Editor’s Note
This is the first issue of Eleventh Hour. Aptly named as the process of creating a magazine in 12 weeks with one creative director and no previous magazine experience often made it feel like it was the Eleventh Hour. The ethos of this publication is that of inspiration, we hope to inspire all who set eyes upon it. All of those involved in Eleventh Hour are graduates, students or aspiring professionals all willing to help out, get stuck in or just want to showcase their talents. Every aspect of Eleventh hour is delicate, soft and beautiful. We at Eleventh hour hope that his first issue will do great things and stay on coffee tables for months to come and to inspire future creative direction.This issue contains different editorials each with their own unique styles and themes some with a subdued beauty.
Contents Serge DeNimes
An interview by Katie Handy-Beith with Oliver Proudlock about his brand Serge DeNimes
Hype T’s
A beautiful editorial shot by hugely talented Andrew Lamb
Nichole De Carle
Written feature about the bold feminine couture lingire brand started by Nichole De Carle
Inspired by Nature
Beauty that has been inspired by creatures of nature
Sheep Chic
Insight into how designer Henrietta Jerram got blasted into an exception design career straight out of University
You probably best know Proudlock from his role in hit TV show ‘Made In Chelsea’, but with a background in fine art and a successful fashion business; Serge DeNimes, Proudlock has so much more to offer than your average reality TV star. I first met Proudlock at his ‘bloggers breakfast’ last December and have been closely following the progress and movements of the brand ever since. Last week Ollie presented ‘Proudlock’s Carnival ‘86’ at Intimate Modern to showcase some of his mum, Lena Proudlock’s photography from Rio in the seventies. Photography from the book Rio Carnival has then been transferred onto a range of t-shirts and jumpers for Serge DeNimes. I popped down to Intimate Modern to spend an evening with other like-minded journalists, bloggers and the odd Made In Chelsea star thrown in for good measure. I met Proudlock to talk Serge DeNimes, his collaborations, and the use of denim in his designs in the very near future. // Katie Handy-Beith had the opportunity to ask Oliver a few questions // You have a background in fine art, how do you think this benefits the brand? I’ve specified in art since I was about thirteen, through my mum I am a
very creative person. Even when I used to paint and create stuff on canvas and have exhibitions I always used to print my stuff onto t-shirts as well. From a young age I was always linking art and fashion, so for me as opposed to putting my creativity onto canvas by using paint, I’m just doing it in a slightly different art form. It was a really natural development so for me it just felt right and I hope that that benefits the brand. The three most important things for the brand are music, art and fashion. Serge isn’t just about fashion, it’s about a lifestyle and I want the brand to act as a platform for up-and-coming musicians, artists and designers. We have recently started Serge OffBeat Sessions, we find unsigned acts and musicians, we shoot them in a cool location on Shoreditch High Street. We lots of people coming down to the event they wear the clothes and then play some great music. For me being able to do other things not just designing the clothes makes the brand stronger and builds a community. Bringing everything back to creativity to me is important. You must be so proud to have your mum’s photography on one of your collections. Yeah I have my mums photography in my Rio collection and it’s great because ultimately all of my creativity comes from her. This whole thing is mainly about my mums photography rather than the clothes. We obviously have a little pop up shop down here at the moment so it’s about merging the two. For me obviously the story behind that first collection and the Rio collection has come from my mum and her first husband when they went to Rio in the Seventies. They made this amazing book and I’ve always just been in love with it and thought the images were amazing. I’ve always wanted to do something with them and for me to be able to do a small collection and push this whole Rio theme is great. I wanted to put on this show for mum and showcase some of her original art works and showcase them in an art form and show people where the images came from. The event last week was a great turn out and everyone had a great time.
