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Friday 13 August 2010

Interview with Ones To Watch Winner - LiLee

Earlier today, Vauxhall Fashion Scout's Kenny Wang caught up with Ones To Watch winner LiLee...

How do you feel about winning a place in the Ones to Watch showcase at Vauxhall Fashion Scout?

It was unexpected and amazing! I was so happy to be chosen and excited to be able to show my collection though this amazing opportunity!

What did you do to celebrate?

I really wanted to shout out when I heard that I had won the Ones to Watch but I was in a gallery with my family. We then had a special dinner in Hakasan in London.

Were you interested in fashion when you were growing up?


My talent and passion for fashion came from my mom. She sometimes made clothes for my doll. I remember I had an obsession about filling my doll’s closet. Whenever I had some money I always ran to the toyshop and bought my doll some garments.


What was your experience in the fashion industry before forming your own label?


I worked as a fashion designer in a big company in Korea. It was really fun and developed my colour and fabric planning skills.


Who is your favorite designer and why?


Jean Paul Gautier. He’s the master of fashion. His technical skills are perfect. I love many great fashion designers in a big couture houses such as Phoebe Philo, John Galliano and Ricardo Tisci, but Jean Paul Gautier’s couture collection is absolutely superb.


If you were not a fashion designer, what would you do?


I would still want to be in a creative job. A chef or interior designer or professional house wife..?


What music do you listen to when you are designing?



It depends on the theme of the collection. I like Carla Bruni, and sometimes I listen to Karl Lagerfeld's compilation album, “les musiques que j'amime." I can easily imagine a model on the catwalk wearing a dress from my sketchbook with that music.


Where would you like to see your brand in a few years?


I will show my collection steadily for five years and try to show something my development each season. After 5 years, I hope the business becomes bigger and I can continue my design development.


Have you been to any of our Mentoring Events? What are your thoughts of the sessions? Has it helped?



Martyn from Vauxhall Fashion Scout gave me essential advice that young designers have to know. I am looking forward to the new series of mentoring events. 


Are you looking forward to your show at London Fashion Week?

Absolutely, I am so excited!

It has been my dream for a long time and I am looking forward to showing the “good things” of Lilee through this show!




Kenny Wang




Thursday 12 August 2010

Interview with Ones To Watch Winner - Charlotte Taylor


Today, Vauxhall Fashion Scout's Kenny Wang catches up with Ones To Watch winner Charlotte Taylor...

How do you feel about winning a place in the Ones to Watch showcase at Vauxhall Fashion Scout?

I feel great obviously!! I am over the moon and feel like it is a great step for the label in its 2nd season. Having done the exhibition last year and got the feel for fashion week it seems like a natural progression from there so I am super grateful for the opportunity!

What did you do to celebrate?

I sat on the roof of my fellas place and drank a glass of Cava – classy! Then I hopped on a train and went back to the island and started working as soon as I got back and pretty much haven’t stopped since - I am buzzing with adrenaline.

Were you interested in fashion when you were growing up?

In bits and bobs. I was always arty and living in the Lake district I began by painting scenery. I was also quite into maths so my initial thought was architecture. I only really got into fashion when I moved to London at 18. At school I was the kind of girl who got told off for looking scruffy, wearing ripped tracksuit bottoms and hoodies rather than fashionable ensembles. I have always been fascinated by clothes and their construction especially. I stare at people’s clothes when I’m on the tube all the time....they think I’m weird.

What was your experience in the fashion industry before forming your own label?

I studied fashion at LCF and CSM and interned in between. I actually managed to get a bit of paid work too which was great. I mainly worked with small companies from Vintage spin off brands to Frost French and Petra, which was fronted by Marcus Constable who pretty much taught me most of what I know. Seriously talented guy. I worked at Luella after I graduated too which was awesome.

Who is your favorite designer and why?

Tricky. I try not to look at other designers as I absorb like a sponge and don’t want to subconsciously pick up ideas. I love Sonia Rykiel though and also respect Marc Jacobs immensely. The guy is a genius, he has his markets nailed.

If you were not a fashion designer, what would you do?

