MJM Showroom

My friend Gabi and I were walking around Shoreditch when a cool door caught our eye. This door then lead to a staircase inviting us up. When we got to the first floor the room opened up, and we were in a showroom. Specifically the MJM showroom. The MJM showroom is there to display the designs of Makin Jan Ma a Hong Kong designer working in London. The showroom is also his studio where he creates most of his pieces. 

As part of his degree he created a story, with 5 different characters and his clothing label is a continuation of that project. Each collection belongs to one of the 5 characters and shows a part of them very vividly. In the future he plans on creating more characters for his different lines. I really enjoyed visiting the showroom, even if I can't afford any of the clothes. There were small things placed here and there that reminded me of Hong Kong. They also had some insanely beautiful flowers to brighten up the place.

Overall, I had a great time there, I've signed up for their mailing list just to see where this creative mind goes, and hopefully one day be able to afford something from one of his lines. The lady working there was very kind, and she told us the whole story about him and why the designs are the way they are. To me this is a really strong label with a very clear vision, I love it. 

Here's their website: http://www.mjm-store.com/engine/shop/index.html

The Stylist's Rail

Having spent half my Friday on Facebook I saw that there was something going on at the Hoxton Hotel on the Saturday. And I decided to check it out. It was the Stylist's Rail at the Hoxton Hotel. I had gone to one of their previous events with some friends at Birthdays in Dalston back in May so I was looking forward to seeing how it would be different at a hotel. 

Upon arrival I heard some really great music, and saw some really beautiful photos in the hallway before I even got to the clothes. Once I stepped into the room I felt underdressed, everyone looked so edgy and so “London” and I was just in jeans and a t-shirt. But I got over it pretty quickly because the music was so good. After browsing through a few racks of clothes I found a few really cute items. I had only brought 30 pounds with me, so I had to look through and pick the few items I really really liked. 

I’m really happy I chose what I did, I’ve worn both items a few times already, and when I’m a little less broke I’m looking forward to going to another one of their sales. Bring friends, and head over to one of their events, it would have taken me much less time to choose what I wanted if my friends had been there with me. And if you’re a little fashion forward its a great place to go to find something a little different or a trend item that you think might be having a “come back”. 

Here’s their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/TheStylistsRail

Hermes at the Saatchi Gallery

In May 2013 there was a craft fair at the Saatchi Gallery. The craft people showing their work were people from the Hermes workshops in France. There were many different different mini studios set up showing the craftsmen at work. There was a leather worker, a tie maker, a print maker, a bag maker and a watch maker. It was incredible to see all the work behind one item which we then get to hold. 

There was a live show showing the silk printing of the silk Hermes scarfs. The presentation had a man explaining the process and the actual person doing the printing. The man explained that yes Hermes do use machines but "Hermes has found the perfect balance between man and the machine" for all of their products. The work surface in the Gallery only had enough space to print two scarfs at a time being a table of about 4 meters in length. In their workshop (they do not like you calling it a "factory"), the table is 100 meters long, so that they can print more scarfs at once. 

The technique has very many steps, each colour has to be printed on in different layers, starting with the darkest and then going to the lightest. However if the darkest colour takes up a lot of space on the silk then it must be printed last because it will remain wet longer than the lighter colours. In their workshop their tables have heaters underneath so that the ink dries faster. Also everything in their workshop is monitored, the temperature of the silk is measured so that it can be the perfect humidity and the ink stays on the silk the longest possible. 

Every year they come out with 10 prints for the fall and 10 prints for the spring. Out of these prints the colourists must come up with 20 different colour combinations on the same pattern where then only 10 get selected. All the heads of the international branched of Hermes then come together in Paris and select the coloured prints that will sell the most in their countries and make their order for the factories. Occasionally certain prints are brought back in new colours to update the old designs.

Each of the Hermes designs are meant to show a story, every image they print they collected from around the world. Culture is a very important thing in the Hermes family. After seeing into the way Hermes works at this work shop, I was inspired to try to work with them. Companies who have a story mean a lot to me, and I think its important to cherish tradition as well as bringing in modern things and they are able to do this with their scarfs. 

