Phoebe Philo at Vogue Festival.

photo via the Internet

Last Saturday I kicked off my Vogue Festival experience by listening to the talk with Phoebe Philo. Alexandra Shulman tried to squeeze her like a lemon asking about her inspiration, stubbornness, work ethic and keeping the work-home balance right. I have to say that I have admired her design for ages (manifesting it mostly by wearing Zara clothes) but as she keeps her life private, I had no clue 'what she was really like'. She came across as an extremely strong person. Nevertheless, I got the impression that she is slightly tired...

Phoebe stressed that she appreciates the fact that she is able to run a French fashion house from London and enjoys wandering around the city unrecognised (really? don't you know who she is, people?). She is pretty down-to-earth with her comments like 'I used to travel but now I have children'. As petite as her physique is, she appeared on the stage in a rather strong manner wearing an oversized silky top and a pair of outstanding flats. Asked about the Celine DNA she said that it was not an iconic brand and she found it quite liberating. The ability to do whatever she wants enabled her to produce some fantastic designs that get copied on the high street (thank you, Zara, for this blessing as Celine is rather pricy). Funnily enough, when asked about the brand copying her she quoted Coco Chanel by saying 'Imitation is the highest form of flattery'. Even though she tried to come across that she is ok with it, I got the feeling that she was not being honest... Maybe it was just me though. Or was it?

'I find mediocracy hard'. As a passionate person she cares about what she does and questions the point of doing so if one does not care. Do it with passion or don't do it at all, right? I got a bit confused when she confessed that after a show she cannot look at clothes for a month. Can one get fed up with their passion? Is passion slightly interrupted when it becomes 'a job'? But is being the creative head of Celine 'a job'?

Phoebe also portrays a strong feminist side to her ideas. 'Within fashion I don't thing gender is relevant. It's not easier for men than women'. Her pieces are simple and form an integral image. They look great together in any combination. The conversation started floating towards the body image in the fashion industry and that was another point where the audience could have got confused... Philo stressed that women nowadays get a message that they are not good enough. By her designs she wants ladies to feel strong and powerful. Ladies of any shape and size. Well, as much as she said that everybody can be seductive, sexy and powerful, I do not think that she makes clothes in sizes to fit all shapes... It really makes me wonder when designers produce statements against the 'domination of skinny' and yet do not transfer this idea to the racks. 

As a listener I asked myself thousands of questions during this short interview. It is a different experience in comparison to just reading it from the glossy Vogue pages. Putting a person to the words was most enlightening. Even though I could not help but sense that Phoebe is simply tired, I still admire her for being able to say that she simply won't do things she doesn't like. Nowadays we force ourselves to follow through with ideas/projects even though we do not feel comfortable about it. Ladies and gentlemen, please put your hands together for assertiveness. It still exists. Do not let it die. And thank you Phoebe for sending this message to the universe. For that I forgive you the lack of enthusiasm between 2:30 and 3:30 on Saturday, 29th of March 2014. 

Vogue Festival day 2.

And the festival is over. It was my second time visiting Southbank Centre for this event and I know for sure that I am going to continue doing so. It's a great opportunity to see the 'people form the magazines'. It has been most interesting to listen to them speak and watch them walk. Here are a few more shots and a few more thoughts will appear on the blog soon. Right now all I am thinking about is my bed... Stay tuned!

And yes, it is Karlie Kloss in the photos below. I got a Kookie from her yay! Thanks babe x

Vogue festival 2014 day 1.

Right. Day 1 is over. I've heard a few inspiring speeches, got my Vogue sweatshirt and had a beetroot and lime juice. I also met Hedvig from The Northern Light. She is even more amazing than I thought! I will write a bit more about the speeches itself soon. They have been surprising in many aspects... I fell in love with Manolo Blahnik and was a bit disappointed with Phoebe Philo's approach. Tomorrow day 2. Stay tuned!

