Remembering Louise Wilson, Central Saint Martins' Legendary Professor

The sudden loss of Professor Louise Wilson, OBE, has left dozens of London designers inconsolable this weekend, as well as the many more she taught who populate the design studios of New York and Paris. “Without Louise I would not be here,” said Christopher Kane yesterday. That simple emotion is echoed over and over by the alumni who have had their talents forged in the furnace of Professor Wilson’s critiques in her Central Saint Martins office. “Louise had a special talent to see right inside of us all,” said Mary Katrantzou, who recalls the terrifying utterance directed toward every newcomer who quaked in front of her desk: “Impress me.”

Wilson was famously hard to impress. She had seen and retained it all about fashion, since she herself has been a childhood reader of her mother’s Vogues, and then graduated, a few years after John Galliano, from the then Saint Martins School of Art in 1986—the high clubbing/fashion/music years of which she took full advantage. No reference escaped her and no plagiarism was tolerated, but what drew Wilson to persist was the possibility that some new flash of originality would eventually materialize from within her students’ brains. Anyone who expected her to serve up creative orders on a plate was in for one of Wilson’s famous slap-downs. A politer variant was her declaration: “We don’t know what we want, but we know it when we see it.”

Laziness could make her irate. “I’ve seen Louise drop-kick a mannequin across the studio when she was frustrated with a student’s work,” said Richard Nicoll, “And there are a plenty more stories like that.” Once, a student was expelled from her office at such velocity that his scarf was slammed in the door. The professor continued her work late into the evening and was surprised to see a figure huddled on the floor outside. He had been too afraid to knock and ask for his scarf back five hours earlier.

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Nevertheless, what drove Wilson was, as she said, the “privilege” of being around youth. Her lasting friendships with the designers she really rated was her reward. “She would tell me everything like a mother would—if my hair looked shit, if she liked something I did. I found her very ‘mother-y,’ ” said Roksanda Ilincic. Self-laceratingly, Wilson would never boast or make assumptions about her entitlement to invitations, yet she could easily have laid claim to being the generator of what is being dubbed the current "Golden Age" of London fashion. Two dozen of the women’s and menswear designers who show in London are alums of Central Saint Martins’ MA program, including: Kane, Katrantzou, Jonathan Saunders, Ilincic, Nicoll, Marios Schwab, Simone Rocha, Thomas Tait, J. JS Lee, Michael van der Ham, and Marques’ Almeida. The success of the first generation of new professional British designers who sell globally at a luxury level is linked directly back to the visionary who saw each person as an individual and had no taboos or snobbery about what constitutes fashion. London Fashion Week became characterized by variety, energy, and surprise for onlookers, and for the ones inside it, there was the unique London-community camaraderie amongst those who were driven to define themselves by Wilson.

What students saw when facing their professor was not just her impassive, black-clad, all-seeing presence, but the pin board behind her desk in her office, famously covered with show invitations, thank you notes, and quotes she liked. That wall was testament to how so many people adored and relied on her over 22 years as the MA course leader, including Alber Elbaz at Lanvin, who was one of the beneficiaries of the fact she became an unofficial matchmaker between houses and graduates. “The people Louise sent me were always the best, always the ones who have stayed. I loved Louise,” he said.

Accolades and recognitions came her way. In 2008, she was honored to receive the Order of the British Empire for Services to Fashion and Education from the Queen, and in 2013 was almost as gratified to receive a happy birthday shout-out from Kanye West at his gig at the Hammersmith Odeon. Her current students, also there, cheered on, boasting “Happy Birthday Louise Wilson!” on the student. West had petitioned her as a student, coming to see her at the college with plans for his line. She was not unduly impressed, and sent West away, though since the fanship also ran the other way, (Wilson loved rap, Motown, African-American music and culture in general), the professor and Yeezus formed a funny, good-natured, mutual admiration.

Wilson leaves her Ghanaian partner, Timmi Aggrey, and their 23-year-old son TJ. They, and the wider family of fashion she created, are deeply mourning her today. Current students at Central Saint Martins are planning a vigil in her memory tomorrow.

