July 7

Fashion Stash....



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March 29

Just Like Honey

Florencia Kozuch’s graduate collection is the height of fashion, literally.

Listed among the ‘Ones to Watch’ by Vauxhall Fashion Scouts for London Fashion Week, 23 year old Argentinian native Florencia Kozuch infuses her rich heritage with her penchant for all things Rock and Roll in the form of tasselled garments, towering head pieces and lavish textures.

Growing up in Buenos Aires, Kozuch saw fashion in her surroundings. She recounts early memories of her relatives and how she loved seeing them dressed so elegantly at family gatherings. As she grew older her Mother became her biggest influence. Florencia recalls, “I would watch my Mother getting ready to go out. I loved her shoes and dresses. She was very hip!”

From the time of her earliest memories, Kozuch was encouraged to draw and create. By the time she reached eleven or twelve, her random doodles had turned into concrete designs. In 2002, the family decided to relocate to Barcelona, much to the delight of their originative daughter. “Moving to Spain was great for me, as I was closer to London.” Two years later, she was on a plane, ready to take the city by storm with a promising place at Central Saint Martins – one of London’s most revered art institutions. “It had been my dream forever, I was thrilled!” It is clear that this designer has a love affair with London, saying it feels like home. “I’m very privileged to live here. I love the city, the architecture, the markets, the people on the streets. You can find anything you’ve ever dreamed of here – from exotic fruits to curious artefacts”. When she’s not designing, Kozuch can be found wandering around the city, where she enjoys visiting galleries, buying food and flowers at the market or simply going to movie theatres.

Kozuch recounts the most notable influences on her graduate collection as the Onas, an ancient Argentinian tribe of hunter – gatherers and Scottish alternative rock band, The Jesus and Mary Chain. This isn’t at all surprising, due to her love of the rock aesthetic. “I love music. It creates moods and I use those moods to develop ideas” she says. “I find that fashion and music go hand in hand through history, complementing each other”. This is evident in her personal style, which she describes as ‘classic - rock with an individual twist’ and she talks of her favourite item of clothing - a pair of ripped jeans. “I can’t live without them. I know I should let them go, but I can’t!” If the opportunity arose, (and based on the popularity of her recent collection alone this is bound to happen) Kozuch would gladly design for Rod Stewart, Bobby Gillespie and The Kill’s sultry front woman, Alison Mosshart.

And what inspires her now? “My sources for inspiration are always changing…” says Kozuch. “But I keep coming back to leather, the Velvet Underground, flowers, animals and tribal warriors”.

Kozuch is currently working on her summer collection, which promises to be incredible – but first she has to settle on a concept. This concept however is staying close to her heart. “I’ve changed it three times already, so I can’t tell you much about it at the moment!”

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March 9

Last week in Sutton I came across an Esquires Coffee House. I had never been or even seen one before, so I thought I'd try it, since the majority of the time I go to Starbucks and their coffee is awful. Not to say I won't visit them again, they're practically everywhere, but my order is always the same and always tastes different - either too sweet or too weak, I always ask for extra shots.

At Esquires I ordered a tall caramel macchiato, completely unaware of their sizing scheme (what's wrong with a simple small, medium or large?!) and the staff were chatty and friendly, offered me a loyalty card and charged me £3.00. So far, so good. Not to mention that their mascot is a penguin.

I wait for my order and the barista lady puts in three shots of espresso...also a plus. I ask for it to take away and I'm given a HUGE cup. The cup size was literally the size of a medium drink from McDonalds. Amazing for £3.00 and it tasted like proper coffee, none of this watered down brown water. She also went as far as putting a caramel swirl on top...this literally made my day (pathetic, I know!)

The swirl didn't last long however. Running for a bus with a cup this size and an ill-fitting lid resulted in more of a syrupy blob.

Went back on Friday for the same coffee but in a more manageable size and the staff remembered my order from Monday, which I found quite impressive (again, pathetic, but its the little things!) A regular cost £2.65 and was still quite large but really good value. I managed to get the right size lid this time and she drew a caramel web, which after a very bouncy bus journey was still very much intact.

I highly recommend trying Esquires if you're near one. There's one in Sutton, Harrow and Upper Thames Street. Aspire to Esquire! (sorry...)

http://www.esquirescoffee.co.uk/

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February 24

Today Faye and me did our shoot for our three-page spread. Our theme was denim. Due to the rise of the denim on denim trend and all the buzz Alexa Chung is creating with her Vogue article (not to mention her take on the trend at LFW) it seemed fitting. Everything turned out really well - after fidgeting with a lot of different ways to produce a shadow effect and soft lighting, we got there. A bit of cropping and some photoshop (terrified!) and they should turn out great. Harriet was an amazing model, so that made the whole thing a pleasure. Here are some of the shots...we took 330, so I've just uploaded a few. To pick just three is going to be a challenge.

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February 4

Below is my fashion moment article on Francoise Hardy, submitted just before Christmas.

Francoise Hardy

‘French Women Don’t Get Fat’, an age-old critique; though often cited, would fall to a ready challenge. No one would question the assertion that women of the Gallic region are born with an innate sense of style, subtlety and elegance that embodies chic. The Parisian, Francoise Hardy - a charming, poignant beauty - validates this assertion in her seemingly effortless casual way.
Hardy, with her razor-sharp cheekbones and eye-dusting fringe was thrust into the limelight as part of the Yé-yé movement that was emblematic of 1960s France. Her effervescent and popular single, ‘Tout Les Garçons et Les Filles.’, captured the spirit of Yé-yé music, a genre spearheaded in Europe by young, winsome females. During her heyday in the 60s, Hardy captivated audiences with her soft voice, while notably enamouring legions of women with her enviable style.

