Interview with Ones To Watch MEN designer - Tom Lipop

Tom Lipop is the designer behind the brand - Mr Lipop. It is one of my personal favourite brand names. Cool and also easy to memories. Tom is also the first professional football player fashion designer I've ever known, maybe that's why his design is so effortless and strong. Can't wait to see what he brings to us for next season!

How are you feeling on winning the Ones to Watch from Vauxhall Fashion Scout?

- Its a great feeling to have been selected as one of the brightest emerging menswear talents at the moment and I am really looking forward to showing with VFS.

What did you do to celebrate?

- To be honest I havn’t, I just got my head down and got on with the collection, there will be plenty of time to celebrate after the show!!

What was your experience in the fashion industry before forming your own brand?

- I  worked as a senior tailor for Nathan Jenden for the past 3 seasons which was a great experience and I learnt A LOT! Before that I was freelance designing and pattern cutting, working with brands such as Halfpenny London and Griffin Laundry, invaluable experience which drove my ambition to launch my own label.

Who is your favourite designer and why?

- This season I love what Lucas Ossendrijver has injected into Lanvin man, introducing ‘elegance to the young’. Other lifelong favorites include Massimo Osti for C.P Company and YSL’s overall aesthetic but I’m pretty partial to what Acne is doing at the moment.

If you were not a fashion designer, what would you do?

- I always wanted to be a footballer, I play Saturday league and train a few times a week still, Its like my home away from fashion, I love it and my beloved Liverpool Football Club!

What music do you listen to when you designing?

- We have everything on from The Horrors to The XX but I am pretty keen on Cee lo Greens newest album-Lady Killer!!

Where would you like to see your brand in a few years?

- I would love to see the mrLipop label in my favourite boutiques and department stores in the UK and overseas and I hope that in a few years we can be showing On Schedule on the menswear day at LFW or even over in Paris Mens Fashion Week. We want to establish ourselves in the market and would like to collaborate with other designers and emerging talent, not just in fashion but in music and film!

Have you been to any of our mentoring event? What are your thoughts of the events? Have they helped?

- I have been to a couple of the mentoring events and think they are brilliant. It has helped in all departments from sales to Pr and marketing. If anyone had the chance to go to these I would strongly recommend it.

Are you looking forward to your show in London Fashion Week? What do you expect from it?

- Of course were looking forward to it, its the reasoning behind our 90 hr weeks!! We hope to gain some good exposure and hopefully some new stockists!!

Kenny Wang

VFS Ones To Watch MEN Announcement

 A.Hallucination

 Asger Juel Larsen

 C/BRUERBERG

Mr Lipop

Vauxhall Fashion Scout, London Fashion Week’s only full sized independent event, is delighted to announce the launch of new menswear showcase, Ones To Watch MEN.

Coinciding with Vauxhall Fashion Scout’s 10th season anniversary, the launch will see A.Hallucination, Asger Juel Larsen, C/BRUERBERG and Mr Lipop on the catwalk as the line up for the new Ones To Watch MEN AW11.

Building on the success of VFS’s acclaimed Ones To Watch show, Ones To Watch MEN will showcase London’s most exciting innovative menswear designers. Specifically tailored to the men’s market on LFW’s dedicated Menswear day, Ones To Watch MEN will provide a collaborative platform for four of the hottest new talents.

Hwan Sung Park and Chung Chung Lee, design duo behind the label A.Hallucintion successfully launched their first collection at Vauxhall Fashion Scout last season. The Central Saint Martin graduates have worked for a number of well-respected design houses including Burberry, Alexander McQueen, Tom Ford, Ozwald Boateng and Lie Sang Bong Paris. The London based menswear brand presents a sharp, contemporary take on the classic British dandy with urban city wear influences.

London College of Fashion MA graduate, Asger Juel Larsen, quickly gained a following after being awarded the Harold Tillman CBE Scholarship, and since, the Danish born designer has enjoyed enormous media attention picking up joint first prize for an industry project with Turkish luxe label, Tween, and reaching the final stages of the prestigious Mittlemoda Fashion Awards. Inspired by historic events, Asger’s blends unusual materials to create a silhouette that is sharp and structured.

