The Clothes Maiden: Edition 6

The Clothes Maiden A journal for the creative and fashionable minds

Edition 6.

April/May 2012

A journal for the fashionable and creative minds.

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t’s times like this when I’m extremely proud to say that I have my own magazine. With so much love and care that’s gone in to this, I can present to you the sixth edition of The Clothes Maiden.

I had the lovely pleasure to speak to the talented Priscella Manon, her striking illustrations were enough to get us all talking. I was also introduced to a lovely little label, Cold Picnic and I couldn’t wait to show you guys what they have to offer.

I want to thank Collette, Lauren, Miriam, Jessica and Sara for all their help towards making this edition good enough to eat.

Enjoy it, remember to email me with your thoughts, I always love hearing from you. steff@theclothesmaiden.com

Clothes Maiden Contents

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EABURNS

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OLIVE

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Don’t Feed The Bears

Roamkix

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6 EABURNS

42 Nylon Sky

12 Pretty Things We Like

48 Victoria Sin

24 Priscella Manon

62 ELZEE

16 OLIVE

54 Roamkix

28 Syd & Mallory

67 Tea & Tulips

34 Cold Picnic

72 Street Style In London

38 Don’t Feed The Bears

76 Lola Donoghue

Editor: Stephanie Anderson

Contributors:

Lauren Anderson Collette Hagan

Illustrators:

Miriam Hull Jessica Snyder

Photography: Sara Reverberi

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EABURNS is an ethical fashion label that works primarily in reclaimed leather. This gorgeous label creates three-dimensional abstract jewellery and takes its inspiration from science and magic that is undoubtedly one of a kind.

Lizzie who is the creative genius behind EABURNS graduated from Ravensbourne College of Art and Design and previously worked for renowned stylist and designer, Mrs Jones. When she left she had the intention of starting a fashion label but Lizzie found that her designs were becoming more and more embellished and then she became interested further in experimenting with reclaimed leather that was when the switch was made to jewellery design.

Other inspirations for Lizzie’s designs are “often a distillation of things I find inspiring which could be anything from science fiction, architecture and dinosaurs to religious iconography.” This certainly leaves us with an eclectic choice.

Statement pieces include multifaceted designs that are made from treated reclaimed leather, Lizzie told us she always has an outfit in mind for the piece whilst she is creating it. She also loves seeing how other people bring her designs to life with their own style.

You will be pleased to know EABURNS delivers worldwide and also has stockists in Shop 172 of the famous Brick Lane in London as well as other shops around London, even one in New York! The prices really do vary but each piece is unquestionably worth every penny.

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Pretty Things We Like You know The Clothes Maiden

loves bargains, right?

Waking up to find our inbox bursting with emails from independent labels makes our life so much more enjoyable. We can’t wait to see your handmade jewellery or your artwork.

We are also super hoarders of everything beautiful.

Have you been able to guess this already?

Look at the pretty things we have featured in this edition, with love from us.

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Swans Wristlet We discovered this handmade purse, how can we not instantly fall in love with it? Swans pick a mate for life, this innocent looking pair have their necks matched up to the shape of a heart. Get your hands on this little treasure - there’s plenty of room for all your pennies. £14.99, www.kategarey.com

Candy Carousel Soapy Pop Smell sweet forever with this candy pop of soapy goodness, you’ll smell like a walking pick ‘n’ mix and who cares? This Candy Carousel Soapy Pop would make a sweet Easter gift. All Soapylove Soapy Pops are SLS free and all fragrance oils are phthalate free. In other words - no funny stuff to make your skin come out in rashes! £5.99, www.soapylove.com

Kite Pin You can go and fly a kite any time you want without looking like a total weirdo, by simply hanging this from your shirt or jacket collar. Let this pin swing away from your lapel and you can look super cool at the same time. £8.00, www.heidiseeker.com

Brontosaurus Necklace We love a good dinosaur, this necklace is extremely perfect for any occasion. It hangs from a long chain as well, just what we like to see! £5.00, www.junkieloversboutique.com

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Pastel Coloured Cameo Brooch Pastel colours are massively popular right now, they are everywhere! So wear this little cameo brooch on absolutely anything you like, these beautiful colours are sure to stand out from the crowd. £8.00, www.hannahmakesthings.com