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Calvin Klein's Next Chapter: The Legendary Designer Teams Up with Harlem Village Academies

When designer Calvin Klein visited Harlem Village Academies on a speaking engagement back in 2012, he was following in the footsteps in of some seriously high-profile supporters: In the ten years since it was founded, the school’s outstanding success has attracted the attention and praise of everyone from President Obama to Oprah. With a network of five charter schools from elementary through high school level, the academies are pioneering a new and progressive model for public education against all odds; while students from the local community often enter the system behind grade level, HVA consistently ranks number one of all public, nonselective high schools in New York for college enrollment. “I’ve spoken to groups of CEOs, to students at prestigious universities such as Cambridge, and yet those audiences are often intimidated when it comes to question time,” says Klein. “With the fifth graders I spoke to at the Harlem Village Academies, that certainly wasn’t the case. And they didn’t take their eyes off me once during the speech—they’re just so ready to learn.”

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Impressed by the dedication of both the pupils and the teachers he met that day, Klein continued his involvement with the school. And when Deborah Kenny, the school’s trailblazing founder, approached him for help reimagine the visual identity of the academies for the tenth anniversary—from the uniforms, to the website—the legendary designer’s answer was a resounding yes. “Whether it’s a collection of clothing, a fragrance, a business, or a school the thought process is the same: there has to be a point view, and the message has to be consistent,” he says. “The Harlem Village Academies has a 91 percent graduation rate, which far exceeds the New York City high school average, and they needed imaging that would reflect their achievements.”

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He enlisted the help of longtime collaborators like creative director Fabien Baron to forge a new vision for the school: Not limited to the traditional coat of arms, they also created a modern configuration of the schools’ initials, and the sleek logo sets the tone on the landing page of the newly relaunched website. “It was quite a challenge, because every comma, every word means something,” says Klein who took almost eighteen months to perfect every aspect of the redesign. “And of course when it comes to design, I need lots of white space!”

Perhaps the most exciting part of the project, though, was giving the school’s uniform and gym clothes an entirely fresh new look. Having grown up in the nearby Bronx, Klein has an understanding of what it means to be a young scholar in the city where the preppy dress code of private school don’t apply. The minimalist crisp white polos, sporty crew-neck shirts, and tailored jumpers speak to his legacy as one of the founding fathers of American sportswear and a distinctly New York state of mind. “Many live in Harlem, and the culture of style, music, and sports is very familiar to them. It’s instinctive,” he says. “For me, it was important that the uniforms were cool, as well as being appropriate and affordable.”

With his former wife, photographer Kelly Klein, on board, he set about organizing a fashion show and lookbook to present to Kenny and deans. The response was rapturous—not least amongst the pupils. “I’ve spent my life with clothes and trying to make people feel good,” says Klein who is giving each child at HVA a set of the new uniforms in time for the fall semester. “It’s all the more wonderful to be able to do that for schoolchildren too.”

Do we abandon our pregnant friends?

When a friend tells you she's pregnant, 'overwhelmed with joy' is the correct response, bar mitigating factors like being sixteen. Bursting into tears is bad, and yet that's been my response - twice! - when close friends told me they were pregnant. My first thought? 'I've lost them!' My first words? 'So happy for you!'

They saw through my 'happy tears' and assured me nothing would change. But of course things change (they should!) so in my mind I'd already granted them 'friend-leave' for the next 2-4 years.

Six months later I was amazed - amazed! - to get an angry email re. my callous indifference. Turns out what I called 'being understanding' they called 'abandonment'.

It felt like a great divide had opened up, not only in life stages, but also in understanding. So, in the interests of bridging that gap, I surveyed new mothers to determine what's really needed, and 'abandoning friends' to find out why we really do it. Here are the scientific results:

We don't speak 'Baby':

"When friends get pregnant, it's like they suddenly have a ticket to a faraway place called 'Babyland' whose language and customs I can't understand. There, they bond with others who also speak Baby. It won't matter that they're bogans whose kids have weird names, or rich vegans with Baby Mozart - Babyland veterans bond in the trenches of long nights and runny poo. While I stay home, thumbing the brochures."

