Another dreaded summer day

Finally the summer has hit London town; the girls are half naked, the hot men are out of hibernation and the city is ready to go. The sun has an incredible power to make everything look better, from the streets to run down buildings and sometimes that weird homeless man that pisses on everything.

Although the sun is out, we here in London never really know how long it lasts for; probably a few hours, days, and if we're lucky a few weeks... but lets not jinx it. On a these gracious days, I put my layering aside and delve into simple attire, keeping it subtle with shorts and a t-shirt. But that's not how I ROLL! So in an attempt to spice up my outfits I look for things like jewellery (which will be another post) or hats ( this post). This year I have really been thinking a lot about hats and the lack there of. They are extremely difficult to pull off yet they can really complete a look. I wish more people would were hats. There is an infinite amount of styles and shapes to fit everyone's awkwardly shaped head! So lets go for it guys! lets go crazy. Let the sun frazzle your brain and in that state of insanity, buy a hat!

Here are my two picks for this summer:

Reverting back to my youth, the collaboration with New Era and Kenzo evokes my bad-ass teenage ghetto life. Awww the good old days, when you thought skipping school in baggy trousers and smoking in graveyards was the bee knees. 

Another option, for the more mature or the more dressy up summer days is this sexual hat I bought from a small town in Spain last year. I haven't had the chance to wear it yet, but I'm thinking today might be the day. 

Very Saint Laurent, but very poor quality as its a novelty hat, but hey, who is going to come up THAT close to me to see how its made? If anything it embodies a playful summer day. Not too uptight, if it gets messed up, it only cost me €5 so I wont be losing much, except of course for the memory of the trip...catch 22. Lets just keep our fingers crossed hope that I don't lose it or ruin it.

-andrew

Mourning Glory

Great jewellery is extremely hard to find. It has only now hit me why my mother and her friends got all theirs custom made whenever they went back to Egypt. Obviously getting anything custom made in Egypt doesn't come with the same price tag is it would in the western world.

I have been in the market for a ring that I can wear forever, look at daily that puts a smile on face. This has been an incredibly difficult challenge of late. Finding something timeless is always a struggle due to my obvious changes, both emotional and appearance in terms of clothing; finding yourself and growing up is never easy, if anything its boring, dull, and a waste of time, but necessary. Our ostentatious lifestyles from clothing to going out, at times takes a halt whilst we reluctantly contemplate what we are ACTUALLY doing in our lives.

Usually when thoughts so inappropriate like these enter my mind I go through what i see as a mid-mid-life crisis, longing for the days when life was simpler, assessing who I really am. This always results in me throwing out half my wardrobe, self-deprecation, followed by an intense few days with Oprah and reading self-help books, just to study the human condition....obviously.

It's a constant battle to better yourself, finding your essence and what you want from the world and what the world can give you in return. So let me manipulate this whole situation and turn 'finding our true selves’ into fashion.

Fashion is about what we like, we represent ourselves by what we wear, indicating our likes and dislikes. (We'll keep it simple and just keep it emotional, so I will refrain from commenting on class, status, etc etc) so what happens when you don't like yourself? Or when you don't know who you are? How do you represent that? It is then when I meditate unclothed, and listen to myself- and no, this doesn't take a few hours, this is a transition that takes weeks of intense thought, avoiding people and truly becoming your own best friend. So the next step is to, like a snake, shed your old skin aka get rid of anything that you associate your old self with, making way for the new you.

The one thing that I have never thrown out though is my jewellery. Why? Because of its sentimental value. For instance I wear a necklace that previously was all the gold I received from family and family friends when I was born. (It's a cultural thing; you're given gold when you're born, rings, pedants, etc etc. I guess frankincense and myrrh died with Jesus) so at the age of 16 my mother took all my gold and melted it to create a necklace with a pendant. I barely see it and at times forget it’s there, but haven’t taken it off since i was 16. It is the most in-offence piece of jewellery I have compared to my obnoxious Vivienne Westwood costume jewellery (which I love). So now I need a ring that I can wear and treasure as much as I do my necklace.

The good news is that I came across a ring that I have completely fallen in love with. From its name to how it's made, to its overall look. And here it is.

At the SHOWstudio at Motcomb Street I truly fell in love with this Jennifer Corker piece of art. Inspired by mourning rings worn by the Victorians, commemorating the death of a loved one, this ring represents my past deaths and will represent my future deaths. A little morbid for you faint hearted, but there are always life altering changes, good and bad, that are the cause of small death within all of us.

My mourning ring harbours everything I love. Sentimental memories and traditions of the past, that have been forgotten about in our modern day lives, as if resurrected to remind us of the past. Not to mention it is made of gold and has a silk centre. The silk has the luxurious sense of being incredibly delicate, but is surrounded by the solid gold outlining it and protecting it. The best metaphor of myself.

Unlike most clothing, jewellery is always timeless. There is a reason why they are passed on as heirlooms, admired by many represents bonds, no matter how simple or over the top. It represents the person wearing it, and I assure you each piece of jewellery you have has a story to tell about your past and will undoubtedly be part of your future.

Clothes come and go but jewellery is forever.

-Andrew

Jesus, Mary & Joesph

Holy moly, praise Jesus and deliver us from evil. In correlation with the cuming, sorry I mean coming of the new pope, we have seen religious iconography appear on fashion attire. Givenchy obviously stole the show continuing their bold prints that are ever so well translated into men's fashion, darkening their mood in what can be seen as a Corrado Giaquinto painting battling between good and evil.

Having said that, there seems to be a design team that people seem to be too terrified to discuss in fear of the Vatican striking them down. Good thing I'm here. Dolce & Gabbana absolutely crucified this seasons menswear, in a good way, not the stigmata kinda way, that's just a bit horrid. No one really wants to think of getting their clothes bloody after some weird religious experience. They never mention that in the bible do they?

