Emerging Fervour

How fabulously vintage is Katrina? We love her individual, quirky style and we are chuffed to bits that she is showing us her wardrobe!!

Katrina This outfit just makes me feel so happy, like a tap dancing sailor!

Katrina This dress has been in my wardrobe for six months and hasn’t ever been worn out for a number of reasons, generally my friends fear of the dead fox and yellow being a terrible colour on me. However this is still of of my favourite pieces and I get so much joy from just seeing the little fox peeking out from the rail from time to time.

It was just a few days ago that I wrote about Emeka Alams, the man behind Gold Coast Trading, and already I feel like I’ve known him for years. He’s definitely my kind of person…Honest and true to himself. None of that bullshit bravado you get with some creative heads…just a cool, down-to-earth guy.

Tell us a bit about yourself, who is the real Emeka behind Gold Coast Trading?

Hmm, I’m still trying to figure that out. I don’t wanna sound like a personal ad in the paper but I love/need to travel! I love to roam around Africa and when I can make shorts pit stops out your way. Since starting Gold Coast, I’ve been chained to the States and I’m dying to get back home to Abidjan but during the time here I’ve been able to learn a lot about myself. The switch from my first brand to Gold Coast has taught me a lot about who I am and what matters the most to me, real friends and family. I’ve learnt that even in unsure times, if you stick to your foundation and don’t let problems or strange situations shake it, things work out. All I really know for sure is I have a very strong passion to design and an extreme love for Africa, those two are my focus.

Great intro…and amazing work, loving the prints…no need to ask you where you get your inspiration from, but I’d love to know who inspires you?

African music played heavy! Afrikan Boy and BLK JKS have been a huge part of the design process for the current collection and the F/W 10 release. Their music is the sound of Gold Coast, when I play “Molalatladi” by BLK JKS, wow things happen! Also the style movements within Africa, like la Sape and the Smartez have been amazing to watch and extremely inspiring! They really blend the world-town culture whilst keeping it distinctly African, which is my goal with Gold Coast. But I think my main source of inspiration comes from other African designers/artist like Rakiyt Zakari, Loza Maléombho, Delphine Diallo, Tunde Ogunnoiki, Cassi Gibson and Yodit Eklund to name a few.

Have you always wanted to be a designer or did it just happen?

Nah, I wanted to be a chef or an architect ha! I have to admit that when I was like six, I would get up at 5am to watch the international fashion report every Saturday morning! I really don’t know why, but the whole fashion world and its process – especially at that time was extremely fascinating to me but being in fashion wasn’t like a dream of mine or anything like that. Honestly, I just kinda stumbled into this whole thing and so far things have worked out very well!

Being a designer isn’t an easy ride…what was your toughest moment and how did you overcome it?

Getting stabbed in the back by former business partners. That rocked me pretty bad! I was too trusting and a bit naive as to how attention and buzz can change people. I’ve been in wars in Africa and all other kind of crazy situations but that cut just as deep. When you trust someone and not only that – you fight, sacrifice and work your fingers to bones for them, its jarring. So I sulked for a day and then immediately moved on the the next one! I took it as a lesson and learnt from it, I got smarter. I let that pain and anger drive me to be even better than I was before! This is my culture! My family is there, my friends are there and I do it to shine light on them. I’ve been through so so much in Africa, it’s my heart! There was no way I was going to let someone who knows nothing of it, try and dictate what it means to be African or what it’s like to be immersed in the culture. Things are working out well!

Learning from your mistakes is the most valuable lesson…I learnt that the hard way! Last question, you have 24 hours to live…what would you do?

Ummmm ha ha, Welll…lets hope I never have to decide! What would you do!? You want to come to Africa?!

I’d gather my family together and tell them how much I love them, and if I’ve ever wronged anyone I’d call and ask for forgiveness, then I’d pray and pray…and pray some more and finally I’d make a trip to Abidjan and eat some homemade fufu!

Kristian Aadnevik is 32, he’s Norwegian and he’s super-talented. After working for Harrods International, Charles Jourdan and Alexander McQueen, he decided to set up his own label in 2004. Take a peek at some of his masterpieces…

S/S 2009

His label is often described as gloomy, opulent and glamorous…another one of London’s ‘next big thing’. Educated at the Royal College of Art in London, Kristian combines the technical knowledge of a skilled couturier with the charm of a screenwriter. Undecided between fairytale and horror, he explains: “For me every collection is like a film starring the heroines I dress; plots and stories change, but my muse remains the same, she is the protagonists who evolves and explores life.”

AW 08-09

Last week, I wrote about Tetsuya Uenobe and his amazing footwear…this week I have something even better…words from Tetsuya himself. Check out his interview below.

Tetsuya, I adore your work and it’s obvious passion is your drive. But do you find it difficult breaking into the mainstream fashion market with such unusual creations?

