LONDON| Toni & Guy Magazine Interview Vauxhall Fashion Scout Director Martyn Roberts

Martyn Roberts at Vauxhall Fashion Scout, Freemason's Hall. London Fashion Week

Toni & Guy Team backstage at Vauxhall Fashion Scout

Vauxhall Fashion Scout may be an undoubtably intrical part of London Fashion Week, providing a "career springboard" for emerging designers- but without the backing and support of our fantastic sponsors, Vauxhall Fashion Scout couldn't reach the heights it has.

Toni&Guy, have been official hair sponsors for Vauxhall Fashion Scout for over a remarkable 10 seasons, and there's just no stopping this dynamic duo! 

In the Spring issue of Toni&Guy magazine, Maia Adams interviews Vauxhall Fashion Scout Director Martyn Roberts, on how the company has grown from strength to strength since its humble beginnings as "just a hobby" not so long ago...

"We decided to create a hub where young designers could showcase their work and where bloggers- who were just starting to make an impact - could cover the event from our media centre. Vauxhall was looking to back new designers and I told them I'd sort something out for them. Less than a month later we staged a seven-designer show at London Fashion Week."

Martyn and the Vauxhall Fashion Scout team are now heading into it's 14th Season. Having just wrapped up another glistening season- A/W12, at London Fashion Week, Vauxhall Fashion Scout headed straight back into the fashion heavy-weight ring with the Paris Showroom, taking 23 of London's most promising designers and planting them in the centre of the Paris Fashion Week action, showcasing exactly how talented emerging London-based designers can be.

"London's renowned for it's creativity and diversity" says Martyn, "...which gives us a license to get interesting... We're constantly scouting shows and graduate collections for new designers."

And indeed we are- Vauxhall Fashion Scout has aided the careers of some of the most innovative and renown designers of the times, including William Tempest, David Koma and Hermione De Paula. All of whom have been awarded VFS's highest commendation- the prestigious Merit Award. And Robert's personal greatest achievement...?

"To see a designer we've supported going above and beyond what they thought they were capable of. Whether that's a fashion show to which hundreds of people have come to see their collection, or an exhibition where Italian Vogue has spotted their work and asked to feature it in the magazine."

With designers being hand-picked by leading fashion industry experts as highlights from both London and Paris Fashion Weeks and designers emerging to world-wide critical acclaim from under the wing of the Vauxhall Fashion Scout name, the home of new talent has definitely proved itself as a shining beacon for new London-based designers to come and show the world what they're truly made of.

Images be Natalia Ilina 

MENTORING| Vauxhall Fashion Scout introduces Harvey Nichols, Avenue 32 and Orla Kiely for a Mentoring Event all about Sales - Monday 26th March

Vauxhall Fashion Scout Mentoring is back! This time, it's all about the Sales...  

Monday 26th March

7pm

Beach Blanket Babylon

The evening will feature guest speakers from both sides of the sales channel. Sales are fundamental to the success of a designers selling collection and this mentoring aims to provide a comprehensive guide to attracting and sustaining both sales agents and buyers’ interest. 

During the evening we will be discussing:

 - Approaching and finding buyers

- How to position collections

- Sales Contracts

- Payment terms

- General Advice

- How to deal with exclusives

- Online

With a fantastic panel of experts available for questions and answers, this is the one-stop place for designers hoping to improve on their business and brand awareness. 

Alison Chisholm: Assitant Buyer Contemporary Bridge, Harvey Nichols

Alison Chisolm is the Assitant Buyer for Contemporary at Harvey Nichols. Alison is also responsible for working with new designers and implementing new brands into the Harvey Nichols store.

Harvey Nichols was founded in 1813 and today is the UK’s premier fashion retaile. Renowned both in the UK and internationally for the breadth and depth of its exclusive fashion merchandise, it offers many of the world’s most prestigious brands in womenswear, menswear, accessories, beauty and food. Harvey Nichols prides itself on finding fresh fashion talent in unexpected places.

Erin Mullaney: Fashion & Brand Director, Avenue 32  

Erin Mullaney, who previously held position as buying director at Browns, has joined online designer venture, Avenue 32, as the Fashion and Brand Director. Avenue 32, which distinguishes itself as your luxury shopping neighbourhood online, showcases and retials designer collection salongside fashion editorial content.

Avenue 32 is a memebers only, high-end fashion focused website. They aim to provide unprecedented access to cutting-edge international labels, offering the latest in high fashion clothing, shoes, and accessories via express worldwide delivery.

Designers such as Yasmin Kianfar, Manuela Dack, Eudon Choi, Hermione de Paula, Maria Francesca Pepe and Felder Felder are stocked alonside established labels Emanuel Ungaro, Calvin Klein, Preen, Hussein Chalayan, Tim Soar and many more.

Matthew Watters: Brand Development Manager, Orla Kiely

Matthew Watters gained previous sales experience working for RMO Sales and international sales agency Tomorrow Ltd who look after names such as Huishan Zhang, Issa London, Jonathan Saunders, Richard Nicoll, before making the move to Orla Kiely. Matthew now holds position as the Brand Development Manager for Orla Kiely and is responsible for the higly anticipated relaunching of the line.

Spaces are strictly limited to one representative per designer label.  

Priority is given to Vauxhall Fashion Scout designers.

RSVP essential to event@vauxhallfashionscout.com

Look forward to seeing you there!

