London Runway Issue 61: The Bloom Issue

FACE OF LONDON RUNWAY 2021 . YOGA FOR MENTAL HEALTH . JAUNDICE AWARENESS . FLORAL LANGUAGE

SUSTAINABILITY AWARDS WINNERS . BLOOMING FLORAL EDITORIALS . LOGO COMPETITION FINALISTS

ISSUE 61 27TH APRIL 2021

THE BLOOM ISSUE

RRP £9.99

LONDON RUNWAY

CONTRIBUTORS Chief Editor: Rhiannon D'Averc - editor@londonrunway.co.uk Editorial Assistant: Candice Wu - info@londonrunway.co.uk Publishing Assistant: Amber Johnson - amber@londonrunway.co.uk Lead Photographer: Fil Mazzarino Staff Photographers: Ian Clark, Mrityunjoy 'MJ' Mitra Lead Graphic Designer: Alex Panek Staff Graphic Designers: Lauren Rowley, Karishma Alreja, Barbara Mascarenhas Staff Writers: Cicilia Brognoli, Lydia Petropoulou, Jessica Carvalho, Katie Abson Advertising enquiries - Salvatore Azzarelli and Matilda Kallinikou - ads@londonrunway.co.uk Submissions - londonrunway.co.uk/submit Contributors: Jaako Tikkanen, Arne Lawrence, Ignatius Bimo Nugroho, Mary Matthews, Myron Macapagal, Isabella Martinetti, Lisa Ramsay, Stephanie Paulino, Rozalinda Uhl, Oleksandra Starynets, Phạm ĐăNg Hoàn; Aldo Grande, Linh Jace, Monika Grisute, Alicja Lekawa, Thomasz Lekawa, Stephanie Cornea at Stray Model Management, Ramanpreet Singh Sohal, Isabella 'Izzy' Oxtoby, Reginald Deshawn Sankey, Ashley Ruecker, Nurizhart Osmanova, Julia Che, Rose R.Anduxar, Ambar Cesari, Ricardo Rivera, Nelli Horvath, Hubicsak Petra, Alexia Stanciu at Kiemes Model School, Namaria Ples at Kiemes Model School, Patricia Costea at Kiemes Model School, Andrea Larisa Blidariu, Evgeniia Zane, Nicole Schlaeppi, Paola Perez, Ivelisse Rivera, Elizabeth Anderson, Suhani Lotlikar, Elena Magalias, Maya Kramnik, Viktoria Vasilyeva, Kanadel, Olga Balashova, Larsa, Nastya, Garteli, Lelevents, Alessandra Moschini, Natalja Bindere, Anastasija Bindere, Stefania Sanna, Hannah S. Lewis, Precious Oni, Faye Massey, Orpheus Sloma, Akram Arshad, Devon Thelanderson Smith, Ipseity, Dappled Shade, Vyana Beauty, and DeMoo Jeans.

Special thanks to: Budgy, Elena Kalisperas, Rebecca Scott

Interested in working with us?

We currently have internships available in the following positions: Staff Writers Staff Illustrator Send your CV and covering letter to info@londonrunway.co.uk © 2021, London Runway Ltd and contributors Printed by Mixam and distributed in-house by London Runway Ltd All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or part without permission from the publisher. The views expressed in London Runway are those of the respective contributors and are not necessarily shared by the magazine or its staff.

Face of London Runway 2020 ambassadors are Hannah Lewis and Orpheus Sloma

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CONTENTS

8

70 VISUALS

WORDS

LRSA (Cover Editorial)

8

Face of London Runway 2021

4

Spring Blossoms (Editorial)

24

Logo Design - The Shortlist

5

New Faces

31

The Kaiser of Fashion: Karl Lagerfeld

22

Portfolio Piece

37

Love Thyself (Editorial)

39

Petra (Editorial)

51

Feel the Spring (Editorial)

57

Style (Conscious) Guide: Bloom

64

Blue Bloom (Editorial)

65

Fifteen Summers (Editorial)

70

Interview with Elena Kalisperas: 90 The Mother of a Child Disabled by Jaundice

Girl and Flowers (Editorial)

81

Your Style Horoscope

109

Watercolour

85

Yoga and Dancing for Mental Health

119

Spring Awakening (Editorial)

95 The Big Question

124

Living Bouquet (Editorial)

100

Blossom Spring (Editorial)

113

Bridgerton vs Pose: How Two 29 Shows About Balls are Influencing Fashion Floriography: Written in the Flora 48 What It's Like to Have a Minimal Wardrobe as a Fashion Stylist

78

s ' r o t i d E r e t t le Welcome to our ‘Bloom’ issue, as we celebrate spring and all that it brings.

This year, it also includes some hope that we might finally see an end in sight to the restrictions that have kept us home for the past year.

To celebrate, we’ve got updates on two competitions for you. Our logo design challenge is entering the final round and we’re asking for your public votes on our social media pages, while the Face of London Runway 2021 contest is just launching. This is our favourite event of the year and we’re so excited to get things underway, working with a new bunch of models who will represent us for the rest of the year ahead after we choose our winners!

To say goodbye to the class of ’20, we’ve got a photoshoot featuring our winners and some of our runners up. They’re all

dressed in sustainable fashion, including pieces supplied by our winners from the London Runway Sustainability Awards which were announced this January. What a great way to send them off – and we’re sure you haven’t seen the last of them, either!

If you’re a lover of flowers, be sure to check out some of our fantastic articles in this issue. We’ll help you to understand the meaning of the flowers you wear or buy to display, and you’ll have plenty of inspiration in the form of our gorgeous editorials this issue – which all have a floral theme.

You’ll also hear from two inspirational people in our interviews, who talk about tackling the worst things life can throw at us and how to cope on a mental as well as a physical basis. There’s some great actionable tips, so don’t fail to

check those out.

What else has been going on at London Runway HQ? Well, we’re looking forward to a summer of fun! We’ve got lots of events coming up for you over the next few months, and we couldn’t be more excited. We’ve also published our London Runway Anthology 2020, which features all of the editorials from last year collected in one coffee table book. Our pre-order period is ending in just a few days after the publication of this issue, so if you’re keen to get your hands on one, act fast. We’ll only have a few spares left after placing our order, and they’re sure to be popular!

I’ll leave you there so that you can get on and read this fantastic issue. I don’t think I’m exaggerating when I say that you’ll laugh, you’ll cry – and you’ll have some amazing looks to add to your wishlist.

Enjoy!-

RHIANNON D'AVERC

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LONDON RUNWAY

FACE OF LONDON RUNWAY 2021 It’s that time again!

Just like last year and in 2019, we're looking for a menswear and womenswear Face of London Runway for the twelve months ahead. Our final selection of ten models will be invited to a public voting round, where their portraits taken by our photographers will be used for the final judging. The winners get to enjoy a photoshoot with their face on the cover of the magazine, and help with their modelling careers both in catwalk and photoshoot routes. Not only that, but we feature all of the final ten in the pages of the magazine throughout the year and beyond!

Just like last year, we’re putting out a virtual casting call to avoid all the problems that come with in-person gatherings at the moment. This means you can enter from anywhere around the UK – and even anywhere around the world, so long as you would be able to travel back to London for the in-person rounds and to claim your prize!

When you enter, we’ll be asking you to submit the following: - A headshot and full-body shot. If you don’t have these, get someone to take them for you on their phone – or stand in front of a mirror and do a selfie. No makeup, plain hair, and wear simple, tight-fitting clothing (we will make an exception for those who wish to model modest fashion due to their religious beliefs) - A short video in which you say the following: “Hi, London Runway. My name is ______ and I’m going to be the new Face of London Runway 2021!” (again, filming it on just a phone is fine!)

- A filled-out form listing your name, physical measurements, contact details, and other information that we’ll need in order to consider you We are throwing the doors wide open once again, so absolutely anyone can enter – no matter your age (so long as you are over 18), height, weight, skin colour, religious background, nationality, disability, gender identity – you get the picture!

Last year, our finalists included people from various racial backgrounds, plus-sized, androgynous, senior, and petite models, so don’t hold yourself back.

We will have two categories open for entry: menswear and womenswear.

You can enter whichever category feels right to you, or even enter both if you wish. The category is nothing to do with your position on the gender binary, and we’ll consider all entrants equally.

After making our first round of selections and getting your forms filled out, we’ll go ahead with an inperson session to whittle it down to just ten of you as normal. We developed a great process last year which takes all safety precautions into account, and we even have backup processes in place should the country re-enter any form of lockdown or tier system from this point onwards, so we’re confident we’ll be able to finish the competition without taking any risks.

There will be no charge for entry at any stage of the casting process.

Therefore, the only thing holding you back is yourself! Make sure to get your entries in before the closing date on the 27th May 2021.

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AT A GLANCE Free to enter, and open to anyone over the age of 18 All sizes, genders, races, religions, disabilities, and backgrounds considered Two categories, menswear and womenswear – you choose what’s comfortable to you!

Enter with two images, a short video, and your personal stats Winners will be our cover stars and featured in the magazine throughout 2021!

Enter at londonrunway.co.uk

LONDON RUNWAY

LOGO DESIGN If you saw our announcement in our last issue or on our website, you’ll know that we’ve recently been running a logo design competition. The entries are in, and now we’re excited to introduce the shortlist!

This is where you come in, dear reader. We’re collecting your votes to see which of the designs should be the winner! Look out for the designs popping up on our Facebook and Instagram pages (both @londonrunwaymag) and 'like' the logo you enjoy the most in order to cast your vote.

We asked the entrants to create a logo design that would be aligned with the magazine’s core values. We are proud of our ethos and we want people to support it with their ideas. Therefore, when voting, ask yourself if the designs reflect:

The lucky winner will see their design featured in our magazine and shared through all our social media pages!

The winner will also receive: FREE ISSUE WITH THEIR LOGO PRINTED ON THE COVER LOGO PRINTED AS BLACK AND WHITE STICKER OPPORTUNITY TO BE INTERVIEWED FOR THE ISSUE AND SHOWCASE THEIR PORTFOLIO

Equality Diversity/ Representation Sustainability

Check out the designs right here! In no particular order, the entrants are:

JAAKKO TIKKANEN

ARNE LAWRENCE

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LONDON RUNWAY

IGNATIUS BIMO NUGROHO

MARY MARY MATTHEWS MATTHEWS

MYRON MACAPAGAL

ISABELLA MARTINETTI

For a bonus, you can also see some of our posts from the last month featuring designs created by our team here at London Runway. Our photographer Mrityunjoy, and our graphic designers Barbara and Karishma, all had a go – and you’ll also have seen some examples created by senior graphic designer Alex when we advertised the challenge!

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We catch up with last year's class of the Face of London Runway, wearing items including those from our London Runway Sustainability Awards winners.

