Rosalind Jana, Vogue Talent Contest Winner 2011 (writing) clothescamerasandcoffee.blogspot.co.uk

Trends often begin away from the catwalk, especially in East London, where the streets are lined with style gold – from kids relaxing in the park to the grime subculture and the migration of students and creatives to Hackney.

Fads and trends in youth culture are extracted from these urban spaces, and soon find themselves on a designer’s mood board, before one day taking to the street again, in one variation or another.

This has led to a new breed of street-style photographers, who aim to capture all walks of life wearing exactly what they chose to get dressed in that morning. For some, that may be Dolce & Gabbana, for others vintage or JD Sports. Over the last year or two we have witnessed street-style blogs skyrocket in popularity.

Jennifer is a street-style photographer, who works anonymously and does so purely out of love for the subject. She set up her hugely popular blog StyleEast a couple of years ago, photographing in east London locations and elsewhere.

“I go for people with natural flair, who look relaxed and casual in their own style,” she explains. When asked what trends were big in terms of street-style at London Fashion Week this season, she says “the ‘grunge’ look has hit the mainstream in a big way, although it’s been a key style in east London for some time. I also spotted a lot of fluorescent and neon colours at Fashion Week.”

Unlike self-style bloggers, Jennifer never photographs herself and doesn’t go for preened girls in designer garb, but what she does offer is an invaluable tool for inspiration and dedication to a strong look.

For more go to Style East blog.

Rude: a message to you. Photograph: Hill and Aubrey

This spring, London College of Fashion (LCF) students are revealing their reworking of the rude boy suit for the 21st century. The foundation degree in tailoring course, run from LCF’s Mare Street site, invited the students to research the sartorial, racial and cultural statements of Jamaican fashion.

On 16 March, the students presented their designs to bespoke tailors Charlie Allen and Adam Shener of Adam of London, and Steve Salter, author of the Style Salvage blog. The triumvirate of fashion experts sat on the judging panel at the salon show, which featured a live set by Jerry Dammers, founder of The Specials.

The project was undertaken in partnership with the University of Westminster, the Creative Caribbean Network and event curators Union Black.

Union Black, collaborating with the London College of Fashion on this project, was founded by Tony Charalambous and Jacqueline Springer and specialises in the exploration of black music’s relationship with fashion and culture. Springer remarked that although the periods are distinct, there are parallels between post-war Britain and today. “At times of financial disillusionment and decay,’ she said, “making sure that you don’t look poor is a badge of honour”.

To mark the celebrations for Jamaica 2012, the 50th anniversary of  the country’s independence, the course tasked the students investigating the social and political history connected with the original incarnation of the rude boy suit. The students looked at how ska, rocksteady and reggae influenced the way young men and women throughout the UK dressed, socialised and related to authority.

“Clothes tell you a lot about a person, not just their individuality but their conformity”, Springer said. “Everything you wear says something about you. If you say: ‘I don’t really care about fashion’, that nonchalance is in itself a message.”

In the past, the rude boy subculture expressed a strong message through  its style and dress, drawing attention to status at a time of social and financial inequality, both here and in Jamaica. For ten weeks, the tailoring students immersed themselves in the sound and look the rude boys embraced, and paraded through their uniform of sharp suits, thin ties and hats in the shebeens and house parties.

Springer was pleased by the level of participation in this project, its legitimacy enhanced perhaps by the rude boy suit’s history of reinvention. “Fred Perry and Doc Martin anglicised the rude boy look”, she said, “there are always adaptations”.

Springer points to US singer and songwriter Janelle Monaé as a contemporary, androgynous role model who has re-imagined the rude boy suit. With current embodiments of the style to study and a recent economic recession to endure, Springer said the project was timely. “People like the escapism of glamour to juxtapose periods of financial decay.”

For more information on the Foundation Degree in Tailoring go to the London College of Fashion.

