Who the hell does Daphne Guinness think she is?

The Honourable Daphne Guinness appears in many guises: heiress and socialite; film producer; designer and perfumer; model; philanthropist; and fashion icon with an enviable collection of couture. Her blonde and black skunk-like hair is to be seen at every party, premier and couture show that counts. But what does this madcap, glamorous, British-eccentric actually do?

‘Ideas’ is her answer: ‘collaborating with people’ and ‘being the midwife to their brilliance’. But in order to do ‘collaborations’ and ‘ideas’ it must help to be as well connected as she is. Guinness counts photographers David LaChapelle and Steven Klein as friends. She was close to Isabella Blow and Alexander McQueen, and used to move in the same circle as Andy Warhol. She was brought up holidaying every summer at a Catalan artist colony, where the likes of Salvador Dalí, Marcel Duchamp, Man Ray and Richard Hamilton were regular guests. This bohemian world of creativity, Dali’s lobster pool, or Studio 54, has coloured her fashion choices and given her a unique (if slightly experimental) persona.
Her most successful collaborations have included a silver glove designed with Shaun Leane (fulfilling her obsession with armour). A range of 5 white shirts with Dover Street Market and a perfume, ‘Daphne’, in collaboration with Comme des Garçons (the company's president, Adrian Joffe, too is an old friend). To have, what she modestly calls ‘a bit’ of money (her divorce settlement from Spyros Niarchos was reported, although never confirmed, to be in the region of £20 million), must only help further.
But it would be unfair to say all she did was connections and money. Her more recent projects have seen her move from the ‘midwife’ to the director. The short film she produced in 2006, ‘Cashback’, with the fashion photographer Sean Ellis, received an Academy Award nomination. ‘Mnemosyne’ a short film to accompany her perfume beautifully explored the visuals of scent. ‘The Phenomenology of Body’, 2008 project for which she was director and producer, was a well received film exploring changing aesthetics and the politics of fashion. On a revolving turn-table a Grecian goddess, Joan of Arc, Marie Antoinette, a Fifties housewife, a suffragette and the Burka conveyed the ever-shifting use of fashion in the constriction and liberation of women.
The vast collection of couture she amassed during her marriage to Niarchos is now serving to help her help others. In 2008 she auctioned 1,000 of her designer pieces, raising a little over £100,000 for Womankind, a charity that deals with the political and domestic abuse of women worldwide. She was a model in Naomi Campbell's Fashion For Relief show, raising funds for mothers in Haiti in 2010. She will exhibit 80 to 100 pieces, including Alexander McQueen, Balenciaga, Azzedine Alaia and Comme des Garçons at F.I.T.'s museum in September 2011. Guinness likes to share her success.

With a penchant for neck-ruffles, hats and veils Daphne Guinness is a woman of many talents. Her eclectic and far reaching interests, literature, classical music and art, have come together to create a wholly unique fashion icon and patron.

Chainmail Champions: Heavy Metals Steal the Spotlight

February 1966. A scene of scandal and sensation erupts. In an overnight triumph, Paco Rabanne revolutionised the norms of fashion design. ‘Twelve experimental dresses which could be produced in contemporary materials’ saw a cast of all black models dance to Pierre Boulez’s avant garde masterpiece Marteau sans Maître, and hailed the arrival of a pioneering modernist.

Luxury design was created outside the realms of luxury fabric, as Rabanne rapidly advanced the use of new materials and technology. Heavy rigid steel sheets soon moved into flexible forms of chainmail. Scissors were replaced with pliers. Knitting, an essential technique in chainmail, with the word itself derived from the French word ‘maille’ for knitting, was done with needles the size of broomsticks. Or a blowlamp was used in place of any needle at all. His designs were worn by the style leaders of the day, think Jane Fonda, Brigitte Bardot and Audrey Hepburn. His costumes for the 1966 film Who are you, Polly Magoo and for the 1968 film Barbarella confirmed chainmail as a groundbreaking trend.

A long time has passed since his revolutionary actions of the late sixties, and now it’s time for a new generation to reclaim metals. Take note: with Donatella Versace donating chainmail to Christopher Kane in 2007, and Vogue Italia’s November 2009 feature, Fashion Gone Strong by Emma Summerton, chainmail is making a return to stardom.

From Cavalli’s AW09 flowing, sheer dresses adorned with chainmail panels to Versace SS10, where pastels, geometric prints and super-fitted minis met slinky chainmail. From Marios Schwab’s chainmail tanks, collared tees, cuffs and collars to Christopher Kane’s chainmail bibs, bodices, breastplates and dripping accessories at Versus. Industrial materials proved they could be as sexy as the sheerest of organza or the shortest of thigh-skimming minis.

