Last summer I was toiling in the heat making this little bespoke emerald number for my good friend Daniela. She was attending her friend’s wedding where she would be Maid of Honour … we were lucky enough that the Bride let us simply design and have fun because that is not always the case!
Hi Guys,
I was lucky enough to be taught by this lady, and I spent some time really getting to know her through the Fashion culture organisation. If you can stand the poor Google translation then it’s well worth a read.
I’ve missed you all!
James x
I haven’t posted in a while, been busy and things are in the pattern cutting stage, perhaps this will make you giggle, I clearly loved Thunderbirds, and to this day it reminds me of evenings with a packet of cheesy Doritos and my Father. Work to follow soon…
So here’s where the nerves start. Fashion shows are tense at the best of times, is one of your girls going to fall over? how will the reaction be? It’s all a little scary and I’m not sure I wouldn’t prefer a presentation setting in the future actually. However,after we had our individual collection fittings we relaxed outside as the models practised their choreography on stage. Top tip? Take a moment where you can! The weather was perfect so it wasn’t at all hard to accomplish!
… And then before you know it’s show time and you’re sprinting through toxic clouds of hairspray to grab things you probably don’t need and people you don’t know are gabbling in Polish at you, asking probably what number you are and so you shrug and look helplessly at some PR girl you hope speaks English. Breather moment? I don’t think so because your girls are about the come off the runway and you have no more than 120 seconds to get them out of their clothes and into your own collection, zips, shoes, hair out of the way and all.
Then there is this moment of toe tapping, heart-racing calm – I appreciate that is a contradiction but it’s the only way of describing it really – a silent energy build up – then the girls walk, and your faith in the collection is restored because it’s not idly hanging on a rail in the studio, it’s on a woman, as intended and she’s walking like a goddess! The girl in my white gown I chose to wear it for both shows, you might have noticed, because she wore it beautifully.
So last Thursday I flew to Warsaw, Poland with the the Fashion Culture organisation to show my collection to press, bloggers and fashion TV channels. Poland is a country that I have never experienced before apart from the ‘waffle pipes’ that my friend Marlena used to bring over from her home town.
Here’s our entry into Warsaw after quite a turbulent flight and no sleep for about 48 hours…
Warsaw in particular is beautiful, totally rebuilt from being flattened during World War 2 in the 1940s. The inhabitants of the time that re-built obviously had very little funds, but using archived photographs they built their city again from ruin. As I was walking around I noticed that in place of masonry, the builders had painted it onto the building, quite a bit like a graffiti tag, or a tattoo that said “This is my home, do NOT bomb it again!”
The principal of the Cracow School of Art and Fashion Design, Joanna Gawet, very kindly and enthusiastically took us on a brief tour of the city and explained Warsaw’s history. She has also very kindly offered me a Scholarship at her school to study Photography for 2 years!
We dropped our collections off in the basement of the Press Club Polska and watched the manic set up of hair and makeup, we pressed our garments from a cramped flight out there and had our fitting …
The sun was shining and we were totally dressed for Britain … 25 degree heat and in full jeans and hoodie? You’ve got to be kidding! So Aimee and I (She’s a VERY talented designer, you can catch her new collection at Brighton Fashion week: http://www.brightonfashionweek.com/aimee-mathew-john/ sat outside, hemming trousers and enjoying the sun whilst swatting away mosquitos! Had Aimee not been with me I’d have been the most stressed ball of energy, because, although I’m sure it’s not always the case, she seems eternally calm and we had a fantastic time!
I met some really inspiring people whilst in Warsaw and have built relationships with people that have the same sensibility as me, we want to change fashion for the better, to have more social and environmental responsibility and I can see a great wave of progress coming from us all in the future; Claire Swift, you’ve changed my life with your words of wisdom and hope, and I only hope that I can justly follow in your footsteps in making our world that little bit better.
This month I’m taking my collection to Warsaw for the second show in the Fashion Culture event, it’s going to be a manic fly-by-night kind of thing, with little sleep but it’s so exciting … now I just need a suitcase big enough for my big black “Sea Urchin” dress.
Here’s the rough line-up…
Here are a few pages of prints that I found again recently whilst clearing out my computer of all the imagery research I have amassed over the last few years … It was a lot of imagery!
While interning at Preen by Thornton Bregazzi I was lucky enough to have been chosen to work on the prints for their spring 2012 collection. We were inspired by Marie Antoinette and the colours that are famously synonymous with her name. The day I saw Nicola Roberts in the print on the shelf in my local news agent my head nearly blew off, it was fantastic!
Then to make things even more interesting, the collection was worn by Michelle Obama…
and then Evan Rachel wood and Rose Mcgowan (I am still a repeat watcher of Charmed and I don’t care how cheesy that show is!!)
So I was watching Judge Dredd this morning… Unfortunately not the old one, the new one, which, needless to say I lost interest in quite quickly and so drew this lovely lady, think I may use her for my lineup drawings.
3rd toile for the top half of this garment; 1st was to get shape, 2nd was to try out construction and the this one was to refine any problems. In the first toile I used flounces to make the peplum, but construction was time consuming and the finished peplum looked not a little lumpy. I also slimmed the neckline and made it more swimwear inspired at the nape of the neck.
I think you’ll agree this is more clean lined than the previous one I posted.
“That’s what the runway is – it’s simply an extension of the idea of the trader coming into town.”
– Elizabeth Ann Coleman
Latest shot from the runway with Fashion Culture; I’m glad the ceiling finally got a shot too though because the whole house was magnificent!
Little snippet of main collection, this is development stage, brainstorming details and my imagination is going crazy… You’ll see
So the postman woke me up well early this morning, I thought I was late for work and nearly had a heart attack, however he was only bringing me PIZZA magazine which I ordered from the Tate bookshop over the weekend. it is unfortunately not all about pizza, in fact, it’s an Italian magazine about style and culture.
Thanks to the keen eye of Felix Elizabetta my black “sea urchin” dress is featured in this February issue next to some of my contemporaries from Central Saint Martins and LCF, but also some vintage Martin Marjiela!!
I love the shoot, it’s dusty mood and simple styling is perfect and I couldn’t be happier!
So I’m sat up in bed furiously flicking through pages and couldn’t wait to post these… Here they are!
“A successful life is made up of every day’s patient hard work”
– Madame Grey
Just found this on graziadaily.co.uk … Can’t help it, chest’s all puffed out yup! Mine’s bottom right!
http://www.graziadaily.co.uk/fashion/news/style-snippets–rag—bone-comes-to-london
These hummingbirds are pieces I have worked on for a new gown. This is separate to my main collection that’s in progress – sometimes you just get inspired and have to do something completely different, and appliqué is how I’ve done it this time!
They each took about 2.5 hours – hand binding lace is REALLY fiddly for someone with man-hands! Wishing I had the fingers of a Japanese woman!
I think hummingbirds are the most incredible animal, next to T-Rex!!
JAMES DD CASTLE 