Camilla Bruerberg, the designer behind the label C/BRUERBERG, graduated from Oslo National Academy of the Arts in 2008, and showed her debut collection as “Debutant of the season” at Oslo Fashion Week in 2010. Drawing inspiration from evolution and traditional craft, Camilla’s work focuses on a combination of knit and digital print. In addition to individual projects, Camilla has also collaborated with electro band Royksopp and the Norwegian Theatre.

Mr Lipop pushes the boundaries of fashion craft with successful, conceptual and aesthetically progressive garments. Since graduation, Tom Lipop has held senior design positions at Nathan Jenden, House of Holland and Griffin Laundry as well as featuring predominately on Sky One’s Project Catwalk. Inspired by the Historical Lineage of British Fashion, Mr Lipop’s signature takes technical cutting and blends it seamlessly with luxururious fabrics, beautiful illustration and a ‘less is more’ minimalistic aesthetic.

Following in the footsteps of Ones To Watch which launched in 2009, Ones To Watch MEN will offer business support and sponsorship opportunities to designers as they showcase their talent in a collaborative show at the official Vauxhall Fashion Scout venue, Freemasons’ Hall in Covent Garden.

“VFS’s Ones To Watch has been such a huge success that we are now launching a Men’s version. It’s exciting to showcase and support the best new menswear talents during our 10th season anniversary, I believe Ones To Watch MEN will open a bright new page.”

Martyn Robert - Director of Vauxhall Fashion Scout

The new initiative stems from a growing increase in the strength of the UK’s menswear market and will provide new designers with a platform to show to international audiences.

Kenny Wang

VFS Ranked Number 4 in Twitter's Most Influential Fashionista Index by The Telegraph

Vauxhall Fashion Scout have been handed the great honour of being No. 4 in the Daily Telegraph’s list of Top Fashionistas on TWITTER. It is a titanic achievement from our team, with number one being fashion journalism’s powerhouse Hilary Alexander, two Susie Bubble and three Gemma Cartwright,

In our current climate of rapidly developing technology, the key to success and acknowledgement is keeping up with this digital revolution. Twitter is now a vital aid for every area of fashion communication. Vauxhall Fashion Scout have been so successful on Twitter they have beaten over forty prominent fashion commentators. This triumph has been calculated by judging how much impact they have with their social Web presence, how thoughtful the cementation is, and if the links provided are engaging and stimulating. The main three points used to study this are their triple A; ‘Authority’, ‘Audience’ and ‘Activity’.

With fashion week season launching before our eyes, it is imperative we keep our fingers on the tweet. It is the fastest most effective way of immersing ourselves in this delicious furor of creative innovation and beauty. Look out!

Thank you to all our followers!!! Congratulations to all on the list – see the research criteria and full list here! 

Charlotte Summers

An Interview with VFS Ones To Watch - Anja Mlakar

How are you feeling of winning the Ones to Watch from Vauxhall Fashion Scout?

Excited and focused on my work. This is the next step.

What did you do to celebrate?

I had a lovely Christmass party with my family.

What was your experience in the fashion industry before forming your own brand?

Before my MA I spent four incredible months at Bless in Berlin.

Who is your favorite designer and why?

I can't name only one. At the moment I think Nicolas Ghesquiere,

What music do you listen to when you designing?

Currently I'm listening to Violens - Are you still in the illusion? On repeat.

What’s your inspiration for your last season’s collection?

I'm inspired by art, random situations, the future. Currently I'm very much interested in architects. Just today, I've been researching David Chipperfield.

Where would you like to see your brand in a few years?

On top, haha. Realistically, I'll be more than happy to show regularly on LFW and establish a solid business.

Have you been to any of our mentors? What are your thoughts of it? Has it helped?

The mentors are a really great way to receive valuable information which is hard to pick up otherwise.

Are you looking forward to your show in London Fashion Week? What do you expect from it?

Personally, I expect to push my own boundaries further and with that, hopefully, get in touch with loads of new people, open new doors and possibilities. I expect it to be fabulous!