And yet sometimes our friends need not to speak Baby.

"I love catching up with child-free friends because they don't give you expert lectures on breastfeeding, sleep patterns, immunisations, and controlled crying. I'm so sick of saying 'I'll try that, thanks!'"

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We feel inconvenient:

"My friends with babies are stuck at home, desperate for adult company, but catching up is always on their terms; 'Day works best for me' 'Can you come over here? Pram, etc.' When we do see each other, they're all 'TELL ME ABOUT THE OUTSIDE WORLD!' but then they're so distracted I feel like I'm just one more thing taking their attention. I totally understand, but I'd rather just leave them to it, then pick things up further down the track."

We might be a little bit jealous:

"When my friends had babies it introduced a power imbalance. I was envious, but that was tempered by relief when they complained about how hard it was. Then I felt a little bit superior because I could say 'yes, that sounds difficult, now I'm off overseas,' while privately thinking 'you should have known what you were getting into."

And guess what? They know we're jealous, and want us to get over it.

"My fears were that the friends who really wanted kids wouldn't want to see me anymore. However our friendships were never founded on children, so you just accept that when we catch up with our kids in tow, sentences will be interrupted by spew or poo or demands for babycinos, but the content of our discussions shouldn't change."

We feel guilty talking about frivolous stuff:

"I feel petty talking about current affairs or my job to friends with babies because they're now responsible for a whole human being. My stuff feels unimportant by comparison."

And yet new mothers often spoke of the challenge in identity that came with having children.

"Since I had my kid, I feel shy about seeing people," said one. "I want to say witty, breezy things, but what comes out of our mouth is 'xyzblah' because I'm tired and out of practice. I feel like I'm meant to offer something socially, but I can't."

And this: "I have to initiate social engagements because I think my childless friends believe I'll always have a child attached to me, and that my identity is now 'mother'. Our identity isn't through our children. I can still talk about other stuff."

Babies can be boring:

"We're get that you don't want to be defined by being a mother. So by the same token, please understand that we're your friend - not your child's. Don't take it personally."

Yes, you'll get the odd glutton for punishment who loves kids' birthdays, for the most part if we choose to shower your child with attention, it's only because they tell great jokes and their head smells nice.

And we were right! Abandonment is ok ...

"Early on, don't invite us to anything in the evening because it'll make us sad when we can't go."

"For the first six months, your pituitary gland doubles in size and floods the body with oxytocin. It makes everything other than the baby seem very far away. Looking back I wish I hadn't had so many visitors."

... but only for the first six months:

"I've been hurt by friends who now dismiss us as only daytime friends. People assume we can no longer go out in the evenings or breach the 3km radius boundary of our homes."

Should we treat our friendships like a marriage?

Some marriages and friendships are conditional; 'this is how we do things'. Someone once said that in the best marriages there are always several smaller marriages. For that, you need room to move - even if that means the occasional time-out. But in my experience the great relationships are not based on shared circumstances say, but on a deep appreciation and enjoyment of the other's point of view. And that doesn't change when they get a 'Plus One.'

Charles James Then and Now: An Artistic Interpretation

Not everyone at last night’s Met Gala knew the story of Charles James—not by a long shot. “He’s a new person for me,” admitted Hailee Steinfeld, who was utterly adorable in Prabal Gurung. “He’s someone I don’t know. I’m 25!” laughed a Michael Kors-clad Ming Xi when quizzed on the couturier. The evening’s DJ, Diplo, referred to Charles James: Beyond Fashion as “Fashion and the Thingamajig.” And when we asked Katie Couric about James, she jokingly replied, “I think he’s from the forties, isn’t he? Don’t ask me any more hard questions!” However, while not everyone was familiar with the details of James’ career, most everyone had seen the iconic 1948 Cecil Beaton photo, which features eight women in pastel James gowns. Or, as Hedwig and the Angry Inch‘s Lena Hall called it, “that Cecile photograph.” She made up for the slip with her charm, and by looking divine in a Jamesian Zac Posen number. “I’ve seen that photograph a lot. In fact, I think my mother has it on her wall. So when I saw that, I was like, ‘Oh, I guess I know more about him than I thought.’”

