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Opinion: Fashion and Feminism
Djurdja Bartlett, an expert on Soviet fashion and Senior Research Fellow at London College of Fashion, has written how ‘following the 1917 Bolshevik revolution, one of Lenin’s closest collaborators, Alexandra Kollontai, was shunned by her comrades because of her good looks, her smart dresses and her sexually liberated views.’ Bartlett continues on to remark, ‘This… →
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Horst (V&A)
On Wednesday, I had the pleasure of attending the Horst exhibition, a definitive retrospective of the work of Horst P. Horst (1906-99), one of the 20th century’s master photographers, with Carmen Dell’Orefice and David Downton. From left clockwise: Carmen, David and me, Carmen and David. Horst P. Horst (1906-99) created images that transcend fashion and… →
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TIMES HIGHER: Fashion as a Transformative Force
I recently spoke to the Times Higher about our ‘Fashion Education in Prisons’ programme, which sees fashion students work with offenders on an innovative projects which helps boost skills and support rehabilitation. Part of this project is supported by the Sir John Cass Foundation and incredibly important part of our Better Lives campaign at the… →
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INTELLIGENT LIFE: On Yohji Yamamoto
I recently spoke to the Economist’s Intelligent Life Magazine about Yohji Yamamoto, who many of you will know is one of my favorite designers. “Yohji will describe himself sometimes as a dressmaker, but I would say in many ways he is the last of the great couturiers. In the early 1980s, he and a whole… →
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Travel: New York Exhibitions
My trip to New York this month was as always fast paced and stimulating. Meetings with academics, bloggers and curators were interspersed with visits to galleries, new retail outlets and people watching. I had gone to New York primarily to see the Charles James exhibition at the The Metropolitan Museum of Art and it didn’t… →
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Beauty's Inside
The Sir John Cass’s Foundation grant has helped the College continue to develop a unique collaborative project with HMP Send and to produce ‘The Beauty’s Inside’ magazine. Bringing together the skills of our staff, the enthusiasm of our students, and our unique industry contacts, the grant has allowed us to run a series of educational… →
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Clothes to Die For – An Interview with the Director
We interviewed the Director of the BBC 2 documentary ‘Clothes to Die for’ about the people affected by the Rana Plaza disaster. The Rana Plaza Factory collapse site in Bangladesh Photo: Taslima Akhter I wrote about this in my book in an article called ‘The Real Fashion Victims’ here is an excerpt: The majority of… →
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SHOWStudio: Chanel – A/W 2014 Panel Discussion
Yesterday I was at the SHOWStudio Panel Discussion for Chanel A/W 2014 with Lou Stoppard, Caroline Charles, Hilary Alexander, and Grace Woodward an London College of Fashion Alumni. →
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Travel: Helsinki – Into the Light
For me, Helsinki is all about light. It’s what I noticed most during my recent visit, whether streaming through my window at 4:30am, or making the evening seem like the afternoon at 10 pm. I found it hard to know the time of day: insomnia was never far away. But the light it gives clarity… →
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BA14 Season: The Shows
This years show was quite different to previous years I thought, and still very exciting and interesting to see what the students are creating and how well accomplished their collections are. Read more… Backstage… Review on Vogue… →