Heroin Chic

August 27th marks the one year anniversary of Corrine Day's death, and London is paying tribute. The Gimpel Fils gallery, Morel Books and the Whitechapel gallery all pay homage to legendary image creator. The Gimpel Fils gallery will be exhibiting her first solo exhibition since her death, Morel Books will be publishing 'Heaven is Real' showing much of her unpublished work from the late 80's and early 90's, whilst the Whitechapel Gallery will be screening Vorrine Day: Diary, 2002, and intimate documentary portrait. Day is credited with helping in launching the career of good friend Kate Moss, and at the same time accused of glamorising anorexia and drug abuse. Her work is daring and provocative, and it shall not be forgotten easily.

Bella Howard.

I love the images I have recently discovered by London based, Bella Howard. Fashion, travel, celebrity and fun times. A complete breath of fresh air, capturing the moment and making the most of colour her photographs have real personality. Inspiring stuff.

Drawing Fashion.

I visited the Design Museum, London to see the exhibition 'Drawing Fashion', a lovely little museum right next to Tower Bridge. I was very excited for this exhibition, purely focused on Fashion Illustration AND curated by Colin McDowell, certainly worth a trip down from the north. I enjoyed the exhibition as the stark modern layout wheeled you through the decades, and particularly enjoyed the focus on the 50/60/70's with Antonio Lopez. Yet overall felt the exhibition was a little flat, in particular the era from 2000 - 2010, an era where fashion illustration has been resurrected and revisited with a bang, of mixed media, experimentation, naivety, and fun. However, this exhibition chose to focus on only a few illustrators all with rather block, solid styles, where were the works of Kime Buzzelli, Elisabeth Arkhipoff and Kate Gibb?

Despite my discontentment at the end of the exhibition, it is worth seeing and the Design Museum is a charming little museum.

The Enchanted Palace.

Kensington Palace tells it stories through the lives of it's Princesses. Enchanted it is indeed. Through the gallery of dancing shadows, room of palace time, and the room of lost childhood...it is an exhibition which can enchant you away from the bustle of central London. Poems, clues and rhymes lead you through the palace, making it an interesting way to appreciate the building. However, it lacked that real air of magic unlike other exhibitions of similar styles such as 'Fashion at Belsay' which I remember as the best exhibtion I have ever been to....and left me a very mesmerised eighteen year old, full of inspiration and ready to start at fashion degree. Yet, the mixture of old art, new art, fashion, sound and instillation work made a great afternoon out. I did spot a lot of bored looking dads/boyfriends/ brothers...(including mine) which obviously may hint, this one is for the girls....

Fashion's Night In.

After the huge success of Fashion's Night Out in Central London, a night of free cocktails, canapes and generous discounts...Prada had the most beautiful waiters, Burberry hosted the most celebs and models while DKNY actually looked something like a club. So the follow up to this is like the quiet night in after a crzy one...Fashion's Night In.

Taking place on Monday 1 November 2010 from 5pm until midnight it will be a night dedicated to online shopping and events. Vogue are calling it a ‘stylish stay-at-home shopping experience’. Brands such as Damaris, Browns and ASOS are taking part and offering fashon and beauty offers, competitions and allowing you to view a selection of bespoke films.

Damaris are the first lingerie brand aboard and are offering a free gift with every purchase made! Tempted? Us....no!

Is Jourdan Dunn? Model Tries to Bounce Back After Pregnancy and Boyfriend in Prison

Of all the up-and-coming brown models, Jourdan Dunn was arguably the most promising. She's gorgeous with a striking facial structure and soft, beautiful features. She poses and walks like a pro. And at 19, she has her whole career ahead of her.


Yet she was almost nowhere to be found on the Fall 2010 runway. While her modeling peers, Chanel Iman and Sessilee Lopez, continued to strut in show after show, Jourdan was noticeably absent from fashion's most important week save one appearance in the Aguascutum show (below).

