Aqua PR Press Day

I have been so busy working full time that not only have I not been blogging very often but I haven't been able to attend many press days this season. With an invite to the Aqua PR press day at the Radisson Blu Hampshire in Leicester Square, I knew I had to attend. What is great about Aqua PR is the diversity of the brands they cater, with everything from beauty and fashion to home interiors. 

The team at Aqua believe in looking at the bigger picture when it comes to fashion PR and offer a great service for brands with that added extra touch. The location, choice of brands and of course the goody bag were all fantastic!  The Goody bag is the best part of press days and featuring Smooch Cosmetics, W7 Make Up and Sranron I was very impressed.

Smooch Cosmetics offer a great range of make-up from great shades of lipsticks to nail varnish. Their new collection is beautiful and if I must say some shades are very similar to mac (a cheaper alternative-you heard it here first!).

The Spring '13 Collection by Lisbeth Dahl will add that girly edge to your house this spring. With beautiful floral prints and pastel colours it gives you a perfect excuse to throw a tea party filled with cupcakes. Now all we need is this beautiful weather to stay with us a while longer.

I fell in love with this bag at the Aqua PR press day and I must say I am still thinking about it. The on trend tangerine shade and the simplicity in it's design makes it a summer essential. A girl can never have too many bags, shoes or clothes, no matter what your boyfriend may say!

As well as homeware Lisbeth Dahl also makes beautiful umbrellas, jewellery and bags. Although I'm hoping we won't need the use of our umbrellas too much until winter.

All pictures are via Instagram | katiehandybeith

Aqua PR

My Interview with Proudlock

You probably best know Proudlock from his role in hit tv show 'Made In Chelsea', but with a background in fine art and a successful fashion business; Serge DeNimes, proudlock has so much more to offer than your average reality tv star. I first met Proudlock at his 'bloggers breakfast' last December and have been closely following the progress and movements of the brand ever since. Last week Ollie presented 'Proudlock's Carnival '86' at Intimate Modern to showcase some of his mum, Lena Proudlock's photography from Rio in the seventies. Photography from the book Rio Carnival has then been transferred onto a range of t-shirts and jumpers for Serge DeNimes. I popped down to Intimate Modern to spend an evening with other likeminded journalists, bloggers and the odd Made In Chelsea star thrown in for good measure. I met Proudlock to talk Serge DeNimes, his collaborations, and the use of denim in his designs in the very near future.

You have a background in fine art, how do you think this benefits the brand?

I've specified in art since I was about thirteen, through my mum I am a very creative person. Even when I used to paint and create stuff on canvas and have exhibitions I always used to print my stuff onto t-shirts as well. From a young age I was always linking art and fashion, so for me as apposed to putting my creativity onto canvas by using paint, I'm just doing it in a slightly different art form. It was a really natural development so for me it just felt right and I hope that that benefits the brand. The three most important things for the brand are music, art and fashion. Serge isn't just about fashion, it's about a lifestyle and I want the brand to act as a platform for up-and-coming musicians, artists and designers. We have recently started Serge OffBeat Sessions, we find unsigned acts and musicians, we shoot them in a cool location on Shoreditch High Street. We lots of people coming down to the event they wear the clothes and then play some great music. For me being able to do other things not just designing the clothes makes the brand stronger and builds a community. Bringing everything back to creativity to me is important.

You must be so proud to have your mum's photography on one of your collections.

Yeah I have my mums photography in my Rio collection and it's great because ultimately all of my creativity comes from her. This whole thing is mainly about my mums photography rather than the clothes. We obviously have a little pop up shop down here at the moment so it's about merging the two. For me obviously the story behind that first collection and the Rio collection has come from my mum and her first husband when they went to Rio in the Seventies. They made this amazing book and I've always just been in love with it and thought the images were amazing. I've always wanted to do something with them and for me to be able to do a small collection and push this whole Rio theme is great. I wanted to put on this show for mum and showcase some of her original art works and showcase them in an art form and show people where the images came from. The event last week was a great turn out and everyone had a great time.

Tell us a bit about your collaboration with Oliver Sweeney.

I've built a brand under my own name, Oliver Proudlock where I will be doing a lot of design collaborations and this will be my first one, with Oliver Sweeney. I set up my style blog last year, it's a really simple concept, a different look each day. I wanted to do it to show that I have my own kind of style and to build relationships with other brands. The Oliver Sweeney collaboration actually came about thanks to my style blog. They were interested in getting some stuff to me to wear on the blog and from their I built a great relationship with the brand. It's great now to see the products and the samples, the attention to detail and the quality of the product is just amazing. They will be available to pre-order at the end of April and then they will be in stores in May. We are shooting the campaign at the end of the month, which I will be modelling in. It's nice to do something slightly different and it gives me an insight into different products. Later down the line if I want to start doing shoes for Serge DeNimes then I have a great insight into the process.

So what can we expect from your new collection?

Our new collection is slightly bigger, we still are continuing with our t-shirt ranges and we have extended some of them. We now have the cross range, our logo t-shirts, and our good life tee's. Then we started on sweatshirts , we have been playing around with floral prints and printing on the sleeves etc. We have our beanies and jewellery and our new snapbacks which come out at the end of this week. I didn't want to overload everyone with too much stuff, I want the brand to organically grow. I love working on new products and for the winter I want to start looking at bomber jackets and what I really want to start focusing on is using the material denim.

How do you plan to incorporate denim within your designs?

