Design

September 30, 2018 by Christine

Luxury Brand 7L System Launch Party, Manchester

Manchester has always been at the forefront of the textile industry, most notably for its role producing cotton during the industrial revolution. Today however, Manchester is perhaps best known for the technology, digital and design industries that are flourishing here in the UK’s fastest-growing city. We were invited to Manchester’s Museum of Science and Industry for luxury brand 7L System’s launch party. Mr T and I headed down to take a look…

The Museum of Science and Industry was the perfect place to celebrate the launch of such an innovative brand. Combing science and style, the 7L System has innovation at its core. 7L uses pioneering textile technology to create 7 layers of clothing that each tackle extreme weather conditions. There is a base layer, wind layer, thermal layer, field layer, rain layer and insulation layer. Worn together or separately, each individual layer has been crafted to work with the architecture of the body to ensure optimum fit and performance.

Luxury brand 7L System has partnered with the European Space Agency to design and manufacture functional tech garments for the Space Agency field teams. Brand Designer and Manchester Fashion School graduate Dominic Stansfield has also been asked to design a limited edition 50 year Apollo Landing Celebration Jacket.

Interestingly, the original Apollo suits were created by Manchester tech manufacturers Frankenstein & Sons, who were also responsible for the production of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001 Space Odyssey suits. The original Apollo suit jacket was on display in one of the Museum’s glass cabinets, it looked fairly cumbersome and not all that stylish!

British Fashion photographer Clive Arrowsmith who produced sketches and stills for Kubrick’s s 2001 Space Odyssey was at the event shooting portraits of the launch party goers! (Mr T had his portrait taken) Clive Arrowsmith is probably best known for shooting well-known names like David Bowie, Mick Jagger, George Harrison, Def Leppard, Michael Caine and Kate Bush to name just a few…he also shoots for Vogue!

It was very exciting to see such global or even intergalactic innovation taking place on our doorstep! I’m sure it won’t be long until 7L are dressing people in style for commercial space tourism. This is history in the making.

Stay fabulous

Christine

March 18, 2018 by Christine

Mario Valentino- A History of Fashion, Design & Art

Mario Valentino- A History of Fashion, Design & Art: This week I was very pleased to receive a copy of the beautiful new coffee table book ‘Mario Valentino- A History of Fashion, Design & Art’ This fabulous hardback new album chronicles 65 Years of ‘Made in Italy’ excellence- with my ongoing love affair with all things Italian, I couldn’t wait to sit down with a coffee and flick through the pages…

The Valentino brand was established in Naples, Italy back in 1952 and has long been synonymous with luxury shoes, accessories and clothing. This latest book documents the Valentino story from the 1900’s when Mario’s father, Vincenzo made handmade shoes, to the first ever small Valentino shop in the heart of Naples and the rise of the global Valentino brand we know today.

Mario Valentino was born in Naples in 1927 and followed in his father’s footsteps. His father Vincenzo was one of the most famous pre-war show makers, he made shoes for nobility and famous show-biz stars of the time including Josephine Baker!

The book offers an insight into the character of the ‘sensitive entrepreneur’ that is Mario Valentino noting his detached attitude towards the frenzy of fashion and paints the picture of a worldly, educated man with a passion for reading and artistic-culture and an ‘obsessive’ art collector.

My favorite parts of the book are the old photographs and illustrations, the book contains 200 colour illustrations and some precious documents from Valentino’s archive. The black and white photographs featured in the book offer a real glimpse into the key moments that shaped the Valentino brand.

From the 1950’s to the 1980’s Italy saw a real surge of design talent rising up from humble beginnings to take on the long-established fashion world. Mario Valentino was a key player in bringing Italian fashion to the World’s stage.

My favourite photograph in the whole book is that of Italy’s top designers taken in 1985, which really shows the stellar talent coming from Italy at that time. The photograph shows Laura Biagiotti, Mario Valentino, Gianni Versace, Krizia Paolo Fendi, Valentino Gianfranco Ferre, Mila Schon, Giorgio Armani, Taj Missoni, Franco Moschino and Luiciano Soprani all stood side-by-side looking cheerful. Now if that line up isn’t a reflection of how a small group of Italian designers shook the old-grade of established couturiers, I don’t know what is!

Against the backdrop of the key moments throughout fashion history this beautiful new hardback, glossy book ‘Mario Valentino- A History of Fashion, Design & Art’ captures the emergence of an ambitious and extraordinary fashion enterprise with an enlightened founder at its helm, a sensitive entrepreneur on a quest to for beauty and originality.

Stay fabulous

Christine

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May 15, 2016 by Christine

Tea & Tequila- Dream business interview

Tea & Tequila– Dream business interview: What happens when two friends fall head over heels with all things Mexican? Sarah Goodwin and Millie Wilson have channeled their Mexican love affair into a blossoming business combining British design with traditional Mexican products. Tea and Tequila trading offers everything from Mexican wrestler appliqued clutches to not-available-over-the-counter booze. Sarah Goodwin and Millie Wilson are the creative brains behind Tea & Tequila. Here’s our latest dream business interview with the inspirational Sarah and Millie..

Tell us a bit about your business?