Kenny Wang

Georgia Hardinge on Live City & Islington Magazine Cover

Vauxhall Fashion Scout A/W 2011 Merit Award winner, Georgia Hardinge, has once again shake up the razzle-dazzle world of fashion. This time, the visionary designer is featured in this month’s Live City & Islington’s cover alongside one full page article discussing about her exquisite pieces for this year’s London Fashion Week. Georgia gleefully shared her passion for fashion and her perspective towards size issues in modeling industry in the cover story, written in an amusing way. The lady also tells the magazine regarding her A/W 2011 work of art’s aesthetics and inspiration, as well as her special technique in fabrication that tremendously appeal big names such as Sadie Frost, Alesha Dixon, and Rihanna. Experience and enjoy her smart yet witty attitude by grabbing Live City & Islington February 2011 or simply visit http://islington.greatbritishlife.co.uk/ for the full-fledge story.

 

Daud Gultom

Iris Van Herpen’s 2011 Couture Collection Review

Iris Van Herpen’s 2011 Couture collection, entitled Escapism, without doubt takes you to another world. Inspired by the digital age that we live in, technology has played a huge part in the design process of her collection. Going with this theme of the digital world; Herpen has collaborated with acclaimed milliner Stephen Jones to create outlandish head pieces from bits of technology – from small wind turbines to mini speakers.


Garments made of 3D shapes, unusual bulges and plastic caging stalked the catwalk. The structuring of each piece plays hallucinogenic tricks on you; with so many folds, pleats and twisted fabrics the eye doesn’t know where to start. For this collection, Herpen has joined up with architect Daniel Widrig to develop innovating fabric techniques. Materials that are normally found in architectural structures were used to create this dominating framed look. Herpen believes that art and sculpture should go hand in hand with fashion.

There were some softer pieces though; a scrunch effect dress decorated with wisps of hair-like fibres was subtle but edgy. The cute fluffy booty shoes were designed by Rem. D Koolhaas, founder & creative director of United Nude; they added a sweet tone to the severe garments.

Herpen has created once more an avant garde collection of futuristic charm. Everyone is now waiting with impatience for her A/W11 ready-to wear collection in a few weeks time.



Louisa Kilburn

Interview with VFS Ones To Watch - Sara Bro-Jorgensen

Sara made her London Fashion Week debut at the Vauxhall Fashion Scout one day exhibition last season. In only one day she recieved significant buyer and media attention. We are lucky enough to have had a sneak peak at her new collection, and it totally took our breath away. Can't wait for her first catshow!

How are you feeling on winning the Ones to Watch from Vauxhall Fashion Scout?

I'm very pleased about winning and very excited about the show .

What did you do to celebrate?


I started working on my collection!


What was your experience in the fashion industry before forming your own brand?


I graduated with an MA from the Royal College of Art this summer. Before studying at the RCA I spend six month in Berlin doing a collaboration with the design label Boessert- Shcorn and before that I worked for knitwear designer Adam Jones in Paris.


Who is your favourite designer and why?


Azzadine Alaia, I love his drapes and way of shaping knitwear around the body


If you were not a fashion designer, what would you do?


I would work in art photography


What music do you listen to when you designing?


Charlotte Gainsbourg, Agnes Obel, The Kills, Pj Harvey, Love


What was your inspiration for your last season’s collection?


The collection was inspired by a series of black and white photographs I took with an old plastic camera. It is about contrasts and photographic imagery as well as light and dreamy layers. Furthermore it's about developing and combining knitting techniques that go from hand knit to graphic jaquard patterns.


Where would you like to see your brand in a few years?


As an established brand selling my collections in all my favorite shops and doing collaborations with people from other creative disciplines


Have you been to any of our mentoring event? What are your thoughts of the events? Have they helped?


I've been to a few of the evenings and find them very interesting and helpful


Are you looking forward to your show in London Fashion Week? What do you expect from it?


I'm very excited about the show and I expect to at least get some invaluable experience and hoping for lots of exposure too.


 
Kenny Wang

FAD's 10th Competition!

On Tuesday the 22nd of February one young designer will be launched into the industry’s competitive skies! Fifteen have been narrowed down from hundreds, but only one will pass through the pearly gates into career heaven. Two more runners up will receive stimulating support up the professional ladder. The successful candidate will collect £2000 along with a prominent industry placement. The runners up will also receive £1000 and a work placement. Previous placements have resembled a young designer’s dream where a winner worked with Vivienne Westwood. They enjoyed a Paris Fashion Week expedition and a feature in The Telegraph’s Stella Magazine.

This competition at Vauxhall Fashion Scout has been described by Vogue.com as an “undeniable springboard”. It is a highly desirable opportunity that inspires, motivates, supports and promotes fresh, young designers as they take their first steps into the high paced fashion industry.