Happy Pineapple Studs Who will not want to wear these fresh looking studs this summer? These little pineapples will certainly be conversation starters. Get your social circle amongst the pineapple fad, let’s start a trend! £8.00, www.ilikebirds.bigcartel.com

Geometry Friends Ring Set

Oh, forget friendship bracelets, they were seriously so 8 years ago, it’s all about these cute rings. Give your best friend’s one each this Easter, sweet idea right? If you only have the one BFF, two for you! Thank us later. £11.50, www.custommade.bigcartel.com

Follow The Leader Necklace

This Follow The Leader bunny necklace would make the perfect little gift, for anyone.

There are many beautiful things from Elsie Belle, her creative website is a lovely surprise, so take a look! You really will be in for a treat. £16.95, www.elsiebelle.com

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Loose Lips Sink Ships Ring Knock people dead with this handmade ‘Loose Lips Sink Ship’ ring, it’s limited edition making this piece extra special. Check out the rest of this beautiful jewellery made by the lovely designer, Georgia. £15.00, www.cheap-frills.co.uk

Sap Green Velvet and Chain Bracelet These colours are gorgeous, they stand out and you can wear this handmade bracelet with absolutely anything you like. Dress it up, dress it down! It simply does not matter because you have an expensive looking bargain around your wrist £12.00, www.gingerpickle.co.uk

Hand & Cross Necklace To keep in with the latest grunge trend, we love this hand on cross chain, there are plenty more charms to choose from so take a look! You will be spoilt for choice, trust us! £15.50, www.blackpearlboutique.co.uk

Pink Chiffon Shirt The weather is getting warmer, we realised we had to ditch our cosy knitted jumpers and get into the whole spring/ summer wardrobe. This pastel pink chiffon shirt is an absolute bargain, more colours available. £24.00, www.dirtylove.com

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Let us all just quit life right now while we strut about wearing nothing but an item from OLIVE clothing for the rest of our days.

What would life be like if this was actually to happen? Well I reckon it would be so much easier for starters.

The Bricks & Mortar lookbook is something down right magical, from sheer blouses to slouchy soft knits. You’d feel like a million dollars, every day.

The first thing you should do when you enter the OLIVE website is to go straight to the shoe section. Feast your eyes upon the Suedette brogues with the tassel detail, £50. You won’t find shoes like this anywhere else; I’m in fact sad that I don’t already have them on.

OLIVE stocks other brands as well such as Dr. Martens, Saint James, Fjallraven and Marvis (toothpaste just got cooler, x 1000).

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Priscella Manon P

riscella Manon is a talented young artist from a small friendly little village in the Netherlands. She has recently made the move to Belgium for her studies, which she says is a fun cultural difference.

Priscella attended an art school for one year but mainly her skills are all selftaught which is impressive and shows how much of a passionate artist she is.

Now that she is currently studying a psychology degree she does not get as much of a chance to draw but tells us that sometimes she just has to because of so many inspirations and ideas that need to be released on to paper. We are really glad about that as looking through her portfolio, her illustrations are beautiful.

Describing herself as impulsive, Priscella mentions that her drawing is an interesting process for her because as first she does not know what the idea could turn out to be. This process reflects in her work as her images can be quite dreamy and whimsical.

Inspirations for Priscella are original pieces of clothing, plants and flowers as well as books and other artists. Our favourite piece is part II in her portfolio, of a girl and an octopus. It has such a faraway feel to it. We hope to see lots more wistful pieces from Priscella Manon.

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Syd & Mallory's is an independent label based in Sheffield,

South Yorkshire. The idea is to produce garments that you really can’t find anywhere else. In order to do this the style is raw, edgy, folky and grunge as well as punk, so it is quite an eclectic mix. “Psychedelic sounds meets the ideals of homemade punk fashion”.

Items of clothing you will come across are either handmade, or re-worked and some are handpicked vintage pieces. To create an entirely unique look there is the clash of modern styles with vintage fabrics and vice-versa. Not only this, the Syd and Mallory label does this all at an affordable price, ditching the designer price tags.

