Ghesquiere confirmed for Louis Vuitton

Nicolas Ghesquiere has been announced as the new creative director of Louis Vuitton.
The former creative director of Balenciaga has said, "I am very honoured of the mission that I am entrusted with, and proud to join the history of this great maison. We share common values and a vision."

The french designer takes over from Marc Jacobs, who turned the brand from a luggage emporium into one of the worlds best selling luxury labels, in the sixteen years he was there.

Ghesquiere brought a new era to Balenciaga and it is expected he will do the same at Louis Vuitton, I excited to see what Ghesquiere brings to the brand. His first collection will be shown at Paris Fashion Week in March next year.

MUSIC X FASHION

The two industries have always spilled into each other, it makes sense as a collaboration of the two would just make make more publicity for them, which is never a bad thing!

Designers have been pairing music with their catwalk shows for years, nothing new there, however the right song does have the ability to channel the aesthetic and feel they want their convey in a stronger way to their audience. Here is just some of the collaborations we have seen in music and fashion.

1.Dior Homme x Justice

In 2009, French electronic duo, Justice were on a high after release of debut LP, Cross.Creative director, Kris Van Assche approached them to produce an exclusive soundtrack to accompany Dior Homme's Spring/Summer catwalk show.

Dior Homme X Justice

2.malcolm mclaren and vivienne westwood

Although it wasn't officially known as a collaboration, the pair ran Sex, a boutique in Kings Road, London that specialised in fetish and bondage wear. They styled the Sex Pistols, who McLaren managed, and together shaped the development and look of the punk movement in the UK.

Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood

Sex Pistols

The Punk subculture has been inspiring fashion for years, here's just some examples of designers who have been influenced by punk..

Liz Hurley wearing Versace,1994

John Galliano, 2003

Helmut Lang, 2004

3.Rihanna X River Island

Pop singer Rihanna has already unveiled two collection for the high-street store, with a third and final range hitting the shop on November 15th. The collection launched in seven cities around the world and the first range was unveiled at London Fashion Week.The collaboration was a boost for the store, as it sold out quickly on line and publicised the brand abroad. Rihanna has said she designed every piece so she could wear it, and has been photographed regularly wearing the garments. I'm not sure how much input the singer really did have on the range, but it seemed to work, although it was expected really as she has a huge following. As expected from Rihanna, the collection contained lots of crop-tops,mesh fabric and bomber jackets, the range was definitely inspired by her signature urban style.

Rihanna wearing Rihanna for River Island

4.Hedi Slimane X rockstars

I've posted previously about Saint Laurent's rock star campaign, created by Slimane, featuring four self styled musicians including Courtney Love and Marilyn Manson. He has also worked with The Kills,The libertines and David Bowie. He also created Rock Diary, a series of portraits of rock stars and musicians, that started online , and have since been published into a book. Musicians featured include Amy Winehouse,Pete Doherty and John Lydon.

Rock Diary: Hedi Slimane

Amy Winehouse

Pete Doherty

Miles Kane

John Lydon

Courtney Love

We've also seen creatives from one industry sway into another, such as Kate Moss who has had a number of musical endeavours, which include, playing tambourine for Oasis,producing vocals for Primal Scream and working with ex-lover Pete Doherty's band, Babyshambles. We've also seen Kanye West produce his own fashion line (although it flopped) , and Lana Del Rey, who not only collaborated with H&M but has a Mulberry bag named after her! What's your favourite fashion x music collab?!

Michael O'Connell:The Lost Modernist

Today I visited The Lost Modernist, an exhibition of the work by British textile artist Michael O'Connell. The retrospective is being shown at the Gibberd Gallery in Essex and charts O'Connells work throughout his life. It showcases his abstract prints, vibrant colours and sharp lines that saw him become one of the met influential textile artist of his time. The show also includes large wall hangings,clothing and hand written notes and sketches from the artist. Something I liked was the way you could clearly see the inspiration behind the prints, which included aboriginal art, African culture, and the London underground. Michael O'Connells work is eclectic, innovative and the narratives within them moved with the times, this earned him the nickname, 'The Lost Modernist'.

The exhibition is showing at The Gibberd Gallery until 20th December.

Alexander McQueen X Damien Hirst

To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the hugely popular skull scarf, Alexander McQueen
have collaborated with British artist, Damien Hirst to create a collection consisting of 30 one off designs that feature insects,on some of the scarves the insects together form the signature skull shape.

The skull scarves have been a hit for 10 years since their first appearance in 2003 for McQueen's Irere collection. The designs are adapted from Hirst's 'Entomology' collection of paintings, in which he used insects to create colourful, kaleidoscope inspired patterns.

From Hirst's Entomology collection

This is quite a change from Hirst's usual eccentric work, which includes animals such as sharks and cattle preserved in formaldehyde, and a platinum skull set with diamonds and human teeth.
Aswell as the anniversary scarf  collection, a short film has been created by fashion photographer and filmmaker Sølve Sundsbø. The film shows women gliding around in slow-mo, their billowing dresses decorated with patterns from the collection. I've always wanted a McQueen skull scarf and now I'm lusting after the insect scarves.. one for the Christmas wish list!