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Gala chair Aerin Lauder had an even more personal story about the famed snap. “I own the Cecil Beaton photograph, but I didn’t know much about [James] before working on the event for a year.” It would seem many a starlet and socialite looked to said image for sartorial inspiration—so much so that we were able to re-create the photograph with some of the ladies from yesterday evening’s red carpet. Here, for your viewing pleasure, we give you a modern-day mockup of Beaton’s photo, starring TV chef and girlfriend to Governor Andrew Cuomo Sandra Lee’s gargantuan dress (a questionable blend of a James ball gown and his Butterfly design), Hall, Amy Adams, Katie Holmes, Liu Wen, Sarah Silverman, and more. You’re welcome.

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22 Stages Every Girl Goes Through In Primark

There's no denying that something comes over you when you enter Primark. Who knows if it's thought of buying leopard print thongs for £2.00 or heels for next to nothing, not forgetting the wall of arm candy waiting for you in the accessories section. We've identified the key stages every girl goes through when faced with the Primark shop.

1. The hurried run walk

One doesn't walk into Primark. Oh no. One hurries. You can see the seven letter sign in the distance, you pick up the pace, you even look behind you to see if you can overtake the slow walker and before you know if you're walking like your legs don't belong to you anymore.

2. The basket dilemma

Ah, the question of all questions. If you get a basket will it cast a bad omen on your shopping spree, causing you to go home... empty handed? (shock). Unlikely, this is Primark after all. Or will you fill it with everything in sight? We've got a fair bit of experience now and here's the inside tack - ALWAYS go for the basket.

3. The grab

No, we're not talking about a Big Fat Gypsy dating ritual, we're talking retail. The grabbing stage usually happens right at the beginning, when you're overcome with unnecessary excitement for all those cheap clothes. Before you've even looked at the jelly shoes they're in your hand and you're stroking them uncontrollably. Then you're picking up tees by the dozen. The key here is not to panic. You can always throw down your basket in the shoe area and casually amend your madness.

4. You lose your friend to knitwear

Everyone knows that to tackle Primark you need some serious moral support, that is, until you step foot in the store and it becomes a solo conquest. Oh, and good luck trying to get signal. No matter who you enter the store with, once you're through the doors you won't find each other again for hours.

5. You buy in every colour

For the gym, for the summer, for the hell of it! Who needs an excuse when the tank tops are £2.00 a go? We’ll have it in pink, red and blue oh and black. Just because!

6. The boyfriend challenge

As if filling your basket for one person wasn't enough, you decide to browse the men's section for other-half buys. Even if he doesn't like loud Hawaiian shirts it's ok. Because it was cheap.

7. The decider

At some point you'll be torn between two items but then you remember where you are and it's a no brainer. Just get both! That would never happen in Topshop.

8. Question time

When the adrenaline wears off, you suddenly become very unstable about your decisions. You have a conversation with yourself that usually goes something like this: "Is it nice? Or nice for Primark?".

9. You mark your territory

Wanna beat the nice girl out of you? Head to Primark. Whether you break out in full blown fisticuffs or just exchange evils over the pile of pants, you’re guaranteed to experience confrontation of some kind. Just make sure YOU get the last pair of built-in fake bum Spanx.

10. The complication

Something always goes wrong. Someone faints from the heat, the security guard sends you on your way for holding a Coke can (no drinks in Primark, WTF? It's 100 degrees), the lift breaks. You're in hell from start to finish.

11. The helpful shopper syndrome

Admit it. You're only folding that polo neck back on the pile because the shop assistant's watching you like a hawk. As soon as her back's turned. Boom, throw and run, throw and run #guilty.

12. You veto an item

We'd happily go into Topshop, Zara and Miss Selfridge and pay £40.00 for a top but £20.00 for a cardigan in Primark? No. Chance.

13. You call it Primani at least once

We've yet to find someone that doesn't do this. We don't know where it came from or why we do it. But we just can't stop.

