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ST FaShIoN Spring / Summer 2011
bright and beautiful
S o l d e x c l u s i v e l y i n L o u i s V u i t t o n s t o r e s a n d a t l o u i s v u i t t o n . c o m . T e l . 0 2 0 7 3 9 9 4 0 5 0
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CHLOE BOUTIQUES
152-153 Sloane Street
london SW1
SelfridgeS
400 oxford Street
london W1a 1ab
www.chloe.com
© 2
011 c
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igh
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eserved.
contents 15
giampaolo sgura; giles deacon photographed
by sølve sundsbø/art + commerce
Spring / Summer 2011
70
66
Dress, from £1,537,
Halston. Gold
collar and cuff (left
wrist), both price
on application,
Robert Lee Morris.
Gold cuff (right
wrist), from £69,
Kenneth Jay Lane.
Shoes, £1,100,
Gianmarco Lorenzi
21 front row The minimal-maximal clash
at the spring/summer 11 shows could have
resulted in fashion confusion. Luckily, says
Sarah Mower, we were lef with grown-up
clothes with a sense of childish fun
26 coveted When it comes to haute footwear,
Miuccia Prada has achieved a hat-trick
with her mismatched, mash-up shoe
28 one to watch The simple, wearable clothes
with exquisite finishing Guillaume Henry
is creating for Carven are the talk of Paris
34 trend This summer will see an explosion
of colour bright enough to make even Paul
Gauguin shield his eyes
36 ballet The pas de deux fashion is dancing
with ballerina style this season is particularly
strong when it comes to flat shoes
38 sunglasses As sun-sensible as they’re
stylish, larger-than-life, statement shades
are still in the frame
41 artefact Paco Rabanne’s revolutionary
chain-mail bag gets a timely revamp
42 guide The seasonal keynote: a dress.
Choose from peasant, floral, Seventies,
Forties, lacy and more…
44 beauty This season, there’s a new take on
no-make-up make-up, thanks to high-tech
products that protect as they perfect
48 Yohji Yamamoto Three decades afer
overthrowing Western assumptions about
fashion, the Japanese master of the cuting
edge is celebrated with a V&A retrospective
52 accessories Construct your wardrobe with
building-block brights on a neutral foundation
56 the scarlet woman Bold shades of red
and orange clash and compete in a display
of feminine strength
66 the British invasion Despite the fall of
Galliano at Dior, home-grown talent is found
at major fashion houses around the world
70 let’s go round again The glamour and
decadence of disco is back. Don’t blame it on
the recession. Don’t blame it on the zeitgeist.
Blame it on the boogie
81 stockists The ST Fashion directory
82 heroine Explorer and adventurer Bonita
Norris explains how aviatrix and feminist
icon Amy Johnson inspired her
RALPHRalph Lauren Collection
R A L P H L A U R E N C O L L E C T I O N . C O M
View the Runway Show and go behind the scenes with the Ralph Lauren application on your iPhone™ or visit N O 1 NEW BOND STREET 105 -109 FULHAM ROAD 233 WESTBOURNE GROVE
contributors18
Kate Shapland is beauty editor of the Telegraph Magazine, and has recently
received an Achiever’s Award from the Cosmetic Executive Women (CEW)
organisation for services to the business. She has writen about beauty for 25
years, having started her career at Harpers & Queen. She is Heart FM’s ‘voice of
beauty’, edits The Leg Room blog, and is currently developing a career-long
product ambition that will launch in 2012. She and her husband, Ben Scot
Thomas, live in London and are looked afer by two black Scoties.
Bonita norriS made history last year when she became the youngest British
woman to climb Mount Everest, aged 22. Formerly a disability assistant from
Berkshire who had never climbed a mountain before, she has since become an
ambassador for the Global Angels Foundation, for whom she speaks to children
and teens about her Everest experience, and the benefits of taking on the great
outdoors. In this issue of ST Fashion Bonita talks about her heroine, the
pioneering British aviator Amy Johnson.
CoCo roCha is a Canadian model who was scouted by an agent at an Irish
dancing competition in 2002. Five years later she opened the Jean-Paul Gaultier
fashion show by céilí dancing down the runway – American Vogue dubbed this the
‘Coco moment’. See ST Fashion’s own Coco moment on page 70. ‘We had a wonderful
team on the shoot. I find it easier to move when photographers let me play my iPod
and Alex Cayley was gracious enough to do so. Hairdresser Rolando Beauchamp
and I had a good old time singing along to Eartha Kit and Shirley Bassey!’
Giampaolo SGuro is a photographer from Puglia, the most southern part of
Italy. He studied architecture at university for five years before making the jump
to photography, with a shoot for Italian Glamour marking his industry debut. He
has gone on to shoot for Vanity Fair and various editions of Vogue; as well as
photographing adverts for the likes of Gucci, Dolce & Gabbana and Cavalli. He names
Avedon, Penn and Meisel as his masters, and has just completed his first short
film for designer Francesco Scognamiglio. Giampaolo lives and works in Milan.
BarBara metz and eve raCine met as students while studying for degrees in
photography at the London College of Communication. Afer graduation, Barbara
set up her own practice and Eve went on to pursue a MA at the Royal College of
Art. It wasn’t until 2000 that the pair founded their eponymous photographic
studio, Metz + Racine. The duo are known for their ‘not so still’ still life
photography – see their renowned dynamism and sense of fun on ST Fashion’s
accessories shoots, throughout the magazine.
EDITORIAL
editor Joanne Glasbey
executive editor Peter Howarth
assistant editor Sarah Deeks
Chief sub editor Chris Madigan
Sub editors Sarah Evans, Tanya
Jackson, Gill Wing
DESIGN
Senior art director Ciara Walshe
Senior designers Dominic Bell,
Helen Delany
picture editor Juliette Hedoin
Creative director Ian Pendleton
FASHION
Fashion director Daniella Agnelli
Fashion assistant Aurelia Donaldson
CONTRIBUTING EDITORS
Hilary Alexander (Fashion)
Ruth Griffin (Accessories)
Kate Shapland (Beauty)
COMMERCIAL (UK)
executive director Dave King
publishing director
Toby Moore 020 7931 3350
director of fashion and luxury
Carley Ayres 020 7931 3328
COMMERCIAL (ITALY)
K.Media Srl
Via Cavalieri Bonaventura, 1/3
20121 Milan, Italy
+39 02 29 06 10 94; kmedianet.com
SHOW MEDIA 020 3222 0101
Ground Floor, 1-2 Ravey Street,
London EC2A 4QP
www.showmedia.net
Printed by St Ives Web Ltd (stivesweb.com)
Colour reproduction by fmg (wearefmg.com)
ST Fashion is designed and produced by
SHOW MEDIA LTD for the Telegraph Media
Group. All material © Show Media Ltd and
Telegraph Media Group. Reproduction in
whole or part without written permission is
strictly prohibited. While every effort is made
to ensure the accuracy of the information
contained in this publication, no responsibility
can be accepted for any errors or omissions.
The information contained in this publication
is correct at the time of going to press.
On the cover:
Orange cotton
dress, £595,
Prada.
Photography:
Alex Cayley.
Fashion editor:
Mika Mizutani
ww
w.d
ior.
co
m
IllustrationJulia Pelzer
front row 21
The hemline crashed. Trousers strode in. Colour fizzed and shoes calmed down. Everybody started talking
about the Seventies, and – strangest sensation of all – actually started to have a good time.
These are the main points I took away from the spring shows, as simplistic as that sounds. Now
I think of it, the whole thing was really like watching a 28-day tussle between minimalism and maximalism,
which was molto entertaining. It ended in an unexpected set of results: good clean shapes, but garnished
The minimalist/maximalist
clash has reached détente,
says Sarah Mower: grown-up
clothes with a playful touch
adultcontent
Dress, £690, and
sombrero, £460,
Prada, spring/
summer 2011
The backlash
wasn’t angry
in any detectable
way – it was
sophisticated,
urbane, knowing
and playful.
Short was dead
with bold, delicious, decadent extras. Minimal-maximal. I know that sounds like annoying
fashion nonsense, but hear this: I, a woman of normal proportions and sensible age, came
away knowing what I want to wear. I liked what accessories were doing. I loved the fact
that it seemed no big deal that models of all ages were walking side by side in so many
shows. Most importantly, from the point of view of morale, designers suddenly came to
their senses and remembered that fashion should be fun.
On the minimal-modernist side, we have Céline, Botega Veneta, Calvin Klein and
the like. On the maximal-retro team, the heavy hiters: Tom Ford, who has re-emerged in
women’s fashion, and the mercurial Marc Jacobs both throwing us deliriously back to the
Seventies. And then, perhaps even more interestingly, there were the piggies in the middle:
the ones who zigzagged their ways to individualistic, bright, zingy stripes and paterns on
ultimately quite simple and wearable clothes; that minimal-maximal thing I was talking
about. I’m counting Prada, Jil Sander and Christopher Kane among the principals here.
Now, to work out why this huge surge of energy and innovation should have
unleashed at this particular round of shows, we need to cast our memories back to what
fashion people were going on about last autumn. OK – not hard. It was Mad Men and
the return of the bosom, you’ll recall. That dominated endless reams of discussion,
though I have to confess I didn’t see many of us going round in conical bras and circle
skirts when it came to it. The other thing was the reappearance of Phoebe Philo at Céline.
It was Céline-mania that really took off, causing a pandemic of beige tailoring and geting
every competitor really ratled, because fashion editors not only wrote so rapturously
about Philo, and endlessly photographed Céline clothes, bags and shoes, but actually went
out and spent their own money on them. The Philo
phenomenon was evident at the shows: every day
there were more women walking around wearing the
stuff – flaunting it in each others’ faces, in fact.
And I think this secretly really got to other
designers. It put a firework under them. Because
everyone was forced to take a position on how to
react to a collection that had celebratedly revived
minimalist daywear and the sort of clothes that
look good on women over 35. This must have been
a bit sobering for the hordes of labels still turning
out short, tight cocktail dresses suitable only for
a 6f 18-year-old – and even that was no longer
guaranteed, because suddenly, she was looking
ridiculously out of date.
