Vidal Sassoon, Black Milk

A few months ago, I was involved in a hair presentation project at Vidal Sassoon in Manchester.

The theme was based around the darker side of nature; life-giving, but at the same time wild and dangerous.

It was put together to showcase Melanie Baker‘s hair dressing skills but also featured colour by Helen Jordan and cuts by different members of the Sassoon Manchester team.

A section of one the images from my “winter project” was used as the promo poster, after it inspired Mel to choose the theme.

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I then planned the styling, based on the theme, but also being mindful of the sassoon brand.

This shoot took place before the Vanguard collection launch, but we used some of the garments, as well as latex pieces from different collections and even some old favourites, such as veils, flower crowns and antlers.

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Model: Zoe Harlotta

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Model:

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Model: Lia @Vauhaus

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Model: Florence @J’adore

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Model: Stacey Black (me)

Images and retouch: Adam Mark Williams

Make up: Jules Daniels MUA

We also had to do a catwalk and each of the hair styles was inspected and judged individually.

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All the models and Mel.

11130208_10155479081415311_245537083010047501_nThe model in their full outfits, after the catwalk.

The presentation, catwalk and photoshoot all went really well, Mel did a great job and the whole team was awesome and a pleasure to work with.

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Monochrome dreams

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In the past, I probably never would have thought that pairing a t-shirt with a pleated chiffon maxi skirt was a good idea but recently I’ve been updating the categories I mentally assign clothing to.

I wanted a comfortable but striking outfit to attend a friend’s birthday drinks and this was definitely a hit.

The wedge trainers perfectly marry the contrasting elements and the accessories add the right amount of edge.

t-shirt: Topshop

skirt: similar here

trainers: Nike

harness: No:Wear

necklace: Eustratia

earrings: Richard Ayres

Images shot by Richard Ayres photography

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Pre-fall shopping

pre fall shopping

 

We’re reaching the end of summer but the weather is still quite warm and I haven’t properly started thinking about my winter wardrobe yet (though I have done a small clear out to make way for new pieces) so this month has been about make up, lingerie and comfy shoes.

I desperately needed some new make up and there seem to be quite a few new palettes out at the moment. The ones I decided to go for are the illamasqua sculpting palette and the urban decay smokey eye palette. I was initially sceptical about the sculpting palette as the colours look a bit dark and warm for me but I went into selfridges and got them to try it out on me and decided it was just what I needed. I was immediately drawn to the naked smokey palette because of the greater variety in tone compared to the previous ones. I also love the larger mirror and the fact that the shades really compliment the  ones in the sculpting palette.

My love of strappy lingerie is no secret so I wanted to feature a couple of my recent favourites. The bra is from one of my own recent collection, Vanguard and the briefs are from a designer I’ve loved for a while, so I had to get a pair when they went in the sale. The colour probably seems like a bit of an odd choice but I have loads of black lingerie and am trying to branch out a bit.

Finding stylish comfy shoes is always a bonus and the brogues in particular, are a bargain. I also need some new docs and since I’ve realised black is really the most practical boot colour for me, I decided to go for some texture with the snake print.

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Vanguard concept shoot

The Vanguard concept shoot images are here! I have been waiting for the full set to be completed before posting these as it was my favourite project so far this year and I wanted to show it off in full.

The team that help me bring this idea to life did an excellent job and they deserve every credit. Shooting on location can be challenging, especially when alternating between different settings and working with animals.

Photography, retouching, model direction: Toria Brightside

Models: Amber and Hazel @VAUHAUS and myself.

Make up: Laura Wilson

Hair and styling: me

The jewellery for the collection was made by Richard Ayres, who was also dog-handler at the shoot.

Special thanks to our driver Ben, who also looked after the dogs while we were shooting.

Extra special thanks to Eustratia and Vauhaus interns Lindsay and Lauren who facilitated and carried, set of smoke bombs and ran around holding them to get the right effect, fixed and pressed garments and helped out with the images.

We also really appreciate Barney’s owners bringing him down for the shoot.

The garments are available for sale, here.

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We shot this over three different locations and by the time we got to the last one, we only had 5 minutes of daylight left but we managed to make it work and the images in the last set are some of my favourites.

The harness cami has so far emerged as the best-seller from this range and can be purchased with 20% off till midday on Wednesday.
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Vanguard collection launch

It’s exciting to finally be able to share images from the Vaguard collection. I started working on the first items 3 years ago and bought new machines and learned new processes on the road to its completion.

To make this collection extra special, we have teamed up with designer, Richard Ayres , who developed a range of unique chainmail elements and jewellery, add an elegant touch of toughness to the range.

Images by Richard Ayres photography.

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Harness cami

harness cami final

 

Scale shorts

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cowl dress FINAL

Cowl dress

hood final

Lace hood top 

long mesh skirt cardigan final

Artemis harness skirt     and      Freya crop-top

lace bra and skirtMorgana bra

skirt and jacket finalFreya jacket   and    shadow skirt

harem pants top finalOpen shoulder topShadow harem pants

pastie bra and sequin skirtPastie harness bra 

sequin skirt and batwing finalSheer batwing top   and   scale sequin skirt

valkyrie dress finalValkyrie dress

valkyrie braValkyrie bra

shade t-shirt

Shade tunic

leggings and mesh tee finalKnee pad leggings 

shorts

Scuba shorts

shade top and harem final

Shadow top

hekate dress finalHekate dress

To celebrate the launch of this collection, I’m offering 25% off till midday GMT on Tuesday the 16th of June. This is a large percentage for a small, independent label so I hope you take advantage of it while it’s on.

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