This tune just came into my head...

Fashion - Turn to the left
Fashion - Turn to the right

I love love love!

The one thing in common: Passion

Yesterday evening, I went to Dublin's 3rd Annual Ethical Fashion Week: Fashion Mentoring Sessions.  I got to meet people who all had one thing in common: Passion.  Whether it was for styling, ethical fashion, design, pr or fashion journalism, they all possessed an unwavering enthusiasm that inspired me.

I had the pleasure of meeting people such as Aine McDonnell (Rathdown Enterprise Board Mentor), Andreas Pettersson (Fashion Photographer), Angela Scanlon (Fashion Stylist & Journalist), Constance Harris (Fashion Editor of the Sunday Independent) and Matt Matheson & James O'Neill (of Thinkhouse PR) who were at the top of their field and was in the position to give sound advice to the career driven generation coming behind them.  They gave me the inspiration to work hard and tunnel all my energy into getting what I want through diligence and perseverance.  

Following the Mentoring Sessions, we were graced with the presence of Katharine Hamnett for a live interview with Constance Harris.

I have to shamefully admit that following her interview I snuck up to Katharine to gush at her and tell her how amazing and inspiring she was.  Yes, I'm a total nerdatron but I did a project on her during my time in Parsons and I just HAD to!!!

At Parsons we were taught that to be a great designer the most important aspect was to have a strong point of view.   Katharine Hamnett is a highly talented and intelligent designer because of the strength of her point of view and convictions.  She paved the way for ethical fashion and pioneered an ethical thought process that can and has changed the world.

Thank you Katharine Hamnett for telling me that while success can be measured in fame and monetary value, it is better for your soul to see your convictions through regardless of the obstacles.

Summer Colour

Since its 21 degrees out and I'm BSing (Blogging and Sunbathing!) I thought that I would write about my favourite beauty product: Nail Polish.  Yes, most ladies would never leave their house without mascara, others a lash of lippy but for me, therapy lies in the purchase of a new colour that excites me and the time and care it takes to do a manicure.  Is it just me or does that sound really nerdy?

I came to realise lately that even though I love colour and am mildly obsessed by it, I don't wear much of it.  In fact my wardrobe is dominated by shades of white and black.  Though this summer I decided to rock the neutrals, i.e. grey, blush and shades of browns.  Not exactly the colours of the rainbow...  I guess that is why nail polish is my way of expressing my love of colour.

These are my summer picks and the ones that I have deemed my favourite for the summer.  If you meet me on the street no doubt I will be wielding one of these five pretty colours: (from left to right in photo) Instyle Candy by Nails Inc. London (free with this months Instyle Magazine), OPI on Collins Ave by OPI, 331 Allegoria by Chanel, Gone Fishing by Topshop Nails and You don't know Jacques! by OPI.  

These colours are pretty and bright but I must say takes a steady hand and 2 coats to get looking great.  Right now I am wearing Gone Fishing and while its chipping off, it still looks really good.

The nail polishes are photographed here with bangles I designed and handmade at my time in Parsons.  They were part of a tribal collection of shoes and accessories and are really easy to make.  Buy yourself some cheap bangles, find some thin yarn/rope/thread and start wrapping.  End the wrapping by sewing the end in and add some beads or charms.

I visited the new Topshop makeup collection last week.  I love the packaging even though I normally like my beauty products to be in the black slick format.  Thumbs up to the nail polish and their range of colours.  I do wish however that their eye liner and crayon sticks came in better colours.  Go check it out for yourself but try not to spend all your pennies in one go as they promise to update and issue new colours all the time!

SS10 Pringle of Scotland Tilda Swinton / Ryan McGinley Film

Tilda Swinton is my ultimate fashion icon.  She takes risks like no other and always looks like she pushed the boundary of fashion yet remains gracious and elegant.  Pringle of Scotland, known for their golfing knits to the mainstream, has taken a gigantic leap by collaborating with Tilda Swinton and Ryan Mc Ginley for this beautiful film.  I applaud.

