Prick your Finger

Extracts from Wordworth (coindidently the former resident of Dove Cottage) and Poems from local poets were read out as the gentle click clock of needle industry chimed in the backgorund. We went to Dove cottage to learn about knitting, meet some cool nutsy people and eat fish and chips.

OXCRAM. Oxfam cram it all in.

It seems at last the fickle attitude of today's society has done do gooders a favour. Ten years ago, charity shops were way out. Leaving terrifying visions of brand-less tat surrounded by teapots, miss-matched sherry glasses and endless biographies of would-be celebrities in the minds of the young. A place your granny would drag you too, much to your dismay.

Now however, after the ethical revolution and revival of retro and bargain based bagging, charity shopping is on the radar. The urban Shopping myths, 'Someone actually found a Chanel handbag in help the Aged in Chorley' (who is this girl!?) do help.

With this recent revelation the bargain havens are facing inflation. The sweet, kind hearts who raise money and awareness acquired some business sense, and are marking up accordingly. It's no longer just a jumble sale but somewhere to seek out real fashion. A Jaeger suit wont go mistaken into the three quid bin.

The world renowned Oxfam are taking this new found street cred to another level completely. Oxfam Unique is a charity shop with items specifically selected for a younger, edgier market. There is of course Oxjam, events arranged by anyone who fancies doing musical related fundraising and their association with the likes of Emergency Breaks allowing them to penetrate musical psyches. Going further still they are getting involved with aspiring designers with a scheme encouraging recycling and customising. All these are big steps to ultimately make helping their epic mission accessible and fun.

You can but tickets for the WTF show at Oxfam Wigan and learn all about their world wide mission from improving education in Ghana to supporting victims of conflict in Sudan, at the WTF show itself.


PS. All charity shop dedicates; be careful with blouses, dreaded granny sweat NEVER washes out.

walkwalkwalk..STRUT

Get onto this event..

Same Teens presents STRUT Showcase featuring catwalk shows from Me&Yu, Thunderegg, You Can Make It Happen and If I Can Dream

With DJ sets from Same Teens & Wasted Little DJ's and LIVE MUSIC from Bitterly Ironic and Codette.

The event is being filmed by CHANNEL 4 for T4

*******Secret Celebrity Compere****

FREE GOODIE BAGS (WHILE STOCKS LAST)

Sunday 4th November
Ruby Lounge, Church Street, Manchester
4pm to 7pm


All this for only £4 on the door!!

*This is an all ages event, under 14's must be accompanied by someone over 18 - if your mum and dad won't let you come on your own - bring your big sister.

Alcohol is available strictly for over 18's ONLY - you WILL need ID and a strict door policy will apply.


Exciting! Our Sister, STRUT, are all about fashion and fun. Putting on club nights in various Manchester venues and supporting local northern quarter boutiques. This time as always they are Featuring their faithful friends Me&Yu who are also joining us on the WTF catwalk. This is their first all ages event. Nice!

Manchester Costume Gallery

For anyone who is interested fashion, textiles, art or history, the Gallery is worth a visit. There is also some great historical photography and
Over 21,000 objects covering all aspects of the history of clothing and appearance, from around 1600 to 2005.

Strengths include 18th century fashion and 19th century women's and children's dress. The collection also includes a specialist library of over 18,000 fashion plates, magazines and shop catalogues. There are and accessories and one massive button collection. In recent years collecting has focused on the clothes of major British and European designers, 17th century items, post 1960 material, menswear, occupational clothes; and street wear.


They have recently changed their opening schedule so it's worth a check before you head out. The staff are really helpful and friendly, they took pity on me as I arrived on Wednesday morning and let me look around even though they weren't officially open. I had the whole place to myself for two hours, these are are a few snaps.

Say NO to SuperclassA

Subtlety is over, step off all you casually tousled tamed manes, when is comes to hair there's something crazy in the air... or so the world of celebrity says. Deyn cracked out a different colour for every catwalk, Patricia Field, stylist for Sex & The City, rocks bright red at 60 and Winehouse hobbles Bambi-like beneath her beast of a beehive. Now the usual beauty emporiums have hair dyes, treatments, serums, sachets...all ricocheting of shelves. They are massively expensive and lack any real freedom or creativity. A mission to find a hair colour gets stressful. So when I in search of a change I stumbled across Paul's Hair World, Oldham St in Manchester.

