Hate | Knee High Tassel Anklets

Don't get me wrong I love the brand ASOS, but some of the products they release really do make me question what on earth they were thinking. When browsing on their website I came across these...

It might just be me, but I just don't understand it! Who would be able to seriously justify paying £8 for what in reality is just two pieces of string? They remind me of the gladiator style sandal which somehow makes a comeback every year during summer making it a seriously overdone look. That leads me on to another point, what is there to keep the 'anklets' in place as surely they would just gradually fall down unless you tied them so tight that your legs began to turn blue? And why have they only been released now? This isn't the season when ladies want to have their legs out, its all about covering up in jeans and oversized jumpers (best time of the year in my opinion as there's no obligation to constantly be shaving your legs!) 

But hey, each to their own!

This particular product took me back to April Fools Day this year when ASOS launched a clip in 'man bun'...thank god it was just a joke!

Rant over!

Love, Lana Skye x

Photo Credit: Google Images, ASOS. 

Raw Print

Raw Print is an event which celebrates the exciting and dynamic nature of magazine production, only made possible through the significant advances in digital publishing and printing techniques. 

If you have a love for or are even remotely interested in independent magazines then I would highly recommend going to one of these lectures, as they are all about celebrating non-mainstream/underrepresented publications.

This month the lecture focused on two magazines called 'Union' and 'Elsie', and I have to say that the creators of both were extremely inspirational. I won't go into too much detail as I feel the websites for both of these magazines tell you everything you need to know. 

Union Magazine: http://www.unionmag.co.uk

Elsie Magazine: http://www.elsiemagazine.com

The lectures are based in Nottingham so if you live there or perhaps nearby then in my opinion its a no brainer! You're paying £3 for 3 hours which is an absolute bargain, especially for what you're getting. There's a beautiful little shop called 'Ideas On Paper' located in Cobden Chambers which sells tickets if you didn't want to order online (don't just go there for the ticket, they have the best collection of independent magazines such as LOVE and ID that I've ever laid eyes on!)

The next lecture is on Wednesday 4th November (always the first Wednesday of every month).

Love, Lana Skye x 

Photo Credit: Google Images.

Trend Alert: Hair Tattoos

Hair tattoos have been around for a while, but I've always felt that they've only really been classed as acceptable to wear at a festival. Now however, the game seems to have changed as hair accessory specialists 'Scünci' have released a hair tattoo range which you can purchase in two different colours, silver and gold. 

    

At the moment it seems that they're only sold in actual stores in the U.S. for $4.99, but I'm pretty sure that if you did a bit of digging you might be able to find some on eBay or Amazon. 

If you're fancying some however I would snap them up fast, as Kylie Jenner was recently spotted sporting one! (If it's anything like the lipstick and lipliner craze she created you're going to struggle to get your hands on them, however I get the impression this trend might become a fad).

Here's the link for the Scünci website if you want to find out more: http://www.scunci.com/hair-tattoos/

Love, Lana Skye x

Photo Credit: Google Images, Scünci.

BALMAIN X H&M

On Tuesday 20th October in New York City H&M and Balmain's creative director Olivier Rousteing hosted both a runway show and an after party to FINALLY debut their one-off collaboration. 

This collection contains around 100 garments for both women and men and is set to go on sale in selected H&M stores as well as online on the 5th November.  

I've been following Balmain and Olivier Rousteing on various social media sites for a number of years, and as a result have grown very fond of the haute couture fashion house. 

Obviously, the average H&M customer is most certainly not the same as the average Balmain customer due to the significant difference in prices paid for their products. I feel that this fact in itself is what makes the collaboration such a bold move, as it shows Rousteing trying to broaden the Balmain consumer base. 

Of course, H&M has had many collaborations in the past, one of which I recently discussed which I will include the link for down below, but I really feel that this one in particular is going to be HUGELY SUCCESSFUL.

Why? Rousteing puts so much effort into connecting with the Balmain fan and customer base through social media, recently saying "I love Instagram because my followers can be part of the Balmain life. Now, with this H&M collaboration, they will get the chance to finally wear the pieces themselves". On the 26th September this year he completed a question and answer session on Twitter, where he also discussed his love for social media. Furthermore, the newly reinvented tool 'Snapchat' had a key role in promoting the events that occurred on Tuesday night, giving fans and followers a glimpse of the outfits, models, music and overall excitement involved.

The collection looks amazing, hopefully if I'm lucky Santa will get me something from it for Christmas!

Love, Lana Skye x

David Beckham x Kevin Hart H&M Collab: http://lovelanaskye.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/kevin-hart-interprets-david-beckham-for.html

Photo Credit: Balmain Paris, Twitter.