SS10 Pringle of Scotland Tilda Swinton / Ryan McGinley Film from GlassmatesTV on Vimeo.

Landscapes are always an amazing source of inspiration, for colour and texture.  The Irish terrain is of course close to my heart but the Scottish landscape cannot be denied its magical beauty.

Spring / Summer 2010 Pringle of Scotland

Autumn / Winter 2010 Pringle of Scotland

Both colour palettes are true to the Scottish heritage but the use of knit is incomparable.  My ultimate want are those long slouchy trousers from the AW collection and the ochre mustard velvet.

Le Galaxie @ Whelans Tonight

I'm so irritated that I'm going to miss this.

LE GALAXIE
+ Guests - Sergeant Megaphone & Adeyhawke

Le GALAXIE's amazing first year took their Grids VS Guitars mania to London Calling, Bud Rising, support with The Presets, Fight Like Apes & The Whip, the Electric Arena at Electric Picnic and a hit singles, 'You Feel The Fire!' and ‘We Bleed The Blood Of Androids' (available now from all on-line stores and selected retail outlets.)

An Irish tour in March 08 and invitation from I'm from Barcelona to the Popadelica Festival in Sweden indicates what a year already awaits aboard the LeGALAXIE mothership.

With joyous ceiling-lifting live shows, Le Galaxie are Michael Pope on guitar, vocoder and synths, Anthony Hyland on guitar, Alastair Higgins on drums and David McGloughlin on bass.

''Meshing pounding techno rhythms, shimmering cyber-synths and cascading streams of sonic guitar-wizardry, sci-fi sampledelics Le Galaxie have wasted no time stamping their 'grid vs guitars' ethos on 2008...' Drop-D.ie

''Plenty to twitch and stomp your feet to here...out of this world...'THE SUN

'Swooning, gorgeous atmospherics in the vein of Explosions in the Sky...This is 22nd-century madness...' JAMES MONTGOMERY, MTV.COM

'[We Bleed The Blood Of Androids] is as fine an example as any of their spaced-out, sci-fi inspired sonic explorations...manages to retain and organic warmth that's rare to find in electronica...' HOTPRESS MAGAZINE

'[We Bleed The Blood Of Androids] from loudly heralded Dublin space rockers Le Galaxie sounds like Mercury Rev fronted by Hal, the bonkers super-computer from 2001: A space odyssey. As eerie synths creak and guitars swoon and sigh, a (possible insane) robot chirrups menacingly in the foreground- all to goosebump-inducing effect. Please buy this and make them famous...”SINGLE OF THE WEEK, METRO

‘Genuinely one of a kind…' STATE MAGAZINE

Whelan's, 25 Wexford St, D2.
Tickets: €5
Doors: 8pm

Weekend of music and Africa Day in Dublin

Finally getting around to writing about my long weekend in Dublin. It kicked of with sessions in Tower Records with Anthony Furey and The Young Folk on Friday and Cathy Davey on Saturday afternoon.

Dublin’s Iveagh Gardens was the next stop on Sunday for the fourth annual Africa Day festival.  Organised by Irish Aid, the Government’s overseas development programme, attracted several thousand people. Queues for the entry gate at Clonmel Street stretched back as far as St Stephen’s Green at one point in the afternoon.  Luckily for me, friends were waiting half-way in the queue by the time I had arrived fashionably late!  Music was the main attraction at the gardens with Irish performer  Jape, Congolese musician Niwel Tsumbu, Dave Flynn, the Amazing Few, the Discovery Gospel Choir and the Newpark Afro-Cuban Orchestra.  If you missed it on Sunday, it will swing over to Limerick on the 30th of May.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2010/0517/1224270550019.html

Sunday night was Communion at Whelans.  There was music of all emotions thrown into one amazing session.  Rachel Sermanni provided acoustic vocal elegance, Anthony Furey and The Young Folk had us tapping our feet and singing along and The Last Tycoons had us wanting the night to never end.  It didn't matter that most of us had work in the morning.  It felt like summer and hell we were going to enjoy it!

