Emma Jane Clothing

Three weeks ago I got cabin fever and decided to escape to London. So I hot-footed it to the train station, shelled out £60 for a one way ticket, and headed off to the Big Smoke. And once I was there, where’s the first place I went? Why, Camden of course! Shopping Mecca. So after buying a pair of killer heels and meeting my friend for a Kopparberg, I wandered off to the Electric Ballroom in search of a bargain.



That’s where I first discovered Emma-Jane. Tucked away on a tiny stall in the Ballrooms corner was the most fantastic selection of repro boudoir lingerie I’d ever seen. I bought some black and white stripy knickers, took Emma-Janes card and promised to get in touch. I caught up with her a couple of weeks later to find out more about a fashion renegade who eschews style rules and icons in favour of spontaneity and a DIY ethic. In her own words, “I just wear whatever I like, whenever I like!”
Based in East London, Emma Jane started out when her mother used to teach her to embroider and sew from an early age. Various attempts (some successful!) at making her own clothes led to her taking an O.N.D & H.N.D in Fashion Design when she left school, but from there the path wasn’t so smooth, as EJ explained:

“I found it hard to get into Fashion Design when I left college so worked in various shops for years! I got married a few years back & my husband was going to open a shop so I stayed at home sewing/designing clothes with the aim of selling the clothes when we had the shop! The shop never happened & I still had all the clothes I'd made, so eventually I decided to try to sell them at Spitalfields market as I discovered I loved being at home & making clothes! It was a success & I'm now selling my clothes from my website (www.emmajaneclothing.com) & from Camden's 'The Electric Ballroom', London!.”

Emma-Jane now has an impressive catalogue of beautiful home-made items ranging from baby-doll lingerie sets to gingham dresses and mens dungarees, all of which are one-off pieces made by the lady herself, dreamed up and bought to reality as she goes along:


“I design my collection spontaneously. I get the idea of what I'm going to make just by seeing the fabric, usually! I get inspiration from the fabric type/colour etc. & the design just comes to me from there!”



Despite the massive amounts of interest people have in her designs and the success of the business so far, Emma Jane has no plans to expand, claiming autonomy as her reason;


"I do everything myself,the designing, fabric buying,making etc..I don't want to employ anyone else!"



So for now, it seems, Emma Jane Clothing is going to remain the Electric Ballrooms best kept secret...

http://www.emmajaneclothing.com/ - check it out ASAP!

© Copyright Betti Hunter 2009

Anna Sui

As she's been my favourite designer since I can remember, i thought it would be fitting to kickstart this blog with a quick biography of Ms Sui, and a look at her new collection.

Anna Sui
b.1964, Detroit, Michigan
Moved to New York to study at Parsons School of Design.
After leaving Parsons,she worked for a variety of junior sportswear companies whilst designing clothes from her apartment which went on to retail at etseemed New York department stores Macy's and Bloomingdales. Encouragement came from supermodel friends Linda Evangelista and Naomi Campbell, and in 1991 she launched her first catwalk show to astounding success. Following the impressive reception her first collection received, she opened her own boutique at 113 Greene Street in Soho, New York. As word spread, Sui's reputation flew to stratospheric heights, and now her runway shows are world reknowned and anticipated for their unique music selection, background designs, and of course, the jaw-dropping designs themselves.
During her time as a designer she has won countless awards and accolades, most notably the CFDA Geoffrey Beeny Lifetime Achievement Award (past winners have included Ralph Lauren, Yves St Laurent and Diane Von Furstenburg. She was also recently named in Time magazines 'Top Five Fashion Icons'. She's built her career on "never pander[ing]" (attrib. New York Times)to the media and her critics, a strategy thats seen her profile expanding beyond all belief. In 2007 she launched a more youthful range, Dolly Girl, and in 2009 debuted a childrens line called Anna Sui Mini.
Her other ventures also include designing a line of mobile phones for Samsung, releasing a collection of 12 perfumes (my personal favourite being Secret Wish with the little fairy on the cap!) and for her fall collection premiered a line of exquisite Anna Sui shoes. What next?!

"If you're going to have a show, then have a show." - Anna Sui, 2009

Proust and the 'Paris of the Gay Nineties' were key inspirations for this collection. I've picked out four of my favourite ensembles, the best of which (in my humble opinion) being the insanely nu-dandy brocade jacket (almost a smoking jacket, to my eyes - not too sure on the mad-crow headgear, mind) modelled by the divine Agyness Deyn, which looks like its been pulled straight out of the wardrobes of one of Oscar Wildes hangers-on. Aapart from the standard Autumn-Winter monochrome affairs, there were some beautiful peacock and cerulean blue shades on show, embellished wonderfully with all sorts of brocade, embroidery and beading, and emitting a gloriously decadent vibe. Rose prints, soutache trims and black velvet were also sprinkled liberally throughout the collection, and in my opinion its beaten her slightly 'safe' spring summer collection hands down. Opinions/constructive criticism welcome =)

The yellow light of an opal

on the white-walled houses dies,

the roadway beyond my garden

it glimmers with gloden eyes.

Alone in the faint spring twilight

The crepuscle vague and blue,

Every beat of my pulses

Is quickened by dreams of you.

You whom I know and know not,

You come as you came before,

Here in the misty quiet,

I greet you again once more.

The dim grass stirs with your footstep,

The blue dusk throbs with your smile;

I and the world of glory

are one for a little while.

The spring sun shows me your shadow,

the spring wind bears me your breath,

you are mine for a passing moment

but I am yours to the death.

- Rosamund Marriott Watson

(I thought a nice poem by one of the reknowned 18th century decadents fitted the theme of this post rather well!)