So, for designers pondering what to do for
spring, there were only two paths to take: either
you used Céline as a guiding light while navigating
yourself into some kind of personal expression
along similar lines, or you decided, nope, you’d rage
against beige and all its works. Either way, Céline
was the catalyst. It got things moving, in a good way.
The backlash wasn’t angry in any detectable
way, though. It was sophisticated, urbane, knowing
and playful, and it referenced the Seventies – a time
only the seriously grown-up, such as Tom Ford (born
1961) and Marc Jacobs (born 1963), can remember.
Now, I think there’s more to this than the nervy
decade-hopping to which fashion is so prone – Forties
one season, late Fifies/early Sixties the next, then
Seventies. Although no one’s talking about the Fifies
or Mad Men this season, and the clothes in their
literal form didn’t get worn much, what has carried
over is that these were clothes for women, not
teenagers. Whether you were tempted to wear those
pencil skirts and dirndls or not, just looking at them
effectively pulled the hemline down. Short was dead.
Now there had to be another solution, different
proportions – but only if a woman could wear them.
I’m prety sure that’s how Ford and Jacobs
both ended up thinking about the early Seventies –
front row22
Silk/cotton dress,
£2,280, Marc Jacobs,
spring/summer 2011
the moment when the mini crashed, ‘midis’ came
in and, to avoid having to choose between the two,
women started wearing trousers instead. What’s
more, the escapist decadence of the time finds its
perfect parallel in the current zeitgeist.
The Seventies, of course, are Tom Ford’s
favourite decade – he ransacked them for inspiration
in his Gucci and Saint Laurent years – but this time,
he approached it by casting the fashion goddesses
of the era in his show. Marisa Berenson and Lauren
Huton, both in their sixties, walked insouciantly
alongside friends who included Julianne Moore
and Rita Wilson, both now in their fifies, as well
as Rachel Feinstein and Daphne Guinness, in their
forties, and so on, all the way down to the teenage
models Karlie Kloss and Joan Smalls. The clothes,
from the tailored three-piece trouser-suits to the
long, fringed dresses, were, if not pure Seventies,
then certainly an idealised version of it – and were
slung about with rock-crystal pendants and
bracelets, which I can guarantee will initiate a run
on jewellery of that period.
Both Marc Jacobs’ eponymous show and
his collection for Louis Vuiton were also Seventies-
inspired, evoking images of Grace Coddington,
Jerry Hall, Marie Helvin, Jodie Foster, and those
glossy magazine pages circa 1972 to 1977 – the
prolific period that began with glam rock and ended
with disco. Plenty of designers who couldn’t possibly
remember the decade had also picked up the vibe,
in all likelihood because they’d paid a visit to the
Yves Saint Laurent exhibition at the Petit Palais
in Paris last summer. Allusions to Saint Laurent’s
knife-pleated silk skirts turned up in collections
by Stella McCartney, Peter Piloto and Aquilano
Rimondi. In all three cases, the designers had used
the template to lengthen their skirts – but every one
of them had also put slashes in them, to show leg,
thus reassuring young women, who are so used to
having their legs out, that there’s no need to give
it up overnight. Combine the skirt with a tailored blazer, perhaps sling on a chain belt and
you have a modish, feminine look.
Detectable within this tendency is a pull toward the rich-hippy, Marrakech-bound
fantasy. It’s there at full throtle in Pucci, where Peter Dundas cut sexy, flounced swirly-
printed maxi-dresses, fringed suede shirts and flares. More subtly, it’s also embedded
in collections you’d never accuse of ethnic references. Preen used Islamic tile paterns
as inspiration for paterns on long, contemporary-style chiffon skirts and, even at Céline
– supposedly the home of all that is pure and modern – there were definite undertones
of Moroccan handicraf in shaggy waistcoats and, again, tile prints, which in this case,
appeared on silk pyjama pants.
But what if your goat is really got by the Seventies? What if retro in any form
annoys the hell out of you? Fortunately, there are plenty of designers who have no truck
with looking back – but they’re in a good mood, too. If I were looking for the antidote
to ‘reference’, I’d go straight to Prada and Jil Sander, where graphically cut dresses and
separates are saturated in vivid, eye-popping colour and ofen done up in cheerful broad
stripes of pink, orange, red, electric blue, yellow and Kelly green. Too much, you cry?
Oh, don’t be a spoilsport. As always, the way to indicate a knowledge of what’s going on
is to do it with an accessory. Something as small as a tiny clutch bag is enough. Make it
ice-lolly orange or magenta – something wild. Now that fashion’s back on form at last,
it’d be a pity not to take away a souvenir.
Sarah Mower contributes to Vogue and also writes the catwalk reviews for Condé Nast’s
style.com website
front row24
The clothes, from
the tailored three-
piece trouser-suits
to the long, fringed
dresses, were, if
not pure Seventies,
then an idealised
version of it
Leopard-print jacket,
¤3,570, and trousers,
¤1,330, Tom Ford,
spring/summer 2011
For all enquiriescontact Hermès on020 7499 8856
Hermes.com
Hermès ,contemporary ar t i san
s ince 1837.
Giant scarf
in summer twill.
When colours meet inspiration
WordsRuth Griffin
PhotographyMetz + Racine
Fashion stylist: Jane howard. ProP stylist: Vincent oliVieri
‘It’stimetobebold,’saysMiucciaPradaofthisseason’sdesigns.Andwhatbetter
waytodosothanwiththisvamped-upversionofherclassicMiuMiuMary-Janeshoes? Miuccia is fashion’s
greatest matchmaker, seamlessly combining eras and styles, textures and finishes to create something new and
startlingly different every season. these do just that, working fetish straps, the daintiness of a twenties dancing
shoe and shocking-pink leather in ways that are a delight to behold. they’re bold and they’re beautiful...
Ankle boot, £610, Miu Miu; miumiu.com
mélange à trois
coveted26
bigis betterAutumn hairstyles are an triumphs volume
WordsXXXXXXXX
one to watch28
‘I’m interested in creating effortless, fresh-in-spirit
clothes available at democratic prices,’ says Guillaume
Henry. The 32-year-old Frenchman is creative
director of Carven, the fashion-forward but affordable
label which has caused a buzz in Paris. He is quick
to state that the clothes are manufactured in
Hungary, not France. ‘Carven isn’t a luxury brand
and that’s why we can do that.’ Henry’s frank
admission defines revolutionary in a high-fashion
Paris obsessed with ‘made in France’. Yet he has
turned his honesty and talent into a magic formula
which avoids high street comparison and is worn by
hipsters such as Alexa Chung.
As Carven’s stiff white rectangular bags
steadily stream out of Carven’s new flagship store
on Rue Saint Sulpice into the elegant Lef Bank
area and beyond, esteemed fashion insiders are full
of enthusiasm. Net-a-Porter’s Natalie Massenet
says, ‘Guillaume Henry and Carven are part of the
must-know, must-wear commandments for any
stylish girl: shrunken short suits, boxy-cut jackets,
Carven’s Guillaume
Henry garners praise for his customer-friendly
simplicity, but there is magic in his clothes
WordsNatasha Fraser-Cavassoni
PhotographyMathieu Zazzo
mister normal
prim-lady blouses, bow-backed pumps.’ Averyl Oates
from Harvey Nichols describes ‘the simplicity of
pieces that flater the wearer without overwhelming’,
conjuring up ‘Parisian chic updated with unexpected
details’. And LVMH consultant Jean-Jacques Picart
explains Henry’s appeal: ‘Guillaume is normal –
which is exactly what we want right now,’ he says.
Tall and good-looking, with an angular face
and grey eyes that resemble the youthful Yves Saint
Laurent, Henry appears ‘normal’ but is too charismatic
to go unnoticed. When he strides into the sales room,
women suddenly smile and models hover eagerly.
Henry cannot resist troting through next season’s
collection, which is unavailable for months, pointing
out the versatility of a black crepe dress – ‘the neckline
can be worn two ways,’ he says – or a new line of
‘wearable’ preppy-inspired platforms and ‘the exquisite
hand finishing’ on a winter coat’s cuff; dresses and
coats being Carven’s winter bestsellers.
According to Carven’s owner Henri Sebaoun,
Henry has the right to such confidence. ‘Guillaume’s
first collection was in 2009,’ he says. ‘And now
Carven is available in 35 countries and sold in the
best boutiques such as Colete and 10 Corso Como.’
The fashion house was founded by Carmen
de Tommaso in 1945 – her vision being unfussy
sporty styles designed by a woman for women.
For the past 30 years it has been a ‘sleeping beauty’
brand, best remembered for its Ma Griffe scent.
Born near Dijon to a teacher mother and banker
father, Henry always wanted to design. ‘At eight,
I made clothes for my cat.’ Afer fashion college,
Henry joined Givenchy’s studio in 2002 and
three years later lef for Paule Ka, a successful
mid-market brand. At Givenchy, Henry says, he
learnt about the importance of ‘timeless quality’
whereas Paule Ka taught him ‘about the client’.
Both places prepared him for Carven.
Henry’s professionalism and lack of airs,
on the other hand, make him universally popular.
‘He doesn’t view himself as an artistic director who
ignores sales,’ says Sebaoun. ‘He realises he needs
to please both buyers and clients.’ Only women
work in Henry’s creative studio and although he
admits to being ‘occasionally obstinate’, he does
listen. Case in point, Carven’s rising hems. ‘Afer
the fourth time I heard the remark that they were
too short, I realised, OK, I am not Mary Quant!’
carven.fr
Natasha Fraser-Cavassoni writes for the International
Herald Tribune and Vogue
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fouNdatioN, basel, sWitzerlaNd/the bridGeMaN art library; coNdÉ Nast archive/corbis; bettMaNN/corbis; 4 corNers iMaGes.coM
trends34
Colour floods the catwalks this season
as we prepare to embrace a vivid, bold new world
There’s a wave of colour coursing through fashion
at the moment so bright and so bold it could make
your retinas burn. The colour surge is fashion
shorthand for dynamism, bravado and, above all,
fun. And it feels so new, so exciting as – let’s face
it – we have been dressing in a sea of ‘serious’
stealth-wealth monotones in tune with our austere
times, and in utility-chic shapes. Fun has not really
been on the agenda. But now the energy has been
re-channelled towards a trend for simple, pure
designs but in all manner of colour combinations,
from head-to-toe hues to subtler saffron, jade and
ochre, bubblegum brights, and at the far reach of
the scale, glowing, punkish fluorescents. NB: black
is not in the line-up.
