To Burqa or not to Burqa?

I’m all about free living, gay, straight, black, white, fat thin and a few transgendered beings just to shake the system up. No-one should tell you how to live your life as long as your not on some murder rampage or spying or little children . . . then you should be killed with a spoon slowly. But I really am in two minds over the Burqa debate, you have one side of the Muslim female community who want to wear their Burqa’s as their proud of their religion and what they believe in and good for them. Then there’s the other half who are forced to wear them, what kind of a life is that seeing this world we life in through a slit of fabric.

On a daily basis I see Burqa’s floating past Harvey Nichols and getting out of the back of their chauffer driven Bentleys. They don’t look like they have a care in the world and every now and then you’ll see a glimpse of next seasons Gucci stiletto poke out the bottom of their Swarovski encrusted Burqa . . .

Infact as a community (of which I am very sheltered to) these woman seem to the height of glamour as they laugh their way into Boodles occasionally raising an immaculate brow to the security to ensure they don’t let anyone else in while their shopping. I went on a trip to Morocco a couple of years ago and whilst in Marrakech it was encouraged that I wore a scarf over my head, this didn’t exactly gel well with me however through gritted teeth I covered my fabulous face so I could blend in with the crowd. Suffocating doesn’t come near it i just wanted to wear what i was comfortable in but respecting other peoples culture is of importance so not to offend.

France has banned the Burqa and Italy followed this trend and for a change England is considering joining forces with this idea. But what are we setting ourselves up for? Will we become a target for terrorist bombing or will we just put of Muslims (I am referring to those who have arrived here legitimately through visa’s and who spend vast amounts of money in this country!) from setting up home here and becoming part of our struggling economy.

I don’t necessarily think we should ban the Burqa but have rule of our own where you only wear it if you want to, I feel for these woman who are forced to wear it and perhaps that’s what should be banned rather than a countries culture. Many of the worlds finest designers have a line targeted for Muslim woman celebrating their lifestyle choices and perhaps we to should start looking at things through fresh eyes.

Portia x

Berlin Fashion Week

Good luck to all who are involved, for schedules, live feeds and Berlin fabulosity click through to:

http://www.fashion-week-berlin.com/en/events/all/

GOING DOWN THIS WEEK

Socks and Sandals

They're open toed for a reason - let your feet breath.

Gay Pride

Gay and proud - OK. Fumbling fags in boas, angel wings and bootcut jeans with flags tied round their necks? Stay at home.

Sunburn

If it's not OK on Kim Kardashian, it's definitely not OK on you.

PALOMA SAUVAGE

The delectable Paloma Faith wearing a SS10 Belle Sauvage showpiece dress whilst flailing giant orange marabou fans around wrapped up like a present with a giant green bow atop that fiery red mane. Snaps for Paloma everybody.

ashx

Tears & Tiara's . . .

I’m not a social butterfly by any stretch of the imagination however I would drop anything to get into Elton John’s White Tie and Tiara Ball held last night in our very own Queens hometown (I mean The Queen not Ashley from our office) of Windsor. Anyway I took it upon myself to post up some images of the evening and give Portia’s perspective on some of the best and worst attire of what i consider to be the social event of the year.

I desperately want to give Alex some credit here but Cheryl Tweedy already wore this dress making it so last week, it doesn’t look bad but some research should have gone into this uber-wags attire. No doubt she would have been spritzing her own perfume, Alex by Alex Curran over that glowing chest!

Heather Kerzner, wife of South African billionaire Sol Kerzner, renowned for being nothing but flawless, she even got her teeth bleached to match the dress code, snaps please for this timeless classic.

Liz Hurley deserves a standing ovation for this Versace number, fabulocity at it’s finest proving 40’s are definitely the new 20’s. Move over girls because this is how it’s done, complete with Arun Nayer looking quite the part and fitting the dress code to a t.

Kerry Katona has recently undergone some major renovations, weight loss, new look etc etc, however you can take the girl out of Warrington but you can’t take Warrington out of the girl, leave the acrylics and thighs at home next time.

Lady Gaga – words can’t even describe LG, love it or hate it she made an entrance like no other.

Lara Stone disappointed me in this number, she’s 26 and looks about 36, I want to love this but I can’t, David Walliams looking particularly handsome here. Let's hope Lara doesn't think that just because your married you can stop trying . . .