Photography - Fil Mazzarino @filmazzarino Makeup Artist: Stefania Sanna @stefaniamakeupartistry Models: Hannah S. Lewis @hannah_lewis29; Faye Massey @fayetamsin., Precious Oni, @precieuxjoie, Orpheus Sloma @orpheus.exodus, Devon Thelanderson Smith @dthelandersonsmith, Akram Arshad @akram_arshad, and Matilda Kallinikou @matildakal Makeup: Supplied by Vyana Beauty: lip colour and serum, gold powder, and seaweed primer Wardrobe: Featuring LRSA winners Ipseity, DeMoo Jeans, and Dappled Shade

Precious wears: Yellow silk scarf RUDA x IPSEITY; Black Inside Out Trousers - SHAKILA THEBE x IPSEITY; Headband - DeMoo Jeans

Hannah wears: Short sleeve shirt Collusion; Unisex relaxed joggers in poly tricot - Collusion; Headband DeMoo Jeans; Lace-up responsible white trainers - ASOS; Lightning bolt earrings - Dappled Shade

Faye wears: Ethnic Jacket - RELAX BABY BE COOL x IPSEITY; Starry Night Necklace - MAREE x IPSEITY, White handpainted jeans - DeMoo Jeans; Lace-up responsible white trainers - ASOS

Akram wears: Knitted oversized striped jumper - ASOS responsible; straight leg jeans in light stone wash - ASOS responsible; trainers model's own

Akram wears: Oversized hoodie in tie dye - Collusion; straight leg jeans in light stone wash ASOS responsible; trainers - model's own

Hannah wears: Oversized t-shirt with back detail - ASOS responsible; Unisex relaxed joggers in poly tricot - Collusion; Blue Scarf RUDA x IPSEITY, Green Bucket Bag - LA FILIPPINE x IPSEITY; Big Pearl Hoops Earrings - DAIXA SOMED x IPSEITY

Devon wears: Short sleeve shirt - Collusion; Yellow Scarf - RUDA x IPSEITY; baggy jeans in white - ASOS responsible

Faye wears: Purple Dress with Stars - ROSE CORPS x IPSEITY; oversized denim jacket in mid wash - ASOS responsible; Floral Crochet Bag - DOWA x IPSEITY

Devon wears: Short sleeve shirt Collusion; Yellow Scarf - RUDA x IPSEITY; baggy jeans in white - ASOS responsible; trainers - Devon's own

Orpheus wears: Cord overshirt in dusty blue - ASOS responsible; Kalfa Trousers - HAREM LONDON x IPSEITY; shoes and vest - model's own

Precious wears: Under the Burn Shirt Top - MENGDI PAN x IPSEITY; Headband - DeMoo Jeans; Denim bag - Dappled Shade; Lightning bolt earrings - Dappled Shade; embellished jeans - DeMoo Jeans

Precious wears: Under the Burn Shirt Top MENGDI PAN x IPSEITY; Headband - DeMoo Jeans; Denim bag Dappled Shade; Lightning bolt earrings - Dappled Shade; embellished jeans DeMoo Jeans

Matilda wears: White Crop Top - SHAKILA THEBE x IPSEITY; Headband - DeMoo Jeans; Sparkling Jeans Jacket - SIMONETTA SABO x IPSEITY; Split Trousers - IPSEITY; Pink Superga SUPERGA x JULIETTE RECHATIN x IPSEITY; Long Black Crystal Earrings - SHAKILA THEBE x IPSEITY

Precious wears: Yellow silk scarf - RUDA x IPSEITY; Black Inside Out Trousers SHAKILA THEBE x IPSEITY; Headband - DeMoo Jeans

Faye wears: Purple Dress with Stars - ROSE CORPS x IPSEITY; oversized denim jacket in mid wash - ASOS responsible; Floral Crochet Bag - DOWA x IPSEITY

Matilda wears: White Crop Top SHAKILA THEBE x IPSEITY; Headband - DeMoo Jeans; Long Black Crystal Earrings - SHAKILA THEBE x IPSEITY; Swarovski Lucky Bracelet - IPSEITY

Orpheus wears: Cord overshirt in dusty blue ASOS responsible; Kalfa Trousers - HAREM LONDON x IPSEITY; shoes and vest model's own

Akram wears: Knitted oversized striped jumper - ASOS responsible; straight leg jeans in light stone wash - ASOS responsible; trainers - model's own

LONDON RUNWAY

THE KAISER OF FASHION:

KARL LAGERFELD via Wiki Commons This month, Cicilia Brognoli presents some curious facts and oddities from her favorite designer, Karl Lagerfeld.

Get ready to immerse yourself in a mix of fashion and weirdness.

KARL, WHO? Although the legendary German designer is known for his innate creativity and revamped fashion house, not everyone knows how extra he was. He kept his birth year a secret for a long time, even declaring himself a few years younger during an interview on German TV. His real surname was Lagerfelt, but that 'T' didn't sound very commercial to him. With a lot of ambition and bold determination, he left his hometown, a nearby village Hamburg. He never mentioned much about his family and childhood. He was deeply fascinated by French, and at the age of 14, he moved to Paris, attending the prestigious Lyceé Montaigne and majoring in drawing and history.

At 21, he participated in the International Wool Secretariat Design Awards, designing a coat that earned him first place. He took the win by a hair's breadth from Yves Saint Laurent. In this way, Lagerfeld secured a job as an assistant for Pierre Balmain. This first experience paved Lagerfeld's way into the fashion industry; in 1958, he became the artistic director for Jean Patou.

Although freelancing seems a modern form of working, it dates back to the 1800s, and Sir Walter Scott's Ivanhoe masterpiece first

mentioned it. I'm sure Lagerfeld would appreciate this little historical parenthesis. In the mid1960s, young Lagerfeld moved to Rome to study art history but soon ended freelancing for designers like Valentino, Krizia, and Chloé.

FENDI - ROME, THE ETERNAL CITY The white-ponytailed designer boasts the rebirth of two of the most prestigious brands, Fendi and Chanel. The Italian fashion house, Fendi, was born as a leather and fur shop, and after four decades of smooth sailing, it started a slow decline. In 1967 Lagerfeld was hired to revamp the fur line. At the time, there was no moral concern about fur usage, or rather, having fur coats was a must-have for many upper-class women.

Hence, Lagerfeld‘s introduction of particular furs like mole, rabbit, and squirrel met with a groundbreaking success. Lagerfeld was an incredibly talented sketcher, and despite not being very humble, he tended to minimise his genius ideas. He is the mind behind the emblazoned double ‘F’ Fendi monogram. He worked for Fendi for 54 years and Rome because his second home, after Paris, of course. And one of the most memorable Fendi moments, branded Lagerfeld, is the 2008 1,500 miles-long catwalk show running on the Great Wall of China.

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CHANEL - FASHION & MOVIES Lagerfeld is mainly associated with Chanel, the fashion house he brought back to life in 1983. Coco Chanel died a decade before Lagerfeld's arrival at the Maison. Chanel was the first woman wearing trousers, challenging every social convention hindering her artistic vision. Lagerfeld immediately started reinvigorating the brand's reputation by taking inspiration from Coco's designs and inventions like jersey and tweed fabrics. The revamp of the ready-to-wear line was a success, and it was coronated with the creation of the all-time famous interlocked "CC" monograph.

Although we all associate Lagerfeld with fashion, he had a fair marketing and branding talent. Do you remember the stunning pre-pandemic Chanel shows at the Grand Palais in Paris?

Well, Lagerfeld introduced this highly experiential design in 2010. For him, the celebration of the collection and the brand itself couldn't be the same in an anonymous environment. Hence, he played hard with set design.

Lagerfeld has always been passionate about photography and film direction.

Do not miss the four short films by Karl, all available on YouTube, showing excerpts from Coco's life.

THE SECRET LOVER Back in the 1970s, Paris one of the trendiest cities to be for all the nightlife lovers. Lagerfeld was jet-setting between Paris and Rome, and it's in

LONDON RUNWAY the French capital he found his soulmate. The German designer never revealed much about his private life, but there's only one certainty. In 1971, Lagerfeld met Jaques de Bascher, a dandy French aristocrat, in a nightclub. He became Karl’s lover for eighteen years. The designer stayed at de Bascher's bedside, while he was dying of AIDS in 1989, until the end. Now the two rest together, as asked by Karl himself.

KARL LAGERFELD BY KARL LAGERFELD Have you ever seen products with a 'Karl' logo in a handwritten kind of font? Well, that's the iconic element of Lagerfeld's eponymous brand together with Choupette, the designer's famous Burmese.

Lagerfeld said he would have married her if possible. The whitehaired couple even posed together in different photoshoots.

This label was launched in 1984, but it has never achieved comparable success to Fendi and Chanel, as Lagerfeld created it almost as a personal whim. He wanted to mix his own style, a combination of intellectual sexiness, Parisian style, and rock-chic. Among the most requested products, there are the inimitable fingerless gloves, a must of every Karl outfit. In 2004 he launched a unique collaboration with H&M before the Swedish brand

via Wiki Commons started its annual collab with a prestigious designer.

DIET COKE ONLY, PLEASE KARL’S ODDITIES Apart from his eccentric outfits, disruptive and edgy personality, Karl Lagerfeld had many passions and certainly some obsessions. In 2001 he was so obsessed with Heidi Slimane's creations for Yves Saint Laurent that he forced himself to lose 42kg. Slimane's super skinny silhouettes left no way out for extra pounds. In thirteen months, Karl achieved his goal and, together with his dietician, published the book The Karl Lagerfeld Diet. He finally could wear the craved super skinny outfits, as

always paired with black leather fingerless gloves. Just think that a journalist, one of the few who could visit the designer's Parisian home, claimed to have seen something like two hundred pairs of gloves.

This was not the only mania of Lagerfeld's; he was also a news freak.

He loved reading the news in the morning, well, many international newspapers. He often didn't manage to read everything he wanted before kicking off the day, so many plastic bags filled with newspapers languished around the house. He liked to start the day with a good dose of news, two milk-free protein shakes and a serving of boiled fruit. He used to drink only Diet Coke and sometimes Pepsi Max, no hot drinks, and very little water throughout the day as it tasted boring to Lagerfeld's taste buds.

We often limit ourselves to admiring the creations of the most loved designers, forgetting that there are talented and equally curious people behind them. Lagerfeld is perhaps one of the most extreme characters, and who will continue to be talked about by bewitching many and making others turn up their noses. For those wishing to find out more about the Kaiser of fashion, I recommend watching Lagerfeld Confidential (2007).

