Stylist Diary: Tess Jopp on 3D graffiti, rubber dresses and an inflatable dinosaur
Tess Jopp is a London-based stylist with Russian roots who collaborates with such publications as I-D online, I Love Fake, Vogue Japan, Nylon US and her own Vrag Mag. In a diary on Look At Me, she tells about the most strange, funny and drunk that happens in London during Fashion Week. In the third edition - eyebrows in the form of crowns on Louise Gray, boots in the color of the catwalk on Christopher Kane and flamingo shoes on display at Somerset House.
Day 4
Christopher Kane Rubber Biker Jackets and Inflatable Dinosaur in the House
Nine in the morning. I stand in the store and wait for me to cheat a huge dinosaur. The fact is that my boyfriend Sam has a birthday today, and besides the work that awaits me ahead, I need to have time to please him. And now I am running along the street with a postcard, balloons, a breakfast bag, flowers, and at this time my phone is also torn from calls. When I got home so happily, I found there a quietly sleeping Sam - the birthday boy who, as Candace Lake joked, was born during London Fashion Week. In addition to everything that I already had in my hands, I gave him a bunch of stupid girly pieces like chocolates with gummy bears and, of course, the main thing was a sweater that he had long wanted, Yves Saint Laurent with embroidered blades. The celebration ended exactly half an hour later, when Rita and I ran into the Somerset House press center.
The most important thing was waiting for me ahead - my adorable Christopher Kane. I don't care who says what about him: he is my favorite British designer and I save money for a whole year on his stuff. We arrived in advance to the place of the show - to the urban office building next to Selfridges - so the photographers managed to snatch us from the queue for taking a picture a dozen times. As soon as we took the elevator to the required floor, we immediately noticed the metal podium overflowing with all colors. I had Marc Jacobs boots of the same color on me that day - in short, Kane and I were waving each other.
I was expecting something futuristic even before the show began and I didn’t make a bad decision. Models with licked hair, dressed in voluminous quilted jackets of unreal material — whether rubber, plastic, or leather — began to emerge on the catwalk. Then there are crystal stripes, translucent, slightly chewed fabrics; strange, but even that looks like Kane minimalist and simple. My favorite bow is a pink dress made of small bows, connected in one canvas and topped with a large bow in the middle - this is such a cute futurism! The only question is: how much will all these innovative materials cost stores next spring?
Glasses from the "Matrix" on Burberry and eyebrows in the form of crowns on Louise Gray
From Kane, I ran to the show of another British woman famous for her crazy style - Louise Gray. The collection turned out very much in its spirit: a combination of prints, thousands of layers, but also these eyebrows in the form of crowns and a blue mole above the lip. At the same time, everything looked very graphic. Some of the bows were generally monochrome, but even they were made so textured that a kind of optical illusion was created - 3D graffiti. Most of all I remember the decorations. Headdresses in the form of blades piercing the head, of course, immediately brought me to the thought of my outfit for the next Fashion Week.
Unfortunately, in order to stay in the Topshop bar and drink a glass of champagne, I did not have time. I was waiting for the next destination - Burberry boutique at 121 Regent Street, where there was a presentation and a live broadcast of the brand. The store itself is like a palace with spiral staircases and balconies, where you can buy all the rarest things Burberry - clutches with ducks and spikes or belts with a fox.
I can not call myself a big fan of Christopher Bailey, but I always follow his work. This time we shared it so that Rita went (not very successfully) to the show itself at Hyde Park, and I went to the store presentation. Guests were handed out champagne, planted on seats in front of a huge screen. The film began with a videotaped about how the designer embodied the spring collection, which, by the way, I was pleasantly surprised. Glasses, as I called them, in the "Matrix" style, metallic raincoats of all colors of the rainbow and transparent bags are things that I can easily imagine in my wardrobe. Here, the truth, shoes and some stylistic decisions were fraught with me, and for the rest - pleasant futurism, in fact, like other big names on LFW.
Cloaks with plume and bad soundtrack on Richard Nicoll
I really wanted to go to the J.W. Anderson, but at the last moment I was late with the answer to the e-mail, and my agent handed out the last two invitations - that's the hell! Therefore, right after Burberry, I went to the Richard Nicoll show, for which I decided to take my boyfriend: he had never been there, and here he also had a birthday. In fact, the gift did not work: the once-beloved designer chose some unsuccessful DJs who staged a stupid soundtrack - a Gucci Prada song. And Sam, who works as a music producer, his ears wilted from such music.
The only thing I liked about the show was neon sandals and long sport coats with a train. But the impressions of the fourth day I still did not spoil the show, Kane and Louise were too good, and even then a festive dinner was waiting for me with Sam and his family.
Day 5
Ashish Sequin Jeans and No Meadham Kirchhoff
What really upset me the last day of the shows was the lack of accreditation for my favorite Meadham Kirchhoff. It was rather strange: it was thanks to Ben Kirchhoff that my agent found out about our magazine Vrag Mag, and everything began to turn. My friend Masha Mel snatched the accreditation from the I-D and went to shoot the backstage, well, we sent a couple of photos for us so that we could put them in a live broadcast. Designers, of course, gave a show from which, in a good way, goosebumps ran. Just because they never cease to amaze us every season, I love them. This season it was the image of Madame Pompidou, unrealistically beautifully embroidered dresses, pointed shoes with bows - Meadham Kirchhoff is always not like other designers, they do not follow the trends.
The Ashish show began with boring jersey suits in the spirit of Masha Tsigal, and we were ready to criticize him, but then we saw shiny dresses on the floor on thin straps, colorful socks and cheered up. The designer showed interesting stylistic solutions - shirt-dresses, combined with asymmetrical jeans and my favorite skirt in large peas. In general, I already imagine how I will wear all this models on the set!
Sophia Webster flamingo shoes, sweater in Sister by Sibling colors and clutches worn out Mawi eyes
But the last show as part of the LFW was over, and we decided to look at the buyer’s exhibition at Somerset House, for which we didn’t have enough time to go all week. There, we were immediately noticed by the jewelry designer Mavi, and we began to fool around and take pictures with necklaces and bright clutches of the color of eyeglasses in crystals, metal rivets and sparkles.
Then I went to look at the creations of Sofia Webster - shoes with flamingos and clutches, as if from a child's fantasy.
What I have noticed for myself to take on the shoot are Simone Rocha, Holly Fulton and Sister by Sibling things, all collections are made with incredible attention to detail.
Having once again chatted with the guys from Marques Almeida, after sitting in a cafe with Rita and Masha Mel and having discussed everything that happened to us during these crazy five days, I said goodbye to Somerset House for the next six months.
Exhibition of works by Faris Badvan and a brief summary of Fashion Week
Passing past the station Charing Cross for the last time, we decided to look at the exhibition to our friend Faris, who sings in combination with Horrors and draws a lot. In the Strand gallery, he showed and sold his work - the assistant girl managed only to record the phone numbers of those who wanted to buy his sketches. We could only be happy for him! Of course, he is a little shy and it’s difficult for him to communicate with the crowd, so he almost all the time stood with us and his family and reluctantly spoke with journalists.
If we take stock of the London week, the numbers will be approximately as follows: for five days of the Fashion Week we forgot invitations five times, climbed a hill once, went to a restaurant twice (there was simply no time to eat) and used thirty taxis, because who were late for three shows. Like this.
