GILES TALKS PREFALL!

Posted by Fashion Editor at Large

Got a call from Justine Fairgrieve (the founder of Relative): "Giles has invited you over for a cuppa and a look at his pre-fall, fancy it?" Prefall is a current working obsession. Giles is funny, charming and a very smart designer who never takes himself too seriously and yet has a very serious business creating collections for his own line GILES, new client Ungaro and various other projects. I was there.

Giles thinks his data bend print maxi dress is "a bit Eva Beadle in Little House on The Prairie" (She was the school mistress). I think its beautiful - Giles, consider this a personal order!

Why the prefall obsession?  Fashion consumers desire for frequent deliveries on new product has made the inbetween collections pretty major. So these days while the runway shows are designed to create media buzz and set trends, pre sets the agenda for how we will actually dress and offers a hint of what might come in the mainline.

Did you know we are in fact far more likely to end up wearing"pre" collections for our daily working and social lives. Why? Because its what the stores buy most of! Tom Chapman the co-owner of Matches recently told me pre collections constitute the majority of their buy.

Evidence of how the pre category has vaulted to high importance status was demonstrated last week when several of the world's eminent fashion editors and designers congregated in New York to view/show pre-fall collections. Alexander Wang, Proenza Schouler, Balenciaga and Celine presented in showroom. Lanvin even had a pre-fall fashion show. You can view them on American Vogue's website, or better still read this precis by the lovely Sarah Mower at Vogue.com, then view.

The week after next the Haute Couture shows will take place in Paris. For the average busy fashion editor there are six significant Couture shows to attend, but for the first time I can remember an equal number of hours will be spent viewing the pre-fall collections from labels ranging from Chloe to YSL.

Along the pre-fall rail at Giles cavernous new studio in The Truman Brewery

Three years ago the Giles pre-fall collection comprised ten dresses. Now it is a 70 piece collection (above) and the stores spend almost as much buying into it as they do on his runway collection. That also tells you how times they are a changin.

"Pre collections can't just be nice basics anymore," he says while flicking through the rail of blouse dress, maxi dress, draped day dress, cropped jackets, jazzy flared trousers and some applique chain detail Miss Haversham evening dresses. I see a lot of GILES best silhouettes reworked in stricter proportions, and a few new ones too like the eye-poppingly intense violet cerise blouse dress below.  

The blouse dress in cerise silk crepe and silk satin

GILES collections tend to have one of two moods; playful or strict. This one is veering strict. "Yeah its stricter, tighter, more austere," he says, though there is techno fun to be found in his data bending print. "Data bending is when kids mess with the binary numbering of pixels within photographs. I don't get what they do, but my print designer Rory Crighton ran with it. I think this was achieved by lifting the scanner lid..."  

Ooh trippy! The data bend print again. I shook the camera a tiny bit for effect.

"You need workness. It can't be boring. Really, I see this as setting the agenda for how I move forward on the runway collection."

All Giles hangers have the little goggle eyes. So cute!

Then it's time for tea and we discuss the inspirations for his runway show, (to be revealed later) and he shows me the venue for his Ungaro show in Paris on March 7th. It is a government building that has never been used for a fashion show, and it took 11 years of asking for Ungaro to be allowed to use it. Judging from the pictures the ambiance of the Ungaro show will be utterly magical.

The Katie Grand styled lookbook images getting laid out for running order.

Pre-fall hits shops at the end of June. For more pre-fall check back Monday when Fashion Editor at Large picks her personal top ten from the collections so far, and Fashion Junior at Large picks her top five. 

HAVE A GOOD WEEKEND! 

THE GILES EMPIRE

Posted by Fashion Junior at Large

Last week saw the launch of the latest 'Gold by Giles Deacon' collection for New Look, and the man himself was at the fashion retailer's HQ to have tea, toast and a chat.

In the studio where the magic happens

(I say this very casually, because uber professionals like the Fash Ed have been meeting designers like Giles for years. I on the other hand, was extremely excited to be in the presence of such greatness!)

Thankfully, Giles Deacon is perhaps the friendliest, most down-to-earth designer working today, and he was more than happy to talk about his future with New Look, that Ungaro job and life as a creative person in 2010.

Here is what Giles had to say...

On the latest Gold by Giles Deacon collection:

"I design for the New Look girl. She is outgoing, individual, and knows her stuff when it comes to fashion. The kind of girl who works hard but then loves getting dressed up and looking great at the weekend. We put as much effort into both the main line and this collection, because they both have their own challenges. I want the New Look collection to be the best that it can be within the constraints set - we spend a long time on the fabric and fit. In fact, we probably do as many fittings for this collection as we do for Giles. I also look at how it works within the rest of the New Look range, trying to make sure it is really, really good.  

The dresses currently in store. 

On whether designer/high street collaborations are helping or damaging the UK fashion industry:

 "They are totally, completely helping. Not just from a business point of view, although the money is an important aspect [Giles is famously honest about the fact that his high street collaboration does help to fund his main line work]. Collaborations are a way of showing another side to your work, but crucially they make good design accessible to all. I firmly believe in the democracy of design. "

On his future with New Look:

"The collections are going from strength to strength and we will definitely be involved over the next two years at least."

The Christmas dresses, for release later in the year.