You can read more of Cicilia’s articles on ciciliabrognoli.com

via Wiki Commons

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spring blossoms Photography - Lisa Ramsay @lisaramsayphotography Makeup Artist: Stephanie Paulino @stephaniepaulinomua Model: Rozalinda Uhl @rozalindauhl

Rozalinda wears: Jacket photographer's own; Eye makeup Mac Cosmetics and Charlotte Tilbury; Lips - Mac Cosmetics, Ruby Woo

Rozalinda wears: Dress - Elmadawy, Flying Solo, Copper Room; Earrings - A Silk Purse, Flying Solo, Copper Room; Eye makeup - Mac Cosmetics, Cossette; Lips - Mac Cosmetics

Rozalinda wears: Shirt - photographer's own; Necklace - A Silk Purse Dahlia, Flying Solo, Copper Room; Eye makeup - Mac Cosmetics, Cossette; Lips - Mac Cosmetics

Rozalinda wears: Jacket - photographer's own; Eye makeup - Mac Cosmetics and Charlotte Tilbury; Lips - Mac Cosmetics, Ruby Woo

Rozalinda wears: Earrings - Mamba Milagros, Flying Solo, Copper Room; Eye makeup - Mac Cosmetics; Lips - Mac Cosmetics

LONDON RUNWAY

BRIDGERTON VS POSE: HOW TWO SHOWS ABOUT BALLS ARE INFLUENCING FASHION This issue, Katie Abson explores how beloved shows Pose and Bridgerton are influencing the catwalk.

Two shows renowned for their incomparable costume designs and cast of diverse characters, Bridgerton and Pose know exactly how to make a lasting impact on viewers across the globe.

Not only has Pose received over 1.2 million views on Netflix, it also features the largest cast of transgender actors to appear as series regulars on a television show; a milestone that is long-overdue, but triumphal for the LGBTQ+ community. The show explores the realities of New York’s ballroom culture, starring magnificent costumes that sweep the floor with detailing refined and poised for the judge's critique.

Emmy nominee Analucia McGorty and co-costume designer Lou Eyrich understood that their creations were bigger than just costumes. They wanted to create a collection that would celebrate and uplift the women they worked with and respect the history of those who walked the balls in 1980s New York.

The designers expressed how much of their influence and insight into the subculture came from Jennie Livingston’s 1990 documentary Paris is Burning, a film that chronicles the African-American, Latino, gay, and transgender communities in New York’s ball culture, which McGorty said inspired her to take the job.

community and its larger cultural contributions. This shines through on screen, particularly in the Pilot episode, where the House of Abundance strides onto the floor baring stolen museum gowns, snatching everyone’s attention and breath away. The costumes not only connect each character to their House, they also evoke a sense of family and belonging from the very beginning, an incredibly important aspect explored throughout the show that is reflective of the ‘80s ballroom and LGBTQ+ community. McGorty said, “being able to tell that story, both in and out of the ballroom in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s New York, when poverty was a huge problem and the AIDS epidemic was rampant, was so inspiring.”

Much of what we see in Vivienne Westwood’s 2021 Fall Ready-ToWear Collection mirrors McGorty

In the early stages of the design process, McGorty said that she carried a sense of responsibility to celebrate and support the LGBTQ+ via Vivienne Westwood

PAGE 29

and Enyrich’s ‘80s inspired outfits in Pose. Velvet pantsuits, knee-high socks, bold chequered jackets, printed corset tops, and the star of the collection: ‘Daphnis and Chloe, 1743’ by French Rococo painter François Boucher, printed across dresses, bodysuits, denim and shirts, rivels the off-stage looks adorning the likes of Prey Tell, Elektra, and Angel in Pose.

Pose’s costumes are less about beatifying the characters but centre more around the message of unity and empowerment. The lavish ball gowns brought to attention through our screens were crucial to the trans community, in the 80s and current day, in building and uplifting a community marginalised through history.

Dominique Jackson, who plays the formidable Elektra Abundance, said,

“Empowering yourself through fashion, through the ball culture— is something that all of us do. We always want to be in the latest fashion because sometimes, that’s what gives us validation.”

LONDON RUNWAY Since its Christmas day release, 63 million households have streamed Bridgerton, adapted from Julia Quinn’s bestselling Bridgerton novels. Phoebe Dynevor, who plays the beloved Daphne Bridgerton, describes the series as ‘regency with a twist’, and don’t the costumes show it.

Costume designer Ellen Mirojnick produced a collection of regencyinspired silhouettes unique to each character, with hand-crafted florals, layers of tulle, curved necklines with embellished rhinestones and a colour palette specific to each household in the show, ranging from water-colour pastels to acid-bright dresses and velvet tailored jackets. The women’s outfits were of utmost importance at the balls, true to 19th-century London fashion in being one critical aspect used to gain the attention of their male counterparts, all in hopes of securing a marriage proposal.

Yet the costumes proved much more than that in the show. The colour and texture of each piece were specifically designed to communicate the character’s emotion, evoking desire, drama, and allure. Daphne's costumes consist of light colour palettes, sheer gloves, and dainty details, which alludes to her character’s innocence and naivety. The Duke of Hasting’s velvet jackets and crimson wardrobe creates a sensual air of mystery, dressed to parallel his charming personality. 7,500 pieces of bespoke wardrobe were made for the show, crafted only five months prior to filming.

Stating that there was buzz following the show’s debut is an understatement.

The hashtag #Regencycore trended on social media platforms such as Instagram and TikTok, where people showed off their regency-inspired purchases and hand-made gowns, with interest in corsets and empire-lined dresses surging since Bridgerton lifted our lockdown funk.

models affirming the idea that clothing has no gender, and each piece can be worn by anyone. Sustainability is also important to this fashion-forward duo, something they are keen to work into their collection: the pair upcycled overstock and recycled old material from past collections in their mission to reduce wastage footprint.

Bridgerton-inspired creations can be spotted through the delicate details of a corset ending in extravagant puffed sleeves, tied at the bicep to release scraps of fabric that drape down to the wrist. But the stars of the show, in my opinion, are the first and final looks. The first being an off-white lace dress, the fabric torn to the thigh of the left leg to reveal tulle peeking out from underneath as if the wearer had stumbled and ripped their dress on the way to stop an illegal duel that could lead to their lover's demise. The final dress is a satin baby-blue gown with extravagant shoulder puffs, an underlayer of black tulle and black studded crystals along the bottom as if the skirt had been dragged through a sparkling enchanted pool. These are just a few examples of dramatic imaginings that come to mind when looking at this marvellous collection.

Just as costume designers aim to construct a narrative through their designs, fashion designers also strive to tell a story through their work. Both designers aspire to evoke an emotional response, whether that be through the screen or on the catwalk. It is just one of the reasons why we love fashion so much.

If you enjoyed this article, you can follow more of Katie’s work on Twitter via @katieawriter.

via Natasha Zinko x DUOltd

It also seems the #Regencycore buzz caught the attention of worldrenowned designers this year. Parallels between Mirojnick’s costume designs and Natasha Zinko x DUOltd Fall 2021 Collection are unmistakable. This mother and son collaboration stole the attention of online viewers worldwide at London Fashion Week. Diversity and authenticity underline their general concept, their use of gender-swapping

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via Vivienne Westwood

Oleksandra wears: Dress - 20 again

NEW FACES: OLEKSANDRA

Oleksandra wears: Dress - 20 again Oleksandra wears: Dress - Joli Poli

Name: Oleksandra Starynets Age: 17 Location: Ukraine Agency: City Models

Do you have an unusual talent or party trick?

I love to cook Asian and French cuisine

How long have you been modelling for?

3 years

What are your modelling ambitions?

I would like to visit Japan, Korea, Singapore with model trips.

Where are you from originally?

Ukraine

Oleksandra wears: Dress - 20 again

Oleksandra wears: Dress - joly poly

Model: Oleksandra Starynets @sashastarynets Photographers: Photo Phạm ĐăNg Hoàn; Aldo Grande Makeup Artist: Linh Jace

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Monica wears: Shirt, shorts, and belt - H&M

NEW FACES: MONIKA Name: Monika Grisiute Age: 27 Location: Cambridgeshire UK Agency: Freelance

Monica wears: Dress - H&M

How long have you been modelling for?

Around 4 years.

Where are you from originally?

Lithuania Do you have an unusual talent or party trick?

Yes, I can perform people.

What would surprise people to know about you?

I'm interested in history, I like reading a lot, the favourite subject - The second world war.

What are your modelling ambitions?

I really would like to work full time as a model, to get experience and work with the best.

Wardrobe Stylist/Model: Monica Grisiute @monikagrisiute Makeup Artist: Alicja Lekawa @alicjamarcelinamakeup Photographer: Tomasz Lekawa @tpl.photography

Monica wears: Shirt, shorts, and belt - H&M

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NEW FACES: STEPHANIE Name: Stephanie Cornea Age: 25 Location: Saskatoon Agency: Stray How long have you been modelling for?

5 months Where are you from originally?

I’m a Romanian from Constanța who grew up in Fort McMurray, AB Do you have an unusual talent or party trick?

I have an autoimmune disorder that allows me to pop out my hips What would surprise people to know about you?

I am almost finished my masters degree studying the biochemistry of gastric cancer (hopefully I’ll be starting my PhD sometime in the future!)

What are your modelling ambitions?

To take advantage of any and every opportunity that comes before me to hopefully lead me to modelling in Hong Kong, my dream city!

Model: Stephanie Cornea at Stray Model Management @stefandmushu @straymgmt Photographer: Ramanpreet Singh Sohal @rammysohal Makeup Artist: Isabella 'Izzy' Oxtoby @izzy.makeupartistry Fashion Designer: Reginald Deshawn Sankey @regideshawn Hair Stylist: Ashley Ruecker @hairbyashleyruecker

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FIVE O’CLOCK TEA Julia Che: Russian designer who creates art objects from various kinds of garbage. For your attention, the author's tea service in the form of decorative art objects. My house has accumulated a large amount of old utensils that are not used for their intended purpose. I decided to do an experiment with new shapes and old materials. The result satisfied my interest and inspired the creation of future facilities. So I solved the garbage problem in my house and gave a new life to old things.

Stylist/Photographer: Nurizhat Osmanova @nuriosmanova Fashion Designer/Accessory Designer: Julia Che @juliache.fashion Teapot "Arthur's Tea Hour"

portfolio piece Sugar girl "sweet Merlin"

"Indian Red Elephant"

"Kukuruza Stepanovna"

Glasses "unequal marriage"

"Creamy Claudia"

LOVE THYSELF

Photographer/Wardrobe Stylist: Rose R. Anduxar @Candid_Artistry Model: Ambar Cesari @ambarcesari23 Production Assistant: Ricardo Rivera Amber wears: All Shein, except boots: Forever 21

Floriography: Written in the Flora Delve into the wonderland that is floriography with Candice to see how the secret language shaped communication throughout the Victorian Era, influencing today’s floral symbolism.

THE OPENING BUDS Most popular among upper-class women, their social status and wealth allowed them the resources and time to engage in the act. The repressive culture of the times made it difficult to openly talk about matters of desires or relationships. Outright flirtations or a blatant dislike for someone were prohibited and looked down upon with the plethora of social rules and customs that needed to be adhered by.

Elaborate and decorative bouquets were delivered with grandeur or a singular, inconspicuous flower petal was hidden in secrecy. Impeded by societal appearances, expressing the most intimate of emotions that were otherwise too risky to express verbally or publicly could be done.