Miss World champion Rosanna Davidson thought she was entering another competition, all hail “Miss Glitzy Mess 2010”.

Myleene - great hair and fabulous diamonds but the dress is typical of Myleene’s style, in the words of Sue Sylvester swish it up . . .

Valentino matched his skin to the sumptuous leather of his Bentley, co-ordination obviously a key trend for the summer.

Now I’m putting my claws away and getting ready to bow down to the best dressed duo of the evening. Sharon Osbourne and daughter Kelly without a doubt set the standards this year. Kooky, first class and astounding don’t even come close to these two. Kelly you have never looked so good, Sharon your botox is insane, together your champions.

Portia Wan x

CONGRATULATIONS GRADUATES

It's come to that time of year again when CSM throws another few thousand young talents out into the art, fashion and design world. The exhibitions at Charing Cross and Southampton Row were as strong as ever this year (thank you Southampton Row for your free wine... textiles never looked so good) - and here's a sneaker of our fave from Performance: Design and Practice at the Back Hill exhibition.

Costume by James Barnett.

Over and out. Ashx

CARRY ON GLAMPING

Heard of glamping? You have now. The MacMillan 'Buzzword' dictionary defines glamping as "a luxury form of camping which includes expensive equipment, high-class faiclities, luxury food and drink etc". It's glamorous-camping at the end of the day (get it? clever eh?) Having trouble picturing it? Try this -

Thinking of camping it up and trying it out? Don't forget the following -

A picnic hamper to get Nigella Lawson hot under the collar...

Jimmy Choo for Hunter wellies (or just throw a couple of pairs of Louboutins in the back of the Range Rover - you probably won't be walking on much turf if you're glamping properly)...

A good old posh umbrella. We like these from London Undercover.

And last but by no means least - a good yurt. You can pick one up straight off the boat from Mongolia at Yurts direct. It's the only way to glamp.

Here's some other good places on line to learn more about glamping - and frankly - how could you not want to buy into that lifestyle. I'm sold.

Canopy and Stars

GoGlamping

Guardian guide to Glamping

Over and out. ashx

TREND ALERT!

Portia x

TREND - Blaxi Dress

Gothic, elegant, demure - the Blaxi Dress is proliferating the highstreet and looks set to stay. Wear it sheer with layers and a good bra for a day out in Dalston or in fine jersey with open sandals for brunch in Notting Hill. Versatility and the effortless chic of these glorified black tees is key.

warehouse £25

supertrash £55

asos £30

all saints £150

ashx

NEO MINIMALISM

Now we've got a BLOW Blog it's the perfect chance to give all those images that never make it to print a chance to shine. Here's a shoot from earlier this year by a good friend of mine Fan Hong Chang with photographer Simian Coates - Enjoy kids.

Shoes by Gemma Slack, Dress by Aminaka Wilmont.

Shoes by Gemma Slack, Dress by Disaya.

Dress stylist's own.

Blazer and trousers by Lina Osterman, Shoes by Gemma Slack

Cape and top by Gemma Slack, Skirt stylist's own.

Shoes by Gemma Slack, Jumpsuit stylist's own.

Top by Lina Osterman, Leggings stylist's own.

Photography by Simian Coates

Styling by Fan Hong Chang

If anyone out there has any amazing ideas for shoots with any of our clients here at BLOW please do let me know (ashley@blow.co.uk) and if it's something that sounds good we'll work on making it happen.

Ashx

Less Chardonnay more Chanel . . .

Now I’ll be frank about my blog today, I am probably going to leave myself open for a barrage of insults from my uber cool colleagues as well as risking my job BUT I am a massive WAG fan. Yes you can throw as many images of Victoria Beckham and Coleen Rooney my way and I want to cry with admiration for these felines.

Take VB who has a collection of Hermés handbags worth £1.5 million, surely that deserves some respect, I know there is world famine and people loosing their jobs left right and centre but this is dedication. Coleen Rooney 7 months pregnant and still in 5 inches of Louboutin’s, that’s determination and hell if by some miracle (possibly involving Brad Pitt and a turkey baster) I became pregnant I would to.

