Diversity Now!

"Fashion is a powerful communicator to people about their identity...we believe that this power can be used for good, to promote individuality and self-esteem through creativity and diversity."

- All Walks Beyond The Catwalk

Raising awareness on all types of people has always been important for All Walks Beyond The Catwalk. The initiative constantly highlights the need to include everyone in fashion. 

All Walks is now looking for students to help join the cause. Launched at this year's Graduate Fashion Week, Diversity Now! is a competition designed to discover those who will carry on fighting for diversity in fashion. The idea is to showcase fashion on every type of individual in the fields of the following: womenswear, menswear, fashion films, zines, photography, journalism, illustration. The winner will receive an chance to have their work featured on i-D online, not to mention potentially featuring in an All Walks campaign.

The image above is just one of the many great examples of work from students showing diversity. The photograph is by UCA Epsom's very own Maggie Ibiam - a 3rd year student. "For my FMP I did a photoshoot which was meant to represent contemporary London fashion and how various elements from different cultures have become linked and merged as one. It was also a great way to showcase my abilities and my perspective of fashion," says Ibiam.

"Without diversity I personally think fashion would suffer."

For details on the competition, click here

Blogger Shows That (Advanced) Style Knows No Age

A fashion blog solely dedicated to older women's style has been turned into a book.

Advanced Style - which is available to buy now - is a collection of street-style photographs and interviews of classy, chic and inspiring senior citizens spotted out and about in New York. The book is the brainchild of Ari Seth Cohen, who launched his blog of the same name in 2009, shortly after he first arrived in the city.

Devoted 'to capturing the sartorial savvy of the senior set', 30-year-old Cohen was initially inspired by his own grandmother's personal style. He tells Stylecaster: 'I was best friends with my grandmother growing up, and was always inspired by her energy and wisdom. I wanted to show that creativity, style, and vitality advance with age, and hopefully help change people’s ideas about getting older.'

Speaking to the New York Times' T magazine, Mr Cohen says: 'My eyes have always been drawn to older people. From a style point of view, I find them more interesting because they are of an age where they don’t have to impress anyone and can wear what they want.'

Earning such high-profile fans as Marc Jacobs and Dita Von Teese, who has also contributed to the book, Cohen has also included 'never-before-seen photography' of subjects from around the world (including the tome's cover star, who is from our very own London!)

Cohen will be signing copies of the book in the Mary Shop on Thursday 7th June 2012, at 2pm in House of Fraser, Oxford Street and on Saturday 9th June, at 2pm in House of Fraser, Westfield London

Beth Ditto to Create "The Ikea" of Plus-Size Clothing?

Not content on just collaborating with Evans, Beth Ditto now wants to create her own plus-size clothing line. Ditto's venture with the high street store encapsulated her eccentric style; the collection consisted of bright prints, 80s shapes and a whole lot of sequins. However, with her own designs, she hopes to make a fair trade range of basic, affordable pieces.


Speaking about the partnership, Ditto says that as the line was produced in India, she didn't have as much creative control as she had hoped. "I really want to do my own line that’s ethically made, and I can do whatever the f*** I want." 


Known for calling herself a "fat activist", the Standing In The Way Of Control singer has high hopes for what appears to be only an idea at the moment. "I want to make the IKEA of clothes for fat girls and boys." 


With an ambitious plan like that, do you think Ditto is on the right track? Would you buy into a plus-size collection of basics? Let us know in the comments section below.

Andrej Pejic models wedding collection at bridal fashion week

Andrej Pejic has broke barriers worldwide as he opened Rosa Clara's bridal show in Barcelona recently. Though Andrej Pejic is not the first androgynous face we've seen in past years, he certainly is the most sought after. Pejic is considered as a male and female model. In seasons gone by the 20-year-old has modelled for designers such as Marc Jacobs and most famously Jean Paul Gaultier, modelling his couture collection. Although Pejic has undergone a certain amount of stigma for his cross gender modelling career and sexuality, nothing has stopped him yet.

Pejic was born in Yugoslavia in 1991 to a Bosnian mother and father, and was was scouted at the age of 17 whilst working at McDonalds. Though Pejic also models male clothing, he claims he keeps his waist to a woman's size for modelling womenswear. Pejic has also been placed in the top 50 male models on model platform models.com

Voted one of the most compelling people of 2011 by gay and lesbian publication 'Out', there's no doubt we'll be seeing more of him in 2012.

