LONDON FASHION AW13 DAY 1: THE LFF DIARIES

Featuring the Zoe Jordan, Bora Aksu, Fyodor Golan and Jena Theo AW13 shows, an LFF outfit and Mark Francis from Made in Chelsea, continue reading after the jump to see LFF's day 1 at London Fashion Week.

Picture by Katie from Glass of Fashion.

THE ASHISH SS13 LFW SHOW

The show: Ashish SS13 in the Somerset House Showspace today (18th September) at 3pm

On the FROW: Kate Nash in a black gothic maxi dress

LFF's fashion friends in attendance: Sarah- Fashion Dotty and Gemma- Gemma Satire

In the show notes for Ashish's S/S13 collection, the new-season muse is described as 'an archetypal math geek, more concerned with quadratuc equations than the number of ply in a cashmere sweater'. But the girl that Ashish sent down his catwalk at LFW this afternoon was a far cooler incarnation than the class geeks I encountered (and was one of) in my now distant high-school years. This was a Reebok-sporting, sequin-clad, slouchy denim-working geek girl, with just her coke-bottle lense glasses and scrunchy tied top knot adding that nerdy calculus-loving edge.

Starting with slouchy sweaters and patchwork denim separates, the catwalk looks had plenty of Ashish' signature crowd-pleasing sparkle, with the yellow gold rectangular-sequin embellished tracksuit prompting the best crowd/ flashbulb reaction and causing the flamboyant chap seated in front of me to proclaim 'That's feirce!'.

Having hot-footed in from Holborn to Somerset House to catch the catwalk show in my lunchbreak, the Ashish show proved to worth the physical exertion. Flamboyant, fabulous and full of personality, Ashish closed LFF's LFW with style and made this fashion geek very happy (although I still advocate just saying no to scrunchies).



My favourite look- charcoal backless sweater and embellished mini skirt.

The 'fierce' denim & sequin-embellished tracksuit.

 

LFF'S LONDON FASHION WEEK SS13 DIARY DAY 1

Day one of London Fashion Week was simply amazing: 5 shows (including one with a live brass band), catching up with new and old blogger friends, seeing a star-studded FROW at the Sass & Bide show, watching Freja Beha Erichson, Cara Delvigne and Jourdan Dunn walk and to top it off being street snapped by Mr.Newton for Harpers Bazaar USA. What a fabulous first day, day 2 you have alot to live up to!

 

Me! Photographed by Katie Jackman. I'm wearing my Marni H&M skirt (which makes me feel like a princess!), Topshop silk blouse, Cinderella B Vintage Couture necklace, Zara bag, Next trench and Bronx wedges.

 

It was such a treat to see Freja Beha Erichson walk at the fun and fabulous Antoni & Alison show.

 

 

This girl knows how to accessorise- her neon satchel adds a pop of colour and it co-ordinates with her jewelled iPhone cover.



Elegant flowing silk dresses at Maria Grachvogel in fluid prints were simply perfect. Harold Tilman looked approving on the FROW.

Sexy printed swimwear at Maria Grachvogel.



 

 



Corrie Nielson presented a fantastical vision and played with volume and proportion in her designs.





The lovely Sarah from Fashion Dotty whom I met at my first LFW in Feb.



Katie from Glass of Fashion and I fitted in a hard-earned glass of Rose before the Sass & Bide show!

The Royal Horticultural Halls in Victoria provided a dramatic backdrop for the Sass & Bide show.

 

Twiggy, Leah Weller, Delilah, Dionne Bromfield, Poppy Delvigne and Jasmine Guinness added some star-quality to the FROW.

Sass & Bide presented a young & fun collection, perfect for play with plenty of sparkle and signature cut away details.

Cara Delvigne walks at Sass & Bide in a monochrome mini dress with origami-inspired details.  



 

Jourdann Dunn walks at Sass & Bide.

 

I spotted one of my favourite bloggers outside Sass & Bide- the very lovely Soraya Bakhtiar. She's rocking a leather studded Zara skirt here.

....so now I'm putting on my floral metallic jeans and wedge heels and heading into the city for LFW day 2- let the fashion fun continue!

ANTONI & ALISON'S SS13 CATWALK SHOW

The show: Antoni & Alison SS13 in the Somerset House show space, 9am

On the catwalk: Freja Beha Erichson

On the FROW: A toe-tapping Hilary Alexander and Collin McDowell

LFF’s fashion friends in attendance: Natalie - blogger at This Little Girl Is Lost.

