LFF OUTFITS: A BOMBER & BROCADE

The ultimate fashion dilemma? What the hell do you wear to London Fashion Week IN A STORM. Turns out I wasn't the only one baffled by the weather - the street style offering on LFW days one & two was a washout (excuse the pun) with practical parkas & umbrellas concealing the best looks. So, here's what I went for

LFW SS14 BORA AKSU SHOW: IN LFF TEN

Bora Aksu was given the privilege of opening London Fashion Week SS14 with the 9am scheduling in the Somerset House show space. Normally, super early show times can lead to empty seats (fashion bodies aren’t  know for being early risers…) but the Bora Aksu show was packed – indicative of the dedicated following the London-based Turkish designer has inspired.

LFW SS14 ASHISH SHOW - IN LFF TEN

Some brands you just have a natural affinity with, and for me one of those designers is Ashish. Like Paloma Faith, Delilah and Ellie Goulding, who all frow-ed at the SS14 show, I see myself as an Ashish girl - although the reality is - I'm just not cool enough to pull of head to toe sequins. I have been lucky enough to attend the catwalk several seasons in a row and I really appreciate the label's strong handwriting that rarely deviates to accommodate trends. Without fail Ashish Gupta's shows deliver humour, distressed denim and sequins in their thousands. The invite for the SS14 show was a festival wristband, a clever touch, creating the feeling of entering the best party at LFW. For the new season Gupta had received special permission from the ultimate in pop culture - Coca-Cola - to use the brand's logo, appearing on look after look in the show (festooned in sequins obviously). There were also multicultural references in the form of ethic jewelry, Cambodian crowns and Arabian inspired fashions. My personal show highlight were the faux-supermarket sequinned carrier bags that read 'Disco' and 'S&M' instead of well know chains (it doesn't take a genius to work out what these are a play on) - I actually laughed out loud when they appeared on the catwalk. Here's the show highlights in LFF 10: 

LFF OUTFITS: LONDON FASHION WEEK SS14 DAY 1

When I woke up and saw the miserable weather conditions for day 1 of London Fashion Week on Friday - the last thing I wanted to do was put on a pair of killer heels. Bad weather brings out the comfort dresser in me, so my Nike Air Vortex trainers proved to be a lifesaver. I teamed them with my leather skirt that I picked up from a charity shop in the summer and my new Topshop neoprene sweater - neoprene being an ideal fabric for aquatic weather conditions! My fab chain strap bag is courtesy of Dune at Debenhams. Debenhams sent me the bag to review and it proved to be the perfect choice for Fashion Week. It has lots of compartments inside which were perfect for storing my business card, phone, etc and expandable zip detail that enabled me to fit bulkier essentials inside - like my umbrella. Plus the metallic finish is luscious and picked up lots of compliments!

Pictures by Katie from Glass of Fashion blog

Shop the look:

EUDON CHOI SS14 SHOW - IN LFF TEN

The Eudon Choi show was held in the the historic 11-12 Carlton House yesterday - designed by John Nash, no less. The London-based Korean's show was packed to the rafters, unsurprising since Eudon Choi's pitch-perfect AW13 collection was the talk of LFW last season. The show achieved what I think to be quite hard feat - it was serenely beautiful - yet extremely wearable and commercial. The looks were ready to step off the runway and into wardrobes. As promised, I've edited my show pictures down to the LFF 10 show highlights, here's Eudon Choi SS14 at a glance:

LFF EVENTS: LONDON FASHION WEEK SS14

I'm excited to be covering London Fashion Week for the 4th season on La Fashion Folie and I'm planning to make it my best to date. This time around I aim to be more focused in my approach to coverage - I've got my hands on some great tickets for exciting shows - but I won't be posting reams and reams of photographs on here (you've got Style.com for that). Instead I'll be editing each collection I preview down to my top 10 looks/ pieces/ show moments - and I'm (rather unimaginatively) naming this feature 'LFF in 10'. See it as your manageable guide to fashion week- SS14 at a glance if you will. The new-season coverage can often be overwhelming, so hopefully this approach will make interpreting the upcoming trends less daunting (for me and you!). To kick-off my coverage here's a sneak peak of what you will find in my LFW bag - I'm going for practicality this season and carrying a cross-body number to leave my hands free to photograph all the action.

Metallic bag c/o Dune at Debenhams 

1. My iPhone to share the latest happenings on LFF's social media channels.
2. Almonds for snacking - food is unsurprisingly scarce in the vicinity of Fashion Week!
3. My iPhone charger - when my iPhone dies, so do I (over-reaction?)
4. A pad and pen to jot down show notes.
5. My oyster card (in my super stylish Sarah Forsyth holder) - essential for getting across town to the different show venues.
6. Vaseline - you might be air-kissing, but you still need moisturised lips.
7. Show tickets - no ticket - no show!
8. Business cards - London Fashion Week is a great networking opportunity. 
9. Marc by Marc Jacobs shades - perhaps wishful thinking in this climate, but designer shades add much needed polish to my fashion week looks.