Image via Brand X Pictures A rose could represent one’s undying love and affection. Forbidden affairs or challenge declarations were communicated in the form of yellow roses or tansies. The possibilities were endless.

THE GROWING ROOTS Floriography, the language of flowers, is seen throughout history as a nonverbal conveyance of emotions. Its popularisation in Europe began around the 17th century in Turkey but can be seen even in medieval England.

Often carrying a handheld bouquet of flowers or nosegays under their noses to mask the smells of city streets, one’s upside down bouquet would signalise their disinterest in the other party when passing. They would later be called 'Tussie-Mussies' or talking bouquets.

This silent language became more widespread with the introduction of flower dictionaries. Written by Louise Cortambert under the pen name, Madame Charlotte de la Tour, the earliest major text can be found in France in 1819, Le Langage des Fleurs.

The 1884 publication The Language of Flowers by Jean Marsh published in London would quickly become the standard for Victorians in England.

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LONDON RUNWAY THE BRANCHING STEMS Not limited to intercommunication between lovers and friends, Floriography flourished into other fields of art and literature.

Beatrix Potter, an English children’s author and illustrator, completed 350 accurate drawings of fungi, contributing greatly to the studies of botany.

Novelists Jane Austen and Emily Brontë intertwined hidden meanings in their classic novels Pride and Prejudice and Wuthering Heights, respectively, through the use of flower gardens and flowerbeds. Vincent Van Gogh’s Vase with Pink Roses painting, symbolising birth and renewal, added depth to his floral portraits. Constance Spry’s floral arrangements for Queen Elizabeth II's 1953 coronation reimagined the restrictive Victorian Era rules.

Home embroiderers stitched specific floral patterns to better understand their emotions. Some maintained expansive greenhouses while others paid fortunes on special hunters to gather rare flora. The avenues of use for floriography was constantly growing.

“I drew women-flowers, soft shoulders, fine waists like liana and wide skirts like corolla.” -Christian Dior THE BLOOMING PETALS He said, "I have most tender and amazed memories... of my childhood home. I would even say that my life and my style owe almost everything to its site and architecture." His extensive knowledge of botanical anatomy would soon fuse with his eye for fashion.

Needless to say, this hidden language also made its way into the world of fashion. Unspoken words of a designer or consumer could be inferred through the use of specific floral designs, fabrics, or embroidery. Influences from a designer’s garden might peek through, or a memory of an era long past gave greater meaning to floral fabrics.

Christian Dior Late Dior creative director and French designer Christian Dior drew influences from his passion for gardening. Stemmed from his adolescent memories at Villa Les Rhumbs, his childhood home in Granville, the quaint rose garden, with its calming, alluring scents nurtured by his mother, instilled his love for horticulture.

Images this page via Wikimedia Commons and Penguin

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Lily-of-the-valley, his favourite flower in abundance at the Villa Les Rhumbs, inspired the “Muguet” dress from his 1957 collection— one example of the amalgamation of his two passions. Representing purity and a return of happiness, it was also his go-to lucky charm and became the signature flower for the fashion house. On the first of May, a stem of the flower would be distributed to every Dior seamstress and client, a French custom dating back to the 16th century that he established and is continued today.

LONDON RUNWAY

Laura Ashley Late Welsh designer Laura Ashley, cofounder of the eponymous brand, encapsulated the classic Victorian Era and prairie dress style in the ‘70s for a modern audience.

Alice Archer British designer Alice Archer takes inspiration from her Surrey countryside home. She founded her eponymous label in 2015 and quickly established the brand with a whimsical, floral aesthetic.

Her designs consisted of vintage, dreamy frills and detailed, romantic florals. Their ode to fashion nostalgia revitalised an appreciation for the softer, flowy look of simpler times. A favourite of Princess Diana’s, the brand would shift to a posher aesthetic in the ‘80s, but the essence of earthiness and British country living remained evident.

Using a digital technique combining print and embroidery into unique textiles, her feminine hand-finished pieces can be seen on notable figures such as Pippa Middleton and Susie Lau.

Although the company, hit hard by Brexit and COVID, is relaunching only as a homeware brand under their partnership with Next, the ‘Laura Ashley' look is still revered globally.

Emma Bridgewater, Boden, and Cath Kidston are a few brands who took inspiration from and still echo Laura Ashley’s quintessential English rural concept.

Nevertheless, floriography still has a place in modern society to those who interweave secret meanings for the knowledgeable few.

Globally, its influence can be seen in the ‘60s and ‘70s Flower Power slogan as a means for nonviolent resistance towards the Vietnam War in the States.

Most evident in floral arrangements, especially Mother’s Day or wedding bouquets, hidden messages of remembrance are incorporated for past loved ones or hopeful wishes for the future. As a pattern that transcends the fast dying nature of fashion trends, floral patterns can be seen in collections throughout the seasons time and time again.

Leaving their secret messages to those who understand, the wonderful world of floriography is everywhere. Look up the next floral pattern or flower that you pass by in a flower dictionary and discover the hidden meanings!

Alice Archer dresses by Fil Mazzarino

THE LASTING SCENTS The language of flowers is less known nowadays as compared to back in the Victorian era. This is a result of the the use of flowers to communicate not being as relied upon.

With the multitudes of technology accessible and the eased societal pressures, expression can be as easy as a public tweet or an Instagram direct message.

Laura Ashley dresses via Wikimedia Commons

More likely to be bought for the pleasing aesthetics or trend, a modern day consumer might not be aware of the subtle implications unless otherwise noted by the designer or their own knowledge and inferences.

You can see more of Candice's work on Instagram by following @Candice_x9.

Image via Wikimedia commons

PETRA

Creative Director/Photographer/Retoucher: Nelli Horvath @pixeliaportraits Model: Hubicsak Petra @Petrabigel

Petra wears: Dress - ZARA

Petra wears: Pjs - OYSHO

Petra wears: Top - ZARA

Petra wears: Dress - vintage

Petra wears: Dress - ZARA

Petra wears: Dress - ZARA

s p e r h i n t g l e e F

Models: Alexia Stanciu at Kiemes Model School; Namaria Ples at Kiemes Model School; Patricia Costea at Kiemes Model School @kmsmodel.school; Model and photographer: Andreea Larisa Blidariu @profa.de.modeling Wardrobe: Jewellery - Have To Have; Clothes - Sinsay

STYLE (CONSCIOUS) GUIDE ethical and sustainable style guide selected by Cicilia Brognoli

Ben Sherman Multicolour Floral Print Shirt £70

Mother of Pearl Kaitlyn Sepia Blossom Top £325.00 Beautiful Earth Flower Petal Earrings £24.95

Mother of Pearl Tia Rust Shorts £295.00

Spoke A modern drawstring chino £110.00

Rêve En Vert The Joy Bag £395.00

Stella McCartney Felicity Silk Dress £1075

Boden Holiday Shirt Multi Jungle £23.00

Allbirds Men's Wool Runner Mizzles £115.00 Clarks City Bright Toddler Blue Combi £24.00

Clarks Deva Mae Blush Leather £55.00

Boden Bow Woven Dress - Ivory Posy Floral £52.00

Clarks City Bright Toddler Pink Floral £24.00

BLOOM PAGE 64

Trotters Yellow Charlie Chino Shorts £40.00

Blue Bloom

Model: Evgeniia Zane @evgeniia_zane Photographer: Nicole Schlaeppi @nschlaeppi.photo Evgeniia wears: All wardrobe - Zara

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Blue Blue Blue Blue Blue Blue

Bloom Bloom Bloom Bloom Bloom Bloom

Blue Blue Blue Blue Blue Blue

Bloom Bloom Bloom Bloom Bloom Bloom

Blue Blue Blue Blue Blue Blue

Bloom Bloom Bloom Bloom Bloom Bloom

Blue Blue Blue Blue Blue Blue

Bloom Bloom Bloom Bloom Bloom Bloom

Model: Paola Perez @PaolaPerezOfficial Photographer: Rose R. Anduxar @candid_artistry Makeup Artist/Hair Stylist: Ivelisse Rivera Assistant: Elizabeth Anderson @elizzabethanderson Production Assistant: Ricardo Rivera Paola wears: Shein

WHAT IT’S LIKE TO HAVE A MINIMAL WARDROBE AS A FASHION STYLIST Suhani Lotlikar shares her journey as a fashion stylist with a passion for sustainability.

As a stylist, I often find myself in situations where my work is judged on my appearance. From interviews to onset jobs to family events, there is a sense of expectation to be dressed as a fairy of fashion. Don’t get me wrong: alongside styling celebrities and models, I do love to dress my best for every event! But it isn’t as easy as grabbing the latest trendy clothes off of a rack from a high street store for me. In the past few years of working with various fashion moguls and gaining formal education on the subject, I have learned about the dark side of the industry.

In my first year of university, I took a class that focused on sustainability in fashion. “Let us all take up a noshopping challenge for twenty-five

days - no stationery, no clothes, nothing on your must-have list,” the tutor announced in the very first session. While many of us moaned and declared it as impossible, I was very keen on trying this task. As I began to analyse my wish-list I realised that the only thing I needed to complete the challenge was self-control. I began applying my learnings about sustainability into all my other classes. I started to notice my inclination towards art forms such as drag culture, against couture shoes of luxury brands. It helped me understand the part of the fashion industry I really wanted to contribute to and be a part of. I practiced re-purposing and re-wearing my outfits, which helped me understand the application of design principles too.

In the process of researching about minimalist living, I landed on the blogs

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of many creators who showcased their practice of sustainability in their everyday life. e. Having observed the small actions each one of them took to substitute things of consumption in their day to day living, I noticed that the goals they set for themselves were realistic, allowing space for mistakes and slow change. As a fashion student, my wardrobe was surely the place to start with.

Do we really need new clothes every month? Do we really need that many pairs of shoes? Do I really need that pair of shoes because the popular girl in my class has one? The answer was simple being aware of the difference between need and want. So, I began to devise my own system to track my fashion consumption patterns. During this period, I travelled to London where I was introduced to the concept of thrifting.

When I decided to transfer to the Arts University in Bournemouth that year, I was most excited to experience the many cultures of fashion. There was no one or two specific university student outfits anymore. There was a pool of unique personalities showcasing individuality through various styles.

That’s when it hit me - this is the true purpose of fashion, to help us express our personalities without the pressure of perfection and judgement. I experimented with my existing clothes every day and produced looks that made me feel confident, comfortable, and like myself. I played safe by investing in solid and muted coloured clothing.

Eventually, I began try prints, patterns, textures and colour.

It was challenging to go through this process because as a stylist, I felt like I had to have my style sorted. Once, a guest speaker – a famous fashion photographer from London - said, “How old are you? I have photographed some of the biggest names in the fashion industry and I am still exploring my photography style. Stay curious.”

