number 23 for the studio #rome

#videoshoot #rome

#hairandmakeup#videoshoot#client #rome

first coffee of the long day before the video shoot starts#rome#client (at Solobuio Visual Factory)

🚋london🌃 #city#bigcity#tube

Looking to Eastern Europe  I discovered these "prisoner handcuffs" in a warehouse just outside Potsdam. Reminiscent of chains they link onto the hand very cleverly and are the perfect modern bedroom accessorie!

Whilst you wait in your hotel room carry the handcuffs subtly in an Eastern Europe Messenger bag..distressed PVC with the client logo and the original name and address print on the inside....in a beautiful Client shade of Grey...my favourite colour x

NEW CLIENT LONDON WEBSITE LAUNCHED TODAY

The new Cliert London website www.clientlondon.com has launched today and we are so proud with the new look.

Sleek and more user friendly with brand new lifestyle photographs modelled by the beautiful actress and model Lily Robinson with photography by Lucy Gold.

There is a fabulous new collaboration with novellist Fraya North who writes a bi-monthly vignette and more collaborations to come with a sexy artisan and coco-de-mer mask maker called Cecilia Lundqvist.

Go and visit the new shop now and explore the website where you can watch our fashion video, read our blog and find out more about us.

What Is It About Stewardesses and Confined Spaces

I was reading the paper the other day when I noticed and article about being able to pay to join the 'Mile High Club'. I had never even thought this was a thing you could buy? There are websites and companies out there offering to fly you up in a plane so your can bonk you way around the earth…literally. Essentially it is a private jet flight and instead of eating crap microwaved aeroplane food with plastic cutlery and and sipping orange juice from a flimsy cup with a tinfoil lid, you can nibble melted chocolate from your partners belly button while he is sipping a glass of champagne…or vice verse. I cannot imagine the privacy you will get with a red velvet curtain as your main wall from the flight attendants, or what happens when the plane hits turbulence half way through your love making and you have to buckle up in the nude! I thought the mile high club was about furtive glances at each other from across the cabin; eye pointing at the toilets so that no one else can guess what you have in your dirty mind. My impressions were that it was all about squashed sex in a toilet where you accidentally put your foot down the loo, hands against the door or fall out of at any second; unless you travel business/first class- where the toilets are far more spacious (huge compared to economy) and nicely decorated. The second option is much better for that Mile High Experience if this is what you have in mind to keep your self occupied on your flight instead of watching UP or Lost in Translation for the 3rd time on the journey and doodling on the kids colouring books despite being 25 whilst intermittently checking out which country you are currently crossing on the very slow moving map of the world on the small screen in front of you. So what is so thrilling about the infamous mile high club? What is it about confined spaces, sexy stewardesses and being surrounded by 500 or so people that might hear your moans and fulfilled cries of ecstasy? Could it be because it is illegal and the thought of getting caught is thrilling? I was talking to a flight attendant on a long plan journey back form Australia about 7 years ago and asked if there were any stories he would like to impart to me about the infamous club and he told me about an ex colleague Stewardess who disappeared on a flight with a British and very handsome A-Lister only to be caught and fired- nothing happened to him.. but her career as a flight attendant was definitely over and she could never get work as a stewardess again. A little harsh I think, but at least to she got to have a moment in the toilets with Ralph Fiennes… So what is the secret about stewardesses? Her hair is always perfectly coiffured or in a neat bun, she has regulation make up and her outfit in impeccably tailored and she is always slim, flawless and smiling despite answering everyone's needs on a packed flight. I remember watching Gwyneth Paltrow in the 2003 film View From The Top and wanting to be an ultra sleek stewardess traveling the world, much like the 1958 stewardess Birgitta Lindman who at 23 landed  the cover of Life magazine beating 53 other stewardesses from other airlines to the position.

(Photo:ultraswank.net)

A little about the SAS (Scandinavian Airline System) A pioneering airline, SAS was at the forefront of aviation and world travel when in 1967 they marked the beginning of the Trans-Asian Express, a short cut that linked Copenhagen with Singapore and Bangkok creating a new faster way to travel and opening up the busines slink with the East far wider than ever before. Infact, travel was cut by a third the amount of time it would have taken than before even with a stop over in Tashkent in Uzbekistan. The uniforms for Trans-Asian Express were designed by Pierre Carven of Paris.

In 1969 SAS welcomed the first female commercial pilot outside of the Soviet Union, Turi Widerøe to their crew. You could have said aviation was in her blood as she was the well educated daughter of aviator Viggo Widerøe. On the topic of her pioneering accomplishments Tori lightheartedly remarked that a woman can be anything she wants if she tries hard enough.

(Photo: forum-norwegia.pl)

By early 1970s SAS had two Boeing 747 jets flying between Copenhagen and New York and the new Trans-Siberian Express that flew between Copenhagen and Tokyo. Around this time SAS revealled the new uniform design by none other than Chrisitan Dior, a simple, un fussy tailored uniform that complimented the colours and textiles of the cabin  interior.