Chapeau Bateau. Photograph: Eleonore De Bonneval

The canal and river network is a vital part of the east London landscape, and during the Olympic Games it is set to provide a necessary means of transport.

British Waterways (BW) is hoping to capitalise on the increased number of people on the towpath and provide opportunities for small businesses.

BW hopes to create a floating market, drawing visitors to the canals and towpaths, and allowing traders across the country to become part of the Olympic summer.

With Victoria Park designated as one of the London 2012 official ‘live sites’, the Hertford Union Canal is an attractive site for just such a market.  One trader who has already signed up is Will Waghorn, whose Chapeau Bateau has recently been moored at the bottom of Broadway Market.

Having lived on his sixty-four foot long canal boat for a while, Will decided to turn his home into a floating hat business, stocking high quality hats and caps from a range of carefully chosen suppliers.

His winter collection featured a large variety, from chambrays to fedoras as well as hand-felted scarves. With shelves hanging off the side of the boat displaying his wares, he has been catching the eye of passers-by. “People aren’t expecting to come across something like this, so they’re interested to stop and have a look,” he said.  It certainly adds something out of the ordinary to the towpath and on a sunny Saturday was pulling quite a crowd.

When I visited, entrepreneurial Will had co-opted some nearby buskers into playing next to the boat, creating a lively atmosphere and drawing people further up the towpath.

This has now developed into a series of canalside music sessions, providing live music while walkers, shoppers and passers-by browse the new spring collection.

If this is a preview of what the floating market will be like, then it’s something to get excited about, bringing fresh opportunities to small traders and extra vitality to east London’s canals. “It will be a change of scene,” says Will enthusiastically, “I’ve talked to other traders and I think we’re on track for a really fun summer”.

For more go to Chapeau Bateau.

More haste: DASH magazine

It is a Wednesday, and unusually for Vyner Street (known for its monthly Thursday evening private views) a generous crowd has formed outside the Degree Art gallery. Inside the sparse white space, an array of illustrative art hangs on the walls, DJ Erol Sabadosh spins tunes in the corner, vodka flows from the bar and suspended in the centre, from upon high, are the dark matt pages of a thick new publication.

The crowd is here to celebrate the launch of DASH magazine, an illustrated fashion magazine that weaves its chosen art form into the very fabric of the publication. Illustrations are not just margin-fillers here, but are boldly splashed about, communicating meaning in their paint strokes and acting on a par with the features and interviews that make up the text.

DASH is the brainchild of NoéMie Schwaller, Swiss-born and now residing in Dalston. Schwaller recently completed her MA in fashion journalism at London College of Fashion and won the Best Fashion Journalism Award for her efforts. With a good team around her she has gone on to launch DASH, timing it to coincide with February’s London Fashion Week.

In her opening article NoéMie writes about fashion illustration and art theory. “The intention here is not to deconstruct fashion illustration but to accept it as a new whole, containing all these signs of fashion, in context.

“Commercial or not, fashion illustration is in itself a celebration of artifice, combining visual seduction with social statements.”

The result of NoéMie’s vision is a cultural, and visually diverse, journey through fashion from photo shoots to interviews with musicians and artists. The magazine is peppered throughout with accomplished illustrations from a host of international and London-based illustrators. One of the strongest features is an illustrated editorial of spring’s most coveted handbags by illustrator Patrick Morgan. Kenzo and Prada bags are recreated in splatters of lively yellow and pink ink, completely turning on its head the highly-staged and re-touched treatment these products usually receive in official advertising.

Another success is the street style feature that offers both traditional street style photography as well as illustrator Spiros Halaris’ interpretations of the images. Hilaris, like many of the other illustrators, is based here but hails from overseas, offering both an international and localised approach to the publication.

The combination of text, photography and illustration makes for a rich aesthetic with a satisfying matte finish, although at times there is so much of everything that the structure gets buried. Launching a brand new publication now, as print media becomes increasingly threatened by the realities and possibilities of the internet, is a bold move; but NoéMie is not fazed: “There are loads of people who appreciate nice prints and prefer it to online publication, because colour and quality changes on screen. Print is and will always be beautiful.”

