Luella Bartley.

"An English tea party on acid."


Luella Bartley has been one of the freshest designers to emerge in the last few years. She has a remarkably strong identity, and style which is easily recognisable - the attributes of a legendary designer.
Her style is young and fresh, feminine and fun, with a cool rebel edge.

I first saw Luella in magazines such as Vogue and Elle, and followed her work ever since, to her celebrity fan-club, and her high street lines for Urban Outfitters and Oneil.
Her audience is young and kitsch, feminine dressers with an edge, looking for something different. Her celebrity followers are the likes of Lily Allen and Alexa Chung; fashion followers, with a taste for something edgy.
Although targeting the 20's age group, being a mum herself, I think translates slightly into her designs and can be easily interpreted for the younger mother in her 30's.



Luella Spring/Summer 2009

Luella's Spring/Summer 2009 Collection, was one of her greatest, and described by herself as "An English tea party on acid." A fantastic description, which could apply to the majority of her work.
The collection was awash with bubblegum pinks and sherbet oranges. Feminine as always, but with a twist in the juxtaposition of fabrics and layering, a real step outside the box.




The collection mainly comprised of dresses, which has become an ongoing staple in Luella's recent collections. Only six pairs of trousers featured, although they finished the collection off impeccably, compared to the sixteen dresses which were seen.
Short tweed jackets accompanied sheer frilled blouses, cashmere cardigans with regal buttons with rows of pearls to complete the look.
There were no repeated garments in different colour-ways featured at all, although a strong theme throughout. Which added to this collections success.



The layering of different fabrics was what fascinated me most about this collection, and won the public over. Netting and lace were layered up over the dresses, sheer chiffon blouses, silk trousers and tweed jackets. Ditzy florals featured alongside the sweetshop-esq array of colours.
Luella maintained her sense of fun, by including her signature geeky glasses, and tall pink riding hats covered with netting.



Although designer, I think Luella's designs can be easily interpreted into the high street, as her style is very highly in demand for the young female. This collection did wash over the high street, turning everything floral and pink. She dictated the spring/summer putting a form Luella staple into the wardrobes of the public.





Luella for Urban Outfitters.



Luella's line for Urban Outfitters was very successful and in demand by high street shoppers. The garments in the range were more casual, simplified designs. Cardigans with the Luella logos, simple check dresses, polo shirts and t-shirts. I favoured the t-shirts especially, as I felt they related to the kind of t-shirts I like to produce. She moved away slightly from the more girly and frilly garments, and produced prints with more of an edge and a street art feel.



Such as this heart logo t-shirt. It still has her Luella signature, but appeals to slightly different audience, possibly younger, as the designs are less feminine and more graphic illustrated.



Her range retailed from £39 upwards, which was very reasonable for such a popular designer's line in a slightly higher end high street store such as Urban Outfitters.
It was probably the perfect store to house Luella's high street line, as the kind of person who shops at Urban Outfitters would shop at Luella. I went to see the collection in the Urban Outfitters store in Bristol. It was positioned a bit more exclusively than the rest of the clothes, but still in-keeping with the Urban Outfitter's boutique shopping experience. On rails and displayed on tables, folded on shelves and on mannequins. It was towards the back of the store, which gave the collection its own area, away from the rest of the clothes. Positioned next to Vivienne Westwood's own line for the store. This created a designer section, and being displayed in this way next to Westwood gave it an exclusive and upmarket edge.
It worked well, but I think it could have been celebrated a little more, possibly with a large but simple Luella sign, or name block to sit on the shelves.




Luella continues to be one of my favourite designers, and her attitude towards fashion and designing always inspires me. Her laid back, tongue-in-cheek sense of fun, has allowed her to obtain an impeccable style loved by so many.

Colin Henderson.

“A fantasy land seen through the eyes of a Nintendo NES programmer.”




Colin Henderson is an inspiring and original contribution to the world of fashion and art. Incapable of being pigeonholed, he is a celebrated “all-rounder”, experimenting with different medias and outcomes.
Conquering video directing, art direction, fashion, illustration and painting, Colin Henderson takes Fantasy, Sixties Psychedelia and 1980s 8bit pixelation, and transforms these nostalgic influences into contemporary and forward thinking illustrations and designs.
I first saw his work in Dazed and Confused magazine, when he created the above denim jacket for the magazine article. I was immediately fascinated by his illustrations and have followed his work ever since, as I also feel I can relate to his genre.






Henderson originally studied Illustration at Bournemouth Arts Institute. There, he developed his own individual style. This developed into adapting these illustrations into textiles. T-shirt prints, digital prints and knits. These were greatly received by that of the fashion world, and so his career in fashion took off.




Jethro Cave in Henderson's knitwear.

I feel his range of knitwear to be his most successful, as it can prove more difficult to create a knitwear range from illustrations rather than just printed t-shirts. There is a lot more thought involved, but the outcome proves more successful I feel personally, and can appeal to a wider audience.




I find his thought process and overall outcome inspiring, and relevant to my own work. Similar to Henderson, I begin all my ideas by drawing, and love to adapt my illustrations into textiles.






Henderson's illustrations are fresh and exciting, and his audience young and edgy. He has produced a lot of printed t-shirts, and so has obtained a certain type of audience who would wear this type of style. He is not very well known, and his work is still un-commercialised and up and coming. He appeals to the young, 'arty' and 'trendy'. This puts his designs in demand, and allows him the power to update or put an edge on a designer's work, who is looking to change direction and target a younger audience.




Colin Henderson and Christopher Shannon

Henderson has recently worked alongside Christopher Shannon, in production of his Autumn/Winter 2010 collection. I saw some pictures from this collection on Henderson's blog - "Y O T O P I A". I watched the whole show on Vogue.co.uk.
The overall collection I liked. It included; shirts, collars, disjointed shirts with different fabrics, raincoats, hats, gloves and lots of outerwear. There was an interesting choice of fabrics used; waterproofs, cotton, velvet, velour, fine wool knits, PVC and mesh. There were very interesting use of shapes and positioning, however I feel Henderson's incorporated print definitely defined the project, and made it what it was.






As this was an Autumn/Winter collection the colour scheme was mainly white, black, navy and grey. Henderson's print had a "winter feel" to it too. Almost Paisley, but with Henderson's personal pixelated touch, with "CS" incorporated.
Although the basic design was interesting and exciting, Henderson's textiles made it fresh, and appealing to a certain audience.