On the pressure of taking on a third collection, [his forthcoming debut for Ungaro] and managing the workload:

"I am aware of the pressure, but I honestly try not to think about it. I never want to feel stressed or out of control, which is why I am very organised about my work. I have an excellent team who liase between Milan, Paris and my studio here, sorting out the logistics so that I can focus - the more organised everything is, the more creative I can be. I have to set briefs and allocate work and I don't have time for things not to be done -  not that I am a control freak! I have a really good team."

On his first collection for Ungaro:

"It's a big, big range, totally separate from my own.  But we have worked very hard on it. It is always exciting to see how a collection is going to be recieved by the press and the stores, and this is no exception."

Giles graduated in 1992, coincidentally the last time the country was in a major recession. I asked him how he thought the industry has changed, and the advice he would give to those beginning their fashion careers:

"I am fascinated by technological advances, in all aspects of design, not just fashion. It is the new ideas, technology and ways of working that inspire me today, and I am always looking to embrace that.

It was hard, if not harder when I graduated as it is now. But I realised if you want to follow a creative career, in whatever discipline, you have to stick at it and get a solid work ethic in place. It's all about stability, longevity and quality of work. Things will happen, maybe not straight away, but they will, so you have to keep at it. If there is one thing I hate more than anything, it is wasted talent."

And finally, on his dream collaboration:

"Weirdly, I am obsessed with clips of 1970's hot air balloon conventions on the internet. The crazy races where all the balloons are different shapes and colours. I would love to design my own Giles balloon one day."

Now that is a sight we would love to see... 

The current collection is in store now, with special Christmas dresses being added in early November. Items range from £40-£60.

SHOP THE COLLECTION GOLD BY GILES COLLECTION HERE!

Images: Rex, New Look

Me & Mrs Jones

Posted by Fashion Editor at Large

Mrs Jones, Fi Doran by Jill Furnanovsky

The other day myself and the new fashion junior at large George Langford nipped along to see Fee Doran, aka Mrs Jones, the pop stylist and designer at the Clerkenwell studio she has just opened as a shop.  I've known Fee's work for years. She is totally inventive, clever, fun, and super-talented. She first came to my attention a decade ago with the label Doran Deacon which she co-owned with Giles Deacon. Yes, the same GILES who has just got the job as creative director at Ungaro.

Fee properly came to fame as an individual fashion force at Christmas 2001 when the white jumpsuit she designed for Kylie Minogue's worldwide Number 1 hit Can't Get You Out of My Head  became the unlikely star of the video. These days Florence Welch is wearing her gear onstage.

Flo's dress as seen in Mrs Jones Lookbook AW10

What I was not prepared for as I climbed - and climbed - my way to the top of a building more or less opposite my favourite London restaurant St. John, was the cacophony of costume madness that met me on the top floors. This apartment contains a design studio, and roomfuls of clothes that Mrs Jones refers to as "a decade of pop history." However, first of all I met this black fluffy dog with a dyed red streak down its back.

   Awwwwwwwwwwww

Turns out that little black Betty the poodle puppy was so black she blended with the variety of inky black rugs in the studio, and to save a visitor from becoming a dog killer, Mrs Jones gave her the red streak. V logical.

"All the clothes here represent my history and a pop history of the last decade," Mrs Jones told me at the event. "The way I innovate comes either from me having no money, or the artists I'm working with having no money." One of her favourite designs is the flared trousers made for Justin Hawkins of The Darkness from the pants thrown up on stage by fans. She refers to the raggle-baggle brilliance of what occupies her studio/shop as "Pop Stars Droppings." These include leftovers from Goldfrapp, The Killers, Rihanna and Madonna.

                                              These trousers could be yours for £2,500.

  Mrs Jones aka Fee Doran with a dress she created from a vintage find for Ana Matronic of Scissor Sisters

"Take this dress, (above) I saw it in Portobello Road. It was a rejected piece. It was down to a few quid and I thought it would look great on Ana Matronic [Scissor Sisters]. My thinking is why not give something like this a second life? So I turned the dress upside down, added the string vest element, and voila! It was worn on stage by Ana." 

Is she still working with Scissor Sisters? "Well...this is the thing," she says. "I met the Scissor Sisters when they had no money and worked with them through their Comfortably Numb period [mid-noughties]. Then they met Elton John and got confused," she deadpans. Me and the new fashion junior George Langford (a girl) ripple with laughter.  Then a man comes over preening in a full-on leather jacket, (below) and we all burst out laughing. "God!!!" says Mrs Jones. "I did that for Bros back in the eighties!!" He bought it, too.

Luckily for us, Mrs Jones work is still coming out as unaffectedly individualistic as ever. "I'm not into fashion, I'm into music. I don't read magazines." Indeed, her new shop is amazing, just like a pop version of the classic kids show Mr Ben - you really can be who you want to be in here. Her new collection is fun (lookbook coming) and she is collaborating with young creatives including Parrillo London  and  special projects from Tatty Devine as well as Daddy's Favourite. 

As we are leaving I meet the latest musical artist to get the Mrs Jones treatment. Meet Kirsty Almeida, who released her single Spider yesterday, and releases her album Pure Blue Green on Decca in September. Mrs Jones created all the looks for the video shown on her home page link, and it is magical. Here is Kirsty posing with one of the dresses from her video. Paloma Faith and Florence watch out!

     The totally talented Kirsty Almeida with one of the sheet-music dresses Mrs Jones created for her new single Spider. 

Mrs Jones:  http://www.mrsj.co.uk

Photos: As stated and Fashion Editor at Large