Here is lovely Glaswegian born Gail Mcinnes of Magnet Creative, arriving at the Scottish Fashion Awards in Glasgow where she received a well-deserved nomination for communicator of the year. She invited me to come along, and this is a brief scrapbook of what I saw.

First off was a champagne reception where I busted out my watercolour kit… I scribbled this version of International Designer of the Year winner Henry Holland and he liked it well enough to blog it – on vogue.co.uk!

Scottish people are so delightful – they have a wicked sense of humour and a friendly approachability. It was easy to make friends and have fun.

More guests including Gail in her gorgeous Lucian Matis dress.

I had a media pass, so I didn’t get to see the awards ceremony… however I did get to see the late evening sun glittering off of the Clyde.

During the awards, the media were corralled to the red carpet area to shoot the winners just after they received their awards.

I found a nice sunny spot on the floor from which to observe the action.

I did my best to sketch the winners as they came along – the Best New Designer (above left and below) and the Best Textile Designer (above right) both happily holding their trophies.

My little studio.

The late evening sun up in Glasgow was quite beautiful, and I managed to capture the best of it in this one shot of a Scottish socialite or star, I’m afraid I don’t know anything about her.

I did manage to get a good drawing of her too. And a somewhat awkward drawing of the fashion icon of the year, a young television star, above right.

At the end of the show, a photo op with all of the judges.

And me, wearing the dress Anita picked for me.

A couple shots from toe to head of me and Gail. It was wonderful to spend some quality time with Gail at such a significant moment. Thank you Gail xoxo

One thing that is easy to love about London is a culture that treats education like entertainment. Example: a neighbourhood watering hole called The Book Club, which has a wide variety of events that all fall under the category of thinking and drinking. I originally showed up for life drawing there in January, and some time later I got a sweet email from their publicist suggesting I check out a few more events.

Last night I did the life drawing again, which illustrates this post. For a life model, our model was somewhat lifeless. The poor boy, though finely formed, looked undernourished. It occurred to me, as a hungry person myself, that I would have to be very hungry to be a life model. It’s too bad, really, because a lively model is so much more inspiring. Perhaps they should feed the models a couple hours before the class for optimal results. Murray, the instructor, squirted the models hands with poster paint for something a little different. As far as life-drawing props go, I liked it because it didn’t distract too much from the figure. I love drawing figures best. Backgrounds and objects, not as much.

I used my paint box for life drawing for the first time. Getting as much practice with my squeezy brushes and mini-pans as possible, they are such a fun medium to use. I like waiting for things to dry. It helps keep me from overworking the longer poses. Murray encouraged me to try out some water-soluble markers which were pretty cool too – though being more unfamiliar with them, the results weren’t exactly my proudest.

Another event  I attended at TBC is called Scratch + Sniff. This particular evening was an interactive lecture on the history of teenagers and perfumes, given with great enthusiasm by Odette Toilette. I am not a perfume wearer, in fact the whole world of scent is a bit of a mystery to me, so it was a fascinating learning experience. The guest speaker was a young academic who studies adolescents, and it was quite enjoyable to get the equivalent of a university class, all while drinking and smelling and contributing our own memories and stories.

Thank you so much to Freya and everyone at The Book Club for their hospitality and generosity. If you’re in London and looking for something more mind-expanding than your usual pub night, I wholeheartedly recommend their fine establishment.

Sunday, February the 20th started off at Jayne Pierson (lower left), a welsh designer who showed lots of hard-edged, black leather stuff riffing on 18th century styling. Unfortunately for Pierson, at this stage in the week I felt like I was seeing the same shapes, fabrications and references over and over, piled on top of one another in different combinations. There was one piece that I truly liked – a simple asymmetrical black leather shift with a zipper over one arm, and that was the one I drew – everything else just seemed like too much stuff.

What is with this rush to the middle of the pack when it comes to references? The next presentation I attended, Designers Remix (above left), featured the same type of rococo beehive hairdo, though at least the clothes themselves were modern in flavour. This designer used another technique I kept seeing over and over in London – cartridge pleating. Its an extremely archaic effect, and difficult to update – its a lot of fabric, its heavy, and it adds weight wherever it is used. Although Designers Remix managed to use it more effectively than most – just a little cartridge pleating goes a long way – every time I see it, I wonder, why even try?

(Side note: I almost forgot to mention a fashion week highlight from day 2 – I got a haircut from the Toni&Guy salon in the tent! The stylist, David, cleaned up my ragged edges and made me feel cute. It was the only bit of “swag” I got all week, and without a doubt one of the best fashion week treats I’ve ever received.)

Jazz Katze was the next show (above left), and although the styling was interesting, when the most memorable part of a show is the hair, that’s a shame. I can see Katze’s designs having a market, its cute stuff, maybe that market isn’t a fashion show audience.