Leutton Postle at London Fashion Week. Photograph: Rosie Higham-Stainton

There were bleached fan hairpieces, glass encased catwalks, manufactured rain and colour clashes. People speculated about the non-trend trend, Kanye West swaggered around Somerset House and the street style photographers rose in number, to startling new heights. These are just a few of the treasures that London Fashion Week bestowed on us this season.

The AW12 collections (I realise this is a difficult concept to get our heads around right now), showcased in various forms from catwalk to presentation, and in various locations from Somerset House to Billingsgate Market; offering verification that British fashion is at the top of it’s game, both creatively and commercially. London has it’s own unique brand of style, an aesthetic that draws from the cultural revolutions this city has witnessed (from punk to Mods) and the history of textiles, tailoring and craftsmanship it is famed for.

And this season saw the big names have fun with London’s identity – Christopher Bailey made it rain for the Burberry show and Stella McCartney’s return from Paris was celebrated with a dinner-come performance-art piece to a soundtrack of live music by Ronnie Scott’s orchestra. However ‘super brands’ and their spectacle shows aside, what shone the brightest was a whole host of fledgling and emerging designers, whose creative flair and adoration for this city manifested itself in inventive and trendsetting collections. It is no surprise that a majority of these designers are based in east London, drawing on their surroundings and exploring the cultural and social diversity of the area as well as their own national heritage.

NEWGEN, an internationally recognised showcase for the best emerging British talent awarded by British Fashion Council, sponsored catwalk shows by J W Anderson and Simone Rocha, both based in Dalston and leaning towards a sharp, contemporary aesthetic. Rocha produced a highly accomplished collection- jackets, skirts and collared vests came in sheer cream lace, jet black pony skin and shiny silver leather, to great effect. Jeweller Kyle Hopkins, who works from a studio in Haggerston, exhibited intricate bracelets and pendants cast from animal bones and teeth along with chains of tiny linked stick men.

Off schedule and outside the confines of Somerset House, Vauxhall Fashion Scout hosted a series of catwalk shows and exhibitions to showcase established and emerging designers. Hackney-based Jennifer Morris exhibited a collection of womenswear in a palette of salmon, indigo and citrus, with extreme fringing on coats, dresses and jacket sleeves.

Word on the street was that this season did not offer a formula of trends, it did not hark back to one specific era and optimists envisaged the end of regurgitation. As varied as the collections were, some details appeared and reappeared: Christopher Kane and Louise Gray, amongst others, employed longer length and loose-fitting skirts. Metallic details, in panelling, appliqué and collars were present at Leutton Postle, Louise Gray and Meadham Kirchhoff. Digitalised floral prints, as seen at Mary Katrantzou and Peter Pilotto along with mauve, black and red colour combination at Christopher Kane, are also set to be trends for the coming season.

Hackney designers set the tone in brights

Hackney-based designers represented their everyday experience of the east end, street style and cultural variety with collections that felt daring and alive; rebellious perhaps in an era that is seeing a lot of cultural and political change.

Amongst them, there was a clear trend for clashing palettes and patterns, shiny glittery things and a definite relishing of bad taste. Meadham Kirchhoff’s collection saw models display attitude, on a disco-lit catwalk, wearing everything from leopard print lamé flairs to metallic fringed rainbow suits.

Louise Gray’s hugely well-received catwalk show on Sunday evening, expressed what might happen if bad taste got a makeover. Gray, whose studio is situated on Mare Street and who sites nail bars and nightclubs as her cultural hotspots, is recognised for her punky edge and bold knitwear. This season she offered up a more wearable (and therefore commercially realistic) collection, whilst retaining her trademark look. Held in the beautiful Billingsgate Market building down by the Thames, and to a soundtrack mixed by Hanna Hanra, the Scottish designer sent models streaking down the catwalk in giant afro fan hairpieces, clad in bold panelled pattern-clashing trouser suits and tunics.

