All Walks model Valerie Pain walks for Fashion Fringe winner Fyodor Golan
For their S/S collection – that was showcased as part of their winning Fashion Fringe entry, design duo Fyodor Podogrny and Golan Frydman (together forming FYODOR GOLAN) decided to break fashionable conventions by selecting All Walk’s very own mature model Valerie Pain to showcase their collection.
“This s/s we were looking for the essence of a woman. We wanted to show her journey through our story and how with her struggles she accepts herself for what she is. We wanted to show her sexuality, strength, melancholia and beauty. We admire women of all ages and believed it was crucial for our story and to portray our thoughts to have a mature woman that will encompass the qualities we admire so much.
When we met Valerie she gave us so much drive and energy. She is a very unique woman and she told our whole story with one look. The layers and depth of her life and character swept us into her world and we knew from the start that she was who we were looking for”
Their collection, ‘Flowers of Evil’ was inspired by artists such as Vincent Van Gogh, resulting in a dark and dream like presence being felt from the runway. Embroidered flowers, rigid tailored dresses and detailed laser cutting all featured in a wash of greens and yellows to gothic blacks.
We admire Fyodor Golan for their open minded attitude as new designers and very much look forward to seeing more of their work in the near future.
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Words by Hanna Fillingham
Hanna Fillingham is a second year Journalism student at Cardiff University. During the summer of 2011, Hanna worked as an intern for Caryn Franklin. Hanna has a blog here, and is on Twitter @hannafillingham
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Editor Charlotte Gush, on Twitter @CavaCharlotte
Our London Fashion Week Highlights
This season, for the first time since our launch in September 2009, we decided not to produce a high-profile industry campaign during fashion week. The reason for this is that we have been focusing all of our attention on the educational side of our work, helping to shape the mindset of future industry players - designers, writers, image makers - towards emotionally considerate practice. To this end, All Walk's founders Caryn and Debra will continue to tour the country, speaking to students at university level about the All Walks way.However, the spirit of All Walks has continued to have a presence on the catwalks during fashion month, and I would like to share these highlights with you. At All Walks, we love to see the people we work with doing really well, and this London Fashion Week has certainly made us proud.
You may have read in a prevous post, written by our Editor Charlotte Gush, about one of the original All Walks pairings, of designer Alexandra Groover and model Lucy Freeman, reuniting this season to make a film together for London Fashion Week.
I was also pleasantly surprised when I received an email containing the images below, of William Tempest's All Walks model Laura Catterall walking in the Elena Miro show in Milan, where she is channelling the perfect Mad Men silhouette with her femme fatal curves:
Coming back to the UK from Milan, spreading the spirit of our campaign at London Fashion Week was All Walks model Valerie Pain, who walked for Fyodor Golan, this year's winner of Fashion Fringe. Pain, the amazingly stunning 70-year-old model, told me that when she attended the casting, she walked in and, on sight of the samples, announced to the casting agent, "I'm not going to waste your time, they won't fit me."
However, the designers were so impressed by her that they redesigned an outfit and fitted it to Valerie's own body shape so that they could have her walk in their show. And just look how confidently she walks and how beautiful she looks in her show-stopping outfit in the short film, below:
To watch more, visit the Fashion Fringe section of the LFW website.
Until next time, I would like to leave you with this thought:
Whatever shape you are, whatever age you are, the women in this post show that being unique is the most beautiful trend to have emerged from fashion week, and I hope you can use this inspiration to embrace your individuality with pride.
Images courtesy of 12+ UK Model Management
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Post by Michael Williamson
Michael is a designer, stylist, blogger and an integral member of the All Walks team, having been with us from the very beginning. Check out his blog, Safety-Pin Charm, to keep your finger on the pulse of all things fashion - especially london based. Follow Michael on You Tube and on Twitter @mwfrost
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Editor Charlotte Gush, on Twitter @CavaCharlotte
Designer Alexandra Groover teams up with All Walks model for fashion film
ALEXANDRA GROOVER 'LIFE' SS12 TRAILER from au matt on Vimeo.
