Eleanor Rose FCP

Fashions next generation…. the over 60’s!

As we all know there has been an amazing serge of empowerment flooding social media and all sectors recently. Wether it be female empowerment, gender equality, race equality its clear to see there is a movement of acceptance happening.

One branch of this is equality of the ages. For as long as the fashion industry has been alive there has been one particular age group who have been neglected. The over 60’s. The thought behind this neglect is that even though the over 60’s are a huge consumer and invest much more money into the industry than Millenials or Gen-Z, that the clothing should still target the youth to be aspirational and that  hopefully the older generation will also be inspired to re-live or reminisce on their own youth through the ads/clothing.

One particular social media queen Lyn Slater is extremely opposed to taking her “place” as an older woman and is paving the way for other women of her generation and younger through her blog ACCIDENTALICON.

Brands have noticed the buzz around the missing representation and are using it to their advantage. For example last year Mango launched a campaign featuring Lyn and recieved a lot of positive publicity because of it.

More recently Sies Marjan featured Issabelle Rossin in the brands first mens wear collection campaign.

Celine have also played a part in this movement. Featuring novelist Joan Didion in a recent campaign.

I adore this movement and I thoroughly hope it is here to stay and not just a trend. Campaigns showing all skin shades and body types have already emerged but in order to show real diversity and truly represent all consumers, age range should be shown too. Personally I am a fan of Greynnaisance because I have always feared the day I hit the “cut your hair, and wear a floor length skirt” age and if this movement allows the older generation to not feel restrained by fashion or excluded from it then I am all here for it. I also think there is something extremely inspiring for the younger people seeing a well dressed, well cultured older woman/man such as icon Iris Apfel.

If your interested in learning a bit more about the older generations and fashion among them I highly reccomend Netflix documentary “Advanced style”.

INSTAGRAM : ELLIEJACKSON12

Edward Enninful joined British Vogue at the end of 2017 with a vision of diversity and celebration of British culture in mind, as Edwards mother had moved to England as an immigrant when he was a child his knowledge of British culture is a melting pot and he has definatly emulated this in the May 2018 Issue of vogue “New frontiers”.

In an recent Vogue.com article Edward said “time has come for us to look forward. In short, it is a moment for Vogue to do what it has always done best: to offer a bold vision of what the future can – and should – look like.” READ THE ARTICLE HERE

The cover was shot by Craig McDean British Fashion Photographer and is a vision of what Edward’s Vogue thinks the future should look like. The most upcoming female influencers and Models are featured on the cover. All different skin colours, sizes, nationalities are represented.  Aside from the physical diversity the models also come from varying backgrounds including refugee camps. Edward was quoted saying “To me they represent a new global idea that anything is possible.”

The styling was consciously dressing the women to be ready for anything. Durable,versitile and strong. I love the styling of this cover. It’s no fads and to me the similar shades and silhouettes shows off the women themselves and sets them all on a level playing field.

If you are or aren’t a vogue buyer/reader I highly recommend purchasing this May issue, simply because you are watching history be made. Like it or not Vogue and the fashion industry have a huge influence on every tiny part of our lives ( if you think it doesn’t effect you, it does). Wether it be physically the trends we wear or physiologically the way we view different people. Vogue is a power house and we should all be supporting anybody/corporation who are trying to change stigmas and create a more accepting future.

Last night was the private viewing for NTU’s first ever Fashion Communication and Promotion 1st year Exhibition.  153 students work was shown, mine being one of them.

The work shown was from an assignment produced back before Christmas, which I have posted on here before. If you haven’t seen the images before these are them.

There are 36 groups work being shown in the exhibition and each group was given a set of words to inspire the photography. For example My group was given the accessory “bag”. Which we took in the way of plastic bags. If you want to read more about the shoot itself and the ideas/concepts behind it CLICK HERE to my previous post.

The exhibition was incredible and is available to see in the Bonnington Building at Nottingham Trent University untill the 29th of March.

I recently had the opportunity to take part in a Fragrence work shop with a company called Experimental perfume club. This was to aid a current assigment focusing on the story telling behind a product/concept.

Experimental perfume Club is a company who allow you to “design and create your bespoke fragrance in a perfume lab”. The concept of the company is “tell your story through fragrance”. They offer workshops to aspiring perfumers and offer a service to create bespoke scents for any occasion or brand.

CLICK HERE TO VISIT THE WEBSITE

We started out by learning some fragrance terminology. We did this by smelling and trying to pick out key notes in different fragrances we were given. In Perfume there are three main groups of scent that are used to make one fragrance/perfume:

TOP: “The intrigue, instant impression, but fleeting e.g citrus 30%”.                                       HEART: “The signature, most important characteristics e.g floral, aromatic, spicy 40%”.                                                                                                                                               BASE: “The Depth , lingers longest , roots the scent e.g oriental , woody, musky 30%”.

There are names given to scents with similar traits and these are called “Olfactory notes”. Bellow you can see common groupings.

Before we delved into mixing notes we followed the steps taken by professionals and decided on a scent story that we were aiming to create a fragrance to represent. I decided on a fragrance for a “Generation Z” politically aware individual who has no interest in conforming to gender roles especially, and is looking for a fragrance that could be sold without restrictions of who it is aimed for. With this story in mind we began mixing our notes.

