R.I.P Alexander McQueen

ALEXANDER MCQUEEN.



16 March 1969 – 11 February 2010.

It is fair to say the fashion industry has lost one of it's most inspirational and iconic designers of all time.
Lee McQueen, who had built up a multi million pound designer business was found dead on February 11th in his Mayfair flat, London, just days before the start of LFW '10.

It is thought the British designer hung himself after the death of his mother, Joyce, was announced just days ago.


The devastating news comes just three years after McQueen's close friend, style guru and fashion director of Tatler, Isabella Blow killed herself with weed killer after being diagnosed with ovarian cancer.
Isabella was known for pulling McQueen out of obscurity and making him a star in the fashion world.

The CBE and four time winner of the British Designer of the Year award had started as an apprentice at in Savile Row at the age of 16, where he made suits for Prince Charles. He went on to work for Gieves & Hawkes, theatre’s famous Angels & Bermans costumiers, and then worked in Japan and Italy.
He returned to London in 1994, hoping to work as a pattern cutter tutor at London’s prestigious Central Saint Martins fashion school.
Because of the strength his portfolio had, he was persuaded to enrol on the course himself.

In 1996 he was made head designer for Givenchy, succeeding John Galliano. He then went on to join forces with Gucci who brought over half of his company.










Dolce & Gabbana said: 'We are deeply touched for the sudden death of Alexander McQueen, a designer whom we have always admired for his creative genius and unmatched inspiration. He leaves the fashion world with an unfillable void.'

Vogue editor, Alexandra Shulman said: At one level, he was a master of the fantastic, creating astounding fashion shows that mixed design, technology and performance and on another he was a modern-day genius.'

Christmas TV Package

TV Package Evaluation.


After completing our TV project, I felt our group managed to produce a good quality piece of footage.
The work was done effectively and efficiently which I believe helped the final product look professional. We based our footage on Christmas shopping around Farnham Town with a main question in mind – ‘Does Farnham town cater for students?’
My job for this project was to edit the piece with the help of another group member and to film one of the outdoor shots. This involved setting up the camera on the tripod at the relevant height and angle, along with shooting the shot in the right location with the right back and foreground in show.
It was important to find the right location that the presenter would stand in front of as the background has to be relevant to the matter being talked about.
Throughout this project, I learnt how to use Adobe Premier Pro to edit the footage together and managed to get my time management skills organised. I felt this definitely helped to get the completion of the work done more efficiently.
When it came to uploading our video, we had a problem with getting it off Adobe Premier Pro and onto our blogs. This was because Premier Pro didn't seem to be able to support the action at the time we were trying to do it. In the end we had to upload the video onto youtube and embed it onto our blogs ourselves. If we had had slightly more time, I think we would of benefited more by producing a script for the presenter which could have been well remembered, so when coming to talk, the presentation of the 'piece to camera' could have run slightly smoother.
If we did this, we would of have to remember the difference between writing for print, and writing for broadcast.
As we were producing a piece to camera, the script would needed to have been short and precise, with information that got straight to the point. As TV news has very tight time slots when on air, the presenter would need something that was manageable, yet effective to read out. This is important as the viewer needs to see a professional presenter on screen, who can present all styles of news from light hearted local news, to hard hitting national or global news. If we were writing for print, the time limit's obviously wouldn't have been a problem. But, saying this, news for print still needs to deliver precise information and should be easily readable to the majority of people.
Newspapers need to have the widest target audience as possible to keep sales of their product at it's highest.

120lb Ralph Lauren model fired for being 'fat'.

Ralph Lauren have recently had an ear bashing from just about everyone after it emerged they fired 23 year old model Filippa Hamilton for 'being too fat'. The Swedish-french born model had been modelling for Ralph Lauren since she was 16.
She is signed to top agency 'Next' and is a stunning size 4 - hardly fat is it.

An advert for Ralph Lauren, of the model was shown in Japan a few months ago. But the advert looked nothing like the above photo of Hamilton, instead it looked like this:



The photo shows a extremely disfigured body with Filippa's head placed on the shoulders.
The image caused uproar with people and of course Filippa, who hadn't even been shown the image before it was printed and put up around Japan for an advertising campaign.

After multiple complaints, Ralph Lauren said:

"After further investigation, we have learned that we are responsible for the poor imaging and retouching that resulted in a very distorted image of a woman’s body."

So why did they let this image be put up around the world?
Since earlier issues this year in the fashion industry with banning size 0 on the catwalk and not allowing models with a dangerously low BMI to model for top designers, it makes you wonder why Ralph Lauren would do such a demoralising thing to this young, healthy beauty.

Rememberance Day VoxPop

Vox Pop Rememberance Day jo by jorich17

Radio News Bulletin.

Jojo news bulletin by jorich17

Celebrities automatically becoming designer models... Is it right?

'Celebs' such as Lily Allen, Paris Hilton, Peaches Geldoff, Rihanna, Madonna and George Clooney (just to name a few) are celebrities because they sing, act or they've been born into a well known, well off family.
But there has been an on going debate about why these celebs automatically get to become some of the biggest models around... Not because of their modelling 'skills', but entirely because of their fame through singing / acting / being a diva etc...

So how fair is this on models, who are just that? You have to work extremely hard to get to the top of the modelling world, so it's no wonder when a model from a top agency gets ditched from a Chanel campaign because Lily Allen has been asked instead, just because she is more 'well known', that the model is 'guna be pissed!



Lily Allen - Chanel Campaign



Madonna - Louis Vuitton Campaign



Peaches Geldoff - LFW '08




George Clooney - Omega Campaign



Rihanna - Gucci Campaign

It seems that anyone who has been featured in celeb gossip magazines can have their go at modelling. Even the twins from 'Big Brother' Sam and Amanda have walked the runway for Naomi Campbell's charity fundraiser 'Fashion for Relief' even though they are both about 5'4 ft, a dress size 8/10 with features that make them stick out from, well, no one!

What do you think?
Should the designer runways and magazine spreads be left for the modelling pro's, meaning an end to all 'celebs' putting these models out of their own jobs?
Or do you think celebrities modelling for fashion campaigns is okay as they're more recognisable?

Dara Ford's new A/W collection has been perfectly tailored to fit sizes 8-18 for women who strive on busy lifestyles but but must have demanding wardrobes.
Ford's new A/W collection has been described as 'comfortable and practical without compromising on style or quality and carry their wearer from daytime at the office to night time socialising with friends - trust investment pieces that ca be worn season after season.'




The labels designer Dara Stringham has said about her new collection online: ‘I work very hard to create pieces that I love and which I can see women wearing in their everyday lives. I like playing with subtle details that only reveal themselves at close range and which allow the exquisite fabrics to shine. Comfort and elegance are my natural design instincts, a kind of old-world appreciation for quality and craftsmanship translated into contemporary pieces for the women of today.’

Prices for the new collection range between £60 for accessories to £545 for jackets, dresses, tops and trousers.
The sleek and professional looking online store allows shoppers to browse the collection by style, colour or fabric and gives detailed information along with the designer’s notes for each piece.

The only down side is the pricing. It isn't a high street store for everyone, but it really is a high end designer shop for women with a serious taste for style and comfort, no matter what the price tag.