Much like the Beauty stores of south London, it caters for Afro Caribbean and Indian hair needs and makes shopping for toiletries a much more exotic experience. Specialising in fake and real hair extensions and weaves they provide every colour, texture and length you could imagine. However there are all other kinds of surprising special treats. Colourful plastic clips, Velcro rollers and vats of cocoa butter you could sink your foot in and all at really good prices. This small shop served as a happy throw back to hazy days in summer spent browsing 'Black Beauty' in Brixton. Knocking Ghetto earrings off the stand while the woman behind the glass cabinet pipes 'Watch da Weave gurl!'. It is the place to go for some unexpected hair inspiration and its fun too. They sell crazy colours for the knock off price of £2.69 half the southern price. Go nuts with colours like Pinkisimmo or Canary Yellow and Platinum will tone down any brass-like blondes. Some of the most vibrant shades come artistically named; Vermillion, Cyclamen and Bordeaux.


I would like to herald all those who decide to throw caution to the quickly moving air and do something crazy with the hair on their head. Because at the end of it all its only hair and when you die it carries on growing and you haven't much choice about its colour then.

Jump to the Strump

Chanel's Couture show 2007 A/W.

Thumper

T.E.S...P.O

After only a year of collaboration, Katherine Hamnett has decided to pull her 'Choose Love' range from Tesco stores.
It was all Roses and honey in Autumn 2006 with Tesco and fashionista Eco warrior as Lee Rees-Oliviere, head of design, gushes on thier press website 'I am delighted to have secured Katharine Hamnett to design a range of clothing for Tesco' and commenting “Just as more and more people are choosing organic foods, we know our customers are increasingly interested in clothing which is made using environmentally-sustainable processes,” Hanmett ensured that the clothing and its production adhered to the standards set by the International Working Group on Global Organic Textiles so in theory Tesco were improving their ethical credentials.

“Not only is the cotton soft and luxurious to wear but Katharine has created beautiful, stylish clothes – which also give something back to the environment. We expect the collection to have widespread appeal. it will also be affordable because Tesco wants to make organics accessible to all” Suddenly mass consumerism emerged with a conscience. Or so we were lead to believe.
The honeymoon is well and truly over because as October descended upon us Hamnett withdrew from the super store. Tesco's Eco friendly enthusiasm proved to be transparent as Hamnett comments ‘I was initially really excited about the tie-up because I thought we could increase demand for ethical products. But I’ve come to the conclusion that [Tesco] simply wants to appear ethical, rather than make a full commitment to the range. Choose Love is only available in 40 stores and the merchandising is practically non-existent.’

Voicing her political and ethical views really has been a life long mission for Hamnett and yes she smokes and is often spotted with the odd disposable coffee cup but she is committed to her mission. The fact is her reputation as ethical fashionista at large and 31 years of prominence in the fashion industry is down to hard work. Being green isn't just a mentality to adopt to ease a troubled conscience, but it doesn't have to be on epic proportions either. Recycle a can, buy vintage, buy organic, breath in more that you breath out. Remember, every little helps...

Braaaap to Black.

Black is eternally significant in fashion, and reborn each season without fail. It's timeless, classic and wearable. A picture from every decade in photography's history can identify the time period with just one black number. Chanel in 1926, The Givenchy outside Tiffanys, a widowed Jackie Kennedy in the 60's, even Betty Boop who was in fact one of the original pioneers of the LBD becomes a branded image. It's typically prominent in the wintry months, this year is no exception. Once again another A/W embraces le noir, its time to get back.

Calvin Klein did in their A/W 07 prediction back in February fashion week. Their collection illustrated their talent to create diversity with classic defined shapes without the distraction of colour. Christopher Kane, D2squared and Burberry left a very inky mark on the face of A/W 07, bearing a key trend identified by fashionistas the magazine world over, black on black. Gareth Pugh, who's consistent use of black through all this collections, wows crowds with leather topped PVC and patent in bold block sections and multi layering of the gothy tones, always a spectacle to see. Over in New York, Proenza Scholuler layered cardigans, cropped jackets and scarves and although they were a patchwork of different materials, they remained black in their entirety. Never ones to be left in the dark, the high street heavy hitters Topshop, New Look and Next are hot on the notion of noir. Flooded they are with matte, mohair, wool, jumpers, sheer, chiffon, leather quilted and sequined...all black, black, black.















Check the Macy Dress by Vicky Martin. The Manchester based designer featured in the exhibition 'Little Black Dress' back in 06 as an example of contemporary design. Worn with thick tights, t-bar heels, a big fat black ribbon in your hair and some chunked out gold hanging from where you so choose, looks good on you. Lets be real, minimalism is a choice not a necessity. Vicky Martin and thier new season will be available at the WTF show, 4th December. See them on the catwalk.



ps. Scholuler also heralds a turn away from al things posh and the return to the street, but that is another story completely..

Stalkers and Strumpets.