Admittedly, they confess they are not mass production and this is what sets the label apart from any other. You won’t walk into their boutique store and find the same item in different sizes or colours, some people could note this as a downfall but it enables customers to be completely exclusive with their choice. If they buy something it means they will never see anybody else with the exact same garment. This is why the label is so attractive and passionate, they have taken a risk and they have succeeded.

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“Not just another vintage store�.

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old Picnic is the dreamy label by Phoebe and Peter, created just over a year ago.

The couple originally started out making printed suede earrings influenced by Native American crafts and African textiles.

Over the months they began to expand the line to leatherwork, fiber arts and cast jewellery, but continued to look to indigenous cultures and handmade craft techniques to build their pieces.

These pieces you are about to look at are from the latest summer/ spring collection entitled: The Ruined Collection

The Leather Etched Diamond Print Watch is our favourite, with the Etched Pyramid Ring coming close second.

With prices ranging from just ÂŁ16 you are certainly going to come across something special in the Cold Picnic online shop.

What makes this label really magical is the fact you can just see how passionate the pair are about making jewellery. After a summer spent digging through library book sales for anything to do with 1970s arts and crafts, ancient cave paintings, African textiles, and Native American history this is when they decided to go further and Cold picnic was born.

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£68

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Don’t feed the Bears 38

Don’t feed the Bears are an independent T-shirt label based in Sheffield, that aim to put a bear on the chest of every T-shirt wearer on Earth (starting with South Yorkshire).

They have a flagship store which is located in the Forum, at the heart of Sheffield’s bustling Devonshire Street fashion district.

The designing and even the printing of the T-shirts is done completely independently by couple; Lucy Spencer & Tom Young, they are the faces behind the brand and have been in designing and printing since 2009.

Lucy is a Sheffield Hallam Fines Arts & Textile graduate who has an eager eye for new trends and ideas whilst Tom focuses on the printing and all things ink, he is a master printer and as a result, together they have created a seriously distinctive label.

They tell us the name; Don’t feed the Bears was inspired by a summer spent across Europe in 2009: “We kept seeing signs saying ‘WARNING: BROWN BEARS’ in the Austrian Alps, & ‘DON’T FEED THE WOLVES’ whilst driving through Croatia, and after some exhaustive brain storming, the brand was born.”

To keep customers looking unique the brand only print in small runs, so there is not a major chance of bumping into another person wearing the same T-shirt. The designs are all quirky and original, inspired by mixing together English traditions such as the pipe, tweed and moustaches with pirate eye patches and obviously, a good handful of bears: “It’s a Sherlock Holmes meets Long-John Silver approach.” The designs for us girls edge towards the sweet innocent image of ultra cute bows; buttons and sailor collars, giving a nautical feel which has always been popular. This is why we have fallen so hard for these handmade customised purses, so pop out your pennies in style because these start from just £10.

As well as their Forum shop, DFTBs have a strong online presence with their own website shop (www.dontfeedthebears.co.uk) and a boutique store on the huge, international fashion website, ASOS Marketplace.

Check out Don’t feed the Bears online or better still, pop into their Forum shop for the full DFTBs experience.

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Nylon Sky is a jewellery label

founded in 2010 by design graduate Jennifer Ring. The jewellery has statement pieces that really capture the eye, predominantly geometric patterns and graphic shapes.

Influences and inspiration include art deco, which makes an impact on the majority of these jewellery designs.

What makes this label unique is the fact that Jennifer uses mixed materials, including; leather, wood and acrylic. To be able to make such statement pieces with these materials is incredible talent

To create these one of a kind pieces, processes of laser cutting and etching have been applied and certainly with a firm hand.

This is the sort of jewellery you can literally wear with anything, whether it be an evening dress or a casual top while out meeting friends. The label has something for everybody and at very affordable prices, starting at a wonderful price of just ÂŁ3.

You can find nylon sky jewellery online (www. nylon-sky.com), as well as selected stockists and galleries around the world.

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riginally born in the Canadian city of Toronto, Victoria Sin moved to London in 2009 having been offered a wonderful position at the prestige Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design.

However, Sin believed this wasn’t for her, so instead she began working as a freelance illustrator and screen printer, printing her own designs on T-shirts and selling them in markets under the name of “Victory Brand”.

This was the year Victory Brand was born, overtime the label has expanded into a concept streetwear brand.