We are slowly touching upon using denim now as in the future we want to be a denim based brand. We are starting off with snapbacks that are all made of denim and then add denim touches to t-shirts and sweatshirts. We want to slowly add little bits of denim and then eventually just work with denim and eventually go into jeans. I just wanted to establish the brand on one product, which was the t-shirt, something that I'm really familiar with and then slowly build up the brand. I think working with jeans and denim is a big task in itself and to just all of a sudden bring out jeans wouldn't be good.

How is everything going with the brand?

The brand is going well the brand awareness is picking up and we are getting into a lot more stores. The brand is moving in the direction and at the speed that I can control. I think as soon as you get to the point where you can't control it, it starts to go downhill. Especially with online sales and with social media if things don't go well people can destroy your brand. At the moment I am happy with the way it's going. Maybe when some of the other things I'm doing starts to slow down then we can think about taking it to the next level.

Do you like to keep your role in Made in Chelsea separate to the brand?

Yes I definitely want to keep them separate as they are very different but at the same time I recognise that I need to use the profile that I've got from the show to push the brand. They are separate entities but they are two major parts of my life and I have to use them to help each other. It is hard to keep the two separate and trying to find the right balance.

Interview by Katie Handy-Beith

TREND WATCH: METAL RISING

Burberry Spring/Summer 2013 Finale

Luring foils, shining fabrics and holographic prints were always going to have a huge impact after Burberry's striking Spring/Summer '13 finale. The metallic trend was also a hit with other high end designers as Alexander Wang, Louise Gray and Mulberry all found inspiration from metal like fabrics. Colour is very important and is most effective in girly pinks and purples. You have to be careful with this trend, without a quality fabric you run the risk of looking cheap rather than cheerful. 

"The sheen that features heavily in the spring/summer 13 collections has magical qualities. When hit by light, one colour becomes many, while the gauzy fabrics float about the body like a mystical glow. Take note of Raf Simons at Dior and go for a sculpted iridescent top over micro shorts" recommends Francesca Burns, Vogue fashion editor.

Known for his mainly monochrome colour palette's Alexander Wang stuck to what he knows best and inject the metallic trend using a muted shade of silver. The sporty aesthetic and beautiful cut outs emphasised the potential this trend has. 

Alexander Wang Spring/Summer 2013

Jonathan Saunders added his own take on the metallic trend with these holographic stripes. Also picking up on the crop top, set to be huge this summer, Jonathan Saunders ticks all of the boxes. 

Jonathan Saunders Spring/Summer 2013

Cara Delevingne shines on the red carpet of the British Fashion Awards in no other than the Burbery, Spring/Summer '13 collection. After scooping her 'Model of the Year' award I would say her attire was a good decision!

Cara Delevingne at the British Fashion Awards 2013

Burberry Spring/Summer 2013

Make sure you visit back soon as I'm going to show you my favourite picks of the metallic trends straight from the high street.

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Takin' care of business

 

Even though I don't regularly practice as a photographer my degree in Fashion with Photography keeps me interested in the latest editorials, adverts and fashion films. There are a lot of talented photographers and stylists out there but often the concepts behind the editorials lack imagination and blend in amongst the rest. However, when I saw 'Takin' care of business' for Bon Magazine I loved it. 7 women are styled in their usual attire for work and an image of their work place is posted opposite. I'm not sure that my mechanic looks quite so stylish when I pop in for my yearly MOT but the juxtaposition of the contrasting images works brilliantly. The simplicity in the styling and the layout adds to the impact of the concept. Well done Bon Magazine- a great editorial.

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TMRW / ISSUE 03 / ARLISSA INTERVIEW

I love a chance to interview new faces whether it be music or fashion related so I jumped at the chance to interview the wonderful Arlissa for Issue 03 of Indie magazine, TMRW. Named as the BBC Sound of 2013 and with a single with Nas already released she is doing incredibly well. TMRW is a great magazine that features not only new faces but the well known in music and fashion On the cover of Issue 03 is Ellie Goulding. You can purchase your copy online or in many retailers such as Selfridges. I would suggest taking a visit to Selfridges as their magazine section is pure magazine heaven!

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Trend Watch: Floral Passion

1. MSGM Floral Print Top- £240    2. MinkPink Floral Blazer- £85  

                           3. Premium Floral Trousers, Asos- £27   4. Floral Clutch Bag    

                       5. Floral Print Trousers- H&M- £29.99  6. Floral Print Half Top- £32

This is probably the most girly style post I have ever posted and I'm sure I ever will! I wear a lot of black and dark colours but the weather in London today has inspired me to look to the Spring/Summer trends for inspiration. Floral prints are start to fill our high street stores and online boutiques already in time for Summer. The prints are mainly delicate with some heavier prints also making a huge impact. I am on the search for a floral trouser and blazer combo at the moment, as they were a huge hit at London Fashion Week, but so far I am failing to find the right one. To wear floral I would probably pick one of the above items and layer with a lot of black. Ok so I really can't take black completely out of my wardrobe...sorry! I love the blazer from designer, MinkPink and I have a feeling it will stay in your wardrobe for the next few seasons. Whether you want to wear floral top to toe or take a more subtle approach like myself, embrace it somehow. With floral anything goes and you can also recycle some old floral pieces from past seasons.

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Interview with Sons of Heroes

It's always great to see your name in print, and even better when it's a magazine that you have supported since the beginning. I started writing for menswear magazine, PAUSE in April 2012 and less than a year later I am Features Editor and have interviewed Vince Kidd, Mikill Pane and many fashion brands including Sons of Heroes. The team is close knit and everyone works really hard and each issue is growing stronger and stronger. I am always on the lookout for up-and-coming menswear brands to interview and feature both online and for the print magazine. For more information please contact me on: katie@pausemag.co.uk

Order your copy of PAUSE here and see my name in print!

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