Sunday 2 November 2014

Oscar de la Renta


As a tribute to the amazing work over several decades by Oscar de la Renta I'm posting up some images of beautiful dresses designed by his couture house.  Not afraid to use bold colour and dramatic fairytale shapes in the 21st Century, this small selection is a reminder of ladylike form and feminine couture.



















   






 




Wednesday 22 October 2014

Mod inspired shoot

From time to time I'll post some of my favourite images from shoots I've worked on.

The photos below are from a fun Mod themed shoot I organised a few weeks ago with Duncan Holmes Photography, Leanne Mckillop modelling, Naomi Baxter and Chrisyine Thomson doing a super job with make up and hair respectively.


Monday 13 October 2014

Psychomoda - new season pieces.

I went to Edinburgh a couple of weeks ago to see what was new in the Psychomoda shop (22 St.Mary's Street, Edinburgh - 0131 557 6777 - www.psychomoda.co.uk).

I've been a fan of Psychomoda for a few years and I've used some of the great clothing in several different shoots and featured in Eris Events shows.  Alison Harm owns the shop and makes the contemporary tartan dresses and separates in addition to running the Red Carpet Dresses, and she pops over to Amsterdam every so often to source some vintage pieces to upcycle or sell on.  I caught up with her latest collection with model Kinga who showed off a few pieces from the shop beautifully.

First up are some of Psychomoda's own designs.


For the purpose of the shoot I put Kinga in black tights and shoes (with a grey top on the blue tartan skirt and shrug) but there are plenty of options to style it up.  

I think these Irregular Choice shoes on the left (£79.99) would look great with the blue skirt and shrug. The more simple blue suede from Office (£58) is a perfect colour and will be versatile for many outfits. Instead of the grey top, the white shirt (Next £48) is a sharper alternative, I chose that thinking of traditional dress frilled shirts and thought this would be a contemporary option. For outer wear, I love the blue coat from Ness (£119) or a different option to go with the tartan skirt to give the look a more punked up edge (a wee hint of Vivienne Westwood) would be to wear it with a biker jacket (faux leather £50 from Topshop). 

I like to give a choice of a least two jewellery options, and the ones I've selected for this look are the Thomas Sabo blue pendant disc (£35) and the Swarovski Angelic set (£99).




The boot with the green detailing will give this dress a modern look and hint at an olde-worlde look with the lace and button detail (Irregular Choice Betseys Buttons £94.99).  I love the Topshop Faux Fur Buckle Cape £35 - the soft grey goes really well with the dress and the boots, and the green bar clutch bag from Next £14 brings the colour in the whole outfit to life.  There were lots of jewellery options, but my favourite for this is the Swarovski Pure pendant (£119).



For this vintage look (white beaded 60s top and sunray pleat skirt) I used metallic block heel ankle strap shoes (£12 from Primark!) and a white belt with silver coloured buckle and pearl jewellery from Psychomoda's stock to create a very elegant contemporary look which I love, and Kinga looked fantastic in the bright white.  I'd keep to white or ivory for this outfit to keep it sharp, with maybe the exception of this Retro White & Multi Colour Disc necklace £20.00 from Past Times, boots are by Poste Mistress from Office (£115), the faux shearling fur jacket is £75 from Topshop and the boxy cross body bag from is from Next (£24)



The gold embroidered dress was paired with black tights and Kinga's own boots on the day of the shoot.  I'd prefer to see bare legs or nude tights with gold shoes (both from Office) £58 on the left and £55 on the right.  The coat with faux fur collar to pick up the warm tones in the outfit is from Miss Selfridge (£89), and to finish off a gorgeous Autumn look, the mink leather zip gloves £39 from Next will go really well.  In keeping with the warm Autumn tones, the faux Snakeskin design clutch bag  is £25 from M&S.
 


The turquoise ruffle blouse and jade green velvet 80s trouser will look great with either of these two pairs of shoes from Office (both £65)  The colours in the two pieces of clothing are picked out in the Chunky Bead Bracelet £15 from Past Times, or alternatively the Swarovski Blue pendant £99 would look beautiful.  The Mini Structured Wing Tote Bag from Next £34 is in green and blue (and other colours) which gives you the choice of the bag picking up your favourite colour in the outfit.  The smaller blue boxy cross body gives you another choice if you prefer to go for the blue and is £24 from Next.



