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DAZED Fashion Forum–East London

DAZED Fashion Forum–East London

Imagine a 46,000 square foot warehouse–cobblestone entry across from the gardens of the Geffrye Museum–Inside, Roman arched ceilings of brick going the cavernous length of an old factory but lightened with white construction sacks filled with cascading exotic jungle plants, gargantuan white spheres, each glowing magically from within, and white duct tape–a dance  of line zigzagging wildly up walls, around light fixtures, across the floors –Fill the space with young designers, stylists, make-up artists, photographers, fashion students from Central St Martin’s, University of the Arts, London College of Fashion…add an amazing generosity of spirit and eager enthusiasm of the staff… And you’ve arrived at Amazon Studios, host of the tres chic, tres avant-garde British fashion magazine DAZED’s first ever Fashion Forum.

A twelve hour extravaganza, the Forum had its serious space where major fashion stars presented panels and interviews all the while with huge magazine spreads projected on the screen backdrop–Diesel Art Director  Nicopanda’s  Lady Gaga shoots and self-branding logo development,  strange make up shots by Isamaya Ffrench –models with taped faces, Lego clustered eyes, childrens’ doodling a on a spread to prevent bullying, runway videos of course, all the while learning live from the masters.

Simultaneously there was a smashingly fun smorgasbord of workshops:
–Claire Barlow, luxe hand-painted leather. designer,  painted portraits on the spot, from which came a t-shirt gift for anyone who posed
–Gary Card orchestrated the construction of 7 foot high face masks and hands in cardboard
–Richard Malone led us through creating a formal dress pattern from random biomorphic shapes
–Ryan Lo brought in his opulent tule candy silk knitted and crocheted fabric then led us in a knitting bee

Best best best of all was Rankin’s photo shoots–brilliant lights, a bank of make up stylists, racks of clothes for us–the models of the day– to flaunt on camera. Everyone was welcome to prowl through the studio, to become a face on the cover of DAZED–I was thrilled; my friend was astonished at his transformation in the hands of the amazing photographer Rankin–even people like me, just attendees, were given a shot at a shoot

And then wham its 5 pm, champagne is poured and ready for us all–an endless supply just as  espresso and cocoanut water were this morning and afternoon
At last the Talk Stage became a disco–lasers, djs, open bar and digital video spots where scrambled selfies could be sent home–

It was not just the 15£ guests who benefited from so much expertise, from hands-on participation in open workshops  and free gifts; but proceeds from the entire event went to Hackney Community College–What an amazing example of fashion giving back, fashion for the people fashion for the Dazed and Confused……