I would either be a travel writer or run a shack on a beach somewhere selling homemade food, trinkets etc and teaching watersports. I love the sea and am massively into wakeboarding and the like. A bit of a hippy at heart.

What music do you listen to when you are designing?

All sorts. I am not cool with music. You can get anything from high school musical to Bon Jovi on my playlists. I am a sucker for the XX though but I have had that on repeat for a year so I need to change the record...excuse the pun.

Where would you like to see your brand in a few years?

To be selling to multiple stores worldwide and to be making a good profit.. I also have plans to create a spin off label and would like to collaborate with a sports brand so watch this space!

Have you been to any of our Mentoring Events? What are your thoughts of the sessions? Has it helped?

Yes I have and they have helped enormously. There is not a lot of help out there for young, aspiring designers and Vauxhall Fashion Scout is a fantastic organisation that is helping to change that. It is one of the main reason I love working with them so much.

Are you looking forward to your show at London Fashion Week?

Silly question...

Of course I am!! I can’t wait. The last time I did a proper show was the graduation press show at CSM. I was so excited I jumped in the air as my collection came out and all my belongings flew all over the floor in front of all the smart buyers and press. It was not cool. It was however one of the best moments of my life and the Ones to Watch will top that....I will probably need restraining to stop me from doing cartwheels down the runway after my models.


Kenny Wang

Wednesday 11 August 2010

Interview with Ones To Watch Winner - A.Hallucination


Vauxhall Fashion Scout's Kenny Wang catches up with our Ones To Watch designers for this season in four exclusive interviews all this week. Here is Kenny's interview with Menswear designers, Hwan Sung Park and Chung Chung Lee from A.Hallucination...

How do you feel about winning a place in the Ones to Watch showcase at Vauxhall Fashion Scout?

Hwan: Very honoured and so proud of ourselves. Winning 'Ones to watch’ does mean a lot, because it was one of our major goals for this season. It was almost beyond description how excited I was when I heard the news.

Chung: It is fabulous! Actually, winning ‘Ones to watch’ was one of our main goals that we planed from the very beginning of our venture. I feel so honored that we’ve been selected.


What did you do to celebrate?

Hwan: After hearing the news, I jumped to Shoreditch (very close to our studio) for a couple of drinks with my girlfriend and buddies to celebrate the win!


Chung: When I heard the news, I couldn’t speak for little while. I was so happy that my partner, Hwan and I, kept shaking our hands for like five minutes! And then I called my family and had a celebratory dinner, which I haven’t done for a long time due to preparing our next collection.

Were you interested in fashion when you were growing up?

Hwan: I would say.. “Born to be a fashion designer” (sorry, just kidding!). I have been always very interested in fashion, clothing and drawing from my youth, so it drove me into the fashion world so naturally.

Chung: Yes always. I was born into a fashion family. My parents are both fashion designers, and my younger sister majored in fashion design where she now works in fashion PR in the US. The first fashion show I went to see was when I was only 8 years old. Fashion has naturally been a living experience for me growing up, playing with fabrics and the dummy. Also, I was always fascinated by the creativeness and energy of the catwalk by being able to look at it and watch it so closely.

What was your experience in the fashion industry before forming your own label? 

Hwan: I graduated from Central Saint Martins in 2008, majoring in menswear. Before CSM, I had majored in fashion design at the SEJONG University in Korea.
Professionally, I’ve worked for Burberry, Tom Ford and Alexander Mcqueen as a menswear design assistant. I have also worked for a design-consulting agency based in London as a menswear assistant designer for a short time.

Chung: I have had a variety of working experiences and positions including working for Lie Sang Bong Paris from 2002 - 2010. I started as an intern before becoming assistant designer for womenswear and finally menswear designer for their main collection line. After I graduated from a BA in Art & Design at Central Saint Martins in 2002, I worked there as an Art & Graphic designer before completing menswear design at CSM. Also, aside from working on collection and ready to wear line at Lie Sang Bong, I was involved in special projects such as fashion exhibitions and musical costume design.
In London, I worked for Ozwald Boateng and Savile Row. It was such a great experience learning how to create the infamous savile row suits.


Who is your favorite designer and why?