Sharing my student house with another sustainability enthusiast opened doors to many more such practices and possibilities. Once I worked on a 13-day long project for a multi-brand e-commerce platform amongst a team of five extremely versatile stylists. When I walked on set the very first day, each of their outfits caught my eye. They were wearing the colour of the year, the trendiest coordinated sets and the chunkiest jewellery. Yes, it was truly intimidating as it made me question what I was wearing. At the end of the day, I found myself digging into my clothes to find something that looked like their clothes.

But I eventually realized that I was hired to bring my perspective and personality to the racks. It is hard to not compare yourself to others and want more things to keep up with

LONDON RUNWAY

Images via Canva

the ever-changing world.

However, self-control, perseverance, and courage are what it takes to be true to yourself.

untrendy for my profession. But my ability to style personalities with a touch of sustainability make me a unique stylist.

One of my recent topics of interest has been accessorising. I thought about buying a classic tote bag for daily use. As I applied my process and looked through the bags I currently have, a screen-printed muslin tote caught my attention.

This was bought in the fundraiser sale at my university for the Graduate show. The feeling of happiness that came from the story behind this piece was way beyond just another synthetic leather tote.

To cherish this feeling of exclusive items, I now buy my accessories and jewellery from small local businesses.

Today, when I see people walking to the back of the store of a high street brand and grabbing sale clothing with missing buttons and lipstick stains on them, it makes me feel grateful for my education and willingness to change.

Taking control of my fashion consumption has led me to find my own personal style. Now with almost five years of maintaining a good balance between thrift buying limited consumption, I have managed to build myself a classic, repurposed, and fashionable wardrobe.

Over the years, having practiced styling as a profession, my willingness to buy clothes from high street brands has vanished entirely, for I have tasted the glamour of classic pieces alongside the adaptability of each garment in my wardrobe. My lifestyle has not entirely become minimal or sustainable, but I am learning and growing every day. I am often told that my awareness of the fashion industry’s dark side is what makes me want to practice sustainability.

Awareness, however, is just the beginning.

I have experienced through education, analysis, application, and accessibility that this is part of my individuality. My goal is to feel happy about every item of clothing that I own and not invest in items that put me back into the circle of fashion consumption. It hasn’t been easy, for I am told many times that my style is too kitsch, too bland, and even too

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You can read more of Suhani’s work on suhani17.wordpress.com and on Instagram by following @suhani_lotlikar

girl and flowers Makeup Artist: Elena Magalias @elena.magaleas Model: Maya Kramnik @koshka_m Photographer: Viktoria Vasilyeva @vikiprofoto

Fiction

WATERCOLOUR Painter: kanadel @soundscapenet

Stars

Sabrynasartori

Anna

Virtual

INTERVIEW WITH ELENA KALISPERAS:

THE MOTHER OF A CHILD DISABLED BY JAUNDICE

Katie Abson interviews Elena Kalisperas, where she discusses her son's diagnosis with Jaundice, her family's passion for spreading awareness, and her own personal journey with mental health.

In your own words, how did you find out about Vasili’s condition, and what happened in the days following his birth?

I had no idea beforehand what Jaundice was, I just knew that it was very common in babies and on the exterior your baby looks yellow.

I had a very healthy pregnancy. I had an incredible water birth and as soon as I came out of the water the nurse looked at me and said “you’re ready to go home” [laughs], and I was a bit in shock because my body was still shaking from being in the water. I asked if I could stay the night at least before going home because I knew as soon as I went home, I had a fiveyear-old waiting for me, all my family would want to come and see my baby. But it made sense for me to go home because everything was settled and fine, so the paediatrician signed us off. But by the next morning, he was not feeling very well. I was persistent in breastfeeding, but he wasn’t latching on brilliantly. He was looking really yellow; it wasn’t just a bit of yellow tinging in the eyes, his face and body started to look yellow.

A community midwife came to see me midday and I expressed to her my concerns and she reassured me that everything was okay, and the advice she gave me at the time was to put him by the window. But unfortunately, it wasn’t. By the next Sunday morning, I had no follow up from the community nurse, or her mentor, and it got worse. My son became really lethargic to the point

where he couldn’t wake up for a feed.

I thought, something just isn’t right. I tried to wake him up by changing his nappy, and his wee came out bright orange. That’s when I was really concerned.

not connected. So, although his vision was fine, they called it CVI cortical visual impairment. So, he can see but he can’t recognise what he can see. He's profoundly deaf and has cerebral palsy in all of his body.

We rushed to hospital and the paediatrician looked at him and said he’d have to have a double exchange transfusion and phototherapy. But at the time I had no idea what any of this meant. It just made no sense; I was completely naïve. They rushed him into the neonatal unit, they put a cannula in his hand, and he just collapsed. We thought; oh my god, we’ve lost him. I had a complete out of body experience; I felt like I was watching myself in a movie, I just couldn’t believe what was happening.

When he was one years old, he had a cochlear implant, and when he was two, he had the second one so he has bilateral cochlear implants, which were both successful. He has sound which has opened up his world completely, and we’re very grateful for that.

We had to wait for hours, and the nurse pushed us to a waiting area.

We could hear babies crying; premature babies twins. We were waiting to hear him cry. We didn’t understand what was going on; we thought we had a healthy baby. We had to wait for bloods to come from Birmingham hospital, then we were able to go back and see him.

He was in phototherapy, his eyes were blindfolded, and I'd never seen so many wires coming out of a little body. I broke down in tears, it was just unbelievable. We were in there for three weeks. We had to wait to see if he was going to pull through to be able to breathe independently.

We knew he was severely brain damaged but to what extent we didn’t know. We had to have lots of tests done, an MRI and audiology appointments. It unravelled that he had severe brain damage from the Jaundice that had spread into his brain and damaged all the nerve endings, so all the connections from the brain to the body were

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The difficulty is that in hindsight we then figured out a lot of things that went wrong and that were out of our control. I didn’t know at the time that the community nurse that came to see me was a third-year student, and she wasn’t fully confident to see me alone. She didn’t follow up with her mentor, and her mentor didn’t follow up with me [laughs] so there were lots of things that should've been done that weren't.

And I think if I’d had a fully competent nurse come to see me, she should have taken action straight away. Those three things; being Jaundice, lack of feeding, and then she put ‘no concerns’ in my notes, were red flags, especially because – before three days of birth the baby's liver isn't developed enough to get rid of the Jaundice from the body, so that’s why, if he’d had phototherapy at that point, he would have lived a normal life, but because it got left it built up; so, it starts from the shoulders, goes to the toes then it comes back up, and then once it comes back up again it breaks the blood-brain barrier and that’s when it causes brain damage. It got left untreated too long.

The system really let us down, the midwifery team and everything. They apologised, but we could do nothing to change what had happened.

It's fascinating, listening to your story and I just can't imagine what that must have been like. So, to my understanding, do you think his brain damage could have been avoided if guidelines had been followed and the midwife had been trained more?

Yeah, completely preventable. The guidelines are in place to prevent this from happening. This used to occur years ago before phototherapy existed, but in this day and age, it shouldn't be happening but unfortunately, it's happening way too often but I think there's other factors that play into that like people being discharged too early, unqualified nurses.

There're other things as well; you can have breastfeeding Jaundice, which I never knew of. Things can exaggerate and escalate the Jaundice very quickly, so things like blood incompatibilities or blood deficiencies which my son did have which I wasn't aware of at the time. A lot of people live with unknown conditions that don't come to light until something like this happens.

I was in the neonatal unit and I saw other babies go into phototherapy and go home and I was in tears saying, “that should have been us”.

I was happy because he made it through, but it was then going home and knowing things were different I was like “what now?”.

There wasn't really much support from them either. I was bombarded with hospital appointments and professionals coming in. I was so overwhelmed I didn’t have time to breathe. But in some ways, it kind of helped me keep going because I knew I had to wake up and go to hospital appointments, I knew people would come into my house.

In some ways, I look back and knew it helped me keep going.

You mentioned that you didn't really have any kind of emotional support. How difficult was it to come to terms with everything that happened without that kind of support throughout the process?

It was a living nightmare. We would cry every night. I just couldn’t get my head around it. It was really difficult to accept that this had happened and was

completely out of my control. To know that there's nothing you can do. If your baby has a hole in the heart there are so many things that can help, but when it's the brain, there's just nothing, there's no cure. We were searching day and night. We were desperate for anything.

It wasn't until a year later that we started to find support groups on Facebook. We found a family that went through the same thing that had happened to my child. My husband was very active and used social media as his kind of therapy, but for me I didn’t want to talk about it and I became quite isolated. Certain things would trigger me; because I had a water birth, every time I had a bath, I would go through everything in my head, and I would feel like I was given birth again because I was so desperate to go back to that moment where I had control, and knowing what I know now I knew what we would have done differently.

So, I was torturing myself really, I couldn't move on from the past because I wanted to try and fix it.

There were no counsellors at the time that could help us. I think it was two years later we then had to pay privately for EMDR treatment, which really helped me. I had to go through lots of sessions where I'd have to relive the whole experience, which was really difficult. But I'm glad I did it because it definitely helped me come to terms with it and accept it.

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You mentioned that your son can now hear sound. When you found that out amidst the darkness of the situation, how much of a relief was that for you?

We had the first few tests and we found out he was profoundly deaf. Then we had to wait nine months for them to test it again, because sometimes some of the connections and neurons in the brain can reconnect. So, I really had hope that there was going to be something. But when we went to the hospital, we found there was no sound coming through whatsoever, so he was profoundly deaf.

The cochlear implant team at Birmingham university said he was the perfect candidate for a cochlear implant, and they suggested the earlier the better. So, we went ahead. It was a scary procedure and quite a major one, it was a five-hour surgery. It opened up his world completely because before sound he was very jumpy, and he'd be frightened when people approached him unexpectedly. Before sound he was very vocal because he couldn't hear his own voice. After [the surgery] he was quite quiet because he was so observant and listening and taking in all these new sounds that he'd never heard before. So, it was a strange transition. But now he's got both cochlear implants, he's so familiar with sounds and songs and can hear people come in. He recognises our voices and

his name, so it's just been amazing.

When you have the operation, you have to wait a certain number of months before you can actually switch it on, so you can see if it works. When we went to the Aspen University and we switched it on and for the first time he was laughing, his face lit up, it was the best thing ever.

I felt like I could give him something back at least from what he'd lost.

Did you feel like your connection to him was opened up because you had more communication with him? Was it emotionally overwhelming for you?

Yeah, it was. But before he had sound, I used to hold him really close to me and he would pick up on my vibrations and my voice. He’d put his hand on my throat and we’d really connect even without sound, I felt if not closer in some way.

But yeah, obviously it was amazing that he could now hear our voices, and the first thing I said was “I love you”.

It was very emotional.

Do you have any advice for new mothers that are going through the same experience to cope with the loss of communication with their child?

He has speech and language therapy, and that was one of the things they recommended to pick up on vibrations of the voice. A lot of it was to do with him eating and drinking. I’d get really upset and I'd say, “he can't hear me”, but the therapist would reply, “he can pick up on your vibrations,” and would reassure me that here's still that connection there. Even having head-tohead, so when you're talking, they can feel everything. I would sing songs and he would be in hysterics. He really picked up on rhythm.

