A Collaboration With CaseApp

Welcome back everyone!

My arrival back home in Newcastle was made even better thanks to the lovely people at CaseApp who have very kindly gifted me a custom laptop skin and iPhone case. I have collaborated with them before and can honestly say I'm even more excited this time around!

As you can see in the image above, I went for a combination of pastel pink, white and marble for my phone case and skin. CaseApp do offer pre-made cases which are to die for but I designed these myself. Their website makes it so easy to do, I simply found images online and played around with them until I was satisfied! I'm absolutely thrilled with the result, the quality is incredible and I love that my laptop and phone now match!

I know it's a bit late to do any Christmas shopping, but why not treat yourself with any money you receive from Santa Claus or family tomorrow! I can offer you 20% off anything on CaseApp's website - simply type in the code 'LANAXMAS20' at checkout! 

I'm also completing a giveaway meaning one of you will receive a code from me with a value of £22 entitling you to one free product - how exciting! All you need to do is follow @caseapp and @lanaskyecaven on Instagram, and then like my Instagram post of the products shown in the image above for a chance to win!

Visit case app.co.uk now and get browsing, you won't regret it! 

Love, Lana Skye x 

Photo Credit: Lana Skye Caven. 

Retro Americana | Coach's 75th Anniversary

Hello, hello, hello!

Wednesday of last week was without a doubt one of the most surreal and exciting experiences I have had during my time here in the big city. A couple of days before, I received an email from the Fashion Institute of Technology asking for volunteers for the Coach Men's Fall & Women's Pre-Fall 2017 Rehearsal. As soon as I saw the name of the multi-national luxury fashion company I jumped on the opportunity. I was lucky enough to volunteer across two days during New York Fashion Week, but that was way back in September so it was amazing to get yet another insight into the industry from a completely different perspective.

I was required to arrive promptly at Pier 94 for 7pm. I had absolutely no idea what I would be asked to do which secretly excited me a little bit more than it probably should have. I was warmly greeted by Production Associate Grace Yoon who proceeded to tell what resulted in being about fifty of us that we would be standing in as the models for the rehearsal run through. I'm pretty sure the excitement beamed out of my face the moment those words left Grace's lips - it's not everyday that something as random as that happens is it!?

As we were all walked backstage to be briefed, we passed the set which I can only describe as completely and utterly breathtaking. There were huge neon signs hanging from the ceiling reading 'drive in' and 'motel' as well as a few featuring the newly iconic Rexy the Coach dinosaur that has been becoming increasingly more apparent throughout their visual merchandising and overall branding. The overall theme of the set was vintage carpark, completed with cars, trees, lampposts, log cabins and even sprinkles of fake snow! We were explicitly told not to take any photographs as nobody other than us and the crew knew what the set looked like so it would have effectively ruined the surprise for all of the guests. This killed me a little bit inside, the urge to SnapChat was so real! 

The run-throughs were so much fun, I think we walked the runway a total of four times. That doesn't seem like much considering we were all so busy from 7pm until gone 11pm but the space was absolutely huge meaning it took a while for everyone to make their way around. I have never modelled professionally before so it was amazing to gain such an in depth insight into what they get up to on a daily basis.

Everyone was pretty chilled for our final run through up until the point where Grace came through and told us that the entire Coach team as well as the Creative Director Stuart Vevers would be watching our every move, so everything had to be 100% perfect. This sent everyone completely nuts as you can probably imagine but we nailed it first time which felt amazing! I became all warm and fuzzy the next day when keeping track of what was happening before the show took place - Emma Roberts' Vogue SnapChat coverage was particularly entertaining. To say thank you, Coach gifted us all a leather card holder which is usually retailed at $75 in their stores - the icing on the cake to an amazing evening in New York City. 

Love, Lana Skye x 

Photo Credit: Vogue, Coach Instagram.

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Varsity Dropout | The Shoot

Welcome back!

One of my Styling For Visual Presentation briefs required us to complete an on-location photo shoot. For my 19th birthday my dad bought me a vintage cheerleading jumper (at least I think thats what it is). Me and my group were inspired by this and as a result decided to somehow incorporate the cheerleader vibe into our shoot but not as everybody knows it at present. While we were doing our research pre-shoot, we were bombarded by cringe pictures of beautiful girls with perfect hair and makeup smiling so much to the point where their jaws must have ached terribly. We flipped this on its head and instead have constructed a cheerleader with a careless attitude towards the sport she is supposed to obsess over. We wanted her makeup to be minimal and smudged, her hair carelessly tied up and loose and her poses to emulate exactly how she feels. 