Could there be any more rousing way to kick-off London Fashion Week SS13 than with a brass band? Design partnership Antoni and Alison hit perfect note with me in their bright and early 9am show by sending their models down the catwalk to a band of 24th Invicta Rifles. Hilary Alexander also looked approving of this unique choice of show music, toe tapping with plenty of gusto throughout.

But what about the actual fashion? Well in true Antoni & Alison style it exuded youth, humour and fun with a riot of colourful hand-rendered prints adorning the collection of 19 dresses. The prints had been created using mixture of mediums including spray paints, ink drawings, black felt tips and collage for a modern-art effect. With simple shapes and clean cuts, the dresses had been designed to allow the prints to do the talking. My favourite looks were the dresses printed images of jewels and sequins; there was something innocent and childlike about the whole collection that appealed to my inner 5 year old magpie self.

Bonkers and brilliant, Antoni and Alison were the perfect choice to kick of London Fashion Week SS13 with a bang (and a brass band).

 

 

 

AW12 CATWALK INSPIRATION: CHRISTOPHER KANE, MULBERRY, PRABAL GURUNG...

With this freakish weather we've been experiencing, I haven't been inspired to invest in a  substantial summer wardrobe this year. Instead I'd quite like to fast-forward to September and start buying my AW12 wardrobe instead. So for a bit inspiration I've picked some of my favourite looks from the AW12 catwalks; bring on luxurious brocade, metallics, embellishment and sumptious faux-fur!

L-R: Suno, Prabal Gurung and Christopher Kane.

From L-R: Lanvin, Erdem and Lanvin.

From L:R: Mulberry, Burberry and Mulberry.

PRABAL GURUNG'S RESORT 2013 COLLECTION

If I could chose to be a muse for one fashion designer right now, it would be Prabal Gurung. Unfortunately for me, Gurung currently favours dressing Zoe Saldana, but hey, a girl can dream. Prabal's Resort 2013 Collection (pre-SS13 collection in other words, yikes where does time go?) went up on Style.com last week, and all I can say is wow.

The collection was inspired by the Canadian artist Aaron Moran, famed for making art out of reclaimed wood, and the beauty Gurung finds in the decaying rubbish in the streets of India and Nepal, where he spent his childhood. What this has lead to is a gorgeous collection for a very cool girl in architectural shapes and bold shades of aquamarine, tomato red, canary yellow and monochrome. Gurung's signature futuristic silk-blend fabrics and digitally-enhanced prints all have that fresh appeal that are perfect for a modern girl. Oh and his cute mini dresses have pockets, which make them absolute winners in my eyes! I want it all..

Image source: Style.com

GRADUATE FASHION WEEK 2012: NOTTINGHAM TRENT UNIVERSITY SHOW

Yesterday I headed to Graduate Fashion Week to watch the Nottingham Trent University show. A good indicator of the buzz surrounding a uni's graduates at GFW is the crowd, and the Nottingham Trent show was packed to rafters with buyers and the fashion press including Grazia's Melanie Rickey on the FROW. I took my seat next to my fashion writer pal Natalie Dawson from WWB, who helpfully swapped notes with me during the show! One of Nottingham Trent Uni's specialist areas is knitwear, and the show proved to be showcase of some skillful work translated into fashionable, covetable collections. Here's my highlights from the Nottingham Trent grads...

Fashion is having a love affair with prints at the moment, and Dae Byn Lee's collection combined bold painterly prints with interesting structure in her collection. Natalie commented that the collection had a bit of the Basso and Brooke about it and she's 100% correct, don't you think?

Dae Byn Lee's painterly prints

The packed crowd 

Dae Byn Lee

My favourite collection of the show belonged to Tamsin Lakhani who showed the finest  of knits in rainbow colours that had a touch of the Missoni about them. Her striped knits in lean shapes elegantly skimmed the form and had a luxurious appeal.

From L-R: Elizabeth Daniell, Orla Emerson-Creak, Tamsin Lakhani.



Other collections that caught my eye included Elizabeth Daniell's bold graphic prints that had commercial appeal-aplenty and Orla Emerson Creak's intricate knitted seperates that reworked the 1960s mod look for the noughties girl.

Florence Bridge

The highlight of the show surely had to be Florence Bridge's glamourous resort wear in purple digital prints; the diaphanous maxi dress above floated down the runway and took my breath away.

The fabulous catwalk was followed by an equally fabulous after show party with free flowing champagne and an appearance from Made in Chelsea boys Jamie and Francis (it would have been rude not to ask for a photo).

What are your thoughts on the Nottingham Trent catwalk? I'd love to know your favourite looks as always...