Avatar

Yesterday I took a trip in the snow and ice to the Imax cinema where I saw the eagerly awaited film of 2009 - Avatar. 

The film, directed by James Cameron is the most expensive Hollywood movie to date, with a budget of $237 million (£144 million). Cameron is most famous for Titanic, which was a huge success back in 1997, and The Terminator films. 

Avatar has been on the cards for 14 years whilst Cameron waited for 3D technology to advance in order to cater for his extreme vision. Rightly so, the special effects were extremely impressive, especially in 3D where I felt like I was almost running through the forest with Jake Sully (Sam Worthington's character). It's hard to describe the beauty of Pandora (the planet inhabited by the Omitacayan race) but the visuals throughout were outstanding.

I think it's definitely worth going to see properly at the Imax rather than in 2D on some small screen.

Watch the film's trailer at: www.avatarmovie.com

Nine

I can't wait for the film Nine (not to be mistaken for 9, another film confusingly out at the same time!) to be released on Boxing Day. What a great line up: Penelope Cruz, Judi Dench, Sophia Loren and Daniel Day-Lewis to name a few. 

I am less excited about Nicole Kidman who I've never really liked for no particular reason and unsure wether to be excited or nervous to see Fergie (Black Eyed Peas) try to act.

The film is based on original 1982 broadway production and is directed by Rob Marshall, also famously responsible for Chicago and (less famous for) Memoirs of a Geisha. I've watched the trailer a few times in anticipation and already have the theme song 'Be Italian' stuck in my head!

IMDB synopsis: "Nine tells the story of Guido Contini (Daniel Day-Lewis), a world famous film director as he confronts an epic mid-life crisis with both creative and personal problems. He must balance the many women of his life, including his wife (Marion Cotillard), his mistress (Penelope Cruz), his film star muse (Nicole Kidman), his confidant and costume designer (Judi Dench), an American fashion journalist (Kate Hudson), the whore from his youth (Fergie) and his mother (Sophia Loren).

Copy the link below into your browser to see the trailer:

http://www.apple.com/trailers/weinstein/nine/medium.html

I'll post a review once I've seen it... Can't wait!

Looking at the history of street photography

I am currently looking into the history of street photography for my dissertation and have found it really interesting to compare the original street photographers to photo bloggers such as Scott Schuman of The Sartorialist...

The earliest examples of street photographers include Henri Rivière and Jacques Henri Lartigue but I have been looking at more contemporary examples including Bill Cunningham and Amy Arbus who both photographed people on the streets for newspaper style pages. Between 1980 and 1990, Arbus shot portraits on the streets of New York for a regular column in the Village Voice’s monthly fashion feature, On the Street. 

Examples of Amy Arbus' photography for On The Street  

‘Amy was on the streets photographing the style-makers, the trendsetters in the truest sense of the word’ - A.M. Homes.

Bill Cunningham started photographing people on the street during World War II and continues to do so today. He has famously been contributing to The New York Times on a page also named On the Street. 

An example of Bill Cunningham's photography for On The Street

‘The main thing I love about street photography is that you find the answers you don’t see at the fashion shows’  - Bill Cunningham.

Scott Schuman admitted in an interview with Dazed Digital that he finds it difficult to relate to Arbus' photography:

‘She would shoot the punks and the most dramatic people... What’s different about what I do is I shoot something that is aspirational and something that people can really relate to’ 

A recent example of Schuman's photography for The Sartorialist

Scott Schuman describes one of the main advantages of a street style blog such as The Sartorialist over printed photography such as Cunningham’s is the interaction with the audience: ‘people can look at those pictures but we don’t know what these people were thinking at that time…'. He mentions that he is working on an archiving system which will save viewers' comments so that in the future, people will be able to know what we were thinking.

Another difference between Schuman and Cunningham is their visions of the perfect subject, whilst Schuman photographs people wearing great outfits, he also looks for people who carry themselves well or have a certain presence. On the contrary, Cunningham purely photographs people because he notices their clothes:

‘I don’t see the people I photograph. All I see are the clothes. I’m only interested in people who look good. I’m looking for the stunners’.

