Neither the champagne and canapés nor hordes of guests stroking vast tables full of embellished cushions would give a clue as to the reason for this event. On a drizzly weeknight the Victoria and Albert Museum in South Kensington was packed with hundreds of eager supporters of the arts and a charity with a difference.

Fine Cell Work at the V&A

This sponsored preview and fundraising night at the V&A  was the chance for supporters of Fine Cell Work to meet and purchase pieces, or indeed, commission new works before viewing the new exhibition without the daytime crowds.

A world away, the image of a male prisoner, in his cell, hunched over a small piece of needlework is a strong one. That’s exactly what makes the intentions of charity, Fine Cell Work so memorable. They provide training and guidance for prisoners to learn to embroider and quilt decorative furnishings and sell the finished items to help provide an income during their incarceration. Perhaps more importantly, the charity gives hope to prisoners as well as the opportunity to learn a skill and building self worth in the process. Continue Reading »

Ask your mum, dad or grandad and the likelihood is that back in their day any bank holiday weekend was a long-awaited excuse to head down to the nearest seafront and kick the living hell out of other teenagers for no better reason than they liked different tunes, had greasy hair or owned a Vespa.

Without such grief and violence, Uncle Qype will not only sort your whole weekend out for you, but you won’t be turning up to work on Tuesday sporting a couple of shiners, a mouthful of missing teeth and an impending court appearance due in the post. So, one winner takes all these weekend prizes:

• A pair of tickets to the grand opening night of the 1990s-inspired Pump Up The Volume on Friday.  Taking place in converted video shop Visions in Dalston, this brand new clubnight will be homage to a decade defined by anarchistic attitude, samples and mash-ups of past eras and genres. And who could resist an opportunity to dance to the likes of records by the likes of TLC, Whitney Houston, En Vogue, Jazzy Jeff, Vanilla Ice,  Madonna and a whole lot more whilst wearing baggy trousers, a cropped top and a ridiculous grin?

• Free entry for a team of four into Saturday’s Shoot Bloomsbury, a camera-clicking treasure hunt combining film, photography and audience participation.

• A most generous £40 to spend on Japanese tapas and sushi and sake (you’ll be hard pushed to find finer in London) at the new city branch of Tsuru, and although they will be closed this weekend we’re not going to let that spoil our theme. You can use it next week to recover from the weekend’s excesses.

• And while we’ve discarded the weekend theme, we’ll also go the whole hog and chuck in a pair of tickets to see out the election at Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club for their spectacular Ch-Ch-Changes night.

Enter in any of these easy ways:

1. Email us on QDL@qype.com with the subject line: “Qype Weekender Bender”

2. Tweet us with the phrase “I want @qypedoeslondon to sort my weekend!”

Competition closes 9.00am, Friday 30th April. Don’t question the editor’s decision, he’s more than a bit tasty.

Next in our series of interviews with bloggers, we speak to Patricija about her blog Fashion Mongers.

Qype: Can you tell Qypers who you are and what you do?

Patricija: My name is Patricija and I am a fashion blogger at Fashion Mongers. I am a 21 years old, originally from Slovenia (a small chicken-shaped country next to Italy) and have been living and studying at London College of Fashion London for the past 10 months now.

Qype: What prompted you to start your blog, and what elements do you think have contributed to it becoming so popular?

Patricija: Oh, is it popular? Well making a fashion blog is the easy part, then (if it’s a style blog as well) you need to start getting your photos out there. I know, it sounds quite silly, but the more style websites you join, the more popular your blog can get – if people like your style. I only joined two and even with those I am incredibly lazy. I hate posting my photos to websites where people can judge how I look like by giving me hypes, grades and comments. But at the end of the day, if that’s what it takes, you might as well do it.

The other part (that I don’t do at all, maybe with one or two exceptions) is follow, read and comment on other people’s blogs so they ‘know you exist and comment on yours as well’! But since I don’t really care too much about having a lot of comments, my mind is calm about that.

Qype: Who’s your fashion icon? Best designer you saw at London Fashion Week? And the worst?

Patricija: I don’t really have an icon in fashion; I think people in fashion are quite shallow and boring. As of designers, I have been sticking with Ann Demeulemeester throughout all of them though. There are plenty of talented people out there, but too many just come up with only one good collection and then kind of continue doing that same thing over and over again with slight changes.

My ultimate icon is Ian Curtis though. I tend to be quite obsessive about him. My friend Kaoru will often say I am getting a bit mad. I read everything there is to read about him and today found out that my art tutor used to know them (Joy Division) while she was hanging out at Hacienda! WHAT!!!!

Hmm. At London Fash Week I only got to see a tiny bit of what was there. I regret being too hungover and tired to go to men’s day though, I wish I’d seen Komakino! I saw Iris Van Herpen – amazing. And meeting Nick Cave at Pam Hogg’s show (as Jethro, his son, modelled for her) was certainly the highlight of the week! There were quite a few bad shows (in my opinion), but the one that I really strongly disliked and wanted to go out after the first minutes was Ada Zanditon. So, so unoriginal.

Qype: What are your favourite places in London to visit when you want to do shopping?

Patricija: I love markets. Portobello market for antique/vintage jewellery and Brick Lane for clothes. I also love Charity shops in Shepherd’s Bush! Right now my bank account is well into my overdraft so when that gets sorted I might start shopping in (my wishlist) designer boutiques like, Rick Owens, Ann Demeulemeester etc. But not for at least a year!

Qype: Where do the fashionistas of London hang out and where do you get the best snaps?

Patricija: I do not at all consider myself a fashionista. I don’t know where they hang out, probably some cupcake shops and West End clubs. I am more of an East End girl. I love going out to gay clubs in Hackney and Shoreditch and see gigs in local pubs while having a nice cold pint of cider. (Wow, I sound like a man!)

Qype: Can you tell us your trend predictions for next season?

Patricija: For SS10, my trend forecast would be: make round holes in sweaters, jeans, shirts (everything), tear up a long shirt into several fringes, tucking in your trousers into stockings, strange headwear, paint your skin (or get a tattoo you won’t regret), buy metres and metres of fabric and experiment with draping, get wires and cage yourself (not literally of course…or yes, up to you), wear lingerie as outerwear as seen at Dior, don’t forget about the BLACKS, WHITES and NUDES, those were seen at almost every collection and dark lips.

Qype: Give us one place which you think every Londoner should have in their ‘Little black book of hidden gems’.

Patricija: Brick Lane market. And Victoria park. I spend many of my (sunny) Sundays riding my bicycle to the market and then to the park. It’s incredibly nice.

You can read more of Patricija’s thoughts on fashionistas and fringed shirts over on Fashion Mongers. And you can email us if you have any suggestions of bloggers we should be interviewing next!