Gareth Pugh has taken the trend a step further for AW10, with draped fine chains, rich in movement and medieval character coating his hard edged collection. Worn as Pugh would have it, chainmail is a trend for the daring. But for the less fashion-brave there are chainmail accessories aplenty and so options are endless. Pair with lace, chiffon or a simple cashmere jumper to epitomise effortless cool; or accessorise black ripped skinnys and peep-toe biker boots to make a grunge statement. The multi-faceted influences of chainmail – military history, medieval knights, romanticism and gothic subculture – are overt enough for you to wear them minimally. Isabel Marant’s slim chainmail scarf or a piece of chainmail jewellery by Danni Jo, Eddie Borgo or Lara Bohinc are all resolutely wearable. A piece by the Vogue-hailed ‘New Crusader’ and current NEWGEN winner Fannie Schiavoni will make the most of the simplest white tee. On a high-street budget, chainmail belts are available at Topshop.

If a trend is worthy of Lady Gaga, Susie Lau (AKA Style Bubble), and self-assured rocker Noush Skaugen, it is surely one worth taking note of. But Fannie Schiavoni is resolute that chainmail is not just for fashion royalty, saying her pieces can be worn ‘by someone that has a strong sense of personal style, but she's not a show-off. She buys one strong piece of clothing or accessory each season and pairs with her otherwise subtle wardrobe’. And with most pieces made from stainless steel, brass, or platinum plated brass, with relief, I can promise you won’t have to carry the weight of a medieval Knight. Elle’s Avril Mair says ‘unconventional decoration is key for spring/summer 2010’, and chainmail is the zenith of this. Nothing will feel quite as empowering.

New Horizons

LISTEN TO: Pierre Boulez Marteau sans Maître (The Hammer without a Master) Paco Rabanne’s 1966 soundtrack and a landmark in musical modernism.

READ: Morte D'Arthur: King Arthur and the Legends of the Round Table by Sir Thomas Malory, Oxford University Press, £8.99. Lose yourself in the Arthurian legends of chivalry, the Holy Grail, Lancelot and Guinevere.

SEE: The Bayeux Tapestry, depicting the Norman conquest of England, where soldiers strip the vanquished of their prized chainmail. The original is in Normandy, but if your budget doesn’t extend to France, a replica is on show at the Museum of Reading, Berkshire.

VISIT: The National Army Museum. The museum offers group talks, examining one thousand years of armour and weapons from the Museum’s extensive handling collection.

WEAR: Fannie Schiavoni’s shoulder piece, the epitome of the chainmail trend. £230 at Kabiri, Browns Focus and 127 Brick Lane

WATCH: Jane Fonda in Barbarella and soak up Paco Rabanne’s innovative costume design

Steven Meisel - The Godfather of Fashion

State Of Emergency

Vogue Italia September 2006

Photographer: Steven Meisel

Model: Hilary Rhoda

Of all the flawless, lustrous images in the sphere of fashion editorial, something about Steven Meisel has lifted him from the realms of ‘fashion photographer’ to a position as the ‘Godfather of Fashion’. Over the past three decades, Meisel has made the careers of numerous ‘supers’ with his gift for polishing a rough diamond; he has defined eras of fashion; created advertising campaigns for every desirable luxury brand; and shot every cover of Italian Vogue since 1988. His work has long been the best example of perfect hyper-reality.

State of Emergency, Vogue Italia September 2006, is one of his most controversial fashion spreads to date. In true Meisel style, he offered a contentious new perspective to contemporary debates on terrorism, horrors of torture and excessive use of force.

My favourite of the series depicts model Hilary Rhoda, smoky-eyed and glamorously-dishevelled, in a shocking red dress, pinned to the floor by a perfectly polished toe-capped brogue-clad foot. Look a little closer, though, and you notice, this is no normal glossy image of a sensual brunette, draped with her back arched in luxury clothes. She, (although you would never know from her beautifully pained expression and the eerily staged stillness of the image), is being arrested by two perfectly clad policemen. Ones baton is jammed at her breastbone, his riot shield provocatively pinned between her legs revealing the inner thigh. The other looks over her, arms astride her shoulders, in a deeply unsettling move. The street, with its perfectly controlled blast of sunlight sweeping across looks like cardboard; an empty movie set facade.

Meisel is never one to shy away from a difficult topic. His work is often violent, uncomfortable and sexual. The series transforms this violence and subjugation into highly sexualised images, hidden behind the protection of fashion editorial. But, as a piece of social satire he successfully highlighted the issue of excessive force. And that’s all in a day’s work if you’re Steven Meisel.

