New Shoes!

My new shoes arrived in the post today... YAY! I LOVE them! They were from Urban Outfitters, £80 down to £49.50. I have been looking for a good pair of wedge shoes for a long time, and these are uber pretty :)

Eminem - Love The Way You Lie ft. Rihanna

I have seen this video a couple of times now, and I must confess... I LOVE it! I have never really been a fan of eminem, rap isnt really a passion of mine... but this song is so passionate and emotionally stirring. The video, featuring Megan Fox and Dominic Monaghan is really beautiful, and there is something about Megan Fox in particular which is just so compelling. She is such an interesting character, and so beautiful, but in an unconventional way, with her tattoos, long dark hair, squinty eyes and her attitude :) And Rihanna gets a lot of respect from me, with her Rock chick transformation and beautiful rich voice. BRILLIANT song and video <3

Elle Magazine - "Shopgirl To Stylist"

Having previously mentioned Elle's shopgirl to stylist competition, I was very excited to see these photographs on style bubble. Susie went to one of the semi finals of the competition on monday (19th July) where 4 contestants presented their double sided moodboards for a high street A/W '10-11 shoot, including details of hair/makeup/mood/trends etc. to Natalie Wansbrough - Jones and Donna Wallace from the Elle team.
Lauren McBride proposed an all-black, shape and texture driven shoot, Ellie Wilcox proposed an outdoorsy "Woman on a Mission" shoot, centered around knits/layers/shearling/a deliberately chunky effect, Emma Molyneax proposed another outdoors inspired shoot, which was a much dreamier and more delicate affair and Lucy Kenny presented a shoot inspired by the anarchic layers of John Galliano and Vivienne Westwood, a particularly high end look for a high street shoot. These were only 4 of the 25 semi finalists, and the judges now have to choose the final 2, so it will be really interesting to see if any of these girls make the final.

Port Elliot Literary Festival

The Port Eliot Festival kicks off tomorrow, and after reading about it on the oasis blog, I will definately be getting myself a ticket for next year! It is in its 7th year, and is an annual celebration of authors, fashion, music, and florestry with a fairy tale atmosphere. You can choose to camp in your own tent, a gypsy caravan or a range of tipis and yurts. There is a range of activities workshops seminars and concerts to attend, and the personal highlight of the festival for me would be the talks from various fashion legends, and this years include Anna Sui and Luella Bartley, costume designer Sandy Powell, and milliner to the stars Stephen Jones. It looks like a really inspirational experience, and I cant wait to check out the write up on the festival!

As Seen In Vogue: Oasis Camel Coat

So well DONE Oasis! :) This coat is bang on trend for A/W '10, and warrants its place in the August issue of Vogue's "More Dash Than Cash" spread. In the Elle Collections A/W guide, the camel coat is hailed as the new season's staple for grown up dressing, being a status colour, the best catwalk examples by Chloe, and Etro, among others. This coat is going to be a hit, being released into stores at the end of April, priced at £85, and Vogue fashion editors Verity Parker and Emma Elwick-Bates suggest teaming it with a peter pan collar shirt a box pleat skirt and lace ups in true oxford student style.

Love Magazine: A Love Thing

"The Love Thing" is different to the Fashion Films I have previously looked at, it is higher fashion, more commercial, using Prada Clothes, and high profile models, such as Agyness Deyn, Alessandra Ambrosio, Dree Hemingway, Jeneil Williams, Kasa Struss, Lindsey Wixon, Pixie Geldof and Rasa Zukauskaite. It is directed by Josh Kraszewski and edited by Antoine Mills. It is filmed in a studio, with background effects and animation to create an atmosphere of a virtual world.

Earth Angel: Gisele for Muse Magazine by Nino Munoz

Director/Photographer Nino Munoz; Editor Shannon Ruddock; Producer Rikki Keene; Stylist Katie Mossman; Hair David Von Cannon; Makeup Yumi; Set Design Taylor Lorentz.