(Photo: The blue uniform on the right http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandhealth/gallery/2008/apr/24/fashion.workandcareers)

However despite a brilliant parisian designer lending his hand to the design of the SAS uniforms, my favourite is still the powder blue summer unform of 1967.

The Client London SAS Stewardess Dress (www.clientlondon.com) which is inspired by the SAS uniform of the late 1960s to early 1980s that was designed by Carvet Mallet of Paris. A powder blue uniform shirt dress with short lapels and gold buttons to the waist, infinitely better than all their other uniforms.

(Photo: jeanjeanie61.tumblr.com

(Photo: facebook.com/VintageAirliners)

  Client's take on the Uniform Client's take on stewardess dress is far smarter, sexier and flattering, creating a beautiful silhouette through clever tailoring and design. The colour is less powder blue, more steel grey with dark blue satin inserts darted in the pleat of the skirt and the cuffs of the girl puffed sleeves. The dress is also available in off white with red satin in the pleat which reminds me of the winter-summer outfit changes airlines often made. Nipped in at the waist this dress was made for wiggling down the isle of a 747, bending down briefly to pick up an item off the floor and realising the whole cabin is staring at you backside, because it would be hard not to admire the shape you make in the SAS Stewardess Dress.

(Photo: clientlondon.com) Next time you board a plane, strut in to the office or stop by the bar for cocktails with the girls, wear the Client London SAS Stewardess Dress and find out what happens.

(Information: http://www.flysas.com/en/uk/About-SAS/The-SAS-story/1967/?vst=true, http://www.uniformfreak.com/1sas.html)

By Client L

To Ride Astride- Bicycles, side saddles, Women’s Liberation and Christian Grey

I briefly glimpsed the mass of riders and horses jumping over hedgrows and through fields chasing a man with a scent marker the other day- the modern day hunt- when I noticed a couple of the women riding side saddle. I haven’t seen this since I watch that scene in the 1995 version of Pride and Prejudice with Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle, the ultimate Mr Grey and Anastasia Steele partnership-minus BDSM.

(Photograph: Modern Day Side Saddle by Client A: www.clientlondon.com )

Along with the bicycle, riding astride could be linked to women’s liberation in the sense that to do so one would need to be in jodhpurs, not a full length skirt, and this was only really accepted with the emancipation of women. A major turning point was in 1918, when women in the UK over 30 got the vote, shortly followed 10 years later in 1928 when all women (ages 18+) were able to vote.

Before this, the first place to allow women to vote was the Wyoming Territory in USA in 1869 (Information: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/womanshour/timeline/votes_to_women.shtml)

I look down the list and I notice that it wasn’t till 1971 that the ever neutral Switzerland gave women the vote and shockingly, some women still aren’t able to express their political views through voting and the latest to join was Bahrain in 2001 who finally relented.

It is so interesting to look in to the history of women’s lib, a term I usually associate with GCSE history lessons; painful sketches of suffragettes getting run over by horses, starving themselves, passionate and un-empowered cries for political and social equality.

Whilst doing a little research about side saddles I have unintentionally stumbled on something I overlooked- the link between horse and bicycles- Saddles.

(Image: Modern Day Side Saddle oregonregency.blogspot.co.uk)

This article titled “The Importance of the Bicycle to Early Women’s Liberation movement” covers a great deal on this subject and the evolutionary design of the bicycle to fit the needs and social graces of women- encouraging the freedom of women.

“The bicycle builder James Starley at the Coventry Machinist’s Company made a side-saddle, lever-driven model in 1872 which, while a nice gesture, was an impractical design. (Ritchie, 151) The Ordinary bicycle prevented women from participating in the sport for nearly twenty years. There was simply no practical way to get around the hoopskirt issue with this design. For the most part, and for many years, women had to stand by idly and watch as the men in their lives experienced the new sensations of bicycling.” (Quote: http://crankedmag.wordpress.com/issues/issue-4/the-importance-of-the-bicycle-to-the-early-womens-liberation-movement/ this article is actually a very informative and good read.)

Also from the same article is a quote by Susan B Anthony which I think is quite fair and fitting.

“Let me tell you what I think of bicycling. I think it has done more to emancipate women than anything else in the world. It gives women a feeling of freedom and self-reliance. I stand and rejoice every time I see a woman ride by on a wheel…the picture of free, untrammelled womanhood.” (Quote: crankedmag.wordpress.com)

Originally it was fashionable for women to be the delicate English flower. “The frailty of a ‘lady’ was such that preventing females from studying, working, voting and doing much of anything at all seemed a rational measure.”... “A proper lady was seen as weak, defenceless and entirely dependent on men.”  (Quote: http://mentalfloss.com/article/19373/how-bicycle-emancipated-women#ixzz2M0doAyR4 )

