FASHION – Page 55 – Freak Deluxe

Ben Travato Blog by Marius Troy

The other day, I caught up with the lovely 24 year old art director Marius Troy and founder of the well known blog Ben Trovato.We discussed music, the fact he’s tired of seeing beautiful girls with white backgrounds and some other stuff in between.

lolasparks: Alright Mr, I know you’re quite the traveler.So where have you been residing at ??

Marius troy: Right now I’m in Oslo, but I’m always on the move. I just got to Oslo after spending time in New Delhi, Singapore, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Tokyo, LA, Miami, Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro during 2009.

lolasparks: How did you get into the whole blogging malarkey?
Marius troy: I’ve always been interested by visual inspiration, and how photography, graphic design, illustration and art overall can be used to communicate a message, provoke feelings, and/or tell stories. I then started a blog a few years ago where I posted what I found inspiring, may that be a photo or a song. But after running it for a while I found that my posts consisted of pretty much just fashion photography, so I thought, “Hey! Why not just make a concept out of it?” And that’s how Ben Trovato Blog was created.

lolasparks: Everytime I read your blog I’ve always seen it as you promoting fresh new talent…is that your purpose?
Marius troy:BTB was created with the intention of bringing new talent into the limelight, but also inspire those who hadn’t quite made it to a professional
level yet. The posts consists mainly of young promising professionals, but now and again I feature a someone with a lot of experience within the business.

lolasparks: Influences and inspirations?
Marius troy:Personally I get very inspired by photographers that dare to move into unknown territory creatively. Although people might say that the business is evolving all the time, and that you need to stay aware of new trends to keep up, I feel like there’s been a slight stagnation the last two years. The warm vintage tint has been here for a while now, and there was a time where I got sick of seeing beautiful girls with strong make up and wayfarers on a white background shot with camera flash. Juergen Teller and Terry Richardson started that trend years ago, and it’s time to move on.

lolasparks: What music are you currently banging on about?
Marius troy: Right now I’m very excited about B.o.B aka Bobby Ray. Be sure to check out 🙂

lolasparks:Any plans for the future?
Marius troy:I am moving to Milan very soon to get closer to the action! And I am always thinking of new ways to make Ben Trovato Blog better.

Interview by Lola Sparks

AAA Launch at Topman

Topman have finally launched their new range AAA, it was supposed to launch in April but due to the Ash Cloud it had to be postponed. Jemima Odonkor cover the event for Freak Deluxe.

On Friday the 28th I went on down to TOPMAN for the launch of their new range AAA (Access All Areas), I tired to drag a friend with me as I had a +1 but everybody was busy so I went alone.

As I approached it my immediate thought was that it was very small and swamped with model looking guys, I could see someone getting a lot of attention so I walked a bit closer and noticed it was Frankie from The Saturdays, photo opportunity I thought but didn’t get one. She was socialising with her own little entourage, one of them looked like it could of been her sister actually.

I started to get a bit thirsty and as there wasn’t anyone walking around with Cocktails I went in search for them.

The event was full of press, in a corner laid out on tables were bottles of Rekorderlig (think its a beer) and Vitamin Water drinks, there were also a few finger nibbles to be had. I didn’t take advantage of them, just swiped myself a Lemon Vitamin Water and got to wondering about a bit, as much as I could anyway.

The duo Dj’s went by the name of Primary 1

and there were 4 stylist floating around, I knew one of them (Nigel) so got him to inform me a bit on the styling process. He said anyone can book an appointment to go down and get styled and its a FREE, they also offer a tempting incentive to booking a session for Fashion Friday, (which is every last friday of the month) you get a nice 15% off of your transaction, which is pretty decent, a buy with a discount is a good buy to me.

After our chat I got him to grab me a goodie bag and was very surprised to see how good it was, in the bag was a floral bow tie (very me) a vest from the new AAA range (my size) and a Time Out book about life and the arts industry since 1968, there was also a couple other things such as magazines and leaflets but that’s the main bulk of the goodies.

I hung around for a bit after getting my goodie bag, but noticed that people were beginning to leave, (I thought it finished at 9 but got told its 8) and there wasn’t anything else going on so I said my goodbyes and bounced out.

Overall opinion was it was okay but a tad bit claustrophobic.

Words by Jemima Odonkor

New Louis Vuitton Maison on Bond Street

Wednesday 26th May…

Today I went to view the new Louis Vuitton Maison on Bond Street before it’s Grand Opening on Friday 28th May.

The store was designed by architect Peter Marino, the Maison ranges over three floors and encompasses 1,500 square metres of retail space at the junction of New Bond Street and Clifford Street. In keeping with Vuitton’s long-standing commitment to the Arts, there is a library showcasing the best of British contemporary art and bespoke commissions by artists Anish Kapoor, Chris Ofili and Gary Hume.

