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The fashion world as we know it has been turned
on its head over the past few years with shows such as Sex and the
City redefining the term 'fashionable'.
Hundreds of Carrie Bradshaw's walk the streets of Nottingham searching
for accessories and clothing not devoid of the show.
Women's fashion magazines adopted Carrie and her
New York girlfriends Samantha, Miranda and Charlotte as the styleometre
of current and future fashions. Carrie fever hit the UK in a big
way and Nottingham was not missed off the map.
Emma, 21, studying at Trent University quips: "I liked Carrie's
mix of old and new, I remember her wearing pearls in an episode
before they came back in style and I managed to find some in Debenhams."
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| Let's blame Carrie (Sarah Jessica
Parker) |
Caroline, 18, student at People's College confides
"Miranda and Charlotte are the only well dressed characters.
Carrie is impossible to imitate."
Justine, 21, studying at Trent University says, "I looked everywhere
to find name necklaces, I eventually settled with an initial necklace
from Claire's Accessories. It's really sad how much I wanted one,
but I think everyone did even if they didn't admit it."
TV style inspiration isn't unheard of; many High Street stores are
quick to pounce on the trends.
Fashion via art forms is also having profound effects on young,
up-and-coming Nottingham designers. Susi Henson, managing director
of Nottingham based Eternal Spirits is an ex-Trent University fashion
student and believes that fashion isn't just restricted to London,
and decided to create business for herself.
Eternal Spirits specialises in corsetry. Susi's inspiration seeps
from expressionist poetry, gothic architecture and industrial rock-inspired
song lyrics. Religious iconography is apparent in many of Susi's
designs.
Sample is a thriving boutique in King John's Arcade, off Bridlesmith
Gate. Young designers Heidi Butler and Emrys Plant take their inspirations
from storybooks, the range Frogman is from a book of the same name
and has a quirky aesthetic appeal that would entice any consumer
looking for art-inspired tops and T-shirts.
Nottingham students play a huge part in the Nottingham fashion scene
they are, along with the many other consumers, treading the Nottingham
boards each day as models, many inspirational simply to other shoppers
walking past.
"Nottingham (is a) very multicultual place, in fashion generally
there's so much 'street' influence, with all the 'bling thing' happening,
and as always people (maybe especially students) want to be individuals
in their fashion, so there's a lot of mixing of layers and colours.
I think for something to be 'vintage' is a quite a cool thing at
the moment, you know then that not everyone's got that same piece
of jewellery or the same bag, and you are truly individual."
- Chloe Hutchinson, 2nd year fashion marketing and communication
student at Nottingham Trent University.
The student fashion scene is huge, and with fashion show a-plenty,
from City Light's own modeling competitions to Nottingham Trent's
annual show there isn't much more room for clean cut talent.
"With Nottingham being full of students I think everyone influences
each other. Trent obviously has a very broad scope of fashion students,
who are all influenced by a wide variety of themes; from each other
and designers to what is going on in the media and the country in
general. I do think we have some amazing shops here and a wide variety
of resources, which used to their full potential could be highly
prosperous."
- Jenna, Fashion Student , Nottingham Trent University
I caught with Trent Uni newspaper Platform and spoke to editor Rachel
Dybeic who told me about her favourite Nottingham haunts.
"There are so many places to shop in Nottingham it's almost
impossible to choose my favorite but the ones I really love are
Zara and Faith. I could spend hours looking round Zara and I love
the variety and constant turnover they seem to have in there. All
the clothes are well made and they look more expensive than they
are. I'm also a big fan or department stores because there are so
many shops under one roof. Perfect if you're a lazy shopper!
Next and Gap are good for basics like trousers and coats but if
you want something a bit out of the ordinary I'd head into Hockley
to the smaller boutiques."
With style inspiration not just from national media but also from
homegrown designers or local features that substitute forms of artistry,
it seems that Nottingham has that infamous fashion-bug that every
city strives for - with a variety of shops that cater for every
taste and a pool of talent that offers everyone the opportunity
and aspiration to step into.
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