Wednesday

1st #ACOFI tour event at the Tatty Devine shop, Covent Garden!

Last night I went to the first of a series of events coming up around the UK presenting the lovely book 'Amelia's Compendium of Fashion Illustration', the latest publication by Amelia Gregory which showcases some great ethical fashion design and fashion illustration - the book is full of interesting, informative interviews with the contributors and is lush to look at; you can see some examples of its pages here. The launch of the ACOFI (abreviation of the title of the book) tour took place at the gorgeous Tatty Devine shop in Covent Garden. The Tatty Devine ladies were delightful and very friendly hostesses and it was a pleasure to talk a bit more properly to Sonja (I hope her name is spelt like this) who is responsible for the Tatty Devine website - she was saying they are launching a new one soon, so I am very excited about that!

When I first arrived at the event some of the ACOFI illustrators were already busy doodling on the shop window - decorations that will stay there displayed for a bit! - while Amelia in her red dress, which I liked very much, was snapping away the action and the Tatty Devine girls were offering us juices by Juiceology, teas from Lahloo and pretty cupcakes by Cute as a Cupcake. During that time it was lovely to meet and chat to Veronica Crespi from REWARDROBE - a 'slow' style consultancy - who is a necklace enthusiast and showed me on her phone some pieces to die for - have a look at her Pinterest page for examples! Among us was also Heather Lodge from Heloeco, a new online-only eco fashion store which will be launching its website very soon (so happy ethical fashion is taking over the world).

Then it was time for Amelia to start her talk during which she spoke to us about the evolution of Amelia's Magazine from print to web - and her love of the immediacy of blogging - about the rise of ethical fashion, about talented young fashion illustrators who are active in social networking even during their student years and about the importance of socilal networking in bringing people together and sparkiling exciting collaborations.

And then we sat around and chatted more and ate more cupcakes and drunk more juices and were gifted Dr Hauschka goodies - ahhh.... It was a pleasure to meet in person Gemma Milly - an ACOFI illustrator - and Akeela whom I had encountered on twitter - I really enjoy it when this happens!

So the evening was fabulous and if you could not attend this time maybe you can make one of the other dates on the tour; have a look here for details.

ACOFI which you can buy here!

ACOFI illustrators drawing - Gemma Milly in beige dress!

More drawing action

Amelia snapping

One of my favourite Tatty Devine pieces in the shop

Another one of my favourite Tatty Devine pieces

Amelia during the talk

And finally Amelia sporting some glasses from the Tatty Devine shop and her new embroidered cuff fresh from Poland! All images taken by Maria Papadimitriou