The accessories, garments and design pieces exhibited were selected to illustrate how emerging Irish designers incorporate innovation into their work while engaging with traditional craftsmanship and materials closely identified with Ireland such as linen, wool leather, horsehair and lace. Participating designers and labels include Úna Burke, Alan Taylor and Teatum Jones (whose work is explored under the theme of construction); Derek Lawlor, Demelza Buckley and Danielle Romerill (renowned for their inventive use of techniques); Sorcha O’Raghallaigh, Lisa Hawthorn and Angela Beaumont (who frequently investigate the role of tradition in their creations); and Electronic Sheep, Joanne Hynes, Sinéad Lawlor, Liam Fahy, Natalie B. Coleman and Daniela Cardillo (for their original use of print, colour and pattern). In addition, a selection of fashion films by Kathryn Fergusson, Niall O’Brien and Aoife Mcardle can also be viewed.

Following an opening event at the Irish Embassy, the pieces that comprise ‘RIAN: New Directions in Irish Fashion Design’ can now be seen at the Canary Wharf Mall and at The Marylebone Hotel in London.

The post Unveiling the new generation of Irish fashion designers appeared first on The Style Examiner.

The discombobulating relationship between Lowry’s ‘matchstick characters’ and the landscapes that they inhabit is an inevitable focal point of the exhibition ‘Lowry and the Painting of Modern Life’, which opened at Tate Britain in London on 26 June 2013. The first public display of Lowry’s work since his death in 1976, the exhibition features over 90 paintings with a curatorial focus (by TJ Clark, Anne M Wagner and Helen Little) on his celebrated urban landscapes and how they quietly narrate the impact of the industrial revolution on city life. In addition, the exhibition explores Lowry’s connections with French art and how the appreciation of his work by his French peers and critics resulted, during a period of his life, in having his paintings exhibited more frequently in Paris than in London.

Laurence Stephen Lowry was born in Stretford, Lancashire (in North-West England) on 1 November 1887. After leaving school at age 17, he worked as a clerk at a firm of chartered accountants in Manchester while he studied art in the evenings. During this time, he was introduced to Impressionism by one of his teachers, the French painter Pierre Adolphe Valette. In 1910 he became a rent collector and clerk with the Pall Mall Property Company in Manchester, where he remained in full-time employment until his retirement in 1952.

Lowry found inspiration for a considerable part of his work in Pendlebury, near Manchester, where he lived between 1909 and 1948. Although he is primarily associated with street scenes of industrial cities in northern England, Lowry also painted views of the seaside and of harbours (particularly in his later years), football and cricket matches, protest marches, funfairs, evictions, arguments, prayer meetings, accidents and workers going to and from the mill, making his work a veritable illustrated account of British working-class life in the mid-twentieth century.

Throughout his life, and despite his long periods studying painting at the Manchester School of Art and the Salford Royal Technical College, L. S. Lowry frequently described himself as a self-taught artist who did not care for public recognition and social status (as demonstrated by his declining of five British honours, including a knighthood in 1968). Although he was awarded honorary art degrees from the Universities of Manchester, Salford and Liverpool, and was elected a Royal Academician in 1962, he remained detached from the art world until his death on 23 February 1976.

The post The silent lives of the industrial city: ‘Lowry and the Painting of Modern Life’ at Tate Britain appeared first on The Style Examiner.

The post Menswear trend for spring/summer 2014: all things blue appeared first on The Style Examiner.

The most ubiquitous garment for Spring/Summer 2014 will be, without a doubt, the bomber jacket. If this garment had made appearances on the runway over the last couple of seasons, it was never as unavoidable as during the latest fashion shows that took place in London, Florence, Milan and Paris during June 2013. Whether by reproducing the original designs conceived for pilots during World Wars I and II (and also adopted by skinheads), or by recreating them to feature luxurious fabrics, more tailored cuts, innovative fastening formats and colourful prints, it seems that fashion designers worldwide agreed to comply to a secret memo incorporating guidelines on how to publicly celebrate the bomber jacket as a staple of urban style.

The post Menswear trend for Spring/Summer 2014: the bomber jacket appeared first on The Style Examiner.

The post The Most Beautiful Homes in the World: Palais Rock the Kasbah, Tunisia, by Philippe Xerri appeared first on The Style Examiner.

The name of the site is not yet known but will be powered by ebay with mobile, rather than desktop, as the initial and preferential platform. It is understood that ebay has started discussions with retailers Reiss and Karen Millen as well as designer Marc Jacobs.