There was a definite Eighties urban street vibe to the collection, with Gray drawing on African fabric prints and geometric shapes for inspiration. By creating sharp but modestly cut suits and dresses, with nearly-to-the-knee hemlines and high necklines, Gray was able run riot with pattern, incorporating zigzag, graffiti scribble and QR codes. She paired cobalt blue, acid yellow and turquoise with either black or white and layered it up, from boots to tights, dresses and under-tops. Wanting to maintain a punky edge, the designer collaborated with experimental London milliner Nazir Mazhar, to create giant peroxide Mohawks. She like many of the designers this season, played with metallic details on panelling and embellishment.

Leutton Postle, a collaboration between Central St Martins graduates and friends Sam Leutton and Jenny Postle, showcased their second collection together on the Vauxhall Fashion Scout catwalk in Holborn’s Freemasons Hall. The pair, who are quickly acquiring a recognition for their experimental knitwear and focus on craftsmanship, displayed a certain progression and sense of identity with their AW 12 collection. They worked with a foundation of putty and neutral hues, injecting, like Louise Gray, bold primary colours and building texture through the use of reverse appliqué, pompoms and tassels. A tribal face motif runs throughout the collection, repeated to create patterns on trouser suits, and oversized on tunics. A trouser suit with cropped jacket, made up of faces in plum, metallic pink and electric blue, makes for a daring yet playful look. Pompoms, already associated with the Leutton Postle aesthetic, appear in primary hues on beautifully crafted floor-length cardigans. Pink and plum tones against a murky beige backdrop, offers a sure nod to more conventional autumn hues.

There is an element of the organic and primal in Leutton Postle’s rough weave and tribal motifs; and yet paired with their tireless craftsmanship and skill they have managed to achieve something fresh and yet very much complete.

Away from the bright lights of the super brands, there is a really creative and experimental aesthetic taking hold, identifiable in this handful of Hackney’s most up and coming names. Reservations aside, we have Topshop and the British Fashion Council to thank for offering ever-expanding platforms for these young designers in the commercial market.

Street style East

Everyone knows trends often start far away from the catwalk and designers draw inspiration from the streets more often than not, especially in east London, where the streets are lined with style gold- from the kids relaxing in the park to the students and creative’s that believe anything goes. Trends are extracted from the street before finding themselves on a designer’s mood board; hence the rise of street style photography. Over the last year or two we have witnessed blogs, and specifically those documenting the looks on the street, skyrocket in popularity. Some of those very same bloggers now gain access to top catwalk shows and can, if they have an ample online following, take up endorsement or sponsorship.

Jennifer is a street style photographer who works anonymously and does it purely for the love. She set up her hugely popular blog Styleeast a couple of years ago, photographing both in east London locations (Brick Lane, Shoreditch and so on) and people who have an east London street style about them. She explains: “I go for people with natural flair, who look relaxed and casual in their own style.”

When asked what trends were big, in terms of street style, at LFW this season she says ‘‘The ‘grunge’ look has hit the mainstream in a big way, although it’s been a key style in east London for some time.  I also spotted a lot of fluoro and neon colours at fashion week.” Unlike some self-style bloggers, Jennifer never photographs herself and doesn’t go for preened girls in designer garb, but what she does offer is an invaluable tool for documenting and promoting street style in all it’s glory. Catch a look at some of her favourite street style looks from LFW in the Hackney Citizen soon.

London Fashion Week saw east London represented, on and off the catwalk in a myriad of ways, but always with self-belief and a healthy dose of bravado.

A model wears a T-shirt from Christopher Shannon's Kidda range

This article titled “Men’s fashion: Straight talk with Christopher Shannon” was written by Simon Chilvers, for guardian.co.uk on Monday 20th February 2012 13.39 UTC

“When I started the new collection, the only thing I knew I wanted was the sound and feel of Sinead O’Connor,” says designer Christopher Shannon, from behind a big white desk overlooking his busy studio in Stoke Newington.

