London adds yet another fashion college to the list

Are you aspiring to become a professional stylist, but don’t have the time (2 or 3 years) dare say the money (£3,300 for the course alone!) to go to London College of Fashion, or any of the other great fashion colleges around the globe, fear not. In September, London College of Style provides a new way of getting a foot in the door of the industry that is fashion styling.

The school’s founders are none other than celebrity fashion stylist, Wendy Elsmore, and model, stylist, and fashion expert, Kate Smith. They have styled, modelled, spoken as fashion experts, and much, much more for channels such as BBC and ITV, labels such as Gucci, EMI, and Elizabeth Arden, and publications such as Vogue, Marie Claire, and The Times. On the new school’s website, it says that the founders will be involved in the teaching process, which is very abnormal for fashion styling courses, and high profile guest speakers will come and give lectures to the students.

The founders of LCS

The course will especially focus on providing the students with skills that will help them in the fashion industry, instead of just giving them the theory behind it, because LCS thinks that, “The fashion industry is an individual one and is often unimpressed by qualifications, favouring hands on experience and photographic evidence of individual talent.” – Regarding the photographic evidence, all the in-situ students will do a photo shoot in the end of the program with a model and a photographer, which will result in a stylist portfolio for the graduates to use later on.

All of this sounds rather interesting, but how will the students get work in the end? The school will provide them with a contact resource book, so they will have a better chance of getting a job, and, as they put it on the website: “Students that demonstrate both exceptional ability and brilliant creativity - those who radiate star quality, will be considered for employment/contracts and work experience opportunities.”

You can enroll in three different kinds of courses – and the school doesn’t even require any prior qualifications! A Fashion Styling Foundation Course that consists of 12 modules over 12 weeks. An E-Learning Course, which is suitable for those who aren’t able to attend the Fashion Styling Course in London because of lack of time or because they live far away (such as Denmark!). This course consists of 11 modules lasting from 11 weeks up to 6 months depending on the student’s pace. And finally, a Retailers Visual Merchandising Course, where companies can train their employees.

Enough babbling for now, I just saw the new school and got really excited about it. Check it out on: LondonCollegeofStyle.com.

Photo credit: LondonCollegeofStyle.com

I can’t draw – or what?

The sketches that designers do in the making of their collections are always amazing and a great inspiration for me! Therefore, it makes me really sad to face the fact that I normally suck at drawing, and sometimes I try to draw sketches and to copy stuff from fashion magazines on paper to improve my drawing skills.

To further advance my skills I took an Introduction to Drawing course at Central Saint Martins in 2009, where my instructor, the artist Guy Noble, did a GREAT job at encouraging me and helping me getting the most out of the course.

Here are some of my drawings that I don’t think suck so much. Some of them I’ve done without guidance and some of them were drawn under the guidance of my tutor at CSM. Please let me know what you think of them. - And sorry for some of the pictures' bad quality.

This sketch is drawn with inspiration from a British Vogue, as far as I remember. Sorry for the weird faces around it.

This drawing was just supposed to be a random face, but it turned out looking like Brit model Agyness Deyn (I think it’s the jaw line that does it).

This drawing is done in willow charcoal, and is a drawing of a life model who came to the studio at CSM. I got a lot of compliments on this one.

Another drawing of the girl whose face is on the former picture. The ass in her face ISN’T there for a purpose.

I love the fact that a few lines on a paper can create the image of a person. Sketch from CSM.

My favourite pieces from By Malene Birger, SS11

During Copenhagen Fashion Week SS 2011, Danish Malene Birger did a rocky safari look, mixing army coloured dresses and burned brown-yellow tones with studded leather vests within her collection. I wasn't that into her version of the safari look, but the stripes and leather elements, her workwear pieces, and a long, pleated dress caught my eye.

Malene Birger

My favourite pieces from her collection

Love the stripes, love the leather. If I was to revise the design, though, I would put less studs on the vest and pair it with a tighter and shorter skirt or something in denim, e.g. tight shorts. For an everyday look, one can do the vest with a striped shirt underneath, like here, and tug the shirt into skinny, blue jeans. Wear it with soft, feminine ballerina flats (Lanvin and Chanel make good ones), to make the look softer.

Great pants, cool jacket!

Am I the only one who’s thinking Stella McCartney F/W09?

Great look – except for the hat.

Cool workwear

Photo credits: Copenhagen Fashion Week® and DailyMail.co.uk

YDE by Ole Yde SS11 - My favourites

“Fashion is… to make people dream and fantasize.” – Ole Yde (Freely translated from Danish)

Ole Yde

My favourite pieces

A not so abominable snowman. A quite pretty one in fact. Dress worn by Danish topmodel Agnete Hegelund.

Photo credits: Copenhagen Fashion Week® and AltForDamerne.dk

Copenhagen Fashion Week SS 2011- My favourites from Stine Goya

Stine Goya’s design doesn’t really fit into my personal style, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t like her clothes. I’m a big fan of this season's curry coloured patterns on shirts, pants, dresses – you name it!
In her SS11 collection, the Saint Martins educated Danish designer went for a feminine cut and thought it important to have a bit of black among her blues, curry yellows, rose-pinks, and dusty purples, because, “sometimes you just want to wear black.”

(Freely translated from a statement to Eurowoman.dk).

Miss Goya herself

Pieces from the collection

Love the print – and the look of Danish model, Amanda Nørgaard!

Cool jacket, cool skirt. For work, one can use the skirt with a grey tank top (e.g. Alexander Wang), a black blazer, a simple or rock’ish necklace, and high heels. The jacket will go with many things. For work, one can wear it with a black pencil skirt or trousers and, of course, heels.

Put a single-coloured jacket over a patterned trouser suit to calm the look and make it more focused.

Photo credits: Copenhagen Fashion Week® and Eurowoman.dk