X Factor Wrap Party 2009

Last night I attended the X Factor Wrap party to take the official photographs for the X Factor press team. The wrap party is an annual party for the team behind X Factor & Xtra Factor as well as the contestants etc. Last year I partied with Alexandra Burke and some of the others and this year I enjoyed a great night with Joe, Ollie, Stacey, 'Jedward', Rachel, Graziella (of Miss Frank), Dermot O'Leary, Holly Willoughby, Brian Freedman as well as the producers and everyone who contributed to the show this year.

Events company Club Wizard has organised and hosted the wrap party for the last 6 years and this year we were joined at by Dj Dan Healy who played a great mix of tracks (including Ollie's fave - Stevie Wonder's 'Very Superstitious' which gave us a chance to witness his dance moves first hand). The party was held at Jalouse London in Hanover Square.

Unfortunately I'm not allowed to post up the official pictures that will be used for the press team (incase any magazines/newspapers get hold of them that aren't supposed to) so these pics are only of myself, the rest of the Club Wizard team and the DJ (above) with some of the X Factor crowd...

The pictures below were taken on my colleague's camera...

A great night spent with a great bunch of people - the contestants were more than happy to perform for the camera and so were the ITV crowd!

Leona Lewis goes cool

X Factor's biggest success story is most definitely Leona Lewis, but although her voice is powerful and she sings with loads of emotion, I can't help feeling bored by her. That is until now...

What happened? She's suddenly the queen of cool? First she covers Snow Patrol's 'Run', then she gets a huge style revamp by Vivienne Westwood and now she is covering Oasis!? Simon Cowell is definitely doing something right with her, she has become more relevant and contemporary without having to change the way she sings at all (which is pitch perfect).

Dame Viv dressed Leona for the cover of her new album 'Echo', which shows a new and exciting Leona looking a little less boring and a lot more high fashion. Leona also appears in Vivienne Westwood designs in her video and promotional images for 'Happy'.

According to Hilary Alexander, 'each gown is made-to-measure in Westwood's couture atelier in Central London, constructed around a fitted, wasp-waisted, boned leotard, and features the designer’s signature cleavage-enhancing corset, allied to a romantic, crinoline-style skirt.'

More good news for Leona, the man who attacked her in October at her book signing has been sent indefinitely to a hospital under the Mental Health Act order. 

On that note, I'm off to plan my outfit for this year's X Factor Wrap party! x

Apologies for the lack of posting

Apologies for the lack of posting... Been up to my ears in books for my dissertation. Reading an interesting one about the paparazzi, quite interesting actually. 

Work work work... trying to get as much of the 10,000 words written before I go home for christmas next weekend. Would like to have some sort of a break over the xmas period but so far only written 3,000!

I will be back on track next week with the posting..

x

Q&A with Susie Draffan of New Look

Susie Draffan is a trend scout for high street brand New Look. She studied Fashion Communication and Promotion at Central Saint Martins and has previously worked for WGSN. Her role at New Look is to seek new trends from around the world and report back to the design team to ensure New Look are consistently on trend. The design team will then use the images Susie has taken as inspiration and adapt the trends to cater for the New Look consumer.

Susie travels on average once a month and has visited cities including Stockholm, Gothenburg, Rekjavik, New York, LA, Tokyo, Seoul, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Berlin, Copenhagen, Paris, Ibiza, Montreal and Antwerp. She also visits various festivals and keeps track of popular culture trends in music, film, celebrities, new brands, blogs, magazines, newspapers etc.

R: How regularly do you visit Street Style blogs such as The Sartorialist and Face Hunter?

S: “Everyday. I do a tour of all the best street style blogs to see what's new on a daily basis.”

R: How important / relevant are these types of blogs to you when looking for new trends?