So how is Vasili doing now at nearly nine years old?

He’s amazing. He's just a happy little soul. Every morning he wakes up smiling and laughing, he’s just happy to be alive. And that's a beautiful thing to see. It makes me happy, because if he was constantly crying in pain that would really be upsetting.

We did go through some years where he was constantly quite vulnerable. He picked up lots of infections and colds and would be in hospital for weeks. He

had a really horrible, nasty infection after one of the cochlear implants, and that was really scary. He had to have IV antibiotics, and some of them he couldn't have because he was allergic.

So, we've had lots of scares. But I feel like he's come to the point where he’s stable now. Having carers that come in and out every day I think has helped his immune system by being in contact with so many different people all the time. It’s mostly the cerebral palsy which is the most difficult to manage. Giving him consistency is hard as well, when you've got other people supporting him as well. If we’re not being consistent then he can't progress and learn because he relies on routine. When he knows what's coming it doesn't give him anxiety.

But he’s got a very chilled, placid kind of personality. He'll only cry or shout when he's trying to tell you he's in pain. He won't just moan or cry for the sake of it. He loves his music and dancing. He does all kinds of therapy; we do hydrotherapy, he has a standing frame so he can stand.

So, it's just all about maintenance now and making him enjoy each day as much as possible.

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Was Vasili’s routine interrupted at all during lockdown, and how has the virus impacted you guys?

Obviously, it has been different. He enjoys school and the interactions that he used to get with his peers. But to be honest with you, his routine has pretty much stayed the same, other than the transportation. So, if anything, he probably does a lot more at home than he does at school because it takes away a lot of wasted time; from waiting around for other kids, or the schedule of school, or getting from the classroom to a different room for therapies. So, actually we were able to focus a lot more on what he needs.

I think if I didn't have support and I had to do all on my own, because I have another two children, I don't know how I would have handled it at all. But because I've got the support in place, I'm able to make sure that everything stays regimented for him.

We're very fortunate in that way. We make sure that he gets out and about every day so even if it's not in the garden, he'll go out for a walk somewhere or to the park.

You have an online presence of just

LONDON RUNWAY these conversations, because, obviously, these last few years have been very difficult for so many with the pandemic. I think it's important to be very open and honest about what we go through instead of pretending that we're fine. It's important to have someone listen and validate your feelings instead of saying, “You'll be fine. It could be worse. You'll get over it.” I call it toxic positivity.

For me, doing these Instagram lives and having people share their stories, it allows people to listen to other people and their difficulties. I hope that it'll inspire them to feel okay to share what they feel.

over 5,000 followers on Instagram where you assert how passionate you are as an advocate for TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury) and Mental Health. You have also created GoFundMe pages to help fund money for so many amazing causes, such as domestic violence, mental health, breast cancer, Jaundice awareness, and more.

How important is it for you to spread awareness and start conversations over these critical subject matters?

It’s become a real passion for me.

It's not just about what happened to me and my family, I've seen it happen to so many other families before me and after me. And because we wrote a book about our story called Our Little Spartan, I've had people reach out to us to hear our experiences and we've helped so many people.

But not only that; my dad suffered with severe depression and psychosis for many years, almost 15 years ago. Those days, I had no idea about mental health or how to deal with it, none of my family did.

I don't think there is enough support for the family as an overall when someone's diagnosed with a mental illness. He went on medication and he was in and out of care homes. I don't think it was managed very well, so I'm very aware that there's a big need for

My mission is to share my story as much as possible to spread awareness of Jaundice. We have a petition going to put it on the Never Events list. It’s on the Never Events list in the USA, so we've been trying to fight for it to be put on the Never Events in the UK as well.

It's my duty to advocate for those who have been through the same thing and similar situations. I never thought I would go through difficulties with my mental health, I've always been a very positive person, but I don't think you recognise it when you're actually in it. My husband was able to give me that nudge to get the support I needed. He’d call the doctors up for me, and things that I probably wouldn't do myself because it just felt such an effort at the time.

It’s difficult with mental health. It's hard to get yourself out of it, so if you've got someone there that recognises when you need support, that does really help.

You can see the response that you have from your pages and see how much people appreciate it. It's still such a taboo subject, and to have that kind of space where you can connect with people through social media is just so wonderful.

Thank you. I didn't really start sharing my personal journey until last summer when we were in the first lockdown, as it gave me time to reflect. Over the last couple of

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years, I’ve felt my best, my mental health and physical health are really well. I'm ready now to share what I've been through.

When I started doing lives on my story, people started reaching out to me and that's when I felt there was a need. I connected with so many people. I didn't have a plan. I didn't sit and think, actually, it'd be great to do Instagram lives every Tuesday, it just kind of happened. I've been hosting the Clubhouse to break the stigma of mental health. That’s been very successful.

I've done Mental Health First Aid training and that's been really eye opening. I'd recommend that to anyone. I think everyone should have Mental Health First Aid in the workplace. I think First Aid and mental health come hand in hand; if your mental health isn't well, you can't be physically well. The mind is much stronger than the body and I think it's about prevention, rather than trying to solve it when it's too late.

I couldn't agree with you more. You post a lot of inspirational quotes on your Instagram. Do you find that you often refer back to these in times of hardship?

Yeah, I mean most of them come from me, there are some I’ve found from certain books, but most are just things that I feel.

I've been talking about this lately; it's called a WRAP. It's a Wellness Recovery Action Plan, it’s a toolbox of stuff that you can do when you know you're starting to feel a bit down. For me, my fitness is what really helped for my mental health and routine.

During the first two lockdown I’ve been fine with keeping on top of my routine, but this last lockdown hit me harder, I think because it was so sudden. But Clubhouse came into play and that helped me reconnect with so many other amazing people.

So, to me what keeps me going when I'm feeling down is knowing that I've been through much worse, and I know it's completely normal and natural to have down days sometimes, it could be hormonal

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reasons or you’re just not feeling as motivated, but usually I have such a regimented routine that even on those days I'll still get up and do my usual thing.

When I'm feeling really low, I will think of the things I've posted or people that I've helped, or just getting out for a walk if I can't bring myself to exercise.

I think self-love and care is really important for me now. I've been on a complete journey of selfrecovery. I've had therapy, which has really helped me.

And then I was able to kind of overcome my trauma. I think it takes time and when people are going through grief or anything I always say be patient with yourself and give yourself time because grieving is a process, and I didn't lose my child, but I lost the child I thought I was going to have. It was a form of grief for me. During different stages of his life, I would grieve again because I would compare him to what my daughter was doing and that would upset me.

But now, because I'm totally accepting of what's happened, I've built that self-love. Now I see things in a completely different perspective. Seeing his wheelchair right at the beginning; I'd break down in tears. But now I think; that's amazing because that’ll make his life easier. It's not about the exterior, it's all about what's happening internally.

our life, some go through it in their early years and some people won't reach it until later. But I just think it's all a lesson, there's always something we can learn from. I’m much more grateful for everything now. I think we expect things are going to go our way and we think we’ve got control, but we don’t.

When it unexpectedly goes completely different to how you plan, I think that's when it's really hard to accept and comprehend.

Some people would say ‘it happens for a reason’ and I'd get annoyed with that, it wasn't what I wanted to hear at the time that I was in pain. But, on reflection it’s taught me so much and also taught so many others. It makes you more grateful, I suppose. Some things that we go through aren't always for us, it's for other people as well, other lessons that perhaps people need.

I'm quite a believer of faith as well. I think maybe God felt like I could cope with it. So then, our family could teach other people things that they needed to see to be grateful.

What impact do you hope to create by spreading awareness of Vasili’s story?

I’m committed to trying to prevent it happening to other families. If I didn't have the support around me, I might have been in a much worse situation

if I didn't keep fighting to get the help that I needed, or that my husband needed or that my child needed. Because nothing came easy, everything was such a huge battle, even the things that he was offered through the NHS or through the government funded or even going private, they take such effort and time filling out paperwork.

So, my mission is to prevent this from happening. I'm trying to educate people on Jaundice because it's not spoken about. Once you have a baby, we get these huge bounty packs given to us and there’s not one thing about Jaundice.

We were able to make some changes to some of the local communities here, so they monitor Jaundice much more now. We created a video of our son and they use in the university now when they’re teaching midwives, so that's been really good.

Just positive changes like that, that's our mission. If I can get it on the Never Events List that would be the best because that hopefully it will put a stop to this happening.

I think we’ve just got to keep going.

And the more we share it, the more people will be aware of it.

Follow Elena on Instagram at @elena___k, and read My Little Spartan: Unleash your Inner Spartan through Amazon: amazon.co.uk/MyLittle-Spartan-Unleash-Innerebook/dp/B07FM111CJ. You can also keep up with Elena and Vasili on their website: mylittlespartan.co.uk

What do you think strikes you as the biggest difference in your mindset, over the past almost eight years?

It’s a 100% turn around, it’s completely different.

If you enjoyed this interview, you can follow more of Katie’s work on Twitter via @katieawriter.

Before giving birth, I think I was a completely different person. I knew nothing about life. I was quite young, I was in my early 20s, and I think I was maybe naive and gullible. I think we all will go through some kind of traumas in

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SPRING AWAKENING Photographer: Olga Balashova @obalashova_photo Makeup and Hair: Larsa @Larsa_muah Model: Nastya @anastasydaniel Dress: Garteli @Garteli_kaliningrad Decor: Lelevents @Lelevents.ru

LIVING BOUQUET Photographer: Isabella Martinetti @isabellamartinetti Model: Alessandra Moschini @alessandra_moschini

Alessandra wears: Coat - Vintage

Alessandra wears: Dress - Zara; Earrings - Chanel

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Alessandra wears: Shirt - Simonetta

Alessandra wears: Shirt - Armand Ventilo

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Alessandra wears: Shirt - Armand Ventilo

Alessandra wears: Dress - Zara

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Alessandra wears: Coat - Vintage

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Alessandra wears: Shirt Simonetta; Coat - Nuna Lie

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Spring is upon us with Summer quickly closing in. With pollen and florals aplenty, this issue’s Your Style Horoscope will all be about dresses that make the signs’ inner buds bloom!

Aries March 21 - April 20

Monsoon’s Dolly Floral Embroidered Midi Dress in red is both feminine and strong.

With the cinched waist and puff sleeves juxtaposed with the strong, deep red, Aries looking for that statement piece for summer need to look no further!

Taurus April 21 - May 21

Most associated with poppies for their strength and compassion, Taureses need to look no further for the perfect Spring/Summer dress.

This Danica Poppy Peach Dress by Mother of Pearl is lightweight and oversized, with side splits and a deep V neck.

Gemini May 22- June 21

Bright and full of energy, what better dress to showcase the exuberant personalities of Geminis than this Emory Dress in orange by TOVE? If their magnetic personalities do not already draw you in, this dress sure will!