These shades have been applied with the
artfulness of Matisse or Gauguin in mesmerising
mixes that excite the senses – both the eye as well
as the mind. In the process of developing the
spring/summer collections, designers seem to have
become enthralled by exotic adventures. Many
have paid homage to Yves Saint Laurent’s
Moroccan retreat, the Majorelle Gardens, with bold
blooms and palms backdropped by brilliant blue
walls and desert backgrounds.
Saint Laurent was a master colourist,
ofen combining three colours in hypnotic mixes
of emerald, sapphire and bronze, or, of course, his
signature pink, black and orange. Other designers,
such as Raf Simons at Jil Sander, escaped to the
lab to pore over dye and saturation formulae,
concocting exclusive shades worthy of our
investment. The saturation – ie the strength and
depth of tone – is absolutely key. Luxury colour
creates a kind of halo; cheaper tones seem to
bounce from the surface.
Gucci’s collection had a decidedly retro-
glamour air as Frida Giannini cut slippery silk
satin into pyjama suits in peacock, emerald and
teal. Giannini finished the pieces with distinctive
accessories, such as gold leather tassel belts,
heeled sandals and clutch bags. ‘I was inspired
by a trip to Morocco,’ says the designer of her
choice of colours, which drip with a certain Studio
54 decadence. ‘Vivid colours, used with a relaxed
silhouete to evoke an exotic elegance.’ The
collection nods to a generation of women who
allthingsbright
Left: the vivid hues
of paul Gauguin’s
painting. Below,
from left: louis
vuitton, christopher
Kane and Jonathan
saunders, all s/s11
WordsHarriet Quick
thrilled in dressing like fireflies to literally dazzle
under then-novel disco-ball lights.
The sheer glamour synonymous with
colour is an aspect that Marc Jacobs amped to the
max in his Louis Vuiton collection, where
impeccably made-up models – all gloss lips, fine
denier tights and lacquered hair – slinked down the
catwalk in jewel-toned cheongsams. Jacobs
revisited the time in the late Seventies when we
were enthralled by orientalism both in interiors and
in fashion. Afer so much serious-minded fashion,
Jacobs revelled in the unashamed camp, glam and
gloss of the era. He talks about ‘strong, almost
vulgar colour combinations’ – by which he refers
to rich purple with orange and blue orchid prints
or lacquer red and sunshine yellow. These
combinations are rich with associations to play
with. I remember the oriental Eighties, falling in
love with the video for David Bowie’s ‘China Girl’
and finding an embroidered import jade green
cheongsam in a Chinatown store, a bright red pair
of stiletos and carmine red lips. In my mid-teens,
the effect was uterly sluty and therefore all the
more thrilling. In his own collection, Jacobs married
sorbet shades in gypsy dresses and Prety Baby
pieces like satin dungarees with orchid flowers
tucked behind ears. In short, exotic.
But colour can, of course, be highly
romantic. Take Salvatore Ferragamo’s gypsy skirts
and crop peasant blouses in jades, terracota and
ochre that win not only in the intensity of colour
but in the sheer expanse of gently pleated fabric.
Designer Massimiliano Giorneti even gives his
colours a certain pedigree and class in the naming.
He talks about ‘burnt sienna, sage, jade,’ which
imply Bohemian elegance.
How to make fluoros sophisticated and
wearable? Take a cue from Raf Simons, who
fashioned couture-style long evening skirts in
stand-and-stare fluoros married with simple white
T-shirts. Suddenly a bright orange evening skirt
becomes the epitome of elegance, not something one
would mistakenly buy in a jet-lagged haze. An
option for the office? Try his rich purple suiting
in featherlight immaculately tailored suits.
Some designers are natural colourists:
most effective when applied with wit. Who’d have
thought that Christopher Kane and Jonathan
Saunders, coming from grey, overcast Scotland would
have such a handle on hue? Kane applied bright
colour to conservative pieces – imagine boxy jackets
and kick-pleat skirts – but cut from shiny lace
leather. He trimmed a tatoo print-crepe with tiny
ribbon trims of fluoro ribbon. Kane remembers his
sister and friends going out in Glasgow in
screaming bright punkish neons as a teenager and
that sense of rebel undercuts his aesthetic; his first
collection on graduating from St Martins consisted
of neon bandage dresses. In February he won the
prestigious BFC/Vogue Designer Fashion Fund 2011
award, worth £200,000.
Fellow Scot Jonathan Saunders cut his teeth
as a print maker and his subtle coloration of chalky
tangerines, limes, dove greys and blues is simply
breathtaking on his flower- and leaf-paterned
cotons for spring/summer. And it’s conveniently
easy to wear as well, in skater-style skirts and
box-fresh-look coton shirts.
Orange is one of the big ‘it’ colours for the
season. To be more accurate, a shade of tangerine.
It looks great with black (see the YSL tie-front
blouse and flippy coton skirt) and with glossy
tanned limbs. Orange is known to excite the
appetite and stir the senses, hence its prevalent
use in fast food restaurants and in salad garnishes
(carrots). In terms of what works with what, there
are no rules – be as bold as you want to go. Colour
can be a splash (try Miu Miu neon flash heels, or
jewels and bangles) a head-to-toe look such as a
silk T-shirt and skirt or an incendiary mix with
accessories to boot. Designer Louise Gray pulls this
off with aplomb with her artsy punky look topped
with fluorescent make-up. De trop? Try Tom Ford’s
lovely Ginger Fawn lipstick.
The fun to be had! Start with your favourite
colours, a box of crayons and some paper and play
until you find the combinations you like. It’s a fine
way to brighten up a day.
Harriet Quick is fashion features director of Vogue
Suddenly a bright orange evening skirt becomes the epitome of elegance, not something one would buy in a jet-lagged haze
Clockwise from left:
deborah harry at
studio 54 in 1979;
ysl s/s11; ysl’s
Majorelle Gardens
in Morocco;
Gucci and ysl,
ss/11; 1971
fashion shoot;
Miu Miu pink
bag, s/s11
a serious bun, and she’d scream at us. I’d
like to go back and do it again.’
Of course, for most, being a
dancer remains just a dream, but dreams
are potent things and it is this that Italian
luxury leather-goods label Tod’s has been
smart enough to recognise and tap into.
The bash in Beijing is being staged by the
luxury accessories house to celebrate its
recently signed partnership with Teatro
alla Scala and promote its wares in the
all-important new Chinese market.
‘We needed to find a way to
show exactly what “Made in Italy” means,’
explains Diego della Valle, president and
owner of Tod’s. ‘The emotion, passion and
commitment to keeping alive the skills and
traditions that lie at the heart of our culture
is unique. Our products are all handmade
in Le Marche, the traditional leather-working
region of Italy, this partnership illustrates how
artistry, attention to detail and creativity all
combine to create something very special.’
The solution came in the form of
a collaboration between Tod’s and a great
Italian institution. Teatro alla Scala,
coming to the point
Words Peter Howarth
After the success of Black Swan and the sight of roll-up pumps at after-show parties, ballerina style is prima
‘If I could’ve been anything, I would have
loved to have been a ballet dancer.’ It’s
not the kind of declaration you’d expect
from a punky 23-year-old with a nose stud
and tattoos. But Alice Dellal, model and
drummer in the rock band Thrush Metal is
a big ballet fan. ‘My sister got to work en
pointe, but I gave up. Dancers have to put
in so much work and effort. When I can’t
sleep, I watch clips of the Russian ballet
companies on my computer.’
We are in Beijing in a car travelling
to a performance of two principal dancers
from Teatro alla Scala in Milan, who are
presenting a new pas de deux created by
the theatre’s young choreographer,
Gianluca Schiavoni, especially for this
event. In the back seat are two more
members of Thrush Metal, and a straw
poll of these young women reveals that
ballet is something they all have in common.
Isabella Ramsay (guitar) studied it in
junior school, though she was a ‘massive
tomboy’, and Emma Chitty (bass) took
classes for five years: ‘Our teacher was
typically French and wore her hair in
36
Clockwise from left:
Ballerina styling from
Chanel’s S/S11 collection;
the Teatro alla Scala
workshop in Ansaldo,
Italy; prima ballerina
Sabrina Brazzo at the
Forbidden City, Beijing
DaviD Slijper/Trunk archive; STefano GuinDani; ellioTT erwiTT
One high street retailer reported that flats were outselling heels by three to one early this year
inaugurated in 1778, is the spiritual home
of ballet in Italy. The result of the joint
venture is a short conceptual film, An
Italian Dream, which interprets through
dance the actions of shoemakers. The
clever blend of art and artisanship is
something that transcends language and
culture – the Chinese celebrities and
press assembled in Beijing for the
screening and accompanying live
performance were clearly impressed.
There’s no doubt that ballet is
having a moment. As well as Darren
Aronofsky’s Black Swan, which has
costumes designed by Rodarte, both Chanel
and McQueen showed tutu-influenced
silhouettes and fabrics for this season.
You haven’t been able to open a glossy
magazine over the past few months without
seeing a fashion shoot paying homage to
the art. Even Lladró, the Spanish porcelain
manufacturer, has launched a collection
of miniature ballet-themed figurines.
But, of all things associated with
ballet dancers, it is what they wear on
their feet that seems to resonate most. In
Noel Streatfeild’s family favourite, Ballet
Shoes, one of the young heroines wistfully
spies on a class of older girls: ‘Pauline
watched the figures through the glass, the
rows of white practice dresses, and the
rows of pink canvas ballet shoes.’
Gianluca Schiavoni describes the
attitude of the ballerina to her point shoes
as being like a fetish, because the
connection is so strong: ‘It’s like a drug –
without them, you can’t do what you love
to do. You can’t do what is important in
your life. You can’t dance. The shoe is like
another foot, a continuation of your leg –
it is not merely a tool for the job. I have
seen many dancers cry because they
don’t have the right shoes.’
