Alchemy Fashion Undressed Project at the Southbank Centre

I love living in London as there are so many different cultures here that you never ever have to leave to learn about any foreign country in the world. Apparently there are over 300 languages spoken in the City so you can only imagine the diversity. We also have around 250 festivals a year spoiling you for choice no matter what your taste is and if you are a culture and fashion buff like me, then you are going to love this post.

I have been invited to attend the Fashion Undressed project with MasterCard who is the official sponsor of the Alchemy festival, which this year is taking place on between 20-30th of May. Some of the questions for the Alchemy Fashion Undressed project covered the topics of What does our fashion sense reveal about our individual identity in an age of conformity? How do we use style to make a statement about who we are or to transform ourselves into someone different? How do trends start and how does our cultural heritage influence what we wear today?

The festival explores a normal person perspective about style and fashion and the influence both create in our everyday life. I was fortunate enough to attend a 3-hour lesson about how the fashion industry works behind the scene which is not all that fabulous as you may think when you see an image in a glossy magazine.

The topic of Styling was covered by Rebekah Roy who is a well-known fashion stylist not only in London but on the in fashion scene around the world. Rebekah styled tons of magazines shoots and catwalk shows across the globe as well as worked with celebrities including Kate Moss, David Gandy, Kate Nash, The Feeling, Sophie Ellis Bexter, Daisy Lowe just to name a few. I hope by now you can imagine my excitement as styling is something I love. To make this session even better we had Carlos Lumiere who is a somewhat of a light wizard and I was so fortunate to have him teach our group about photography and how to play and manipulate light to get an image that is of  the top quality. Carlos worked on so many exciting campaigns including Vivianne Westwood, Harvey Nicholson , Balenciaga, Nike and shot for Harpers Bazar, Elle, GQ and many others.

The first part of the day Rebekah covered styling and gave us tips on how best to start the creative process and she told us to look at clothes and places that inspire us to create beautiful outfits and pictures. This really was a great learning curve for me.

Of we went then to style mannequins with fabrics and accessories that were laid out for us when we got there. We wanted to keep it in the Alchemy festival spirit of South Asian arts and culture as some of the events include How to Style a Sari. The highlight of the programme is a runway show displaying brand new designs and drawing on the cross-cultural influences of South Asia and the UK.

So with this in mind we decided to create this beautiful long gowns that are kind of a mix between the two, South Asian influence with European roots.

Girls and I created 2 dresses one out which is a navy satin covered with purple embroidery around and the other orange and yellow gown that we later shot with Carlos.

I really enjoyed the experience of learning and trying to make sense out of the fabric just with an idea in my mind. I was really fortunate to hear about the fashion industry right from the horses mouth and I’m so excited for the Alchemy festival event on 28th and you can see more information HERE.

I really recommend you guys check it out if you find yourself or if you are in London already as so many of you are.

To make things more exciting for my lovely readers who are MasterCard holders as you can get a chance to win the VIP Priceless London experience on May 28th, an exclusive fashion experience courtesy of Priceless London for you and a friend at the Southbank Centre

The prize includes:
– Private preview of the Alchemy fashion collection curated by the Canadian/Indian fashion duo Nor Black, Nor White before the public see it
-Front row seats to the catwalk show
-Nail art or men’s grooming session
-Delicious meal at one of the best restaurants on the Southbank – Skylon
–Enter on Priceless London’s website for your chance to win: HERE (Mastercard holders only)

I hope you love this post as much as I enjoyed experiencing it! If you need any additional information, do let me know

Lots of Love!

Tania xxx