At the tender age of 21, Sin has been commissioned by clients such as the Boundary Restaurant and Southwark Arts Forum had her first Solo exhibition ‘Drawing’ at XOYO Gallery in London.

Now at 21 Sin has brought Victory Brand into its third season and incorporates studded dress shirts, leather patched Sweats and of course the classic printed shirts and pullovers. Now stocking globally in England, Scotland and Italy, Victory Brand continues to grow alongside Victoria Sin’s art practice.

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am sure you have heard the saying, ‘where do get your kicks?’ Roamkix is a label that offers customers the chance to get their ‘kicks’ out of clothing and accessories, whether they are vintage, worn or new; this label offers an eclectic mix.

Each item is selected and handpicked from lots of different places, giving the piece its own story and we are a sucker for that. At the moment the brand is predominantly vintage, however Roamkix has just started stocking a beautiful jewellery range by Son of a Sailor, a Texan brand based in Austin.

The name Roamkix comes from the creator; Jess, 26, who told us that when she was a teenager she was obsessed with Jack Kerouc and the idea of roaming and travelling whilst getting kicks out of new experiences. It suits the label very well. Jess does all the buying, styling and designing, employing the help of her friends and family too.

‘Inspired by open roads and old photographs we aim to bring a sense of discovery to your wardrobe’.

Which Jess certainly does, browsing through the online store it is easy to see that inspiration has been taken from travelling between Paris, London and the Anglesey seaside. Whilst this may seem chaotic it has clearly been beneficial for Roamkix as Jess has acquired a special sort of knowledge about clothes that enables them to stand above others.

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Designer Lauren is the brainchild behind the unique jewellery

label ELZEE, living in New York she holds a B.A in Environmental Design and is currently completing her Master’s Degree in Architecture at Parsons, The New School for Design.

Lauren’s portfolio includes work in a range of scales – and most recently has presented to us her whimsical line of jewellery exploring materiality and colour for ELZEE, her handmade jewellery line.

Her jewellery design and construction development is rooted in her architecture education, developing concepts with the same processes: sketching, prototyping, researching, sourcing materials, late nights and continuous refinement. Each piece is a juxtaposition of materials – found, repurposed and vintage stones, trade beads, handmade clay, fabrics, leather, and one-of-kind findings.

One of Lauren’s oldest friends, Claire Cottrell edited and styled her spring / summer collection, in the meantime she usually works in film and design in Los Angeles, California. In order to match Lauren’s unique approach Claire played with random fun findings, these included; Japanese white bread, Mexican cookies, rocks from the beach, branches from her garden, apples, oranges and old neon pink issues of the Delineator.

ELZEE is a refreshing jewellery collection and each piece can be adapted to pretty much anything, giving us even more reason to purchase everything and leave ourselves broke for the foreseeable future. Let’s face it though, it would be worth it.

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The dazzling Steffy Kuncman currently lives

in Miami, Florida, she moved there when she was just 8 years old. Before the move she lived in The Big Apple where she was born in Long Island. Steffy told us that her heart still lies in New York and has lived back and forth between the two states ever since.

At first Steffy began studying a journalism and photography course but changed her path in life and is now back in school concentrating on a Fashion Merchandising degree. It’s hard not to fall in love with every single dress in the photographs you are about to see, you can tell Steffy doesn’t just love fashion, she lives it.

Every single day she finds inspiration and beauty in everything that surrounds her, she channels this through her blog, Tea & Tulips.

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This isn’t just a fashion blog though; this is also an online boutique specialising in tremendous one-off vintage pieces, from admirable shoes to quirky, timeless dresses.

What makes Tea & Tulips extra special is the fact that she lives in a city that has an endless supply of charming vintage garments.

She loves nothing more than sharing her abundance of pretty clothes with stylish girls from all over the world. In the future she can definitely see herself carrying this on for a very long time, whether on a small scale or as a full-time job.

Steffy describes herself as a non-girly-girl as she grew up with her two brothers who are also her best friends. She is without a doubt the sweetest, most fashionable girl we have ever come across.

Beauty captures the attention, however personality captures the heart and Steffy has the most positive attitude in life. Her small piece of advice is “find happiness and love everything, I have every single day. I am happy to be alive.”