It’s something that anyone who
has spent hours perfecting first position
will recognise. Hollywood actress Marisa
Tomei, also in Beijing for the Tod’s event,
confesses to having studied the full range
of dance – ‘ballet, tap, modern, jazz’.
What’s more, she says, in her luggage she
has brought her beloved, battered Lanvin
ballerina flats to China. She takes them
everywhere, she says, not only because
they are comfortable, but because they
look like the real thing and remind her of
her time doing demi-pliés.
According to designer Jane
Winkworth, of ballet-pump specialists
French Sole, this is the appeal: ‘They reflect
nostalgia for childhood, when we all danced.’
But they also have their roots in rebellion:
‘In the late Fifties and early Sixties you
had Audrey Hepburn in Funny Face wearing
retailer, reporting that flats were outselling
heels by three to one in January.
However, Sarah Toner, a former
dancer with the Birmingham Royal Ballet,
who now runs a hugely popular class
called Fabulous in High Heels that teaches
women how to walk correctly in heels, has
mixed feelings about ballet flats. ‘If you’re
out for an evening in stilettos and your
feet start to hurt and you have a pair of
pumps in your bag to get you home that’s
a great idea. But a lot of women might
wear them all the time and I don’t feel
they offer enough support. They’re no
better than stilettos in that regard.’
Of course, habit can cut both
ways. Standing in the Tod’s store in
Beijing, with its circular tabletop display of
ballet shoes in every colour of the rainbow,
I ask Sabrina Brazzo, La Scala’s prima
ballerina, whether she wears flats off
duty. ‘No, I only wear heels,’ she says.
‘Because I have to wear these for dancing
every day.’ The grass is always greener…
Peter Howarth is executive editor of ST
ballet flats and Brigitte Bardot in the
same, with gingham shirt and cropped
trousers. They were leaving behind their
mother’s more formal style and high heels.’
Winkworth launched French Sole
in 1989 and is considered by many to have
popularised the style in the UK. In the past
five years, she says, it’s really taken off. ‘Of
course, Black Swan has reinvigorated
interest; Mad Men too – Christina Hendricks
wears them in a couple of episodes. Katie
Holmes, one of my best customers, has
worn them to play Jackie Kennedy in a TV
series. And, to be honest, I think women
are just sick and tired of heels.’
Certainly ballet shoes are the
anti-stilettos. At the Golden Globes this
January, Rollasole, so named because you
can roll their ballet pumps up for easy
carriage (they come with a free carry bag
for your stilettos) distributed gold and black
footwear to the stars at the after-show party
– Hayden Panettiere and Heidi Klum were
snapped sporting them. And perhaps it
was post-Christmas high-heel agony that
accounted for Peacocks, the high-street
Thisseason,theeyeshaveitintermsofboldnewcolours,shapesandforms.Take
Burberry’soversizedviolet-tintedshades,whileattheoppositeendofthescalespectrum,Ray-Ban’s
smaller,rotundspecs, owe more to John Lennon and the geek parade than Bianca Jagger at Studio 54.
Then there’s the downright kooky. Who better to take a pop at neon luxe than the whimsical Miuccia Prada?
Her curly-wurly frames might have been plucked from Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory. Alexander Wang and
Stella McCartney take a more demure view. Frames follow a Fifties glam theme, sweeping upwards to mimic
cat’s eyes in classic tortoiseshell. No going incognito here.
Lucie Muir is a freelance fashion writer for Vogue and the Saturday Telegraph magazine
eye openers
Stingray-pattern ‘Jill Bordeaux’
sunglasses, £500, LouisVuitton.
Poppy-print ‘Jackie’ sunglasses, £90,
NicoleFarhi. Clear ‘Freya’ sunglasses,
£198, OliverPeoples. Blue and
black ‘Baroque’ sunglasses,
£190, Prada. Peach sunglasses,
£279, Cutler&Gross
sunglasses38
PhotographyMetz + Racine
WordsLucie Muir
FASHioN STyLiST: JANe HoWArd. ProP STyLiST: ViNCeNT oLiVieri
CON
TACT:
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WWW.THOMASSABO.COM
Katy
Perr
y
chain reactionThe year 1969 was one of
ground-breaking events – Neil
Armstrong made a giant leap for
mankind, Concorde took its virgin
flight and Paco Rabanne
revolutionised fashion with his
pioneering space-age couture
collection. This was a range
so radical, even Rabanne dubbed it
‘The Unwearables’. Who could forget
the images of those chain-mail dresses
draped on the sculptural frames of
Audrey Hepburn, Jane Birkin and Donyale
Luna? With Le 69, the iconic handbag in
his spring/summer collection, Rabanne
is back with an intergalactic bang.
Modelled on the original Sixties design,
but a good deal more wearable than
those dresses of the same era, it has
been reworked in an exciting array of
21st-century materials – the incarnation
pictured is in metallic pink suede. And,
In recognition of its place in history,
London’s Design Museum has named
its forefather one of the ‘50 bags that
changed the world’.
Metallic leather ‘Le 69’ bag, £780,
Paco Rabanne; pacorabanne.com
artefact 41
WordsRuth Griffin
PhotographyMetz + Racine FASHIon STyLIST: JAne HoWARD. PRoP STyLIST: VIncenT oLIVIeRI
guide42
WordsClare Coulson
IllustrationsJulia Pelzer
PEASANT
The look The Milan runways were
packed with pretty peasant dresses
during the spring/summer shows and
they come in myriad variations: floaty
chiffons, crisp broderie anglaise, dressy
silks… At Fendi and Marc Jacobs, there
were ballooning sleeves on blousy
dresses while, elsewhere, designers
opted for a more light and fluid take
on the boho look.
Key piece With its gently scooped
neckline and pretty flower embroideries,
Alberta Ferretti’s floor-sweeping coffee
tulle take on this look is heavenly. If you’re
planning a laid-back Ibiza wedding this
year, this is the dress for you (£4,965;
albertaferretti.com, 020 7235 2349).
You could also try Asos’s floor-skimming
soft blush appliquéd cotton dress
(£45, asos.com) has a softly gathered
neckline and a roomy shape, making it
the perfect garment for those balmy
holiday evenings.
FORTIES
The look Yves Saint Laurent’s presence
will be felt widely this spring as designers
have plundered every corner of his
archive. But it was his ode to the Forties
that seemed to inspire Stefano Pilati,
who has created pretty puff-sleeved
below-the-knee dresses in pimento-red
or jade chiffon. It’s a decade that has also
inspired L’Wren Scott, Oscar de la Renta
and Roland Mouret this spring.
Key piece While some designers
boomerang each season across the
decades, Roland Mouret has always been
faithful to the elegant silhouettes of the
Forties. A prime example is the chartreuse
cap-sleeved calf-length dress (£770;
rolandmouret.com, 020 7235 5000) that
can be found at his new Mayfair atelier.
You could also try Temperley alumna
Sophie Cranston has some Forties-
inspired dresses in her summer Libélula
collection – including the raspberry Gee
dress (£310; libelula-studio.co.uk), which
has pretty layered sleeves delicately
edged with cream piping.
FLORALS
The look This season sees a major return
to bold print and some of the most
wearable depict rambling florals. At Dolce
& Gabbana, cottage gardens created
the centrepiece in a parade of flowing
maxi-dresses that finished the show,
while elsewhere designers opted for more
graphic takes on traditional floral prints.
Key piece Erdem’s gardenia print was one
of the season’s dreamiest. It’s stunning in
a long gown (£3,360; net-a-porter.com)
but the collection also includes a shorter
shape with a neat collar and gently
flared skirt (£2,100; erdem.co.uk).
You could also try Utterly romantic
and super-elegant, Banana Republic’s
pink silk goddess dress features one of
the high street’s most covetable floral
prints (£165; bananarepublic.gap.eu,
020 7758 3550). Wear it as it was on the
Banana Republic catwalk, with a tan silk
trench over the top.
Dresses are big this season: big, lacy, bright and floral
rockthe frock
DISCO
The look There are plenty of Seventies
disco-inspired numbers to choose from
this summer, from Marc Jacobs’s
slit-to-there halter-dresses to the
jewel-coloured jerseys at Halston
Heritage. Whichever style you choose,
just ask yourself this: could you have
worn this dress to Studio 54 circa 1978?
Key piece There is nothing wallflower-ish
about Marc Jacobs’s billowing chiffon
party dresses; his halter-neck silk gown
(£2,125; marcjacobs.com, 020 7399 1690),
cinched at the waist with orchids and
slashed to the thigh, is the ultimate
dress for serious party animals.
You could also try With its deep green
print and retro Seventies shape, Tucker’s
watermelon-print panelled silk dress is a
more subtle way to channel the spirit of
the Hustle (£319; tuckerbygabybasora.
com, 020 7734 1234).
Longer lengths continue to dominate this summer, with a chic new crop of maxi-dresses
POP COLOUR
The look Bold, brash colour is one of
this season’s most significant trends,
from one-tone dressing in Crayola crayon
primaries to the rather challenging
‘colour-blocking’ in which dazzling
shades are thrown together in one look.
Key piece Alessandra Rich has created
elegant, original, dip-dyed-lace evening
dresses in neon lime, tangerine and pink
or in draped acid-yellow silk (£1,485;
net-a-porter.com)
You could also try Spring’s pop colours
work best when they are worn in bold
shapes. Boutique by Jaeger nails the
trend with its bold vermilion dress with
fitted bodice and flared cupcake skirt
(£180; jaeger.co.uk, 0845 051 0063).
SEVENTIES
The look Longer lengths continue to
dominate this summer and the chic new
crop of maxi-dresses bears little relation
to its boho predecessors. Whether you
choose an ankle-skimming shirt dress or
something more slinky in silk jersey, focus
on narrow silhouettes and cinch your
waist with a contrasting belt.
Key piece Raoul, which launched at
Matches last season, has plenty of
elegant silk maxi-dresses with a vaguely
Thirties feel in soft colours, including
duck-egg blue, nude and black (£327;
raoul.com, 08700 678838).
You could also try With its fluttering
ruffles and sparse flower appliqué,
Oasis’s dusty-pink sleeveless maxi-dress
(£110; oasis-stores.com, 01865 881986)
is romantic without being sickly sweet.