Tell us a bit about your collaboration with Oliver Sweeney. I’ve built a brand under my own name, Oliver Proudlock where I will be doing a lot of design collaborations and this will be my first one, with Oliver Sweeney. I set up my style blog last year, it’s a really simple concept, a different look each day. I wanted to do it to show that I have my own kind of style and to build relationships with other brands. The Oliver Sweeney collaboration actually came about thanks to my style blog. They were interested in getting some stuff to me to wear on the blog and from their I built a great relationship with the brand. It’s great now to see the products and the samples, the attention to detail and the quality of the product is just amazing. They will be available to pre-order at the end of April and then they will be in stores in May. We are shooting the campaign at the end of the month, which I will be modelling in. It’s nice to do something slightly different and it gives me an insight into different products. Later down the line if I want to start doing shoes for Serge DeNimes then I have a great insight into the process. So what can we expect from your new collection? Our new collection is slightly bigger, we still are continuing with our t-shirt ranges and we have extended some of them. We now have the cross range, our logo t-shirts, and our good life tee’s. Then we started on sweatshirts , we have been playing around with floral prints and printing on the sleeves etc. We have our beanies and jewellery and our new snapbacks which come out at the end of this week. I didn’t want to overload everyone with too much stuff, I want the brand to organically grow. I love working on new products and for the winter I want to start looking at bomber jackets and what I really want to start focusing on is using the material denim. How do you plan to incorporate denim within your designs? We are slowly touching upon using denim now as in the future we want to be a denim based brand. We are starting off with snapbacks that are all made of denim and then add denim touches to t-shirts and sweatshirts. We want to slowly add little bits of denim and then eventually just work with denim and eventually go into jeans. I just wanted to establish the brand on one product, which was the t-shirt, something that I’m really familiar with and then slowly build up the brand. I think working with jeans and denim is a big task in itself and to just all of a sudden bring out jeans wouldn’t be good. How is everything going with the brand? The brand is going well the brand awareness is picking up and we are getting into a lot more stores. The brand is moving in the direction and at the speed that I can control. I think as soon as you get to the point where you can’t control it, it starts to go downhill. Especially with online sales and with social media if things don’t go well people can destroy your brand. At the moment I am happy with the way it’s going. Maybe when some of the other things I’m doing starts to slow down then we can think about taking it to the next level. Do you like to keep your role in Made in Chelsea separate to the brand? Yes I definitely want to keep them separate as they are very different but at the same time I recognise that I need to use the profile that I’ve got from the show to push the brand. They are separate entities but they are two major parts of my life and I have to use them to help each other. It is hard to keep the two separate and trying to find the right balance.
Words by Katie Handy-Beith
Cosmic Tee’s all byCosmic the brand Tee’s ‘Hype’ all by the brand ‘Hype’ Photographed by Photographed Andrew Lamb by Andrew Lamb Concept & Style Concept By Cally & Stone Style By Cally Stone Modelled by Amy Kibbler & Ida Modelled byHennius Amy Kibbler & Ida Hennius Hair and Makeup Hair by Sophie Allison by Sophie Allison and Makeup
Nichole de Carle London is a lingerie design house founded in 2008. Drawing on references from high culture, architecture and literature, Nichole de Carle uses silk and guipure embroidery to produce luxury collections and bespoke contour design. As a first-class graduate of De Montfort University’s Contour Design course, Nichole de Carle considers fit to be “paramount when it comes to lingerie,” and the modus operandi of Nichole de Carle London is to produce “astounding fit and style without sacrificing comfort.”
Right Page // Brief and braces set Nichole De Carle // Bra Gossard
This Page // Bra Ann Summers
Nichole’s passion for design derives from the de Carle family’s artisan cultural heritage, and she draws on her experience from the Alexander McQueen, Donna Karan, and Pleasure State fashion houses to produce what she calls the “amalgamation of couture design and the lingerie sector” as the motivation for her brand identity. Speaking of which, the Nichole de Carle brand has had some recent high-profile exposure dressing celebrity clients, from Nicole Sherzinger, Alexandra Burke and The Saturdays, to the Olympic Team GB ladies for a calendar shoot in 2012.
Although Nichole has sufficient business nous to recognise that “working with celebrities [allows] us the opportunity to communicate the brand message through various mediums,” she remains proud of maintaining production in the UK, and knows that she “design[s] for the Nichole de Carle London customer,” who “above all, [...] appreciates bold design.” The quintessential Nichole de Carle London customer is a woman who manages to “cleverly combine sophisticated elegance with modernity,” and the Autumn/Winter 2013 collection reflects this, being influenced heavily by the epoch of sophisticated modernism, the 1920s and ‘30s, with “elements of futurism, rich colour and texture.”
Bra by Gossard // Briefs by H&M
Bra by Ann Summers // Briefs by H&M
Nichole’s definition of a quality lingerie range is one that consists of “well designed pieces that fit excellently, and do the job they are supposed to do,” which is to provide support. Nonetheless, alongside this modest description of her livelihood - “Designing lingerie has pretty much been my life!” - de Carle’s signature Onyx collection challenges the form and function of lingerie, interacting with the discourse and concept of “lingerie as outerwear.” It is the flagship collection which straddles fashion boundaries, whereas the auxiliary Opal collection reverts to a more traditional “relaxed [...] loungewear focus.” Nichole also admits that “Agent Provocateur does get it right,” revealing a penchant for the provocative and controversial, perhaps a reflection of her admiration for the man whom she immediately lists as her favourite designer - “the late great Alexander McQueen of course!” - without hesitation. When asked for any advice for aspiring designers and businesswomen, Nichole warns that they should be “prepared for a ridiculous amount of hard work and a lifetime of negotiation,” and that “getting a business up from the ground is no mean feat,” an achievement of which she is immensely proud.
