Related #4: Made In Cork

This is a very belated related post (ooh, rhymes).
Adding on from last week's post on the Cork Fashion Week launch, here are a few pictures of the newly-refurbished Triskel Christchurch building, which will tentatively host the opening and closing nights.

The Christchurch building has been in Cork in some incarnation for around a thousand years or so. It's a former church (no big surprise there) and it is thought that the poet Spenser was married at the location.

The weight of history aside, it's a beautiful building that has been lovingly restored and is the lynchpin in Cork's cultural life, playing host to cult record shop Plugd and cafe Gulpd, art gallery The Black Mariah and as a music venue and arthouse cinema in the main building. They also have catacombs if you're of a morbid persuasion (like me).

A Fashion week event would look amazing here. Bet the last pastor never thought of that.










For more on the Triskel Arts Centre, click on their website.
For more about the building and refurbishment, click here.

Photos 1,4,5 from here.
Photos 2,3 from here.

Licentiate Column 02/06/11: Made In Cork

Cork Fashion Week is a bit of a misnomer. A fashion week is industry only. In Cork, shows are ticketed and open to all. The clothes you see on a runway are shown six months ahead of production. What you see in Milan in February, you won’t see in Brown Thomas until September. In Cork, what you see is already, or very soon to be manufactured. Fashion weeks are intense, fraught and cloaked in mystique, albeit a mystique that dissolves a little bit as each season passes.

In Cork, we take a much more leisurely pace. It’s both our idiosyncratic advantage and the perpetual pebble in our shoe.

It was with that in mind that I went to ‘Made in Cork: A Prequel to Cork Fashion Week’ in the Woodford Bar last Sunday. As I was waiting to go in, a possibly drunk, possibly homeless man tried to climb a tall, spiked, wrought-iron gate opposite the bar. He made a decent go of it, but impaled himself in the groin over two spikes and had to be lifted off the gate by a bartender and a slightly wobbly passer-by, who managed the whole procedure with a cigarette clamped between his teeth.

A Garda van pulled up, obscuring the view. Then, the sound of denim ripping and a very loud, sharp intake of breath. It was time to go inside. An inauspicious start in any circumstance.

I hoped that this wouldn’t be the marker for the event. Taking a seat inside the smoking area afforded the best views and elbow room, so that was where I sat myself, with a notebook, an unfortunate looking BIC pen and an endless supply of fizzy pop.

The crowd was a mix of models, photographers, fashion lovers and one small, very bored looking boy in Communion garb. Unlike London fashion week, where everyone is stressed beyond belief, the attendees looked genuinely happy. They were smiling, greeting each other with hugs, buying pints (of champagne), trading bon mots and making plans for the evening.

It was as if they were actually glad to be there (with the exception of Communion Boy, who had a pout that Andre Leon Talley would spontaneously combust with jealousy over). This is not the fashion week the world was used to. I was bamboozled. Pleasantly bamboozled.

The first half of the show was excellent. Trends were expertly curated. The preppy looks were a particular favourite - all white jeans and jumpers casually knotted over shoulders, ready for a game of tennis in the Hamptons. The vintage dress selection from Miss Daisy Blue was excellent as usual, with a mix of psychedelic print maxis, prom dress and LBDs that looked classically and contemporary.

It’s always good to see something grow and expand. I’m very proud to have been a witness of such growth from Cork Fashion Week’s inception. This September promises to be the most diverse and exciting Fashion Week yet.

Each year it gets a little bit bigger and, as Cork become even more creative and focused on fashion niches, the community at large adapts and rallies around it. Even if it’s something as ridiculous as lifting a stuck wino off a gate.

Mixtapes @ The Glucksman - A closer look at Linder

This post has been a long time coming, and I certainly hope that I can do the subject justice, as I now schedule what must be the millionth post tonight before I head to London.



Last week I took a wander with my friend Hayret to the Glucksman Gallery, situated smack bang in the middle of a leafy enclave in the UCC campus grounds. Our target was the Mixtapes exhibition, which explores contemporary art through the work of artists who are heavily influenced by music.