Be sure to follow all the action on my Instagram, Twitter and Facebook channels over the coming few days. Let's go! x

LFF LOVES: BOBELLE LONDON BAGS

You may remember from my London Fashion Week blogs, that I paid a visit to the HQ of luxury accessories brand Bobelle London over fashion week, located in Somerset House. In the related post I promised more pictures, and here are Bobelle’s bags in all their luscious leather gorgeousness. Click below the jump for more.

LFF ATTENDS: EDELINE LEE AW13 PRESENTATION

I have a London Fashion Week day 3 diary to come, but before I write that I am bursting to share my pictures from the Edeline Lee AW13 presentation on LFF. I had to return to work on the Tuesday of London Fashion Week, but with tickets for 4 on-schedule shows I was determined to fit in one last event. So during my lunchbreak I headed to the Elizabethan Middle Temple Hall for the Edeline Lee AW13 presentation. See the full report and pictures after the jump

LONDON FASHION AW13 DAY 2: THE LFF DIARIES

LFF's day two of London Fashion Week was more of a relaxed affair; continue reading after the jump for a sneak preview of the Mawi AW13 collection, The Carlotta Actis Barone Fashion Scout show and to hear about my trip to the The Apartment- a creative hub for fashion bloggers during London Fashion Week.

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.

JOIN LFF AT LONDON FASHION WEEK AW13

London Fashion Week kicks off today and I'm very excited to be taking LFF to the AW13 shows again.

If you would like a behind the scenes peak of what it's like to be an independent blogger at London Fashion Week (I'll show you both the glamorous and unglamorous truth), be sure to follow me on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook for all the of-the-moment updates. I will also be sharing my daily photo blogs on here like last season, but as there isn't always time to post on the day, head to my social media accounts for the hour-by-hour updates. 

To give you a taster of what you can expect, here's a montage of my favourite Instagram pictures from September's fashion week.. and if you are attending the shows come up and say hi! It's always great to catch up with blogger friends at the shows, old and new.

AW13? Let's go!....LFF x

Top row L-R: 1. Vitamin water in the press lounge, an essential part of the LFW experience! 2. Yours truly on the Somerset House cobbles. 3. Crazy hot shoes in the Topshop Newgen showroom by Sophia Webster. Bottom row L-R: 1. The FROW at Sass & Bide 2. Erikson Beamon jewels in the LFW showrooms. 3. The MAC beauty bar in the press lounge.

LFF ATTENDS:WHISTLES SS13 PRESS DAY AT THE SAVOY

A highlight of my off-schedule London Fashion Week events was attending the Whistles SS13 press day in the fabulous surroundings of the Savoy hotel (in a private suite, no less). Whilst it’s a joy to see the aspirational, theatrical and downright bonkers paraded on the catwalks during LFW, it also proved a real treat to preview clothes that I can actually buy, own and make my own for SS13.

Upon arriving in the Savoy suite, I did find it a little tricky to compose myself when confronted with rack upon rack of covetable SS13 collections and (this is where I really struggled to contain myself) Jane Shepherdson herself, aka Whistles' CEO and all-round high street guru (also responsible for rebranding Topshop and turning it into the fashion mecca it is today, no less). So here are the snaps I took in what can only be described as an 'over-excited fashion girl trance', and the key trends I absolutely love that Whistles are showcasing for SS13.

Check out the fabulous view of the Thames from the Savoy suite!

Whistles have continued to develop their accessories line for SS13 with clean structured shapes remaining the key theme. Love the bold citrus hue of these totes.

A signature style of the whistles brand is a good print, and for SS13 we have geo and leopard prints across chic seperates.

I really loved this silver-sequin encrusted pencil skirt. A bit sparkle mixes this up for spring/summer.

Mark my words leather dungarees are about to be a huge trend! Whistles' interpretation are super-sleek & butter-soft- trust me you can wear these babies!

I loved loved loved the clean & simple accessories line. This minimal & chic chain strap number was really doing it for me. Plus I'm so happy to see subtle pops of neon are still a key trend for SS13!

 My stand-out pieces were the broderie anglaise separates (tailored cropped pants and shell-top with peplum detail) flecked with multicolours and pops of highlighter pink. This is seriously beautiful fabric, even better when viewed in person.

Peplums are still a key shape next season at Whistles- although this top has a subtler shape than last season's pronounced styles.

Sorry for the rubbish picture- but I'm trying to focus on the lovely floral colour-pop skirt here. I loved the modern length (just above the knee) and the bold colours! Would look fab toughed up with a leather jacket.

......even the coin purses were covetable!

I'd like to say a big thank you to the Whistles PR and Marketing team for inviting and the making me feel so welcome at the press day! Fabulous and friendly ladies.

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.