Interview with Lady Lace at Relevant

Lady Lace! Where to start with this one, internationally educated creative art student turned burlesque dancer turned vintage shop owner, Lady Lace is the master of all alternative trades, and has the most brilliant humour, enthusiasm and go-getter attitude, you can't not love her.

I eagerly asked if I could interview the lovely Lady, as part of my first of many interviews following the 22 year old recession stressed "what are you up to now" generation. Let's be honest, we are all secretly stalking one another to find out what everyone is up to now... and there has been many interesting "ous and ahhs and wows" when talking about this Missy. 
So here it goes:

 1: Who are you? My name is Willow Hilson, but I usually go under my previous stage name of Lady Lace around here.

2: Where do you call home and what makes it special?  For the longest time I could not answer that question. I grew up in South East Asia between Singapore and Indonesia. So home was wherever my parents decided it to be. Now that I am older, I just associate home with where the sweetest cup of tea is, and right now that's Exeter.

3: What do you do? I am currently working on a new project, I have just recently hung my stockings up and decided that it was time  to run my own Vintage shop in Exeter. So here I am! There is a great gap in the market for affordable vintage and I think I have really got a good thing going on ! Relevant (on Twitter too!) is like the new step in my life.  Having been a Burlesque Dancer for so long, Its definelty a change from the hot spotlight of the stage. I like to Think Relevant offers a small city like Exeter the opportunity to broaden it's horizons and discover new things. Much like Exeter has done for me. From Vintage to Modern Fashion we cater for everything and everyone. The best part of Relevant is the pricing, you won't find more affordable when it comes to vintage !

4: Whats the best part of your day? I don't have a best part, I usually tend to just love everyday, the whole way through? From the moment the shop doors open till the moment they close. Every customer always comes in with a smile and the shop is always full of giggling ladies trying on outrageous outfits or perfect dress. Do you remember than scene from Narnia where they walk into the wardrobe? that is my average day with added coffee obviously !. You open the door, battled through clothes,  and then find the most amazing coat ! It's like a giant dress up box and everyone get's to join in !

5: Who are your role models? This is a hard question, I don't think you really need role models. Why be a cheap imitation when you can be a perfect original?

6: Where are your favorite hang out places? This is also a very hard question, it varies in my moods and my outfits. If I am going for more of a retro vintage inspired look I tend to lurk around  dark couches in the Bikeshed, it's the perfect bar for cocktails and interesting conversations.

Oh we do love her,

The INTERVIEWS

Right so I have decided to take my blog into a new angle, and as you may remember I used to do Street Style fashion way back when I was still at Uni. This was extremely fun and very exciting, getting friends of friends starting to dress up just in case they bumped into me in the Library (I'm thinking of you Alice...), but it lacked a little depth ( a lot of depth, it was, purely, about the clothes). I have decided to go back to this idea, making the most of my London Town, and start Blogging about the lovely people I see and meet every day. My first post will be interviewing Burlesque Star turned Alternative Clothes shop owner Lady Lace. Watch this space.

Me, a musician.....

Grace Raiment and Wandering Minds

I'm the social media "aid" for Wandering Minds, and I love it. I have always had a love for seeking out the latest fashion trends and styles in and around my home town, London. Elisa has allowed this to expand on a much grander scale. Her trip to Asia has inspired us all to walk out of our London bubble and check out how they do it elsewhere, and my gosh are they experimental! As described earlier on the Wandering Minds blog, I'm the one that is good at getting overly excited and hyper, but Elisa is the one that gets things done. Currently I have a few tricks up my sleeve that I think will give us the edge that makes us stand out from other online stores. Our focus is more on sharing the experience: highs and lows of a fahsion start-up. For this, we have collaborated with film school studuent Gaelle to create a behind the scenes video of our first ever photoshoot (soon to be released here), and we are also collaborating with a very cool group of London College of Fashion students to give you the behind the scenes coverage of our next shoot, which will have a more urban emphasis. I have had a sneak peek at the clothes which will form part of this new colllection and its hard for me to keep it all secret, all I can say for now is we have sleek-cuts and bold designs made from exceedingly good quality fabrics. Ok fine, so here are a few items we just had to share with you, check them out!
The description of the dress from the website says it all: " This white summer dress with thin red stripes is like a posh girl who's a sexy vixen deep down. The pleated skirt is its conservative, good girl side, while the deep neckline adds a beautifully seductive touch to this truly unique number. The high-quality cotton is slightly rigid but flexible so that the dress keeps its shape. Designed by Seoul-based young designer Grace Raiment, this very special dress will make boys and girls' heads turn, for different reasons."