Tea & Tequila Trading is a company set up by Sarah Goodwin and Millie Wilson, we run it together from each side of the world, Mexico City and London retrospectively. ‘Tea’ represents the British products we choose to export and ‘Tequila’ represents our Mexican delights and our own brand designs. We blend our inherently London/British style with the love and inspiration we found for indigenous Mexican art and craft to produce hand-made luxury accessories, jewellery, homeware and furniture.

We travel extensively around Mexico to create and design, source and export products that embody this unique fusion of the rich and colourful culture of Mexico combined with our native British culture. We also work as importers, distributors and marketing agencies for our selected spirit brands, bringing Mezcal Amores to the UK and Elephant Gin to Mexico.

What inspired you to start your business?

Tea & Tequila came to Sarah when she fell in love with the iconic design of the Acapulco chair, she knew how well they would work in England and since they were weatherproof it was a no brainer. I had recently been out to visit Sarah and had become completely obsessed with Mexican art, culture and people and I was already devising a work strategy which would enable me to work with Mexico in some way when Sarah pitched the idea of Tea & Tequila to me. Everything has been flowing at a fast and exciting pace since that day and neither of us have ever looked back. We constantly seem to encounter miraculous coincidences which remind and reassure us that Tea & Tequila was meant to be and is definitely the right path for us.

How do you see your business developing in 5 years time?

In the next 5 years we see Tea & Tequila being a tropical travel accessories brand stocked in resort wear style boutiques worldwide, we will have a dedicated team of like minded enthusiastic people to work alongside us and we have no boundaries of where in the the world that will be.

As independent businesswomen what’s the biggest struggle you’ve faced?

The struggles we encountered were mostly as we were starting out, being young and new to the trade and spirit industries we had little credibility and we had to ask for advice and help from others who knew the industry better. We also struggled to begin with as we were so eager to achieve so much at such a fast pace and to do too much but we soon learnt that as a small team we had to focus our attention on certain aspects of the brand in order to make an impact on the market and excel.

Any advice or pearls of wisdom for would-be entrepreneurs?

Keep a clear picture and long term goal in mind and be very clear about your company’s objectives and concept, then give yourself short term goals to focus on which will lead you to accomplishing it.

To shop the Tea & Tequila range head over the the website HERE

Stay fabulous

Christine

(special thanks to Sarah & Millie for sharing their wild Mexican adventure)

November 22, 2015 by Christine

House of Foxy- Entrepreneur Interview

House of Foxy is a vintage inspired clothing brand specialising in quality, beautifully-made garments that emulate the glamour, fit and style of the 1920’s through to the 1960’s and are proud to boast that the whole range is made in Great Britain. I catch up with owner and designer Clare to learn of her inspirations, struggles and wisdom as a female entrepreneur…

Q. Tell us a bit about your business

The House of Foxy is a vintage inspired ladies clothing brand based in Yorkshire, England. We proudly manufacture all our designs here in Great Britain at a dedicated factory and the designs are heavily influenced by classic 20th Century Fashion styles (primarily 1925 to 1964). I design them all myself, based on photos, styles that I like, books and original garments from my hoard of vintage clothing.

Vintage styles have so much to offer women that are uninspired by the high street – women deserve to feel great and vintage style is much less about age and size – it celebrates women and their curves. As we manufacture here in England, we are not a volume model interested in pushing vast numbers of units made as cheaply as possible – we want to make garments that are as close as possible to vintage.

We have strong values – we want to create quality clothing in ethical circumstances. Every garment we make is made by one machinist who takes great care and enormous pride in what they do. We also like to use local suppliers where possible.

Lastly, our mantra is ‘Because you’re all woman and you’re wonderful’ – we want all our customers to feel amazing and we try to help them find the best garment whatever their size, shape or age.

Q. What inspired you to start your business?

A combination of giving birth and frustration with high street clothes! I had always owned and worn vintage clothing but now that most of them didn’t fit, I was looking for something to make me feel good again. Since the high street is driven by economic fast fashions, I simply found there was nothing for me. At the time there weren’t many vintage repro brands and I was able to lean on my then job to make a start with an online shop initially selling other brands. I was still craving for different garments so I decided to design our own – and the rest is history.

Q. What struggles have you faced being a female entrepreneur?

It’s not easy juggling childcare and running a business especially since we don’t have family nearby to help out. But thats an old story. I think like most female entrepreneurs – we probably all experience some sexism and judgements from others over our decisions if we are working mothers and equally so for those who have chosen not to have children.

Q. How do you see your business developing in 5 years time?

Ideally we would like to open a few boutiques in the UK as many customers would really like to be able to visit and try on. We want to develop our 20s and 30s ranges further and introduce our own jewellery and accessories. Lastly, we launched our menswear brand last year and we would really love to expand that further.

Q. Can you offer any would-be entrepreneur readers any pearls of wisdom?

If you have passion for what you are doing and you believe in it – you can’t really go wrong. The best advice I received was stick to what you are good at and buy in what you’re not. Just because I can design doesn’t mean I’m any good at accounts or understand HR and its better for the business that I use my time at what I’m good at. You will find it easier to succeed if you have something different to offer than your competitors – find your niche.

Lastly – share the weight of responsibility as your business grows – don’t be afraid of getting advisors or even a board as your business grows. Its a lonely place to be sometimes when you run your own business.

“If you have passion for what you are doing and you believe in it – you can’t really go wrong”

The Fabulous Times