PFW Part I

Paris Fashion Week Part I

Paris at Night

Perhaps the fact that Paris seems to have it all is the reason that I love it so much.

It isn't overly flashy, conservative or straight out wacky, it just is. You can get a range of designers showing there; from Dior and Chanel, to Mugler and Rick Owens - it has the right amount of classic designer labels mixed in with some fresh talent to give you the right perspective on fashion in terms of where it's been in the past, and where it's going to go in the future. - With this in mind, (in my opinion) this final week of fashion week couldn't have ended with a better city.
Day 1 started on Wednesday with shows from the likes of Anthony Vaccarello, who subsequently introduced us to the otherwise missing model of Fashion Week Fall 2012, Karlie Kloss. The 19 year old model who hadn't made an appearance since Fashion Week began 3 weeks ago opened the Belgian designers show, much to the audible mix of surprise and sighs of relief from fashion editors, bloggers and general 'in' crowd alike. (click to read my earlier post about her appearance)

Opening look @ Mugler Fall 2012

Day 2 saw shows from designers such as Dries Van Noten, Gareth Pugh and Mugler. Nicola Formichetti's collection for Mugler was one that made me take note, due to the general wackiness of the opening outfits. Futuristic-Eskimo is the phrase which comes to mind, as the models wore white, furry, hooded jackets with over the top guerilla arms. These opening looks were then followed by fitted waists, corsets which accentuated the hips and large and raised shoulders in a pretty much all monochrome black and white colour palette. Colour was injected into the collection however, with the odd orange dress and detailing thrown in.
I personally loved the collection and could start to see myself wearing some of the dresses and jackets - perhaps not the opening look however!

Particular favourite @ Nina Ricci Fall 2012

Day 3 was particularly exciting for me, as three of my favourite designers showed - Rick Owens, Balmain and Nina Ricci. I love Rick Owens purely because he will try almost anything with leather. His shoes, jackets, dresses and generally everything that he designs are to die for and I always love his shows no matter what. His show yesterday featured it's usual darkness, with the catwalk featuring a row of fire which gave the show a whole cult-sacrifice feel.

The reasons I love Nina Ricci? Well, it's kind of self explanatory. The collections are always stunning, with gorgeous colours and fabrics and yesterdays Fall 2012 show was no exception to that. Dresses and coats in shades of pink and burgundy complemented an other wise black and grey collection in a very elegant, sophisticated and classy manner. The image to the right is a look that I could see myself wearing this coming Fall.

Velvet and Leather @ Balmain Fall 2012

Balmain seen it's second season under designer Olivier Rousteing's lead yesterday, with ornately embroidered biker jackets, large shoulders, boxy jacket silhouettes and a colour palette worthy of royalty; medieval green, gold, silver, pinks and pearlescent shades. Pearls, jewels, beading, leather and velvet all worked together seamlessly to create a collection that makes you want to break down and cry because you know that your Visa card just won't max out to the amount needed to purchase every. single. thing.
Balmain always appealed to my rock chic style, however it does so even more now - I'm definitely enjoying the direction that Olivier Rousteing is taking the label, that's for sure. My favourite look? It has to be this one to the left - To. Die. For! 

Pretty in pink @ Dior Fall 2012

Day 4 was the day for designers such as Dior, Lanvin, Isabel Marant and Yohji Yamamoto to show, with Dior and Yohji Yamamoto being a close tie for me due to different factors. The flashes of red at Yohji Yamamoto lent me the image of a ferarri speeding by, with the only solid image you remember of it being the distinctive, bright red colour. Dior on the other hand was a show of classic taste with cinched in waists, revealing thickly-pleated skirts in shades of red wine, mauve and powder pink. Wrap around knits, simple long sleeved black tops and mid length tutu skirts added a sort of ballet style femininity, with draped leather adding a tougher, edgier vibe to the collection. The finale gowns however were beautifully signature of Dior, with sheer, floor length skirts floating down the catwalk. This shocking pink finale gown was what sold the show for me, though - Stunning or what? 


Day 5 will see shows from Vivienne Westwood, Martin Grant and Jean Paul Gaultier, but I'm anticipating the Chanel, Celine, Valentino and JCDC shows on Sunday and Tuesday! It's all so exciting.


Are there any shows that you are currently anticipating? Let me know! 

Karlie Kloss makes an appearance in Paris!