If it's not rough it isn't fun - Part 2

So, as I said that the next installment of this nonsense would be to make a camisole out of silk and lace from my inventory of fashion paraphernalia. This I did.

Once again, very little utensils were used in its production. Scissors, sewing machine, ruler and pins. No pattern making, no intense measurements like I was dutifully taught at Parsons The Newschool for Design. None of that nonsense. Very, very 'sewing on the seat of my pants', so to speak. Raw edges galore, unmeasured cut seam allowances in abundance. In fact, I know that Larissa {my amazing construction teacher from Parsons would say "Zoë! Why you do???"}.

Regardless, this was a lot of fun. Rough, yes, but fun, and that's all we want.

I've decided from this little experiment to keep going until all my paraphernalia is nil. I have many swatches, swaths of fabric and not-whats. The next installment is to make a wee collection of soft toys from my swatches and buttons. This I know will be not only fun but a trip down memory lane from my days as a 6 year old. Everyone loves tchotchkes so don't be surprised if you're my friend and on your next birthday you receive a weird looking one legged doll made out of fabric!

If it's not rough it isn't fun

As the Creative Director of Design at Libra Leather Inc, NYC, not only did I get to work with the great Mitch Alfus and Samantha Jones, I got creative freedom and some leather swatches and skins.

This morning at breakfast, I remembered that I had an amazing skin of washable pig suede in my inventory of fashion paraphernalia that I had yet to find a use for. Usually if I had enough I would make a jacket out of it but I only had one skin. {Oooh speaking of which, this leather would have looked so good in a neoprene and wool jacket! A sketch will have to be drawn up.} Instead I made myself a simple bag. 

I wasn't joking when I said if it's not rough it isn't fun! This bag is disgustingly rough but it was super fun to make. The reason I say this is because the only thing involved in its production was my Fiskars scissors, L-square ruler and my cheapo Lidl sewing machine. On my floor I laid out the leather, cut out a folded rectangle and sewed up the sides and the corner to give it depth. Then the handles; two approx. 1 inch strips sewed to the tops. Now I have to admit while this was rough, I did use a nifty sew stitch function for decoration. This was used on the handles and on the top side seams to reinforce my dodgy sewing work!

And that was it. Sometimes the best work is spontaneous. I added my vintage oversize safety pin that was given to me by my beautiful confidante and friend Jen Behar who happens to be an amazing jewellery designer based in L.A.  Check out her first collection by clicking on the link.

Next is going to be a lace and silk camisole.  I'm a bit nervous on this one but it's all about the designing and creating by the seat of your pants effect.  Wish me luck!

Lernert & Sander

Chocolate Bunny from Lernert & Sander on Vimeo.

When I was working at Pour La Victoire Studio as a shoe designer, I was in charge of research for the collections.  While sieving through the amounts of images, videos and files of fashion I came across this video created by the artists Lernert & Sander from Amsterdam.

This video is undoubtably beautiful.  The use of one colour juxtaposes the chocolate rabbit in the happiest of manner but yet the eerie soundtrack demands the voyeur to take the images seriously.  The video is, dare I say, a trip around human emotion.  The saturated candy colours of youth makes one smile at the thought of chocolate but then as the little bunny melts in the most macabre manner, a sense of sadness creeps in.

Lernert & Sander are ridiculously talented in what they do.  See Vimeo for all their other great visual inventions.

Summer In The City

This is some wishful thinking.  Irish weather... we are due a real summer, a summer we can be proud of.  So in the spirit of the sun... here's one of my favourite from the summer of 1966.  'Summer in the City' by Lovin' Spoonful.  Its old as hell and reminds me of my summer in Harlem, NYC.  Enjoy!

Fashion Evolution

Ireland's 3rd Ethical Fashion Week is coming up, May 24th to 29th.