Hwan: I would love to say that I like all the great fashion masters like Alexander Mcqueen, Tom Ford, and Christopher Bailey, who I worked for.
Especially, I do admire the breakthrough creativity of Mcqueen, the strong identity of Tom ford, and the delicate emotion of Chirstopher bailey. Those are values I wanted to learn and am still trying to absorb from my work experiences with them. 

Chung: My favorite designer is Lie Sang Bong. Not only because I have worked for him for a long time but also for his continuous passion and creativeness towards fashion. I think what he does, his process of making each collection, inspires me to be the kind of designer I want to be. Lie Sang Bong thinks of fashion as an art form and I can’t agree more. 


If you were not a fashion designer, what would you do?

HwanI may have pursued a career as a doctor like my father if I were not a fashion designer.
My father is a doctor in Korea, and it runs in the family. My father wanted me to be a doctor after him, and I once wanted to be when I was a young boy.

Chung: To be honest, I always thought about being a fashion designer since I entered college. However, if I didn’t become a designer, I might have taken to traveling and working with animals.


What music do you listen to when you are designing?

Hwan: Usually, remakes of old classics! They sometimes inspire me to go forward with my designs and add interesting twists. But when I get stressed, I enjoy listening the old 80’s K-pop from you tube!

Chung: All kinds of music, because whenever I am designing I don’t hear anything, so it doesn’t really matter what I am listening to!


Where would you like to see your brand in a few years?

Hwan: I do hope to see our collection displayed on the menswear floor in Liberty, Browns, and Harvey Nichols in London.

Chung: I would like to see our brand at the well known shops in London, Paris, New York and Seoul. 


Have you been to any of our Mentoring Events? What are your thoughts of the sessions? Has it helped?


Hwan: I’ve been to the Mentoring Events organised by Vauxhall fashion scout and attended with Eudon Choi last March.
It was about production and how to find, run and fund production for a small label. I thought it was so helpful! And it put us in contact with production houses and gave advise on how to communicate with them and your buyers. I would love to attend that kind of Mentoring Event again.

Chung: Not yet but I am very excited for the new programme and to meet the guest speakers you have.


Are you looking forward to your show in London Fashion Week?


Hwan: Of course!! Very excited and somewhat nervous!
As you know, we are just starting up something from last fall-winter season. We studied menswear and completed work experiences for many years in London. So it really means something special for us to do our first catwalk show as a menswear label based in London during London Fashion Week. Furthermore, I strongly believe this opportunity should be a great boost to expose our label this season.

Chung: Yes, yes and yes! I’ve always dreamed of participating at London Fashion Week even before I decided to come to London to study. This is a great opportunity and I will try my best to present who we are as designers and the brand.



Vauxhall Fashion Scout's Ones To Watch designers will make their London Fashion Week Catwalk debut during London Fashion Week this September.


Kenny Wang

Monday 9 August 2010

David Longshaw in Fashion 156

Kirsty Ward
LF Markey

Holly Fulton

Fashion Scout designer and illustrator extraordinaire, David Longshaw, has wowed us all over again with his adorable menagerie of make believe animal friends. This time featuring on the super directional site, Fashion 156, Longshaw, through the guise of a rather snooty little rabbit, interviews four of fashions hottest designers about their summertime tales of camping. Holly Fulton, Louise Markey of LF Markey, Kirsty Ward and David Longshaw himself feature in the unorthodox interview, alongside some beautiful fashion illustrations.

Clever, funny and imaginative as always, it’s an interview not to be missed.

Fiona Anderson

Una Burke in Ozzy Osbourne's new video






Fashion and music have combined once again when Vauxhall Fashion Scout designer, Una Burke, was asked for one of her pieces to be featured in Ozzy Osbourne’s latest music video for new single ‘Let Me Hear You Scream.’ The piece in question is the same structural basque that also helped Burke in becoming a finalist in the accessories category of the international fashion competition, ITS#EIGHT. With a MA degree in Fashion Artefact from LCF, Burke’s work has been described as ‘carcass-like’ as each artefact is hand crafted from vegetable tanned leather, resulting in a colour and quality that is representative of human flesh…No wonder Ozzy loved it!


Sarah Barlow