Yes I understand that. My artline is like a performance to show my ability and passion. I hope people like my other lines on my website. At the beginning, I just made shoes that were only slightly ‘arty’, which I exhibited at a few trade shows; however this left very little interest from buyers. There were probably two main reasons for this, cost, and of course nothing was particularly eye-catching. This is the reason why I have changed my train of though and instead, decided that making people smile and ignoring budget issues would be the way forward. And besides, If I did not have my artline, you would not be interested in my works!?

Hmmm, you have a point there…So we know that you worked with Hanae Mori, that must have been a dream come true for you, what did you learn from your time spent with her?

She was an organiser for the exhibitions you mentioned in your previous post (the Open Gallery and the Art Tower Mito). She managed whole concepts and checked the themes and quality of the work on display. I had an interview with her once and the opportunity to have a chat each time during both exhibitions. She was always curious about the work going up. I took a lot from the talks we had; she asked me in the interview if I read newspaper – I think this means I have to be open minded and not just look straight ahead, but all around. She also advised me that I should hire at least 3 employees within 5 years. I took from that, that I should increase my brand awareness and grow it into a respected and stable label.

A product of West Africa, I love anything to do with the place, and fashion is no exception….check out my piece on Senegal if you missed it; but this isn’t about a white chick in African dress, it’s about Emeka Alams, the brains behind Gold Coast Trading co, formerly known as 21MC. Art and creativity has been in his blood since he can remember. When you have so much passion for something, success is just an inevitable chapter.

Residing between Abidjan and the States, romanticising about his African roots is what makes his label what it is today. Mixing West Africa’s bright colours, patterns and print into versatile and familiar pieces just make me fall in love with the guy.

At school I was really into conceptual art…but that was because I was really shit at the detailed stuff. However, Jo Cope is different…her mix of detailed conceptual stuff is A* work, maybe a little strange too, but hey…it’s unique. Check it out…

For the rest, visit Jo’s site at www.jocope.com

Originally studying fashion design, Cope became aware of the limitations she had with the normal routes of fashion and felt pretty restricted by them as you can clearly see so she decided to go the conceptual route. She also uses fashion as an unlikely tool to create visual metaphors for biblical text. Starting many of her concepts from the same reference point she generates new forms of delivery, contrasting the fiscal with the non fiscal.

When?: 2 February 2010 9:00 am -  26 February 2010 6:00 pm

Seeing the line up for the London a la Mode Pop-UP Showroom, which is going to open its door between 2nd and 26th February to buyers, we wish we could get our own ‘limited’ stock.

Ada Zanditon, Beautiful Soul, Michelle Lowe-Holder, Viking Wong, Lako Bukia, Neurotica, Harriet’s Muse, Miss Kiki Salon, Darkest Star, Cute Circuit and Jeffrey Michael Design will be showcasing their collections.

Ada Zanditon

Beautiful Soul

Michelle Lowe-Holder

Viking Wong

Lako Bukia

Neurotica

Harriet’s Muse

Darkest Star

Cute Circuit

Jeffrey Michael Design

The first time I checked out Tetsuya’s work, I was a little lost for words. I mean, it’s not every day that you see something like this from a footwear designer…

Or how about these?

Tetsuya Uenobe studied shoe design at the London College of Fashion after moving from Japan. After this little stint in London, Tetsuya moved back to Japan to set up his label ‘UENOBE’ in 2003, where he’s become a household name for his out-there creations.

You may think that these creations are more like pieces of art than ready-to-wear…and you’d be right because Tetsuya has exhibited his collection at the Open Gallery at Omotesando, Tokyo and contemporary art museum, Art Tower Mito – both of these exhibitions were recommendations by Hanae Mori, Japans most prominent and respected fashion designers AND the only female Japanese designer to have presented her collections on the London and Paris runways.

When I was young (give me a moment to wipe the tears away), there was this amazing music called French House. Stardust, Daft Punk, Modjo and Cassius were my heroes. It was the perfect mix of Beats and Disco, literally to dance the night away. When I first listened to Louis La Roche I wasn’t sure if this was either a “Best of French House” compilation or Daft Punk, Stardust and Hot Chip had decided to make a record together. But it turned out to be a 19 years old guy called Brett Ewels from London.
Although his musical influences are obvious, he’s not just copying or reanimating French House. It’s a really creative homage to this genre, but in his own way.
Louis La Roche brings the disco back to where it belongs: on the dance floor.
Buy his EP’s Me & Her and the new released Super Soaker and watch out for his debut album I Delete Myself, which will be released later this year.
Summer smells like Louis La Roche, I’d say.

‘Me’ has certainly been busy over the last few month. We’ve met Amma who is behind ‘Me’ at the ‘Room 202‘ event, which she organised and where we saw, touched and fell in love with her leather accessories.

Although you are able to buy from the current site (www.wear-me.co.uk) we’re so excited to see the new shop which is easy to use and compliments the products like a an online shop should. And what is next? There is a blog on its way, we can’t wait to see what goodies ‘Me’ will share with us. And on top of that new events are being lined up such as ‘teach Me’, a beginners bag making workshops or ‘hang with Me’ where you have the opportunity to be creative over a glass of wine. Of course we’ll let you know when this is all happening.