Clare Coulson is the fashion features
director of Harper’s Bazaar
WHITE
The look If the LBD is a winter essential,
then the LWD is this season’s fresh,
cool alternative. Dolce & Gabbana’s
collection is almost entirely made up
of LWDs in silk, satin, lace and cotton,
while elsewhere there are endless
takes on this summer essential – from
cool cotton tunics to slinky jersey
evening dresses.
Key piece Francisco Costa’s white
silk-satin calf-length dress for Calvin
Klein Collection has a spaghetti-strap
belt and shoulder-baring halter-neck
that makes it feel so Nineties but so now
(£1,970; calvinklein.com, 020 7495 2916).
You could also try Dresses do not get
more clean-cut than Gap’s white
long-sleeved shift with a simple keyhole
detail at the back (£45; gap.eu,
00 800 0600 6666).
SHIRTING
The look Fashion’s ongoing flirtation with
boyish dressing has sparked a renaissance
of shirt-dressing, from crisp, dress-shirt
inspired tunics to more feminised
versions with dirndl skirts. Dries Van Noten
used the shirt as the starting point for his
collection, which includes white cotton
shirt-dresses with soft chiffon overlays.
Key piece Michael Kors’s laid-back
Californian-inspired collection includes
an elegant khaki shirt dress that
perfectly blends boyish style with a
more womanly silhouette (£1,750;
michaelkors.com, 020 7409 0844).
You could also try Club Monaco arrives
at Browns this spring with its brilliant,
all-American basics such as the deep
khaki Aileen cotton shirt dress (£129;
clubmonaco.com, 020 7514 0000).
LACE
The look Whether it’s the lace print that
is laser-cut into Christopher Kane’s neon
pieces or the delicate baby-dolls that
appeared at Collette Dinnigan and
Dolce & Gabbana, lace brings a shot of
youthful femininity to spring. Designers
used the material in all its variations,
from wisp-fine, almost vintage-looking
pieces to the bold floral lace that
appeared at both Marni and Valentino.
Key piece Valentino’s long-sleeved,
dusty-grey lace dress speckled with
gold threads is one of the season’s
most demure (price on application;
valentino.com, 020 7235 5855).
You could also try Whistles has a
cream, long-sleeved lace dress with
sweet scalloped hem and sleeves that
is pleasingly pretty (£175; whistles.co.uk,
020 7391 0956).
BALLET
The look With a touch of prescience, now
that Black Swan is the talk of the season,
ballet inspired Hannah MacGibbon’s
feather-light collection of plissé dresses
for Chloé. Many other designers have
opted for flared dresses that seem to
draw on dance, too. This look is all about a
fitted bodice and a floaty skirt in soft hues.
Key piece Chloé’s iridescent cappuccino
tulle dress (£4,680; chloe.com,
020 7823 5348), with its asymmetric
shoulder and ribbon-tie waist, sums
up this look perfectly – light, super-
feminine and, in short, a dreamy party
frock for summer.
You could also try Malene Birger puts
a fresh spin on the trend for almost-
weightless pleats and flowing, balletic
dresses with her pleated silk maxi-dress
in nude and lemon, with an eau-de-nil
sash (£869; bymalenebirger.com,
020 7486 0486).
Dare to bare this spring with a brand new spin on no-make-up make-up
the naked truth
WordsKate Shapland
beauty44
Kutlu/trunKarchive; fmg photography
‘Snow-bunny flush’, ‘shower-fresh face’, ‘boy-girl
beauty’ – tags are already rolling off editors’
keyboards to fasten to a look which, to the seasoned
beauty writer, was unarguably the most breakaway in
this season’s new collections: despite the newsmakers
– the neon lips (Jil Sander), the silver-foil eyeshadow
(Prada) and the Biba revival (Marc Jacobs) – bare-
faced chic stood out a mile this season for the way in
which it was brilliantly reinvented.
It appears every season – we’re used to seeing
the no-make-up make-up on the runways; it’s a safe
option for designers who are keen to keep all eyes on
the clothes. Invariably, though, it is always too fresh
to be forward-looking. This is the first season in
many that I can remember it being interesting and
impactful enough to make a proper directional
statement – and on at least three catwalks. Looking
at footage from Chloé, Lanvin and Anna Sui’s
spring/summer 2011 shows in particular, you can
clearly see the make-up artists have broken barefaced
out of its bland, overworked rut and re-spun it into
some quite remarkable looks.
With emphasis on the features, rather than
the colour on them, face-artists such as Charlote
Tilbury sought to use the neutrals to make the most
of the face – not always the way when fashion collides
with beauty – sculpting, illuminating and augmenting
with whites and beiges and the occasional dash of
black and mauve.
Tilbury’s ambition, for Chloé, was
a lit-from-within effect for the complexion via a sheen
rather than shimmer finish – a departure that could
be seen in the use of eye colour, too: make-up artists
for the Sportmax, Blumarine and Rag & Bone shows
dabbed flesh-coloured cream shadows over eyelids
to create a glazed finish that appeared to lif and
brighten the eyes when it caught the light. Where
shimmer was used to illuminate, it came from
bronzing powder – enjoying a bit of a renaissance at
Salvatore Ferragamo and Moschino’s shows, where
it doubled up as blusher to shape the face and make
skin look nicely flushed rather than tanned.
Tilbury described the look she did for the
Chloé runway as ‘handsome’ – which shows again
how different the new bare face is to its pastel-prety
original, though that is not to infer that the looks
were not feminine. Smart use of pale pink with
touches of black – usually a hard combo – made
Ferragamo’s models especially look sweet as candy.
But Charlote’s thoughtful use of eye make-up –
sepia tones up to the crease of the lids, a darker,
earth tone along the lower lash line and brow colour
to construct a shapely arch – made her girls look
ever so slightly androgynous and boyish, hence the
boy-girl beauty comparisons.
Shimmer was not excluded altogether from
the new bare face; it was just more refined and largely
concentrated on the eyes – none of that strobe effect
was visible on cheeks and temples. Out there with the
most liberal sprinkling of sparkle were Prada and
Anna Sui. At Prada, make-up queen Pat McGrath
highlighted the girls’ eyes with a flash of silver
shadow that was so fine it looked like foil.
Meanwhile, on Sui’s runway, the stunning gilt
eyeshadow glaze could have been gold leaf – a polished
technique that showed up again at Sportmax’s show,
although, this time, the glaze was a peachy red-gold
and applied beneath the eyes as well. What was
interesting about this use of shimmer, though, was
that it worked as part of a barefaced look – it didn’t
look unnatural or unwearable, perhaps because it
was so delicately done.
But even when a harder edge was introduced,
as with the black eyeliner at Christopher Kane and
Ferragamo’s shows, it worked neatly with the mood,
never looking out of place.
I believe this is chiefly a result of the current
superior bases make-up artists are now using: new
high-definition foundations that make skin look as
quenched as it does post-facial, and give an
airbrush-faultless appearance. The smartest of these
bases don’t just make skin look lit from within, but
actually do work deeper to boost its glow power over
time. So, while complexions get beter and beter, the
cosmetic effects are such that HD foundations make
it easier for everyone to wear less colour: the face-
changing possibilities of these miracles are liberating
and confidence-building.
This look could be seen as the antithesis
of those super-saturated brights we also saw on the
catwalks, but, intrinsically shaping and improving
in the way real make-up should be, it could also be a
building block to bright. So, if you prefer more colour
on your face and want an edge to it, just add a
luminous lip colour or smoky eyeshadow to your
repertoire and, hey presto, your seasonal make-up
wardrobe is sorted.
Kate Shapland is the Telegraph Magazine’s beauty editor
A new crop of high-definition foundations give skin an airbrush- faultless appearance
Your base
Dior Capture Totale
Serum Foundation
holographic light
boosters give a 3-D
glow and a
reparative complex
treats skin. £62, 020
7216 0216.
Le Metier de Beauté
Magic Lustre Cream
mix with eyeshadow
or powder blusher to
transform them into
coloured glazes.
£21, liberty.co.uk.
MAC Sunbasque
Sheertone Shimmer
Blush Just enough
shimmer and colour
to give skin a natural
flush either as base
or blusher. £16.50,
maccosmetics.co.uk.
YSL Velvety Peach
Créme de Blush,
£28, 020 7235 6706.
Your eYes
Bobbi Brown
Metallic Long-Wear
Cream Shadows in
opal and platinum,
£16.50 each,
bobbibrown.co.uk.
Shu Uemura Shine
Mystique Eye Colour
in ivy gold, £14.50,
020 7240 7635.
Smashbox Lash
DNA Mascara,
£18.50, debenhams.
com. Giorgio Armani
Smooth Silk Eye
Pencil, £17,
020 7201 8687.
MAC Cream Colour
Base in hush,
improper copper
and Shell, £13.50
each. MAC Eye
Brows in fling and
lingering, £11.50
each.
Your lips
Nars Lip Stain Gloss
Duo in turkish
Delight & Sayonara
and Stolen Kisses &
pampa, £21,
narscosmetics.co.uk.
Giorgio Armani Lip
Shimmer in no 22,
£20
Giorgio Armani
Rouge d’Armani in
no 101, £23
MAC Tinted Lip
Conditioner SPF15
in petting pink, £11.
builD THe looKBegin by creating a flawless base with one
of the new hD foundations. then use
bronzing powder in place of blusher to give a
healthy flush. next, add a little sheen to
cheeks and temples. used deftly, it can still
work as part of a barefaced look – just avoid
the strobe effect. Keep eyes neutral and
highlight with a glaze, and subtly define
brows. finish with a pink lip tint.
Cardigan Kenneth Cole
T-shirt Ted Baker
Trousers Karen Millen
Dress Day Birger
Scarf Dickins & Jones
Bag Ted Baker
Jacket Andrew Marc for Pied a Terre
Dress Ted Baker
Shoes and accessories available from a selection at House of Fraser.
FASHION COLLECTIONS BY
www.houseoffraser.co.uk
Parka Firetrap
Dress Linea
Cardigan Dickins & Jones
Jeans & Shirt Linea Weekend
Bag Ted BakerDress Supertrash
roberto frankenberg/corbis outline
With a major retrospective at the V&A this spring, fashion visionary Yohji Yamamoto, one of the world’s most influential and enigmatic designers, will at last be accorded the recognition he deserves
The question is not why is Yohji Yamamoto the subject of a major fashion retrospective at the V&A
Museum in London this spring, but what took so long?