Vogue Festival 2014

I don't know how about you but I had a great morning. Managed to get tickets to Vogue Festival 2014 at approximately 10:02 this morning. I've visited it last year and were overwhelmed by the size of this event so I just had to make sure I get there this year as well. Now I just have to wait for the tickets to arrive and roll on 29th of March! Are you coming? 

My fashion Life. Vitoria Beckham.

Victoria Beckham. Where do I begin? I was lucky to get the ticket to see Queen Victoria climb gracefully onto the stage and sit with even more grace on one of the cream sofas. Opposite Alexandra Shulman was sitting a woman who made her name and herself a brand. If you follow my blog or are my personal friend you know that I love her. I got off the subway with huge expectations and she turned out to be more than I would ever dream she would be like. I am not sure why the press created that cold, sad, sulking image of her – a passionate, warm, intelligent woman. ‘Everyone thinks that I’m going to be such a cow. I get it – because I think exactly the same when I see the pictures.’ She didn’t start her own brand to prove anyone wrong. She felt in her gut that’s what she should do and I’m so glad her gut doesn’t speak a foreign language!

 

Of course she is a bit out of this world. A great businesswoman, who managed to establish herself as a serious designer, married to the hottest man on the planet, a mother of 4 children who plans her business meeting around the parent-teacher meetings. How does she do it without driving herself mad as perfectionists do? She just gets on with it. And she clearly stated ‘I’m happy’. Now that’s something we would never expect her to say out loud in public.

She designs clothes that she would like to wear herself (and she does wear them). But she also challenges herself by taking on the pieces of a woman’s wardrobe that she wouldn’t necessarily go for. Her brand evolved into five different categories and now covers a new sunglasses line as well. Before she established her own brand she designed lines of accessories for others. You cannot say that she came into the business out of nowhere, unprepared. Although it seemed like it looking at her outfits from early 2000’s. So far she’s done 6 Vogue covers all over the world. ‘Who would have thought?’ she says shrugging her shoulders coyly looking at the audience.

 

As a businesswoman she makes sure that all aspects of the brand are taken care of. She does realise that putting an extra pocket on the dress will make the process of making it more expensive and that will, of course, influence the price on the tag. As a designer she very often gets inspired by the Beckham family life: baseball shirts that Romeo wears or beanie hats that David gets seen in a lot. She has raised a lot of eyebrows when announcing that she was going to design. ‘From those who could raise their eyebrows’ she joked about the industry. Victoria believes it wasn’t her person but the clothes that she designed that were judged by critics. But was it really the clothes? With a popstar career behind her she could not escape the preconceptions. But she did make them fade with time.

Victoria is a planner. I guess you have to be if you’re a mum of four with a husband that is out of town and a pretty responsible job. She thinks what she’s going to wear the night before, just like us. Juggling home, business, shopping and all the duties that a normal people have isn’t easy for her either. When Alexandra Shulman asks her how she copes with it all she makes the public laugh: ‘Dark glasses, Alex’. No diva, no I-am-fabulous-look-at-me attitude. When talking about her clients she always refers to my customer in singular. She doesn’t treat women that buy her clothes as a crowd, she thinks of them individually. She seems to be her own customer as well: ‘I enter a new category when I can’t find what I want on the market’. It all seems so natural.

 

She also comes across as some kind of a modern feminist (a Beyoncé-like one) who isn’t afraid to admit that there’s more pressure in this world put on women. ‘When a man goes to work in the morning it’s fine. Women have to make sure that the house, children and other things are taken care of’. Guilt about being a working mum is also pouring out of her. Apart from being a celebrity and one of the best-dressed women on the planet she is also a mum whose baby pukes and eldest son doesn’t want to go to bed at night. But most importantly, she is a fashion designer, who measures time in seasons. A normal perosn would say ‘5 years ago’. Victoria says ’10 seasons ago’.

Before she disappears off the stage she thanks everyone for coming and Vogue for inviting her. And she makes the public laugh out loud by saying ‘If you’d told me how many people there were going to be, I might have got up and sung a song. Now that would’ve been a worry.’