Here's the Saatchi Gallery website: http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/

and here's the Hermes site: http://uk.hermes.com/

Dr. Denim Sample Sale

When stopping by my friend Daniella's house I saw a sign which said "Dr. Denim Sale" and "starts 22nd of May". So on the 22nd of May I came back. Because usually Dr. Denim clothes are really expensive and I never know if its worth spending a lot of money on jeans because I tend to damage them and rip them pretty easily. 

I walked in and I noticed it was also a Herschel sale too. The Herschel backpacks are beautiful, they have so many cute prints, but they're so expensive that I've never even thought of getting one. I'm not really a backpack person. I did look at a few of the backpacks and I was almost convinced but then I saw a box full of Dr. Denim leggings and I was fixated with finding the right ones. There were so many different colours I wanted to get 3 pairs. In the end I only got one pair, and a t-shirt.

Both the items I got I love. I've already worn both of them so many times. When I got home I looked the clothes up online and I couldn't find the t-shirt's original price, but the blue and bleached out jeggings were sold at 49 pounds and I had gotten them for 15. I'm going to keep my eyes peeled for more sample sales of brands I like and will let all of you know by twitter if I see something good!

Rokit

Rokit on Brick Lane takes up 3 shop windows. I've walked past it a lot because I went in there with my parents once and I didn't like it. With my flatmate Emily, I decided to try it out again. The first and last door lead to small vintage shops and the middle door has really modern clothes from small English clothing labels.

The vintage sections are really cheap, with the clothes divided really well by cut, length and type. All the cropped t-shirts are together, that way you don't have to spend ages in the shop looking for them. The women's wear spreads into the men's wear section a bit. There's at least one of everything in every colour you just have to be lucky enough for the colour you like to be your size but I guess that's always the case with vintage clothes.

The middle store is beautiful, its divided into mini boutiques where each small label has its specific section. All the clothes are hung in size and colour order. So you don't even have to sort through to find the thing you want. Everything has an interesting design or print. There was this one sweater I really wanted. But I think I'm going to try to survive without it because after all it does cost 40 pounds, and I don't really need it.

I thought it was really cool that the shop is divided because it helped me shop better in each individual one and I could focus more on what I needed to buy instead of what I thought I might wear. You can shop online at http://www.rokit.co.uk 

Blackbird Tea Rooms

At the Frock Me! Vintage Fashion Fair there was also a Tea Room set up. The people running it were the people from Blackbird Tea Rooms from Brighton. They came all the way to London for the event. The waitresses were dressed in little polished outfits, and you had to wait in line to be seated. Each table had a perfect frilly table cloth and the bar was lined with different cakes. 

I studied the menu and finally decided to have my first English muffin. It was with ham, cheddar and tomato chutney. It came with a salad and I tried to eat most of the salad before touching the English muffin because I knew that if I ate the muffin first there was no way I was going to eat the salad. 

I drank a ginger beer which I really liked because it had that little kick that sometimes you need. The room the tea room was set up in had a long brown wooden bar, and a sofa for the people waiting. This was a side room of the Chelsea Town Hall. It was nice to be seated near the fireplace of the room because even if the fireplace wasn't on you could look at all the intricate detailing in sides of the fireplace. 

It took us quite a while to be served but we're glad we waited because everything was delicious. Here's their website: http://www.blackbirdtearooms.com/

Frock Me!

On the 19th of May I went to the Frock Me! Vintage Fashion Fair in Chelsea Town Hall. When I was a kid I remembered going to this town hall to see many different things. I think there was one time I remember really well because I was surrounded by like pink and beige clothes, it was a Burberry sample sale. This time I recognized traits of the building but not much else. 

We paid our 2 pound entrance fee, and walked inside, astonished by the number of stands selling clothes from different eras. I'm very picky with vintage clothes, they need to actually be old and represent something from the past to me, instead of being something from a few years ago with a label I recognize. Both my friend and I were able to find something we liked that wasn't incredibly expensive. However there was this one princess chiffon dress which I would have loved to own but it was a little out of my price range (280 pounds). 