Dominant Trends

Hi! For one of our seminar tasks this week we were asked to find 3 examples of dominant trends in lots of different areas (dominant basically meaning current/popular in this case).

The areas we had to look into were:

COLOUR

GARMENT

PATTERN

GRAPHIC DESIGN/ILLUSTRATION

ENVIRONMENT/INTERIORS

MESSAGE/IDEA

ANYTHING ELSE YOU COME ACROSS

Initially this seemed like a lot of work, but I've noticed this pattern where once I start a task I get so into it and end up actually going a bit overboard (oops!).

I felt the best way for me to get my thoughts down was to create brief mind maps for each area and then I researched my ideas through different sources (Pinterest, Books, Magazines, Newspapers, Online, Real Life etc.)

I've included images of my work down below so you can kind of get my drift (I know they're not the best quality, i'll be investing in a decent camera soon, thank god!) Little Tip: If you're viewing my blog on a computer you can click on the images individually so they become readable!

COLOUR

Colour Dominant Trends: Military Green, Electric Blue, Burgundy/Berry.

GARMENT

Garment Dominant Trends: Bomber Jackets, Capes, Shirt Dresses.

PATTERN

Pattern Dominant Trends: Fringe, Aztec/Tribal, Black & White Stripe.

GRAPHIC DESIGN/ILLUSTRATION

GD/Illustration Dominant Trends: Handwritten Typography, Graffiti, Illustrations
replacing images.

ENVIRONMENT/INTERIORS

Environment/Illustration Dominant Trends: Fashion Houses designing home
interiors for the super rich, Old/Historical buildings becoming more appreciated
(Stirling Prize 2015), Stripped back look in cafe's, restaurants and retail.

MESSAGE/IDEA

Message/Idea Dominant Trends: Plus Size Models becoming more accepted,
Healthy Living becoming more popular, Transgender also becoming more
noticed/accepted.

I haven't gone into much depth as I know this won't be everyones cup of tea so I won't waffle, but after completing this task I really feel as though its broadened my knowledge on a wide range of areas (believe it or not we learn about more than just clothes in FCP) as well as changing my perspective on how I look at certain things i.e. as more of a creative than a consumer. 

Again, I apologise about the poor picture quality, but i'm not going to let it stop me blogging! If anyone wants to ask any questions about any of the research I did then feel free to comment down below!

Love, Lana Skye x 

Kevin Hart Interprets David Beckham for H&M

Although H&M isn't my favourite high street brand, they are definitely up there as one of the best for their collaborations. Karl Lagerfeld, Isabel Marant, Alexander Wang, Stella McCartney, Roberto Cavalli, I could go on for hours. Although every single one of these previous partnerships are incredibly impressive, I feel that their latest one tops the lot.

On the 28th September of this year a short film premiered on H&M Life featuring retired footballer David Beckham and comedian Kevin Hart (if you don't know who either of these people are then quite frankly you've been living in a hole)! 

Everything about the film is hilarious, but from a promotional point of view it is simply genius. To me, it has all the ingredients required to guarantee high performing sales of Beckham's 'Modern Essentials' clothing range which was released both in stores and online a matter of days after the film was released. Two well known and more importantly well liked public figures, humour, a good story line and the power of social media has resulted in this film going viral. 

If you haven't seen it yet then here's the link so you can do so: http://www.vogue.co.uk/news/2015/09/22/david-beckham-kevin-hart-hm-film

Hope you enjoy watching as much as I did!

Love, Lana Skye x 

Photo credit: Google Images

The Military Trend

This year Spring/Summer catwalks saw a huge influx of military looks internationally. 

I can guarantee that whenever anybody is asked to come up with ideas that associate with the trend 'military', the first thing that comes to mind is the colour green. 

Green is everywhere but in this respect I think of the more murky and earthy 'khaki' shade. 

To begin with, I felt that the variation of military attire was quite small. For a short period it seemed everybody and their grandma was sporting either a khaki parka or vintage jacket. However, now I feel as though this has been expanded dramatically, within both the luxury and high street brands.

One luxury brand that I feel epitomises a military vibe and has done so for some time is Balmain. Ever since Olivier Rousteing was appointed as Creative Director of the fashion house in 2011, it is inexplicably clear that he has noticed certain technological advancements and used them to his advantage, creating a number of hashtags in order to connect with his audience, his clear favourite being "BalmainArmy". Immediately this screams military, which implies that perhaps Rousteing see's this particular area as his niche, wanting to embrace it and expose it to his consumers as much as possible. 

Anybody who follows Balmain's collections will know they they often do use the signature khaki green shade, but for me it isn't just that which places it within the military trend. I feel that every single one of their pieces are bold, structured and extremely well crafted, this being shown particularly on the embellished blazer in the centre image above. Although stunning, I do feel a bit sorry for the models as some of the dresses look as though they'd be extremely uncomfortable to walk about in!