This article discusses the fashion of women, their hobbies, their frailty and their appearance on all levels and the reason clothes were corsets and long skirts. The article goes on to talk about the side-saddle as,

“Before bicycles came along, the horse was the best means of individual travel. Of course, women's access to horses was limited. Horses were dangerous and difficult to control; conventional medical wisdom suggested that riding them could damage a woman's genitals. Women were supposed to ride sidesaddle, with both legs hanging off one side. In that unnatural position, women were unable to ride for long distances, reinforcing the idea that they shouldn't be riding at all.” (Quote: mentalfloss.com)

So what do I make of side-saddles? Considering that to ride certain bicycle tours during the height of its popularity women had to provide references from 3 sources and un married -over30, married or widowed  to “protect women from becoming morally debased by their bikes.” (Quote: mentalflos.com). I have always wondered how people do it- cycling incredible distances, when I do it I can’t sit down for a long time afterwards. My friend encouraged me to go to ‘spin’ classes with her before she left for Turnkey where she will be running the Istanbul Marathon, and the reason I was apprehensive at first was not because it is gruelling but because I thought my backside would be painful afterwards. Men must have a different idea of this because I never once hear them saying their coccyx hurts or their buttocks are painful.

 I can also remember sitting side-saddle style on my older brother’s bike holding on to the t-bar as he peddled around the streets of Pakistan when we were younger and it was a lot comfier, even though I was only a passenger and about 7 years old.

So although I think riding astride is incredibly practical for long journeys, I would try the side. I mean, look at these inspirational women who managed to be leaders of the jumps in the early days in full length skirts and bowler hat!

(Image: horsecarecourses.com)

This is Mrs Esther Stace from Yarrowitch riding side-saddle and clearing a record 6’6” at the Sydney Royal Show in 1915, two years before women first received the vote in the UK and 13 after Australia’s women received theirs. What a woman!

  By Client L

50 Shades of Grey First Date

While the whole world is wondering “Who will play Christian Grey and Anastasia Steele?” in the coming 50 Shades of Grey trilogy I am wondering...who will design their outfits? Whoever they pick to be CG will ultimately not be the man for everyone and the actress they choose to be Ana Steele will not fulfil the role to each fanatical reader’s expectations. She has to be beautiful: but not know it, innocent, gawky: yet irresistible. Slight references to Taming of the Shrew come to mind when reading it, but Steele isn’t shrewish; she just has no idea how irresistible she is to billionaires with a penchant for pain.

So whoever they eventually find will be irrelevant, CG will have reddish brown hair and blue eyes, he will be tall and muscular and “beautiful” AS will have blue eyes, brown hair and be mousy, slim and innocent looking. Now we know.

The whole look of the film will be down to the design of the locations and the outfits they are wearing. Take the film 5th Element whose wardrobe was designed by the insightful Jean Paul Gaultier who produced 954 costumes for the film. If he hadn’t put Milla Jovovich in that white bandage cut-out dress, and created a futuristic style, the film would have held a completely different feel to it and probably not been the same.

I know 50 Shades of Grey isn’t set in the future, more 2011. But regardless-the outfits are mentioned quite a lot from jeans and converse (is E L James after commission from the trainer brand?) to sharp suits and sleek dresses.

Whilst reading the 1st book I was thinking about her first date with Christian Grey. Probably this would have been the coffee in Portland after the shoot for the magazine, but as first dates go...this is pretty flat. What about the excitement getting ready with your girlfriends; trying on outfits and wondering if you look ok? Your best friend doing your hair and you borrowing her shoes; practicing what to say and what to do if he makes a move and who should move first, which side is your best side? Do you touch your hair, do you wear the red lippy or is that too much? Ahh the pre date sick stomach feeling.

What would I have done if I was Steele’s best mate, Katherine? Probably shoved a glass of rose in her hand, sat her down on her bed and gone through her wardrobe...then realising nothing was suitable, gone to mine and picked out a black dress. My vintage inspired “Secretary Dress” from Client London with red silk lined short sleeves that you can turn up to show a flash of colour and which hugs your curves like melted chocolate on strawberries. It has black engraved buttons to the waist and a slash of red in the pleat of the skirt that becomes visible when you move, a daring dress but also assertive and doesn’t show too much flesh. It can be worn night or day, for work or play. You don’t want him to think you are a push over, but want him to know that you have curves hiding under the fine wool dress, tantalising. Teamed with a Pair of nude tights (if you live in arctic weather like me, tights are a necessity offering a little warmth when you would otherwise be freezing) or going bare, with smooth waxed legs in case his hand or his foot wanders on to her knee during dinner. Finish the outfit off with some simple back courts, or for an ultra chic and match, matchy outfit- Christian Louboutin "Pigtail Patent" courts (will he notice the name reference?) The red soles are perfectly made for the dress; sleek and black with a flash of red.