The pubescent models is what did it for me, and no, not in a sexual way. They all had a sense of innocence to them that has been completely misused, baring the burden of the religious imagery on their chest that I'm sure a few of us know the feeling of too well. Once joyed of the idea of being protected by a higher power, disheartened by the truth these alter boys walk down the catwalk with a sadness, fear and loneliness in their eyes. It is beautiful. Now this is a comment of society today via fashion like we haven't seen in a while. Pure brilliance.

Not to mention the choice proportion of the garments. Dolce & Gabbana forget their sheers and tight fits and seek the over powering over sized tops submerging their fragile models in an image they can not yet fathom. Love love LOVE the concept and the execution of the pieces and the whole show. Romantic, drastic, truthful and beautiful.

-A

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As I am in the middle of starting my own fashion label, working full time, trying to blog and managing my own home; for the days I do not have enough time to post on my blog- so if you are interested in how my mind works without the essay long posts please follow me on instagram, be prepared.


Much Love

Andrew 

Comfort is where the sole is

Day in and day out I run up and down steps, walk for hours and am on my feet constantly for my job. Adorned in spikes, snake skin or the finest of leathers, my feet get to live in the lap of luxury while I am constantly reminded of how wearing tight shoes might ruin ones feet in the long run. However this is how I like my shoes. Call me masochistic if you will but I do love getting my shoes a half or full size smaller as I believe they last longer and make my feet look more in proportion with the rest of my petite fisique.

Now the thing is this; when the day ends and my once lavished feet are ready to commence their long journey home, I take off the snake skins keep them safe for another day and put my feet in something supposedly more comfortable shoes.

For a while the trainers, sneakers, plimsolls DM's, boots etc etc etc never really did the trick. My feet would still not feel the ease that everyone says they are meant to. So after thinking long and hard I decided to go back to my past. Remembering what shoes used to make me feel uber comfortable.

Much like all of you  I had fashion transformations; ghetto, skater, indie boy, preppy, grungy- which is why I like clothing, design etc because looking back you can always see who you were and where you've gotten to until this point, and trust me even though you might think you are not part of a group, someone will always label you, and once you're labeled, your subconscious frustration will make you move on to something new.

Anyway whilst thinking about my previous styles and phases, I remembered an argument I had with my mother ( nothing new) at the age or 15. She continuously attempted to throw out my favourite pair of shoes away and I would always find them in the bin. Now let me just let you know that I have never been a unwashed, dirty teenager. I bathed regularly and did take care of my appearance, having said that; there were a pair of shoes that I wore until they were completely cut up, whole infested and all in all just horrendous, yet they were the most comfortable of shoes. These were my black and white checkered slip-on VANS. At the age of 15 having begged and pleaded for these shoes, I remember the abuse I would get for wearing them. People didn't seem to understand the checkered pattern, but I believed there was something very serene and yin and yang about them (thats me tapping into my early Deepak Chopra). Although the harass from what is now known to be one of the biggest fashion capitals in Europe did not stop every time I wore these shoes, I did not mind, as I knew and truly felt I had the happiest feet in all of Copenhagen.

So dear readers, 10 (nearly 11) years later, after remembering my happiest feet moment, I realised that although I sometimes choose to forget the past, sometimes the small things that creep up, creep up for a reason. They remind you about good times and how you have become who you are today. Therefore I have succumbed to going back to my checkered VANS, the best shoe I had in my life. The one that made me stand up for ridiculous comments, step on negative thoughts and arise to my stronger self at the same time whilst being incredibly comfortable. 

 
I am not the only one who has picked up on this. High end Luxury designers have done so too. effortlessly chic Celine, constantly creative Christian Louboutin, and a collaboration with an homage to vintage Hermes. The cloud like pillowed soles have made their way in to high fashion, it doesn't necessarily mean it will take over, it just means you have more options to play footsie.

Andrew

Celine, Pony Hair & Snake Skine

Christian Louboutin, Roller Boat 

VANS & Hermes Collaboration.

VANS

Truth & simplicity

First and fore most let me apologise for the lack of posts, life has taken over and I have been forced to take on a full time job where all my spare time is spent on eating or sleeping. If only there were more hours in the day.

For a while now, fashion lovers have desired the effortlessly simple Celine T-shirt. Like all things in luxury fashion, one had to be quick to purchase this simple and chic piece.

Now for those of us that lacked the funds or weren't quick enough to get our hands on the t shirt, designers have come up with a way to create these tshirts with our loved logos on them but come with a joke like twist. Enter Michael Agwunobi. With a fashion sense of humour there is no wonder why his t-shirts have to be constantly restocked on his website with a great client list like Rihanna.

Now more recently after a previous article I wrote for Men's Fashion Magazine regarding the change of the Saint Laurent logo, a new t-shirt has been introduced to the market. Clever, witty and some what true, the 'ain't Laurent' t-shirts convey what a lot of fashion followers feel about the brands new identity yet is never really talked about in the industry.

Both are also a comment on fashion. Not done in a very f.p.c ( fashion politically correct), but speaks volumes of truth. Lining up the but the bitches to buy a tshirt that is sooo simple and easy to make with a price tag of your monthly food shop, and the other expressing what we all think about a logo that has been with us for decades, and taken away from us so abruptly like death of its founder.

One ironic and the other true.. For those of us with a humble income that appreciate designers and fashion and find it more than just clothes we wear to keep warm, this pieces are a new start to an suave anarchistic change. A new side of fashion is emerging and I don't think it'll be pretty. But so far it's been brutally honest and clever.

-a