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LONDON RUNWAY

Cancer June 22- July 22 Cancers will blossom in this Float Handwoven Cotton Reversible Dress in a natural off-white. By Know the Origin, this dress features side pockets and can be worn two ways: as a classic tank with buttons or a square tank with smock detailing.

Leo July 23- August 21 Representing the strength of the sun, marigolds and Leos go hand in hand. This Studio Dress in crimson marigold by Aardes perfectly embodies that connection with the standout hand block printing.

Virgo August 22- September 23 Boden’s Elanor Jersey Midi Dress in Pea, Summer Paisley provides an effortless sophistication for the modest and kind Virgos. Available in their power colour, green, with a fitted bodice, wrap design and full skirt.

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LONDON RUNWAY

Libra

September 24- October 23

This mint Pippa Silhouette Floral Dress by People Tree will fertilise the gentle nature of selfless Libras. The satin finish provides a drapey, light feel; paired with the flutter sleeves and drop hemline, it will be a staple in any Libra’s closet this Summer.

Scorpio

October 24- November 22

Enigmatic yet loyal, Scorpios are known for their chic sense of style and allure. With this Josephine Puff Sleeve Trapeze Dress by &Daughter, the tiered design and floral printing hints at the sensitive and playful natures of these emotive signs.

Sagittarius

November 23- December 22

The optimistic and freedom loving Sagittarius will thrive in this Tiered A-line Midi Shirt Dress by & Other Stories. The oversized, t-shirt silhouette and short, ruffled sleeves allows for any spontaneous movement and light-hearted fun.

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Capricorn December 23- January 20

Capricorns are elegant and tenacious beings, masters of multi-tasking. The floral prints of this White Printed Wrap Maxi Dress by Birdsong “are to encourage a quiet confidence in the wearer.” Fueled by this intention, Capricorns will be even more productive than ever.

Aquarius January 21 - February 19 Gorgeously stunning, this Summer Print Flowy Maxi Dress by Cossac is ideal for the hot months to come! The wave-like design matches the gracefulness of Aquarius while the tie straps and side pockets provide versatility and comfort they need.

Pisces February 20 - March 20

By Beaumont Organic, the Arya-Paige Linen Dress in meadow print features cross-over straps and side pockets. The maxi length and ruffle tiered silhouette offers the freedom of movement and comfort. Pisceans donning this dress will be like water lilies, their symbolic flowers, floating above the surface.

You can see more of Candice's work on Instagram by following @Candice_x9.

Zodiac illustrations by Lauren Rowley All images via respective retailers

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BLOSSOM SPRING

Photographer: Natalja Bindere @natalja.bindere.photo Model: Anastasija Bindere @anastasijabindere Wardrobe: Zara

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YOGA AND DANCING FOR MENTAL HEALTH INTERVIEW Lydia Petropoulou talks to Rebecca Scott, a dancer from Solihull who holds the title of Blackpool Latin Champion Under 21, about fitness and mental health during the past year – including some great actionable tips for those of you who have lost your mojo (whether physically or mentally).

How did you get into dancing?

I did Latin and ballroom when I was younger. The partner that I'm still currently with now, we started dancing together when we were eleven. We're still together now and that is how it all sort of kept going. We've competed loads - ballroom and Latin, and then moved just into Latin when we were about seventeen.

And what are your major achievements so far?

This is the worst question. I hate this.

Achievement! I always find it weird. And everyone's like, so what have you done? I'm like, this is the one thing that I don't like to tell people. I'm proud of it. And I like it. But I'm not one to shout it from the rooftops.

But when we were younger, we were juvenile world champions. So, we were under twelve. We were world champions.

And when we were under sixteen, there's different categories under sixteen. We were world finalists in quite a few different major competitions. We won the under-nineteen World Championships, when we were seventeen or eighteen.

And then probably our two major ones at the moment: When we were eighteen and nineteen, we won the under-21 British owned championships. That's held in Blackpool in the winter gardens in May. And that's one of the most prestigious competitions of all.

I mean, even Strictly make a big fuss of Blackpool! So clearly, there's some big things there. But that is one of our major ones.

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LONDON RUNWAY And then we also won the competition called the UK Open Championship, which is another big one in January, in Bournemouth. It is called the amateur rising star Latin championships. And so, for people who maybe don't know, the rising star is basically, you have amateur professionals at the top of dancing.

And just below that you have what they call the rising star competition.

So, if you are in the top twenty-four of the amateurs, you can't do this competition. So, it is basically for the people who are… not quite there yet.

And then ever since that we've been in the amateur ranks. We are in the top twenty-four at the moment.

All that requires a lot of effort. I think you have to be very consistent, and you have to really be passionate about it because it's a lot of effort and it requires so much stamina.

Yeah, you are right. I think with a lot of passions nowadays, they take a lot of hard work and commitment, but I find with dancing that it sometimes takes a lot more because we don't have, let's say, particular recognition and any massive federal agencies pushing you individually like a lot of these other elite athletes have. A lot of funding all from yourself really and the lovely parents which, yeah, that's a pain.

Of course, dancing has a lot of benefits for the body as well for the soul. And could you tell me some of the benefits you have seen all these years?

I mean, if you're talking

competitively, it's probably more… you have to keep yourself physically fit. But the funny thing is, you have to go into other things to keep yourself like that. But if you're talking about dancing, not in the sense of competitiveness, from what I see, when I teach people, I think there's always this massive argument for dancing, that it has a wonderful balance between physical health and mental health. Because when you're dancing, especially to music, it stimulates both sides of your brain.

So, it stimulates the creative side and stimulates the logical side. You basically have the music playing, which is your creative side, you've got to listen to that, try and be on time, but also coordinate all the steps and trying to remember which direction you're going.

So mental stimulation, it’s a massive benefit, but fitness-wise, I think people just find that, yes, it burns lots of calories. And it's going to do a great thing for just being physically active.

But it's really fun. And I think people get a lot of enjoyment out of that. Me personally, definitely when I was younger, it's not so much about burning calories then, but physical exercise is obviously really important. But also, I just found it really fun. I mean, there's a massive social aspect to dancing as well. With the different people in the classes, the teachers, you will have that fun even with competitions, you are socialising with everybody that's there. I love to perform. So, the performing aspect is always fantastic for my mental health, for example, so the benefits are endless. In that sense. You get

strength, you get flexibility.

You mentioned socialising and now suddenly, we've lost all this for a year now. So how do you think this has affected people who were involved in arts and specifically dance? Υou can't say it’s one of the worst ones to have been hit because that's not true.

Certainly, so many different industries have been hit hard or even demolished by this. Ιt's really horrendous. Αrts in general, theatres, all these beautiful, wonderful theatres in London that they just can't operate at half measures, because the place is so old it costs them to get 90% of tickets sold for every performance to even run the place and pay the wages. So, the government saying you can open with social distancing doesn't do any good for them because they genuinely can't.

But, I've got a lot of friends in different aspects of the creative industry. I've got a lot of friends who are actresses and doing adverts and performing on stage and they're working in supermarkets.

They haven't really got a choice and a lot of these people like myself, for example, you're self-employed, which means I've done a tax return for the last three years. But obviously, bearing in mind that I was really young, when I started to, it wasn't great because I was still being supported by my parents, still working everything up. And so I got no grant, no money, no support from the government, because I supposedly wasn't eligible. Now, my life moved on a lot in the last three years. Nowadays, I know what I can afford. But I couldn't this year because I just physically didn't have the money to, so, you're talking dance studios and leisure centres and all these different places where these classes take place, either for me to take lessons as competitor… or for me to give them, we've been shot for months, then the tier system.

I mean, we've changed things. We've tried our hardest to bring in COVID measures, which again, costs money.

And it's just it has been back and forth, back and forth. So I think everything has massively, massively suffered. And there's no demand for half of the creative industry at the moment, people can't wait to get back to the theatres. The problem is, a lot of

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these people who had job opportunities before or who were actresses and doing all of this, there’s suddenly no opportunities whatsoever, because they're not looking for anybody, because it's all too much hassle to do with COVID measures.

scale events with no social distancing and 20 couples at a time or 50 cast members.

If you're talking competition-wise, as well, you've got hundreds of organisers who hold, let's say, thirty competitions a year, or even maybe six very big ones, rather than small-scale events.

And they can't do it because you don't just have British competitors coming to these competitions, you have international competitors, you've suddenly got quarantine, there's these hotels now where you have to pay this this specific money to stay in them.

These competitors who come over don't have the money to come over for an extra two weeks and not spend that money on a hotel, then do the call, then go back home, probably have to quarantine again. So, you suddenly come into all these different problems, these organisers, all their money came from these competitions. Now, granted, they probably will have had some money from the government.

I mean, massively, not even dance people, I think the whole world in some way, shape or form, everybody's come out of this with some kind of anxiety or worries, or depressive moments when they thought there was no end to it. I think the main problem with this whole thing is there doesn't seem to be a light at the end of the tunnel, or at least for a long time. And it's a question of always: Can I? When will I? When can I? When? If what?

There's so many questions that don't have answers. And we understand why they can't have answers. But I mean, me personally, I'm a planner.

I'm organised. I like my “Hey, this is happening here, and this is happening, then.” I can't do that. So, I think honestly, everybody's coped with it in different ways. And I think some people who even went into it with a positive attitude, like, “Okay, this is really scary, but it's going to be okay, because I'm going to do this and I'm going to be fine”. Even those kinds of people with a very, very strong mentality and mental attitude.

We've all had moments where we've gone, is this ever going to end?

So, the government didn't help art workers?

I mean, I don't like politics. But if you look around the world, there's barely anybody who handled it better. You can't say they didn't do what they thought was right. And when people from the arts did kick off, they were playing music outside of House of Parliament and all these different things. And they listened. And they said, okay we're going to try and help you. The theatre industry has really tried to group together and help each other and push and keep each other happy in that sense. And I think in a way, the world can't wait to get back to the theatres, because they've put so much out there on social media, then singing and dancing.

I can't imagine the loss that these centres have had and, and these competition organisers. I put what I felt into perspective, it's going to be horrendous on a large scale. It's one of those industries that literally has been last on the list because we are COVID’s worst nightmare: we are big, big

How did all this situation with COVID affect people?

Psychologically and mentally?

It's honestly a terrible thing for everybody. Dance-wise, I think it's been a hard, hard choice for careers for a lot of people. It's, “when will we get back to it? Will I be young enough? Old enough, will I get my last year in this particular age category? Does my partner still want to come back and do it with me?” All these different things make people change their minds and make you have to make really, really hard decisions. And I think not knowing when you’re next going to be able to, from a dance point of view, step out on a dance floor. Now for some people that might be go and see your mate for a drink, or go out to the park with someone, or see your grandma in the care home. When is the next time? It just seems so out of reach. And it seems kind of hopeless.,

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And I think a lot of people have fell into that kind of rut now, whether they get anxious about it, where they get really depressed about it. I mean it varies on the individual. But I, I would say that probably 99% of people will have had at least one week, one episode of this feeling of hopelessness, of “what now”?

