Excuse the lack of blogging over the past week, I left London for a short break in France and have come back bursting with new ideas for blog articles. To kick off, I should bring your attention to a local event, almost a stone’s throw from Zeus House, called Fashion Made Fair. I quote:
This flagship event brings you much more than just clothes!
An organic cafe & bar, workshops, talks & films, plus activities for kids and an on-site massage area all under one roof! Prize draw on Sunday.
Katherine Hamnett doing special signings, Howies, PeopleTree, Kuyichi plus many more ethical fashion brands!
15th - 18th May 2008
Boilerhouse,
The Old Truman Brewery,
152 Brick Lane,
London, E1 6RU
PDF Flyer
A trip to the Hong Kong Rugby Sevens tournament left me reflecting on the state of my wardrobe. Despite being involved in the t-shirt printing industry, it does not mean I come into work every day sporting a Gildan Ultra T-Shirt or whatever is lying around the samples cupboard (though I do confess I am quite partial to the Hummingbird Bakery hoodie I have)!
The forthcoming visit to Hong Kong, a city famed for being full of skyscrapers and affordable tailors, lead me to the Internet to see if I could find any good recommendations as I wasn’t keen on leaving myself to the mercy of the Lonely Planet or a street vendor with a good tip. In the end I came up with the name of Mr. Edward Tam, of E. Italian tailors, as a result of an excellent three part post by blogger Simon Compton.
He was a little tricky to find but remarkably he was only 100m from our hotel in Kowloon, which made going for fittings a piece of cake. By the end of the weekend Mr. Tam produced two suits and 6 tailored shirts (not all for me mind you) and my friend and I, who have bought tailored items before in Chile of all places, were delighted with the results, the quality of the work and the speed in which they were produced.
Hong Kong is a great city, but in you are in the market for an excellent suit, look no further than:
Edward Tam
E. Italian
Shop 117 1F,
Regal Kowloon Hotel
71 Moody Road
Tsimshatsui East,
Kowloon, Hong Kong
Tel (852) 2367 2782
As t-shirt lovers, we were excited to see a trailer for a new BBC programme on the subject, airing on 22nd April 2008!
A new four episode series is starting on BBC THREE where six young fashion lovers swap shopping for the factories and backstreet workshops of India to make clothes for the British High Street. From the press release:
The six start at the top, working for Shahi Enterprises in New Dehli, a multi-million pound factory that makes clothes for some of the biggest names on the UK High Street. They learn to sew before joining the production lines where every worker has targets to meet: for example, collars have to be sewn on to shirts at the rate of one a minute.
As unskilled workers they’re paid around £1.50 a day, a basic living wage in India. The group finds that it doesn’t stretch far – when they go to buy deodorant, it costs a day’s wages.
An accompanying online fashion magazine – Thread (bbc.co.uk/thread) – will offer tips on how to achieve an eco-glam look through a mix of shopping for new or vintage clothes, to swapping clothes with friends and customising existing clothes. The website will launch closer to the date of the first episode.
Tuesday 22 April 2008
9.00-10.00pm BBC THREE
BBC Press Release in full
The countdown is on, 2 days until the American brand Banana Republic opens its first ever European flagship store. The store is opening on the 20th March on one of London’s most prestigious shopping streets - 224 Regent Street, London. Gap Inc. describes this part of the group: ‘Banana Republic is an accessible luxury brand, offering high-quality apparel and accessories collections for men and women.’There will no doubt be queues, so I have decided to investigate what exciting surprises to expect in store…
In my opinion, my initial perception of the garment designs are that they are very conservative! The clothing designs reflect the age group they are aimed at, this would appear to be for the middle aged. The designs are extremely smart, simplistic and clean cut which would appeal to professionals.The garments are relatively reasonably priced and there is a variety of different styles available. The styles could be described as a mixture between Zara and French Connection because of their sophistication.
I predict that this shift dress could be a good seller. It incorporates chic sophistication with bold floral. Floral prints are extremely popular on the catwalk at the moment and the empire - cut waist is a particularly flattering design. Monotones are especially ‘hot’ at the moment, black and white is a must. This dress can also be dressed up or dressed down.
I expect with reasonable prices and sophisticated styles Banana Republic is a brand to watch!
According to Vogue, one of this season’s most fashionable colours is lilac (sugary shades). Alberta Ferretti explains the appeal of lilac, ‘Lilac is a romantic colour. It is sophisticated but also populist; it lets you dare without being loud, you can be noticed without being glaring.‘ Lilac personally reminds me of childhood!
Here at Indigo, Gildan has provided us with 8 exciting new colours to add to their already large range of shades. These include a sugary lilac colour ‘Orchid’ and another Gildan colour, also key for this season, is ‘Kiwi‘. Kiwi is an extremely fresh and organic colour.
Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Colour Institute commented on this seasons colours,”Stabilizing neutrals combined with pops of brighter colours to create unique, distinctive looks are the basis for a great spring and summer wardrobe.”
So think sugary colours and you’ll be ‘in’ this season!
My name is Antoinette and I’m a multi-media textiles student from Loughborough University. I’m here with the team at Indigo on a work-shadow placement for the day, to find out how the company works! My task is to write the blog for today, so here goes!!
The supermodel Agyness Deyn is the latest supermodel to be splashed across the headlines and glossy magazines. Henry Holland fashion designer of the brand ‘House of Holland’ and Agyness’s best friend has already collaborated with her to model his famous slogan T-shirts (Jo wrote a blog about this previously). This is a partnership to watch, Holland confirmed a new range of jewellery is to be released, he said, ‘We’re going to launch a line of jewellery together. You can expect a bit of House of Holland and a bit of Aggy too.’
Agyness has recently replaced Kate Moss for top position in Tatler magazine annual best dressed list. This could be a controversial award seeing as she sports a loud punk style, she describes her style, ‘When I started, I was very boyish- punkish. Now I think I’ve gone a bit lady punk.‘(style.com, Sept 2007) However, rightly or wrongly awarded the top spot for this award, you do have to admire her individuality when it comes to fashion! It takes a lot of confidence to turn up to the 2008 Elle Style awards dressed in Punk!