It's fairly safe to assume that a majority of art is visual, and so the art involved is not so much involved with music itself as the visual aspects of music, like dancing, instruments, album covers and of course, the fashion that separates out followers of one musical tribe from another.  One of the things that drew me to punk as a young'un (and at a later stage, No Wave) was how different the clothing was to everyone elses.  It might seem like a shallow response, but that's because it is.  In my defense though, ask yourself, 'would Lady Gaga be half as interesting if she wore Clarks and sensible sack dresses instead of JC de Castelbajac and Thierry Mugler'?


Dancehall Danceoff from Sarah Doyle on Vimeo.

Sarah Doyle's artwork plays on a loop (I think her stuff will most definitely merit a much longer post when I have the time), zooming in and out on watercoloured ladies gyrating in tight denim, crop tops and bikinis to a tinny, merry-go-round sound.

The one artist that I came to see though, had her work displayed under glass at a small display table.  Here were a few works of Linder Sterling, an artist I knew from her simultaneously jarring and sexy collages from the late seventies to early eighties.  Like Cosi Fanni Tutti, but less obvious, or Duchamps with a decidedly feminist bent, Sterling succeeds where others have failed.  She manages to create a cohesive feminist statement, but remains a part of mainstream consciousness.  Her early work was concerned with music and her collages were used as covers for Buzzcocks singles, but today her work has been more broadly translated into fashion, with Richard Nicoll using her prints to form the basis of his A/W '09 collection.

Richard Nicoll's A/W '09 Collection.  Pics - style.com 

It isn't such a big jump from music to fashion and we can see that Sterling's work is easily applied to both.

Left - Sterling in 1981.  Right - Sterling's cover of i-D, October '09

Take the Punk Ladies series for example.  Sterling takes a photo and makes two different collages, the focus being on the new and different textures that are added to the clothes. 

The original photo

One of the resulting collages.

Want to see the other collage?  It's one in a series of three posters promoting the exhibition.  I've got one, which is tacked up safely on my fridge.  If you want to see it, maybe you should check out the exhibition or the Glucksman website (I know, I'm such a spoilsport).  Last I heard the posters were given away for free by patrons who mentioned the gallery's twitter feed, but this may not be the case anymore.  Free swag or no, it's still a must-see and Linder Sterling's work alone makes this well worth visiting.
The exhibition itself is well worth a visit and runs until October, should you want to spent a diverting afternoon learning, getting your fill of culture and generally having good, clean fun.

Blogger night out

A lovely time was had by all at the Cork Fashion Bloggers meeting.  We ate num num num pizza at Sober Lane and came third in the table quiz despite all my best cheating efforts.  We ladies talked White Russians, London excursions and the state of the Irish magazine industry.  Then Aisling whipped out a box of Celebrations... The rest is a blur.

The more that I think about it, this blog post reads like a parish newsletter so I'll just be quiet and roll out the credits.

From L-R, Lorna, Dawn, Jo, Blau, Aisling, Me (excuse the awkward posture, I was trying to conceal a lipstick I had in my hand for some reason ) and Cathy.  Photo - Jo Lenihan

Decades Festival Inspiration

This weekends marks the second year of the Decades Festival, a massive dress-up weekend that is centred around the many pubs and clubs in Cork City.  The premise is simple - pick a decade in the 20th century, dress according to that decade and see which pubs are putting events to which decade.  Events include 80's raves, dignified dos with flappers and cocktails and (my favourite) a 50's bowling event with milkshake cocktails.  Mmm, cloying...

I've been fantasising about what I might dress up as and, as usual, I've picked the two decades most unforgiving to a real body type, the 60's and the 20's.  Here are some shots from some great magazine editorials.  The first is Face Of '66 for September's L'Officiel Singapore, which is all lithe limbs, Vidal Sassoon hair and meticulously outlined eyes.