The VFS Mentoring programme is only possible due to the kind support of Beach Blanket Babylon and the Mayor of London.

MENTORING| PR Mentoring Event with Tank Magazine and IPR - Review

Monday night saw the Vauxhall Fashion Scout PR Mentoring Event at the Beach Blanket Babylon in Shoreditch. With a fantastic talking panel consisting of Pandora Lennard from Tank Magazine and Graeme Gaughan from IPR joining our Director Martyn Roberts, the evening was a phenomenal success. 

For those of you who weren't available to attend - you can copy our notes...

Speakers for the Evening:  

Pandora Lennard is a well-established London based freelance stylist. She joined Tank in 2007 where she has now become Fashion Editor. Contributing to Fashion Editorials as well as working on Production, Casting and Events. She

also contributes to work as a freelance stylist and has collaborated with brands including Liberty, TSEsay and Gstar.

Pandora looked fab on the night with her cool quirky style!

Greame Gaughan, Communications Director at IPR explained to us that he has a different perspective on PR! IPR is a Fashion, Lifestyle and Events Agency that specialises in building brand profiles and supporting new designers. Their expertise lie in delivering stand-out Editorial, product placement, creative marketing, event management, brand development and sales consultancy. 

The evening's topics centred around PR- how to find it, keep it, and perhaps most importantly- make it benefit your brand...

What makes a Designer stand out to a PR agency?

Its all about that first impression. When you first contact an agency, you need to get their attention immediately. You want them to stop and think, hang on a minute, this designer looks good!

What to do when contacting an Agency?

- You need to come across professional, Use a professional e-mail address (NOT for   example kittykat69@hotmail.com)

- Don’t spell the companies or person you are contacting name wrong.

- State who you are, What you want and are looking for

- Using visuals is the best way to get attention. Send a Pdf file of your work or collection

within your email.

- Give some information about your collection- an agency wants to know what your

collection is about- inspirations, garments, construction, etc.

- Include a Personal Profile...

DESIGNERS| BFC presents British Designers Collective with Vauxhall Fashion Scout Alumni

Today see's The British Designer Collective head over to Bicester Village, with newly appointed Ambassador Alexa Chung at the helm. 

Up-and-coming designers will sit amongst established brands in 'The Great Hall'- a wondrous cavern of classic heritage and style contrasted with the beautiful blend of wit and sophistication that comes with contemporary British designers. 

The pop-up boutique is in it's third year at Bicester Village- one of the 'Chic Outlet Shopping' centre's, but this time brings with it a dedicated Menswear section, which will launch on 16th May.

Vauxhall Fashion Scout Alumni designers Hermione De Paula and Peter Pilotto are both there, along with BFC favourites Jonathon Saunders, Marias Schwab and Holly Fulton who have each been parts of the British Fashion Council London Showrooms in either London, Paris, LA or New York. 

To see more from the designers including the Vauxhall Fashion Scout Alumni, head over to the Chic Outlet Shopping website by clicking here.

NEW YORK| Vauxhall Fashion Scout designers in New York for the BFC London Showrooms

Today is the last day of the British Fashion Council's London Showroom's in New York, USA. Just like their showrooms in Paris, London and Los Angeles- the BFC are bringing the leading new design talent in the UK and taking it to USA to show our friends across the pond just how good London Fashion Talent is. 

Accompanying them are two Vauxhall Fashion Scout designers - Baartmans & Siegel and E.Tautz, who was also shown at the BFC Showroom in LA earlier this month. 

Designers from the Vauxhall Fashion Scout Alumni- Felicity Brown and Agi & Sam are also part of the glistening line up of fantastic British Designers that boasts Holly Fulton and Louise Gray. 


The British Fashion Council Showrooms are in partnership with Centre for Fashion Enterprise, who has also supported Vauxhall Fashion Scout designers Eudon Choi and Hermione De Paula. 

To celebrate, we've brought you exclusive images from the Baartmans & Siegel show from Vauxhall Fashion Scout at London Fashion Week. 

For more information on Vauxhall Fashion Scout designers, head to the Vauxhall Fashion Scout website by clicking here.

SPONSOR| Vauxhall Fashion Scout celebrates Vauxhall's Ampera winning 'Car of the Year 2012'

Vauxhall Fashion Scout want to extent a heart-felt congratulations to all the team at our long-running sponsors Vauxhall for being awarded 'Car of the Year' at this month's Geneva Motor Show for their innovative, eco-friendly electric car, The Ampera. 

The sleek, sophisticated car was previewed at London Fashion Week at the Vauxhall Fashion Scout venue in Covent Garden and was met with nothing but positivity and enthusiasm from the Fashion Elite in London. 

To celebrate we thought we'd give you exclusive images from London Fashion Week, with garments from A/W12 collection of Vauxhall Fashion Scout designers Prose (Womenswear) and Joe Turvey, a Graduate from Central Saint Martin's who was hand-selected by the Vauxhall Fashion Scout team as part of the One's To Watch Menswear show.


The Vauxhall Ampera Car was also featured in a short-film which featured another Vauxhall Fashion Scout designer, James Small- who had a front row clientele including Kate Moss and Fazer from pop-band N-Dubz who walked as a model in the show.

For more information on the Vauxhall Ampera, just click here to head to website, or for more information on Vauxhall Fashion Scout and our designers- head to the website by clicking on here.