(Photo: Lily Robinson for Client London)

Hair: I would suggeeeeeesstt...loose volumous barrel curls. Anastasia has long brown unruly hair; lucky for me I have heated rollers and a barrel brush. Face: Simple, nude lips- my Chanel Rouge Coco Hydrating Creme: Lip Colour, for perfect kissable lips and a cat eye created with eyeliner and a slick of “Sumptuous Bold Volume Lifting Mascara” by Estee Lauder for lashes that could blow you away with one blink (Ana does that thing with her eyes where she blinks a lot when she is surprised or doesn’t quite get it...Maybe Christian will need a harness to tie him down for a change.)

Now at least she will look the part for her first date with the ultimate man of mystery and if she needs she can text me from the toilet if she needs a hand with any advice.

The Uniform Girl

I have been managing to avoid reading the 50 Shades trilogy for the past year, intrigued, but not enough to pick it up and read it. Although being a best seller, and everyone talking about it in 2012, I avoided coming into contact with it, only hearing off friends and the news about its contents with the thought that anyone jumping ouvertly on the 50 Shades Marketing would be just chasing a quick buck. My friends also being split in to two groupps of those who read it, and those who would never read it because of the mixed (but mostly negative) reviews such as the whitty comentary combined with annoying but well matched gif images from Katrina Passick http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/340987215 However, as I sat down at one of the coffee shops in a market town near where I live, my eyes grew wider and like Miss Steele I could feel my face getting a darker shade of puce as I read on. I suddenly felt like sitting on the seat nest to the sugar and milk stand was not such a great idea, despite the cosiness of the high back seats as overtime someone came over to sprinkle sugar and stir, I thought they could see what I was reading over my shoulder. It is porn. Literary porn..."mummy porn". Unlike Hitchcock the 'master of suspense' wielding the power of suggestion, '50 Shades of Grey' really doesn't utilise this at all. I found myself suddenly hiding the cover and the spine if I was out in public, I can definitely see why it sold so well on eReaders and sold 31 million copies world wide! Although as I read on, I got a little bit of a thrill that I was reading something so racy compared to my usual choice of books on Chinese history. I can understand why the majority of women, and some men, have read E.L.James's novel. It is…HE is all the things that women want, with a lot of bad-boy thrown in. There are mllions of women who may now have a boosted sexual appetite with a slightly more open mind and a feeling of sexiness that drifts through your body and down to your toes. Maybe not to the extent of complete BDSM, or not even touching it at all, because unsurprisingly pain...really hurts, but that boost of vitality and imagination and desire is the best bit and maybe society acknowledging this side of sexuality more openly isn't such as bad thing. On a basic level-E.L James was quotes in the Telegraph as saying '“No, it’s the love story. Women like to read a passionate love story. '" (Quote:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/booknews/9526791/50-Shades-of-Grey-Just-an-old-fashioned-love-story-says-EL-James.html) I find myself biting my lip, did I always do that? Hmm. I also start googling sexy underwear…taking a look at myself in the mirror at work at the attempt of a uniform I have slung on today, plus four layers because it is so cold where I live. Mental note, adding layers only increases your diameter and makes you look baggy. I was reading Rachel Felder's "An Arresting Trend in Intimate Wear" which gives a chic yet pricy pointer at a selection of luxury lingerie boutiques. Felder points out "The price might also intimidate. Lelo’s three “pleasure sets” start at $119, and the upscale Fleur du Mal blindfold sells for is $75. But the luxurious contexts are perhaps helping to make formerly outré accessories more palatable." (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/14/fashion/fifty-shades-of-grey-has-been-good-to-lingerie-business.html?_r=1&) Would I consider purchasing an intimidating item now, even just reading the first couple of chapters? Yes, it has already made me feel a little like Ana Steele, so why not? I want to feel sexy, and I want to wear a uniform. Slipping into something tight and controlling; putting on something leather, something silk, something that creates a beautiful silhouette and flatters me. There was a line in 50 Shades that stuck at most of all as I read: when he is talking about buying her wardrobe and her subconscious makes a mental note to "Think of them as a uniform." So now I am unleashing the invigorated me, where do I find my uniform? I can find no end of sexy lingerie boutiques with luxury accessories galore, but what about for day time? It would be very well me walking around my house with nothing on but a bra and nicker set with kinky side bits…but at work or around the town? I think not. This is where Client London intervenes; an online boutique promoting the strict uniform lifestyle. Dresses and outfits that are based around the style of a uniform without being as dowdy and boring as some uniforms can be. Beautiful silhouette creating designs that flatter your figure and are entirely made in the UK. Inspired by vintage dresses and uniforms of the 1940s - 1960s, Client London boasts a small but perfectly formed collection for the Ana Steele in all of us. To find out more and see the collection visit http://www.clientlondon.com

(Photo: Lily Robinson for http://ClientLondon.com)

Masquerade and Murano

Years ago I can remember a school trip to the magical city of Venice. It was the same year we could legally drink alcohol and the same year I had a glass of wine with the teachers; a weird feeling of freedom and the unusual feeling of being grown up, or pretending to be. Now I am grown up it’s a lot more boring that I thought it would be. A cliché, I know.