Living with those wise words by your side will get you far, all we need now in our life is to get our hands on some of these spectacular dresses, that will remain exclusive. Some dresses are currently in the sale starting from just £6.50 how can you now blow an entire months wage on a new summer wardrobe?

You will want all the bags, not even going there with the jumpers! Our wish list just got huge!

Shipping to the UK is very reasonable; we’ve all been there. We have all been ripped off with shipping charges, not at Tea & Tulips though, Steffy charges £8.

What are you waiting for?

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We hit Brick Lane and

Shoreditch, with our photographer Sara along with her nifty camera

She took that many photographs we could barely contain our excitement. Style inspiration overload, presenting to you dipped dyed hair ranging in all different colours, tie- dyed rucksacks to the most exquisite shoes take a look!

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Lola donoghue Tell us a bit about Lola Donoghue I’m a full time photographer, art teacher and illustrator. I live in Co. Galway in the West of Ireland. Although I work as a photographer and teacher, drawing has always been my first love. I’ve just started back drawing again in the last few months after some years.

You've recently just got back into illustrating, what inspired you to get into the swing of things?

I had been so busy with the photography and teaching art for the last number of years that I had totally lost touch with my first love of drawing and painting. I started a millinery design course last year, so the illustrations grew from doing some sketches for headpieces and I have been drawing since. It was only then that I realised that this is what I should be doing. I put some of these on Etsy and to my surprise I sold a couple. Since then I’ve been working away whenever I can grab an hour and I’ve been selling them online. People have also been contacting me to do freelance work so I’ve just decided to take the plunge and take a career break from teaching. I’m looking forward to spending all day everyday on my own art.

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You have a pretty hectic lifestyle; take us through a typical day of yours At the moment I teach Art from 9-4 in an allboys secondary school I’m also a partner in a photography business so I may have a photo shoot organised for the evening time or else I will be on my computer editing photos until about 10pm. I try to get into my studio a few evenings a week also to do some drawing or painting. Weekends are usually taken up with photo shoots. Luckily I don’t have any children thrown into the mix yet.

Who or what has been inspiring you lately?

I draw inspiration from everything and anything! I’m always trawling the internet looking at vintage clothes. I LOVE fashion. Being a photographer I’m obviously always looking at fashion shoots in magazines and online. I also get inspired watching old films and love old music videos.

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Who are these beautiful girls that you draw?

Sometimes I use images I see in a magazine as a starting point, other times I use my own fashion shots that I have done. I also work from the imagination adding headpieces or garments of my own design.

Describe the processes you go through when you’re working on an illustration from start to finish?

I can use almost anything to create a piece, pen, ink, acrylic, watercolour and of course my wacom pen and tablet for the odd bit if digital wizardry.

I usually start off working from a photograph, initially drawing or painting. I will scan this drawing into the computer and then I work on it in Photoshop where I may add some more elements or washes of colour. Usually it’s an emerging process, the drawings happen quite organically.

If I were to pinpoint my style, I would say sometimes it’s quite loose and painterly, other times it can take the form of very sensitive line drawings. There is a definite linear quality to all my pieces.

I love a combination well worked parts in my drawings with the more simple unfinished areas.

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Where would you ideally like your illustrations to lead you?

I haven’t thought that far ahead yet, at the moment I’m happy to be back doing what I love and letting it see where that takes me.

Name three of your favourite artists and why?

It’s very hard to pin down three of my favourite artists. I could talk about artists all day long. I suppose one of my favourite illustrators has to be David Downton.

It was actually one of his Linda Evangelista illustrations that I fell in love with a few years ago in a boutique hotel in Galway.

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How did you get into the artistic field?

I spent five years in Limerick school of Art Design, Limerick, Ireland. Where I graduated top of my class with a first class honours degree in Fine Art. I also received a first class honours post graduate diploma in Art Design Education.

I love all things creative and try to develop my skills in all disciplines when possible. I have since completed Continuing Education courses in Fashion Design and Fashion Illustration in Massachusetts College of Art in the US and Printmaking and Millinery Design Cluin Mhuire Art College, Galway, Ireland.

Finally, do you have any advice for struggling artists who are just starting out?

Stay true to who you are and what you do! I took the option of working full time when I finished college that meant I neglected my own art for years, only to come to the realisation that I should have tried to pursue my artistic career earlier.

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