This video is very feminine and very beautiful. It was filmed in a studio, and dance and movement are focal. I partiularly like the setion with the long grass and 1950s hairstyle! The editing is also lovely, overexposure in a white studio always looks fantastic, and here it simply adds to the playfulness and implies an almost heaven - if you believe in such things - like atmosphere.

Elle Magazine - 'Shop Girl To Stylist'

Can I just say - how thorougly GUTTED I am that I have only just stumbled across this now! But when I was browsing through the Oasis Blog, I read about a competition to win a stylist job at Elle Magazine (cleverly named shop girl to stylist). This is in celebration of their 25 year anniversary they began a 6 month long talent search for the most savvy shopgirls/boys. The entry requirements were to create a look from the high street, and the prize for the winner is to style a shoot for an issue of elle, an internship at the magazine, and in the mean-time get some invaluable mentoring experience from the Elle team. The competition closed on May 4th, and the mentors (Anne Marie Curtis, Stacey Duguid, Avril Mair, Natalie Wansbrough Jones and Donna Wallace) selected the 25 semi finalists. This was then cut down into 10 finalists, and then 2 finalists will be lead through the final stages. Editor in chief, Lorraine Candy will shortly be selecting the most promising stylist, and the result will be published in the October Issue of Elle.

My vote went to Oasis contender, Sophia Richardson, who works at the Oasis Concession at Beales in Horsham. She cites her style as effortless and unplanned, and her fashion role models are chloe sevigny and Erin Wasson. She has a really quirky vintage/high street style, and she is a great contender!

The 24 girls and 1 guy who got through to the semi final, are all incredibly lucky, as this is such an amazing opportunity and such a great experience, and for the winner of the competition, it will be a complete lifestyle change, and they will have a superb career ahead of them. In short, I am incredibly jealous of them all!

Luisa Beccaria A/W '10

So, I was flicking through the Vogue Spring/Summer 2010 catwalk report, and started researching some of my favourite collections... and stumbled across Luisa Beccaria. This was a new name to me, however she is a well established Milanese designer, having showcased her work at Milan Fashion week from 1996. She was offered the job of head designer for ready top wear at French fashion house, Chloe, but decided to pursue her own name fashion brand instead. Her collection reminds me somewhat of the Chloe name, it is very feminine, girly and somewhat childlike, using a soft colour palette and a touch of 1940s glamour.

Zooey Deschanel

Zooey Deschanel is a pin-up for vintage 1950s/60s fashion. Having appeared in such indie films as "500 days of summer" and "Gigantic", and performed with indie band "She & Him", she stays faithful to her kooky feminine vintage style, and without wanting to quote the old cliche, "Men want her, and girls want to be her..." or however it goes, she is adored all around.

Erin Fetherston: Fashion Films

This short film, starring Zooey Deschanel, is really fun and playful. I really like the editing (in the way that it is sped up in places) and the lighting. It reminds me of a dream sequence, and it is very fantasy, and indie, and reminds me of musical talent such as Florence and the machine. The styling would easily fit into Lula magazine. Directed by Ellen Von Unwerth



Birds of A Feather is a really great short fashion film. The story is based around the Pied Piper of Hamelin (The boy played his pipe and all the rats followed) but in this context, a girl plays a sparkly trumpet, and all the fashion conscious femmes follow her through the town. This film is more glamorous than the previous, the styling is 50s/60s inspired, with glittery mouse masks as props. It is filmed in classic black and white, and is a beautiful and playful film. Styling and props by Sharon Anderson



Wendybird stars Kirsten Dunst and is about a factory worker who finds a dressing up box. It is very much in the style of 1950s film and fashion, and is very childlike and fun, at one stage the girls are playing in a playground. The editing is sped up, and is broken and disjointed, and in black and white, making the film look really authentic.