In December, she shocked the Fashion industry by giving birth to her first child at 19. But that was only the beginning. The child's father, Jordan Cummings, was arrested a month ago for possession of two ounces of cocaine with intent to supply and sentenced to three and a half years in jail via The Cut Blog. Hello, Scandal. 


Sure she's not the first model to be rocked by controversy (two words: Naomi Campbell), but it's hard enough for a young, black model in today's industry without the drama. So one can't help but wonder what impact this scandal, and her new status as a single teen Mom, will have on her budding career.


What do you think? Will Jourdan be able to bounce back? 


I think (hope, pray) she'll be fine. With a good team, she can be right back on track though juggling Mommyhood and modeling isn't easy. Plus, she looked incredible at her second runway show since giving birth. The runway show took place at the Westfield Shopping Center in London last night.

And although the situation with her child's Father is unfortunate, if Kate Moss can survive her drug scandal, Jourdan can certainly rise above her man's arrest. Do you agree?


Discuss.


Kisses,


Coutura


Source: Fashionologie.com.

Ad Glam: Adidas Originals Taps Ciara, Agyness Deyn and Whitney Port for Spring 2010 Campaign

Adidas Originals goes behind-the-scenes on the streets of London to shoot their new interactive ad campaign. (P.S. I'm so heading to London this summer! Cannot wait!)

As if the funky clothes and London streets weren't cool enough, the brand also tapped the most eclectic mix of women from fashion and beauty to play runway models.

The new Adidas girls, Ciara, Whitney Port, Agyness Deyn, Ana Ivanovic, Adrienne Bailon, Tallulah Morton, Louise Roe, Cheer Chen and Hyori Lee, embody the futuristic, cool and urban feel of the new Adidas Originals collection. Each Adidas Originals icon brings their unique, original style to the campaign.

Check out the amazing short film below where the ladies filmed each other strutting for the cameras! Love it!



Kisses,

Coutura

Photos: Adidas Originals.

Fashion & World News

Teen Vogue Haute Spot iphone App

pictures from appolicious.com
So I downloaded this app a little while ago while it was still free but didn't get to finally use it until today. My mom rarely ever uses her itouch so she's letting me use it and so now I get to enter into the world of apps. I haven't done anything with this app yet but it looks pretty cool from what I could tell. You can check out trends in the Closet, have your own Closet were you can put your favorites, publish lookbooks, and upload photos. Its definitely a fashionista's go to app, and so if you have an iphone or itouch I would recommend you buy it.
Kelly Osbourne. . . . . A Model?!?!?

pictures from style.com
You can imagine my surprise to see Kelly Osbourne of all people walking the runway at Betsey Johnson's Fall 2010 RTW show. I guess I'm not too surprised with it being Betsey Johnson and all, but still why Kelly Osbourne?!?!? I'm not quite sure what Ozzy Osbourne's daughter has to do with a fashion show, but I guess Betsey Johnson does. I'm sure it was for publicity or something, but I'm still left wondering why. If you know I'd love to hear because I'm stumped. To be completely honest I didn't really like this collection that much. Betsey Johnson has some wonderful designs, but her Fall 2010 RTW collection wasn't really my taste. I was glad though that their was a Long Live McQueen sign at the show.
The Cloud Might Be London's Next Landmark!!!
Since London will be hosting the 2012 Olympics, Mayor Boris Johnson had a competition for a tourist attraction to go in the Olympic Park. "The Cloud" (left) was one of the participants. Its a tower with a bunch of big bubbles at the top. The bubbles would be on top of transparent towers, and they would be inflatable and "light-emitting spheres". People would be able to go up into a main bubble and look out at the city. The number of towers has not been decided, but people could walk between them. The cloud would also be digital in that it would show pictures and data (for example people's races and such). Who knows,
maybe this will be London's next landmark. I guess we'll just have to wait until the results of the contest are finalized. I don't know about you but I'm not sure I like this design. Its very interesting and high tech but I don't think it will look good in London. London has so much history and the buildings are still older looking, which is beautiful I think, so I'm not sure "The Cloud" is a good fit for London. What do you think?
picture from thisislondon.co.uk