In Fragrance everything is measured in Grams and adds up to 100%. This is because commonly when creating you are filling a bottle that holds 10g this just allows the mathematics to be simple. For example we used 35%/3.5g of citrus, 25%/2.5g of Amber,  15%/1.5g of Spicy,  10%/1g Woody and then accented with 10%/1g of floral and 5%/0.5g Fruity.

The workshop was thoroughly enjoyable but also extremely educational and has helped me understand terminology/ the ways to describe fragrance in ways that will allow me to articulate myself correctly and professionally when it comes to creating the story/ product for my future fragrance for the assignment.

FOLLOW ME ON INSTAGRAM HERE 

FOLLOW EXPERIMENTAL PERFUME CLUB HERE 

Recently on my degree we have been looking into Innovative branding and Converse is a brand who stood out to me as being just that. I, like many have been part of a generation who grew up wearing converse for practicality as children and still choose to wear them now as an adult. I have had a pair of converse throughout my whole life and this is why. Converse are effortlessly cool, extremely affordable and yet still amazing quality and stand the test of time. (In some opinions even getting better with time.)

So why are Converse so “innovative” in their branding?…They know how to please everyone and are appealing to all markets. I had a look into what archetypes converse can fit themselves into. Using many of the same images I found at least five different groupings I could arrange them into.

Theres a pair of converse for everyone and they are non exclusive. With everyone from a three year old, your Grandma and Gigi Hadid wearing them. The brand understands the need to develop with the world and does so by choosing ambassadors carefully. People they view as up coming and in the midst of the pop culture. This is a recent advertisement campaign called “forever chuck” showing people/ celebrities from all different sectors candidly wearing Chucks. Including Millie Bobby Brown a upcoming star thoroughly routed in todays pop culture due to staring roll in award winning series Stranger Things. The brand is aware of its surroundings and keeps itself relevant without shoving itself in our faces.

DO YOU OWN A PAIR OF CONVERSE? I BET ON A WHOLE THE ANSWER IS YES. ASK YOURSELF WHY?

Just making a little wish list for anybody who fancy making getting me a little gift;)

These are a few things I have been lusting over for the past few weeks/months and years.

I saw these flares before Christmas and fell in love. I didn’t purchase them because i had a feeling they would go into the sale. And I was correct. Click HERE to get them at the sale price.

Its safe to say that the Baker boy cap has had a huge come back this past season. I have wanted one for a little while but have been holding off because I had a feeling that they wouldn’t be around too long, however I think i may be wrong so I could be very soon purchasing this particular one. Click HERE  to purchase. 

I have wanted one of these shaggy cardigans since about September but event wanted to take the plunge because I’m not sure wether its worth the money but i will be for sure pouncing on it as soon as there is a sale. This can be worn day and night and will spice up any outfit. 

So there we have it a few of my items on my wish list right now. If anybody fancy treating me it would not go un-noticed.

I really believe the Topshop X Stranger things collaboration was the best of 2017. It was so clever and extremely successful.

Topshop noticed the buzz Stranger things had created during season 1 and made sure they were going to be the first to sell merchandise for the show. This was perfect for Topshop because the series and the shop have the exact same audience and topshop had realised because of the shows 80’s setting the revival of the 80’s in fashion that there was a gap in the market for bringing stranger things off the screen and into fashion.

They were very clever in the Launch of the collection and created a huge buzz around it by creating installations of scenes from the series in the head oxford street store. People were so excited because the show had became cult and being able to see the sets in person brought the love for the show to new extremes. The fact the merchandise was limited made it even more special as people were rushing to grab something before it was all gone.

I really do think this was the best campaign of 2017 because it supported both sides. The show gained even more anticipation and topshop many more customers.

Although investing sounds like it would be expensive it is cheaper in the long term. Investing in your look saves you from constantly wasting your money on fast fashion. However there are only certain items that I would invest in and these are : Bags, shoes, coats/jackets and accessories.

A good classic bag can last you a lifetime and if picked correctly will never go out of style.  A good quality bag does not have to cost you thousands, there are plenty of lower scale designers who’s quality and style are just as good. For example : Micheal Kors , Ralph Lauren , Marc Jacobs and plenty of others.

When it comes to accessories other than bags I believe an item worth investing in is a good pair of sunglasses. beside the fact that bad quality sunglasses can do more harm to your eyes than good they often don’t last very long. the plastic becomes brittle and they are easily breakable. Along with quality a good pair of sunglasses can change an entire look. A nice pair of designer glasses can take a Primark outfit and make it look expensive. Sunglasses are also a great way into the designer market because they are the most affordable products high end companies sell. Have a look into Raybans , Celine and my favourite Muimui.

A good pair of shoes can be worn day in day out and simply have the heels updated when needed. Leather lasts a life time and Colour stays bright. Shoes do not need to be expensive and do not need to be designer in order to be good quality as most hughstreet stores sell leather, well heeled shoes for a reasonable price. Shoes are a necessity so save yourself the time money and hassle and invest in a good pair.