Get yourselves down to 

Laces Out! Sneaker Festival
Saturday 4th October, 2014
12pm – 6pm
Camp and Furnace, Liverpool
£3 adv tickets available at Lacesout.co.uk

Sneakers, trainers, trainees, trabs, kicks, webs, wheels - whatever you want to call them, they have never been in bigger demand than they are now. Sportswear can be seen on the catwalk and special commission collaborations between the biggest brands and celebrity designers can be seen all over the place, from Kanye West and Adidas to Asics and Ronnie Fieg. Such limited releases are what drives the community of dedicated ‘sneaker-heads’ from Brooklyn to Brixton and everywhere in between.

Now, a festival dedicated to these enthusiasts or sneaker-heads is coming to Liverpool as the city gets its very own sneaker festival Laces Out! this October (Saturday 4^th) where loads of hard-to-find sneakers are up for grabs. Whether you’ve been on the hunt for Jordans, Air Maxes or Adidas or are just craving something new, you can head down to the Baltic Triangle where Camp and Furnace hosts 30+ stalls with 1000s of different trainers for sale and swap, plus an all day bar, a barber specialist in the form of Cutthroat Pete, a tattoo artist Ry Harris, and live music with beats supplied by DJ, The Mighty Mojo.

The popularity of these events in London is such that they are notorious for their large queues, with thousands of people eager to get in the mix amongst the rows of footwear. Laces Out! promises to be a haven for trainer addicts, drawing in the best of the best when it comes to traders of the laced collectibles. You can also have your sneakers customised by onsite experts. And if trainers aren’t your thing there will also be streetwear by the likes of Trapped Rats, Sneaker art, and street food available.

Tickets available at Lacesout.co.uk or from Ran, Lost Art, Weavers Door, 3B Records and Camp and Furnace.

So.......Who’s going to be there?

 

Krate & Co: Smart shoe storage perspex boxes from this Liverpool based company, helping to protect those precious collectables and show them off at the same time. http://krateandco.bigcartel.com/

Mayo Customs: Quality shoe customs based in Liverpool. Reincarnate your favourite sneakers in a colour theme of your choosing. Twitter/Instagram: @MayoCustoms

Cutthroat Pete: Talented Liverpool barber with a large and high profile clientel from all over the country will be on site offering fresh cuts, beard trims and merchandise. http://cutthroatpete.com/ Twitter: @cutthroatpete

Ran: Independent North West shop stocking clothing and footwear from around the world. Ranshop.co.uk

Lost Art: Skate-related shop, selling boards, accessories and clothes – plus various street paraphernalia. Lostartshop.co.uk

MyDopeSocks: The best custom Nike elite socks in the UK. Making unique custom Huf socks and Nike dri-fit socks. Mydopesocks.com

Weaver’s Door: Liverpool based designer clothes store for men, providing stylish stock made from the best materials. Weaversdoor.com

Trapped Rats: Crisp tees, vests, hoodies, and jumpers from an indie Liverpool streetwear label. http://trappedrats.bigcartel.com/Twitter: @Trapped_Rats

Among many others.

If you want more information see - www.lacesout.co.uk or Twitter: @lacesoutfest

DiscoFashionArt will be there covering the event and quite frankly my little Jordan wearing self couldn't be more excited! 

     

So whats the latest from

The NEW DAZZLE INSTALLATION AT LIVERPOOL ONE that's what...

Following the launch of the glorious Dazzle Ship last month, Liverpool Biennial has commissioned a new ‘Dazzle’ piece by Carlos Cruz-Diez, which is now installed at Liverpool ONE.

11 Couleur Additive Liverpool ONE, Liverpool. Paris, 2014 
to give it its full title, takes the form of a ‘crossing-type’ piece, from the great kinetic optic artist Carlos Cruz-Diez. 

This newly commissioned work spans Thomas Steers Way and links Liverpool ONE to the Dazzle Ship on Liverpool Waterfront.