The breadth of talent within the judging panel heightens the thrill of the opportunity. Prestigious names from a variety of creative and supportive areas in the industry include: Kate Carter, Web Life and Style Editor at the Guardian; James Wallman, The Future Laboratory; Wendy Dagworthy, Head of the School of Fashion & Textiles at the Royal College of Art; Anne Tyrrell MBE, Anne Tyrrell Design Consultancy and Chair of BFC Colleges Council; Martyn Roberts, Director of Vauxhall Fashion Scout and Tracey Bartlett, Senior Womenswear Designer at ASOS.com and 2002 FAD Competition Winner.

We thoroughly look forward to seeing how the competitors have tackled FAD’s theme where we “escape from the everyday into a place of wonder and distraction’. This competition has brought attention to many great talents of our current industry. February 22nd looks set to unleash even more relentless creativity in the form of three lucky, young designers.

Good luck to the fresh, new fifteen!

Charlotte Summers

2011 Exhibition Overview

If you thought you were spoilt for fashion-exhibition-choice in 2010, fear not, because there’s plenty more in store for 2011. First on the list, and a natural evolution of the inspiring Future Beauty at the Barbican, is a Yohji Yamamoto retrospective at the V&A. A site-specific installation – including a core gallery and hidden pieces placed around the museum – will offer a new perspective on the designer’s visionary garments, in keeping with Yamamoto’s unique perspective. Designed by long-term collaborator Masao Nihei, the main exhibition space will present over 60 garments from key men’s and womenswear collections, whilst contextualizing Yamamoto’s creative partnerships with Nick Knight, Peter Saville and Pina Baush.

Crossing the Atlantic to LA, the Museum of Contemporary Art presents Rodarte: States of Matter. Fresh from the success of Darren Aronofsky’s cinematic epic, ‘Black Swan’, this is the duo’s first solo exhibition on the West Coast. Installed as a series of conceptual vignettes, the sculptural qualities of the garments are revealed. The exhibition follows a run at New York’s Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum, it seems the talented siblings can do no wrong.

And last, but by no means least, New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art will pay homage to the genius of Alexander McQueen, with an exhibition entitled Savage Beauty. Examining the impact of McQueen – from CSM graduation to a final, posthumous collection – the show will be arranged around themes including ‘Savage Mind’ and ‘Romantic Gothic’. We predict round the block queues, whilst hoping someone is kind enough to bring the exhibition to London, or sponsor our airfares.

Yohji Yamaomoto will run at the V&A from 12 March – 10 July 2011.

Rodarte: States of Matter will run at the MOCA from 3 April – 6 May 2011.

Savage Beauty will run at the Met from 4 May – 31 July 2011.

 
Victoria Loomes

Imperial Chinese Robes from the Forbidden City Exhibition Review

 Empress' 12-symbol Dragon Robe 1800-1911 (Qing Dynasty) Embroidered yellow silk with coral and pearls Length 144.7 cm x width 199.5 cm Museum no. T.253-1967

http://www.vam.ac.uk/

 mperor's winter court robe, 1662-1722. On loan from the Palace Museum, Beijing

www.vam.ac.uk

 Imperial robes on show in the Palace Museum in 2008

www.vam.ac.uk

The Victoria and Albert Museum have once again brought the British public a rare opportunity to admire objects of great value that they would otherwise never get to see. For the first time in Europe we are able to admire a capsule of China’s Imperial Robe collection.

Ming Wilson, Senior curator at the V and A, has provided a perfect storytelling mix of garments, accessories and fabrics. To truly appreciate every precious garment or accessory it is well worth reading the panels of information, there is so much to devour.

The exhibition goes back in time to China’s last dynasty, the Qing dynasty. After storming the Beijing Palace the Qing dynasty ruled for nearly three centuries. Their rule ended in 1911 and court life vanished. Imperial dress in the Forbidden City was traditionally divided into five occasions; official, regular, festive, travelling and military. For each category there are a couple of garments and accessories from both the Emperor’s and the Empress’s collection.

