Sophie Alexandra GoymerPortfolio

BA Hons Fashion Communication

Capital Magazine

Styling and Photography- Sophe Alexandra Goymer.

London is home to some of the most stylish people on earth. It could be described in many ways as a huge ‘theatrical show’ that is crying out to be sold to the world. London fashion has therefore deservedly achieved its status as one of the major fashion cities, expressing and encouraging distinct originality.

In modern times this has been celebrated and sustained through the youth of London. From the ‘Mods’ on Carnaby street, to the Punks and New Romantics of Kings Road, London is our city, a city of style anddiversity, expressionism and theatre. London takes and ac-cepts this crown of style, with confidence and pride.

While the globalisation of fashion and production has rendered such a splendid s’tyle spectacle’ less shocking; stylists, fashion writers, editors and designers all still con-sider London as home of the gritty, the fearless, the edgy and the rebellious. It has to be said that, yes, the youth of London take on the trends of the catwalk - to an extent, but they merge it into their own style by taking bits of everything, and reinventing these bits them into their own ironic vein.

The concept of London style is epitomised by inspiration-al imagery, rags, stunning material, mixed with old grungy leather. Older than the post-war youth culture boom of the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s, London’s longer fashion history is punctuated by a series of striking theatrical performers. These performers find their ‘stage’ in the city. The London fashion-elite find that not only do they have an audience to amaze but a backdrop of freedom and encourage-ment to push the boundaries in a way that only London-ers – in London – can really do.

The Mod’s of 60s London still stand today as one of the most influential styles our capital has born. Jobling and Crowley called the mod sub culture a “fashion-obsessed and hedonistic cult of the hyper-cool” consisting of young adults who lived in metropolitan London or the new towns of the south.

In the increasing affluence of post-war Britain, the youth of the early 1960s were one of the first generations that did not have to contribute their money from after-school jobs to the family finances. Carnaby street.

What

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Designers that would transform the London fashion emerged, people such has Mary Quant. Known for her increasingly short mini-skirts - Quant was respon-sible for putting the sex back into fashion. The style reportedly created in order to help ‘women run for the buses’, a real statement and powerful piece of liberation. In many ways Mary Quant defined the 1960’s.

Known for its colourful expressionism, refusing to blend in and contrasting every trend that is known as ‘normal’, London is a haven for creative talent. Those that are creative in London and who share the same style passion, join forces, projecting their style and creativity to the wider world. The New Romantics, a term that was coined by Richard James Burgess in an interview with refer-ence to Spandau Ballet and associated with bands such as Adam and the Ants, Duran Duran and Human League, is a subculture that epitomizes the fact that fashion and music not only collide but unite perfectly in London.

Punk rock- a music scene derived in the mid 1970’s, is all about doing it yourself, holding a ethos that they do it best, Punks self-produced their music and share it to the cult through informal channels. By late 1976 bands like The Ramones, based in New York and The Clash and The Sex Pistols in London were recognized as THE new music movement. Punk rap-idly became a major cultural phenomenon in the U.K. An associated Punk subculture emerged ex-pressing youthful rebellion characterized by distinct styles of clothing and accessories. Malcolm McLar-en returned from New York in May 1975 inspired by the new scene he witnessed in New York, McLarens co-owned store on Kings Road named ‘Sex’ was building a reputation for outrageous, ‘anti-fashion’.

Punks would cut up old clothes from char-ity and thrift shops, destroyed the fabric and refashioned outfits in a manner then thought a crude construction technique, making gar-ments designed to attract attention. It de-constructed garments into new forms. Whilst torn fabrics, frayed edges and defaced prints are now considered normal in 21st century London, in the 1970s it shocked many people as it had never been done before, let alone dared be done. Until then fabric had been treated as a material to keep as pristine, new looking and beautiful as possible.

Trousers were deliberately torn to reveal lad-dered tights and dirty legs. Worn with heavy Doc Martens footwear, a utilitarian, practical traffic meter maid type of footwear in that era, not seen on many young women until then. Safety pins and chains held bits of fabric to-gether. Neck chains were made from padlocks and chain and even razor blades were used as pendants. The latter emerged as a main-stream fashion status symbols a few years later when worked in gold.London style is a unique blend of sound, vi-sion, attitude and sentiment. A city constantly on the move; a global focus and a beating heart for the worldwide fashion industry.