For it is now 30 years since Yohji – always called Yohji, not Yamamoto, by fashion insiders
– along with Rei Kawakubo of Comme des Garçons, stormed the bastions of French fashion. His
arrival was nothing short of shocking.
‘Shocking’ is an overused word in fashion, but, in March 1981, the front-row set were truly
appalled. They were already in a jumpy mood. The chill wind of President Miterand’s newly elected
socialist regime was blowing through the silken corridors of Paris fashion, where the moto is rarely
‘liberté, egalité, fraternité’. But at least they expected to be on somewhat familiar ground, to see
more of the coquetish frills and furbelows of the likes of Valentino and Ungaro. Instead, they were
confronted with oversized, flawed, monochromatic, flat-heeled, gender-neutral, asymmetrical,
shabby-looking clothes. ‘Is there a “yellow peril” on the horizon?’ thundered Le Figaro. Not a line
one could get away with now.
Although the first to be accused of ‘Holocaust chic’, Yohji Yamamoto and Rei Kawakubo
were not the first Japanese designers on the Paris fashion scene. Hanae Mori had established a
gracious reputation for neat litle suits, Kenzo had made his Jungle Jap shows into extravaganzas
and Issey Miyake had been showing in Paris since 1973. But the storm caused by Yamamoto and
Kawakubo didn’t die down; it merely got more fierce. By 1983, Le Figaro was still raging, telling
readers, ‘This miserable-ism is not for you. Neither are these patched garments, nor these new
49
Yohji:
three
decades
at the
cutting
edge
words Marion HuMe portrait roberto frankenberg
rags, nor these fabrics tied hastily as taters. Nor all
this funereal black. Nor the livid make-up of decomposed
women. This is a snobbism that presents the future
in a bad way.’
From the beginning, the British were more curious.
Joan Burstein of Browns and the late Joseph Etedgui
of Joseph were quick to see the possibilities of the new
wave. Browns later landed Comme des Garçons, while
the Joseph stores carried Yohji. British fashion students,
who, back then, would travel by coach and ferry to Paris
and beg, borrow or steal tickets to shows, were also
early fans. Some recall finding their way to Yohji’s studio
afer his first show and being shown textures and shapes
completely new in the West. British Vogue soon realised
this was the aesthetic of the future, praising the designers
of the ‘International East’ for their ‘noblesse oblique,
thunderstruck colour and marvellous new manipulations
of print and texture.’
Part of the savagery of the initial reaction from
the old guard must be atributed to the prejudice of those
just one generation away from war. As for Yohji Yamamoto
himself, he is defined by the circumstances of his birth,
to a widowed mother, who worked 16 hours a day to raise
him. In 1987, he said this in an interview with Sally
Brampton, then one of the UK’s leading fashion scribes,
now an agony aunt: ‘The reason my clothes are the way
they are is because I have given up. I desire nothing.
Some people try to relate that to Buddhism, but it has
nothing to do with it. It is hard to appreciate what I say
unless you were born in Tokyo in 1943, when World War II
was destroying everything. Success came just by chance.
I never wanted anything. Like most of my generation
in Japan, I didn’t want to do anything or be anyone, so
I started to help my mother in her dress shop. I hated it.’
A lifelong love of rock ’n’ roll might seem to have
sounded a lighter note (and led to a bizarre show in which
Top, left and centre:
From the YYF
collection, autumn/
winter 2007 and 2009.
Right: from the ‘Yohji
Yamamoto Dream
Shop’ exhibition,
Mode Museum,
Antwerp, 2006
male models walked to ‘Ain’t Nothin’ but a Hound Dog’
played on a bazooka), yet Yohji himself has been sombre
about ‘Americanisation’. ‘We were fed American products,
but, at a certain age, you start realising things. The question
for me was, who are the Japanese people?’ he has said.
‘It is very difficult, even for us, to find out.’
Nevertheless, as time has gone on, Yohji has
also, brilliantly and surprisingly, explored the aesthetic
of Paris, where he sets up home for several weeks every
season (and his mother comes too, to cook for him).
Having first fought against the richness of haute couture,
laterly he has subverted it. Who can forget his catwalk
bride (which will have pride of place at the forthcoming
exhibition) with a gown so huge it swept the notebooks
off the laps of those in the front row?
For all the memorable runway sensations, most
of Yohji’s creations are rather plain, ofen in navy and
industrial gabardine, which makes them seasonless.
The same women who would not be seen dead in last
season’s Prada happily boast of wearing 20-year-old
Yohji, which explains why there is so litle trade in his
garments on the vintage market.
What his clothes have always explored is
feminism. Never interested in coquetish appeal, his
woman is always strong, although, as he has concurred,
‘Most men do not like strong, independent women with
their feet on the ground. Men don’t want women to be
outstanding. When women try to be real people, there
is tremendous pressure against them. I’d like to say,
hang on, keep trying.’
To do so, wearing timeless Yohji is a pleasure.
The exhibition ‘Yohji Yamamoto at the V&A’ runs from
until 10 July at the V&A Museum (vam.ac.uk)
Marion Hume writes for The Telegraph Magazine, W, Harper’s
Bazaar Australia and The Australian Financial Review
50
‘The reason my clothes are the way they are is because I have given up. I desire nothing’
monica feudi, ronald stoops
00
bold expanses of intense tints were a highly visible theme
on this season’s catwalks. but if full-colour is too
extreme, combine bright accessories with neutral tones
photography METZ & RACINE fashion editor jANE howARD
colour blocks
accessories52
00
Rope and glory
Opposite page,
clockwise from top
left: Coral 55 denier
‘Dublin’ tights,
£10.50, Cette.
Purple, nude and
orange lambskin
and suede, natural
enlaced rope
platform ‘Tahiti’ shoe,
£1,115.00, Dior. Beige
leather clutch bag,
price upon request,
Valentino.
Pink and black
striped clutch,
£430, Prada
Beige related
Clockwise from top:
Yellow raffia wedge
shoe, £485, D&G.
Green leather bag,
£650, Miu Miu.
Powder medium
zip-around leather
shoulder bag, £1,150,
Céline. Beige beaded
leather clutch bag,
£390, Marni
Creator of the stiletto, master of the flat andinventor of the inward
Curving ChoC, shoemaker roger vivier was always
ahead of the Curve
words Marion HuMe photography paul zaK
00
Blue heaven
This page, clockwise
from top: Orange
‘Celeste’ wedge shoe,
£930, Hermès. Jade
leather belt, £250,
and citrus leather
belt, £275; both
Smythson. Blue
lambskin and
goatskin ‘Jigé Élan 29’
clutch, £1,850,
Hermès. Jade travel
clutch bag, £435,
Smythson. Pink plain
plastic bracelet,
£99, Marni
Tan alive
Opposite, clockwise
from top left: Lily
Pure Matt 50 denier
tights, £13, Falke.
Nude cotton
Spandex jersey
short-sleeve T-shirt
leotard, £24,
american apparel.
Opal patent corset
belt, £295, Burberry.
Nude leather
open-toe sandal,
£600, Versace.
Opal patent leather
elongated clutch
bag with strap,
£595, Burberry.
Rope necklace,
£199, Armani.
Fashion stylist
Jane Howard prop
stylist Vincent
Olivieri Manicure by
Katie Jane Hughes,
orlybeauty.co.uk
Model Eva Doll at
Premier
STOCKISTS DETAILS
ON PAGE 81
54
Diana Vreeland described her collection of Roger Vivier shoes as ‘a lesson in perfection’
00
Make an unforgettably draMatic entrance this
season with one of the catwalk’s strongest
colours. being well red has never been so iMportant
PhotograPhy alex cayley fashion editor Mika Mizutani
Sheer delight
Papaya cotton and
silk toile flammée
blouse with chiffon
back, £935; black
cotton canvas skirt,
£1,085, both Yves
Saint Laurent
Green goddess
Orange spice double
silk raso jacket,
£1,320; ortensia matt
satin drape strapless
top, £470; Indian jade
crepe romain fold
pants, £550; green
suede high-heeled
platform sandals
with laminated
python detail, £545;
all Gucci. Gold
bracelet, £315,
Giuseppe Zanotti
Design
Far vermilion
Tomato light wool
gabardine tied jacket,
£1,860; black fine
cashmere tied
cardigan, £1,120; and
tomato light wool
gabardine low-waist
pants, £930, all
Hermès. Black
vegetable calf
harness belt (around
neck and waist),
£669, Lanvin
Full on
Purple double face
cotton peasant
blouse with flower
appliqué, £970; red
double face cotton
waisted gathered
skirt, £885; and
leather belt, £395, all
Marc Jacobs
Red brigade
This page: Poppy
light washed satin
dress, £2,700;
cognac waxed
calfskin belt, £500;
and beige waxed
calfskin shoes, £590,
all Lanvin
Tangerine dream
Opposite: Orange
cotton dress,
£595, Prada
Knot waving
Orange silk top, £483;
and silk skirt, £1,500,
both Haider
Ackermann
Action station
Bicoloured silk crepe
jumpsuit, £2,190; and
burgundy sequined
belt; £630, both Louis
Vuitton. Black suede
105mm sandal, £740,
Yves Saint Laurent
Model Coco Rocha at
Storm Models
Make-up Karan Franjola
at Marek & Associates
Hair Rolando Beauchamp
for Bumble and Bumble
Manicurist Kiyo Okada at
Garren New York for Chanel
Production: Sarah Math
Stylist’s assistant
Antoine Seguin
STOCKISTS DETAILS ON
PAGE 81
band of hope and glory No matter where iN the world aN atelier is based, chaNces
are oNe of the UK’s maNy desigN taleNts will be at the helm.
feted by fashioN hoUses, coUrted by their accoUNtaNts
aNd fawNed over by goverNmeNt miNisters with aN eye
oN oUr gdP, british desigNers have Never beeN more iN demaNd
words JO CRAVEN ILLUsTrATIoN K ATE GIBB
Statuesque shoes in hand-printed suede, perhaps
inlaid with miniature mirrors – such extravagant
flights of fancy are the day-to-day work of Nicholas
Kirkwood. He hit the fashion scene a mere six years
ago, but has already been headhunted to be creative
director of Pollini, the luxury Italian accessories
label. He continues to design the fierce heels for
which he is known and, last month, opened his first
shop on Mount Street, London W1.