What kind of behaviours have you seen developing in peoples’ homes?

No one's going anywhere, which means a sense of personal space, a sense of individuality is suddenly gone. Now, everybody, majority probably, loves their family.

Even when you live with someone, you're married, and you have a tiny child. It's not a thing that we are used to actually spending 24 hours a day with. Yeah, we love to come back home to them at the end of the workday. But we're still not programmed to actually spend that long with each other, because there's this whole thing of you each have your own hobbies or your passions or your interests. Sometimes you share that. And sometimes you have them completely different.

So, you can't help but get under each other's feet. Or get into silly arguments just because you both wanted a cup of tea at the same time.

And you both got a meeting and now you're in each other's way. You know, setting up a home office, possibly if there's two of you. My boyfriend [lives with] two of them in a house, his flatmate has different working hours to him because he works with a

LONDON RUNWAY Canadian company.

He kind of does meetings in the lounge because they haven't got another room and his flatmate’s trying to quietly make himself breakfast. But he's trying to talk and his flatmate’s dropping cups, without meaning to get under each other's feet. That's what you suddenly start to do. And I think a massive thing about all of this is his personal space or pursuit of personal interests, without the other people in your household.

And the other part of that is actually missing other people who are a massive part of your life.

I think it works in both ways. You can have too much of pretty much anything. Even if you don't think you can have too much chocolate, there's a point where you start to feel sick. So there's always going to be that that barrier of like, I need to shut myself in my room now and not talk to anybody.

But normally you'd go out for a walk or you go out with your friends, or you wouldn't have seen that much of your flatmate, Mum, Dad, family, whoever's in the house, anyway.

How did you take the decision to start doing yoga?

If I'm honest, I think anything like this always starts out as a passion. I just liked doing it. I did it for myself. I did it for my strength, my flexibility. I mean, it's the first thing dancers look to: flexibility, how can I stretch? How can I get more flexible? And so, I was just looking to maintain it really another way. Like I say, as athletes it's not just the dancing, that's going to keep you the way you are, you have to properly train, go to the gym, do different kinds of stuff that's going to support you in that way.

So yoga was one of those things that I just did. And I just enjoyed it. I really enjoyed the movement. It made me feel like I'd done some exercise as well. I think COVID made me do it more, because especially in those first couple of months, I was at home and I was like, “Okay, what do I do?”

I just used YouTube really, like with most things. But I think that sometimes gets annoying. If you want it free, there

is a great tool to use. It's fabulous. But sometimes it's like, I've got to trawl through everything and find one that I fancy doing and I don't know what I want to do today or how long or whatever. And I've done it many times where I've put one on, done ten minutes, I'm really bored and need a different one and have to change it. But I just kept doing a lot, basically.

I said, “Do you think I should do it and maybe try and set something up? I can maybe keep going even when the dancing kicks back off again.” And [my mum] was like, I mean, I'm a bit scared for you to spend all that money on that.

But yeah, sure. I'd saved a load of money because obviously I wasn't spending massive amounts. I bought this course. I was doing it for about five, six months really trying to make sure I'd done it properly, done all the different courses and I didn't really know what I wanted to do. I completed it in the December of last year.

And then with the new year I went, right, what am I actually going to do with this? So my dancing is my life, is my main thing. It's my main job. You know what it's like - you try consistently, you're never in the same place two weeks in a row, nothing is consistent, the lessons, the competitions, they're all mega bucks, you're traveling everywhere, etc. So, I was like, “Okay, how can I create something for myself, that's going to bring me solid income every month, so that I know that's coming. But that I really enjoy and that I'm going to be able to do no matter where I am in the world?” So, I came up with the idea, what about if I did an online platform, monthly memberships, and certain amounts of live classes, different benefits, different bonus materials, pre-recorded things, etc. And so, I set it up, I went for it, launched in February.

And here we are nearly two months later. I guess we'll see as time goes on, as we move out of COVID restrictions and everything, if it still continues to work, but it's going well, so far. And who knows, but I'm really loving it.

Teaching has always been a passion of mine. Bringing that into another element, doing another thing that I really, really enjoy, I think I'm possibly one of the luckiest people to actually be able to do something that I really,

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really, really love.

Can everyone do yoga? Is yoga for everyone?

Literally, yes, that is my favourite phrase: Yoga is for everyone. So, I think I think it's funny actually, a lot of people have started to do it for many different reasons. And I think if I'm honest, everybody spent the first lockdown doing DIY and maybe chilling out and actually taking a little bit of a chill. And then they suddenly went “okay, I'm bored. Now give me something else to do”. Or people have eaten the whole way through the house or drunk more alcohol and they’ve suddenly gone “Okay, where did this belly come from?”

But also, I think the people that have looked for a mentality change have also looked for yoga. And the people who look for the physical side of yoga have found the mentality change as well.

So for me, it is for everybody, because the moves aren't based on flexibility, or how much you can touch your toes or whatever, that comes with time. But you also have to think about the strength, it is going to make you stronger. But the best thing about yoga is it's genuinely about listening to your body. So, it's about if that hurts, don't do it. And then massive thing as well is it's all about alignment. So, what it's doing is actually correcting your body.

It's trying to put your spine back in line, get your hips where they should be, your shoulders, your chest. It's really trying to correct your posture, the way you stand. The way your body just generally functions.

LONDON RUNWAY

So, for people who are sat down consistently at a laptop, I have a lot of those people who are my students.

I had some pictures actually off a client about a week ago. She only did it for a week. You couldn't have got her head further forward, her shoulders further up. Even when she was trying to stand up straight. She just couldn't and after a week of doing this, she sent me a picture. She went, I feel like a giraffe. So, the way it promotes alignment is fantastic.

But because of that, you then get your mental benefits. And the great thing about yoga is there's loads of different styles. And I personally teach three, because they're the ones I'm most comfortable with. And vinyasa is very, very alignment based, a lot more active, kind of the one people would go for if they wanted to feel like they've done some activity and exercise as well Then there's one which is called restorative. And this is all about relaxation, it's about letting the body's natural responses get activated, so that your body can function properly from the inside.

And it's about using all these different props and different things to hold up your body rate and position. So you promote alignment.

But you're also promoting this clearing of the mind solely for totally focusing just on your breathing on how your body feels tuning inwards.

Because I think at the moment, I mean, who's watched the news?

More than ever at the moment, everyone, because we all want to know what's going on. It gives us anxiety. If you do it half an hour a day, in your own way, there's a million different ways to do it.

Mindfulness meditation, this kind of yoga. You can use crystals, you can just sit there with your essential oils.

There's a million different ways to do it, but if you do, your mental clarity is so much better.

You find a way that even if you've wound yourself up, you have better skills and a way to calm.

The majority of people enter into it with a physical goal. I want to be able to do that pose, I want to be able to do this. The thing is, what I find is, even if people are entering with that, it's not wrong. Yoga can give you that, so it's not wrong. It's a lifestyle. The people who follow it massively are the people who actually know yoga philosophy and follow their principles of life and do all this kind of stuff. You don't need to pass on those messages, because some people aren't open to that. And they don't want to know about that. They just want to use it physically.

But what they will always gain even if they don't know all of the background of yoga, what they will always gain is it makes [them] feel mentally fabulous. Physically fabulous. I think everybody reacts to it and come into yoga searching for something different. But I think they come out with both.

What's your advice for people who, due to the current situation, have abandoned physical exercise? Should they find a way to come back and incorporate some physical activity for their mental health?

There's the phrase: physical activity releases endorphins. That isn't something we say. That's a fact. That is a biological fact. I think yes, I think every single person has got demotivated in some way, shape, or form.

Whether that's pottering around the house, whether it's going out for a walk, whether it's an intense home gym routine, or yoga, or Pilates, or one of these crazy dance fit video, it’s going to be some physical activity for someone. And whether you do it for your physical health, or your mental health, you're going to get benefits both ways. And it's absolutely essential.

It doesn't have to be a lot. But trust me when I say you will find some kind of benefit out of it. And especially if I think especially if people are feeling low in themselves and feeling anxious, depressed, lonely, anything like this, it's going to really lift you up.

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Find something new, try something new. It just takes five minutes. Try something you've never tried before.

You might hate it. But you might find your new passion. And along the way you're going to improve physical and mental health. Even if you feel rubbish, this is your message: do it now.

Do you recommend specifically yoga for this kind of mental improvement?

I think you always need a balance.

And that's one thing actually yoga promotes is: you shouldn't just be doing this, you should be doing something else as well, you should be finding different ways to get your body and your mind healthy. I think you can find it in a lot of different ways. And I think every person is going to respond to a different exercise in their own way. But for example, I find that a gym exercise makes me feel great. And I'll do a proper gym workout. But also I don't think that gives me focus.

I think yoga, when you do that, it's going to give you the physical benefits, all these things that you're looking for - eliminate pain, stronger, more flexible. But it also gives you so much more inner strength, time to reflect on you, time to switch off. It teaches you breathing techniques of how to cope when you're feeling stressed. So, if you're talking about what's one of the best things to gain both physical and mental health, definitely yoga promotes that.

What's your wish for now on?

I think my wish is that people get their freedom back. However long it takes, that is going to be on the horizon in the end. My wish is that people can get positive again and keep that positivity and have a faith that will happen and that it will all be okay again and you'll see everyone enjoy life like they did before.

And so, to end, how, where can people find you to join your classes?

My website is btmslowhyperyoga.com.

Q A THE BIG QUESTION We asked, you answered

If you could have one superpower, what would it be?

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"Invisible - then I'd just go everywhere I’d want and find out what’s going on and how they do stuff, steal peoples' ideas, that sort of stuff!"

Mary Russell, model, fashion designer, and TV personality

"I WOULD BE SUPER WOMAN"

"I always had dreams I could fly when I was young, so I would love to fly. It would be amazing. It’s actually funny because my daughter keeps saying “Mummy, I wish I could fly”, maybe its a genetic thing" - Rebecca Legon, disability activist

- Kathleen Humberstone, model and actress

"It would be to spread kindness to every single person, so that we have a world that is more compassionate, more understanding, more giving, more loving, more tolerant, and I think if could just [snaps fingers] and just fire that kindness into every single person around me I think we would have a very beautiful environment around us"

"INVISIBILITY WOULD BE MY SUPERPOWER" - Kirpal Bhogal, model and actor

"I would like to be able to travel in time" - Alex Panek, senior graphic designer

- Joti Gata-Aura, diversity activist

"I want to teleport so you can be anywhere at any time. You can click your fingers and be there. That's what I’d have and then I can be wherever I want to be" - Louise Hunt, Paralympic athlete

"To transport. So I can go from here to there and then I'm in Brazil in one second - voom!"

Samanta Bullock, model, athlete, and entrepreneur

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BACK COVER: BACKSTAGE AT LRSA SHOOT WITH VYANA BEAUTY, BY FIL MAZZARINO