But what I find more impressive is how WAG’s as an overall have developed their look from velour tracksuits to haute couture. Okay admittedly there’s probably a professional team of stylists etc sorting it all out but let me just throw some examples out there.

Look at Queen B of the WAG’s, Mrs Victoria Beckham . . . early days of waggishness consisted of her with hair extensions shipped in from China, implants from Donatella Versace and a wardrobe fit for a 12 year girl, you’d think she was from Woolwich working as a pole dancer. Now she has her own label with fans such as SJP and Gwyneth Paltrow. Gone is the weave and goodbye Aylesbury acrylics, hello high necks, a Bentley Convertible, a Rolex for everyday of the week, short hair and a handbag I would do illegal things for, VB I salute you.

Abbey Clancey . . . where do I begin, she began looking like she was entering a beauty contest in out back America, frazzled hair, naff sparkly dress and a tan that Dale Winton would die for. Looking at her now I don’t see a Swarovski insight, and good lord did she leave the house without the rollers . . . now I like my men like an anorexic loves celery but I would go there.

Anyway it’s time we stopped slating these ladies, okay they might not have started out top of the league but we have all made our fashion mistakes . . .

Portia

-x-

Above - Portia circa 2009

Twitter as an entity is evolving. For those of you who don't tweet, myself included, it can be a plethora of up-to-the minute news if you choose to follow the right people. Mr. Hewitt convinced me to join twitter and said it's so useful for us PR's. It's a challenge trying to scout the internet for news & ideas whilst juggling my clients. Now with the twitter application on my BB, I can just sift through people's tweets about the latest, which makes my job so much easier. That is until people just tweet bulls*%$.

I know that Twitter was created so that you could tell your "friends" you were at the local coffee shop drinking a latte....but why would you anyway? Why would followers care that you have a zit on your forehead (true story, someone did tweet this and it really annoyed me)? Tweet your engaged, tweet you just created the best tart in your life and here is where you can find the recipe, tweet the success of Aqua's launch party and the write up on Daily Mail, or that Katie Rowland will be at Treasure at International Jewellery Week from June 10th.

I feel like Twitter is changing into this work space. So if you are going to Tweet about something meaningless, can we save it for Facebook? Isn't that the purpose of "what's on your mind" anyway?

You feel me?

LJ

Haute construction, house couture

The ‘drink me’ potion in Alice in Wonderland inspired Gwen Stefani to don a country cottage for her solo debut and the pliable metals, membrane structures, lightweight glasses and plastics used in building construction are creeping onto the catwalk and into the high-street season-on-season.

From House of Holland to skyscraper Westwood heels, fashion and architecture have walked side by side through the decades, being influencing and affecting one another in the name of innovation and style.

Cavemen built their houses (read tents) and clothes (read loincloths) from the same skins, so maybe architecture and fashion really are one and the same. When it comes down to it does it really matter whether it’s coat-as-shelter or house-as-shelter - at the end of the day it’s all shelter right?

We chatted with architecture graduate turned fashion designer Omer Asim for his thoughts on house and haute couture…

Fashion and architecture – what's the biggest difference?
Fashion designers can get away with show pieces and conceptual editors can put them into use, architects' innovative ideas are generally frustrated by killjoy town planners!

Do you buy this whole ‘wearable shelter’ thing?
Who can afford a mortgage these days.

How is your work specifically influenced by architecture?
It is NOT. Birds can build the most fascinating and intricate structures, I doubt they attended 'Architecture' school.

Any favourite buildings?
I like The Lloyd's of London. It functions as some sort of insurance brokerage headquarters! It is immaculately built inside out, you can see all the service pipings and guts of the building, a bit like Lanvin's artisanal raw finishes! Richard Rogers did a great job in propelling the propaganda that insurance and finance operates on transparency ;)

Least favourite?
I didn't bother to find out who built it, or what is it.

Would you ever return to architecture?
I don't know! Right now I'm doing fashion, have no plans to desert it.

(Dress by Omer Asim; Velour, styling by Alexia Somerville, photography by Nick Kelly)

(Dress by Omer Asim; Plastic Dreams, styling by Neil Stuart photography by Daniel O'Connel)

Oh yeah, and let's not forget the king of wearable homes - the humble snail (This one's called John... apparently).

Ashx