Karlie Kloss for Anthony Vaccarello

Karlie Kloss @ Anthony Vacc

When 19 year old model Karlie Kloss declined all offers to walk at New York Fashion Week for some 'big opportunity', questions and perfectly groomed eyebrows were raised.
What could possibly be such a great opportunity for the young model to skip out on fashion week in one of the biggest fashion capitals?
Was she booked specifically for London? No. Milan? No. Paris? Well...perhaps?

Today the model opened the Anthony Vaccarello show in a gorgeous navy duchesse satin suit and had twitter and other social media sites blowing up with status' of the models return.

This, (in my opinion) however couldn't possibly be the sole reason for her absence from the majority of fashion month. Missing three consecutive fashion weeks for a relatively new Belgian designer? I don't think so. Sure, Anthony Vaccarello is creating a name for himself - with winning the ANDAM award last year and having models such as Anja Rubik, Karmen Pedaru and Abbey Lee Kershaw approach him with the intent of walking for his Spring show - but this just doesn't seem like the reason. I guess we'll just have to wait and see though, won't we?

Bonjour Paris!

MFW: Versace Fall 2012

Versace Fall 2012

After Donatella Versace's S/S & Couture lines for 2012, I was expecting big things from her for the Fall collection and she didn't disappoint in the slightest. I mean, how could she? No one does Versace, like Versace!

Donatella harnessed the sheer power of women and created a collection of floor length chain mail gowns, sparkly studded dresses, crosses, stiff bodices and gave the collection a dominatrix/Gothic warrior feel, and judging by the way the models made their way robotically down the runway, the absolute stiffness of the bodices would more than definitely offer some protection against an oncoming attack at a sample sale!

There seemed to be a nod to Catholicism in the collection as well with crosses on garments and made me think back to Vera Wang's collection at NYFW, where she had cathedral ceilings printed onto silk fabrics and chiffon's in a dark and vampy manner.

Milan is the fashion city of glamour, extravagance and all out showing off, and this is the reason I anticipate it coming around twice a year. (that, or maybe it's just because I have Italian roots and visit Sorrento every summer!)

Aside from Versace, Raf Simons' final collection for Jil Sander, Alberta Ferretti and Gucci's Fall 2012 collections are some of my favourite shows to date this week (if you missed them, click here), but I'm interested in the shows that you've enjoyed the most so far! - Let me know. 

CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL VERSACE FALL 2012 COLLECTION!

Designer/High Street Collaborations

Marni at H&M

Top: £59.99, Collar: £19.99

Last week we had Mary Katrantzou for Topshop, this week we have the first look at Marni for H&M, which will hit selected stores and online, March 8th at 9am. 

The collection features silk shirts and trousers with bold, all-over prints, as well as sequinned peter pan collars, large statement necklaces and metallic shoes and sandals.

Out of the entire collection though, the only two items that I would personally want to buy are the leather panel jumper and sequinned peter pan collar (seen to the right). I like how the collar looks next to the jumper as it seems to give a girly touch to an otherwise boyish jumper, and incorporates both sides of my personal style; dark & edgy - sweet & feminine.


CLICK HERE FOR A FULL LOOK AT THE COLLECTION

This sudden burst of designer collaborations however, has got me thinking about collaborations that I would like to see happening in the near future. I would like to see some high street collections from Alberta Ferretti, Gucci, Tadashi Shoji, Rachel Zoe, Alexander McQueen, Prabal Gurung...the list could go on. You might ask, well what store would you like to see them collab with? Well, to be honest, I wouldn't really care so long as they just did one. I love each of the before mentioned designers work, so I am sure that I would love any high street collection that they could possibly design. 

Now for the fun part.
Tell me which designers you would like to see design a collection for the high street!

Vera Wang Bridal Fall 2012

The Little Black Wedding Dress

"I found black to be fresh and tongue in cheek. With all the big weddings that happened this year, it was fun to step out of the box.", "I did take it to a witchy kind of place." - Vera Wang

Wow...That's my reaction whenever I look at the collection of fifteen bridal gowns designed by Vera Wang - Nine of which are black. 

What you probably won't know about me - unless you're a friend reading this right now - is that I am engaged (I'm young - yes. Naive - not at all) and have been with my fiancé for the passed six years (as of November 14th). 

