Mar 25 2012

Zowie Broach talks about Boudicca

Boudicca is a British based fashion label which was founded in the year 1997 by the designers Zowie Broach and Brian Kirby. Zowie visited the University of East London and gave a very inspiring lecture about her work and story, to the fashion students. She first explained where the name of the label comes from, and stated that Boudicca was an ancient queen of England that was a warrior and a leader to her people and Boudicca today represents the spirit of a strong woman that makes decisions and has a great influence. Zowie drags inspiration for the themes of her collections from various human sciences such as history, philosophy, mathematics, geography and arts, and she believes that it is essential for people to think back in time and explore the ‘ ghosts’ of the past, those people that achieved the world as it is through their dreams and visions.
When creating her collections, she puts a lot of weight to the tailoring and structure of the garments and referencing some points of the history she finds interesting. She stated that she still keeps sketchbooks and imagery collection, reads books to get informed about new themes and still wants to improve her pattern cutting skills.

She criticized today’s education of fashion institutes and believes that the students should be free to create what they want with no limits from the teachers. She talked about the 80’s, when she was a fashion student at the Middlesex university and said that all the people in her class created eccentric and unwearable clothing and this was the of the creativeness, innovation and the beginning of the global world.
She stressed the importance of technology in the fashion industry and how this can give numerous possibilities for an artist as coding is the language of the future and she advised the students to start being aware of all these possibilities.
She also talked about the labels participation in the catwalks of London, Paris and New York and she said she does not want to do this anymore because the stress is so high that changes people and make them more aggressive, which is a role she does not like.
Today the label creates garments that they distribute via their webpage and mix it with artistic photography and by the use of materials such as spray, celotape and tissues.
Right after the lecture, the students had the opportunity to look through all the catalogues, inspiration books and leaflets of the label as well as have a try of the famous art perfume WOBE.

 

 

References:

Broach, Z., 2012. University of East London Lecture: Zowie Broach talks about her fashion brand Boudicca [ speech] ( Personal communication, 20 March 2012).

By annaroditi
0
Mar 18 2012

Folk- Viking metallers – 00’s


Folk metal is a music movement that takes place in the metal scene from 2000 even until today. When talking about folk, I mean the northern ancient mythology, religion and history of countries like Germany, Finland, the Scandinavia, and parts of the Scotland and Ireland. The musicians and fans of folk metal take inspiration from the Vikings, the Celtics, the Saxons and other tribes that where settled in middle Europe during early medieval, even the pirates. They believe in magical and fantasy creatures and love nature. The reason why that happens today is that people nowadays start respecting more and more the old beliefs and lifestyle, the ones that many generations before them had adopted, and this group of people want the revival of their ancestors pride.In a world where nothing is left to be called ‘new’ those people look back in times and create a new wave. After the musical section of Viking style, there where also many movies released based on the same or similar topics.

What is very interesting about folk metallers is that support a certain style that comes back from the medieval years, in such a true and exact way. They wear lots of fur wherever possible- like boots gloves and big fur collars, destroyed leather skirts, trousers and tops many of them dye they face and body with red acrylic colour that reminds of blood, so that they look like they came back from a battle. Accessories they usually wear are metallic and carved in Nordic knot motives and runes, big leather wristbands  and a Thor’s hammer necklace.

References:

Roditi, A.,2012. My personal experiences on Viking metal lifestyle.[speech](personal experiences, 18 Mar 2012)

By annaroditi
0
Mar 18 2012

The ‘Trendies’ of Athens- 00’s

A very popular trend that found extension in the year 2004 and lasted until 2006, in Greece- and particularly Athens, was the ‘ Trendy look’. This style was created and embraced by the teenagers of the ages between 14 and 20 and was mainly addressed to teenagers coming from wealthy families around the north suburbs of Athens. The main aim of the ‘ trendy’ teenagers, how they were called, was to show their economical state through their clothes and highlight the hometown they came from. They often went shopping in the most popular area, back then, area, Kiffisia where many designer brands and boutiques had their own stores. They mainly were dressed casually but with style and the brands they key items they would wear, were hoodies in different bright colours, really tight jeans and converse all starts or vans shoes.

. They mainly were dressed casually but with style and the brands they key items they would wear, were hoodies in different bright colours, really tight jeans and converse all starts or vans shoes. The girls where showing their feminine side in a very cute way as they where dressed in pink or other bright colours, using many different fabric patterns like colourful polka dots and stripes, cutting their trousers up to the point of the ankle, putting on ballerina shoes and millions of bracelets in both wrists in the clours of the rainbow. Their hair was a kind of pre-mature emo style, with much volume on the top, fringe and decorated with small bows. Key items you would usually see them using where the Longchamp bag in all the colours, perfectly waxed Barbour jacket, Tommy Hilfiger pullovers and GAP hoodies, Paul Frank t-shirts, Diesel jeans and enormous sunglasses.

The boys, on the other hand, where ‘skater styled’ even if they where skaters or not! They would all have long fringes as well, wearing big DC-Etnies- Vans shoes, whether baggy or tight jeans- but the rule was one – half their underwear had to be showing !