Pencil it into your diaries, I have.  I will be at these events:

WHAT: FASHION MENTORING SESSIONS

WHEN: Wednesday 26th // 6pm - 8pm                  

Calling all fashion entrepreneurs / designers / photographers / stylists / students & fans of fashion. . .

This is your chance to sit down with some of Irelands most influential industry experts and ask questions, connect and learn more about the industry here to-day. Essential for anyone pursuing a career in Fashion. Mentors include: Constance Harris, Fashion Editor of the Sunday Independent; Stylist, Angela Scanlon; Professor Angela Woods, Head of Design Faculty NCAD,  Fashion Photographer; Andreas Pettersson, Sophie Rieu  amongst others.

WHERE: The Sugar Club, Leeson Street Upper

COST: 15


WHAT: FASHIONING ENTREPRENEURSHIP; FASHION EDITORCONSTANCE HARRIS IN CONVERSATION WITH DESIGNERKATHARINE HAMNETT

WHEN: Wednesday 26th // 8.30 - 10.00 

In 1979, Katharine Hamnett set up her own label. By 1985, it was selling in over 700 retail outlets in 40 countries, with a loyal following including The Beatles, Princess Diana, Faye Dunaway, Madonna and George Michael. Responsible for much of the original 80s fashion, she coined the phrase 'Power Dressing', epitomising the 80's lifestyle and spearheading the return of tailoring and glamour. Her success steamrolled into the next decade as Hamnett rocked the industry by becoming the first fashion designer not to show in her own capital after a row with the British Fashion Council. Hamnett is considered to be one of the most copied designers in the world with her influence laying claim to the invention of the original slogan t-shirt, stretch denim, stonewashing, parachute silk, garment dyeing, leggings, lycra and jumpsuits.
In 2004, she cancelled her licences and began manufacturing her own ethical and environmental collection, laying down the gauntlet for industry change.
Hear Katharine’s story of her journey from one of the world’s most prolific designers to being voted 'Green Godmother' of the industry.

WHERE: The Sugar Club, Leeson Street Upper
COST: 10

Nana Fu

This is my wonderful grandmother.  I visit her every time I go to Hong Kong.  A few years ago during a sit, chat and fruit eating session, I noticed this portrait was above her bed.  I immediately gasped and gushed how beautiful my grandmother was.  I was so proud.  When I was given this photo, she said to me "I was around 13 in this photo, maybe a little older.  You should have it since you love it so much.  Nana isn't so beautiful anymore."

She explained how the colour was so vivid in the photo.  In the 1930s, a photo like this would have been taken and printed but it would have been taken to a colourist after and the artist would add the colour.  In this photo, her cheeks and lips have been brightened with the use of paint and brush.  It was the 1930s version of photoshop!

While Nana Fu is older now, I don't feel that she is any less beautiful, well at least in my eyes.  She's what I hope to be; aging gracefully, caring, generous, wise and continues to be the head of the household.  She is an inspiration and I thank her for giving me my magnificent mother.

I think if I was to save any photo in my house or paper document I would choose Nana Fu above any other.

If you have any beautiful vintage photos send them on by attaching them to your comment box.  Attach a quick story as to who the person is, and why you sent it - whether for the fashion or for the story, etc.

Lonny Magazine

Lonny Magazine is one of my favourite online magazines out there.  Its beautiful, to put simply.  I know its not one of those trendy trendy magazines that I would normally blog about but I can't deny that everything in this online edition is just beautiful.  Everytime I digitally flick through another page, I am left wondering if I will ever own an apartment as wonderful as the one on my screen.  Creatively inspiring and this issue is eco-orientated too.

www.lonnymag.com

Hello World...

Its been a long time.  I've been rather busy fortunately.

With a huge move from New York back to Ireland, its time to come out from hibernation.

A lot more posts will be coming soon and the posts will start to grow from fashion to music to art to events to whatever else comes along the way so be excited because I certainly am!