Here are a few pages from a much larger spread in TEST.  Shot by Nicholas Lawn using vintage photo effects, it's atypical of the 20's styling we'd usually see (like OTT almost baroque Galliano homages to the Bright Young Things) but it's a good source for inspiration for those who want to do the twenties a little bit differently.








Images via Fashion Gone Rogue

Hello Lovers

I've been baiting friends of mine recently, telling them that I had exciting news to be revealed today.  Most of them jumped the gun and assumed that I was pregnant.  Thanks pals.

As exciting as conception is, my news is strictly local and is really more about the gestation of an idea rather than a living thing.  So, in the spirit of sharing, I'd like to introduce you to my new baby, which you can see here.

The Cork Independent, which is the city's most widely read paper (but don't quote me on that) recently offered me a new column in conjuction with my blog, which I was only to happy to take.  Now I get to ramble on about fashion and personal style as opposed to rambling about the recession.  I'll be sad to let the old column go, but eternally happy that The Cork Independent has taken a chance and let me spout on about style.

To read my first Licentiate column, click on the first link above.  Below is the first paragraph for a taster.

Disclaimer;  If you're not from Cork you might not get the local references.  But if you don't get the jokes, that's just poor writing on my part.

Everyone has a Rebecca in their friend armory. Rebeccas are great. Rebeccas are the kind of girl that have long glossy blonde hair, are masters of the mysterious art of smoky eyeshadow, pass their clothes on to you because they never wear the same dress twice and are regular frequenters of that nightclub in town... You know the one. The one that rhymes with 'banana'.

SubbaCouture - will you be there?

Spawned from the mind of Ms Blau von T of Blaubushka, SubbaCouture will be the first Freakscene club night to celebrate street style and subculture (so much so that I thought it was called 'SubbaCULTure'...  derp).  Here's the blurb.

"Every movement has had its own fashion associated with it; burlesque, MOD, punk, rave, grunge and the theatrical harajuku. Today we can see how all these previous identities are becoming more and more infused in the emergence of a modern street style. Inspired by this, Blaubushka hopes to throw the doors open to all the fashion lovers; be your fashion beginner, intermediate or advanced this is your chance to earn your stripes and join a new Cork fashion army.

Any look that's inspired you or any outfit that you thought Cork wasn't ready for, the time is NOW!"

Freakscene is Ireland's longest running club night with DJs over two floors and major drink deals.  I've been going there every so often for more years than I would like to admit and, in the interests of disclosure, actually used to work in the club.

It's nothing if not all inclusive so don't worry if mod or burlesque or harajuku isn't your cup of tea.   I would imagine that what's important is originality and balls-out enthusiasm so, if you want to dress like Lady Gaga or Adam Ant - 'any look that inspires you'.  If anything this event is about self expression and outrageousness in the midst of one of the most non-judgemental nightclub crowds I've ever experienced.

Cork Fashion Week Young Designer of the Year Award

Saturday evening was the night of the Young Designer of the Year Award and was the first major event to kick off Cork Fashion Week.

I had the good luck to interview four of the six finalists for the Cork Independent last week.  They were all nice as pie and very excited to be participating and, as I listened to them describing their inspiration and what they'd be working with, I started to get very excited indeed.  As the day neared I started to wonder how their pieces would look on the catwalk as opposed to the images in my mind, and wondered if I'd be disappointed.

Nope.  Not disappointed at all.  In fact, I'm kicking myself for even harbouring such thoughts in the first place.  Although all of the finalist's collections were excellent, for the sake of space (and my sanity because I'd probably end up writing a thesis) I'll stick to writing about my three favourites.



Laura Eliason - I could make a lorryload of puns about this American putting we Irish in the shade with her parasol heavy collection...  but I wont.  The parasol is a direct link to each of the outfits, as her main source of inspiration is a vintage umbrella that belonged to her grandmother.  Everything was suitably vintage-esque, with nude shades and crochet details.  The crochet!  How my heart breaks for a nice bit of crochet.  I really should have paid attention to my fifth class teacher when she was breaking out the crochet hooks instead of reading Sweet Valley High books.   As you can see, the shape of the dresses are relaxed and fluid.  I really wish I'd taken video footage because these photos really don't convey just how flouncy and flippy and flattering these pieces really are.



