Jacqueline White
Do you want to tell us what you've been up to with the British Music Experience? (BME)
We've just done a style challenge for them. So, the BME asked me if I could think of a way of doing something interactive with 300 people and we came up with this, to put people into teams and they have to create a look in half an hour and then we would then judge on how good it was. They would have to think about the type of music that they were creating the look for and what the look was used for as well, eg, was it an editorial shoot, a magazine cover, music video, or being on stage at Glastonbury? They done a really good job.
Why did you want to get involved with this?
I do stuff with the BME probably about once a year and they always get me in when they want me to do something quite funny. Normally it's to make people up to look like stars, normally to do some sort of styling challenge. They approached me and asked if I could think, because I always do interactive things with them, and they asked if I could think of a way of doing something interactive with that amount of people.
How much do you think that the music and fashion industry are interlinked?
I think that they really are interlinked, because there are lots of stars who start their career and the intial dialogue from the press is about how they look. So, it's really important definitely.
How does this affect your job?
Well, it provides work for me. There are different bands that I work with and I have to do costumes for them.
How much does music affect your styling choices?
It does a bit, if I'm working with a band - if they're unknown and starting out, I will ask to listen to the track before styling them, yes. But it's more likely just based on their personality.
Other than music, where else do you find inspiration?
I'm inspired by pretty random things, actually. I just study people all the time, whether I'm on the bus, in a club or a shop I really study what people are wearing and the little differences between people, those things influence me. I also like to use quite, not necessarily conceptual but quite different things to draw my influences from. I've just done a collection that's based on a distortion technique that's used on battleships. So I guess sometimes military, sometimes historical or sometimes I base my work on quite personal things; a real mixture of things.
If you're styling a person what's the first thing that you think about?
Well, firstly, what's the event? Whether or not they're up for an award, is it possible that they're going to have to be on the stage? Their body shape is another. Who are the other people they're working with on the TV show, what are they going to be wearing or what is it likely that they're going to be wearing? To be honest, I haven't done much Red Carpet stuff, I only really dress a few actresses and actors. But I always nearly use vintage dresses. I'll find a vintage evening dress, and then I'll tailor it to fit them. Then I'll do really different accessories with it, I just think that it's really hard to stand out on the red carpet and it seems that a lot, especially younger women, have this idea of who can be the sparkliest or who can show the most flesh. So I always try and do something that's like an evening dress, but something that's always a bit different. I would never put someone in a black dress.
Vintage clothing is a huge trend at the moment, but there is often a lot of confusion about what constitutes a vintage piece. What do you think it is?
It's weird because at the moment there are a lot of girls wearing 90's clothes which they consider vintage, and is it old enough to be vintage yet? I'm not really sure, but I guess so. I find it really strange when people sell something on eBay and it's a Topshop item from five years ago and they call it retro. Anything that's not old enough and from a high street brand, for me, is not retro or vintage.
Where are your favourite places to shop?
My favourite places to shop are the East End Thrift store, it's quite a well-kept secret. It's abig warehouse hidden away and I go there quite a lot. And then my other favourite place to shop, it's a tiny little store run by a mother and son called The Shop and it's on Chesire Street off Brick Lane. They're amazing and if I need something particular for a shoot I can go and tell them and they'll try and source it for me. They're definitely my two favourite shops.
What's you favourite fashion era?
My favourite era is the eighties, always. I look like Tina Turner.
What's coming up next for you?
I've just been comissioned for a series for Channel 4 that I am costume designing, that's due to go into pre-production in about six weeks. We're working on that at the moment and that's going to be going on till the middle of August. That's quite enough to be getting on with now.
Can you tell us what the show's about?
It's called the Anna and Katie show, it's going to be on Channel 4. They done a pilot for the comedy lab last year. They're really, really random. It's a bit like the Mighty Boosh, but not as stupid as the Mighty Boosh. Like a female Vic and Bob, but a little more random. I find them hilarious.
So what sort of style of clothing do they have?
It's really stupid, it's really strange. For example, they've got two characters called The Measurers and they're obessed with measuring things, absolutely anything you can think of. I collected loads of old tape measurers and stapled them together to make bags. I also got them really horrendous knitwear. When I'm doing characters like that, I tend to go out to, I can't really tell you where because those are my real styling secrets, but there are certain places that I go in the country which are not trendy, and vintage clothing is not trendy and that's where I get really random stuff from.
Femalefirst was speaking to Jacqueline White at Launch of The British Music Experience, presented by The Co-operative, ‘Sound Choice ‘seminars
Femalefirst Taryn Davies
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