Doris Langley Moore

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00gq7f1/b00gq7bd/Men_Women_and_Clothes_Formal_Clothes/

Just discovered this fabulous programme on BBC iplayer. It's only 15minutes long and is presented by Doris Langley Moore (who set up what was the Museum of Costume in Bath). It was done in the 50s and she uses real historical dress on real models, including members of the British aristocracy, to illustrate her points. It's a conservators nightmare, but is wonderful to see these garments move, how we never can in a museum display today. There are 2 more left in the series, so keep a look out. Pure brilliance!

Claire Browne

New Fashion Networking Site Emerges...

A new website has surfaced the creative industry and we want people like you to spread the good news and register, obviously!

What is NINETEEN74? Why should I register? What makes it unique?

Following the craze of networking and building online communities, it has never been more apparent that social networking will be an enduring part of everyday life. Founded in February 2008, NINETEEN74 is a new fashion utility. It will endeavour to marry like-minded people (e.g stylists, journalists, models, photographers, manufacturers, students) with the incentive of collaborating and exchanging ideas from other fashionistas in one click.

Although managed in the same manner as Facebook, Iqons and Myspace, it is nevertheless the first ever fashion networking site to encompass partnerships; users are showcased to push boundaries. The site essentially feeds on people's contribution- creating new fashion projects and events, uploading images and videos as well as submitting a blog.

So why not get involved and interact with the fashion world? You never know: it may be the answer to all your problems! It will make fashion networking effortless and trouble-free.

Fiona Burke.

Comme des Garçons meets H&M

Rei Kawakubo's much awaited collaboration with super Swedish retailer H&M, finally hits European stores, tomorrow Thursday 13th November. The Tokyo launch last Saturday saw the most determined fans queuing for as long as three days!

The designs for both men and women, embrace classic Comme des Garçons features such as polka dots and intelligent tailoring, brought to life in a beautiful campaign shot by Peter Lindbergh.

Inside The House of Viktor & Rolf

When we saw Viktor & Rolf's wonderful hand made dolls in the glass cabinets of Selfridges' Wonder Wall last spring, we knew something was in the wind. But we never imagined it could have been as electrifying and thought-provoking as the recent 

House of Viktor & Rolf exhibition at the Barbican Centre.

After countless visits to the exhibition, we attended the symposium Inside The House of Viktor & Rolf, (where we even got a chance to meet the well-loved duo!) which offered a glimpse into the creative world of the superstar designers, as well as theoretical debate around their designs and strategies.

Led by Penny Martin, the symposium featured an interview of the designers, accompanied by inspiring presentations exploring the heritage, designs and exhibition itself, by José Teunissen, Ulrich Lehmann and Judith Clark (FHT associated lecturer).

For those that didn't get a chance to attend, a video of the symposium, as well as a transcript of the interview is now available on SHOWstudio.

Caroline Legrand & Rachael J Vick

Annie Leibovitz- A Photographer's Life

Last week my friend and I went to see the Anne Leibovitz exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery and boy was it a disappointment. After paying the full £11 in entrance fee (I forgot to bring my student pass) you'd expect to see a bigger exhibition with a more exciting selection of photos. On top of it, the layout which resembled a maze created quite a big confusion as the pictures were divided into different rooms, without any obvious explanation.
The exhibition featured over 150 photos; a mixture of intimate family and friends photos including her partner, the late Susan Sontag as well as portraits of celebrities and public figures such as George W. Bush, Brad Pitt, Nicole Kidman and the infamous portrait of a naked pregnant Demi Moore. Many of the pictures are recognizable, having been printed in a variety of glossy magazines but the exhibition also showed the private life of Leibovitz: the birth of her three daughters, family holidays with her parents and various stages of Sontag's illness which she carefully documented.

Walking out of the gallery it was Leibovitz's private photographs of Sontag decaying that haunted me the most. When I got home I went to The Guardian's website to read the review and I couldn't have agreed more with David Rieff, son of Sontag: "in his own memoir of his mother, stresses how hard he had to work to maintain Sontag's illusion - what he calls "positive denial" - that death might still be avoided. "It was life and not truth that she was desperate for," he wrote in his book published earlier this year. And in one bitter paragraph he describes his mother as being "humiliated posthumously ... in those carnival images of death taken by Leibovitz"".

