British designer creates dress for Swiss Eurovision singer
Speaking from the Swiss city of Basel, the designer - who now lives in London - said she was asked to be part of the team by the creative director of Zoë Më's performance, someone she had previously worked with. Seeing her designs on the singer was an "emotional moment" for the designer and one she described as being a "major point in any artist's careers". "The things that makes this really special for me is that a large audience will see my work - it feels like a pivotal moment for me," she added.
Zoë Më performed at the first semi-final on Tuesday night while Ms Seward was "on-call" alongside the rest of her team for any wardrobe, make-up and hair needs. She said although she has not been able to watch the competition from the arena, she's enjoyed watching on a screen, behind the scenes."I feel very lucky and I feel like now I've become a fan. It's huge - it's crazy how big it is."I think I will watch it now but what I really want, is to be asked to do to this again."
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The Guardian
28 minutes ago
- The Guardian
‘We made it our catwalk': the photos showing Black British women's Saturday night fashion through the ages
Before the beat drops, there is first the bedroom. A hot comb sizzling fresh from the stove, the gentle whirring of a sewing machine. A group of women cross-legged on the floor, swapping clothes and gossip: who got turned away at the club door last weekend? Who might show up tonight? For the London-based archivist Deborah Carnegie, there is something atavistic and sacred about the pre-night out ritual, in particular for Black British women. It is the subject of her latest work, a photography archive spanning 1950 to the present day, chronicling Black British women's Saturday night fashion across the decades. Presented for the first time at this summer's London College of Fashion's Fashioning Frequencies exhibition, Carnegie's collection is the result of months spent gathering images from family photo albums, nightclub photographers' archives and submissions from friends. (The show has now closed; Carnegie is looking for a new venue to show her photos.) We're meeting for lunch at Jumbi, one of south-east London's extant African-Caribbean bars (and a spot I have spent many an evening in, in my Saturday night best; at night it is transformed into a sea of swaying bodies and rum punches under ambient red lights.). 'I used to go out round here all the time back in my day,' Carnegie says over plantain and jerk rice. 'It's nice that places like this still exist. 'For so long our style has been disparaged as 'ghetto',' she says. In the 90s, Carnegie studied fashion as an undergraduate in Surrey. 'My teachers at college used to ask me: 'Who's going to wear this?' And I would think: 'I've already got clients!'' Carnegie's work is a paean to a community whose influence on the country's fashion she feels has gone underacknowledged. But the subject is personal as well as academic. Growing up in the 60s, she lived with her great-aunt, who ran a nightclub in the cellar of their south London flat. 'I'd be in the living room and see guests going downstairs in their fur coats – hair done, jewellery on – and the men in their pinstripe suits and trilby hats,' she says. 'My auntie's rule was that you had to get dressed up if you wanted to go downstairs.' Her great-aunt came to the UK from Jamaica as part of the Windrush generation, and was one of the Britons who helped lay the foundations of a Black British aesthetic. Combining fabrics inspired by Africa, the Caribbean and the UK, there was noticeably more colour in their palettes, compared with the pallid austerity of postwar Britain. At the time, it was seen as outre. The Thurrock Gazette reported in 1948: 'Dressed in an odd assortment of clothes, many wearing ties of dazzling designs, over 450 Jamaicans arrived at Tilbury Docks on the Empire Windrush.' 'Colour wasn't as popular in the UK, so we used to make our own outfits out of materials for tablecloths: the greens, blues, oranges,' Carnegie says; they were 'inspired by the front rooms in the Caribbean'. Money was an issue but no obstacle to style. 'Back in the day, we just made our clothes ourselves,' she says. 'We were poor, and most of the dresses didn't fit our bodies anyway – we had big tits and big bums – so clothes here just didn't fit us right.' There is a warm familiarity in the images. We may not be hot-combing our hair and reupholstering tablecloths any more, but there is still a thread of continuity running through the 70 years of nightlife documented in Carnegie's archive, whether it's getting ready to step on to the linoleum of a 1950s blues night, or a 2000s Afrobeats weekender. 'Hair is still a focal point,' she says, 'and dressing head-to-toe: the lashes, the nails, too.' Black British women remain, according to Carnegie, tastemakers when it comes to fashion. You only need to look at the pervasiveness of trainer culture, oversized hoops or the slick-back bun in recent years to see her point. 'That has always been the way,' she says. 'When I was growing up, I never saw Black women on the runway or in magazines. But we've always been at the forefront. When we weren't allowed in those spaces, we made Saturday night our catwalk.' A photo of Carnegie's great-aunt on her wedding day in 1956, this portrait resists tradition. Instead of a white dress, she wore a bespoke suit tailored by her dressmaker, its neat buttons lending elegance and definition, her hair pressed with a hot iron. 'She didn't want a traditional white wedding,' says Carnegie. 