

Le Bon Bride

Le Bon Bride

STÉPHANE ROLLAND's final couture look - his bride - at his catwalk show, is never a traditional bridal dress, and this season was no different. Following his  burnt orange jumpsuit for spring/summer 2011, and autumn/winter 2011-12's kimono-style coat, this season's red creation had an added element of drama: Yasmin Le Bon.

SEE THE MAKING OF THE BRIDE HERE

Tell us about the inspiration behind this season's bride.

"The bridal gown is always the most anticipated look in the show, with all threads and themes culminating in one final creation. The inspiration for the collection as a whole was the work of architect and artist Michel Deverne, as particularly reflected in the lacquered metal adornment cascading down the front. I have been known for steering clear of traditional aspects of bridal wear and this season was no exception. I wanted a pure red figure, with a train worthy of a coronation."

Did Mr Deverne attend the show?

"He was invited and did confirm attendance, but sadly pulled out at the eleventh hour due to illness. Communication resumed after the show to arrange a meeting between us, only to have that cancelled with tragic news of a fire at his home that claimed not only much of his work but also his life. It was devastating to hear."

What processes were involved in making this season's bride?

"Simple designs of the purest cut are often very technical challenges to execute. I needed the train to spread across the width of the catwalk, without folding when pulled forward. This aspiration involved constructing a complex internal structure and took several adjustments."

SEE THE MAKING OF THE BRIDE HERE

 How much fabric did it take and how many hours of work?

"We used 45 metres of silk and wool jersey. It took four seamstresses around 200 hours to complete."

 What was the most challenging thing about achieving this season's vision for the bride?

"The greatest task was something I face every season: to create an authentic surprise and stir up emotions. This, of course, not only depends on the creation, but also on its presentation, namely the model bearing it, and the music accompanying it down the catwalk."

You chose a high-profile model as this season's bride for the first time. Why did you ask Yasmin Le Bon to wear this dress?

"Yasmin is, above all else, an encounter with beauty. Her integrity and principles are contrasted by a delightful rock 'n' roll vibe. She is so British but at the same time maintains that sparkling Persian charm. With her timeless beauty and unique aura, Yasmin was an obvious choice."

What did she bring to it that no other model would have?

"A serene sensuality… with a dramatic dignity: she rivets the audience with her curious blend of noble royal and haughty warrior. She was electric. It was a moment of true grace."

She had escorts on the catwalk. Was this aesthetic or practical? Was the dress very heavy?

"The two boys weren't planned at all. It was a last-minute choice during rehearsal, two hours before show time. The dress weighed in at about 110 pounds, and the friction on the carpet was slowing her movements. We initially lined it with plastic to ease the friction, but she still needed assistance to turn at the catwalk end, so we called in two courtly 'pages' to escort her, which in fact added a romantic touch."

SEE YASMIN'S ROMANTIC ESCORTS

How did you feel when she took to the catwalk?

"As soon as Yasmin stepped out into this perilous performance, my team and I were in a total state of suspense, glued to the monitor backstage. But we were soon reassured by the rapturous applause echoing across the museum. It was a terrific thrill."

YOU SHOULD SEE:  Last season's kimono coat, and the orange jumpsuit-wearing bride…

YOU SHOULD SEE:  What Rolland told us about his famous fans Beyonce, Cheryl and Rihanna...

Source: VOGUE - LAUREN MILLIGAN 23 March 2012

Sylvain Homo

Sylvain Homo latest fashion editorials published in Le monde de l'optique and Milk magazine 

Le monde de l'optique 

MILK 

BIO

Sylvain Homo was born in the north west of France in the late 70s.

After his cinema studies he moved to Paris in 2003.

He works between London and Paris.

Contact Info:

Sylvain Homo

Photographer

3D Cintra park

London SE19 2LH

+44 (0) 771 244 2459

www.sylvain-homo.com

Have lunch with David Gandy for a very good cause

Twitter Treat

WOULD you like to have lunch with David Gandy? Or own a one-of-a-kind dress designed byMatthew Williamson? Some of fashion's biggest names will be taking to Twitter to auction priceless prizes for the next 10 days - starting today - and it's all in the name of Sport Relief, as Twitrelief returns for a second year.

SEE DAVID GANDY, THEN AND NOW

"Twitrelief is a fantastic and innovative way of raising money for a great cause and I'm hoping that people will dig deep to make sure they win the prizes they want," Gandy said. "For this year's Twitrelief I'm offering the highest bidder the chance to have lunch at one of London's top restaurants for some great food and plenty of wine, the only downside is, they have to have lunch with me."

READ DAVID GANDY'S LATEST BLOG

In addition to the aforementioned, over 100 famous figures - including Thandie Newton, David Walliams and new designer on the block Tinie Tempah - will be offering their services, possessions and support in aid of the cause.

Follow @twitrelief for your chance to bid for the prizes. 

YOU SHOULD SEE: David Gandy's most famous Dolce & Gabbana campaign...

YOU SHOULD SEE: Which is your favourite dress from Williamson's latest collection?

Source: VOGUE - HATTIE WEST 15 March 2012

PAUL SMITH From A- Z

From A- Z

PAUL SMITH is writing a new book - an A-Z of his life story, from his inspirations and unique approach to design, to his favourite bands and his relationship with his father.

"I was being filmed for a documentary by French company Arte and they originally wanted to make a small booklet to go in with the DVD," Smith told us today. "When they started talking and visited my London studio they realised they could make it into a simple book instead. It is really the idea of ABC - A is for Abbey Road - a little story about each letter along with my photographs taken over various years and in different locations."

The VOGUE.COM blogger and British Fashion Award Outstanding Achievement winner's debut book features 200 pages of insights into his world, with 300 pictures - including notes, scribbles, sketches and personal photographs. The tome will be available to buy from May this year.

YOU SHOULD SEE: Paul Smith's latest catwalk show...

YOU SHOULD SEE: Smith's picks of the most unmissable exhibitions...

Source: VOGUE - ELLA ALEXANDER 15 March 2012