The store is AMAZING (aside from walking in to the most delicious lemon meringues)!!!

The windows are something special, I love the Chesterfield padding, the multi-coloured fox tails and tribute bags, the monogram covered mannequins, and the LV woodland creatures!

When you walk in you don’t know where to look or where to go first. Do you go right and look at the huge trunks and luggage…

Or do you make a left to be wowed by the Womens Accessories…

The LV planets in the ceiling actually rotate! And look at the floor…

The accessories are of course super cute, and the presentation is immense…

Just past this section there’s a life size statue by Takashi Murakami that rotates…

Next up is the Bag Bar!!!

With a display that moves…

Swing right to the sunglasses (I’m a sucker for sunnies), the ceiling moves up and down. Tall people will feel like they’re in an Indiana Jones film…

I love these heads, it’s like they have their own personality. I thought they were going to start talking to me, the fashion version of ‘Return to Oz’!

The ‘Leo’ wall is next, the now iconic leopard print scarf comes in 5 colourways, 4 of which are limited edition…

There’s also a wall of moving scarves!

There’s a working sculpture on the Mens floor buy Michael Landy…

and if you look up there’s luggage decorating the intricate detailed walls…

There was a poetry reading upstairs on the Womens by Charlie Dark and others to promote the collaboration of a book with Chris Ofili.

The Louis Vuitton New Bond Street Maison will be open to the public on Friday 28th May, marking the most important date in Louis Vuitton’s 125-year association with London.

Here’s what the celebs thought of the Maison and LV…

Noel Clarke’s ‘4321’ Premiere

Tuesday 25th May…

Robinson Pfeffer Showroom visit and Noel Clarke’s ‘4321’ Premiere!!!

Today I spent the day with Ashley Madekwe, we made early afternoon trip down to the Robinson Pfeffer showroom where we saw some great Australian brands that will be breaking into the UK fashion scene any time soon.

Our faves were:

Sosume – we were lured by the jersey!

Stolen Girlfriends Club – some of the collection is a lil Wang-esque and the jewellery is super cute!

Tina Kalivas – inspired by totempoles

Lucy Hutchings – Fashion forward jewellery with some She-ra esque pieces

Beau Coops – Amazing footwear brand, on point with their collection

After the showroom visit we headed back to Belsize Park to get ready for the premiere of Noel Clarke’s new film ‘4321’ starring Emma Roberts, Ophelia Lovibond, Tamsin Egerton, and Shanika Warren-Markland as the leads.

4,3,2,1 - World Premiere - Inside Arrivals

Cast from L-R: Emma Roberts, Ophelia Lovibond, Noel Clarke, Tamsin Egerton, Shanika Warren-Markland

Organised as we are we ordered the taxi early, we hmm’d and ahh’d about whether we should go for Addison Lee or Swiss Cars. In the end we went for the latter as we had, had a bad experience with the former before. By the time the taxi came, I still had the mad dash before I left the house “have I got everything, let me rub that last bit of lotion in my legs, I can do my boots up in the car” I’m sure you know how it is. Even though we had called the cab to arrive to us an hour before we needed to be there, he took the most ridiculous route and got us stuck in traffic for hmm about 20 mins!!!

We had a car pass and all for us to hop out the car straight onto the red carpet, alas we had to jump out on Piccadilly and walk the rest of the way braving the wind in our hair and up our skirts! When we did finally push through the crowds it was great, fans and paps alike were screaming Ashley’s name for autographs and photo ops. I got caught in the background of one of them as Iddo (the boy, as she so affectionately calls him) told me as soon as we got home 😀

4,3,2,1 - World Premiere - Red Carpet Arrivals

Ashley on the red carpet (me in the background)

After the screening we made our way to the after party (via McDonalds, both having Quarter Cheese Meals one plain, one no pickles or onions, coke and still fanta). We did a lap to look for Noel to congratulate him on the film, couldn’t see him on the fist lap so we went to the bar for a cocktail. Spotted Noel after 5mins who quickly ushered us to the VIP area, where we spoke with actress Ophelia Lovibond (who is lovely), met Noel’s wife (complemented her on Clarke Jr. who makes a cameo in the film) and were offered mini burgers (which we couldn’t take advantage of due to the earlier McDonalds!)

The lovely Ophelia Lovibond

After writing this, I realise that I should’ve taken pics of absolutely everything! I love visuals! Oh well, on to the next one…

Something to Love from Mulberry

Valentine’s Day is looming and for some unknown reason we are pressured into stressing out to find the prefect gift for our loved one’s. Whether you’re with a man, woman, or a wonderful love affair with yourself, fret no more I have the perfect gifts here from iconic British luxury brand Mulberry. Shower them with gifts that will last forever-and-a-day! (more…)