The last show I saw was Fashion Mode – an organization that selects and incubates up and coming designers. The triptych of designers couldn’t have been more different from eachother. Florian Jayat (above center) showed quilted cocktail dresses, and the peaked shoulder detail that was definitely a trend throughout the week. Then there was a menswear designer who mostly showed variations on pagoda shoulders, I didn’t get a decent sketch. Carlotta Actis Barone (above right) created a suitable climax with dramatic, feminine gowns and fantastic hair and makeup to match.

That was it for me – after so many lineups I was all queued out. I didn’t have any push left in me, and I had work to do, so I hopped off the London Fashion Week bandwagon. It was a lot of fun, but ultimately I had the luxury of calling it off when I had enough – and considering that fashion week in London is such a too-much-is-never-enough affair, enough came sooner rather than later.

My Saturday, February the 19th morning started off at Georgia Hardinge (below left), an award winning designer with the designs to back it up. It was the emptiest show I went to all week, which was too bad because it was also one of the highlights. Getting the fashion crowd up after Friday night is a no-go… though on the other hand, those in attendance were attentive. Hardinge showed Geiger-esque digital prints, crisply aerodynamic shapes in jackets, body-conscious dresses with amazing cut details, and jackets with undulating cut edges and dimension suggesting topography, or dunes, or the patterns that waves make on sandy beaches. Truly incredible execution, confirmed when seen up close at the exhibition upstairs later.

It was a very dull, rainy, cold day in London. My next two shows were both from the PR company that scatters “e-vites” like confetti. I walked past insanely long lineups of people waiting in the rain with damp computer printouts and thought to myself: I don’t love fashion shows as much as these kids. Instead, I whiled away the afternoon in bookstores.

The last show of the day was Bryce Aime (above right), and the first time (out of three attempts) that I actually got to see the inside of the On|Off venue. Aime showed a series of sharply cut leathers and leggings, and over the course of the show the models got encased in acrylic crystals printed with satellite photos of snow-covered landscapes. It was the most successful gimmick I’ve seen in a long time, and not in a small way because the beauty was so subtly done – simple eyeliner and a softer version of the mohawk/quiff  created a lighter shade of punk. So many designers try and fail to do anything new with black leather and hard edges, it was great to see it done with a defter hand.

Two out of two shows that exemplified what I had hoped to find in London – designers that manage to be interesting and sophisticated, at the same time – not an easy thing to do by any means.

Skipped the after parties again!

After working Berlin fashion week, I dropped the ball a bit for London Fashion Week, with no freelance project obligations to encourage me. My application for accreditation was slow to go through and before I knew it, it was already February, and I hadn’t done any show requests or anything.

Then I kicked my own slack self in gear and made calls, dropped like a hundred cold emails. I’m only in London for a limited time, and I’m here to meet people – its not like I can let the first fashion week get away from me. Its true that fashion weeks can be a painfully vast amount of bureaucracy for a very limited amount of showtime. The truth of it is that the queuing, the emails, the invites, the rejections (silent or polite, rejections were the norm, I am nobody in London), is a sorting process, an extremely elaborate people-mixing machine. There really is no better way to meet a lot of fashion people than through the shared subhuman tedium punctuated with brief flashes of disappointment and awe that is a fashion week.

The week started off stillborn on February 18, with a long outdoor queue (where I met up with my euro-gig-buddy, Barb) for the Jena Theo show. I prophetically gave us a 50:50 chance of getting into what was rumoured to be a small venue at On|Off… and I was exactly right, as we got cut off by Health & Safety just as soon as we reached the door. Seemed like from then on, I should be putting pounds down on my bets.

The truth is, I had nothing to expect – I was familiar with none of the designers whose invitations I received. The first show I managed to actually attend was Prophetik. A sketch from the show is above. The show started with a really long powerpoint statement that I didn’t finish reading in time – this is obviously a brand that subscribes to Philosophy, as well as taking inspiration from historical costumes especially 18th century revolutionary styles. The effect was somewhat like a costumes for a cult. It was extremely well made, sturdily crafted stuff, but also heavily literal. The show succeeded, with live music and a total vision in styling, in transporting the audience to another time and place – however the clothes seemed to belong in that time and place, and not in fashion, here and now.

I was supposed to attend Jean-Pierre Braganza next, however, I made a rookie mistake about the venue. So instead, I saw the Ones to Watch show, a collection of promising designers sponsored by Vauxhall, a car company.

Kirsty Ward (above left) was one of my favourites of the week so far. She took a very standard material favoured by young designers – sheer sparkle organza – and made it interesting, shaping it into freeform loops with wired, bound edges that suggested discarded, airily inflated clothing, and paired it with extreme hardware in the form of necklaces made literally from hardware. Anja Mlakar (above right) did colour and texture, playing with oversized woven effects, laser-cut windowpane patterns, plush velveteen contrasted with moire and sheer, and padded rings around the body.