We visited the diamond workshops, the Peggy Guggenheim Museum, Murano “the glass island” and walked a tour of the streets following a woman with a sponge ball on the end of an extendable metal radio aerial. We drank Italian hot chocolate, ate real Italian stone baked pizzas for the first time, starring at human statues. I saw St Mark’s Cathedral:  towering, spherical, pointy and dripping in religious iconography and gold leaf inside and out; a hub at the heart of the city and seemingly the very reason of its existence. It was positioned at the top of an enormous square which made visitors appear as mice among giants, echoing through the enormous pillared walk ways and avenues.

It was a good thing that our tour guide had a distinct red sponge on the end of her telescopic metal wand as she walked quite quickly as there was so much to see in such little time and as one street lead on to another and another AND another till they became wide streets again or shrank to small one-person alleyways that you couldn’t stretch out your elbows in.

Before I had visited the city I knew nothing of Venice...and very little of Italy, bar watching the Godfather and meeting an Italian who was short and greasy haired with a stubbly beard that grazed like sandpaper and arms covered in a thick matt of hair that extended to his fingers. So my image of Italy in general was this; very stereotypical. Soon this image was broken by the amalgamation of cultures, visitors, locals, artists, architecture and history depicted on the walls from Titian to the modern street graffiti and elegance the city oozed. Even the city cats were elegant and moved in a smooth, slinky way, observing us from shadows or lying precariously, paws outstretch on high windowsills over the water.

After we had our fill of Venetian diamonds, learnt about their cut and the most expensive and rarest colours; when we had Ooed and Ahhed at the amazing glass blown sculptures of birds and chandeliers on Murano Island with colours like their houses: bright and reflected against the canal waters. When we had seen a Jackson Pollock examining the layers and imagining Pollock’s processes and still not understanding it completely, and a Picasso sculpture, I had reached out and touched it and smelt the metal of its nature. When we had done all this, that day we wandered in packs enjoying the spring sun on our faces, smelling the sea and getting entirely lost. Our pack had suddenly become three of us and we wandered around the narrow streets trying to find a way back to the Grand Canal to catch the last boat back to the mainland whilst popping in and out of souvenir shops and marvelling at their leather masks. The sun was setting, warm and red as the water taxi sped to the dock where the ferry sat with everyone on board apart from us, my hair whipping in the salty wind as I looked out the back of the boat at all the other goings on, the beautiful architecture and sad that I was about to leave everything behind.

I wondered what happened at the Venetian ball. The city was famous for its masquerade balls full of ball gowns, glamorous men and women in masks, anonymous, unseen and exciting! There is something unnerving yet exciting about being unseen and unrecognised by someone you love, or know, watching someone who doesn’t know they are watching you, behind a mask, behind a wall, behind a door.

The mask encases you, circles your eyes and cups your cheeks; almost claustrophobic, or maybe...sensual. That is from your point of view, from the outside you are putting on another face, the happy clown, the sad theatrical face or the devil, the joker, the ribbon, the sun or moon, the cat, the mischievous bunny or the sly fox.

  (Photo: cecilialundqvist.co.uk)

As part of a revamp for 2013 Client has joined up with artisan, mask maker and beauty: Cecilia Lundqvist for a collaborative project designing a mask for the lifestyle brand.

(Cecilian wearing Client Dress, photo: attaisdelcuratolophoto.blogspot )

Swedish born Cecilia, became an artist model in London to support her film studies, the act of which made her pursue avenues of costume and storytelling. “Inspired by the tension between origin and artifice, forest and city she started to create animal masks to wear in Urbia, a reality informed by dreams...” (http://cargocollective.com/CeciliaLundqvist/About)

She is most recognised for her recycle vintage fur animal masks and associated with Start-London and Coco de Mer but 2013 is due to bring an interesting twist for Client and Lundqvist.

(Photo: Start-London)

Currently her beautiful vintage fur animal masks can be bought at the   Start London shop and Coco de Mer.

By Client L

Accessories selection of Feminine Office Chic. 1. Belt, £375, by Chloé, from net-a-porter.com

2. Nail Varnish, by Dior, £18, from Selridges

3. Sandals, £395, by Chloé, from net-a-porter.com

4. Dress, £220, from clientlondon.com

5. Earrings, £219.61, by Marni, from farfetch.com

6. Trench Coat, £189, from clientlondon.com

7. Gloves, £80, by Karl, from net-a-porter.com

8. Trepeze Handbag, by Céline ~£1424 (see celine.com for stockists)

Getting Dressed Up

I tried on a dress by Client London the other day; it was the Vintage Requisitioned Nurses Uniform. Whether you like the quality of vintage clothing or uniforms, this dress had both.

