Tag Archive: London Fashion Week

Feb 15 2013

My Style: Day One At London Fashion Week

Today has been a busy day, tons of shows, catching up with friends some of which I only seem to see twice a year, being pampered at The Apartment run by friend Abi – the lovely girlies at Rimmel did my make-up, and for the first time in about eight seasons I actually got street style snapped – not once but twice, seriously small pleasures really do make me smile.

This fashion week I have decided to work some of the trends/looks I love most right now, first up is boyfriend jeans, granted I would have loved to wear a strappy heel with them but the cold made me go for my comfortable, wear in any weather Topshop ankle boots. I must have tried on about 20 pairs of boyfriend style jeans on the high street, and 19 of them look awful, but then I tried these ‘Sexy Boyfriend’ style at Gap and I fell in love with them.

What I love about this look, other than the fact I was extremely comfortable, has to be the pop of colour from my Primark jumper, which worked perfectly with the gorgeous white broderie trim shirt from the Glamour for Very collection, and the super cute Angelica London necklace that I picked up at Task PR’s LFW gifting suite last week. I also really adore my new Mickey Mouse ‘Mmwwaah – seriously how cute is that.

My Style: Sexy Boyfriend Jeans, Gap // Neon pink jumper, Primark // Leather contrast sleeve jacket, Dorothy Perkins // Rose necklace, Angelica London (c/o Task PR) // Broderie Trim Shirt, Glamour for Very (c/o Very) // Glasses, Karen Millen (c/o Specsavers) // Mickey Mouse watch // Infinite bow bracelet, Tiffany’s // Ankle boots, Topshop // black ‘The Trader’ bag, Osprey London // Make-up all Rimmel products (c/o The Apartment) // **Thanks to Alex for the piccies**

Tags: Angelica London, Dorothy Perkins, Gap, Karen Millen, LFW, London Fashion Week, Mickey Mouse, My Style, Osprey London, Primark, Task PR, Tiffanys, Topshop

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Jan 29 2013

Behind-The-Scenes: Rihanna For River Island

A lot of people are excited to see Rihanna’s debut fashion collection, including me, and a lot of people have questioned her slot at London Fashion Week, but whether you agree with high street names showing at fashion week or not the anticipation for her line is incredible and this video just builds up the tension.

Rihanna sits alongside her costume designer and co-designer on the line Adam Shulman and chats about her excitement about dressing “young, sassy personalities”, to her love for River Island and British street style, as well as what we can expect from the collection, which she describes as ”casual, chic, and flirty”.

I have to be honest I was excited before, but hearing her speak about the collection, seeing glimpses of swatches and sketches I really can’t wait for her LFW presentation.

Are you looking forward to shopping the Rihanna for River Island collection?

Tags: London Fashion Week, Rihanna, River Island

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Sep 18 2012

LFW SS13: Day 5 – A Fashionista Barbie Makeover and A Fashion Fringe Finale

Just writing the final day of London Fashion Week makes me sad. I may not have received as many invites as in previous seasons, and I may have missed out on some of my all time favourite shows, but I am ending on a high.

This was my eighth season, seriously time has flown, and each and every season I am grateful to be a part of fashion week. I love the craziness that comes with seeing a catwalk show, all the queuing, the stroppy doormen, all for generally 10 minutes of excellence and creativity. Add in the intense atmosphere, the socialising with my friends, the opportunity to snap gorgeous clothes, and being introduced to new designers – fashion week for me is always an intense but fun five days.

As I said my week ended on a high and it was all down to Fashion Fringe, which this season closed LFW from the main tent in Somerset House. One thing that I think London has over other fashion weeks is its support for new and emerging designers and one of my favourite initiatives has to be Fashion Fringe, which I have be fortunate enough to support for the past few years.

As I had already met the three finalists – Teija, Vita, and Haizhen I was nervous but excited to see the show take shape, as I knew how much work each and everyone of them had put into their collections I was glad that it wasn’t my decision on who would be crowned the 2012 winner, that task was down to Burberry’s Christopher Bailey who was literally six seats down from me on the front row – yep I certainly ended fashion week on a high.

I am going to do a more detailed blog about Fashion Fringe, but wow, wow, wow, what an amazing show and one of the best I have seen from Fashion Fringe. Each designer presented a structured, perfectly executed and technically brilliant collection, seriously insane how high the quality was.

As predicted I expected Haizhen Wang to bring the drama and the statement accessories, Teija wow the crowd with her wearable outerwear pieces and tailored looks, and Vita made an impact with her incredible knitwear elements and folky prints – but there can only be one winner!

Drum roll please…a huge congratulations to Haizhen Wang, a name for the future.

