The Wallflower and the Photographer.

There are two types of people who attend London Fashion Week, those who go to work and to take photographs and those who go to BE photographed: a huge contrast in the fashion industry.


The first? Hard working industry elites who come in the form of writers, editors, photographers and yes, in some cases, bloggers. These are the people whose daily jobs involve recording this bespoke fashion event. They know the industry like no others, from the designer names and bios, the latest trends and even the different cuts of clothing. They may dress elegantly, wearing the latest designer must haves and they may be papped a hundred times a day, but ultimately they are there because it's their career, their job and their life. People like Melanie Rickey, Poppy Disney and Lorraine Candy. 

 You'll find the elites sitting in the front rows of all the must-see shows, effortlessly managing to take notes and snap photos at the same time. Later, you'll find their descriptive, technical and detailed show reports on their websites and in the top magazines. They are at home at Fashion Week and you can bet your Prada that they'll be there year after year, bringing us the trends, designers and reports that we so crave and love. 

However, nowadays, since the realm of street style snapping became such an influential force in the fashion industry, you'll find another type of person attending LFW; the wallflower (yes, influenced by the new Emma Watson film). 
The Wallflower is a new breed of fashion lover. They may have managed to gain press pass (most are bloggers) or they may just sit and stroll in the grounds of Somerset house, hoping that some one will notice them carrying some obscene household object as an accessory. These people are the ones who BUY the magazines, who live by the trend reports and who experiment with the boundaries of high street and magazine influenced style.

It is these people who are photographed the most at LFW. They are occasionally stopped and interviewed for publications across the UK. They are asked their fashion inspirations, motivations and admirations and they sometimes become the understated labels of LFW. They are openly loved and hated by the elites for they not only drive the underground inspirations but they also symbolise the constant need to be photographed or recognised, a need that in this industry may be starting to wear thin. Is the industry becoming far too focused on those seeking attention? 

Personally, when I attend LFW, I take on the role of the photographer, albeit this may not be my pure reason for attendance. Like Luke Leitch's article in British Vogue this month, I do not pretend to know all that there is to know about the industry or the designers, and I don't pretend to have a unique style. I  wear what I feel comfortable in because after all I am there to write. However, I am fully aware of the wallflowers when I attend LFW. Like animals in a safari, they are found in little clusters. They wear feathers in their hair, bee suits as outfits and heels so high that there is no way they could walk without the arm of a dear friend as support. Sometimes, I admire their confidence, their demeanor and their ability to creatively put together an outfit so eye catching that it demands attention from everyone who sees it. 

I think this debate is similar to that of the cost of art. Confused? Well, just like art, these wallflowers are unique and incredibly creative and imaginative, yet the creativity and imagination sometimes leads it to concepts that may just look a bit like a mess of products, materials and items all rolled into one jacket. Like art, fashion in this form raises the question of whether it should demand such high prices, or in this case such photographed attention.  
Is this fashion? Is it art? Or are they just attention seeking fashion lovers, determined to be spotted on the latest blog or website. 

I'd love to know your thoughts on this subject as I'm partly on the bench with this one. I admire their imagination and creativity and I also appreciate that these fashion darers have the potential to be the next designers. They also have the ability to drive the latest trends and it's completely evident in fashion magazines today that the wallflower is someone the readers and editors admire, however, I find it sometimes difficult to understand their complete place in LFW and the industry when they turn up to LFW purely to be photographed. Yes, fashion week is the epitome of street style BUT are some people taking it to the extreme? 

Are they the influenced or the influencers?

What do you think?


(all pictures taken by Mia Holt at LFW in Feb 2012)


Mia x