(Photo: www.clientlondon.com)

I don't know whether I am a minority or part of the general mass of women, but I am not one to get in to "role playing". Dressing up, to get imediately undressed doesn't seem logical to me, but at the same time, I do LOVE dressing up. I love getting ready for nights out; when I was in uni I really liked the getting ready part. Sitting with the girls doing our makeup, helping each other with hair, trying on clothes and getting opinions on shoes, tights or no tights etc, it doesn’t matter if you are girly or not, its nice to have that time with your friends before you reach the throngs of drunken students in the city centre. Although, now, my life is a lot quieter out in the countryside, I am lucky enough to be living in one of the most beautiful parts of the UK with a pastoral scenes of mountains and fields outside my bedroom window, and my nearest neighbour about 200 meters away.

The nearest town to go for a drink in is 5 minutes in a taxi and the town isn't as heaving as the city, getting ready involves asking my boyfriend if I look alright and him saying something lovely and flattering followed on by "why don't you dress like that for me?" the answer- "I used to, now we go to the pub with your mates and I did once, you told me that it was only the pub and I didn’t need to make such an effort".

So, I love dressing up, for nights out or for getting in to a role for the high school play, but dressing up shouldn't be relegated to these moments only. There is something amazing when you find an outfit that you feel secure, sexy and demure in at the same time and it helps if it keeps you fairly warm as well! This was the dress.

I tried it on, and instantly I feel like I was wearing something that had character. The material is a fine wool mix in a light grey/green and very warm, which is perfect at this time of year. On the shoulders, there are buttons that hold in place the detachable red epaulettes and client buttons that run down to the height of my hips. On the hips sit to dainty pockets, which by great design and tailoring make me look curvy (in a good way, not in the way you friend says when they don’t want to tell you that “you’re a bit chunky these days”). The length comes to my knees and the sleeves all the way down to my wrists. Perfect for the cold days and nights to come.

When I ask Kate what is the story behind the dress she tells me she found them and thought they would brilliant for the Client collection of uniforms. I have realised that Kate has an obsession of uniforms. She collects the strict designs in her head like a magpie would shiny objects and transfers this passion to the Client creations, combining strict authoritarian tailoring with a feminine edge and little twists of flirtatious design.

Here are some photos from the Client website of the dress.

(Photos: www.clientlondon.com)

At £75.00 from www.clientlondon.com it really was worth the money, recycling a dress and tailored design that would have been cast aside and left to rot at the back of an army closet somewhere in the North of England. However, Client’s designs are not always up-cycled uniforms, when I dig deeper I find that each dress has a story and reason why it was created and in some way appealing to Kate’s love of strict uniforms. The Client Zip Office dress is made from industrial material that would ordinarily be used in modern day nurses uniforms, the Madam Mao Dress inspired by the Eastern Air hostesses, and originating from the traditional Chinese Cheongsam dress. Throughout the centuries, the cheongsam has gone through many changes, signified different families and communities as well as surviving the formal, plain attire of the communist movement which also reminds me of the life of Client, starting with the band and now evolving in to this exciting brand.

It is well thought out and I am able to appreciate the work Kate has put in to creating vintage inspired uniforms, entirely Made in Britain and at a price that really doesn’t hurt the wallet and still remains individual. If I bought a Louis Vuitton handbag, I would be spending far more, everyone would know how much I had spent and would think I was just another label lover or fashion victim, I think I would actually feel a little embarrassed that I had spent so much money on something so materialistic and overpriced, without giving something to charity or thinking about the people who made it, or where is was made.

Marketplace.org sheds a little bit more light on the real origins of luxury items in their video: “That luxury item may be 'Made in China'” with parts of the transcript reading,

“SCOTT TONG: Shop at Burberry or Louis Vuitton, and you're buying a piece of Old Europe, right?

Retail consultant Paul French says not exactly.

PAUL FRENCH: Burberry will always show people out on English country estates. Louis Vuitton will always show people looking very glamorous walking through streets in Paris. Just don't confuse that with the fact that the bag is now made in China.

Bags, sweaters, shoes. . . . In the last decade, most European designers have shifted production to China. Brands like Dolce & Gabbana, Prada, Armani and Bally. In some cases, they hide it.

Giorgio Bonacarso is a chemical supplier. He sells to Chinese shoe factories that make Italian brands.

Giorgio Bonacarso: Today, many of these brands will do some part of the operation here in China, and they will finish the shoes in Italy to be allowed to still put "Made in Italy," even if it is not made in Italy.”

So what are you really buying? Are you buying a label to show people that you can afford it, or for the architectural beauty and design of the piece? If for the latter, does it matter to you who made it or where? What chemicals were involved? Read my blog post “Christmas Is Coming and the Luxury Label Is Getting Fat” to find out more about the big name brands using carcinogenic chemicals that could be absorbed into your skin via your clothing.

By Lucy.

Christmas is coming and the luxury label is getting fat.