My final look of the week, once again it was mainly black, but with a whimsical touch with my floaty oversized printed top from Oasis, the back didn’t come out perfectly but I love the pleated chiffon panel detailing as it really adds something a little different to this look.

But what made this look for me had to be the amazing styling job that Becca London and Wella Pro did on me. First I had my hair done, with the detailing in my top I really wanted my hair up, plus I never have my hair up so I wanted something very different and I sure got that. A combination of a French plait, a messy bun and fierce bangs, I got a look that made me unrecognisable but I absolutely loved it.

With my hair sorted, the lovely Niki from Becca London made me pretty, before Abi’s The Apartment I hadn’t heard of Becca London but after my transformation I will never forget. Plus when will you ever see me wearing lipstick!!!

My Style: Warehouse black jeans, Oasis printed top, AllSaints cardigan, H&M necklace, Knomo Alice bag, and Topshop boots.

**Thanks to Briony aka A Girl, A Style for my amazing outfit snaps**

Tags: Becca London, Christopher Bailey, Fashion Fringe, Haizhen Wang, LFW, London Fashion Week, My Style, Wella

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Sep 17 2012

LFW SS13: Day 4 – A Barbie Makeover, Mark Fast Goes Ghetto, and I Opt For A Flash Of Pink…Again

Day 4 of London Fashion Week is generally about the big hitters Burberry and Erdem, unless like me you sadly don’t have tickets, one day here’s hoping. For me today was all about heading over to the Topshop venue on Bedford Square for the first time this fashion week, Barbie hitting the catwalk, seeing Mark Fast’s latest offering, as well as dropping in on the bloggers hangout The Apartment for a Forever 21 styling session.

First up Louise Gray at the Topshop venue and Barbie’s latest appearance at London Fashion Week, last year was Sister by Sibling but I was really excited to see the Louise’s three designs inspired by my favourite doll. My excitement for the show did sour slightly with the fact I nearly didn’t get in, sadly I only had a standing ticket and they said it was too crowded to let me in, thankfully I squeezed into the tent as the last minute. It does disappointment me that for a show that was sponsored by Barbie that they didn’t do more to support fashion blogs like mine that love Barbie, come on it is in my blog name!

But enough about that, back to the collection, I love how Louise Gray brings the fun to fashion. I love the energy and attitude of Louise’s shows, the soundtrack was incredible, and I loved the graffiti, doodles, and newsprint-esq prints on the shift dresses and tailored pieces. What stood out the most, other than the fab three Barbie-inspired pieces had to be the accessories – everything from the mirror-effect headgear, designed by milliner, Stephen Jones, to the Tatty Devine made jewellery, and the make-up was crazy finishing touch with cartoon crown’s pencilled over the top of the eyebrows and matte orange lips.

From Bedford Square I then stupidly along with Alex and Briony jumped on the press bus to Burberry, the furthest London Fashion Week venue, for some reason this fashion week I have been making some very rookie mistakes. To be honest though I kind of enjoy my bus trip through London!

Every day there has been something different at The Apartment today was Forever 21′s turn, they brought the specially curated Abi Marvel collection, which you must look out for in the Oxford Circus store, plus stacks of jewellery, sweets and their new shoe collections.

Then thanks to Get Taxi I got to Mark Fast in plenty of time. Mark Fast is always an intriguing show, whether it is to see the plus-size models or to see what else he can craft in knit, or to see who is on the front row – last season it was Kanye West, sadly we all had to make do with Kelly Brooke who is doing the rounds this LFW.

To the soundtrack of Salt n Pepper, Mark Fast’s ‘Broke’ collection sent down model after model all sporting the same afro hairstyle and hip hop swagger. Of course there was lots of figure-hugging knitwear, micro skirts, and lots and lots of fringing. Obviously Mark Fast is saying if it isn’t broken don’t fix it!!!

My final stop of the day was the Handpicked Media suite to see the Ted Baker girlies, I love their autumn/winter 2012 collection so it was lovely to take a peak at my favourite pieces, but what I loved most was the Hunger Games-inspired display – very Katniss with the bow and arrow!!!

To my look, well I went for a girlie vibe today as Barbie was in town, so I decided to team my Lulu Guinness for Uniqlo tee with my pleated black skirt, new Topshop boots, which simply go with everything, and I couldn’t resist a flash of pink with my Cambridge Satchel Company bag.

My Style: Next pleated skirt; Lulu Guinness for Uniqlo t-shirt; New Look skinny neon pink belt; Black embellished cardigan; Topshop boots; and Cambridge Satchel Company bag.

What was your highlight of Day 4 at London Fashion Week?