 

References:

Roditi, A.,2012. My personal experiences in north suburbs of Athens.[other](personal experiences, 18 Mar 2012)

By annaroditi
0
Mar 9 2012

Nerd Chic in the 90’s

One of the sub-trends that started evolving in the USA during the middle 90’s was the ‘Nerd Chic’ or ‘Geek Chic’. In a time where technology started  developing and being more accessible to the masses, where people  started using computers for their jobs and e-mails as means of communication, the nerd chic style became popular for people between the ages of 20 and 30.

The nerd style was mainly adopted by cutting- edge trendsetters who believed that geeks were really smart, well educated and could reach high places in jobs. That made them feel comfortable in aspects of their own education and they where people who were guaranteed to succeed and reach a high status. Even successful writers and jocks of the time adopted the nerdish look in order to become even more successful by pretending to be losers.

The same time many movies and series were released dragging themes from the lifestyle of a real nerd, a person who is really smart, obsessed with technology and socially awkward.

Some of the key items that those people chose for their styling where big glasses, Chunky, plastic rimmed, t-shirts with electronic logo stamps, sweatshirt vests and check shirts. For women, the skirt should be A line or straight. They would always walk around with the latest technology gadgets in their hands or pockets .

References:

By annaroditi
0
Mar 8 2012

Grunge in the 90’s

One of the major trends to be observed in the 90’s was the grunge style or, as sometimes referred, theSeattlestyle. Grunge was basically a music movement that started in the late 80’s but was brought to the mainstream by theSeattle-based band Nirvana, and later Pearl Jam, in the 90’s. The alternative rock- indie grunge style that pervaded the 90’s defined the look of the ‘slacker’ generation. Kurt Cobain- front man of Nirvana, became an idol for hundreds thousands of teenagers of the western world and his style influenced them radically.

Just from the name of the trend, anyone can understand that we are talking about untidy and unkempt appearance and attitude, from the grunge musicians but the funs as well. Their style did not evolve by consciously attempting to create a fashion, the opposite they struggled to remain underground. Grunge bands refused to embrace the complex and high budget presence of other bands from the 80’s including both their appearance on stage and their clothing. The key characteristics of the grunge fashion are the thrift-store clothes, including the flannel shirts, the unwashed hair, baggy trousers in colour green or blue jeans, doc martens boots or converse all stars and long hair.

Many fashion designers got inspiration by the grunge movement and started presenting grunge collections on the catwalk. Such where Mark Jacobs for Perri Ellis, Anna Sui and Oscar de la Renta in their S/S collection 1993.

References:

  • 90s411, 2012. History of 90’s Grunge Music [online]. Available at : <http://www.90s411.com/history-of-90s-grunge.html&gt; [Accessed  7 March 2012 ]
  •  PRLog (Press Release), 2010. The True Grunge Of The 90’s-Stylert.com [online]. Available at :< http://www.prlog.org/10800043-the-true-grunge-of-the-90s-stylertcom.html> [ Accessed 8 March 2012]
  • Gazzmic, 2012. Grunge: The ’90s Reaction to Glam [online]. Available at: < http://www.gazzmic.com/2012/grunge-the-90s-reaction-to-glam/> [ Accessed 8 March 2012]
  • Ministry of rock, 2010. The 90s and Grunge Rock [online]. Available at: < http://www.ministryofrock.co.uk/nineties-grunge-rock.html> [ Accessed 8 March 2012]
  • Kouvatsea, I., 2012. An interview about the 90’s [ conversation]( personal communication, 6 March 2012)
By annaroditi
1
Mar 5 2012

The Buffalo Suit- 1980-1985

The Scottish fashion stylist Ray Petri started the Buffalo look in the 80s’, that had a lasting influence on menswear. He collaborated with the fashion stylist Jude Blame, the photographers Mark leBon and Jean-Baptist Mondino and designer Jean- Paul Gaultier in order to create the Buffalo style. He dragged inspiration from Jamaican Ragamuffins, punks, rude boys and New romantics and took the word Buffalo from Bob Marley’s song ‘Buffalo Soldier’, McLaren’s song ‘Buffalo Gal’s’ and Vivienne Westwood’s Buffalo collection and finally defined the image of Buffalo style.

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The main characteristic of the Buffalo style was it was really androgynous in many ways as the female figures of the decade’s style wore lace, leggings,  rubber- bangles, and glittery tops and often had make-up on their face, while as women wore oversized streetwear and looked really untidy. The clothes where usually unstructured and oversized, and Ray Petri often restructured clothing if he could not get the shape he wanted and used tough, stylised black and white imagery that had a big influence on mainstream fashion.

 

References:

  • Nj  Stevenson, (2011)  The chronology of fashion: from empire dress to ethical design, London- United Kingdom, Ivy Press
  • Kathryn Flett, ( 2000) The man who dressed a decade[online] The Guardian. Available at: < http://www.guardian.co.uk/theobserver/2000/sep/17/features.magazine37> [ Accessed 5 March 2012]
  • Niwde, (2006), Ray Petri -Buffalo Style. Niwdenapolis [blog] 18 September. Available at: <http://www.niwdenapolis.com/2006/12/ray-petri-buffa-style.html>%5BAccessed 5 March 2012]
  • RBPM, (2008) , _Ray Petri: Buffalo Style. RBPM Studio Blog [blog] 17 February. Available at : <http://rbpmstudio.co.uk/blog/?p=132&gt; [Accessed 5 mArch 2012]
By annaroditi
0