Whilst flicking through pages of [insert materialistic and bland fashion magazine title here] you will no doubt be bombarded with images of this seasons fashion picks for Him and Her, the kids and even the dog; Christmas “bargains” that come at a costly price. Look at the fine print in the corner of every page on the fashion story and you will undoubtedly see several items by a high end luxury label rarely costing less than half a grand. I read a magazine the other day and when I looked at the list at the bottom I read, “Hairband, £345 by Piers Atkinson” It was an inch wide inconsequential white band with a small white veil running from ear to ear over the head of the young, pale gazelle they had cleverly disguised as a model. For that price I could pay for a return flight to go to Switzerland this Christmas and I would be guaranteed to have a lot more fun snowboarding through one of the most beautiful parts of the world instead of worrying if I would’ve got make up on my pristine white veiled hairband that was probably made for around £3.00 in Cambodia and holds no emotional resonance with me.

The more and more I look at the ever changing fashion market the more bored I become. There is no story, OK there are fashion “stories” but no life. No individuality in the mainstream label churning out re-modelled fashion year after year and calling it original. Come Spring, we will all be talking about graphic monochromatic elongated dresses by Marc Jacobs and how much the models look like Twiggy...I wasn’t around in the 60s. To me is it my mother’s memory, one that will be forever beyond my grasp of understanding. I can look at faded photographs and see a resemblance in modern day fashion photography and film, even on Made in Chelsea the producers have implemented a filter that is meant to say “vintage, elegance and class” but just makes me feel like I am watching an old movie of people so caught up in their own world, the life of the big player labels and how they look that they completely oversee the value of anything. But we are the punters and we still watch? Why?

Why don’t we challenge ourselves to step outside our conventional realms and experience a new society, a new culture and attitude, new people? We will always stay where we are comfortable, sold the things we are told we need and never, ever think outside the box.

I realise I am sounding a little bit like a 1990s punk or fashion anarchist (yet again nothing is original any more) but there should be some other reason to buy a headband other than it cost £345 and was “made” by Mr Atkinson. Garments need to not just look good, but when you pay a great deal for something, you sort of hope that is would come with some feeling or story and isn’t reminiscent of a bygone era, but is actually from that time. Something that reflects your personality and that 100,000 people do not own.

Large name brands like Dolce & Gabbana etc use research companies to find out what will be on trend by going to festivals, fashion shows, street style photography and sifting through all sorts of other avenues. They are continuously trying to research what fashion and lifestyles are emerging and likely to sell well.

I read an article in the Sunday Times supplementary magazine the other week called the “Orient Express. China’s rich young shoppers are looking beyond established luxury brands. Gemma Soames charts the rise of stealth wealth, far Eastern-style”

On the topic of the lack of success of recognised brands such as Louis Vuitton and Burberry in the East, one part of the article really caught me, “A recent HSBC report by the analyst Erwan Rambourg puts this down to ‘first-mover disadvantage’. In other words the longer your brand has been around, and the more visible it is, the less desirable it becomes.” In a communist country, the prestige of showing off expensive brands has had negative repercussions and people such as politicians have been publicly humiliated and punished after wearing a recognisable branded item, this article described several cases where government officials wore recognised items that cost a vast amount over their wage packets.

Apart from the overtly expensive flashy fashion items, fashion in the East has turned its face away from labels carrying logos. While a lot of other nations float on by in the World of visible, showy branding, the Chinese and Eastern markets are veering towards a sense of individualism. Always ones to take fashion that extra step further, the Chinese shoppers love the individualistic styles of Diane von Furstenberg, Alexander Wang, Mary Katrantzou, Ederm as well as supporting emerging Chinese fashion designers like Christina Lau (read her interview here: http://anywearstyle.com/post/THE-INTERVIEW:-CHRISTINE-LAU-OF-CHICTOPIA ), Uma Wang (sculptured, layered minimalism and delicious fabrics) who graduated from Central Saint Martins and is now based in Shanghai. Following on from Uma Wang is a designer who has a world wide appeal: Huishang Zhang whose delicate feminine collections have been shown and sold in London and the wearable easily accessible women’s fashion label Zuczug, designed by Wang Yiyang who has a 5 year plan to open 73 Zuczug stores across China offering items at high end, high street prices for technologically minded women who are on the move rather than catwalk fanatics.

(Photo:Christine Lau designs http://anywearstyle.com)

(Photo:Huishan Zhang designs http://www.k11concepts.com/en/paris/showcases-zhang.aspx and http://www.londonfashionweek.co.uk/designers_profile.aspx?DesignerID=1930)

However, there has got to be something more to fashion other than the brand, the logo, the look of the label? At the other end of the Chinese fashion market is an ugly truth.