Tze Goh (above left) did a post-modern version of Jackie Kennedy – wools and neoprene that stood away from the body, careful seams and rounded forms. A fitted capelet created the suggestion of shoulderblades underneath. In a week where there was so much muchness, Goh’s designs were refreshing. Sara Bro-Jorgenson (above left) did gauzy, gothic knits that still managed to be modern – including intarsia trompe-l’œil effects that fooled some editors into thinking they were merely printed.

After a bit of a break, I went to line up for the only proper tent show I was invited to, Bora Aksu. Well, I use the term invited loosely – this particular PR company simply told me to show up with a printout of my emailed invitation… and of course, I wasn’t the only one who received these peculiar instructions. It was a mob scene. There is a man who does the difficult detail of herding cats into their separate holding pens – priority, seated, and standing. I don’t envy him his job – it seems very stressful and somehow he manages to be somewhat good humoured about it. The hordes of standing people with their printed invitations crushed and carried me along into the runway room, or I guess maybe the catwalk cave? I ended up in a high corner where I had a distant view of Bora Aksu, which from far away seemed like so many tubular leather corselets, chunky cable knits, and green lace bridesmaid’s dresses, all smashed together.

After that, I went to Brick Lane to take in a couple presentations, including one by Christopher Beales, whose sharply pointed, glamourous gowns had a linear sensibility to them that made them a pleasure to draw. This was my favourite, emphasizing and echoing hipbones and shoulder blades.

There were after parties that I didn’t go to. I am more of a daytime girl, at this stage in the game I think its OK to admit that big beats and open bars don’t really draw me.

This is for anyone and everyone who wants to come to say hi & bye to me in Toronto.

Hey Toronto readers, I have three pairs of tickets to give away for The Clothing Show coming up September 24, 25 & 26. Its a one stop shop for vintage & indie stuff among other wares. If you’d like to go, please leave a comment naming your most coveted fashion item this fall – I’ll pick three comments randomly next Tuesday September 21. Thanks for playing.

Taking place at Nuit Blanche in Toronto, the Art of Fashion competition is a chance for Canadian fashion designers to raise the bar when it comes to being audaciously creative.  From the press release:

TORONTO, ON, August 17, 2010 – Designers across Canada are invited to enter the 12th annual Art of Fashion design competition and trunk show in Toronto, where the winner will be awarded a minimum cash prize of $1000, a complimentary professional photo shoot with model, hair and makeup, street-level exposure in the window display of one of Toronto’s top fashion outlets, and more.  Entry deadline for this career-launching opportunity is Tuesday, August 31^st, 2010.

The design competition and trunk show will take place at King West Fitness in Liberty Village during Nuit Blanche on Saturday, October 2^nd, 2010.  To apply, designers should visit www.artoffashion.org/labelleepoque and fill out the submission form before Tuesday, August 31^st, 2010.

I was invited to customize a pair of Brown’s shoes for the Frugal Fashion Week Gala at the Bata Shoe Museum on Friday.  The shoes I received were bright red patent, just like the Dr. Martens I customized with Ashley Rowe.  I wanted to try dripping instead of splattering and Ashley kindly indulged me in her studio.

She did a super-hot pair of boots which you just get a blurry peek of here.  Want to see Ashley’s and so many other customized Brown’s shoes? Best blog friend Anita is also doing a pair, among others. Buy a ticket to the gala on Friday here.

Julian Roberts came en route from Kent State in New York to Ryerson University in Toronto this week to demonstrate his Subtraction Cutting technique.  This is an event I have been lobbying for, for a long time, and thanks to Sandra Ericson of the Center for Pattern Design, Robert Ott, the Chair of the Ryerson School of Fashion, and Charanya Bala of Balanche Communications, my wish became reality this week.  To say that it was a marvelous day would be a vast understatement.  It was so much fun.

Julian cut a dress live, in front of us.  The class was full of fashion design all-stars – Heidi Ackerman, John Hillifer, Adrienne Butikofer, Cristina Sabaiduc, and Canada’s own fashion fairy godmother, Linda Lundstrom, were all in attendance, among other students, teachers, and professional designers.  The cohesion and enthusiasm of the class was obvious once we all cut our own dresses – there was a remarkable atmosphere of playfulness but also the cool sense of proficiency you get only when you are surrounded by talented people immersed in something they find fascinating.

This is Julian showing his dress on his assistant, Rachel.

I made my own dress out of a length of white bemberg lining and pink plaid sheer sparkle poly organza, intending to create something light which showed the inner seams to display some of the construction of the garment.

This is the “tunnel technique” where the dress is made of a long tube, through which the body passes in and out as if through a winding cave.

I also used the tunnel idea to create two more holes at the front and the back of the bodice, but just for the white linear effect, these holes are too small for the body to go through.

It was such a thrilling day, it was almost overwhelming – and just like that, it was over.  Julian is now in Vancouver at Kwantlen, and then on to California. Thank you to Julian and everyone who made this day such a dream come true, and I hope very much that we can do it again.