I have gone wedding gown shopping a few times, and each time I put on a white gown I feel like I want to rip the dress to shreds. They either never look right or just make my hips (and everything else) look a lot bigger than they actually are, and I'm convinced that it's due to the fact that white or ivory is just not my colour. I never wear it any other time. It's totally unflattering on me and due to my pale skin it just washes me out, so why should I wear it on my wedding day when I simply don't feel comfortable in it? This is why I have decided that I'm going to be a bit controversial and wear a coloured gown when my big day comes around. I'm not a traditional girl in any way, so I am not going to have a traditional wedding in any way, shape or form.

That is the reason that Vera's Fall Bridal collection appeals to me so much. As mentioned in a previous blog entry, I am almost like an ambassador for the colour black - probably due to my little gothic phase that I went through at the age of sixteen - and at the risk of looking like Morticia Addams on my wedding day, I would love to have a black gown. The problem is that, until now, I was yet to find a black wedding gown that was tasteful without being overly gothic and tacky. Despite the dark side to my own style, I don't want to look like a goth on my wedding day - I want that sort of, Audrey Hepburn look.

Images via fashionologie.com

Now, all I can say is - thank you Vera! Even if I can't afford one of her gowns, I now have the vision in my head of what I want.

These are my two favourite gowns that I will be using as inspiration when the time comes to choose my perfect dress.

For a look at the entire collection, click here.

Let me know what your thoughts are in the comments below! 

LFW: Stella McCartney Fall 2012

It's Good To Be British

If I'm perfectly honest, there are few times where I start to feel all patriotic and proud to say that I'm from the United Kingdom. Yes, the UK is a great wee county and we have lots to feel proud about; From Harry Potter to David Beckhams right (and left) foot - but the thing is, I personally have always felt like I wanted to live in either Italy (I have an Italian heritage and have spent every Summer since I was a baby there) or America, and since I can remember, moving out of the UK has been top on my priority list.
Last night at the Stella McCartney Fall show however, turned into one of those sporadic moments where I felt sheer pride.

Guests at the show on North Audley Street - which included Rhianna, Kate Moss, Katy B, Mario Testino, Anna Wintour, Yasmin Le Bon and Jo Whiley to name but a few - were treated to an elaborate vegetarian dinner to begin with, before it approached 11pm and they started to wonder if they were actually going to see a collection at all. That is, until Dutch magician Hans Klok appeared on stage from a cardboard box that had been floating in front of a full brass band just moments before and had each of the guests 'Ooh-ing' and 'Aah-ing' as he performed various tricks - which included Alexa Chung being hypnotised and balanced on the points of three swords which pointed out of the stage. Yeah, I wish I had seen that as well.

                                           

Just then, one of Stella's models leapt up and started screaming, the waiters dropped their trays and all of the models and various other audience members involved in the whole production (some of whom are booked to dance in the Olympics final ceremony later this year), rampaged around the room in a full flash mob which saw Amber, Shalom and Yasmin carried around the room on chairs, Jewish wedding style. The finale saw everyone involved all gathered around Stella on the stage in a gorgeous human tableau which indicated that London Fashion Week had just been raised to a whole new level.

The collection included feminine and eccentric evening wear such as sexy black and white columned marble dresses, slinky tangerine and cobalt lace gowns with flesh-coloured mesh inserts, and a whole load of gorgeous costume jewellery.

I know what you're thinking; She's showing at London AND Paris in a fortnight? Is this just a capsule/pre collection then? The answer to that is, no. Stella has created TWO collections, with one for each fashion city - Aren't we lucky?

The designer had this to say about the show;

"We were up all night rehearsing this. It took such a looooong time. It was real teamwork - we were lucky enough to get Blanca Li (the choreographer responsible for Daft Punk's Around the World Video). The hardest thing was keeping it secret. The models weren't allowed to tell anyone. But we wanted to do something special for London"

The sheer uniqueness of the whole thing is what made me proud to be British, as we haven't seen anything else like it so far this Fashion Month. Stella McCartney's flash-fashion mob just proves how innovative and creative us Brits can be when it comes down to LFW.

What did you think of the show?

Mary Katrantzou for Topshop

Probably thee most anticipated collaboration to hit the high street this year was Mary         Katrantzou's nine piece, English country garden inspired capsule collection for Topshop. The collection hit stores on Friday and sent everyone in a total frenzy, with the collection being almost completely sold out online already (unless you want to pay £695 for a printed silk dress that sold in Topshop for £70)

Silk tunic from Mary Katrantzou for Topshop

The collection features silk tee's, dresses, leggings, scarfs and trousers and as stated above, was inspired by English Country Gardens with lots of floral prints and even the odd bird print thrown in for good measure. Each piece is a kaleidoscope of colour and pattern, making it intriguing to look at if anything else.

