A day in the life of a designer..

Is London Still Swingin’?

As spring and summer 2009 are pretty much put to bed now, we are just praying that we get all the photographic samples back in time for the next shoot which is in about three weeks!

Last week Deborah (Long Tall Sally’s product manager) arranged a special jeans shoot and I have to say our jeans have never looked better. You’ll see the evidence in just a few short weeks. I’m also hoping by next week Carly and I will finish designing and selecting high summer and then it’s on to Autumn/Winter 2009…

However, rather than looking forward this week I have been looking back- Back in time that is! I went to a 60's exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum. There was a film running in the background throughout the exhibition called “Look at Life – Swingin’ London – In Gear “. It was really fab all about life in London in the 60s. One of my favourite lines in the film has to be: “Everybody thinks London is Swingin’ –but is it really? You look around and here and there you see someone who looks like they might swing….”

It made me wonder, has London changed that much? Maybe it has? The clothes were truly amazing particularly the “retro look” of the 60’s which was mostly influenced by 1920’s fashion- You know the whole Biba thing with cloche hats and feather boas. However, saying that the 60’s really did design something truly special– the MINI!
That’s what I am really jealous of- it’s so hard for anyone to come up with anything completely original these days. Fashion seems to be a constant revival of something from the 20th century; from the 20’s through to the 80’s eighties everyone has their favourite decade.

Personally, I love them all but I’m on the look out for something new. Maybe London was swingin’ then or at least going in the right direction!

Talking of new and swingin’ Carly and I went to a party this weekend with pampas grass in the front garden. …Don’t worry we held on firmly to our car keys…

Carol

Ask Lisa

Hi Lisa

I am wondering if you could give me some pointers. I am 32 and just had my 3rd child. I feel young but my body looks more like a woman in her 40’s. I am pretty tall at 5”9 and slender. I have a large bust and of course a baby belly. I’m just not sure what kind of clothes would look best, please help.

Thanks

Jo


Hi Jo

My first piece of advice would be to always dress for your size- There’s nothing worse than squeezing yourself into a size that’s just too small!

It’s all about foundations. A bra that fits you properly will give you the right shape and support and will make you appear slimmer by elongating you. Control Pants (Awful name, I know!) go from mid thigh right up to under the bust but will work wonders concealing your baby belly as well as keeping your thighs and bum trim.

I hope this helps.

Lisa

Lisa's Style Diary

I have A LOT of shoes, I collect high heels but I wouldn’t say I’m a heels girl, I’d like to be. I hardly ever wear them because of my height, but they seduce me!

I’ll wear heels if I’m going out with people of similar heights, for example when I meet up with Mica Paris, I will always wear heels, she’s tall herself at 5”10. I also have a couple of male friends who are much taller than me so I would wear heels with them. But I seem to have a habit of picking short boyfriends, who usually have a complex of me towering over them!

If I’m surrounded by tall people I will wear heels otherwise I won’t. Besides there are so many pretty pumps at the moment, I like wearing flats.

I do feel blessed to be tall but I had a lot of problems when I was younger as I was literally head and shoulders above everybody else and it made me really shy. I wanted to be a ballerina but I was too tall.

When you are tall most things are not made to the right proportions and most tall sections don’t cater to my size. That’s why it was exciting for me to be able to come into Long Tall Sally and be really involved. I’ve had a real input on the clothes and that’s important to me.

I like classic lines, my favourite designers include Tom Ford and Ian Garlant from Hardy Amies. Clothes do give me confidence and making an effort to create a whole look is important. If I haven’t pulled a look together from hair and make up through to my clothes I don’t feel as confident.
In my opinion Cate Blanchett always looks immaculate. Her style is really understated which I think is refreshing. Audrey Hepburn and Marilyn Monroe also inspire me, I think Audrey Hepburn rarely got it wrong and with Marilyn I just love the era, she always looked glamorous and I think that’s something we are missing at the moment.