The post ebay to launch fashion website appeared first on The Style Examiner.

Q. Why and when did you start your blog?
A. I started the blog four years ago for a number of reasons: I’d stopped working in fashion for my day job and missed the industry, plus I’ve always had a strong interest in clothes and loads of my friends said I should write a blog about it. So it started as an escape from the day-to-day, and as somewhere for me to ramble about clobber.

Q. What are the topics that you cover the most?
A. The blog is predominately about men’s fashion and I rarely deviate from that, although there’s the odd post about vintage guitars (which are a huge passion of mine) and also occasional pieces about skateboarding, music and design.

Q. How do you find stories and ideas for your posts?
A. At first I just posted about things that interested me, thoughts I had and clothing/brands I’d seen and liked, plus bits of advice I’d picked up along the way, etc… Now that’s shifted to receiving press releases and being asked to feature things, so it’s not so much looking for posts as them coming to me and me sifting through them to find what’s right for the blog. I’ve always stuck to the basic principle of only ever featuring things I like, would wear, or find interesting and that’s never going to change.

Q. How often do you publish posts?
A. I try to post as often as possible, so usually every day during the week, with a break over the weekend. I normally have a few half-written posts at any one time and I write whenever I get the chance.

Q. How many people work with you in your blog and what do they do?
A. There’s only myself who works on it. It’s very much a personal project, although everyone who sends me images and is featured on it, contributes to, and is a part of it.

Q. How would you describe your average reader?
A. Like me I suppose, similar age, tastes and mind-set.

Q. Do you write for other publications? If yes, which ones?
A. I do the odd guest post here and there, but between the family, day job and blog there’s not really much time for anything else.

Q. Have you developed any partnerships with brands because of your blog? If yes, tell us more about those partnerships.
A. I’ve been fortunate enough over the last few years to have developed good friendships with many of the people behind the brands I love, and that’s all down to the blog. If there’s one thing I really enjoy doing with the site, it’s introducing new labels to a wider audience, and especially so if they’re UK-based.

Q. Do you consider yourself a blogger, a journalist or a publisher?
A. In all honesty, I don’t consider myself any of them. I’m a deputy creative director in an advertising agency and I also happen to write a blog about men’s clothes. That’s not to say that I don’t take the blog seriously, but if anything defines me professionally it would be my career.

Q. What do you think of the comments by people who regard blogging as a form of communication that is not to be taken seriously?
A. I don’t think they understand blogging’s worth and the influence it can have when done well.

Q. What are your future professional plans?
A. Well the career is the primary concern. But the blog is a labour of love and it’s something I take a lot of pride in, so I’ll continue to work hard at it and hopefully it will continue to grow. I think its main strength is in the fact I don’t need to make any money from it (or have any desire to) and won’t compromise in what I feature – I think people appreciate that, and can see I do it because I really enjoy it.

Q. What was the nicest thing that anyone has ever said about your blog?
A. In a Radio 5 interview earlier this year, Oliver Spencer said that Lineage of Influence was one of his favourite blogs. I was pretty chuffed about that.

The post The Q&A; Blogging Sessions: Rob Sampson of ‘Lineage of Influence’ appeared first on The Style Examiner.

The post Richard Meier goes Gangneung style in South Korea appeared first on The Style Examiner.

The European flagship for all things Gucci for men will stock the full range of the brand’s products, including ready-to-wear, shoes, luggage and lifestyle accessories, small leather goods, sunglasses, watches, jewellery and fragrances. In addition, the store will feature an Americano Bar and a dedicated space for ‘Lapo’s Wardrobe’, the made-to-measure line designed by Gucci’s creative director Frida Giannini and Lapo Elkann.

The post Gucci unveils first European menswear flagship store appeared first on The Style Examiner.

Perhaps to illustrate the diversity of the world that envelopes the fictional old man, as well as the perception that elder people obsess about layering their clothes, the collection juxtaposed fitted and lose silhouettes by combining boxy shapes with tailored garments. Prints inspired by the ones used to upholster London bus seats and monochromatic designs or blocks of bold oranges and blues were prevalent in a collection that also highlighted textured and three-dimensional Braille effects in black and white suits and coats sporting details such as taped seams and rubber treatments. In addition, the collection featured accessories produced in collaboration with different companies, such as shoes (with Oliver Sweeney), laptop cases (with C6 Life) and bags (with Chapman).

The post Agi & Sam Menswear Spring/Summer 2014 appeared first on The Style Examiner.