The Military trend hasn't just been present on the catwalk however, with a number of fashion magazines incorporating it on their covers as well as forking out thousands for photo shoots within their pages, these shots being taken from VOGUE China and Paris.

Here we can see the typical iconography and props associated with 'military', being bullet belts, medals, aviators, boiler suits and distressed backdrops to name just a few. Although such props may be deemed as slightly cliché or perhaps fancy dress esqué, I feel as though they add to the realism of the images, making it easier for consumers to see what they're trying to say.

I hope you enjoyed reading my first mini trend post, plenty more to come!

Love, Lana Skye x

Photo credit: Google Images, Pinterest.

Man Booker Prize 2015

Lastnight on BBC News the winner of the Man Booker Prize was announced. 

The winner was Jamaican author Marlon James for his novel 'A Brief History of Seven Killings' which focuses on the attempted murder of late reggae singer Bob Marley, as well as exploring Jamaican gangs and politics.

Including James' winning entry, a total of 6 novels were shortlisted for the prize:

After exploring all of these entries in more detail, I spotted a few trends in both cover design and subject matter.

Four out of six of them have covers made up entirely of graphics and illustration whilst also including a variety of bold colours. I felt that this really linked in with the increase in the use of illustration for promotional purposes whether it be brand advertisements or magazine covers, stepping away from the photography norm.
Regarding subject matter, it becomes obvious that not one of the novels are mainstream and are all described as a challenging read in some respect, Marlon James acknowledging that some of the content in his entry may be "too much" for some readers.

I'll include the link to the BBC News article if anybody wants to find out more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-34511049

Love, Lana Skye x 

Photo Credit: BBC News, Google Images.

"After all, fashion is something pleasant to look at."

Tonight on ITV News an exclusive interview was aired featuring the iconic and infamous Karl Lagerfeld. It's clear that he is a bit like marmite in the fashion world, you either love what he has done with Chanel or hate it. That being said, he simply can't be denied a pat on the back for turning the luxury brand into a "multi billion pound industry". 

http://www.itv.com/news/2015-10-12/exclusive-fashion-enigma-karl-lagerfeld-talks-luxury-brands-coco-chanel-and-his-future/

Link displayed above if anybody is interested!

Love, Lana Skye x 

Why Fashion?

Hi! If you've read my previous post you'll be aware that i've decided to study 'Fashion Communication and Promotion' at university (bit of a mouthful but exciting nonetheless!) Ever since I made this decision its insane how much I've noticed the negative stigma people have towards fashion as a career. Whenever anybody asked me what I wished to study, all I had to say was the word 'fashion' and people would either stop listening or just assume i'd be spending three years 'making clothes' which is the most frustrating thing in the world!

 I think the reason why I was so attracted to this course was because of how broad and in depth I feel it is. It covers everything from Graphics, Visual Merchandising, PR/Events, Journalism (the list is almost endless). I've never been a person who has a clear direction on what I want to do when I grow up so I felt FCP was perfect for me in the sense that it gives me a taster of all of these different areas before I make a formal decision on my career path! Obviously, going to university is very expensive so picking the right course is vital if you're to get your money's worth. I'm lucky enough to have the most supportive parents in the world, who funnily enough both previously worked in a senior fashion retail environment. My mam started off as a retail manager before working her way up to be an area manager, after that becoming a retail sales and operations director responsible for 63 stores and 590 staff (it's tiring just to type - she's superhuman). My dad was a visual marketing manager for Levi's Strauss and Co. which I think is so cool, kind of sad he doesn't work there anymore as I bet I could've got my hands on so many samples! Because of this, they have a much more open mind around the subject and told me to go for it! It used to get to me when people turned their nose up about my choice to study fashion but now it makes me laugh as it is literally EVERYWHERE! Everybody is constantly embracing it whether you're aware of it or not. According to the British Fashion Council, the Fashion industry is worth a whopping $26 billion to the UK economy and growing, if thats not impressive then quite frankly I don't know what is!

So, to anyone contemplating studying anything related to fashion at university, I say do it! It's such an exciting and fast paced world which is constantly evolving and changing so its pretty much impossible to get bored! I've been studying my course not even two weeks and I'm already gobsmacked by just how vast and exciting it all is. 

Do what you love and don't let anybody tell you different! 

Love, Lana Skye x 

FCP Pre Arrival Activity

Hi! I'm currently in my second week of uni life at Nottingham Trent studying Fashion Communication and Promotion and am absolutely loving it (although I do miss my mamma a hell of a lot). Before arriving at university, in fact before I even knew if I had achieved the grades I needed to get onto this highly oversubscribed course, I was set an activity to complete which I would then bring with me to present and discuss during Fresher's/Induction Week.