Being an ambassador for the colour black, I don't think I'll be purchasing anything from the collection - even if I wanted to, there's hardly anything left by this point - however, if I were to choose one piece it would have to be this silk tunic, with floral and bird print. It's obviously out there with pattern, however it has a versatility about it that gives it the ability to be worn in a variety of ways.

Mary Katrantzou was the toast of London Fashion Week and has recently won The Emerging Talent Award at The British Fashion Awards. She is the designer to watch for in 2012, and if the rate of her recent collab with Topshop selling off the shelves is anything to go by, then she has big things ahead of her.

What are your opinions on the collaboration - Have you purchased anything from the collection? Let me know in the comments below! 

LFW

Hello London.

We barely have time to eat, sleep or do anything inbetween after the last show at New York Fashion Week yesterday, and here comes London Fashion Week popping up on our radar. London is in whole other league to New York. It has a much more innovative and creative thought process when it comes to Fashion Week and the collections that designers have worked on for the past six months. You just have to think of Alexander McQueen and the Central Saint Martin's shows to know what I'm talking about. That is why when LFW comes around, I start to get excited at the prospect of seeing something amazing and totally controversial. 

Antoni & Alison Fall 2012

Today London Fashion Week kicked off at 9am with the Antoni & Alison Fall 2012 line. The collection featured basic t-shirt dress silhouettes and featured scanned in objects such as feathers, sequins and bows to give an otherwise flat surface some texture. The collection made you feel as thought you could reach out and touch the objects printed on the dresses, and was - in my opinion - quite quirky and different (especially seeing it next to the shows from NYFW yesterday)

Other designers who showed their collections today included, Jean-Pierre-Braganza, PPQ, Central Saint Martins, Corrie Nielsen, Bora Aksu, Orla Kiely and Fyodor Golan to name but a few. For a look at some of the collections from today, click here.

So. Tomorrow kicks off with Daks at 9am, with other notable shows such as Jasper Conran, Mochino Cheap & Chic (debut show tomorrow at LFW), Aquascutum & Stella McCartney (returning to London, after showcasing her collections solely in Paris for the past few years). I can barely contain the excitement bubbling up inside!

Are you ready for it?

NYFW

Farewell New York

Can you believe that a whole week has come and gone since New York Fashion Week slam dunked it's way into our lives? Neither can I, and to be honest, it's pretty sad to say goodbye to it. That said, London Fashion Week started today, so I don't think I will be upset for too long. To end the week though, I thought I would put together a little compilation of my favourite looks from NYFW as a sort of, end chapter to this section in my blog.

Collections Include: Wes Gordon, Marchesa, Monique Lhuillier, Tadashi Shoji, Juan Carlos Obando, Prabal Gurung, Helmut Lang, Vera Wang.

Images Via Vogue

Full collections that I particularly loved are; (in preference order)

1. Red Valentino
2. Prabal Gurung
3. Vera Wang
4. Marchesa
5. Tadashi Shoji
6. Milly by Michelle Smith

Don't forget to comment below with your favourite show from New York Fashion Week Fall 2012.

Fashion Communications Interview

BA(HONS) FASHION COMMUNICATION.

Ok, so this post is a little more personal in nature than my regular fashion reviews, however it's still linked to fashion in the academic sense!

As you'll know from some of my previous update blog entries, I had an interview at Northumbria University in Newcastle today to study a BA (HONS) Fashion Communications degree. Seeing as the interview was at 1pm, rather than getting the train down quite early in the morning, I decided earlier on in the week that I would head down on the train on Thursday afternoon and get a hotel for the night - that way I would be less flustered and be able to get my bearings a bit better.

Well. Less flustered, I was not. I was just as shaky, nervous and sick to my stomach when I woke up at 9am this morning, as I was going down to Newcastle on the Thursday afternoon (Not having my laptop, or internet for my tablet PC didn't help matters either - a quick look at the first collections to hit London Fashion Week today would have surely calmed my nerves) 

Seeing as the interview was at 1pm, I decided to head up to the City Campus East - School of Design building around noon, so that I had an hour to find out where to go etc. When I got into the building, I went straight to reception to tell them I was there for an interview and the guy behind the desk ticked my name off and handed me a plastic bag with various booklets about Newcastle - places to eat, drink and visit - a mini red sketchbook with the Northumbria University emblem on the bottom right hand corner, and finally, a questionnaire sheet which included questions along the lines of;

• Why have you applied for Northumbria in particular?
• What does Fashion Communication mean to you?
• Name a photographer, artist, musician and design company that inspires you and give a few words as to why that is.