Everyone selling things was really friendly allowing us to try things on, and when we didn't have enough cash, to go to the machine across the street to get money for the item we wanted. We got to hold a phone-bag which was used in the film "An Education", and see clothes that could have been featured in the Marie Antoinette film. Overall, it was like a little fairy tale. The next Frock Me! event is on the 8th of September, but there is also one on the 20th of October too. 

Here's their website: http://www.frockmevintagefashion.com

Beach in the East

Beach in the East is/was a really cool pop up store my friend found online. It was in a less busy street of Shoreditch and you had to follow a few signs to get to the actual store. The moment you step in though it seems like you really are at the beach. 

They had windsurfing sails tied to the ceiling, blow up beach toys near the entrance, and the whole store was set up in a fake swimming pool. The clothes were really displayed well because you could see the different colours of the clothes pop from the background colour of the pool. There was even a fake ladder that would have helped you get in the water if you needed to.

The clothes were a combination of jeans jackets designed very differently from your ordinary jeans jacket, and swimsuit in interesting bright prints. They had a pair of ripped jeans I would have killed for, but they were very very expensive. Kristin tried on a jeans jacket that was painted with what seemed like white lacquer paint, and it looked really good on her. However the cool design of the paint made it hard for her to move so it was the kind of jacket you needed to break in. 

Here's a link to their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/Beachintheeast?directed_target_id=0

Kaffe Fassett

At the Fashion and Textiles Museum in London there is currently a Kaffe Fassett exhibit. He started out as a painter, then fell in love with knitting and needlepoint work. His work has been featured in Vogue and other fashion magazines. He is best known for his use of colour and at the show there is a video where he explains that "a gold next to a green is very different from a gold next to a pink".

His artistic journey is displayed very well in the few rooms of the museum, setting up his background and slowly showing his growth as an artist. I like to call him a composer, because he aligns the colours and patterns so well and particularly focuses on the composition of the whole piece. The rooms are also very colourful but they don't distract from his work.

There is one wall called "Kaffe's feeling wall" and you are allowed to touch the different fabrics he uses, as well as some small bits of fabric he knitted. It was a really cool experience, and it gives you a very different perspective on the world we live in. We are made aware of so many more colours and patterns.

The exhibit costs 5.50 pounds for students, and 8 for everyone else, and it closes on the 29th of June. The gallery also do knitting and textile workshops within the art gallery. This show is really worth seeing.

Here's the museum's site: http://ftmlondon.org/ftm-exhibitions/kaffe-fassett/

and here's Kaffe's own site: http://www.kaffefassett.com/Home.html

Lichtenstein

On Tuesday the 16th I went to the Tate modern to see Lichtenstein's work. I really enjoyed it. I played a game with myself to see where there were flaws in his patterns and designs. It was nice that they divided the rooms by the different movements in his work. 

There was a room for landscapes and another on "art about art" which had pieces done in styles similar to other artists of his time. The exhibition took about an hour and a half to walk through. Some of the rooms were too small to see the works well especially because his pieces are all extremely large, so I didn't get to feel the full power of many of the pieces. 

His style was very repetitive and after seeing a few displays the interest of the viewer was a bit lost. I think his work would be shown well integrated with other artists of his time. The exhibit costs 12.20 pounds for students and about 15 for others. I don't know yet if I want to become a Tate member or not.

Below there's a picture of me with pop art make-up on based on Roy Lichtenstein's work.

Asos, Internet Phenomenon

I've become a huge online shopper over the past few months. Its really bad for me because I've become a frequent buyer so they email me almost everyday, and I always find something I like. Generally I only order from places that have free shipping because I like only purchasing a few cheap items. My two favourite English stores are inlovewithfashion.com and asos.com , both have a variety of products and they reflect on my style.
Asos actually means "as seen on screen". I'd like to think that since their a company with only an online market that their clothes are comfortable and they are true to size. My only problem with Asos is that they run out if my size really quickly. At inlovewithfashion both the s/m and the m/l fit me so its not hard to find what I like. Overall I should probably stop shopping since I already have a lot of clothes but its my addiction.