Kirkwood is just one among the latest
generation of British talent mopping up the cream of
the top jobs around the world. In Paris, Phoebe Philo
has the women’s fashion world worshipping at the
Céline altar, while, at Loewe in Madrid, Stuart Vevers
is breathing fresh air into another venerated brand.
And the list of home-grown creative dynamos goes
on, and by no means depreciates in impressiveness:
Giles Deacon has taken over at Emanuel Ungaro
and Jonathan Saunders at Escada Sport, and then
there’s Christopher Kane at Versus for Versace.
But what is it exactly that we’re doing so
right? The capital’s creative reputation certainly
plays a part. As Alexandra Shulman, editor of
British Vogue, puts it: ‘There’s something about
London that enables people to fly creatively – the
mix of tradition and innovation, the rich cultural
and social melting pot and our willingness to
embrace idiosyncrasy.’ Add to that the strength
of our fashion colleges, from the pupils of Wendy
Dagworthy – one of the founders of London Fashion
Week – at the Royal College of Art, to those of the
famed tough-love mistress, Louise Wilson, course
director of the MA programme at Central Saint
Martins, and you have a powerful blend.
Together, the influence of Dagworthy’s and
Wilson’s former students covers the entire fashion
Opposite, clockwise
from bottom right:
Christopher Kane of
Versus for Versace;
Giles Deacon of
Ungaro; Nicholas
Kirkwood of Pollini;
John Galliano, ex
of Dior; Jonathan
Saunders of Escada
Sport; Phoebe Philo
of Céline; Stuart
Vevers of Loewe
67
landscape, from the late Alexander McQueen to the
current crop. As Sarah Mower, the British Fashion
Council’s ambassador for emerging talent, says of
Wilson: ‘If you were to take away her ex-students –
Christopher Kane, Jonathan Saunders, Richard
Nicoll, Roksanda Ilincic, Louise Goldin, Mary
Katrantzou, Mark Fast, Danielle Scut and David
Koma – who would we be lef with?’ What’s more,
she credits those recent graduates with the
continued success of some of the world’s most
prestigious fashion houses, adding: ‘And where
would Lanvin, Céline, Balenciaga, Calvin Klein,
Acne and Louis Vuiton be, for that mater?’
This last is a point not ofen appreciated.
Stuart Vevers honed his skills in a number of
studios. In 1996, he was taken on by Calvin Klein
in New York, moving from there to Botega Veneta
in Milan before designing accessories for Luella,
then working for Givenchy and Louis Vuiton in
Paris and Mulberry back in the UK, and finally, in
2008, heading to Loewe, where he is now creative
director. That’s more than 10 years of learning on
the job: ‘I do think education has a lot to do with
why British designers are so much in demand,’ he
says. ‘London is such a style centre, with a proper
youth culture that you’re surrounded by when you’re
in college. Plus, it helped that I had a hunger to be
a designer, which set me on my way.’
Nevertheless, he admits to being saddened
by the lack of manufacturing in Britain, which means
most designers have to travel to work. In contrast,
the Italians and French can draw on a strong atelier
tradition and have maintained their cloth mills,
which has both sustained their fashion industry
and kept local crafs alive. ‘We’re known for young,
innovative designers in the UK, but there are so few
who make their clothes here that it’s like a cotage
industry compared to Italy or France,’ says Jonathan
Saunders. Vevers agrees: ‘At Loewe, the head of the
atelier has been there for 50 years, which means
I’ve learnt really different cultural references from
him. And that’s very precious – you feel you’re seeing
into the soul of the company.’
Indeed, one of the main advantages a British
designer working abroad has is their position as a
‘Being foreign
means that
you’re not
bogged down
by heritage
and history.
You can wipe
the slate clean’
cultural spectator, an outsider. ‘Being foreign means
that you’re not bogged down by a company’s heritage
and history, so you can wipe the slate clean and
start again,’ Vevers comments.
Yet none of the expats needs to fear geting
lost in translation in their international roles. Vevers
takes Spanish lessons twice a week – a far cry from
life in Carlisle, his hometown. Nicholas Kirkwood
commutes from London to a factory near Bologna
for Pollini, where he says he speaks ‘shoe Italian’ and
makes himself understood with sketches. In Munich,
meanwhile, Saunders uses colour charts and fabric
swatches when he can’t find the words.
Plucked from his graduate show by Donatella
Versace, Christopher Kane has designed for Versus,
the youthful arm of Versace, for the past three
seasons. The atelier in Milan could not be further
from the Glasgow of his youth or the modest studio
in Dalston, East London, from which he turns out
creations for his own-name label. No white-coated
seamstresses assist him here. Just 28, he has brought
Versus alive with his genius for cut and colour, and
his collections are showing to great acclaim. Louise
Wilson is a fan of his technical ability - a skill less
and less common among contemporary designers:
‘Today, everything is farmed out. Someone else cuts
the patern and someone else again supplies the
fabrics. But even if Kane had no help, he could still
make his garments. He has the talent.’ And Donatella
Versace is certainly clear why she hired him: ‘He
knows how to turn edgy and modern into reality.
He’s like my brother in that he understands how
to make a woman look great. I don’t have to say it
– he just knows. That’s the beauty of Christopher.’
Quite an endorsement.
It seems that, when it comes to making it
big abroad, British designers must tick the boxes
not only of youth and energy, ideas and skills, but
also self-reliance. As Gareth Pugh says of his time
at Central Saint Martins: ‘Louise trains her students
to be resilient. I thought when I lef college that
those would be the hardest and most stressful three
years of my life. I was wrong.’ Perhaps - but he was
prepared. Because these designers aren’t merely
creative figureheads, nor do they just get the job done.
They can do wonders for a brand and, in the process,
transform the entire fashion landscape. When Phoebe
Philo presented wearable clothes for women, she set
off a chain reaction, and, likewise, when Alexander
McQueen’s vision took hold, theatrical drama was
seen as the new way forward.
Of course, a prety dress brilliantly designed
is never going to be the full story. Fashion is first and
foremost a business – and never more so than in the
current economic climate. Céline’s no-doubt-healthy
profits will be reflective of Philo’s status as a style
influencer of the highest order. The girl can do no
wrong. One mustn’t forget, afer all, that it was she,
in her time at Chloé, between 2001 and 2006, who
designed the Paddington bag that was responsible
for the doubling of the company’s sales. Similarly,
Mulberry’s collaboration with Luella Bartley and
Stuart Vevers in 2002 culminated in the Gisele,
one of recent history’s most successful It-bags
– a feat Vevers is no doubt hoping to repeat with
his revival of Loewe’s Amazona bag. There’s good
design, and then there are good profits, and it’s the
later that pays the rent.
Giles Deacon is renowned for his atention
to the business process, which made him a very
atractive proposition to take over at Emanuel
Ungaro. It’s not beneath him to know how much
69
catwalking.com; derek hudson/contour photos;
rex features; sølve sundsbø/art + commerce
a buton costs and to work it into a business plan.
During his career-building time at Botega Veneta
from 2000; the launch of his own label, Giles, in
2003; and the savvy Gold collection he recently
created for New Look, he has always sweated the
small stuff – all that, while winning every award
going, including, in 2009, the highly prestigious
ANDAM Grand Prix. To Ungaro’s probable relief, his
feminine, draped frocks in subtle, neutral colours for
the spring/summer 2011 collection did much to erase
the traces of his much-criticised predecessor,
‘artistic adviser’ Lindsay Lohan, and restore
credibility to the label.
Geographical boundaries count less and
less in the world of fashion, especially these
days, when some of the biggest buyers of luxury
fashion are based in China and the newly emerging
economies and just about every brand you can buy
on Rue Saint-Honoré is also on sale in Shanghai.
But that makes it all the more salient that British
design talent still holds such sway all over the world.
The appointment to Escada Sport of a designer
as gifed with colour as Jonathan Saunders, for
instance, appears a perfect piece of international
matchmaking. His first collection is due out this
June, and looks set to be a wise investment on
the part of Megha Mital, the daughter-in-law of
Indian billionaire Lakshmi Mital, who acquired
Escada in 2009 and wants to reinvigorate the brand.
Today’s quick-to-pick-up-on-the-zeitgeist
politicians have also spoted the goldmine of home-
grown talent and are hurrying to avail themselves
of its spoils. Afer all, the rag trade’s worth to the
economy is a cool £21 billion. No wonder Minister
for Communication, Culture and the Creative
Industries Ed Vaizey was quoted as saying: ‘British
fashion has the talent, creativity and skills to rival
anywhere in the world. Our new and established
designers and fashion labels are internationally
renowned for their unique vision at the cuting
edge of this hugely important global industry.’
Not that Louise Wilson is impressed by mere talk.
She recounts a recent meeting with a government
official. ‘He told me that we’re a manufacturing
country. I mean, really, is he blind?’
That’s as may be, but one thing’s for sure –
even in these uncertain times, as long as Britain
keeps its cool, our designers will continue to conquer
fashionland at home and abroad.
Jo Craven writes on fashion for the Telegraph Magazine,
Stella and Vogue
Opposite, from
left: spring/summer
11 collections from
Versus (Christopher
Kane); Nina Ricci
(Peter Copping);
and Loewe (Stuart
Vevers); bag by
Stuart Vevers at
Loewe; Jonathan
Saunders at work
for Escada Sport
Left: Giles Deacon,
spring/summer 2010.
Below, from left:
Ungaro (Giles
Deacon); two looks
from Céline (Phoebe
Philo), all spring/
summer 2011
Over the decades, whenever the going gets tough, designers turn to disco chic to bring back the glamour and good times Photography Giampaolo Sgura Fashion editor Daniela Agnelli
let’s go
round again
Light relief
Left White jacket with
mesh details, £1,150;
white crepe de chine
top, £600; white
stretch canvas
trousers, £825, all
Gucci with adjuster
Burberry trousers,
STOCKISTS DETAILS
ON PAGE 81
Boogie wonderland
Previous page: Jumpsuit,
£1,180; belt, £520;
clutch bag, £1,610, all
Gucci. Amber and gold
choker, from a selection,
Lynn Ban. Hammered
gold ring (left hand),
from £66, Kenneth
Jay Lane. Rose-gold
ring (right hand), from
£2,154, Carla Amorim.