The description of the activity was as follows:

Identify examples of what you feel are some of the best Fashion Communication and Promotion touch points. Who in your opinion is translating, projecting or exploring fashion codes and messages in an innovative and exciting way?

What are you reading, watching or following? Keep in mind emerging technologies, new platform hybrids and social networking advancements. We are interested in your perspective, introduce us to your current preoccupations and fashion favourites!

Select, print, photograph or collect the following:

• Three digital examples
• Three printed examples
• Three retail examples

When I first read through what I had to do I definitely PANICKED but once I actually sat down and thought about it I realised how exciting and fun it would be! 

I'm a massive lover of making things look aesthetically pleasing so I decided to display my choices on 3 separate mood boards like so...

DIGITAL: Missguided's Instagram Feed, Charlotte Fisher's Blog
& Tanya Burr's Youtube Channel.

PRINT: Where's Karl?, LOVE Magazine & COMPANY Magazine.

RETAIL: Beauty & Essex Restaurant NYC, Harvey Nichols Window
Display Edinburgh & Ralph Lauren Jenner's Concession.

It turned out that there was no reason to get worked up about this task, the staff put everyone at ease and we all discussed our ideas with one another so it was very relaxed! Now that I have no need for these mood boards I couldn't bring myself to hide them away so they've ended up sitting on my desk top in my room to make it look a bit less empty looking...

Love, Lana Skye x 

New York City Baby

Hi! If you're reading this then you're experiencing my first ever blog post, at this moment in time i'm completely clueless so you'll have to bare with me. When I was contemplating what to post I really couldn't decide, but then I thought hang on a minute Lana you've just got home from the trip of your dreams a.k.a New York City so why not talk about that!!

I honestly don't even know where to begin, it sounds like such a massive cliche but ever since I was a little girl i've always wanted to visit the city. I completely fell in love with all of the amazing pictures people would post on Instagram (yes i'm a stalker) and was so determined that one day I would get there myself. I waited a while but on the 20th June 2015 my dream finally became a reality!!

In my family, we're lucky enough to go on quite a few holidays each year but all we do is chill out by the pool, so I knew that New York would be a completely different experience for me, but I can hands down say I absolutely adored it. Yes I was tired (jet lag is an absolute killer) and yes it was soooooo hot that I had to keep buying myself Oreo Iced Coffee (seriously not complaining on that front) but when you're there you just have to power through because there is SO MUCH TO SEE AND DO!

I went on the trip with my Mam who I am extremely close too and luckily she's visited the city quite a few times through her previous job and Christmas shopping trips so she knew the ropes, but even though its such a big place I really got the hang of finding my way around which I loved! As soon as we touched down it was just non-stop sightseeing and shopping, my poor feet have never been so tired in their lives as we literally must've walked for about 200 miles in total! 

The trip was actually part of my 18th birthday present but all of the money I took with me I had saved for months on end because I wanted it to be the biggest shopping spree EVER and New York did not disappoint. I think out of everything I bought my Tiffany purchases are my favourite. On the first day we caught a cab to the huge Tiffany store on 5th Avenue (if you're as obsessed with Audrey Hepburn and the film 'Breakfast at Tiffany's' as I am then you'll understand how much of a big deal this was). I genuinely can't put into words how amazing that store is, all of the staff are so polite and the decor is to die for, they even have a designated Tiffany lift man who presses the buttons in the lift for you he was so cute!

Of course, we went to see all of the sights, like visiting The Statue of Liberty, The Rockerfeller Center, Central Park, the list could go on forever, but before I knew it it was time to leave! Here is a very small portion of the one hundred million photos I took while I was there!

First stop 5th Avenue!

Champagne on the plane to kick off the best trip ever! 

Quick picture from inside a cab!

The Flatiron building.

Lunchtime cocktails at The Mercer in Soho.

We were so lucky to have such amazing weather!

Tiffany's in SOHO 

PINKBERRY

Tiffany make sunglasses...who knew!?

The view from our hotel was incredible!

Posting pictures of my purchases to Instagram (@LanaSkyeCaven)

TOP OF THE ROCK!

Cupcake with a view.

Prettiest packaging!

I had too...

Bottle of champagne before going to see The Book Of Mormon a.k.a
the funniest show ever!

The nicest meal of the whole trip at Beauty and Essex.

Diamond in the rough.

It fills me with so much excitement to say that i'll be returning to new York in January of next year with my university course. I've just begun my first year at Nottingham Trent studying 'Fashion Communication and Promotion' (blog posts on this to follow).

Love, Lana Skye x