S: “Incredibly relevant as they showcase the best of street style from around the world. As they are updated everyday, they provide a constant stream of inspiration, information and new ideas which is invaluable to trend scouts/designers like myself.

R: Which are your top 3 style blogs? - Why?

S: “Because I read a lot of blogs I go through phases of favourites. Some I check because they are just generally good for fashion news and tit bits, highlighting new designers/labels/collaborations etc like Disney roller girl or style bubble - the more established ones which are always good. In terms of street style I always look at Facehunter, as the people he shoots are the type of people I like to look at for inspiration as opposed to say the Sartorilaist who's style, although wonderful, is a little older and more classic than what I’m looking for.

Personally my favourites are:

Knightcat, because it features a really good mix of photo shoots, celebrity style, product shots, inspirational images etc. Her style is a bit grungy and hard edged, a bit trashy rock, which I like.

Somuchtotellyou, a blog that two girls from New Zealand write. If Lula magazine were a little less saccharine and a blog, they would be this. I love the imagery they use, it's always so pretty but I also love how they write, which I can't say about a lot of the blogs I read. There's a little more thought to it than just ‘here's a nice picture’. I find it really informative and smarter than a lot of other fashion blogs.

Demoderniteter which is written by two Swedish teenagers. I just love their pictures, both their outfit posts and they're shots of every day life in Gothenburg, they take really lovely photos and make me wish I was a Swedish teenager! Super cute. Plus I love Scandinavian style so it's totally up my street.

Other favourite include Ringo have a banana and Anywho. In terms of street style definitely Facehunter first and foremost, I also like Hel-looks, Garance Doré, Stockholm street style, Cophenhagen street style, stil in berlin etc etc.”

R: Do you feel threatened or refreshed by these blogs that are celebrating individual style rather than people who follow trends? - Why?

S: “I don't feel threatened at all by these blogs, I'm all for them, they are an invaluable resource to people like me. They make my job easier as I can log on and see what people are wearing around the world everyday, hear the latest fashion news and gossip, see inspirational photo shoots, read about new designers and labels, look at celebrity style etc etc. In terms of street style, it's the individual who starts a trend so they're exactly the sort of people we should be looking at. What is interesting though is that these street style blogs have also led to trends travelling faster and further than ever before. What’s pictured on the streets of Stockholm one day is recreated on the streets of London, Paris or Tokyo the next. Previously cities and scenes had their own distinctive style, unique to that location. People the world over sharing pictures of their style online has led to trends unique to one place cropping up across the globe almost simultaneously and the creation of a ‘global hipster’ look. That said, there is still uniqueness to be found in these cities, you just have to scratch the surface a bit more to find it!”

R: What are your predictions for the future of fashion? - Is the future of fashion media online? Will fashion weeks end as all the shows turn to the Internet?

S: “I think it's amazing that online media and bloggers in particular are finally being taken seriously by the fashion industry, they really broke through in 2009 - look at Tavi for example, and the sensation she caused at New York fashion week, sitting front row, gracing the cover of Pop magazine etc. The industry is finally understanding that bloggers carry a lot of weight with their readers and that that readership is global, so they should take them very seriously. While I think in part the future of fashion media is online, I don't think that this is at the expense of actual publications or that virtual fashion shows will replace real fashion shows. Because everyone wants to experience something real and tangible, something they can touch and have a connection to, be a part of. You don’t get that from logging on to a machine. Plus the rigmarole and spectacle of the shows is something that fashion people live for, it’s the circus, it’s exciting, it’s in part why they do what they do. Maybe in the future the shows will be streamed live on the internet, like the Alexander McQueen S/S 10 show, so it’ll be the best of both worlds. It’s not a case of either it’s all online or it’s all in print, if we’ve learned anything in the past decade it’s that there is a place for both online and print media, and that they compliment each other while doing different jobs.”

Thanks Susie!

Christmas Market in Berlin

Sausages, mulled wine and cheese seemed to be everywhere!












I did spot some lovely coats that I was very jealous of (hope they weren't made of real animals!)