Another discovery over MFW; I was introduced into the fabulous world of Strumpets (namely the shop and product). The brainchild of Elizabeth Melinek was born 7 years ago when she went shopping for boots and, faced with the classic dilemma, nothing fitted properly. I met this enticing character, some kind of petitely proportioned jet haired superwoman, and was just as drawn in by the wall of leather legs. So ingenious are strumpets that they transform any shoe into a boot. The varied calf sizes (the aptly termed petite, athletic and voluptuous) ensure that they will fit anyone.
Her hub is down in the vintage paradise Brick Lane near Shoreditch in London and was originally stocked in the decedent Coco de Mer. Ms Melinek now stocks up Selfridges in Manchester with strumpets and waist clinchers. It was quite tantric in a way and very dark Victorian, in the way that Burberry Prorsum suggested for winter throughout their A/W shows back in March, with leather gloves and high neck tops.
She does use Toscana sheepskin and leather; not exactly an ethical dream. However there is a strict handmade-only policy on all produce so no sweatshop endorsement here. Though her price range maybe out of reach for some of us there is nothing like some ridiculous indulgent dress up. I strapped on some strumpets and I must warn you; do the same and you may be tempted to wear some ridiculous cleavage scooping dress, drink red wine and hang of a window and shout 'Alright mister!' at every man that walks past. Victorian whore fantasy aside, they're a revolutionary addition to a wardrobe and work well in normal circumstances too.


The most recent collection 'signature range' is a modern interpretation on 1930's spats, remarking on those worn through the crazy surrealism movement of that time that has been so widely referenced in art fashion and theatre during 2007. Being a slightly acquired taste, it's no surprise that Gwen Stefani has been seen wearing Strumpets' designs or that they have been featured at the Vivienne Westwood Retrospective - renowned for her corseted traditional creations. There’s nothing like a bit of a celebrity name drop to boost impressions. Impressed? I was.

www.strumpets.co.uk

Shirt on your back.

Fresh from LFW the Environmental Justice Foundation hot footed down to Manchester to spread some words about 'The Cotton Campaign' and in the meantime flog some T-shirts. Ever see the picture of ethical goddess Miss Lily Cole wearing a Katherine Hamnet 'Save the World' T-shirt? Well that's them. Luella, Christian Lacroix and northern soul Betty Jackson all designed t-shirts for the campaign which, at £30 a pop, were flying off the rails. They're raising awareness about a very poignant issue in fashion, cotton is the rudimentary material in the business of making clothes (What would we do without denim, really?) Therefore the high demand and the nature of it's production leads to child labour and pollution of the environment with pesticides and poison. This activity is all rife in central Asia, specifically Uzbekistan.
Their t-shirts are 100% organic and fairly traded cotton and look hot with some colour me beautiful shorts and a pair of high tops. To read more about their mission and how you can 'Pick your cotton carefully' go to www.ejfoundation.org otherwise catch the limited edition t-shirts on the catwalk at 4th of Dec WTF fashion show.

What, the Hair?

On the runway at Manchester fashion Weekend the real highlight (excuse the pun) was the hair. Toni&Guy Manchester Academy styled 1940's Femme Fetales with an edge, their hair was effortlessly moulded, waved and kinked. It was working war-wife meets rockabilly. All beautifully polished coifs, expensive blocks colours finished with a glossy shine. They declared this was the season to get a do. Whether it be cropped, crazy, or lengthily goldy locks, take control of your hair. Check out the Blondie in the black tailored suit, deemed Marilyn Monroe meets Debbie Harry. That was one hot child in the City. F*** the nails, get your hair did.

MFWaits for no Man...

By 5pm the line outside the Urbis was winding back onto Corperation St. The people were out in force for Manchester Fashion Weekend, check out the woman in pink with the impromptu whip round, who assumed I was taking her picture on the sly when 'Actually love, I was just trying to get the queue'. Though it looks sunny it was icy in the shade but we were kept warm by the cutesy coffee girls and their free cappuccinos and chocolate covered nuts.

Not being officially on the list does pose a slight problem when faced with a list but luckily the organisers were so flustered all it took was a flash of my (faux) press pass and I was in the inner sanctum. With a charge of £3 for a goody bag This was not a blaggers paradise, there was a price tag on everything. A trim and restyle at the Toni&Guy salon would set you back a few quid and a wait in a queue while Bourjoir were charging £10 for slick of lipstick, however the event was hosted by Tia maria and Calvin Klein so we were entitled to free drinks and perfume samples. The reality is that for fashion to exist like this anywhere out of London there has to be a price tag. I also somehow stumbled upon the VIP catwalk. The models walked and worked it donning forties inspired hair by the innovators at Toni&Guy. Very apt for this season as Dior, fashion pioneers, showed pro war-fabulous Hollywood Glamour in their A/W 07 collection. This inspiration was translated into the clothes. Designers included Julia Clancy, Oliver Goddard, Paul and Joe, Betty Jackson, Ben de Lisi and Matthew Williamson. With clinched waists, classic tailoring and bold simple colours and red, red lips
created the perfect vision of a Femme Fetale. Meow.

