Seeds of Inspiration

So I was talking to my cousin last night about inspiration. He is Big In Advertising and it is his job to understand what makes people desire things. As you can imagine this was a bit of a complex one involving much impassioned gesticulation and basically ended up back at the start of the creative process. 

How does inspiration happen and what starts it off? I was explaining that I don’t actually actively go out looking for inspiration, rather the seeds are sown and at some point they germinate into ideas through a process of living life and looking around.  Sometimes it is frustrating because the ideas are there but just below the surface and something needs to trigger it to let it flow. It is not a process which can be rushed and obviously with a business to run that can be a little unsettling sometimes. However today I found myself at the fabulous Haunch of Venison gallery during a gap between meetings and I must confess that for the first time ever I was inspired by an exhibition. I was lucky enough to catch the Joana Vasconcelos show before it ends this month and for me her work has such strong links to fashion that I couldn’t help but fall in love with it all. The seeds are sown and I am ready to go!

The mysterious incident of the navy tights in the designer's drawer

In the ever changing vortex of taste that is planet fashion there are few truly heinous fashion crimes. Most bad taste can be excused as ‘on trend’ however as with anything in life there are ten comandments which-for the greater good of society and regardless of creative need- should be obeyed. ‘Thou shalt not wear navy tights’ is definitely one of them. Especially if you thought they were black.

Fashion week is an incredibly busy time for us. We are flying madly from appointment to appointment, from launch to dinner to party and somewhere in all that are school runs, parent meetings and tears at bedtime. There is not the necessary time to luxuriate over the choice of ground breaking outfit. The creative dresser within must be reigned in if I am to get anywhere on time and organized the night before. In the dark. Because Ginger #1 is asleep in my bed. And therein lays the problem…. The rogue navy tights luxuriating at the bottom of my drawer undisturbed since last winter have reared their ugly head. Or feet. Whatever.

To be honest it was Amiee that they claimed as their first victim. She rummaged in my drawer shortly before we left for the Value of Fashion launch and she was rocking a beige and black neutrals looks. Except it was beige, black and navy which isn’t a look and in fact an offence and to add insult to injury it only came to light (excuse the pun) under the flash of the photographers camera as her outfit was recorded for Fashion Week posterity. Lets hope they think it’s a new trend.

I was the second victim. Thinking (clearly mistakenly) that the offending item had been taken into fashion custody and were languishing safely in a British Heart Foundation store somewhere I went into the drawer with foolish carelessness. My devil may care attitude was rewarded in the cold light of the taxi cab on route to a charity dinner for HET last night when my vintage Sara Berman lace cocktail dress was ambushed by the surprise appearance of the navy tights. I don’t understand how it happened but I had no choice but to shoulder on, the tights under surveillance. I had a fascinating evening and was enjoying myself greatly until I spotted a fellow fashion body across the room. We did the fashion quick step over to each other and performed the necessary eye sweep and computation. ‘You look fabulous darling! So clever to lift all that lace with navy.’ ‘Oh yes-very next season don’t you think?’

Perhaps I will let the tights out on bail.

The Look Show

As you may or may not know I was approached by Look Magazine to design the goody bag for the magazine's London Fashion Week show which took place on Friday (17th September). Of course I was delighted to do so - anything to keep idle creative hands busy and all that...

Fashion Week.... The story so far.

In case you were worried that my world had shrunk as small as my Spanx fear not. My brain is alive and well and juggling the many balls of London Fashion Week. Day one took me to the House of Commons yesterday to pontificate on the Value of British Fashion at the launch of the BFC’s report. Actually this is a subject I know a little about (11 years building a brand and working with UK manufacturers will teach you a thing or two) and have a genuine passion for. Which is probably why the BFC were good enough to invite me. What with my visit back in June I am getting rather blasé about this whole parliament thing and I think this was reflected in my slightly more relaxed sartorial style this time around.

Sorry the image is so fuzzy... Photos were not allowed and there were policemen everywhere. Luckily Amiee managed to befriend one.

My afternoon was spent with the lovely Adam Holdsworth who is the CEO of N.Peal and effectively my boss. Well actually he is totally my boss but I have issues with control so we use that term very carefully. As Creative Director I have the best job ever creatively directing huge amounts of super soft cashmere into sweaters and cardigans. This is A LOT of fun and also means that I am swaddled in N.Peal cashmere all year round. Yesterday was our major review day where we ruthlessly chop through the collection and throw away anything that isn’t ridiculously fabulous. The rest shall mysteriously find its way to my ‘trial’ wardrobe ‘for further review’. The collection does look wonderful and that is always a major rush. I cant wait to have it all!

Not content with the morning in Parliament and the afternoon laying around in cashmere I managed to squeeze in a quick school run, attend a parent teacher talk (what is it about that particular interaction which makes one itch to be naughty? It’s similar to that need to whine in front of your parents no matter how old you are but somehow even more pathetic) and whizz Ginger # 1 home in time to make it to Fenwick Bond St for the opening of their new restaurant Bond and Brook.

They have done a wonderful job of making this into a stylish and rather cool eaterie but to be honest there were so many people jostling for canapés and champagne (I love a traditional ‘do’! Nothing like a bellini to take the edge off) that the restaurant was entirely obscured by outfits. I am sure that the charming Mark Fenwick wouldn’t have it any other way.

Day one done. Not bad!