I find white shirts, jackets and trousers the hardest in accommodating my height. At my first fitting for Long Tall Sally’s Autumn/Winter collection I was so impressed by the cut and quality of the fabrics, and how well everything was priced. I love the Juliet stripe shirt -an essential wardrobe basic and one that fits me perfectly! I also adore this season’s full length Victoria black coat.
Finally, I can get clothes that fit and don’t need to get altered!


Until next time


Lisa

Diary of a tall girl

It’s all about the shoes

While taking the tube to work this morning, bleary eyed and in need of a coffee I noticed an article in the paper which grabbed me “Being tall is hell for me, says Liv”

I read on to find Hollywood actress Liv Tyler discussing her hatred of high heels. “In my everyday life I wear flats” She went on to mention “I’m over six foot in heels, and I feel like such a moose. I wish I was petite”

The article was driving tall women away from wearing heels instead of encouraging women to celebrate their height which really irritated me. When I was a teenager I felt more self conscious as I towered over many of my friends but now approaching my mid thirties I couldn’t care less. I suppose my confidence has grown, I’m taller than my friends anyway so why not embrace it?

My best friend Suze is great with things like confidence, she’s only 5” 2, when we meet up we look like little and large! She’s always been openly jealous of my height and encourages me to put on a pair of three inch stilettos at every opportunity. Many of my friends who are blessed with extra inches don’t feel the need to wear heels because they are “too tall already”. Of course I realise this isn’t a fully fledged reason, if high heels hurt, then avoid them- that’s a reason.

For me, heels are not a tool for being taller instead they offer a finishing touch that flats and sandals just can’t provide. Remember Naomi Campbell’s infamous trip on the Vivienne Westwood runway in those eight inch platforms? Yes, she fell but there was never one second that she didn’t look anything other than glamorous.

There’s a certain empowerment about stepping out looking long and luscious. Tall women who avoid heels don’t realise what they are missing!

A day in the life of a designer..

My Cultural Weekend

Well it’s been a busy week at work- Carly (the other designer at LTS) and I have been trying to put summer 2009 to bed – so it’s all hands on deck. We’ve been fitting all the first samples on our model. Trying to get them to fit just right is a long process especially with some of the newer styles but we are slowly getting there.

Everyone in the office is pretty upbeat at the moment thanks to all of you out there. The reason being, we have received such positive feedback regarding our new look and catalogue. Here at LTS HQ we are completely overwhelmed and I just wanted to say thanks.

At the moment I’m itching to get started on designing Autumn Winter 2009 which hopefully we will start in about 2 weeks. I will keep you posted and let you know when it’s all underway.

Anyway all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy or Sally a dull girl. So as it was a bank holiday weekend I jumped in the trusty Golf and headed for the Cotswolds for a bit of R&R.
On route to a church cream tea I called in at the Alain Rouveure gallery. They sell fantastic Nepalese and Tibetan rugs in really beautiful colours and textures. All very inspiring for next year’s colour palette. I got home just in time to watch “The Good, The Bad and The Ugly” with Clint Eastwood (Well, I wasn’t actually watching it with Clint, which was a good job too as I fell asleep half way through!) None the less I have to say I am now definitely feeling a huge Poncho revival.

On Bank Holiday Monday I continued the culture gig and went to the Tate Britain to the “Lure of the East” exhibition, mainly because I wanted to see the painting of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu. She was one of the first women to travel in the orient and write about her experiences. Her observations about costume and dress are exquisite.

Of course such culture was rewarded by cake… I needed the sugar rush to keep me going….

To round the weekend off I went to see The Dark Knight- The critics got it right, Heath Ledger is brilliant as the Joker. I particularly like him in the red wig and the nurse’s uniform! Maggie Gyllenhaal was great too and of course had some fantastic outfits. I think I too will be going for the pencil skirt, white blouse and waistcoat option this autumn; this was power dressing at its best. I’m just not sure that LTS will let me set up my own interrogation room in the office to complete the scenario…..