Tags: Barbie, Cambridge Satchel Company, LFW, London Fashion Week, Louise Gray, Lulu Guinness, Mark Fast, Topshop, Uniqlo

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Sep 15 2012

LFW SS13: Day 2 – Black With A Hint Of Neon, Oriential Beauty, and Now 1994

After the craziness of yesterday I tried to pace myself today, well that was the plan but to be honest you just can’t help getting caught up in the fashion wave, and today was mainly about Vauxhall Fashion Scout and the one, the only Henry Holland.

I started the day with The Body Shop as they are the make-up sponsor for Vauxhall Fashion Scout, the off-schedule platform during London Fashion Week. What I love about London’s fashion scene is that it really does nurture new talent, whether it is Fashion Fringe, Fashion East, Topshop’s Newgen or Fashion Scout’s Ones To Watch.

What’s always nice with these back-to-back showcases is that they are always completely different, and that certainly was the case for Ones To Watch this season. There was Ming pin Tien with his leather constructions, Charlotte Simpson with her red carpet worthy sequinned beauties, Hana Cha presented a cool collection of monochrome fringing and dip dye chiffons, and the final collection from Hellen Van Rees was a three-dimensional masterclass.

Highlights:

I ended my day with a nighties flashback at House of Holland, not just that the ‘Buzz Kill’ collection, which was inspired by the “forgotten decade”, but mostly that the soundtrack could totally have been Now 1994 – think Shampoo’s ‘Were in Trouble’ and No Limit’s house banging tune, it was a flashback to my 14-year-old self!

It was also the craziest show I have been too this season, set in an NCP car park, it was just cool, like Henry himself. Everything from the invite, a floral iPhone case to the incredible music, to the House of Holland front row gang of the gorgeous but super-skinny Kelly Osbourne, the striking Nicola Roberts who snuck by paparazzi, and Alexa Chung, this was my first experience of a HoH show and I loved every second of it.

The beauty of off-schedule is that sometimes you just don’t know what to expect, and sometimes there is a designer that really stands out, today at Vauxhall Fashion Scout, that designer was Tahir Sultan. Other than the fact my friend Amy is on his PR team I didn’t have a clue who Tahir Sultan was, what his designs were going to be like, or how good he was, well after seeing his ‘The Silence’ spring/summer 2013 show I can certainly say that I won’t be forgetting him anytime soon.

This was a collection reminiscent of BodyAmr, it had a glamour and confidence about it that was pure opulence and utterly divine. The models were stunning, the tailoring was exquisite, but for me it was the drool worthy red carpet gowns that had me wanting more. Don’t worry I promise more pictures from this collection soon.

My final highlight of day 2 was Ji Cheng, I knew it was going to be good after receiving the intricate tea bag inspired invite, and I wasn’t wrong. This was a collection filled with oriential beauty and Western tailoring and the pair really married up well. I loved the asymmetric cuts, the peplums *yep, they aren’t going anywhere*, the gorgeous backless gowns, the incredible make-up and the striking handmade bamboo hats.

When I got up this morning I just wanted to do comfort, so it could only be one think skinny jeans and a jumper day. Once again it was mostly black, it is slimming after all, but today’s looks was finished off nicely with lots of studs, and pops of neon pink, especially my gorgeous neon pink Cambridge Satchel Company bag, which I truly love.

My Style: Warehouse black skinny jeans (c/o Westfield London), Warehouse studded jumper (c/o Westfield London), Spy Love Buy studded skull boots (c/o), Cambridge Satchel Company bag, H&M bangles, Ice-Watch, Barbie necklace, Retro 54 glasses, and my HTC One X, which I am constantly glued to, unless when I think I have lost it when actually it was in my back pocket like I did today!

So what was your highlight of London Fashion Week Day 2?

Tags: Fashion Scout, LFW, London Fashion Week, My Style, SS13, The Body Shop, Warehouse

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Sep 14 2012

LFW SS13: Day 1 – My Leather Skirt, Musical Madness And The Apartment

For some, day one at London Fashion Week is a complete miss, maybe it is the hangover from New York Fashion Week, but for me it is the start of an amazing five days and I wouldn’t dream of missing former Fashion Fringe winner’s Fyodor Golan and Corrie Nielsen and the Bora Aksu army is always a spectacle. Mix in the excitement of catching up with fashion friends that sometimes you only see twice a year, and checking out this year’s Mulberry tote – it makes for a great day.

Today was amazing – I had backstage at not one, but two of my favourite shows, I saw some jaw dropping red carpet worthy gowns, I listened to a marching band, I went to a Kate Nash concert at the Felder Felder show, and my whole day was helped along by the genius that is Abi Omole aka Abi Marvel and her amazing bloggers sanctuary, The Apartment.