Chris Bliss, Estate Director at Liverpool ONE, said: 

“We are delighted to be working with Liverpool Biennial on this exciting project. The installation is really striking and something which we believe will be extremely popular with everyone who visits our wonderful city. It will become a real talking point and is bound to be well photographed.

This further strengthens the strong links which Liverpool ONE has with the fantastic cultural attractions in our city and shows how a visit to Liverpool ONE is far more than just a shopping experience.”

Sally Tallant from Liverpool Biennial added: 

“Carlos Cruz-Diez is one of the great figures of contemporary art, especially kinetic-optic art. His works can be found in prestigious galleries all over the world, including Museum of Modern Art in New York and Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris. It’s an honour to be able to bring two pieces of his work to Liverpool for the Biennial.”

Induction Chromatique à Double Fréquence pour l’Edmund Gardner Ship / Liverpool. Paris, 2014 takes as its starting point a style of optical distortion used extensively during the First World War, called Dazzle painting. It is a co-commission by Liverpool Biennial, Tate Liverpool and 14-18 NOW WW1 Centenary Art Commission to work with the idea of “dazzle” camouflage using an historic pilot ship owned and conserved by Merseyside Maritime Museum.

The Dazzle Ship will remain in the camouflage until the end of 2015 when she will be returned to her original Edmund Gardner livery.

Get down to Liverpool One and the waterfront to see the two installations if you already haven't, they are honestly two fantastic, awe inspiring pieces that are adding to the allurement of our city this summer!  I get to look at them from my gym every time I'm there.... I just hope they push me into going more!  

Oh Glorious Haute Couture, oh how we adore you, wish we could own you and drool over those who do!

The great and the good of the worlds best dressed and fashion journalists gathered in Paris a couple of weeks ago for the Autumn / Winter Haute Couture 2014 shows.

We had snow bunny couture from Rita Oras favourite Alexandre Vauthier, truly some of the most gorgeous coats ever! 

Karl took inspiration from Architect Le Corbusier and mixed baroque with brutalism at Chanel.  I especially love the intricate concrete tiles and pearls that were sown into the outfits, Le Corbusier was the architect who made concrete a staple of modern design.

We hopped centuries at Christian Dior were Raf brought us divine Edwardian Coats, 1950's dresses and bar jackets, oh and then 1970's boiler suits! Only in Couture darling!

After Dark only at Ellie Saab, these were purely evening dresses and a more youthful offering than usual!  

Giambattista Valli drew inspiration from the Alhambra Palace Gardens for his beautiful gowns. His is fastly becoming my favourite couture show.

Maison Martin Margiela looked to the surrealists and their idea of The Exquisite Corpse as their muse.  A collective memory of Haute Couture.  Wearing this collection would be like wearing history.

It was all about the 1950's meets Donatella at Atelier Versace, just stunning stunning gowns with plenty of Donatella pazaz!

And finally Valentino where Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli were inspired by the pre raphaelite painters, dresses were 21st century copies of 19th century copies of Roman togas.

Here is my pick of the collections for your viewing pleasure! 

I love looking through them for ideas for evening dresses and obvs the Big New Years Eve dress.... oh my dressmakers gonna be busy!

Enjoy

 

pictures taken and edited from Style.Com

MTV Brand New presented by LIMF

announce Ella Eyre,Jess Glynne & Becky Hill

Live from Liverpool’s Camp and Furnace on August 13^th

Liverpool International Music Festival (LIMF) has today announced a major partnership with MTV to present some of the UK’s hottest new talent at this year’s festival. The exclusive show - titled MTV Brand New presented by LIMF - will launch this year’s festival on Wednesday 13 August, the festival at the city’s intimate Camp and Furnace venue in Liverpool’s creative Baltic Triangle area.

MTV Brand New 2014 nominee, and Brit Award winner Ella Eyre is joined on the bill by chart-topping singer-songwriter Jess Glynne (collaborator with Clean Bandit and Route 94 on two UK number one singles earlier this year) and singer-songwriter Becky Hill whose last single ‘Gecko (Overdrive)’ with Oliver Heldens went to number one in June ‘14.