Words and Photography by Sophie.A.Goymer

Whats mine is yours...

New friends, new clubs, new ideas: I’m not against new things- all those things are fine. But do we always need new stuff? At the minute we all happen to like things that have a history to them: furniture, music, photographs, handbags, cars and of course clothes. Hence the fast growing trend of vintage clothing. So I’m going to look into the best way we can re-invent our style, save money and reduce waste.

Twiggy started the ball rolling with her television series ‘Frock Exchange’, inviting women around the country to bring their unwanted clothes, shoes, handbags- and swap them with fellow fashionistas. Champagne, music, rails and rails of unwanted clothes at your fingertips. This is the ultimate party. So with this idea in mind, I wanted to see if it would really work- can you reinvent your style, de-clutter your wardrobe and save money at the same time?

Whats mine is yours..

I chose to throw a clothes swapping party myself, and test the theory. I invited close friends, told them to bring their unwanted dresses, skirts, tops. When my guests arrived, I handed them all a vodka and coke- they looked in awe as I prepared the clothes on the rails. ‘Wow-this is such a cool idea!’ Lauren screamed. All the girls raked through the dresses, skirts and t-shirts as they sipped their vodka and cokes, slowly finding the idea more and more brilliant! Maybe it was the vodka kicking in, or the idea that they were getting something for free- but gradually the atmo-sphere was electric. A buzz of excitement was in the room, and the conversation turned to why the idea of clothes-swapping parties was such a good idea. ‘I’ve had this dress for about three years now, and wore it once. It doesn’t seem to feel me anymore. I don’t really know what I was thinking at the time.’ I heard one of them say through the noise of the music I had playing.

We all seem to impulse buy, wear an item once and then it never see’s the outside of our wardrobe again. Then the next time we need something to wear, we go out, go into the same shops and spend up to £100 on another dress.’ It is becoming obvious now that our obsession with newness is costing us the earth- literally. The age of cautiousness has pretty much gone. In the good old days, we would fix it, sew it, screw it even superglue it back together. Now, we spend our money on items that we don’t really need, hoard them away and when we have filled our domiciles to the rafters with … and then we tip them into the bin. Throwing away our weight in rubbish every seven weeks, with 100 million tonnes of waste pouring into the country ’s 12,000 landfill sites every year... and CD’s and DVD’s creating an additional 28 million tonnes of junk; dumping our rubbish in landfills is not the answer. Textile waste is an embarrassment too; Over 7.5 BILLION articles of clothing end up in our bins each year meaning 75% of recyclable clothes are just chucked away. The fact that the fashion industry has born this so called ‘disposable fashion’ doesn’t mean we should treat them like dirt. Your one off impulse buy that you thought was amazing at the time, that you look at in your wardrobe now and consider hideous, your so called trash-could be someone else’s treasure.

The party was in full-midst and the girls loved trying on each other ’s clothes. Admiring each other. Commenting on why one dress looks amazing on one of them, and despicable on the other. The vodka and coke was flowing. The music playing. I was beginning to feel I had been the host of one of many to come clothes-swapping parties between my friends. The idea of playing dress-up from a young age comes to life. We laughed. We talked. We exchanged style tips. What we thought would look good with one dress, and better with another. Whether you like fashion or not. You can’t escape the excitement of this up and coming phenomenon. Save money- reinvent your style-socialise-be ethical. It ’s a win win, and definitely gives the nod to what you’ve always said you would do-your bit for the environment.

‘Have you seen her dressed in blue?

See the sky in front of you

And her face is like a sail

Speck of white so fair and pale’

Who is that girl I see Staring straight back at me? Why is my reflection Someone I dont know...

SSophie Alexandra Goymer

BA Hons Fashion Communication

sophiealexandragoymer@hotmail.com

www.twitter.com/sophiealex

07814607964