Californian-born designer, and friend of All Walks, Alexandra Groover has created a short film to be shown alongside her Spring / Summer 2012 collection during London Fashion Week. The film, entitled 'LIFE', sees Groover team up with plus size model Lucy Freeman for a second time. They have previously worked together on All Walk's 'Size Me Up' campaign, where Alexandra created a bespoke dress for Lucy to wear in the campaign imagery, shot by Kayt Jones.
'LIFE' is the second film in a trilogy that started with 'BIRTH', a film which accompanied Alexandra's Autumn / Winter 2011 collection. The second film continues to explore the concepts of origin and separation, as well as dealing with the topics of growth and indepedence from the family-unit.
In LIFE a large black rosebud slowly begins to blossom on the shoreline of Southern California, only to reveal the intense fuchsia faces of five performers who uncoil themselves into a meandering line of one, long interconnected dress. As they twist and turn across the screen, the slashes of fabric joining them together billow in the wind, and their snake-like procession exits into the bright sunlight of San Diego and re-emerges against the awe-inspiring backdrop of London’s Hampstead Heath where it all ends in an explosive finale.
Alexandra Groover created the dress worn by Lucy (below) for All Walks' "Size Me Up" campaign. The campaign saw eight models selected by All Walks, of a diverse range of shapes, sizes, ages and ethnicities, pair up with eight up-and-coming British designers; Mark Fast, David Koma, Avsh Alom Gur, Hannah Marshall, William Tempest, Georgia Hardinge, Cooperative Designs and Alexandra Groover. The designers each created a bespoke outfit for their model and photographer Kayt Jones shot the images for i-D Magazine.
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Post by Charlotte Gush
Charlotte is a freelance fashion writer, blogger and editor based in Manchester, as well as the Online Commissioning Editor for All Walks. She has previously spent 6 months working for All Walks at the London office as a social media, marketing and production intern. Charlotte writes a fashion, street style and personal style blog, 'CAVACOMA.com', with a dedicated Facebook fanpage here, and a Twitter account @CavaCharlotte
The Ever Changing Female ‘Ideal’: 1960 - 2010 (part 2)
I completely love everything about the 1960’s, the fashion, the music, the art and the entire zeitgeist of the decade. However, the curvy and glamorous ideal of previous decades changed suddenly to a preference for slim, boyish frames. Female ideals consisted of very slight, slim figures, with short pixie crops and heavy eye make up. The fashion encouraged women to look like young girls, with short shift dresses showing off full legs, and boxed jackets not allowing the waist to be cinched in. Most women wanted a boyish frame with fashion models becoming slim for the first time since the 1920’s female ideal. The contrast from 1950-1960’s was evidently huge and could be considered one of the biggest changes in the ever-changing 'ideal' of the female form throughout the decades.
The 1970’s again promoted the female body ideal as slim and slender. This image shows a 1970’s fashion model, showing less skin and flesh than a 1960’s model but still with an innocent look. However, the late seventies allowed women to dress with freedom and with maxi dresses and flares being high on the fashion front, women were able to cover many parts of their body with voluminous clothing and long tousled hair. The unkempt look was popular and 'bed-head' hair was seen for the first time, in the decade of peace and love!
The 1980’s female ideal often celebrated the legs, with very high cut swimwear and underwear. Shoulder pads were worn to emphasise the new power that some women had in their careers.
The 1990s made women want to look healthy. With toned, muscled slender bodies as the ideal female shape, women took exercise and health very seriously. Women wanted to be ‘girl next door’ character, with a natural and fresh appearance. This gave women a chance to work out alongside men at the gym and take sports seriously for the first time; the 1990s saw women want to be gym bunnies!
In the 'naught-ies', the size zero issue has become prominent and the debate is long from being over. Skinny models are seen all over the catwalks and many 'average' women aspire to be as skinny as possible, with this issue sometimes taking over their lives. Women are bombarded with diets, fitness regimes and celebrities showcasing the skinny 'ideal'. Today we are trying to tackle the pressure on women to be skinny, emphasizing that they should be able to celebrate their body no matter what shape, size, age or ethnicity they may be.