We completed the shoot on Friday morning at the Heckscher Ballfields in Central Park with a 7am call time in below zero temperatures which wasn't the easiest but we are all so happy with the outcome - take a look at some of our final shots as well as some behind-the-scenes pictures below!

Our model Andrea was absolutely incredible, she could have well within her rights become a huge diva deciding not to wear the small amount of layers that we had available due to the cold, but instead she rolled with it so perfectly and professionally, resulting in us coming out with some killer shots. This of course all wouldn't have been possible if it wasn't for our genius photographer Ellen Marszalkowski - her skills, art direction and overall lovely personality made the shoot so successful and enjoyable. 

Thank you Ellen! 

I hope you enjoyed this post! 

It's now officially my last week in the big apple *cries uncontrollably*.

I'm so happy to have been able to share my journey with you all, there is still a lot more to come so please do keep coming back for more!

Love, Lana Skye x 

Photo Credit: Ellen Marszalkowski. 

My Thoughts On: Nocturnal Animals

Welcome back everyone!

I recently went to see the new thriller/drama on the block 'Nocturnal Animals' directed by American fashion designer Tom Ford and thought I would share my views on it with all of you.

Be warned, if you haven't seen the movie as of yet and are planning on doing so then don't read any further as this post contains mild spoilers!

Being here in New York, me and my girlfriends are always on the hunt for things to do in order to fill up the remainder of our time here, so we jumped on the opportunity to go and see this movie the day it was released here in the States. I went into the screening with an open mind, not really knowing what to expect. The main reason why I was so eager to see what it was all about was of course due to the fact that Mr Ford was not only the director but also responsible for the screenplay throughout. I wanted to see if his abilities within movie production were on par with his talent in the world of fashion. Let's just say he certainly didn't disappoint!

The generic description for 'Nocturnal Animals' states:

"A successful Los Angeles art-gallery owner's idyllic life is marred by the constant travelling of her handsome second husband. While he is away, she is shaken by the arrival of a manuscript written by her first husband, who she has not seen in years. The manuscript tells the story of a teacher who finds a trip with his family turning into a nightmare. As Susan reads the book, it forces her to examine her past and confront some dark truths."

I won't lie, the first 5 minutes or so of the movie did baffle me slightly as it consisted of various overweight women dancing around freely. It only became clear after the slightly dragged out intro that they were in fact part of art gallery owner Susan's (Amy Adams) exhibition. Although most of the movie wasn't too graphic or morbid, I found myself on the edge of my seat the entire time due to the harrowing situation character Tony (Jake Gyllenhaal) finds himself in. A family vacation to Marfa in Texas with his wife Laura (Isla Fisher) and daughter India (Ellie Bamber) turns chaotic and traumatising very fast as they become separated at the hands of a gang of men led by Ray (Aaron Taylor-Johnson). This scene is when I felt most uncomfortable due to how realistically it was portrayed. I was particularly impressed by Isla and Ellie's performances - they are both actresses I have followed for a while so it was amazing seeing them work together!

One aspect of the movie that I loved was how the manuscript about the lives of Tony, Laura and India was paralleled and somewhat intertwined with Susan's. This only became apparent to me after the scene where the family became separated. The next shot showed Susan making a phone call to her daughter who had remarkably similar features to that of India, double checking that she was safe and well. Susan's paranoia through the hands of her ex-husbands unpublished novel only worsens as the movie goes on as she reflects on how she treated him when they were together. 

Due to how devastating the storyline is, it was quite difficult to take in the costumes worn throughout the movie. I was surprised to discover that in fact no designer attire was worn at all, not even the reading glasses worn by Susan. I was convinced they were Céline due to the iconic three dot symbol until proven otherwise through an article on fashionista.com. I think everyone will have assumed that Tom Ford would have seen the making of this movie as the perfect opportunity to showcase some of his designs, but the fact that he decided against it makes me respect him even more as it suggests he didn't want to use and abuse it as a form of promotion for his brand. Every shot was complete and utter perfection, the art direction sound throughout. There were a number of scenarios during the movie that I felt looked like they had been taken straight from a fashion editorial - such as when Susan is looking at herself in the mirror. 

