CEREMONIAL DRESSING

Wearing: Charlie May dress, A.F. Vandevorst top, Acne shorts, Celine shoes, Naked Label captured necklace, Dominic Jones rings

It's hard to have favourite piece after you make an entire collection, but this 'ceremonial dress' from my AW12 is a strong contender. It can be worn as a dress (with sash) - looks killer with a shirt underneath, or open as a summery jacket. It's not often I get time to make actual pieces for myself but I'm planning on changing this. I think this is going to be a wardrobe staple for me from now on. 

This dress won't be selling on Bengt in September, so if you would like to buy one, I'm happy to offer it at wholesale price. Just drop me an email at info(at)charlie-may.co.uk for more details.

Thanks to Jen for the photos! 

CLEAN LINES

When I stumbled across the work of Scandinavian designer Beate Godager the first thing that struck me was the clean lines and subtle textures; keeping a collection to one colour means that you're pairing it back, allowing the viewer to see the foundations of the design. I love the lookbook styling of the contrasting stripper heels and platform sneakers, also the clear vinyl shopper bags with the cut out gloves. The AW12 collection is wearable and elegant despite the conceptual nature of her designs; I'm looking forward to following Beate's career and seeing what she does next! You can see Godager's work here and here.

Photo: Amanda Hestehave

Make-up: Tina Kristoffersen

BEHIND THE SCENES WITH BENGT

Last weekend Bengt invited me along to be a fly on the wall during the SS12 and AW12 shoot. There were so many things to feast my eyes upon, I'm always keen to see what goes on on the other side and it was fun watching the Bengt girls style the looks together, whilst Lou Lou strutted back and forth in the insane platform Finsk shoes! 

I'm so excited to announce that key pieces from my SS12 collection are available to buy on Bengt as of today, along with the other beautiful accessories you see accompanying the collection! The AW12 pieces you see snippets of will be available from September. I can't wait to see you guys rocking the pieces! I'll have to finally make some for myself too - crazy that I haven't done that yet.

See more on BENGT.

SKULLS AND TRINKETS

I discovered Kyle Hopkins through a meeting one day with Harriet from HPR, as we were chatting I started noticing the gold and silver pieces beside me, slowly trying them on Harriet started explaining to me all the stories behind each piece; lips cast from his first kiss, his sisters ear, fingerprint rings (you can have these done with your own print); it was clear that there's meaning behind Kyle's work. 'He casts imagination and enquiry, starting a story for someone else to finish. So when the jewel reaches its new owner, she just takes over the narative'. I think the silver pieces are my favourite, especially the signat rings shown here, and the fingerprint rings which for some reason aren't here! Currently, you can buy Kyle's pieces on Kabiri.

CHARLIE MAY AW12 LOOKBOOK

Photographer: Saga Sig

Stylist: Alexxsia Elizabeth

Make Up: Thom Ticklemouse

Hair: Alex James Fairbairn

Model: Tatjana Saric @ Profile

Shoes by Miista

So, finally here it is, I'm super proud of this one! It was so much fun getting to finally work with Saga, one of my favourite fashion photographers, as well as the rest of the team which are fast becoming the Charlie May family. I'm usually not a fan of overly posey lookbooks but I think Tatjana made the clothes look incredible! We were all joking that we were going to bust out some of her moves waiting for the bus, or in line at the supermarket! 

See more of the lookbook on my website: Charlie May