Join us in showing the decade that we’re happy with our bodies and that we want to celebrate body diversity!
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Post by Zina Graber
Zina is a fashion styling student from Cornwall who has a huge interest in celebrating the female form and individuality through styling. I want to be part of changing women’s negative perceptions of themselves so I have recently created a campaign that promotes global style and fashion diversity. The idea is to collect photos of individuals around the world, no matter who you are and showcase you’re style to the world. Check out "What Ya Wearing World?" and find Zina on Twitter @whatyawearingw
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Images linked to source
Editor Charlotte Gush, on Twitter @CavaCharlotte
The Ever Changing Female ‘Ideal’: 1900 - 1950 (part 1)
This image portrays the female beauty ideal in the early 1900s and the decades previous. The curvaceous and soft lines of her body represent the freedom of expression and the true, honest beauty of the female body. Women with this weight on their body nowadays could feel negatively about it due to today’s ideals, however, back then it was celebrated to the highest degree. I really love this image showing her beauty in full glory with her admiring herself and others looking on.
This 1910 image of a female beauty shows the fashion for the corseted wasp waist. The corset creates a definite hourglass figure through the use of a heavy-duty corset normally made using whalebone. The corset would be tied so tight that it even could damage the internal organs of the women and could often leave her breathless. My personal opinion of this look is the discomfort would outweigh the overall appeal of the wasp waist.
The 1920’s female ideal completely changed from the years previous. Women could bin their corsets and start to celebrate looser fitting outfits with a boyish feel. Hair was cut short to represent the freedom of expression during the roaring twenties. Women with boyish figures could at last be celebrated for being the beauty ideal and dresses were made with low waist lines to accentuate long legs. Beading was used on many garments to add weight and increase the movement of the fabric. Women could for the first time be as comfotable as a man. I love the 1920’s female ideal; the glitz and glamour of everyday outfits would make anyone feel good about themselves!
This image show a bunch of lovely 1930’s young women, showing off on the beach. Look how happy they look in swimwear in the height of summer. This era allowed the female ideal shape to become again curvaceous. Hemlines dropped again and allowed femininity to take pride of place in many outfits. Florals and girly colours were used to showcase the divide between men and women, where the 1920’s seemed to blur the gender through dressing more. This more curvaceous look really looks great and a lot of 1930’s inspired clothes can be seen on the catwalk and in the high street, which is great! Water for Elephants, a recent film by Francis Lawrence showcases 1930’s fashion perfectly in such amazing costume! Go check it out!
5- 1940 women were sexualised and in full femininity. Curves, legs, breasts, full make up, glamour hair and pin up style looks were popular. The female ideal was sexy, full figured, hourglass shaped and glamorous day and night. Perfection was key and women had the opportunity to try many newly introduced beauty products such as max factor pancake foundation, liquid silk stockings and pillar-box red lipstick. This look is also always available now in mainstream fashion and looks great on every shape, everyone loves a bit of glamour from time to time.
6- The 1950’s female ideal is basically an exaggerated 1940’s one. The waist was even more emphasised and hair and make up was flawless. The glamour icons such as Marilyn Monroe, Audrey Hepburn and Sophia Loren reined as style icons giving women aspirations to be glamorous. The glamour idea solely stemmed from Hollywood icons and film stars allowing women who didn’t fit the ‘ideal’ feel very excluded and insecure. The pressure to live up the ideal was tough and demanding, comparing this to today’s ‘slim ideal’ some people would say it’s a similar pressure felt today by some women.
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Post by Zina Graber
Zina is a fashion styling student from Cornwall who has a huge interest in celebrating the female form and individuality through styling. I want to be part of changing women’s negative perceptions of themselves so I have recently created a campaign that promotes global style and fashion diversity. The idea is to collect photos of individuals around the world, no matter who you are and showcase you’re style to the world. Check out "What Ya Wearing World?" and find Zina on Twitter @whatyawearingw
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Images linked to source
Editor Charlotte Gush, on Twitter @CavaCharlotte