Have you seen 'Nocturnal Animals'? 

If you have, let me know your thoughts in the comments section below!

Love, Lana Skye x 

Photo Credit: Google Images.

Quote Credit: IDMB. 

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Styling For Visual Presentation | The Runway Shoot

Welcome back!

I can't believe that as I'm typing this, I only have just over three weeks left studying and living in

  New York City. Finals are creeping up on me, but thankfully a couple of my classes are a lot more hands on and creative giving me a bit of a break from all of the assignments and revision! 

Last week I completed the third phase of my Styling For Visual Presentation class.

 The Runway Shoot. 

Each group was responsible for researching and selecting a dominant trend that is apparent on the high street at the present time. We then had to put together three complete looks showcasing said trend. As a group, we decided to go for 'Oversized Knitwear' as it seems to be taking over in stores like H&M and Zara. Although we had one key trend as the main focus for the shoot, we also decided to incorporate others that we were aware of. 

Each of our three outfits incorporated layering to some extent, mainly through tying a chunky knit sweater around the waist of a completed outfit to give it a bit more edge. In terms of makeup, everything was kept minimal apart from our extreme use of highlight on the models cheek bones, brow bones, bridge of the nose, upper lip and the inner corners of her eyes. This is in keeping with the trend 'strobing' that I'm sure most if not all of you will be aware of. She had beautifully thick and defined eyebrows already but I used an eyebrow mascara to fan them out so that they became a stronger and more prominent feature on her face. For each look we decided to have her hair relatively straight in the middle parting, tucked in to the neckline of our garments as it kept it out of her face accentuating the highlight on her skin while also drawing more attention to the outfits themselves. As you'll see in the pictures below, we wanted their to be continuity in terms of the tones throughout the outfits. Everything is kept very neutral which worked out amazingly. I'm done talking for now - take a peek at the mixture of behind the scenes and final images below!

I'm sure you'll all agree that our model Andrea is absolutely stunning and knows exactly how to walk the runway. The night of the shoot was the first time I met her and she was unbelievably sweet - thank  you so much if you're reading this! Next week we'll be completing an on-location shoot with her as our model again, I already can't wait to share the final pictures with you all!

Love, Lana Skye x 

Photo Credit: Melissa Mehrtens. 

Victoria's Secret: A Retrospective

Welcome back!

One of the things I have come to love and almost take for granted during my time here in New York is the access I have to pretty much anything. On Thursday of last week I was strolling up Fifth Avenue admiring all of the Christmas decorations that have started to make an appearance, when I stumbled across a Victoria's Secret Exhibition. Like a lot of girls, I have a slightly unhealthy addiction when it comes to this brand, so the thought of being surrounded by all of the elaborate wings, decadent designs and costumes that graced their 2015 runway felt like a dream. 

It was incredible having such a detailed insight into just what goes on before each show. Not only is it the most expensive fashion event in the world, but also the largest and most viewed. If that isn't impressive then I don't know what is. Each year the show's lead designer develops a series of themes for review by the brand's executive producers. Generally, eight to ten individual themes are created, with six then being eventually chosen for the runway. Runway segments have featured dozens of countries, trends, eras and formats, always with an eye towards what is currently on trend within the fashion world while also being in touch with the Victoria's Secret aspiration. 

I don't think anybody that is even remotely interested in Victoria's Secret will ever forget the video footage of supermodel Gigi Hadid being told she was going to be walking the 2015 runway show. Being named a Victoria's Secret Angel and getting the coveted contract is undeniably one of the biggest events in a model's career. Some of the biggest names in the industry have had Angel contracts such as Jourdan Dunn, Adriana Lima, Lily Aldridge and Candice Swanepoel. 

The best part of the exhibition for me was the interactive aspect. VS have created a Photo Booth allowing people to stand in front of a set of beautiful wings before getting a polaroid picture taken that you then get to keep. As well as this little freebie, I also received a huge poster of Candice as well as some postcards.

Thank you VS! 

If you're in New York definitely head to the top floor of their Fifth Avenue store and check it out - you won't regret it!

Love, Lana Skye x 

Photo Credit: Lana Caven.

Text Credit: Victoria's Secret: A Retrospective.