Designer Days: November 2012

Friday, 30 November 2012

Meeting a Miss

The world of pageants and beauty queens is one that I have only seen from backstage until my recent trip to Germany.

I was invited to attend the MissIntercontinental 2012 crowning in Aachen, Germany on November 23, 2012.

A relaxing flight from London Heathrow to Dusseldorf I met friends at the airport who had just flown in fromIstanbul. Together the three of us made our way from Dusseldorf airport to the Art Hotel Superior in Aachen. One hour drive from Dusseldorf…thankfully the beautiful Madelina (Miss Lebanon 2011 in the Miss Intercontinental pageant) and I got chatting away and the time flew by.

As always when I get together with friends there was a need for shopping…the day of the event we went into the maintown. From shoes to jackets to jewellery and even a cheeky ice-cream we did it all. We even managed to make a salon appointment for 6:15pm to have our hair to be styled for the event.

The day was getting on and we were hungry from all the shopping. Another friend had landed in Germany that morning and met us in town for a spot of sushi before the show. Before we knew it 5pm had snuck up on us, it was time to get back to the hotel and begin getting ready.

Hailing a cab in Aachen turned out to be a bigger challenge than thought, the restaurant called a cab for us and we were officially running late. It was 5:45pm when we made it back to the room, our intention…to shower, get dressed, apply make-up and get in a cab by 6:15 to get to the salon (yes we were going to be late!).

Nothing like a challenge an hour before an event…6:45pm and we had missed our salon appointment, I set up the bathroom in my hotel suite and began styling myself before Miss Lebanon 2011 came bouncing in and needing help with her hair. 7:20pm and we were ready…talk about a rush, we had 40 minutes to get to the venue, find our seats and enjoy the show.

7:55pm we land on the red carpet leading up the entranceway at the Eurogress Aachen. Snapped by photographers we made our way to the table set for the Fashion Days crew and not a second later the light dimmed and the show began.

Streamed via live Satellight the 41^stMiss Intercontinental Pageant was filled with talented, articulate girls but only one could take the crown…A big CONGRATULATIONS to Miss Venezuela, Daniela Chalbaud, 21 years of age. She received the crown “Spirit of Holy Water” from last years winner Jessica Hartman of USA.

Check out the full results and top 15 atthe official results page of Miss Intercontinental.

Miss Intercontinental 2012 - Daniela Chalbaud, Venezuela

Tickets in to - VIP of course :)

The top 5 - LtoR Thailand, England, Venezuela, Porto Rico
and South Africa (image courtesy of Missosology)

Thursday, 22 November 2012

A Walker through Wonderland

Over the weekend I had a couple of friends from overseas in town and we made our way to Somerset House for a viewing of Tim Walker Storyteller, an exhibition of the works of this remarkable photographer.

As you enter the exhibition you are instantly taken into the imaginative mind of Tim Walker. The oversized props used in his shoots were feature pieces in each room you entered; from the plane used in the March 2009 shoot for Vogue UK featuring Lily Donaldson to the living doll in the January 2012 shoot for Vogue Italia featuring Lindsey Wixson.

Photographs were hung from walls detailing quotes from the great mind himself.

"Sometimes when you are taking a picture an extraordinary sense of luck and chance takes over and propels you to make pictures that you couldn't in your wildest dreams have imagined. This is the magic of photography."

Centre pieces on display were housed in wooden boxes complementing the soft colour pellet of the works.

The extravagant scale and visually appealing nature of Tim Walker's works makes the exhibition a must see. Entry is free and the exhibition is running until 27 January 2013.

Harpers Bazaar 2009

Time Walker Exhibition - Somerset House 2012

Vogue 2009

Time Walker Exhibition - Somerset House 2012

Vivienne Westwood portrait - 2009

Vogue 2012

Time Walker Exhibition - Somerset House 2012

Tuesday, 13 November 2012

Kiev, Kerch and Kaleidoscope Views

Last week I flew in to Kiev, Ukraine for a meeting. As I had never been to Ukraine before I was quite excited and I had no idea what to expect.

As I made my way to the Fairmont Grand Hotel I was rugged up to the max as winter was settling in.

When business was done, I was invited to celebrate a dear friends anniversary in Kerch. A plane ride to Simferopol and a 3 hour car ride later we were in the most divine setting alongside the back sea. Thank fully the weather was a little more adaptable in Kerch.

After a few days discussing business and a wild celebration, I had the opportunity to view the beautiful city. As we made our way through the town square and up to the Great Mithridates Staircase, the ancient architecture was breathtaking. The stone calved griffins, the arched stone detailing, with each of the 428 steps you saw a little more detail of history.

Once we reached the top the view was phenomenal. I could not help but think of a painter and the joy they would get sitting on top of Mount Mithridat and putting the final strokes on a detailed oil painting.

The streets of Kerch have so much history behind them and to anyone who has the time, I highly recommend a visit. I personally want to come back in Summer to lay by the beach and swim in the back sea...time to plan the work schedule for summer.

Here are a few quick snap shots I took whilst exploring this wonderful city.

View from the top of Mount Mithridat

The Griffin statue in the town centre.

Obelisk of Glory on the Mount Mithridat built in 1944

Local School housed in historical building

Kerch city

The streets of Kerch

Make it POP

Art has had many tendencies over the years, one of which emerged in the mid 1950s in Britain - it was that of Pop Art.

Posing a challenge to the fine art traditions that preceded it, pop art became not so much about the content of the works but the attitudes that developed and embraced it.

Pop art often takes imagery from popular culture such as advertising and news as its subject matter.

One of the most well know artist of the pop art world was Andy Warhol. Warhol in his days understood shopping and the allure of celebrity. Together these obsessions drove the economy post World War 2. During this time Warhol captured an authentic American aesthetic through packaging products and people in his works. Warhol exploited his own ideas and his own creative talent to make money and enjoy his, and help others have their, "15 minutes of fame" - an expression he widely used and coined.

Warhol understood colour influences and their effects based on historical findings of Goethe. According to Goethe, what we see of an object depends upon the object, the lighting and what we believe it to be - our perception of what it is. For example, red makes you hungry, this is why McDonalds uses the colour in their advertising as apposed to blue which is a calming colour and would not entice one to eat.

Complimenting his use of colour Warhol focused on graphics works as he believed it to exhibit more than normal significance in a rapidly changing world with the development of technologies.

Andy Warhol died on February 22, 1987 but his art lives on.

Marilyn Monroe - Andy Warhol piece from 1967

Mickey Mouse - Andy Warhol piece from 1981

Dom Perignon tribute to Andy Warhol 2002

Money Sign - Andy Warhol

Andy Warhol

Monday, 12 November 2012

The Secret's Out...

Year after year I await the Angels.

I am talking about the annual Victoria's Secret Fashion Show Angels that is. The night of glitz and glamour that sees the likes of Miranda Kerr, Alessandra Ambrosio, Adriana Lima and a more recent addition Karlie Kloss rock the runway in the latest VS collections.

On November 7, 2012 New York City was overrun by angels. The show included performances by Rihanna and Justin Bieber with the show not set to air on CBS until December 4 here is a snippet of some of my favourite images to emerge from the show.