Vogue Vows To Use Healthier Models

   

In a bid to promote a better body image, all 19 international editors of Vogue magazine have promised to work with only 'healthy' models. It is reported that the British, US, French and Japan editions will be the first to welcome the changes in their next issues. 


Theses changes include forming a "health initiative" which is a six-part pact, stating to...

1. "not knowingly work with models under the age of 16 or who appear to have an eating disorder"

2. check IDs for models when casting for shows, shoots and campaigns

3. create mentoring programmes between older and younger models

4. include healthy food options backstage at shows and encourage casting agents not to keep models working unreasonable hours

5. make sample sizes larger

6. "be ambassadors for the message of healthy body image"

However is this enough? Some critics argue that the editors should take on the issue of airbrushing, as this can also contribute to unrealistic ideals of beauty.

Do you think this is a step in the right direction, or just empty promises from Vogue? Let us know in the 'comments' section below.

SLiNK Magazine - "Styling Your Curves And Fashioning Your Life"

Yet another niche has been formed in the market for the curvier girl. SLiNK the magazine solely dediated to what industry calls the plus size woman, has now been published. Rivkie Baum the lady responsible for the publication, aims to promote deiversity in fashion, in ethic as well as on their front cover.

SLiNK features the top news in fashion diversity as it happens, from Crystal Renn to most recently TOWIE star Gemma Collins. Editor Rivkie Baum says, "I loved the Evans teenage range, which I wish they would bring back, but mostly it was so hard, so frustrating,’ she says. ‘I would scour Camden Market looking for clothes that were big enough".

The publication has banned models below a UK size 10. Baum says that SLiNK is aspirational and not a "warts and all" publication. "Of course a curvaceous woman should not be excluded from the mainstream glossies for advice on how to find a perfect size 22 leather jacket" says Baum.


In an industry there there is such thing as 'thinspiration', one can only wonder where to find balance. SLiNK is accessible and inspirational, plus with an online as well as print magazine, it's never more than a click away.

Meet Daphne Selfe, The World's Oldest Supermodel

This is Daphne Selfe. She has worked with a roster of names, including Dolce & Gabbana, Mario Testino and Rankin, and has been in ads for Nivea and Olay, in addition to starring in a Will Young video. And at age 83, Selfe is considered to be the world's oldest supermodel.


On the shot of her recreating the most iconic Madonna moment of conical bra and corset (made by Jean Paul Gaultier for the singer’s Blonde Ambition tour in 1990), Selfe describes it as ‘terribly unforgiving. I thought they might have done a bit of airbrushing!’ she says, jokingly. 'But, hey, what the hell, it was all for a good cause.’

The cause is Oxfam’s Big Bra Hunt. Apparently, the average woman in the UK owns nine bras, three of which she never wears. Oxfam hopes the photograph of Selfe, taken by legendary fashion photographer Perou (everyone on the shoot worked for no fee) will encourage women to donate bras, along with their clothes as women in developing countries also require undergarments.
Oxfam is sending its first batches of bras to Senegal, West Africa, where, traditionally, women ‘just flop around’, according to Sarah Farquhar, head of Oxfam Trading. ‘A good bra makes them feel more elegant.’

‘I’ve never had anything done to my face,’ Selfe confesses, pulling it this way and that. ‘Not that poison, not a facelift. I think it’s a waste of money. Anyway, I couldn’t afford it!’

Surely this sensational shot will see more models 'above a certain age' appearing on the front covers of mainstream magazines? Selfe says: ‘I met Nicholas Coleridge not long ago (Coleridge is the publisher of Vogue, Vanity Fair, Tatler and Easy Living). I asked him, “Will I ever get on the cover of Vogue?” And he said: “Darling, you just won’t sell.” ’

If this is the case, it's an incredible shame. Here we have a woman in her (early) eighties, looking just as supreme and sexy as the younger woman whose pose she was recreating. We think Selfe looks stellar; no wonder there was no need for airbrushing! There may be lines on her face and brown speckles on her arms, yet tall she stands because she has earned her stripes, as well as the title of 'world's oldest supermodel'.

And don't all supermodels get to appear on Vogue? Tell us what you think in the 'comments' below.

Read the full interview with Daphne Selfe here.
For details of Oxfam’s Big Bra Hunt, visit oxfam.org.uk/bra. You can also take your bras to Sainsbury’s clothes banks.