Ella burst onto the scene when she featured on Rudimental’s ‘Waiting All Night’ and is known for her dynamic live sets and her powerful, raw, seductive voice. Her own debut single ‘If I Go’, out on July 14th, perfectly exhibits her all-conquering massive vocal with it’s gravely rich tone taking centre stage.

Ella says: “I can’t wait to get up to Liverpool for MTV Brand New presented by LIMF, it’s such an incredible platform for new music. I think it’s so important to have shows like this that really give new music and new artists the chance to shine. It’s these opportunities that have helped me and I couldn’t be more grateful. I’m so excited to not only see some new talent myself, but to be a part of it too!”

Jess Glynne releases her debut single ‘Right Here’ this week which is set to be a Top 5 hit and her voice is distinctly recognised in the chart toppers she has already featured on. Her vocal crosses over a distinguished mix of hip hop and soul but with enough pop to satisfy the wider audience at the same time.

She has also worked with Bless Beats, Rudimental and MNEK but now emerges in her own right.

Jess says; “I'm really excited to be a part of Brand New Liverpool, it's a city with such rich musical and cultural history, it's an incredible place to be and to be performing there is really exciting."

Becky Hill has now toured with Rudimental, featured on and co written their track ‘Powerless’, Wilkinson’s ‘Afterglow’ and her recent Number 1 ‘Gecko (Overdrive)’.

Becky says; "Thank you for making me a part of Brand New Liverpool! Very excited to be playing in such a musical place!"

Tickets go on sale at 7PM on Thursday 10 July at £3 per ticket (plus fees) on the LIMF website. 

Under 16s must be accompanied by an adult. Doors for the show will open at 19:30 on Wednesday 13 August.

LIMF Music Curator Yaw Owusu commented; “We’re very pleased to announce this event – MTV are a fantastic partner and the line-up is incredible, literally the next leaders of the UK pop and R&B scene. Our aim was to create something really exclusive, cool and intimate while keeping it affordable and I think we have definitely achieved it.  Tickets are priced at just £3 each so we are expecting them to go really quickly!”

MTV Brand New presented by LIMF will be broadcast across MTV’s flagship UK music TV channels, MTV MUSIC and MTV LIVE HD, and subsequently across its portfolio of music channels.

The beautiful manager of Warehouse in Liverpool One, Emma, invited myself and our intern Mica over to the store last week to have a look at their current spring summer collection and pick out our favorite pieces.

I am always in the store as a customer so it was nice to go there whilst not under the stress of "finding an outfit" and actually take my time looking around at their full S/S collection and appreciating its diversity and on trend focus.

Myself and Mica got to business and explored the store for our favourite outfits from the current range.  

There was some fantastic pieces and accessories that caught my eye including this 80s inspired denim bandeau dress(£50) and two tone daisy lace shell top (£36)(both below) both perfect for festivals and summer excursions.

The brand seem to have put a lot of effort sourcing some really on trend and divine prints that they have drizzled on dresses, tops and two pieces throughout the collection.  

Accessories were also impressive with an abundance of catwalk inspired bags and footwear and colorful jewellery for any occasion. I especially love the Celine inspired colour block zip fronted satchel(bottom right below)(£34).

Mica modelled and styled our favorite pieces.

Two tone daisy lace shell top (£36)

Frayed High Waist Short (£35)

Denim Cami Dress (£35)

Western Jacket (£90)

Boho Print Scarf (£18)

Scratchy Check T (£30)

Pelmet Leather Skirt (£20)

This dress was definitely my favourite piece in the store.  I think its perfect for all summer occasions from weddings to proms and more.  The beading is fabulous and incredibly detailed for high street and now its reduced from £90 to £50 in the sale its an absolute steal!

I highly advise a visit to Warehouse before all their spring summer collection disappears in the sale. 

There are some perfect pieces for all those remaining festivals, last minute getaways or summer occasions.

Thanks to Emma and the staff in the Liverpool One store for a lovely visit.  Hope to see you guys again soon.