Abi Butler Photography //Rebecca Turner Hair&Makeup //Sophie Blackman Styling Assistant //Cally Stone Concept, Styling&Modelling
Bra by Ultimo // Hold-Ups by Ann Summers
With thanks to Nichole De Carle Words By David Mannion Interview by Cally Stone Photgraphed by Abi Butler Styled by Sophie Blackman & Cally Stone Hair and makeup by Rebecca Turner
Concept by Cally Stone // Photographed by Steph Paige // Hair and Makeup By Rebecca Turner // Modelled by Sophie Green
The prowess, elegance and charm of the feline
The innocence and purity of the stag
he focus and streamlined appearance of the crow
CONJURED BY THAT STRONG GALE WARNING VOICE, COLLAPSE INTO A PENUMBRA
ROCKALL, MALIN, IRISH SEA: GREEN, SWIFT, UPSURGES, NORTH ATLANTIC FLUX,
HENRIETTA JERRAM
The wonderfully talented Henrietta Jerram has had a whirlwind move into the fashion industry, Just one year after graduating from Kingston University she has made her mark in the design industry quite profoundly.\\ She very recently graduated from Kingston University where she graduated with a Fashion Design Degree. Previous to that she had been studying a foundation course at Kingston \\ Originally from North Wiltshire she has now found herself living in Ohio USA \\ We took the opportunity to have a chat with her about her life over the last year before she bursts into stardom and is too busy to remember the little people \\ From very first impression Henrietta is a kind young lady with a lot of interest in helping out a student in need as she kindly took out time in her busy schedule in America to tell us about herself \\ Firstly could you give me a quick overview to your history/background? I have just graduated form Kingston University where I studied on the Fashion Design BA course. Previous to that I was on the foundation course at Kingston. I am from North Wiltshire originally and in now living in Ohio, USA. When did you know you wanted to be a fashion designer, particularly knitwear? I always wanted to work in the fashion industry but it wasn’t until I was in second year of uni that I really fell in love with knitting!! Its incredibly rewarding when you can knit up a swatch and instantly get inspired for a garment. When knitting there are so many possibilities with using different yarns and techniques that it can be really exciting as a designer. You won the chance for your designs to be sold in Topshop, how did this come about? I entered a competition through my uni, which was to collaborate with Topshop and the campaign for wool to raise awareness for the use of wool in the fashion industry during wool week. The amazing prize was to have a limited edition jumper sold in Topshop Oxford circus. I won, which meant I got all of this and more – when Topshop bought some extra designs and also decided to sell them online. How did it feel to first see your designs in store? Incredible! I still can’t believe it actually happened. It was very surreal walking into Topshop Oxford Circus and seeing my name on the wall. Lots of my friends bought my jumper and sent me pictures of them wearing them which was fantastic. How would you describe you design style? Does it reflect your personal style? I would say it is defiantly casual. I like to design things that are easy to wear but a little bit crazy at the same time. I love using colour, and generally making things fun. When you are designing who do you have in mind to design for? Who is your market? I guess I’m always thinking a little bit about what I would like to wear. It really depends on the brief. For my final collection I focused on knitwear that was casual and sporty, but when I was designing for Topshop I always had in mind the Topshop gal. What inspires you to design? Anything and everything. It could be a landscape, someone I see whose got amazing style or a vintage garment. I get inspired wherever I go, each different place I visit. What is the most exciting thing that has happened to you since you graduated from Cheltenham? Defiantly having my designs sold by Topshop shortly after graduating. It was a complete whirlwind. One minute I was in the studio all hours of the day and the next getting phone calls form the press and seeing my designs in the national papers. Have you had any challenges since entering the fashion industry? Yes! Everyday is a challenge in some way. You have to be prepared to work seriously hard. You’re an extremely talented designer, where do you see yourself in 5 years? That’s a Tricky one! Still designing and travelling, I wish I had a crystal ball to tell you where!
Interview and Words by Cally Stone
Photographed by Cally Stone
Eleventh Hour would like to thank; Katie Handy Beith for an excellent interview Oliver Proudlock for being so charismatic Andrew Lamb for being such a talent and time management Amy Kibbler for being so open and willing Ida Hennius for being beautiful Sophie Allison for such a last minute help Nichole De Carle for an articulate and interesting interview Lynette Amegavie for being so helpful and understanding David Mannion for a wonderful written piece Abi Butler for being so confidence boosting Rebecca Turner for a being a great MUA Sophie Blackman for innovative ideas Stephanie Paige for being not only a photographer but a best friend Sophie Green for her up and coming talent Henrietta Jerram for giving up her time to be interviewed
2013 Created by Cally Stone