[5]
by Shannon Ables
Eastern Oregon writer
The Simply Luxurious Life
On my last evening in London, I made sure to find a television to view the much anticipated Olympic Closing Ceremony (tickets were impossible to find and if found, required the amount of a down payment on a small cottage). Rumors of quite the gathering of British talent – musicians, designers and models were swirling, but it wasn’t until I picked up a copy of British’s September issue of Vogue [6] and began reading it as I moseyed about my business on the tube that I was certain about the fashion component appearing in the ceremonies.
Editor-in-Chief of British Vogue [6] Alexandra Shulman and Fashion Director Lucinda Chambers were tapped by Kim Gavin, Creative Director of The Closing Ceremony and his team, to work with The British Fashion Council to bring the talents of the British runway to the stage for the world to see. Within the pages of one of their largest issues (September 2012), photographer Nick Knight captured top British models, beginning with Kate Moss, followed by Naomi Campbell, Georgia May Jagger, Stella Tennant, Lily Cole, Lily Donaldson, David Gandy, Karen Elson, and Jourdan Dunn, to showcase the exquisite talents of some of the top fashion designers from Britain.
What made me giddy is that while I was watching the ceremony, I could list verbatim the designer behind each of the gowns as all models wore the exact same dress on the catwalk as they did in the pages of Vogue’s September issue.
With Kate Moss and Karen Elson’s gowns topping my list, I was surprised to see Stella McCartney not represented. Regardless, it was thrilling to see fashion placed on a such a magnificent stage whether the entire crowd realized or not what they were witnessing. It certainly reveals a bit of the power and influence fashion can have if handled well.
Have a look below at the editorial, as well as a few of the images captured on the last evening of a very successful Olympics.
~Kate Moss in Alexander McQueen~
~Georgia May Jagger in Victoria Beckham~
~Stella Tennant in Christopher Kane~
~Lily Cole in Erdem~
~Naomi Campbell in Alexander McQueen~
~David Gandy in Paul Smith Gold and Jourdan Dunn in Jonathan Saunders & Stephen Jones Gold feather headdress~
~Lily Donaldson in Vivienne Westwood~
~Karen Elson in Burberry~