Lula & Topshop Short Film: Spell

Directed by Maximilia Lukacs and Sarah Sophie Flicker
Starring: Nina Persson, Melissa Auf Der Maur, Ingrid Sophie Schram, Dakota Godhor, Tennessee Thomas, Sarah Sophie Flicker, Yelena Yemchuk & Rain Phoenix

I read about this film in Issue 9 of Lula, it is about a group of angel-like girls who live in a childlike innocent world, and a dark (witch?) woman puts a spell on them, and the film turns eerie with stop motion editing, and blurry lighting.
It is a relly artistic film with beautiful clothes and an underlying fantastical storyline. It is a piece of work which has inspired me to make my own fashion film in the future.

New Brief

FINALLY I have a new brief! For the past few weeks my life has been very Oasis Oasis Oasis, so its nice to have a new focus! Simon Ackerman, the photographer I worked with on the sandbanks Top Yachts shoot, has asked me to work on a new project with him. This shoot is going to be held in the studio, and focused on high fashion. We are also going to incorporate some beauty shots with theatrical make up, and accessories.
The first thing that popped into my head when I thought "High Fashion" was Greg Kadel.

Oasis

Okay so I don't blog much about my work life (my work life being my part time job at Oasis in Bournemouth - which to be fair is becoming increasingly more full time, as I am currently working 5-6 days a week) but I am starting to get into the swing of it, and am starting to enjoy myself and learn new things. I have been doing a lot of visual merchandising lately, dressing the mannequins for the window and arranging the different capsule collections in store, which I have had a lot of positive feedback from, so thats encouraging! Yesterday a really lovely french lady came and chatted to me while I was on fitting rooms, just about fashion in general and fabrics, and occasion wear, and she complimented me on what I was wearing. It was really refreshing, and inspiring, and reminded me of why I love retail! I was a bit slow to fiot in at the start, but now I love the brand, I can speak passionately about anything in the shop, and I am turning into a good salesperson! Who knew... the quiet little girl from Sandhurst, who couldn't even speak up in class! :)

Graduate Fashion Week

Today I went up to Earls Court in London to assist with the Bournemouth Graduation runway show. I was unable to help backstage, as the passes had run out, I was however, placed on front of house, ushering guests into their seats. I also managed to see the show, as well as a couple of others, which was a really good experience.

The first show I saw was the Liverpool John Moores School of Art & Design. It was a really good show, and the students work was creative in a more commercially viable way than our own show, with plenty of floaty fabrics and feminine layering. I personally found it inspiring, particularly the menswear collection by Ellie Arif.

After this show, R&B star Tinie Tempah took to the River Island stage for a set. This was very unexpected, and a nice interval in between the shows. We then had a wander around the exhibition space and found out more about the different universities collections, and realised that some of them have their own particular style.

Our 3rd year graduates were showing with bath spa, and after ushering people to their seats we stayed to watch the show. It was a really creative and interesting show, and the collections were all really inspiring. Bath Spa used gimics such as spotlights, a rain simulation intro, and heavily remixed music, but the AUCB work, certainly stood on its own.

When leaving Earls Court, myself and a couple of others spotted Erin O'Connor, and she was nice enough to stop and chat to us for a while. She was explaining how she thinks it is sad that design students cannot express their true creativity, instead having to take into consideration the commercial viability of their work, and that she was at Earls Court to give a presentation to university lecturers about this matter. She was also telling us about "All Walks Beyond The Catwalk" (http://www.allwalks.org). This is a campaign to introduce a different kind of model to the fashion industry, and to work with designers and models to achieve this. "All Walks Beyond The Catwalk is a new initiative which recognises a shift in mood and attitude in fashion and a need to broaden the message our industry send out to the rest of the world." She was a very warm and friendly person who had a genuine interest in us as students, and was also wearing an accessory by one of our designers, what a great experience.

Dima Hohlov

So I stumbled across these images on facebook today, and I LOVE them! They are by photographer Dima Hohlov, stylist Monique Vatine and star model Tayane Leao. The post-apocalyptic story generated by the images sums up my ideal for a beautiful fashion image. The beauty in a story and in a character, as opposed to just another fashion photo. It inspires us with a strong woman, we see beauty in her beyond her face and her clothes.