Matthew Williamson, still spinning from his Prince serenade, has brought his retrospective 'Matthew Williamson, 10 Years in Fashion' to the Urbis Centre, that's before New York. This home-coming of such a successful Manchester grown talent coincides perfectly with Fashion Weekend as his designs closed the show.

A priceless moment arrived when an array of would be famous soap stars walked in after the show had started (Nancy that!) only to find the front row was full, leaving them scatter off to the sparce isle seats at the back. This put proof to the phrase that fashion waits for no man, or indeed no overdressed woman. Meeeow.

What you waiting for?

London Fashion Week was a two weeks ago and London Fashion Weekend a mere seven days done. Hot on their kinked out heels is Manchester fashion Weekend. It begins today, a landmark fashion event in the north of England. Sarah Cox is fronting the event and is kicking things off at the VIP evening tonight. That's three straight days of shopping and catwalks only a train away. They've got Tony&Guy, Topshop and Boss Models backing them up, tickets are two for one if bought on the website, so really there is no excuse. If it's anything like it's London sisters the place will be swamped with ridiculous fashionistas, paparazzi style trend spotters, afternoon champagne and a load of stuff to blag, bring it on. Cannot wait!
Watch this space for videos, WTFtowear and general hilarity. We're off to cause some trouble.

http://www.fashionweekendmanchester.co.uk/

Angels in the North

Hot on the back of the recycled revolution, Junk Shop a store with very green ethics, has opened in the Northern Quarter of Manchester, .
Though it won't be an individual as it joins POP, American Graffiti and Retro rehab in the ranks
of the many vintage inspired clothes stores in the area, though this just means it's sure to fit in.They are always in search of dreamers and schemers, so its the place to get onto if you fancy
yourself a creative undiscovered, whether it be art, fashion or accessories. Proud of their prints, Junk have a huge range of printed T's, dresses and vintage inspired pieces. They already have quite an eclectic clientele, Full Moon Ravers, Club Kids, Eco Warriors Screen Queens and Madchester Party People, clever!

Clothes are available to order through the online website or check the new store on Dale St.

Plus they're plugging Barbarella, 60's film star who took sex into outer space. Big hair, weird facial expressions and one wonder of a Paco Rabanne body suit, lets be honest an absolute style icon, if you're tacky like me.

www.myspace.com/junkshop

http://www.junkstoreuk.com/

Swap-on.

Since fashion was taught some ethics suddenly the are all the big names are firmly on the band wagon and it's painted green. This poses quite an oxymoron. While these high street moguls suposedly repent of thier sins their organic shorts and hemp handbags hang oblivious next to the rack of jersey vests that were pumped out of a sweatshop. Buying clothes can not only weight heavy on the old balance enquiry at the cash machine but also on the conscience. Swap-a-rama parties are good for the soul becuase they don't cost anything. Just a shed of cast offs, a CD and possibly a bottle of fair trade wine (so not to be a hypocrite myself) That is unless you want you get yourself to Paris tomorrow....

ah Paris.

(P.S ethical read? Green Is The New Black by Tamsin Blanchard, Fashion Editor at the Telegraph magazine)

(wt)F is for Fashion

Once again we kiss another so called summer goodbye and we find ourselves eying up scarves instead of shorts. So as the grey days and trousers close in moral can philander, and the slow march towards Christmas can feel endless. A much needed injection of excitement is what the doctor ordered. Over the last month fashion heavy hitters New York, London and Paris offered up their latest and greatest for their spring/summer 08 collections. Thus gives the new wave of winter fashion the go ahead to descend on our stores and our subconscious and just like the grey skies of autumn a new season is upon us in fashion.

In London, the success of exciting new designers like Christopher Kane, the cutting edges of PPQ and the reinvention of old English brands like Aquascutum, it looks like Britain is reclaiming it's revolutionary design reputation. With the Manchester fashion weekend descending upon us in less than a week the word is spreading even to the far reaches of the north west (who would have thought it?) So if you count yourself as one of the many frustrated fashion enthusiasts who gets sick of having stuff ordered in from the Oxford Circus Topshop and hoofing it to Manchester for any real inspiration then I write this for you.

Tuesday December 4th WTF are putting on a fashion show in Wigan. Read all about it and fashion things here.

WTF indeed.

To see all shows from all fashion weeks visit www.style.com