After filling in the questions, the head of admissions for Fashion Communication came around asking people to go into one of the seminar rooms, as they were about to begin with the interviews. Once I sat down, a different lecturer (don't know her name, she spoke only briefly) came in and explained that everyone in the room was here for either Fashion Communication, Fashion Design or Fashion Marketing, and that if we were there for Fashion Communications, then we were to follow the head of admissions and go into a separate room - I think it was because we were the only course out of the three that didn't need to show a full on portfolio. Anyway, once we got into the other room (there were only 5 of us - thank god.) we each took a seat at the table and had our names ticked off the register. At this point, the head of admissions called our names, one by one to give our presentations. I was called third to give mines, but by this point my heart was in my ears, my leg wouldn't stop shaking, I was actually starting to feel my teeth chattering - it was truly horrendous. I've never been so nervous for an interview in my life so far - and it was all because after watching the first two girls present, all I could think about was, "Oh. My. God. My board is all wrong."

Each one of the girls had media related projects included on their boards or power point presentations that they had studied at school or college. Things like their social networking sites, photographs/shoots that they had personally taken or styled etc, and I was just sitting there listening to it all and thinking that I had forgotten to put in the things that should have been obvious to me - my blog and Twitter for example.

So when it was my turn, I put my board up on the table and felt the need to explain why mines was just so much more fashion/design related than everybody else's - which is fair enough, really. I mean, I've studied design since fourth year at high school. That's over five years now. Half way through my presentation though,  I felt like I should have pointed out that I had this blog and my Tumblr account, so I mentioned it. However, at the same time, all I could think about was that they must think I'm a liar, and that I only said it because the other four girls all mentioned theirs and I just didn't want to look outdone. This could be paranoia, but I don't really know.

Moving swiftly on. After the presentations were done, a third year student came in to take us up to the studios to show up where we would be working, and to show us some of the first year students work. We got there and there were a row of sketch books and briefs up one side of the table, and up the other side were magazines that the students had designed and actually produced for one of the modules (this was what got me really excited, as working for a magazine company is what I really want to do for a career.)

After having a quick look through the work - which was amazing, by the way - I started to ask the third year student some questions about how the industry has reacted to graduates from the course, what work placements people have been doing etc etc (I figured if I asked questions, then she would report back to the head of admissions and maybe say that I seemed keen and interested)

Once we had a look around, we were taken back downstairs to the design lobby where the head of admissions was waiting for us. At this point, I thought we were going to be taken in for a one to one and asked the questions that the university website said to prepare for, however we were just thanked for coming, asked to hand in the questionnaire's that we filled in earlier, told that our presentations were all great and that we should hear back soon with whether or not we've been given a place on the course.

This really had my jaw on the ground. I had prepared answers for these questions and was hoping that after my board being different from everybody else's in the presentations, that these questions would help me justify to them why I should actually be doing the course after all. So, naturally as you can image, I started to panic a little thinking that I had just blown my chances of getting in.

It wasn't until later on tonight that I remembered that the questions on the sheet we were given to fill out, were actually not that far off from the questions we were told to prepare for on the website. Having this realisation has calmed my nerves a little, but I don't think the sick feeling in my stomach will fully go away until I hear back from Northumbria.

You have no idea how badly I want onto this course. There's nothing else like it in Scotland, and the other courses that I have applied for just don't come anywhere near it. 

Everybody - keep your fingers crossed for me!

Miu Miu

MIU MIU.

MIU MIU created a collection of one-of-a-kind handbags just in time for Fashion Week — or rather, Fashion Month, if you count the shows in New York, Paris, London and Milan. The 46 limited-edition pieces, shaped like change purses with handles, are made from exotic skins like ostrich and python, and covered in embellishments. The bags are split up among the Miu Miu boutiques in each of the four fashionable cities. New Yorkers can find one with gold studs, $1,750, at the 11 East 57th Street shop and one with glitter and snakeskin details, $2,195, at 100 Prince Street. - www.nytimes.com

After coming across these totally to die for bags, I am seriously considering taking out a loan just to get my hands on them.

What do you think?