Gold cuff (left wrist),
stylist’s own, Halston.
Gold cuff (right wrist),
£193, Etro
Do the hustle
This page: Dress, £595,
MaxMara. Belt, £745,
Gucci. Shoes, £740,
Yves Saint Laurent.
Earrings, price on
application, Robert Lee
Morris. Cuffs, as before
Stayin’ alive
Opposite: Jacket, £445,
and trousers, £230, both
Joseph. Gold choker,
from a selection, Lynn
Ban. Ring, price on
application, Robert
Lee Morris. Shoes,
£845, Gucci
Le freak
Opposite: One-shoulder
dress, £1,135; gold cuff,
£193, both Etro. Gold
choker, from a selection,
Lynn Ban. Shoes, £1,294,
Donna Karan
Good times
This page: Top, £515;
trousers, £600, both
Chloé. Hat, £99, James
Lock & Co. Gold collar,
price on application,
Robert Lee Morris.
Gold cuff (left wrist),
from £69; gold V cuff
(right wrist), from £36,
Kenneth Jay Lane
Disco inferno
This page: Cape,
£5,300; jumpsuit,
£3,400, both Louis
Vuitton. Shoes, £795,
Gianfranco Ferré.
Silver choker, £2,500;
silver cuff, £580; silver
and diamond cuff,
£2,245, all Lynn Ban at
Dover Street Market
Ladies’ night
Opposite: Dress, from
£1,537, Halston. Gold
collar and cuff (left
wrist), both price on
application, Robert
Lee Morris. Gold cuff
(right wrist), from £69,
Kenneth Jay Lane.
Shoes, £1,100,
Gianmarco Lorenzi
Night fever
Opposite: Jumpsuit,
£1,220; belt, £270, both
Yves Saint Laurent.
Enamel earrings, from
£27, Kenneth Jay Lane.
Gold bangles; gold
bracelet, both price
on application,
Robert Lee Morris
Hot stuff
This page: Dress, £781;
belt, £194, both Diane
von Furstenberg. Gold
choker, from a selection,
Lynn Ban. White agate
ring, £177, Kara by Kara
Ross. Gold cuff (left
wrist), from £69; gold
V cuff (right wrist),
from £36, both Kenneth
Jay Lane. Shoes, £740,
Yves Saint Laurent
Stylist’s assistants
Aurelia Donaldson
and Olivia Kozlowski
Hair Enrico Mariotti
Make-up Jessica Nedza
Manicurist Ana-Maria
Model Jacqueline
Jablonski at Supreme
Management.
Shot on location at
the Standard Hotel,
New York
STOCKISTS DETAILS
ON PAGE 81
www.discovercottonusa.com
Embrace Nature. Choose Cotton.
PhotograPhy: metz + racine Fashion stylist: Jane howard. ProP stylist: Vincent oliVieri
A
American Apparel 020 7734 4477;
americanapparel.net
B
Borovick Fabrics 020 7437 2180;
borovickfabricsltd.co.uk
Burberry 020 7986 0582;
burberry.com
C
Carla Amorim at Astley Clarke
020 7706 0060; astleyclarke.com
Cartier 020 3147 4850; cartier.com
Céline at Browns 020 7514 0039;
brownsfashion.com
Cette at Tights Please
tightsplease.co.uk
Chanel 020 7493 5040;
chanel.com
Chloé 020 7823 5348; chloe.com
Cutler & Gross 020 7581 2250;
cutlerandgross.com
D
D&G 020 7495 9250;
dandgstore.com
Debenhams 0844 561 6161;
debenhams.com
Diane von Furstenberg
020 7499 0886; dvf.com
Dior 020 7172 0172; dior.com
Dolce & Gabbana 020 7659 9000;
dolcegabbana.com
Donna Karan 020 7479 7900;
donnakaran.com
E
Emporio Armani 020 7491 8080;
emporioarmani.com
Etro 020 7495 5767; etro.it
F
Falke falke.com
G
Gianfranco Ferré 020 7838 9576;
gianfrancoferre.com
Gianmarco Lorenzi 020 7493 2906;
egofashionbox.com
Giorgio Armani 020 7235 6232;
giorgioarmani.com
Giuseppe Zanotti Design
020 7838 9455;
giuseppezanottidesign.com
Gucci 020 7629 2716; gucci.com
Guess guess.eu
H
Haider Ackermann at Browns
020 7514 0038; haiderackermann.be
Halston halston.com
Hermès 020 7499 8856; hermes.com
House of Fraser 0845 602 1073;
houseoffraser.co.uk
J
James Lock & Co 020 7930 8874;
lockhatters.co.uk
John Lewis 0845 604 9049;
johnlewis.com
Joseph 020 7610 8441, joseph.co.uk
K
Kara by Kara Ross at Harvey Nichols
020 7235 5000; harveynichols.com
Kenneth Jay Lane at Harvey Nichols
020 7235 5000; harveynichols.com
L
Lanvin 020 7491 1839; lanvin.com
Louis Vuitton 020 7399 4050;
louisvuitton.com
Lynn Ban at Dover Street Market
020 7518 0680; lynnban.com
M
Marc Jacobs marcjacobs.com
Marni 020 7245 9520; marni.com
MaxMara 020 7518 8010;
maxmara.com
Missoni 020 7352 2400; missoni.com
Miu Miu 020 7409 0900;
miumiu.com
N
Nicole Farhi 020 7036 7500;
nicolefarhi.com
O
Oliver Peoples 020 7235 5000;
oliverpeoples.com
P
Paco Rabanne at Dover Street Market
020 7518 0680;
doverstreetmarket.com
Prada 020 7647 5000; prada.com
Prada at David Clulow
0844 264 0870; davidclulow.com
R
Ralph Lauren 020 7535 4600;
ralphlauren.co.uk
Robert Lee Morris
neimanmarcus.com
S
Smythson 0845 873 2435;
smythson.com
T
Thomas Sabo thomassabo.com
V
Valentino 020 7893 8092;
valentino.com
Versace 020 7259 5700;
versace.com
Y
Yves Saint Laurent
020 7493 1800; ysl.com
Blue and black baroque
sunglasses, £190, Prada.
Peach sunglasses,
£279, Cutler & Gross
stockists 81
Having the opportunity to break a record
is an incredible incentive. Amy Johnson
became the first woman to fly solo from
Britain to Australia in 1930, just a year
after she gained her pilot’s licence. Amy
knew that no woman had made the flight
solo before, and she thought, if I don’t do
this, someone else will, so why shouldn’t
it be me? Pioneers aren’t born with great
skill and unparalleled bravery, but maybe
they are born with a special kind of
determination. Selfishness even. I know
that from the moment I decided to climb
Mount Everest I believed I could do it. There
was no doubt in my mind. I would wake
up and tell myself every morning, I can do
this, and I will do this. I wasn’t a natural
climber, or more physically able than
anyone else, I just knew that if I worked
hard I could do it.
Amy Johnson was born in Hull in
1903, the same year Emmeline Pankhurst
formed the Women’s Social and Political
Union, and the suffragette movement
entered a new and more high-profile phase.
Having always harboured an interest in
aeronautics, Johnson convinced her father
to help her buy her first plane, a second-
hand de Havilland Gipsy Moth for £600,
which she named ‘Jason’ after her father’s
fish business trademark. Amy left Croydon
on 5 May 1930, and landed in Darwin,
Australia, on 24 May, not only a record-
breaker, but a celebrity too. The seed for
her status as a feminist icon was sown.
Setting her first record only two years after
British women were given the vote on the
same terms as men, she changed and
challenged conceptions about what women
should be, and what we could achieve.
Amy went on to set and break
further records, but her career was not
without calamity. She had several
near-misses, including a crash landing on
a flight from South Wales to America with
her aviator husband Jim Mollison, that
saw them both end up in hospital. They
divorced a few years later, and Amy joined
the auxiliary forces to help with the war
effort. It was on a routine delivery mission
from Blackpool to Kidlington, near Oxford,
that she met a tragic death aged just 37,
straying off-course in bad weather and
crashing into the Thames estuary. She
drowned before she could be rescued.
More than 80 years later, I am
following a path paved by women such
as Amy. Mountaineering is a very male-
dominated activity, and being young,
blonde and female didn’t necessarily
work in my favour. People were surprised
by me, and certainly didn’t take me
Bonita Norris became the
youngest British woman to climb Mount Everest last year – and she says she couldn’t have done it without the inspiration of pioneering
women such as Amy Johnson
seriously at first. And, of course, it was
very easy to dismiss me because at the
time I had nothing to back myself up. But
female mountaineers are pushing
boundaries now. It’s an exciting time.
I am hugely inspired by Amy’s
bravery and tenacity. There were moments
on Everest when I would hear ice falling
nearby, and the ground would shake
beneath me. In that kind of situation it
would be easy to let fear take over. I’ve
learnt to stay calm, and that panicking
only makes things worse. I have a constant
internal dialogue – telling myself to keep
going, to breathe slowly, that I know what
I’m doing and to trust myself.
Amy initiated a trophy that is
awarded to a child in her hometown of
Hull who shows exceptional bravery.
When I go in to schools to talk, I always
tell the students that if I can climb
Everest, then they can too. I didn’t start
off with exceptional skill, I had to really
push myself to do it. Amy wasn’t born a
talented pilot, but she had ambition and
drive and she worked at it.
Bonita Norris, 23, is currently seeking
sponsorship for a record-breaking expedition
to the South Pole with an all-British,
all-female team
Clockwise from
below: Amy Johnson,
aged 19, waving to
crowds in Australia,
after her solo flight
from Britain; flying an
air ferry in 1939
heroine82
REx FEATURES; BETTMAnn/CORBIS. BOnITA nORRIS WAS TAlKInG TO SARAH DEEKS
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