Vogue 100 Exhibition

I have been desperate to go to this exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery ever since its open date in February and it finally happened on Saturday. The boyfriend and I decided to have date day and all though we had to wait an hour until our allocated slot the exhibition was well worth it. I have been an avid Vogue collector since my mum bought me the subscription for christmas years ago, (slightly obsessed since I've kept every copy!) so I was excited to see the front covers that I hadn't seen before. I absolutely loveeeeed it! The exhibition took around 45 minutes to get through (good running time! ha) and the rooms were decked out in great imagery from some of the fashion photography greats. As I walked through the exhibition I could see so many of the covers that Grace Coddington had curated and it was nice to know the back story of how the shoots were produced and put together. The covers for the first few magazines were beautifully illustrated and the huge archive that they've exhibited was stunning. This is the last week for the exhibition and Sunday will be the last day, make sure you head down there before you miss a great exhibition.

Haute Couture Shows AW16/17 - Paris

Couture shows are mesmerising, they emphasis the skill involved with making exclusive custom fitted clothing thats constructed by hand from start to finish. Since I've been hand making leather products - be it shoes or bags I've noticed that the process is more or less the same as clothing. They essentially use the same technique in that they start from a pattern taken from the shape of a body and then made from a selected fabric because of its qualities. With footwear, measurements are taken from the foot (well certainly in bespoke footwear) or a last and the design is drawn onto of the masking tape (the masking tape covers the whole last) until eventually the masking tape is cut out and placed flat on a piece of paper and cut out to make the pattern, which is then (yep you guessed it) placed on the leather or the chosen material to be cut out. The couture shows don't only pay attention to the clothing, the shoes are just as much part of the package and so far I have been extremely impressed, so I leave you with just a few that have stood out to me so far!

Alberta Ferretti

Alberta Ferretti

Chanel

Christian Dior

Christian Dior

Giambattista Valli

Giambattista Valli

Valentino

Sandra Plantos

Thinking outside of the box is where I'm going with todays post. You are probably on this blog because you have a love for shoes, and as you can probably agree when it comes to shoes, even though they can vary in style massively, ultimately they're all designed essentially with the same components. The obsession comes in when a shoe is designed with a new way of thinking, Sophia Webster reigned last year with a new aesthetic, hailing from cordwainers like most of the high end designers we admire. Sandra Plantos another footwear designer completing her masters at London College of Fashion, has designed a completely original collection, using her Architecture degree as inspiration, but I can assure you, they won't be anything like your imagining. Plantos has put a heavier emphasis on the construction of the shoe, whereby the use of concrete rebar (reinforcing steel) and plywood are the only materials used in this collection reflecting her architecture degree. For me they're conceptual pieces of art work since the construction inhibits movement, but this all underpins what Plantos had originally set out to do; create a new concept of footwear, to aid slowing down the pace of our daily routines. If this collection is any thing to go by we will be in for a treat with future collections.