This isn’t a sentence you hear every day in the world of fashion, but Shannon, a Central Saint Martins graduate whose designs offer a modern riff on sportswear, has long had a fascination with the Irish singer. “Sinead would have been a super model if her career had launched now,” he tells me as we look over his new collection, which will show at London fashion week on 22 February. “Karl [Lagerfeld] would have had her in there with a skinhead.”

More on the O’Connor-inspired collection later (of which, sadly, there are no preview pictures). I’m here to find out what makes the designer tick. Given his association with sporting chic, I wonder whether Shannon will be going to the Olympics, but it turns out he didn’t apply for tickets. In terms of favoured fashion houses, he says he’d quite fancy working for Moschino – a union I am wholeheartedly in favour of. And when asked about the new Madonna single, Give Me All Ur Luvin’, Shannon responds that he preferred it when Nicola Roberts sang it. Shannon is on fire with quick wit and one-liners, but he is also reflective and prone to a few serious moments, especially when talking about Sinead.

Meanwhile, his new season moodboard hangs behind us. It comprises a load of photocopies tacked to the wall, among which are images of a girl with a helicopter weave, Snoop Dogg in a jumpsuit and a picture of a vintage sweater with transfer stickers all over it. Cool and oblique, it seems a fitting backdrop to our Q&A session. “Whose wardrobe would you ‘no thank you’ to?” “David Beckham,” he responds. “I don’t dislike him but he does nothing for me.” I ask him about the face paint on his models (he never tries it as he hates to put things on his face) and what makes him roll his eyes (“Impatience. Stupidity. Incompetence.”) “What’s the worst question a journalist has asked you?” I venture. “Oh, just the fucking boring ones,” he whips back grinning.

Shannon didn’t enjoy last season. He’d taken on too many things outside his own label, and for autumn/winter 2012 he wanted to refocus. Sinead appears to have helped him do this. Apart from the influential images of O’Connor by John Maybury and Kate Garner, the singer’s appeal, he says, is that she made work that was built to last. “I think it’s bringing the personal touch to things, having a point of view and following that through which makes good work last,” he says. “Fashion is fashion and that should date, but there’s something about the work that should last.”

Looking back over his previous collections, you can see a witty, sexy and spirited aesthetic evolving, but, crucially, with a carefully refined commercial sensibility. Admittedly, I wasn’t always overwhelmed by his earlier shows but this is a label that has matured. The last two collections were particularly strong, and it’s brilliant to see a young, independent British menswear label establish such an instantly recognisable and focused-looking handwriting. Shannon’s distinctive qualities have also translated to a spin-off label, KIDDA, a much buzzed-about jersey line featuring his signature paisley and chain prints on t-shirts, vests and sweats.

There is also a rail of fresh clothing hanging in polythene bags, samples from his forthcoming a/w 2012 show that we’re privvy to a sneaky look at. Inside them: denim look T-shirts made from jersey, a patterned jumpsuit, zippy trousers (think a sleek combat with no sticky out pockets), and a reflective jacket in a Burberry-style oversized check that features a zip-off hood and a custom rib knit bottom. There are patchwork bomber jackets – “we always do a bomber but this season I wanted to do 17!” – and patchwork jeans – “they’re like a cross between gardening trousers and Michael Jackson trousers.” Plus, there will be “knits with windows” featuring peephole sections, which will reveal a pattern beneath, and a shoe collaboration with Kickers.

“I like it better than last season,” he says cheerfully. “The fabrics are better, the fits are better … In menswear, a few extra centimetres in the wrong place really naffs things up.”

Christopher Shannon shows his autumn/winter 2012 collection at London fashion week on Weds 22 February at 11:15am.