These new Red Carpet velvet dresses come in ruby red, forest green and royal blue and there are going to be a load of options to style these very opulently, beginning with the red dress, the scarlet velvet Red Or Dead ankle strap mules (£34.99) for a great colour match to the lovely Hush Puppy boots (£80.00) for stronger styling of a medieval look.  The beautiful jewelled Fan earrings are £12 from Accessorize, the rich red Bulaggi handbag from Next is £78, finished with a stunning handmade mink faux fur headband £18 from Ursula Treasures and the Millie coat is £249 from Hobbs.



The green shoe with the purple detailing is in keeping with the style of the dress itself: (Irregular Choice Poetic Licence Backlash £94.99).  The Swing coat by Goldie at Topshop £79keeps the long elegant line and slim silhouette and the lovely Mersey Mini Winged tote bag by LYDC from Next £27 keeps this all very ladylike.  I completed it with a dark contrasting Swarovski Brunette pendant (£119) and green & black gemstone stud earrings from Ursula Treasures (£5!)


I love both these blue shoes for different reasons.  The boot is edgy and would give the flowing dress a much more contemporary look, and for more formal and traditional looks the blue lace shoe with a lower heel would be really pretty.  The 'Versailles' necklace from Accessorize is just gorgeous, and will sit perfectly in the shallow V neckline of the dress. These dresses flow from the empire waistline, so a deep belt to bring it in at the waist would be a great idea - I found really lovely matching blue belt by EleSva at Etsy.  To carry on the long line of the outfit and the wintry feel from the strong blue colour, I chose the Topshop Longline Throw On coat £110 to add in as outerwear, and the Bar clutch bag £14 from Next in a slightly lighter shade of blue brings everything together very well.

I'm not advising a colour-overload where you go head to toe in one colour in any of these options, but giving you ideas of what will complement the dress, skirt, trousers and top you choose to wear.  Keep looking good!









Tuesday 30 September 2014

Welcome to my Style World

I'm Jacki Clark, a Glasgow based stylist writing this blog to talk about the Scottish fashion industry creativity and demonstrate the potential there is to develop personal style by giving advice to followers of the blog.

As a stylist I've had several pieces of work published in British and European print and online magazines and is set to launch another side of my business as an image Consultant.  I'm the Creative Director of Eris Events and in addition I've worked on Beyonce's Mrs Carter Tour as Costume Assistant, and as costume designer on several Scottish indy films.




My career in the Scottish Creative Industry began over 10 years ago training as a theatre set designer, then progressing to work in short films as Art Director and working as a scenehand for BBC Scotland.  Around the same time I began planning and organising live events, beginning with burlesque shows with some amazing performers with fabulous dramatic costumes.


After the burlesque and cabaret events ran their course the concept of Eris Events was born, focusing on the wealth of Scottish clothing design talent and developing the character of Eris as a Celtic Warrior Queen leading the battle to overthrow commercial domination.  Several themed fashion shows have been organised, run and promoted by myself, including "The Show To End them All" at the end of December 2012,  based on the Mayan end of the world prophecies with an apocalyptic scene showcasing some brilliant designers collections ; a military thened show with the Creative New Model Army marching down the catwalk in splendid khaki toned tailoring by House Of Heretics, and a vibrant romantic gypsy carnival show.


My ethos is about fashion being a means of self expression by the individual and their lifestyle, not about using fashion as a status symbol by wearing expensive pieces with prestigious logos.  Clothing can be used to reflect your mood, be practical and as a representation of your 'tribe,' the collective of what you want to convey when your appearance speaks for you. The logo emblazoned look still conveys who the person is, but that's through the use of only the prestige of an expensive brand and its logo rather than the details of colour, texture and pattern of more expressive, unique styling.  It's more about making yourself understood effectively and less about trying to impress someone.

I've recently completed 'The Professional Photo, Film, TV & Personals Stylist@' course run by The British College Of Professional styling which was a super correspondence course with an assignment to complete at the end of 8 of the 12 tutorials.  The course gave information on what the work includes, advice about the career paths to choose, and stylists' tips and advice.  Assignments included styling for studio shoots, styling for catalogue and magazine spreads, marketing (networking, websites, blogging), film costume design, and body shape, colour and wardrobe analysis for clients.  Once I've done a few more trial consultations I'll be launching that part of the business to paying clients, and I'm really looking forward to doing that!  It was a self paced course, which meant that I could do it in my own time around other commitments.

I look forward to sharing my styling experiences as I work my way along.