Words: Chloe Brunton-Dunn

With the ever evolving, fast pace world of fashion and the hungry consumer culture we live in, it is extremely hard to come up with an innovative new idea for a fashion business. However, it would seem that former pop star Lily Allen has done just that.

Leaving the world of music behind her to create, with her sister Sarah her new venture ‘Lucy in Disguise’ a new vintage fashion business.

The glamorous and spacious shop is situated in the busy and bustling streets of Covent Garden. The aim of their new business is to make “Vintage style attainable”. Their unique concept is that not only can you buy, but there is also the option of renting the beautiful and extravagant garments. This opportunity  means that you can buy items you would not usually be able to afford can now wear – if only for a day.

Garments range from the eras of the 20’s to the 80’s, catering for a wide span of vintage styles and tastes.

The name ‘Lucy In Disguise’ is taken from a famous Beatles song, and the shop’s website blog is written by ‘Lucy’ making the brand really come to life. With the ‘about’ section of the website describing her and creating a persona for this character.

In a shop where the sales assistants are also stylists it seems the perfect shopping environment with advice on hand. Furthermore, you can go downstairs and have a complete makeover of hair or makeup with prices ranging from £25 to £55 and even book private styling sessions and use the VIP dressing suite. With group booking themed packages such as ‘Evelyn’s Tea Party’ the atmosphere LID creates is fun, fashionable and exciting.

Open seven days a week Lily Allen certainly seems to have created a successful new fashion venture! With their tag line reading ‘LUCY IN DISGUISE – THE MODERN GIRL’S WAY TO DO VINTAGE ‘ it would seem that the girls have certainly achieved their goal.

The future for ‘Lucy in Disguise’ looks bright too, with the launch of their own Lucy line designed by Lily and Sarah released in June and sold in store and on the website priced from £90 to £350. The pieces in the collection will be named after important people or memorable places related to vintage garments such as ‘Fortnum and Mason’, a perfect compliment to their enigmatic ‘Lucy’ brand and business.

To check out the store: 

10-13 KING STREET
COVENT GARDEN
LONDON
WC2E 8HN
TELEPHONE: 0207 240 6590

http://lucyindisguiselondon.com/

For a documentary of ‘Lucy in Disguise’ watch Channel 4’s ‘Lilly Allen: From Riches to Rags’

Since its opening on March 12th, I have been working as a host at the Yohji Yamamoto exhibition at the V&A museum in South Kensington.

It is the first of its kind in that Yamamoto’s menswear is being shown alongside his womenswear garments, and this has never been seen before. The curator, Ligaya Salazar, has referred to the exhibition as a retrospective. The garments cover Yamamoto’s vast 30 year career, being shown alongside multimedia such as videos of fashion shows, past season catalogues and even highlights from Yamamoto’s music career.

What is most striking about the exhibition is that the garments are on open display; inviting visitors to get up close and personal with the fabric and cut of the clothes. Visitors can touch the garments, but within reason, only very gently and carefully! Fabric is of utmost importance to Yohji when he designs, and he is known for his idiosyncratic cutting techniques. The exhibition really allows for the garments to be appreciated like they should be.

The exhibition space is really quite striking; all the clothes are set on simple mannequins under extremely bright lights, so every inch of the garment is visible and can be admired. The mannequins are set out as if in a ballroom, with men and women on either side approaching each other to dance.

I had the pleasure of meeting Yohji when he came to see the exhibition, and he painted some figures on the bare white walls. They are all very focused on the ‘shape’ of a woman, in particular, her back. This is Yohji’s favourite part of a woman’s body, and this is clear to see when you look at the garments; many feature the most detail at the back or are backless.

This exhibition is a must-see; even those who are not fashion aficionado’s will appreciate the garments, if not only for the incredible skill and craft that can be seen.

The exhibition runs until July 12th.

Words: Chantelle Udokwu

Next we have a free workshop planned on the 12th March from 2pm until 5pm, where you can learn now to make one of the hottest looks from the catwalk at a fraction of the price! Best of all you don’t have to be an expert at sewing to participate because this workshop caters for all skill levels.

The workshop is going to be taught by Charley Helfet author of ‘Chic Cheat’ blog- http://chiccheat.co.uk/ in which she shows readers how to create some of the on-trend items seen on TV, catwalks and celebrities but for less than half the price.

We are having a vote on which item you will be shown how to create and make for yourself during the workshop to take home and wear! All you need to bring along is a great attitude and a jumper/ dress that you wish to customise. To get the most out of the workshop you just need to bring a jumper or dress in a similar colour and style to the ones shown below.

Email [email protected] telling us what number item you’d like to make at the workshop. For example write “vote 1″ for the Chanel dress etc.

Voting closes on 8th March!

There are only 20 spaces for the workshop so if you would like to sign up to attend the workshop please email: [email protected] with ‘Workshop 1′ in the subject box and put your name, email address and telephone number in the body of the email. Places will be allocated on a first come, first served basis, so be quick! The deadline for signing up is 1pm on the 8th March. We will then announce which item will be made, by the end of the day.