Hardy has the ability to make simple, otherwise seemingly average outfits look quirky and edgy. She embodied biker-chic and kept makeup minimal – a stroke of black eyeliner along the lash-line was her signature look. With a dash of voguish sashay, a pinch of alluring mystery and a whole lot of Savoir-Faire, everything worked. This exemplified the singer as a true fashion icon of the 60s – influential and timeless.

Fast-forward to the present day where her style resonates in models like Kate Moss and Irina Lazareanu and indie/blues singer Cat Power, who have all paid homage to Hardy’s look. She is also the muse of Nicolas Ghesquière, the current creative director of couture house Balenciaga. Hardy became interested in astrology in the early 70s and has since become a specialist in the field, publishing a book, ‘Les Rythmes du Zodiaque’. She released her final album; ‘Clair Obscur’ in 2000 and in recent years has collaborated with musicians Iggy Pop and Brian Molko.
Undoubtedly, French women come in all shapes and sizes just like the rest of us cellulite-fearing mortals. Regardless of dress size, they have a natural sense of style that seems to be a fundamental part of their self image; their expectations of themselves. And with fashion leadership and everyday icons like Francoise Hardy, is it any surprise?



I'll leave you with some nice images for the day...

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February 3rd

February already...that didn't take long. I have no classes today so I've just been lounging around. I woke up at 12.30 to our doorbell hoping it was the books I ordered from Amazon but the postman tends to mash all the buttons when anyone, anywhere in the building receives a package. Thoughtful to a fault, that man.
I ordered The Sartorialist, a book I've seen mentioned a few times online here and there. It's a composition of various street styles from around the globe from the blog of the same title. I have a few books just like this, Nylon Street being my favourite. This one got such good reviews on Amazon and was only £10, so I threw it in my virtual shopping cart. It's also quite new, released in July '09. Scott Schuman is The Satorialist, a fashion marketer who turned to photography after the effects of 9/11. He photographs men and women of all ages. His blog is - http://thesartorialist.blogspot.com/. Though you probably already knew that. I'm a late Sartorialist follower.

The second book I ordered was Three Nights in New York, written by Michelle Jackson. I keep reading biographies and stories that I need to be in the mood for, so I thought I'd read something light-hearted. I'll review both when I read them.

Since for the most part of December and January I was home in Dublin, I got used to having a fully stocked fridge. I went out drinking a lot and went out for dinner, so I've started a health kick since I got back. I started off with porridge and jam, for lunch I had made chicken caesar with quorn and I'm just about to make something for dinner...no ideas yet though.

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December 11

Yesterday was busy, I started InDesign for my article submission and afterward came home to write rough drafts for my Tabloid assignment.

It has to be done in the style of The Daily Mail, but I may have made it a little TOO dramatic and trashy, even for a Tabloid. I think it suits The Sun more...I'll tone it down after my tutorial.

When I came home after nearly three hours of trying to get the knack of InDesign with Faye, my flatmates surprised me with dinner, dessert and Christmas songs. It was very thoughtful and tasted good, so good that I forgot to take a picture of the dessert - pancakes with ice-cream and strawberries.

This morning I saw Helen, she came over to use my printer. She did a really interesting trend report on when a musicians popularity evolves, stylists are employed, in turn focusing more on promoting an image than the music itself. Loved it. She brought tasty gifts as a thank you....

I went to Media Analysis at 2-4, my last lecture for the semester. We went through anaylsing a magazine by report layout, including a flat plan from cover to cover. The report word count is 600 words, not an awful lot, I hate axeing relevant info. I was suprised when some people were complaining it was too much. I chose Vanidad, a Spanish publication similar to Nylon's collage-esque layout. I need to brush up on my Spanish before I start, everyone else chose one in English but I thought this would make it more interesting.

Tonight I'm going to see 'Where the Wild Things Are' with Helen and Louise. Hopefully the cinema isn't too packed, the release date was today...

Only a week and I'm home for Christmas. I can't wait. Until then I have another InDesign workshop on Monday, project submission on Tuesday and an hour Tabloid tutorial on Wednesday. My flatmates and me are going shopping in Kingston on Wednesday and plan on making Christmas dinner as we're all heading home soon after.

Thursday I plan on washing, cleaning the flat (my room needs hoovering, my cupboard is untidy and may be full of perishables) and packing, then its home to Dublin on Friday afternoon.

Our Christmas light couch...

FACT: Coffee tastes better in a cat mug.

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December 7

Hi, Monday. Since moving to Epsom, time flies by. I had no scheduled lectures today, just an hour-long tutorial with a small group of other students hashing out one anothers feature article with a contributor for The Guardian. To celebrate the fact that it's done and dusted and ready for Photoshop and InDesign, I went and picked up a few things...

I haven't used nail varnish in about six months and all the fancy ones today cost £6. SIX POUNDS. I don't have the income, nor the overdraft facilities of an average person (yet), so I chose this colour, 'White Ice', for a favorable £2.

These lipglosses came free with lady products. I love free.

I got this from Epsom library. It's due back in two weeks, so hopefully i'll get through it before I go home for Christmas.

Then, I made DINNER....

...chicken stirfry. It tasted better than it looks.

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December 7

Hello. Entry one. It was suggested by various tutors that we should create a blog, as 'budding fashion journalists.' Four months later, I'm starting mine. One mustn't rush these things.

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