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REtouched: Clothes from Thea Vintage, 65 Chatsworth Road E5 0LH

This year, Valentine’s Day and all its sugary schmaltz, evoked the spring-summer 2012 trend for love-heart shades of pastel and lace. The best of us still know that the Hallmark day of ‘love’ is a con, but indulge if you please in an aesthetic befitting the bundles of roses and powder pink macaroons.

The SS12 shows back in September were sugary sweet with kitsch patterns, ice-cream shades and delicate detail dominating the catwalk.

In Hackney the birds are beginning to chirp again and although spring has not yet sprung, the dream is eeking its way towards reality. We can peak optimistically at Chanel’s iridescent pearl and conch inspired collection, Louis Vuitton’s ice-cream shades of lace, not to mention Dalston’s own Christopher Kane and his pastel brocade (inspired by peeling wallpaper).

Those with a large bank balance, or who relish in window-perusing, can find designers’ collections at Kingsland Road boutique Storm in a Tea Cup (366 Kingsland Road).

Henry Holland coined the phrase ‘pastel punk’ with his SS12 collection. He sent two-tone pastel clad models down the catwalk, whilst retaining some edge with snakeskin details in collars and shoes.

Holland, based in the heart of Shoreditch, rose to recognition in 2006 for his ‘Fashion Groupies’ slogan t-shirts that referenced other emerging designers ‘Get Your Freak on Giles Deacon’. They all wore one another’s tees for their end of show bows, creating a sort of in-joke camaraderie in an infamously tough industry.

Holland’s latest collection evoked that same playfulness, with candy coloured Dalmatian prints and pastel plaid, suggesting inspiration from punk to Disney. The same injection of black against pastel hues could be found in Adam Andrascik’s collection, cutting graphic lines through delicate pale blue polished cotton.

East London-based Mary Katrantzou – winner of Fashion Forward 2012 British Fashion Council sponsorship – produced a host of garments in saturated hues and prints depicting car parts and underwater scenes.

There was a flash of the romantic in the Japanese floral jigsaw-like dresses but clashing prints on two-piece suits, slips and tops with tails, offered a refreshing antidote to the sugariness of other collections. Delve into designer history at Kingsland Road boutique House of Liza (199 Kingsland Road) and unearth your own vintage colour brights by the likes of Versace.

The SS12 shows were a sweet feast for the eyes and now, with spring an almost tangible concept, take inspiration and guiltlessly embrace your inner love-heart.

Sorcha O’Raghallaigh’s window at Selfridge’s Bright Young Things. Photograph: Andrew Meredith

Contorted mannequins, baroque-style candyfloss-coloured clouds and horsetail umbrellas have turned the giant street level windows of Selfridges’ flagship store into what feels like a set of surreal film stills.

This is thanks to a handful of exciting new designers from the world of art, design and predominantly fashion. Bright Young Things is an initiative set up by Selfridges and now in its second year, which showcases UK-based emerging talent.

At the beginning of January, fifteen designers were given a window each, to do with as they pleased, the sole aim being to communicate the essence of their work. The result is a menagerie of dream-like scenarios behind glistening glass.

Garments and products featured are available to buy from a number of pop-up shops in store, offering something tangible as well as visual, and providing these fledgling designers with a fantastic commercial and PR opportunity.

This year, the Bright Young Things initiative focuses primarily on fashion and features a host of Hackney-based, or born, designers showcasing SS12 collections including womenswear one-to-watch Adam Andrascik and menswear designer Shaun Samson.

Also displaying his wares is Maarten van der Horst, featured in Fashion East’s showcase back in September.

The Dutch designer’s window was strewn with contorted mint and lilac shaded mannequins clad in Hawaiian print and frilly seamed trousers. Set to be a key trend of the summer, van der Horst’s sugary sweet palette and tropical print offers a warm optimism to the weather-bearing passersby.

Hackney-based womenswear designer Adam Andrascik’s collection, flawlessly communicated through his window display, should be given merit for its simplicity.

A backdrop of stark white floor length rolls of paper were torn away to reveal mannequins sporting ripped and layered sleeveless shirts and shift dresses in a colour clash of powder blue, pink-beige hues and black.

