Matthew Williamson and muses galore

A muse match made in heaven; Matthew Williamson and Sienna Miller; the man who says his clothes are, ‘girly, sexy and beautiful’ with the woman who will always be renowned for her ‘Boho-chic’ some summers ago.

Was Sienna dumped, to become known as an ex for a little while, as I’ve also noticed Williamson has an alternative muse: Jennifer Lopez. Although not that long ago Sienna was wearing a lovely green mini dress, a creation of none other than Matthew Williamson at the designer’s bar party in London St Martins Lane.

Matthew does seem to have quite a few ‘ex’ ladies, Cat Deeley, Jade Jagger and Kelis, since his launch in 1996, so it would not be surprising to find Matthew has shown signs of indecision between Sienna and the singer Jennifer Lopez. Perhaps that’s why he is so widely liked as his clothes have been seen on lots of beautiful women.

Williamson’s clothes have been in the limelight once more with his return at London Fashion Week showing his skill with colour and beading once again, as well as an exhibition of his work and design at Design Museum in London, to celebrate his 10th anniversary open from 17th October and then becoming an international tour after 3 months.

Fahion muse meets business muse

Third on Elle’s top 10 muses, Christopher Kane the 24-year-old Scottish designer has taken the muse pairings a step further. Christopher’s chief muse, Tammy Kane is his sister, business partner and sometimes stands in as the in-house model. Not only that but she is also a trained designer herself and helps to create fabrics, however Christopher is the front man and face of the label in this ‘family business.’

Kane’s Spring/Summer 07 collection saw skimpy dresses but then came Autumn/Winter 07, which is my personal favourite, the rich velvets in reds and greens created that unique Tudor style, which saw his designs appear in many magazines.

Although this brother and sister pairing seem to be the perfect match in this fashion world, Tammy doesn’t seem to appear in the limelight that often compared to other muse pairings. However the couple’s muse approach obviously works as Kane wins New Generation Sponsorship for the third time.

Neon galore

Every magazine I look at or read; all I see is Henry Holland or Agyness Deyn or both of them together. I might be slightly over exaggerating here but it is definitely true that this new pairing are in the lime light a lot!

They are best friends and old-time pals, so it’s no surprise that Agyness Deyn is Holland’s muse and the face of House of Holland. I was looking at the House of Holland website today as well and its amazing…rainbow coloured and sparkly (some might call it tacky, but I call it fabulous). There was also a great blog on the website; it was a poem about Henry Holland which made me smile.

On the official website Agyness can be seen modelling the various neon bright coloured t-shirts, saying things like GET YER FREAK ON GILES DEACON with her well known platinum blonde hair in some comedy poses, eg,bunny ears.

I think this couple show another side to the muse pairings; bringing a fun appearance to the fashion industry.

How related are music and fashion?

Personally I think music has always been a big contributing factor to our Fashion industry, and I don’t think many people realise that music journalism has been around for as long as fashion journalism, but it has.

I learnt today that Melody Maker was actually launched in 1926. I was quite shocked that music journalism has been around that long and people were criticizing classical music in the 19th Century, however then I realised that actually VogueUK has been around since 1916, so why not music as well.

Punk’s, Emo’s, Hippie’s, Indie’s and Glam Rock are just a few subcultures that have occurred due to changes in music over the years. Flower power Hippies listening to the Beatles, Punk’s with spiky multi-coloured hair listening to the Sex Pistols. Some might argue that actually it’s the other way round and that actually fashion influenced these cultures but I personally disagree. For example, when you look back at the 1920s the music influenced the designs of ladies dresses, which were given embellishments and tassels so they sparkled and swayed when they danced.

New subcultures seem to appear overnight with the new music and I don’t think you can actually prove whether fashion influences music or music influences fashion.

Fashion Muses, take 2

“Today’s undisputed king and queen of cool,” Marc Jacobs and the woman he calls, “young and sweet and innocent and beautiful,” otherwise known as Sofia Coppola. A muse-match made in heaven.

Marc Jacobs and his varied style…pretty prom like dresses, layered looks and oversize prints, ‘downtown meets glamour vibe’ seem completely compatible with Sofia’s own laid back approach to glamour. He even describes her as, “the epitome of the girl I fantasize of.’

I was shocked to see them only coming in at 4th position on elleuk.com’s top ten muses, beaten by the designer’s Christopher Kane and Henry Holland, the influential pairing didn’t seem to quite make it in the eyes of Elle magazine.

However, whenever a red carpet is near Sofia is adorned in yet another of Jacob’s masterpieces. When taking home, “Best Screenplay” Oscar for Lost in Translation Sofia displayed a subtle yet elegant dress of a purple silk. Understated and feminine with her flowing curls Sofia seems to hold her Oscar with pride.

I think this is another pairing that yet again show that the muse is very valuable to the designer to showcase the beautiful dresses.

I realised magazines were important, but taking a role in our class system?

I don’t think it is too evident, when you pick up your favourite magazine, that these everyday publications of our lives contribute to the division in our class system, but each magazine has its target audience. By looking at the adverts you are looking at the psychology of the reader.

Magazines are helping to define the classes, such as the Elitists with Dior and Gucci ads that the Fatalist’s can’t afford, with their ‘real life’ stories and ‘disaster’ articles. Then you have the Individualists who buy magazines such as iD and Tank, Super Super and Nylon. Perhaps targeted to the younger audience with up and coming designers, Gareth Pugh for instance has been a major factor in many recent articles. On the other hand Good Housekeeping, Lifestyle and Vanity Fair are the ‘everyone’s equal,’ ‘spread the wealth’ Egalitarians.

Through magazines everyone seems to be categorized into specific groups of fashion: Punks, Emo’s, Cosmopolitans and the High Fashionistas, corresponding with their wealth in society. Is this fair? Well, in a way I suppose it is as someone who buys Dior and Gucci probably won’t want to buy a magazine with only New Look or Bay Trading Company clothes.

Fashion Muses

It seems to me that in order to make it “big” in the fashion industry, designers must have a beautiful muse adorned with one of their latest creations. All designers have had celebrity muses at some point, Madonna as Versace’s ‘face’ from 1995-2005 and then Halle Berry for their Spring/Summer 2006 collection.

The muse almost seems to conspire with the designer to advertise and display the newest dress, or just influence the designers by their own individual style. Elizabeth Taylor as Cleopatra made an impression on Alexander McQueen creating the ‘darkly romantic autumn show.’

As number 1 in the top ten new muses on elleuk.com, Thandie Newton and Giles Deacon are the new top pairing. Thandie Newton now constantly appears parading out in a ‘Deacon masterpiece’ a show stopping, made to measure design. She herself describes his work as ‘sublime’ and publicizes the fact that Deacon, “won best fashion designer of the year!” Giles has also been known to complement Thandie on her, ‘natural style.’

However not all the observations of the new pairing’s creations are positive; The Guardian labelled her as wearing the “worst dress,” describing the mushroom pufftail as, “more taffeta slug than anything else.”

All criticisms whether positive or negative however have resulted in Thandie’s red carpet fashion status being launched to the top of almost every best dressed list placing Deacons dresses in the spotlight once again.