An investigative report published in November by the Greenpeace International turned out some startling discoveries about the amount of toxins used for dying clothing and other factory operations that can also be found in the clothing we are wearing. Major brands tested positive for the toxic chemicals that included ones consciously included into the fabric and other chemicals as industrial residue on the clothing from the factory. The brands included Calvin Klein (88% positive), Levi’s (82%) and Zara (70%). The article went on to say

“This is an issue, because when these chemicals are released into the environment they can break down and develop hormone-disrupting and even carcinogenic properties. The worst of the chemicals included toxic phthalates (found in four of the garments we tested) and cancer-causing amines from the use of certain azo dyes (found in two of the garments). Nonylphenol ethoxylates (NPEs) were found in just under two-thirds of the 141 garments we tested.”

Strategic communications manager at Greenpeace and writer of the report, Tommy Crawford goes on to say,

“The journey will not be easy. But in fashion, safe brands have rarely shaped the future, nor reaped its rewards. In fact, true fashion has always been an act of rebellion. Yesterday’s orthodoxies need to be challenged and swept away, only to be replaced by new and innovative solutions.”

For more information, the report can be read here: http://www.greenpeace.org/international/big-fashion-stitch-up/

Special Christmas Gift

There is always the dilemma at Christmas time of what to get. It has gone on since the dawn of Christianity and the idea of gift giving and won’t stop even after the religion has decreased in numbers because, everyone loves gifts. Whether it is the office Secret Santa or somebody close to you, getting gifts is great.

We all devise our routine from the individuals who can’t wait to get inside; ripping off paper regardless to the time the giver has put in to wrapping it, to the appreciators who feel the texture and colour and the ribbon that guilds it, adding an extra bit of decadence and sensuality. They examine the size and shape and softly rattle is to see if it’s breakable...usually if it rattles the damage is already done.  Pulling the ribbon the bow softly falls away and you are faced with the tactile feel of the luxury paper entrapping the excitement awaiting you inside.

Sliding one manicured sharp nail under the tape that holds it altogether (what would we do without tape) the wrappings are peeled away and a box is in side. All good things come... in boxes.

Giving is also a fantastic feeling, when you have picked something you can’t wait to give someone; the feeling in your heart that this present will make them really happy and appeal to all their sides of love. You hope to see their face light up, possibly with tears, and that ungraspable intangible love becomes real and physical.

Finding that present that they appreciate and cherish is the key. Sneaking on their computer history to see what websites and items they have been loving (although a little stalkerish), having a look at their Pinterest or Etsy “WANT” board to see what they would really like.

So what is inside that box? Depending on the size, if small, possibly jewels, if big, possibly clothing or an iPad... Men never actually buy underwear for women, right? How would he know the size? How would he know it would look good? Who else has he seen in it?

This is a medium size box, with a smooth black finish, the giver: a man. The lid lifts off with a gentle sucking noise as the air flows between the two and you almost feel like you are an explorer on the brink of seeing something special for the first time. With the lift of air the delicate tissue inside swirls and gives you a glimpse of what is beneath. UNDERWEAR! (Oh God, he could never have guessed my size...could he? It's going to look horrendous on me!)

Unravelling the layers of tissue you see this is not just any underwear, it’s silk and lace, soft and delicious and rolling it in our fingertips you get a shiver running down your spine, like Kiki de Montparnasse’s racy lacy collections. OR if you are the decadent and slightly 50 Shades inspired...it could be one of Atsuko Kudo’s latex creations championed so often by Lady Gaga or Fleet Ilya’s luxury leather bondage, favoured by Rhianna; drawing out the femme fatal in you is essential, and he knows it.

(Photo: Lace Inset Balconnet Bra and Panty Kikidm.com)

(Photo by Nicole Markhoff found at fashionbeyondfashion.wordpress.com)

Whether you are an Agent Provocateur girl or an M&S girl...it is always nice to receive well fitting underwear that makes you look beautiful. But unless you have shopped with him to try it on, it is highly unlikely that his choice will have you feel just as luxurious as you should.

Online lingerie store, foxandrose.com says,

                “We find that men either veer towards safe options or opt for ill fitting crotchless knickers! However most women enjoy receiving beautiful underwear they might not necessarily buy themselves. Be bold; go for something versatile and different. Try a babydoll paired with a minimal thong for a luxuriously sensual look for example.  If you’re stuck, opt for the Fox & Rose ethos and buy her something bold and edgy as well as something classic and feminine and cover both looks.”

So dress it up! Take on the character of a seductive siren, be inspired by Client London and apply a The Nato Strict Trench Coat, take on the role of a spy who needs to win over an informant (watch Homeland if you need some inspiration) or just simply accept that you look amazing and he has bought it for you because he thinks you are already his siren and he wants to have a bit of kinki fun with you. Fall in to it! Wear the Trench Coat, Wear the enormously high heels and wear yourself.

(Photo: Client London Nato Strict Trench Coat www.clientlondon.com )

You can get more tips on lingerie buying at http://www.foxandrose.com/fitting-room/lingerie-lifeline.html  they give simple tips for men and women on how and what to buy and more information and tips are on the blog on their website.

(Photo:http://blog.foxandrose.com/)

What other presents could be in store? Wait and see.

Red dress and bondage belt