'The buttons really make the suit and define the look.' Sign up to Inside Saturday The only way to get a look behind the scenes of the Saturday magazine. Sign up to get the inside story from our top writers as well as all the must-read articles and columns, delivered to your inbox every weekend. after newsletter promotion Carnegie's mother, Beverley, stands outside Wandsworth town hall on her wedding day in 1973. Her broad-brimmed hat was inspired by Bianca Jagger, her pearl necklace chosen to match her engagement ring. 'She found the dress at a boutique in Wimbledon,' Carnegie says. 'The platform shoes gave her height. My mum has always inspired my style.' This portrait of Yvonne Pendley, a relative of Carnegie's cousin, was taken just months after she gave birth, in 1974. 'She was happy to get her figure back,' Carnegie says. Dressed in a vibrant yellow suit borrowed from her cousin, with her own shoes and careful grooming, Yvonne posed for a formal portrait before heading out for the evening. Dionne Pendley, Yvonne's niece, was heading to a gig in 1993 when this picture was taken. 'It might've been Jodeci or Boyz II Men,' Carnegie says. Dionne adapted a leather jacket into a dress, borrowed the hat from a friend and paired it with Italian boots. It is quintessential 90s. Taken in 2001, Carnegie, (far right), her sister Sam (second from left) and their friends are shown waiting at a bus stop in Wandsworth on their way to Notting Hill carnival. Carnegie made both her and Sam's outfits – Sam's from Ethiopian fabric, and her own from a faux-leather dress. 'I don't think we came back until the next day!' Carnegie says. Singer Dainá Murel poses at her dancehall-themed birthday party in east London, in 2023. The photo captures the 2020s evolution of Black British women's fashion, but calls back to the 90s dancehall era. 'The flamboyant, ostentatious attire, adorned with fluorescent organza and Lycra, cutout clothing and luminous coloured wigs galore – it reminds me how important the subculture was,' says Carnegie.
The Sun
an hour ago
- The Sun
Jude Bellingham's girlfriend Ashlyn Castro puts on busty display in low-cut top as fans say Real Madrid star ‘so lucky'
FANS have called Jude Bellingham "so lucky" after seeing Ashlyn Castro stun in a low-cut top. She has been with the Real Madrid star after The Sun exclusively revealed they had been on a string of dates in January. 8 8 8 8 Ashlyn, 27, has her own huge following on social media with her modelling career. She boasts 603k followers on Instagram, where she regularly posts stunning pictures of herself. The stunning brunette has wowed her fans yet again as she put on a busty display while sat in a car. She posed for the picture while wearing a low-cut white top in the driver's seat of the Mercedes. Her followers loved the snap as it gained well over 20,000 likes in its first hour of being posted. Many also flooded the comment section. A second wrote: "Bellingham is lucky you are so beautiful." A third commented: "Haters are jealous cause she's a goddess." A fourth said: "You broke the beauty scale, Where did you get all this beauty from?" Jude Bellingham's girlfriend posts for first time since England star had bum pinched by bride-to-be Another added: "The most beautiful woman in the world." Bellingham, 22, and Ashlyn had been keeping their relationship under wraps, but have recently started to pull back the curtain. Ashlyn posed in a Real Madrid kit during Bellingham's stateside summer exploits at the Club World Cup. She also shared some pictures of the two together for his 22nd birthday. 8 8 8 8 Bellingham is currently away from the pitch after undergoing an operation on his shoulder after struggling with an injury last season. Bellingham will miss the early part of the 2025-26 season as he continues his rehab. The 43-cap England international could be out until as late as November.
BBC News
an hour ago
- BBC News
McFly fans queue early in Norwich for Rock N Roll Circus
Festival-goers queued from as early as 05:00 BST to bag a front row space to see McFly headline the first day of new music and circus than 7,000 people descended on Earlham Park in Norwich for the start of the Rock N Roll began on Thursday, runs until Saturday and about 20,000 music fans are expected across the three days. Among those at the front was Jan Mulder, 30, who said: "It's nice to be able to come and enjoy something locally and not have to go miles." He said he had only faced a 30-minute journey to get to the festival, although he was not up as early as some dedicated McFly fans."I started queuing from 11 o'clock this morning... I like the barrier spot, I like to bring the energy to the front row and I like something to lean on."They've been around since I was a wee nipper... regardless if you're a fan or not, live they are just incredible," he said. Pop-rockers McFly - who are Tom Fletcher, Danny Jones, Harry Judd and Dougie Poynter - rose to fame in 2004 and had hits including All About You, Star Girl and Five Colours in Her Hair. Connie Stephens, 30, from London, was one of the first in the queue, arriving at 04:45. "This will be my 170th McFly gig."I've seen them since I was eight years old. I am really excited."They've helped me through some really tough times and they are just genuinely the most nicest boys ever." Some fans even travelled from abroad to see their favourite band. Laura Hadzopoulos, 28, a Miss Universe Switzerland finalist, donned her beauty pageant sash as she waited in the crowd. "I love the group and I wanted to see McFly in person... I travelled from Switzerland to be here... I loved it."We travelled yesterday and we are visiting with my sister. It's a lovely city here." It is the first time the festival, which also features internationally recognised circus performers, has come to Norwich. Follow Norfolk news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