For those who appreciate true craftsmanship the exhibition is a goldmine of skill and man-made beauty. The detail and intricacy of the patterns and embroidery is overwhelming. You could easily sit for hours staring at one garment, continuously finding different motifs and patterns. The feature of the exhibition for me was the wedding dress of Yehe Nara Jingfen. The dress is displayed so you can see the inside of the garment which is to the exact same standard as the front; for me it was hard to believe that a human could create such detail.

As I read every scrap of information going I soon began to realise that each garment had regulations and meanings behind the choice of motifs and colours. I was intrigued by the fact that only the Emperor and the Empress were allowed to wear bright yellow; princesses, concubines and princes could wear apricot yellow.

I was particularly drawn in by the textures of the fur and the colours of the silks. Sable was often used on the Emperor’s winter coats and hats; it is an expensive fur I had never seen before; taken from a weasel-like animal near the Siberian border the fur was reserved only for the Emperor and his sons. Silk and satin are the foundations for every garment on display, but the colours are so vibrant, it’s a shock to the eye, I have never seen such saturated colours and on garments aging more than 400 years old.

The preservation of these garments, alone is breath taking, some date back as far as the 17th century. Having miraculously survived the 1911 Chinese revolution, two world wars and a cultural revolution; the garments remain in immaculate condition. To look upon them you would think they had only just been made.

One thing that drew my thoughts away from the craftsmanship however, was the discreet hint of westernisation. The westernisation of China had already begun back in the 17th century. The introduction of Europe’s mechanised looms and the presence of European women had begun this western influence on Chinese traditional dress.

As I left the exhibition in my topshop jeans and black leather jacket I felt slightly ashamed of the lack of colour and craftsman ship in my choice of dress; a trail of thought that lead me to truly appreciate the genius of dying craftsmanship.

Imperial Chinese Robes from the Forbidden City: is showing at the V&A until 27th February 2011.

Louisa Kilburn

Interview with Georgia Hardinge

Georgia is one of the most lovely designers we have had the pleasure to work alongside, always enthusiastic and happy. So we are more than pleased to see what she has achieved following last season's Ones To Watch show. We believe in her talent and also her vision and can't wait to see where she will soar after the upcoming season.

I had a quick chat with Georgia after we broke the news of her selection for this seasons Merit Award and only wished I could have been there to see her dancing around the studio with her team!

How are you feeling since winning the Vauxhall Fashion Scout Merit Award?

I feel fantastic! I am so happy that Vauxhall Fashion Scout believe in me so much as to give  me this award!

What did you do to celebrate?

My girls and I danced around the studio and cracked open a bottle of bubbly and of course I called my grandparents to tell them the news!

What was your experience in the fashion industry before forming your own company?

After graduating with the award of best designer from Parsons in Paris I worked on a collaboration with Samsung, designing and making pieces for a commercial of theirs. Following this I worked for various designers, including Felder Felder, building on my experience and learning about the industry. Since I formed my own company I have designed for the Victoria’s Secret Show, collaborated with L’Oreal, been one of Vauxhall Fashion Scout’s One’s To Watch. Up until this point I’ve never had a solo show, so this is a great achievement.

Who is your favourite designer and why?

I love Rick Owens for his incredible draping and tailoring, Alexander McQueen for the show and shock value in his clothing and Hussein Chalayan for his sheer concepts.

If you were not a Fashion Designer, what would you be?

I would be a sculptor or an architect.

What music do you listen to when designing in the studio?

Radio 1 and Absolute 80s or 90s!

Where do you like to travel?

Indonesia is my favourite – I love their language, heat and culture.

Where would you like to see your brand in a few years?

I can definitely see my brand expanding; doing two lines - one being the high fashion and the other being a diffusion line. I also hope to keep collaborating in costume design both with companies like Victoria’s Secret and with performance artists.

Have you been to any of our mentoring sessions? How have they helped?

Yes, I think this is what’s great about Vauxhall Fashion Scout – not only do they provide monetary support to small labels but they provide support through guidance - educating you on how to help keep your business sustained. This is crucial because these are not things that you learn in University, and of course they become more relevant once you are actually working in the industry. On top of this the mentoring is provided from  a number of actual experienced professionals which is invaluable information to acquire.

If you could collaborate with anyone, who would it be?

I would love to work with the Royal Ballet. Edgy dramatic costumes and working with movement is something that fascinates me. I would also like to dip into making a line for ASOS or another major consumer brand.

Kenny Wang