Andrascik’s layers of smoothly torn tails and undergarments create interesting silhouettes that were emphasised on display by light bulbs lodged in the mannequins’ stomachs.

The designer played with the fragility and versatility of his unusual choice of fabrics, which included a combination of wool crepe and polished cotton, by bonding together oversized pieces of fabric and then slashing the garments apart again.

The shadow play created by the vast lengths of paper as a backdrop, cleverly reflected Andrascik’s use of graphic lines and lightning strikes. His is a contemporary take on SS12’s key trends.

Next door, with a boldly contrasting aesthetic, was Sorcha O’Raghallaigh’s ethereal and Gaelic inspired womenswear. The Irish designer’s stage set of baroque clouds and golden rams surround a ten-foot tall mannequin draped in a red gem-encrusted gown.

O’Raghallaigh, based in Hackney Wick and who shot to recognition when Lady Gaga wore one of her ensembles on British TV last year, draws inspiration from religious iconography, mythology and fairytale.

There is something of a romantic nod to the past in her collection, whilst a palette of clashing reds and fuchsia offer a contemporary twist. O’Raghallaigh’s pink lace collars and chiffon skirts, alongside pieces by all the designers featured, are on sale in store.

From a commercial perspective, this offers new designers a realistic opportunity to sell their clothes in the west-end, to the sort of people who can afford it. Creatively and in terms of the industry, it has attracted international press and last year every designer involved went on to expand and progress with their own brand.

It is not surprising however, that most of this talent is cultivated in East London, where studio space is just about affordable and the area’s cultural diversity and street style makes for great inspiration.

The dominance of menswear designers in this year’s batch of Bright Young Things was indication of the forms serious progression within British fashion. A host of directional designers emerging from London included Astrid Anderson and Shaun Samson.

Samson, hailing from California and now based in a studio near Old Street, presented his collection of modern streetwear, inspired by Mexico and 90’s grunge music, against a backdrop of huge piñata style lettering spelling out his name- simple and effective publicity.

Traditional Mexican patterns in vibrant rainbow shades on grungy loose fit t-shirts, made for a trademark look and is set to be a SS12 trend both on and off the catwalk.

A more formal and understated aesthetic came in the form of William Richard Green’s illustrative monochrome set- a cut-out 3D office/studio scenario- complete with two-dimensional mannequins wearing key pieces from his collection.

Based in Hackney’s creative studios complex Netil House, Green’s utilitarian but playful aesthetic draws on a multitude of themes from fishermen to Vikings in illustrative shirts and bold stripes.

After graduating from Central Saint Martins in 2009, Green went on to train on Saville Row, evident in his skilful tailoring and focus on cut. Featured in Fashion East’s prestigious MAN exhibitions during London Fashion Week for the last three seasons, he is set for the top.

The Bright Young Things initiative is undoubtedly a commercial venture for both Selfridges and these young designers. However, this talented group’s free reign over the vast window spaces, in one of London’s landmark commercial buildings, is an exciting collaboration between old and new and a visual manifestation of where fashion is heading next.

Bright Young Things – on display until end of February.

The Mark Fast (L) and William Richard Green (R) designs

Local councils are not usually known for their forays into fashion and design, and for good reason.  Nonetheless, Hackney Council and fashion’s finest have come together for the latest push in the borough’s ‘Love Hackney, Shop Local’ campaign.

Behold the limited edition (so ‘limited’ that if you don’t go shopping at a local market this weekend then you’ll miss out) re-useable shopping bags – canvas totes designed by top local fashion designers Mark Fast and William Richard Green.

Part of the council’s bid to scrap plastic carriers and make Hackney one of the greenest boroughs, the bags can be bought at Ridley Road and Hoxton Street markets this weekend.

Another batch of chi-chi bags is set to hit stalls in September, with designers Simone Rocha and Atlanta Weller taking the helm for the second release.