14. The jewellery trance

You've never liked tacky, huge, overly sparkly bling before but... something's happening. Oh, no. It fell in the basket. Just walk away before the shame takes over.

15. You get THAT feeling

Just when you thought your deal of the bargains couldn't get much better they go and put a gorgeous red line through the price tag. Break out into star jumps? We would, but man alive it’s too hot at Primarni (see).

16. You CBA with the changing rooms

17. The queue

If you're lucky enough to have survived up to this point you've got two options. You either duck and run or get stuck in. If you join the line you know you're gonna lose at least an hour of your life. If you go home, you've shopped for nothing. Suck it up, prepare to sweat and remember the returns queue is way worse.

18. The trolly dash

It’s those last minute till point sales that really get you. You’re over joyed to have reached the finish line so you grab everything you think you need. Socks – in the basket. Hair bands – chuck em in. Peckish? Don’t worry we’ve got a multi-pack of Mentos to see us through.

19. The casual convo with the till guy

So what if calling the shop assistant by their name makes you feel good? You've just bought an entire new wardrobe for £90.00. If ever there's a time you're allowed to be overly-happy and stalkerish it's now. Embrace it.

20. The damage

£90! How did that happen? Well, you did just just buy five pairs of shoes, ten tops, three pairs of shorts, a couple of maxi dresses, a statement necklace, a new duvet cover, pillows, pjs, sunglasses and a rose scented candle. All under one roof. Amazing.

21. The wrong size

It's that horrible feeling. When you approach the exit and realise the size 12 you picked up is actually a size 20. Hello, what was the point in the green sticker then? Oh well, it'll do for bed.

22. The exit

You feel pretty smug with your receipt in hand but that doesn't last. That funky smelling brown paper bag tears and turns to mush in the rain and you leave a trail of Haribo behind. Cheers Primark! Until next time...

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Haircut, weight, clothes, personal appearance … your boss is watching you

How much they sleep, what they weigh and how long your hair is – a survey of Britain's bosses has found that they are monitoring almost all aspects of their own lives, as well as some of the personal habits of their staff.

Researchers asked 1,000 chief executives and managing directors of companies of all sizes what aspects of their home and office life they kept track of. Almost six out of 10 said they kept tabs on their employees' timekeeping and punctuality, while a similar number watched how tidy they were around the workplace. A third (31%) were checking what employees wore to work, and 27% said personal grooming, including hair length, was on their radar. This was watched more carefully by bosses in service sector providers such as retail and catering, but even in farming 14% of heads were monitoring workers' appearance. Hours spent on the internet and cigarette and toilet breaks were tracked by more than one in 10 managers.

The monitoring of staff may be unsurprising, but the survey results also suggested that some bosses are unable to switch off when they get home. Not content with just tracking their outgoings, energy use and budgets – which the majority said they did in one form or other – some said they kept detailed records of their sleeping patterns. Of those questioned, 48 said they kept a written record of how they had slept, while 69 used an app to keep track of their dozing and 46 said they had a spreadsheet of their time under the duvet. Weight and exercise were recorded in a spreadsheet by 81 company heads, while 174 used an app and 143 kept written records.

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Energy firm E.ON which commissioned the research, said more than three-quarters of those questioned were revealed to be "highly engaged personal trackers of workplace performance", while 70% of respondents said tracking behaviour permeated their home lives. More than a third said it was "in their nature" to do so.

Anthony Ainsworth, E.ON's business energy director, said: "Through our research we identified some key character traits when it comes to tracking business data, ranging from the obsessive to the nonchalant.

"We found more than three-quarters of bosses are highly engaged in performance monitoring in their workplaces, either personally or by delegating to others."

Many of those surveyed said they thought their success – both at work and at home – was linked to their ability to stay on top of daily details. More than half said it helped them feel more in control and more than a quarter said they felt calmer as a result.

Professor Cary Cooper, professor of organisational psychology and health at Lancaster University Management School, said he wasn't surprised by the findings. "CEO's do tend to be very concerned about the stress of their job and what impact it will have on their health," he said. "You can understand why they would want to monitor things like how much exercise they've had, what they've eaten."