T.L.

Moonrise

In the predominantly heterosexual male world of fashion photography, Sarah Moon's thirty-five year career stands as a monument. Creating some of fashion's most beautiful imagery, Moon has also managed to dodge commercial currents along the way. Model turned photographer, her work, radically different from her male contemporaries Helmut Newton, Guy Bourdin and even her female counterpart Deborah Turbeville, is often endowed with a painterly quality which has owed her the title of 'impressionist photographer'. Invited to photograph the 1972 edition of the Pirelli Calendar in an attempt to soothe severe objections to it from feminist movements, Moon became the first woman photographer to take part in the project. Using this opportunity to push boundaries, she pioneered and became the first photographer to show fully exposed breasts. Throughout her career Moon has graced the pages of Biba and Vogue with ultra feminine photographs of nostalgic reverie, and has created some of the most iconic images for Cacharel and Comme des Garçons.

To coincide with the publication of a five-part monograph of her work, Sarah Moon: 1 2 3 4 5, two exhibitions of Moon's work run concurrently at the Royal College of Art and at the Michael Hoppen Gallery this autumn. The RCA exhibition includes over 150 photographs spanning Moon's entire career and two new film installations whilst the Michael Hoppen Gallery will include previously unseen photographs alongside her well-known work.

Caroline Legrand

The Sarah Moon exhibition runs concurrently at the Royal College of Art and the Michael Hoppen Gallery until the 15th November.

Sarah Moon: 1 2 3 4 5 is published by Thames & Hudson

Fashion in the Palm of Your Hand . . . but not for long!

Don't miss your last chance to see the delightful Fashion in the Palm of Your Hand exhibtion co-curated by Central St Martin's very own Fashion History and Theory students.

Fashion in the Palm of Your Hand runs until the 26th October at the Fan Museum, Greenwhich.

Top to Toe: Fashion for Kids

On Saturday I attended the Costume Society study day, Fashion in Miniature, at the Museum of Childhood in Bethnal Green. The study day was held to accompany the opening of their brilliant exhibition on children's dress, Top to Toe: Fashion for Kids. There were some great speakers, such as Noreen Marshall, the exhibitions curator; Philip Warren, Leicester Museums Principal Curator and Olivia Bristol, President of the Doll Club who spoke on such diverse topics as the infamous Liberty Bodice and dolls created for charity fundraising.
The exhibition is the first major display to discus

s the hugely important subject of children's dress and shows some incredible pieces from the last 250 years, including everything from a stunning 1700s wrapping gown, a 1700s boy's three-piece suit, a muff made of peacock feathers to the popular 1970s 'snorkel' parka coat.

There is a fabulous book which accompanies the exhibition: Dictionary of Children's Clothes: 1700s to Present, which is a must for anyone interested in the history of dress.

The exhibition is well worth a trip to the Museum of Childhood, which also has some great permanent galleries.

Claire Browne

Salon International 2008

This weekend I went to see Salon International, one of the biggest hair exhibition in Europe where my friend Alessandro Cecchini has a photography stand (the only photography stand) This annual event is held at ExCel which is a huge conference center near the Docklands. The place was buzzing with bad music and packed with everyone from hair dressers, salon owners, hair models to students and anyone who is interested in hair and beauty. Several stages are dedicated to hair stylists from hair salons such as Tony and guy, Charles Worthington etc., who gave lectures on how to create the newest hair trend. I wouldn't say I've got a particular interest in the hair and beauty industry but it was quite an experience I must say...

T.L.

Adrian=80's

Check out this striking shoot in the latest POP. Adrian is reduxed: 80's style. Back in the 1940's when actresses where glamour girls proper Adrian was the costumer to the stars and studios of Hollywood.

There is also a potted history of his career and analysis of Adrian's influence on the designers of the 80's. Thank you Stephen Jones, milliner extraordinaire, for such an insightful report on the man that defined American glamour.

By the way make sure to get your paws on the November issue of POP as it will be Katie Grand's last as she heads of to Conde Nast in the new year. With a new editor not yet announced I can't help but wonder, who in the industry is brave enough to fill those boots?

Eve Dawoud