In Love: With my new shoes

I don't really shop in M&S for shoes that often, I find their target market is at a slightly higher age range than I am, but after having a quick browse yesterday I came across the most darling little pair of sandals.

Very on trend with cute pastels and ankle straps, these sandals were going to be mine! They came in 3 colours: mint, pale pink and black.

I chose mint, as I thought they would go with more of my clothes, but I am incredibly tempted to go back and get the pink ones too. At a price like £25, who can resist?

Buy them in store on online here 

My Love: Mary Katrantzou

I am a digital textile designer through and through. I love the technology that goes with it. I love learning about new technologies that are created to make printed textiles even more spectacular (e.g. 3D printing - I'll do a post on that at some point.). I love how almost any print is made possible with digital. You can imagine it, get on Photoshop or Illustrator and design it. Done. 

I'm a messy printer in the workshop, which is probably a fair reason why I love digital so much. During my last year of University, an entire chapter of my dissertation was dedicated to new technologies found in the textiles industry, and in this chapter was a small mention of Mary Katrantzou. 

To say that I was writing and researching my dissertation around October/November time in 2012 and had never heard of Mary Katrantzou is weird. I still can't believe it to this day! I happened to just come across her work whilst doing some extensive research into digital print in fashion and she popped up.

So it was here that I fell in love with her work. I look back at her first collection and can't help but think how 'Basso and Brooke' it is. So space-age and random. But since then, she has grown substantially into a truly amazing and original designer. I like how the prints are blatantly something. Sounds like a strange thing to say, but a lot of prints are just a flurry of colour and you can't really tell what they are (unless they are a floral or an animal print), but in Mary Katrantzou's designs, you can tell that that's a maze, or that's a type writer, or that's a city scape. I love it! It's like a t-shirt design on a beautiful dress. 

Images from Mary Katrantzou's first catwalk show in 2009

I also really love the fact, and this is said in the least offensive way possible, that she is a bit of a plain Jane. She looks like a lovely, regular girl. She doesn't look like a super skinny, super bossy, harsh fashionista. She just looks normal, and I like that.

I follow Mary Katrantzou on Instagram and am constantly in awe with all the photos she takes! You can definitely tell she's got a great creative touch, and sometimes some of the pictures she takes could easily become part of her next collection! To follow Mary Katrantzou on Instragram just search 'marykatrantzou' in the explore search box.

So really, the basic gist of this post is that I love Mary Katrantzou, and I hope that if you stumble across this blog and have never heard of her before that I have now introduced you to your new favourite designer.

I've picked out a couple of my favourite Mary Katrantzou garments for you to browse.

H&M Conscious Collection: Don't let fashion go to waste.

Everyone in the entire textiles and fashion industry, in fact, just everyone should be giving H&M a huge round of applause, pat on the back and a triumphant trophy lift in the air.

Why? Because for one: they have set up their 'Conscious' collection which is using organic fabrics and using sustainable procedures in making their products and two: they are now collecting bags of used clothes (whether fit to wear or not) and are either re-using the clothes to help charities etc or recycling all unwearable fabrics to create new life for the fabrics.

Why has no company done this before? And why are H&M the only ones doing it?

I personally think this is amazing. Not only is the company putting the ethics back into fashion (don't get me started on sweater shops and fur coats), but they are making incredible sales too. Great move, H&M.

Just because it was so amazing and inspiring to read, below I have the H&M 'Conscious Actions Highlights 2012'. Please read it, it made me smile so much to know that a huge market leader in the fashion and textiles industry actually gave a damn about making the world a better place to live it! Hallelujah!

New online portfolio with brushd

Just thought I'd quickly mention I've just set up my new online portfolio with brushd. 

If you'd like to have a look at some of my work, please visit it here: http://katelynch.brushd.com/

BetaFasion: Epic Journey Project

Brief: Many of life's most vivid memories and powerful day dreams often come from travels we've been on, or the journey's we've had, or wish to have. Exciting destinations, adventures along the way, once in a life time experiences, culture shock, childhood nostalgia, or just escaping the day to day, there are so many ways that travel can play an important part in our lives. For this project we want you to encapsulate these ideas, whether real or fantasy, for use on our range of square scarves.

Prize: 4 winners will be selected, each receiving £300 and seeing their design go onto be sold in our online store, Topshop and more.

My Design:

My Inspiration: A new and accurate map of the world. An old treasure of my Grandma's that I saved from going to a carboot sale was an old map of the world on a mirror.It's been in my room ever since, joining my general theme of 'around the world'.

Please rate my design here: https://www.betafashion.com/competitionratedesign.aspx?SubmissionID=6961

Do it like Onions do...

...and layer up!

Not only is it incredibly cold out here in the UK, but layering is a great new trend. Being warm and stylish at the same time? Couldn't be better.

Here's some of my favourite Phillip Lim layered pieces from his Fall 2013 RTW collection.

 

 

 

No Grey Area

One of the most current trends at the moment is Monochrome: and I love it.

Not only have I been admiring the trend and ripping out pages in magazines with monochrome images and looks I like, I have spent a fair amount of money on black and white items of clothing I really didn't need nor afford just to re-create the style.

I've picked out one favourite item from a couple of designers who have embraced the monochrome trend. It's not just the great contrast of colours that pleases me, it's how elegant and casual this look can be at the same time. I adore the use of different materials between the black and white garments - the different textures create a beautiful visual.

Celine - Spring RTW 2013

Chanel - Spring 2013 Couture Collection

Balmain Spring 2013 RTW

Louis Vuitton Spring 2013 RTW

Earn Your Stripes! Marc Jacobs Spring 2013

I'm a huge fan of Marc Jacobs and more often than not I fall in love with his collections. His Spring 2013 collection is reminiscent of the 1960's with bold black and white contrast and resolute separation of colours. Simplicity was key in this collection: a very simple colour scheme of black, white, nude, red and blue. 

Stripes were everywhere: vertical, horizontal, on the collar, on the hem, big stripes, small stripes and optical illusion stripes.

I've chosen some of my favourite looks from the collection, I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!