Dalston-based knitwear designer Mark Fast’s cobweb-like printed tote is an ode to his trademark holey-yarn garments. William Richard Green’s monochrome offering is a bold, distorted polka dot affair.

Heaps of money or a fashionable kudos won’t ensure you one of these, however. The bags cannot be bought directly but are redeemable through a token system. For every £1 you spend (at a selected range of stalls) on one of the borough’s markets, you get a token. Ten tokens and a little bit of sustainable chic is all yours.

Cllr Feryal Demirci, Cabinet Member for Neighborhoods, said “Love Hackney, Shop Local’ encourages residents to make the most of what’s on their doorstep by shopping locally and supporting our market traders and businesses.”

For some, a bag is a bag, but for others it may be a piece of fashion history worth jostling through the market to find. Either way, these designer items should help reduce the plastic debris that pollutes the trees and pavements of Hackney.

Friday 3 February 2012 – Ridley Road Market
Saturday 4 February 2012 – Hoxton Street Market

Julia Crew wears hand muff from The Nepal Collection. Photograph: Hackney Citizen

The fashion world may have had all eyes on Spring/Summer ’12 collections over recent months, but the realities of winter are finally approaching and the chunky knits that adorned last season’s catwalk suddenly make a whole lot of sense. From oversized sweaters to pompoms and snoods, the East End offers its very own array of woollen wonders. High-end to market traders, this is the Hackney guide to yarn.

Knitwear went tribal in the Autumn / Winter  ’11 shows, thanks to Jenny Postle’s graduate collection, which saw a mélange of tasseled, patchwork, Aztec knitwear grace the runway. The Central St Martins graduate, based in Hackney, created outfits that combined mesh with patches of chunky yarn, both baring skin and concealing it.

The garments, and their four-digit price tags, might not have been the most practical approach to knitwear but it made for some great inspiration. The designer embraced autumn with ocher hues and layers of fabric- facets that could translate off the catwalk. Head to Our Patterned Hand sewing shop on Broadway Market for pompom trim and Japanese denim swatches.

East End designer and don of knitwear Mark Fast notoriously keeps his knits urban with revealing cutout patterns and shredded fabrics. AW ‘11 was no exception: ruched and pleated oversize cardigans made waves amongst the front row.

The Von Sono knitwear label is one of the most exciting and elusive to emerge from East London. This season Von Sono, aka Stephanie Oberg, created zip-up knitted bomber jackets, available at Goodhood store in Hoxton. The German designer, with some humour, reinvented last year’s beloved snood into a snoot- a bandana-shaped knitted scarf. Von Sono’s timeless garments, referencing the draping of Junya Watanabe and ranging from the mid to high-end price bracket, are a worthy investment.

Thanks to the steadfast seventies trend, capes and ponchos can be spotted all over the East End and make for a simple and effective statement. The recently-opened shop Beyond Retro in Dalston has an eclectic range; choose bold colours or chunky patterns to avoid blob-ishness. For more throwback pieces, the vintage stalls on Broadway, Netil and Chatsworth road markets are worth rifling.

Here Today Here Tomorrow near Dalston Junction is a trove of sustainable knitwear and beautiful pompom hats. The shop-come-studio makes, showcases and sells ethically produced pieces with a focus on craftsmanship, the use of natural dyes and organic materials. These designers and makers are producing beautiful and well-made pieces, disproving the presumption that ‘sustainable’ equates to saggy hemp-wear.

The Nepal Collection – a collaboration between the HTHT designers, Nepalese craftsmen and the Association for Craft Producers –  has resulted in a range of brilliantly snug hand-muffs and hats in striking reds and blues.

The craftsmanship of knitwear can be found in many imaginative forms across the borough, leaving behind its association with twee and the childhood memories of itchy woollen atrocities. From the beautiful and complex designs of the East End’s newest stars to the vintage finds in Hackney’s many markets, all the woollen wonders you might want or need are right here.