Denny's column for Wandering Minds

Denny’s column - A gay guy’s guide to dress stylishly: khaki and navy hunting gear

by Denny Lv, Wandering Minds Web Analytics specialist.
I’m a big believer in the idea that truly stylish men and women essentially dress in the same way. The slightly utilitarian, posh hunter look is one of these looks that work brilliantly on both men and women. You can either go khaki or navy, depending on whether you want to go for the lion hunter or hot sailor look.
Back in January 2011, Elisa and I went on our first ‘routine’ Paris sales trip - she’d been doing that for years while I lost my Paris Winter Sales virginity on this occasion. We stopped at what would become our absolute favourite sales spot in Paris, the flagship APC store on Rue Madame. That year, Elisa and I both found great hunting clothes: I found a pair of slightly quirky but definitely lovely forest green trousers; Elisa got a great coat in the same colour, with a brown collar and brown leather buttons and detailing, which had a distinct I’m-on-my-way-to-shoot-foxes flavour, but in a cool way - despite James ‘Testino’ Haydon’s comment - our brilliant mathematical brain at Wandering Minds - that Elisa looked like a hunting dog in that coat.
Me, not being a big fan of girls who dress like pretty little dolls, love it when girls pull off casual looks like the ones pictures below. I’ve seen many uber-stylish girls - including our lovely CEO at wandering minds - wearing slightly oversized shirts/cardigans/jumpers either from their boyfriends or from products branded as “boyfriend’s [xx]”. I particularly like our navy spring parka at Wandering Minds - completely androgynous but oh-so-cute - in fact I could quite see myself wearing it. The shape and fit of menswear adds the perfect amount of ease and cool and perfect for creating off-duty looks for cool girls. In some occasion, men can also borrow their women’s wardrobe, which is more rare but can work equally brilliantly; Jonathan - see picture below - featured in one of my favourite sites - Hel looks - looks awesome wearing his girl friend’s ragged olive shorts. Good style is most definitely genderless.

Elisa in her APC hunting coat - Brick Lane, London

Oversized navy parkas are hot

Boyish parkas work brilliantly for women too. Navy Spring Parka, from Wandering Minds

Helmut Newton

Helmut Newton Photographs

Stylocrat: Leopard and Denim [mystyle]

Stylocrat: Leopard and Denim [mystyle]: While in New York last month, we visited the Met mostly for the Egyptian and Modern art. I loved seeing my absolute favorite post-Impression...

Leather Skirts

Leather skirts have this immediate power of basically making you look like a sex goddess. This is apparent on all catwalk shows of the last 50 years. In my view black is best, keep it short and tight and very very shiny, for that domitratix "I know everyone wants to be me right now" look. Joy and Annabel model this very well in the last shoot for Wandering Minds (@WaneringM) and you can follow what they are up to here: http://ourwanderingminds.tumblr.com/  
In 2009 we paired it with a loose silk top of all colours and textures, in 2011 we paired it with brights, in 2012 let's pair it with baggy pastel cotton patterned jumpers, boyfriend-esque Tees and jean shirts.

Lets look through some of the brilliant catwalk appearances which have allowed the Leather Skirt to shine:

From left to right: Matthew Williamson, Rag&Bone, Stærk, Zero Maria Cornejo S/S 2009 NY

Bally SS2012

Altuzarra SS 2011

Diesel ss2012

Add captionWandering Minds SS 2012

Wandering Minds SS 2012

Wandering Minds SS 2012