After researching Dima's work it is easy to see that this is an ongoing focus in his work, particularly in this beauty shot with the fishnet tights. Dima shows the beauty in distortion, creating really lovely interesting images.

Would you believe it... I GOT A 1st

I recieved my results from the Paper Circus project in the post today, and I got 70%, which is a 1st! I was convinced that I wasnt going to get a particulrly high grade, as the presentation of my work did not go well, to say the least!

Gemma Booth

Gemma Booth's photographs are playful, youthful and unpretentious, with a romantic quality about them. She has clients such as Chanel, Paul Smith, Roxy i-D and Japanese Vogue, and her work epitomizes all I see beautiful about fashion. From the natural settings and poses, to the creative art-school if slightly indie and pretty styling. It is 100% contemporary and up-to-date, whilst reflecting on past practices. She says she’s inspired by stories, old photos, films, books and exhibitions: “- they can all inspire, but sometimes it just comes from within, from a dream or memory.”






I have a few particular favourites of her images. The first being of a model with a bike in a field, similar in appearance to the new forest, which has inspired me to conduct a romance shoot, possibly with a focus on romance in fiction. It is a really inspiring and beautiful image. The photo with the llama shows the fun side to fashion, very much typical of gemma booth's work. Continuing on from the romance line of inspiration, the image of a model in lingerie next to a bookcase full of vintage books is very beautiful, and this is definately an avenue I would love to pursue.

Sandbacks Top Yachts Shoot With Simon Ackerman

2nd Year: Developing Practice images in COLOUR

I LOVE Greg Kadel's work

External Brief: Androgynous Fashion

I met today with my photographer other half, Jacqui Boulton, and we brainstormed ideas for photoshoots over the summer. We came up with several ideas which we would like to develop:

1) Women's Lingerie, in a hotel or b&b
2) Beachwear
3) UV lights in a studio fashion shoot
4) Fairytale, set in the new forest, using vintage fashion
5) High Fashion Studio Shoot
6) Androgyny

We have decided the first shoot we would like to conduct is Androgynous Fashion. We would like to do this in the studio and to shoot both male and female models. We both really want to focus on the confusion between the sexes and would like to find guys and girls who look really similar in their facial features.

The Paper Circus: The Website

http://papercircus.xtreemhost.com

The Paper Circus: The Book

The Paper Circus by Claire Louise Hadley | Make Your Own Book

Florence Welch

Florence Welch was recently chosen by Selfridges as one of the 10 musical artists to take part in a new project called, "Sounds of the Mind", in which they translated their lyrics into creating a window display for the London Store. Her design is based around her song, "Cosmic Love", and she was quoted as saying, "I was really excited about the idea of seeing the lyrics to my songs portrayed in such an original and exciting way. It's about creating a representation of the song in a visual sense so what a song would look like instead of hearing it." It is a really beautiful, interesting design which refelcts her music, her personality and her own individual style, and is a great start to festival season for her.

Luxury Boat Shoot with Simon Ackerman

Photographer, Simon Ackerman sent me a message today, asking me to style a photoshoot inspired by Gucci's s/s '10 campaign, taking place on a couple of luxury boats in Sandbanks. I jumped at the opportunity, and the shoot is taking place on saturday 15th. My role will be to style 2 models, 1 male one female, and to co-direct the shoot. Photos will follow soon!

Negotiated Studies

These images are from my current project, in which I conducted a photoshoot in Selfridges Ultralounge, in collaboration with London Photography Duo, "THE GIRLS" (Zoe & Andrea). My concept was circus characters who are a little bit distressed and make-shift. Here are the most successful images which I selected for print in the book outcome of the project.

Art Director: Claire Hadley (myself)

Photographer: Leanne Lim-Walker

Makeup Artist: Charlotte Millerchip

Models: Jacqueline Boulton & Josi Slater

Assistant: Isabella Dellar

CLOWNS

LION TAMERS

TRAPEZE ARTISTS

TIGHTROPE WALKER

DOLLY GIRLS