Marie Clair Foley
Foley's collection of dresses really have to be handled up close and personal in order to be properly appreciated.  The hand dyed material in particular was a great design feature (the bodice on the pink dress above, second from right, was incredibly well constructed.  I was staring at it so hard from my seat trying to see exactly where material was overlapped and folded that I almost forgot to take a snap).  The hand dyed material really cut through the stripes and gingham, giving it an unusual edge.  Also notable were the cut outs under the bust and around the back



And last but by no means least, my absolute favourite, the collection by Belinda Sullivan.  There's no two ways about it - she should be working for Prada.  While I wasn't too mad about the lime green accents (purely a personal thing), I was in love with everything else - the colours, the tailoring, the perfect balanced proportions, the textures; everything.

Her collection does seem very reminiscent of Prada.  Think 'ladylike with a twist'.  There's no way I could express how much I loved her looks in one paragraph, especially looks 1 and 4 above.  The burnt orange and tweedy brown colour combination of the dress with short sleeved coat with an amazing, puckered texture... To quote Rachel Zoe, I die.  And, of course, the the high-waisted sailor trousers had just the right amount of 'flip' at the cuffs - something that is sadly missing in many a pair of wide legged trousers.

Belinda won the competition - a well-deserved win.  I can only hope we'll see more of her and the other contestants in the future.

Cork Fashion Week Supplement

I've been blogging for only a month so I have no routine or posting pattern (on this blog at least, the sister blog has been steadily chugging along for six months or so). I'm sure if I had been blogging for an extended period of time I'd no doubt be apologising over extended absences or lack of content. Or something. However, I've been busy beavering away on The Cork Independent's Cork Fashion Week supplement. Along with a host of talented, hard-working writers and bloggers I'm glad to have helped to put a very nice package together. Did anyone see it when it came out on Thursday?  Everyone worked very hard on it and all the staff at the Cork Indo deserve a huuuuge pat on the back for their efforts. Here's my contributions.

An interview with the organisers, Vivienne Kelly and Emer O'Sullivan

A rundown of The Young Designer Awards and the contestants

A lookbook for three of the main shows - and an ad for lovely white teeth

Unless you have microscopic vision you'll notice that the pictures have been resized and the text is barely legible.  Worry not! You can read the digital edition here (just click on the digital edition icon on the right of the screen).

EDIT - Credit where it's due...

The Young Designer of the Year outfit is by Belinda Sullivan

Lookbook

Young Designer of the Year
Gingham scuba dress by Norwegian Wood at Etsy
1940's Vintage pumps by Dear Golden Vintage at Etsy
Sailor hat at River Island
Coloured hairspray and gels available at Boots

Toni and Guy Loves You
Dress at French Connection
Shoes by Louise Goldin for Topshop

Boutique@The Imperial
Floral dress at MyAmity
Bustier at River Island

Changeable Weather

So, it's spring and the weather goes from sun so bright I wake up with spots dancing in front of my eyes (really should get blackout blinds) to torrential rain in a matter of minutes.  This makes dressing for the day even much more of an arduous process.

But then again, sometimes it's nice just to throw on a few classic basics in uncomplicated colours, like Converse, jeans, a Breton striped top and a nice mac, sit down on a bench, soak in the sun and let the world pass by - until it starts to rain again that is.

Ray Ban Wayfarers, mac - Uniqlo, red cardigan - American Apparel, black cardigan - Agnes b, striped tee - Topshop, jeans - Topshop.

Things are just better when they're symmetrical, aren't they?

I'll never apologise for loving Converse, although there are so many reasons why I should (poor arch support notwithstanding). 

The view from my vista.