Cooper said he expected there to have been more monitoring in the workplace since the financial crisis. "A lot of companies are leaner and bosses will be keen to make sure that they've got the right people doing the right jobs. They will also be looking to see 'do they appear stressed', 'are they coping well'."

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Fashion really does matter

A couple of interesting books arrived on my desk the other week – and you know how much I love a book, right? The first, Why Fashion Matters, is written by Frances Corner, head of London College of Fashion (LCF). LCF gave us the inspirational Mirror Mirror conference last year and run the annual Better Lives series of lectures. One of this year's talks tackled ageism in fashion – one "ism" among the many that populate life in 2014.

Why Fashion Matters, which comprises 101 statements and questions, is, in itself, provocative. Almost every week in the comments on this column there is a remark along the lines of: "Why are you writing about fashion when there's so much war/famine/disease/poverty in the world?" Well, obviously these are the fashion pages so of course I'm going to write about … hang on … oh yes, fashion. The simple fact is that fashion, or more accurately style, infiltrates every life, wherever we live, and whatever we do. It always has. From the design of a tea towel to the floor coverings in a Mongolian ger – fashion, design, style, art – it's all linked. Fashion generates billions of pounds, dollars, euros and yen in a never-ending cycle of consumerism. It also provides millions of jobs. So yes, it matters.

On the subject of employment, this week sees the anniversary of the collapse of the Rana Plaza factory, which shocked us into taking a long, hard look at cheap manufacture. This and other important qestions are raised in Why Fashion Matters. Is it a good thing that fast fashion and a six-week turnaround in stock is convincing companies to move production closer to home? What will happen to those balancing on the knife-edge of poverty who rely on the income that overseas production generates? We should be improving conditions and wages rather than pulling out altogether. But then what about the carbon footprint of shipping clothing halfway around the world? Apparently "the clothes of the average British household have produced carbon emissions equivalent to driving the average modern car some 6,000 miles and consumed enough water to fill 1,000 bathtubs to capacity". The Holy Grail is something called closed loop manufacture, where everything made is biodegradable and recyclable and creates no waste. In the meantime we need to break the cycle of the quick-fix purchase.

"I am a feminist and a fashion enthusiast" is another statement frequently tossed about the comment thread. Djurdja Bartlett asks: "Why has the left historically had such a hostile relationship to fashion?" That's a good question because femininity, fashion and feminism are not mutually exclusive and neither are politics, intellectual engagement and fashion. Wherever you position yourself politically, fashion, or style, still matters. Style and colour of dress are used to signify what you stand for – the purple, white and green of the suffragettes, the scarlet flags of communism, true blue Toryism or the (falsely) optimistic yellow of the LibDems – and they can also signify where you come from. National dress is often easier to identify than a national flag. We choose to dress ourselves in a way that makes us happy and expresses who we are. That is why I object to special clothing ranges for older people, because those clothes are not (necessarily) our choice. It is hard to express yourself in beige.

Two-thirds of the way through and my brain is fizzing like Alka-Seltzer, but this book isn't just about mind-boggling statistics and worrying predictions. For instance, I didn't know that red high heels signified you were in favour at the court of Louis XIV. Meanwhile, Yohji Yamamoto asserts that "scars, failures and disorder … advance creativity and originality" and that "perfection is ugly" – certainly true of the anodyne airbrushed look everyone is told constitutes beauty in 2014. Whatever you think about any of this, Why Fashion Matters applies the mental jump leads and makes you think about what you wear, how you wear it and where it came from.

That second book I mentioned? Coming up Trumps is a memoir by Baroness Trumpington and a conversational telling of a life well lived. The story moves from her time as a land girl on Lloyd George's farm to working at Bletchley Park, then takes in the moment when she stuck two fingers up at Tom King in the House of Lords for an ageist remark. It also includes how she became one of the Fabulous Fashionistas at 90 years old, her appearance on Have I Got News for You and what it was like to tease Jack Whitehall. All in all, it's the most enjoyable thing I've read in a long time.

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