Backstage at Vauxhal Fashion Scout 'Ones to Watch' Men

Walking backstage at Vauxhall Fashion scout it was like we walked in model mayhem!For those of you who are not quite up to speed with London Fashion Week, Vauxhall Fashion scout 'Ones to Watch' is the only show that presents the best up'n'coming menswear designers with a special simultaneous catwalk presentation of who are going to be taking over the reigns of  the menswear industry in the near future.

For Autumn/Winter 2011,Vauxhall Fashion Scout is launching four immensely talented designers/labels making their London Fashion Week debut, A.Hallucination, Asger Juel Larsen, C/BRUERBERG and Mr.Lipop.

We didn't know where to look and frankly we didn't know what to say,which for us is relatively uncommon.The clothes looked unbelievable even when just hanging on the rails and watching the designers putting the outfits together is just a very magical experience.You could feel it in the air that everyone was 'buzzin', the flow of creativity was unbelievable!

And yes we did stay for the whole catwalk show and yes we do  have exclusive images from all the clothes and models sashaying down the runway,so don't go anywhere, this is just a small teaser of what's to come!!!

By Andreas Menelaou Features Assistant
Photography:Alexander Philip Aristotelous

See more backstage pictures after the jump!

Those Crazy Cats at BLOW

7TH MAN MAGAZINE is a great supporter of the designers represented by BLOW PR in London.

They look after really great British based, cutting edge menswear designers such as Qasimi and Komakino, which are both featured in the current SS10 issue of 7TH MAN MAGAZINE.

BLOW PR actually represent over 50 designers all in all in their spacious showroom located near Oxford Circus (womenswear, menswear, accessories) - many of which has been worn by uber cool artists and musicians such as Lady Gaga and Paloma Faith.

We were invited today to preview their AW10 collections.

Qasimi's beautiful collection included shirts with pearls sewn around collar and cuff edges, contrasted with sharp, fine tailoring in black leather.

Komakino's collection featured pieces in their signature black, such as bomber jackets and leather biker jackets. The leather armour/breastplates look particularly interesting. A collaboration with Dr Martens featured what looks like thick textural black paint layered onto various parts of the boots.

What really captured my eyes was a spectacular installation featuring a perfectly sprayed black trolley in the centre of the room, showcasing Gemma Slack headdresses:

Stevie (left) wears neck piece by Blandine Bardeau, leather gimp mask by Gemme Slack

Ella (right) wears top by Aqua Couture

Headdresses on/in trolley by Gemma Slack

Trolley (£1.00) available from nearest supermarket, customised by Ella & Ash (now Priceless!!)

After an extensive and informative tour of the AW10 collections by Ella, Ash and Ivan, I was lead to the food table (it was lunchtime afterall...) where I discovered various sugar goodies such as cookies made into the shape of the BLOW PR logo by Gothic Cookie, and lovely cupcakes on a stick by Molly Bakes (she also does edible transfers to use on cupcakes!)

.... and then I was told Molly Baked two SPECIAL cakes for Press Day - one inspired by the work of hair maestro Charlie Le Mindu:

Special "Charlie Le Mindu" cake - Wow!!

.......and another SPECIAL cake inspired by milliner Piers Atkinson:

Ash wears hat with beaded veil by Piers Atkinson,

blazer by Qasimi

holding cake by Molly Bakes

What visual and culinary wonders!!!!

7TH MAN was impressed.

We look forward to partying with these Crazy Cats from BLOW PR tomorrow night at our launch.

We have a feeling its gonna be a wild one......

BLOW Presents @ Royal Festive Hall

One of the most exciting creative highlights of the London Fashion Week schedule so far is the "BLOW Presents" show at The Royal Festival Hall.

This season, "Blow Presents" features 4 different designers - the 'new wave of fashion prodigies': Charlie Le Mindu, Gemma Slack, Lina Osterman and Iris van Herpen.

On arrival, we were amazed that this event has taken over all of the main space, and seats were laid out around the balcony edges for the general public on level 2. Throughout the day, there were other activities open to the general public also: fashion workshops where they can create their own accessories and a Junior catwalk show hosted by VV Brown, in collaborations with designers Bora Aksu, Gavin Douglas, Naomi Ryder and Avsh AlonGur.

Its really wonderful to see how the general public can be a part of the excitement of London Fashion Week on a more hands-on, interactive level.

The "BLOW Presents" show opened with the wonderful and wild creations of Charlie Le Mindu. His collection was called "Girls of Paradise", where 'city architecture hits nature's beauty head on' - there were huge gravity-defying, over sized architectural shapes and outfits made out of hair, as well as a fantastic headdress of the Eiffel Tower that lit up!!

The next collection was by Gemma Slack, inspired by fem characters in classic comics and heavy metal girls.

There were slashed leather pieces as well as metal plates riveted onto leather and metal dresses: very 80s and exudes full-on unabashed sexual power:

Next up was Lina Osterman, her first catwalk show since graduating from Central St, Martins.

This was the only collection that included menswear.

Featuring interesting layering and proportions, with knits in a Gothic/punk theme and an almost monochrome palette.

(The models had hair that totally covered their eyes - one of the guys nearly walked into the audience!!)

Last but certainly not least is the phenomenal collection by Iris van Herpen.

This intricate collection, made out of mostly leather, features fantastical shapes of beautiful textures and patterns - across between Art Nouveau architecture and the eerie alien paintings of H.R. Giger.

The craftsmanship of each 11 handmade pieces - collaborated with artist Bart Hess - is flawless to the eye and really are fascinating to look at. These are true works of art.

Interestingly, there seems to be a running theme of bondage and S&M connecting all these four collections: the latex bodysuits at Charlie Le Mindu, the hard leather and metal at Gemma Slack, the body harnesses at Lina Osterman, and the leather detailing snaking around and encasing the body at Iris van Herpen......

Its was really fantastic to see such diverse creative talents all included in one show - definitely a show that illustrated the creativity and raw talent that is signature to London designers.

Have we mentioned how super-friendly and accommodating the staff at BLOW PR is?

Thanks guys!