Cutting Edges

Some behind the scenes documentation from a hair magazine shoot. The delightful and super-talented Craig, our hair-stylist for the day, wanted to work with textures inside confined structures - taking a little bit of inspiration from Viktor and Rolf SS10. Whilst I wanted to play with 'Double Denim' by adding some 80s colour and some grungy attitude. Denim is trapped in an 'All American' 'Ralph Lauren' typecast, but there are so many more ways to wear it.

The final images for the magazine.

Photography Ian Harding

Styling Ella Pearce Heath

Stylists Assistant Liv Tickle

Hair Craig Chapman

Make-Up Joella Butler

Models Gia and Christina @ Zone

Recommendation-Beauty is in the Ordinary: Van Gogh and His Letters

Last week I found myself with an hour to spare before my next appointment. A café for a non-coffee drinker held little appeal, but my current, slightly emotional (please note drastic under-exaggeration) state did not lend itself to sitting conspicuously alone. Stood unprotected against the pouring rain with an increasing pile of cigarettes butts accumulating at my inappropriately Stella McCartney-clad feet, I was craving a sanctuary. Through the suited purposeful legs I looked up and saw a poster for the Van Gogh exhibition currently showing at the Royal Academy of Arts.

If asked to make a trip especially, and to spend twelve pounds which really should have been going towards a new umbrella (but probably would have in reality gone towards a lace bodysuit which ‘I couldn’t live without’), I would have said No. Van Gogh’s landscapes, peasants and hay stacks, potato peeling, sowing and reaping have always seemed too far removed from ‘real’ life in London. In his portraits I have always recognised the startling use of colour and the resulting emotional impact. But still, probably thanks to a love of German Expressionism, it was never on the same level a Max Beckmann, Otto Dix or George Grosz could produce. But, with the Academy conveniently located just two minutes away, and my chicly-starched blazer balanced on a rain-damage knife edge, with reluctance I joined the queue. Five minutes later, where signs all around declared a two hour wait, I was in.

The collection is the largest of Van Gogh’s work to be shown in London for 40 years. It comprises 65 canvases, 30 drawings and 40 original letters, mostly written to his brother Theo. The aim of the exhibition was to bring together, in as many cases as possible, the relevant letter, sketch and final painting, whereby Van Gogh’s voice almost talks you through the works. These letters, which really make the exhibition, reveal a deeply personal insight into his intimate, swirling thoughts. You are privy to surging highs and lows of emotions, which are expressed in colour and movement.

His subject matters may be humble, but he treats and reveres them as the most precious things on earth. Van Gogh shows us that the beauty in life is in the ordinary and it’s everywhere. Before, I only saw potatoes.

I walked out of the exhibition with a new optimism. If you don’t see this exhibition you might miss something that can change how you look at the world and the people in it.

The Real Van Gogh: The Artist and His Letters, is now showing at the Royal Academy of Arts, Burlington House, Piccadilly, http://www.royalacademy.org.uk/. To book exhibition tickets telephone 0844 209 1919 or tickets are available at the Royal Academy Ticket Office on the day of your visit. Entry £12

Fannie Schiavoni AW10: Body Armour

The new autumn/winter 2010 collection by Swedish-born Fannie Schiavoni has definitely lived up to my high expectations. She sent the look book over just before she was due to show as part of the NEWGEN exhibition at London Fashion Week, and I have been patiently waiting to post. Pieces from past collections have appeared on the likes of Lady Gaga, or on the pages of Vogue, and played a major role on Noush Skaugen’s soon to be released album I styled. The success of her collections every season lies in a balance of tough structural metal with soft draping and flowing lines. She says of AW10 "this collection doesn't have a concept or single strong source of inspiration. I take inspiration from all over the place; old factories/architecture, movies, landscapes, Swedish culture and handcraft, Ingrid Bergman, Fever Ray, the architect Todd Saunders and even my mum". Autumn/winter 2010 is a natural development from past collections. She has added depth and richness of texture. You see again the shoulder guards, braces, metal gloves and layered chain necklaces, but with the addition of metal petals and soft wools in a muted palette. In doing so the pieces become more wearable, for a wider market, who Fannie says ‘is someone that has a strong sense of personal style, but she's not a show-off. She buys one strong piece of clothing or accessory each season and pairs with her otherwise subtle wardrobe’.

The options are endless: pair with lace, chiffon and simple cashmere jumpers to epitomise Scandinavian effortless cool; or with black ripped skinnys and peep-toe biker boots to make a grunge statement. Or layer up against bare skin in the style of Lady Gaga. These pieces will slip into your wardrobe with ease. And nothing feels quite as empowering to wear as Fannie’s chainmail.

Fannie Schiavoni is stocked at Browns Focus, Kabiri and 125 Brick Lane.