From Sølve Sundsbø's film

The scarves are available in McQueen boutiques and at AlexanderMcQueen.com from Nov 15

Fashions conscience

It's easy to assume that large brands are only interested in raking in money and don't think about supporting good causes..but here's some brands proving you wrong!

Cosmetics giants MAC have been raising awareness for AIDS since 1994, and every penny of the selling price of MAC's VIVA GLAM range is donated to the MAC AIDS fund, which I think is brilliant. Something that really irritates me is when you buy a product because it boasts that your money will be going to charity when in actual fact only a small percentage is given to charity. I would definitely be enticed to buy an item that gives so much of the money to charity and I think it's brilliant that MAC do this. (I actually thought I must of got this wrong, as I couldn't believe they would be so generous..but they really are!) The MAC AIDS fund take action towards helping people live with HIV/AIDS and their mission is to serve all people affected by this.."Making a difference, one VIVA GLAM lipstick at a time."

The original VIVA GLAM girl is back! RuPaul, was the first face of VIVA GLAM back in 1994 and now returns with her signature,burgundy lipstick and a new lip glass.

Belgian fashion house Maison Martin Margiela has been contributing to AIDS research since 1994 with t-shirts that raise funds to search for a cure and raise awareness. These t-shirts read "There is more action to be done to fight AIDS than to wear this t-shirt but it's a good place to start", across the shoulders and are available in 20 different colours. The shirts switch languages every year to appeal to different countries and raise as much money for the cause as they can. The T-shirts are available from ll-cc.com for £69.

Highstreet favourite, Topshop are currently working with breast cancer awareness charity 'Fashion targets breast cancer' , to help in the effort to raise awareness and fight breast cancer in style! Topshop sell everything from bracelets and compact mirrors to t-shirts to raise money for the cause!  Fashion targets breast cancer was founded by breakthrough breast cancer in 1996 and has worked with a range of different fashion brands.

Only In England

“Eccentricity is a quality the British prize above others.” -Tony Ray-Jones

This week I visited Only In England, a retrospective of photographer Tony Ray-Jones' work, and I believe the quote at the top of this post truly sums up this exhibition.Space of The Science Museum. The space featured more than 100 photographs, some previously unseen and many chosen by fellow photographer and fan of Ray-Jones, Martin Parr. Tony Ray-Jones had an interest in comedy and this shows throughout his images, he portrays bizarre social interactions through his work and I found that it takes more than your first glance to see the disconnected narratives layered up in the photos. The exhibition is full of quirky observations of British life, people miserably watching punch and Judy shows, men on a freezing cold beach sprawled over deck chairs wearing their finest suit, the typical British summer, and our eternal love of a good cup of tea. His work portrays melancholy in everyday life, peppered with humour and joy; it presents quirky English customs and traditions that seem a lifetime away.  The exhibition is in The Media Space at The Science Museum until March 2014 and is only £5.00 for students so definitely not one to miss!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

I must say I feel this year Christmas has started creeping in even earlier than normal, people putting up trees and flashing lights on houses mid november!? I'm no scrooge but its too early for me! However, one festive thing I'm not complaining about is the Christmas adverts that have started playing.

John Lewis have reportedly spent £7million on their heartfelt,animated ad which tells the story of the Bear and the Hare. John Lewis have gone the whole hog with this one, by selling everything from slippers,to framed digital prints based on the characters. The soundtrack to the advert, Keane's 'Somewhere only we know' covered by Lily Allen has also been released, will it be the Christmas number one!? I've also watched the behind-the-scenes film on how the advert was made, I can see how much work and time went into the final ad it was really impressive to see. This ad is cute and Christmassy and little ones will love it!

Next up is Marks and Spencer's Christmas ad starring Rosie Huntington-Whitely, the face behind the brands most successful lingerie campaign to date, and model David Gandy. The whimsical advert takes the pair through a number of fairytale-esque scenarios from Alice in Wonderland, Hansel and Gretel, The Wizard of Oz and what I'm guessing is Aladin? (although I don't really see how this fits in, I think they just want any excuse to show Huntingdon-Whitely in her undies). Helena Bonham Carter also makes an appearance at the end of the yellow brick road as The Wizard. The ad then ends with 'Believe in Magic and Sparkle' which pulls on the companies name and also reinforces the magical aspect that subtly ties it in with Christmas. Marks' recently announced it's ninth consecutive quarter of falling sales, so may be relying on the advert to reel customers in this Christmas. Although it's not really that festive, I do quite like this one, then again I'd like any advert where you get to see David Gandy for two and half minutes..

..And finally Debenhams Christmas ad, set in a christmassy London full of twinkly lights and ice skating. This is probably my least favourite of the three, it has a nice festive atmosphere, but the songs a bit melancholy and I don't think there's anything too exciting or extravagant about it. Saying that I do think it's the most effective of the three for what they're trying to promote, as you can clearly see the clothes, they look good and the people in the ad freeze, turn into illustration and it then states the designer of each of the garments, including Henry Holland,Patrick Gant and Jonathan Saunders, which I think works well. It ends on a cutesy shot of reunited, young lovers gliding across an ice rink. Kudos to Debenhams for keeping it classy and sophisticated, but I don't think it wins the battle of the ads this year.

Who wins your vote for Christmas?