Alternative Fashion Week London

The Talent & The Craziness of Alternative Fashion Week!

Narzipan took part at this year's Alternative Fashion Week at Spitalfields Market in London. We had a busy time trading in the market place but kept sneaking off to see the catwalk show everyday at 2pm. 80 designers were chosen to showcase on the catwalk with around 14 designers showing everyday.

Most of the designers were from the UK but Europe was also strongly represented and even Uruguay and Sri Lanka had designers there. The designers included independent labels and recent textile and fashion graduates all relishing the chance to present their work to the press, public and fashion industry.

We will do a separate blog on Narzipan at AFW but here is what you missed on the catwalks.

Day One Highlights

Faye de-Boorder  1:17

Victoria Geaney 4:26

Chantal Gibbs-Jones 4:39

Day 2 Highlights

Georgia Nash 2:24

Victoria Bramwell 3:11

Jylle Navarro 4:28

Gemma McDonald 5:06

Day 3 Highlights

Bib&Brace 1:30

Brett Mettler 2:14

Mary Radcliffe&Lucy Tiffney 3:00 

Day 4 Highlights

Kathryn Brady 2:14

Charlotte Smith 2:55

Day 5 Highlights

Sophie Mason 3:52

Sasha Louise 4:47

Newham College 5:10

Day 6 Highlights

Queesra Abbas Dad & Christopher King 0:59

Louise Atwood 5:10

Nina Davies 5:55

India Pics!

Our trip to India in March

A Rajasthan Gypsy

We loved this amazing girl we came across in India. A travelling Rajasthan gypsy her hand-made dress blew us away with it's intricacy and detailing.

Wonderful accessories too

The pattern is really original and the embellishment and fringeing add extra interest

These are school children in the village of Paddi Jagir in the Punjab province in India where our family originates from.

Future Supermodels!

This little princess is Kagal. Her outfit is such a lovely colour. Kagal's mother abandoned her at birth so she is now looked after by her Grandma and slightly older brothers. Her brothers are very proud of her and very sweet and attentive to her.

Pretty Kagal

We always throw a party for the kids at the village school on the last day of our trip. With some sweets, food and music its easy to have a fun time.

Dancing time for the school kids

Paddi Jagir is a small village and livestock such as camels and buffalo are priceless resources

Mama do the hump, Mama do the hump hump

Do you mind?!

Meanwhile in the city..

This city is Ludhiana which is a major industrial centre in northern India. Still in the Punjab province it is a culture shock compared to our little village with a population over a million and hectic traffic.

Ludhiana

There is no such thing as boring drab lorries in Punjab Province. Nearly every truck is decorated and painted.

Ready to pounce on weak pedestrians and wildebeest

Trucks are nowhere as cool as horses though.

This fruit seller sold amazing tasting fruit but was very distracted when we bought from him.

How dare he text peeps when we want oranges!

Narzipan Business

We gets lots of quality, beautiful fabric from this seller but we do need to get him to show us a more interesting fabric next time!

This is enough material to make one fancy dress ghost

This guy is a street clothes dyer. You can take absolutely anything to him and he will colour it for less than a pound. Bargain!

And finally..

This is the Ganesha, one of the best known and widely worshiped Hindu deities. His elephant head makes him so easy to remember and he is revered as the Remover of Obstacles.

Ganesha

Parting is always such sweet sorrow.

Until next time

Clothes Show Pics!

A bit late this post but better late than never!

Checkout some of our cool Clothes Show customers:

She rocks this sweater!

What style and smile!

Alice from Look Book blog 

Expert assistance from our cousin Sonia

We had a great time at the Clothes Show December 2011 and loved that we attracted lots of eclectic customers. Maria from Towie came over to chat and left with one of our jumpers to kindly promote for us.

Maria from Towie

The Narzipan Flagship!

Narzipan at the Clothes Show

 We sold to everyone from kids to hip hop guys to rockers!

Cupcake necklaces were a trendy bestseller for us.

Our amazing hand-made jewellery.

We've just been to India to get materials to start preparing for this year's Clothes Show. Would be great to see you there!

Little Mix buys a little Narzipan!

Narzipan has some celebrity fans!

Our friend Red Mutha has just informed us that Little Mix purchased a Narzipan sequin bow jumper when they were recently in her Brighton store.

Funky Red Mutha!

The girls purchased a silver sequinned bow jumper similar to the black one on display. Red Mutha also has made some customised jackets for Little Mix and is hoping they wear them for something special.

   

 We hope they wear our sweater soon so we can post a pic. Our guess is that it was the lovely Jade Thirlwall as bow ties are one of her signature style items as seen below:

Lipsy jacket and shorts

How cool are those nails?!

She's not the only one though! Maybe it's Jesy!

Love the makeover Grazia magazine gave them too.

You can buy the same sweater as Little Mix here: http://www.freewebstore.org/NarzipanShop/product/sweater_1417