Lunch with Annoushka

Last Thursday I had a really pleasant lunch with Annoushka Ducas from Annoushka Jewellery in Harvey Nichols. We spoke of jewellery, travelling and Dannii Minogue!

Her jewellery line is inspired by Russian and Oriental culture, and I was pleased they placed a jewellery box next to the lunch table so we could take a closer look at her collection. I especially like the latest Cherry Blossom lines (which you can see in the photo above) as they involve movement and sound in the designs.

Annoushka and I talked about her life in Hong Kong. She was 20 when she was supposed to visit a friend there, but accidentally stayed for three years. We went on to discuss social media and she was particularly interested in how brands can use Twitter to communicate with people so hopefully we will see her tweeting very soon!

Influencers

For around a year now I have been talking to lots of people in Leeds about the need to do something different. Something with more long-term, strategic thinking. This video encapsulates everything I have been saying / ranting / blogging about for the past 12 months since I returned from Barcelona.

My good friend Tamara of itHunter posted the video on her blog and I had to share it. It comes courtesy of the guys at R+I Creative. The video explores the culture of influencers, innovation and trends in the areas Hebe Media specialises in: Fashion, Music and Art. I had the opportunity to work / play in a number of cities before I returned to Leeds, but it is my belief that we have a 'blank piece of paper' here in which creative communities and interesting international collaborations could flourish and I wanted to be a part of that.

Behind the scenes for the past 6 months I have been meeting and speaking with people who I believe could form the nucleus of this community and the reaction has been a unanimous "Yes lets do this!" The part of the video where it talks about 'passing on knowledge' to the next generation is something we have talked about a lot also. In the next few months I will be presenting plans and ideas to the people / organisations we need to have on board to help facilitate this and hope that I can find at least a few people on our wavelength, who are in a position to support.

Please check out the video and let me know your thoughts...

Leeds Street Style: 04/11/2010

Laura Walsh

Top: Blue Rinse
Bottom: Urban Outffiters
Shoes: Primark
Bag: Alice Takes A Trip
Belt: MOM

Laura's favorite Leeds clothes shop: Blue Rinse
Describe the Leeds fashion scene in 1 word: Alternative

Kate Goodman

Top: Topshop
Bottom: Topshop
Shoes: Rocket Dog
Bag: Mulberry
Scarf: charity shop

Kate's favorite Leeds clothes shop: Blue Rinse
Describe the Leeds fashion scene in 1 word: Mixed

My Thoughts:

In this week's street style we have 2 friends, Laura and Kate. I like both of their tops that show off a bit of skin. Laura's use of colour is very coherent, I like that she uses dark green in all her items but not too 'matchy-matchy'. Even though Kate wore a lot of high street brands that day, she said she still loves vintage clothing the most.

Indie Rocks: Article For Leeds Loves Shopping Guide

Last month I wrote an article for the Leeds Loves Shopping guidebook. For those of you who have not seen the piece, here it is: 

Leeds’ independent and vintage shopping scene is undergoing something of a resurgence at the moment and it all adds to the fantastic mix and variety this city has to offer.

I witnessed this first-hand during the ‘Leeds in Barcelona’ project earlier this year.

We invited some of the most influential bloggers, trend researchers and cool hunters from Barcelona to see Leeds and discover for themselves what the city has to offer. Despite being greatly impressed by Leeds’ high-profile attractions such as the Victoria Quarter and Harvey Nichols, our visitors focused more on the ‘underground’ aspect of Leeds including Kirkgate Market, our many vintage stores and our independent designers. Those that came under the spotlight included Blue Rinse, Best Vintage, American Vintage in the city centre and Vintage Wardrobe in Headingley.

That this focus came via some of Europe’s most prominent bloggers and trend hunters, sends a clear message that Leeds has an ‘underground’ that could attract international interest and admiration. We have some really interesting designers, stores and venues in the city and should be proud of them.

Nicole from Vintage Wardrobe said of the visit: “The Barcelona project gave independent shop owners, such as myself, amazing opportunities to network with like minded people from all over Europe. The project opened doors to a fascinating vibrant international vintage scene.

"Leeds is becoming renowned for its vintage scene due to the thriving student population. There are an abundance of excellent vintage shops in the city, each with their own unique style and character. This variety makes Leeds a haven for vintage lovers of all ages!"

During the ‘Leeds in Barcelona’ project we held photo-shoot featuring Leeds designers and models but styled and managed by our guests from Barcelona. We held the photo-shoot at the amazing Temple Works in Holbeck. This provided a cool setting to showcase Leeds talent and provided a totally different look and feel to our city’s international image.

Leeds designers Dom, Dick & Harry, Kelly Ewing and James Steward featured during the shoot. Steward, whose work has been seen on high profile celebrities such as Victoria Beckham and Kylie Minogue, certainly felt the international exposure is great for Leeds designers:

“It’s always an honour to be involved in these projects” said Steward “Leeds in Barcelona worked by generating a huge amount of interest in the James Steward brand, and in Leeds as a city both through individuals and the media. Next stop is Leeds in Vancouver, an amazing project which sees Lisa Jayne Dann and I show our S/S11 collections at Vancouver Fashion Week. The opportunity here is incredible; with international media and buyers attending the event, it’s the perfect way of showcasing the wealth of design talent here in the city – we couldn’t have done it without the support of Marketing Leeds.”

I speak regularly with people in the independent and vintage scene and there is certainly an undercurrent of excitement at the attention generated by projects like ‘Leeds in Barcelona’. By creating interesting international collaborations we can show the world some of the interesting things going on in Leeds and provide the city’s best talent a platform to showcase their work to a global audience.

Leeds Retail Therapy Awards

This past Sunday we attended the Retail Therapy Awards at the Royal Armouries in Leeds. The show is now in it's sixth year and this year attracted almost 32,000 votes from the public on who are their favorite retailers in Leeds. The night has an intimate atmosphere as most of the retailers seemed to know each other. It was nice to see that when an award was given to a shop, the other stores will cheer for them.

This bond is really visible between the independent retailers. Check out the video above of Rose & Co giving their speech about the independent scene in Leeds (Rose & Co won best womenswear)

See the winners here