Generally unless you’re an editor of magazines like Vogue or ELLE you generally walk a lot, spend way too much of your time tracking down the press bus, and miss a lot of shows, well this year thanks to The Apartment sponsor Get Taxi I have been whizzing round in a bright yellow cab – it as been heavenly!

I’ve also consumed more food than at all my previous fashion weeks put together, thanks to breakfast and afternoon tea with Aubaine, lunch with Raw 42. Plus I got to play dress up in the Chanel blazer that Anne Hathaway wore in The Devil Wears Prada, of course not the actual one, but a close second that eBay had tracked down.

Back to the shows, it was a packed day and more detail reviews coming up, but my top three highlights definitely included:

The gorgeous cobalt blue dresses at Fyodor Golan, I seriously hope and pray that major celebrity stylists see this collection and dress their A-list celebrities in them, as they need to be worn on a red carpet, I can see the likes of Diane Kruger and Kate Hudson in their designs, I really think they need to think big as they derserve the exposure.

The incredible Couture craftsmanship at Corrie Nielsen, inspired by delving through the archives at Kew Gardens this is a collection with more feminity than previous seasons, and it really did glow down the runway. Everything from the dip-dye effect make-up to the statement headpieces that complemented the divine gowns, this was once again another hit for Corrie.

Finally, but definitely not least, was the Romanian Queen romance from Bora Aksu, this collection had everything from intricate an hairstyle from KMS California, they needed three stylists per model to create a head of hair worthy of a crown, then the collection itself was dreamy, romantic and regal all at the same time, it was just perfection that ended with his signature Bora army of models – this is a collection that truly captured me to the end and I have already google Queen Marie of Romania as I need to know more.

To my look, as it was day one I decided to be brave, and so I wore my faux leather pencil skirt from Next for the first time, I was a little worried that I wasn’t cool enough to wear! I picked up most of this look for my gothic fashion challenge with Westfield London and as I really loved the leather pencil skirt paired with the cute lace peplum I thought what the hell. Finishing off my look was a layered cardigan, I think it helped to tone down the skirt, an adorable red bow belt as I love red and black together, the most comfortable, go with everything laced up ankle boots, lots of silver bangles, and a simple silver origami swan necklace.

My Style: Next faux leather skirt (c/o Next), Topshop lace peplum top (c/o Westfield London), Allsaints cardigan, New Look red bow belt, Topshop ankle boots, H&M Swan necklace and bangles, and Retro54 glasses.

Did you go to London Fashion Week today or did you see any of the livestream, which don’t forget you can view on my blog here, do let me know what your highlights were, also all comments good or bad welcomed regarding my outfit – I got wolf-whistled for the first time in years off some builders so I’m thinking it was a thumbs up.

Tags: Bora Aksu, Corrie Nielsen, Fashion Fringe, Fyodor Golan, LFW, London Fashion Week, My Style, Next, SS13

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Sep 12 2012

LFW SS13: Louise Gray Is A Barbie Girl!!!

So my favourite doll Barbie loves coming to London Fashion Week, last season I loved her modelling for Sister by Sibling, and the season before she made Ken a little more stylish by working with Casette Playa, but this season is the best yet as she will be sponsoring the amazing Louise Gray’s catwalk show.

I actually squealed a little when I heard, Louise Gray is the perfect Barbie girl, not only has she openly admitted to loving Barbie as a child, she is a fellow blonde, she loves sequins and pink and her quirky take on girlie is just what Barbie needs for her latest fashion makeover.

“My clothes are always about colour and fun – making a bold statement through the way you dress. I wanted to see Barbie® in some separates and layer up her look, giving her a different way to be girly and fun, than how people are used to seeing her.” Louise Gray

I am super excited to see Louise Gray’s spring/summer 2013 collection on Monday, as not only will it be a bold spectacle, I always love attending her shows, but three of the looks have been inspired by Barbie, and they aren’t going to be just for show, these Barbie looks will be sold as part of her collection.

The good news keeps coming though as I am most excited about the fact that Louise Gray will also be dressing a special one-off Barbie doll in one of the new season looks she has created for her – OMG scream!!!

Granted I wish it said that it was going to be sold, a Louise Gray Barbie would have made a great addition to my collection. I was trying to guess what a Louise Gray Barbie will look like, I have to be honest I am kind of hoping that Barbie gets a little rag doll makeover similar to Louise Gray’s spring/summer 2011 collection, or a sequins overload like her Topshop collaboration, I could keep going on but I am sure pink will play a part!!!

I was excited about London Fashion Week before, but now I seriously can’t wait for Friday when the shows begin and come Monday I will be hyper waiting for Louise Gray and I promise that I will tweet a piccie of the Barbie doll as soon as I track her down!!!