pictures from Style.com

I struggled to decide which designer /label to write this post about, with so many of my favourites showing in Paris this week including Christian Lacroix, Karl Lagerfeld, Stella McCartney and Dries Van Noten. In the end I decided on Valentino. The Autumn Winter 08 show is of particular interest, as it is the debut of Alessandra Facchinetti who took over from Valentino on his recent retirement .

Alessandra certainly has a lot to live up to but I think with her first collection for Valentino, she has made an excellent start. The collection was  very low key and what I can only describe as understated chic. The colours were mainly muted and neutral, the lines clean and the cut immaculate. It contained some of the key Valentino signature pieces including the long red gown, coats, suits, lace and ruffles, but with a very simple and modern feel. I think it could be safely said that the collection is “Very Valentino”.

If you want to find the perfect red evening dress, how about this demi couture Kerry evening dress by Deploy.

Today M & S announced that they will charge food customers 5p for every plastic bag they use. I think this is a great way of stopping people from using plastic bags. About 13 billion plastic bags are given away each year by British retailers. This plastic is used momentarily, sometimes for no longer than a few minutes and yet takes 400-1,000 years to break down. What’s worse, like all forms of plastic they do not biodegrade. Instead they photodegrade, breaking down into smaller and smaller toxic bits that contaminate soil, waterways and oceans, entering the food chain when ingested by animals.

OK, I think I’ve made my point, rant over. There is also another very important reason for saying no to plastic bags. How often do you find a plastic bag that goes with or really compliments your outfit. It has to be said that, plastic bags are a definite no no on the style front. Last year Anya Hindmarch caused quite a stir, when her “I’m not a plastic bag” fabric bag, sold in Sainsbury’s for £5, sold out and became the seasons must have accessory. So if you really want to look stylish and help the environment, I would suggest investing in a stylish shopper. Here are two that would be great for a spot of guilt free shopping.

Soviet Denim Shopper Handbag

Gravis Hampton Jellyfish Shopper

Pictures from Elleuk.com 

Prada, one of the biggest and well known fashions labels, is key in setting the agenda for the whole of the fashion world. Miucca Prada has proved yet again, that there is a very good reason why Prada is arguably the most sought after brand in fashion. The Milan fashion show was predictable in it its unpredictability. The show was a stark contrast to Spring Summer 08, where the outfits were ethereal and fanciful. For autumn winter 08, Miucca showed a much more grown up collection in handcrafted lace. Apparently, 600 metres of it were imported from Switzerland.

The majority of the clothes were in black with a few other colours such as cream, blue and beige. In each of the different colours the lace took on a different feeling. The black was definitely seductive, but the other colours had more pretty and demure feels about them. All of the calf length lace dresses were simple designs with varying underlying fabrics and garments to add some interest. Many of the outfits featured a lace pelmet around the waist. If previous Prada collections are anything to go by, lace looks to be  a key trend for autumn winter 2008.

This beautiful pure silk knee length lace dress by Aftershock would be a great way to wear this trend if you can’t quite afford the Prada price tags.

With Mothers Day on Sunday, I am seeing adverts and pictures of flowers everywhere from traditional roses to bright sunshine coloured daffodils and the beautiful pink, mauve, yellow and red tulips. I love flowers and their beautiful colours and it is not difficult to see why they are such a huge inspiration for fashion designers.

This year the spring summer catwalks were awash with floral prints from tiny ditsy prints to large neon prints, to painted flower prints and beautiful border prints. There is really only one rule this year when it comes to floral prints and that is the brighter the colours the better.

At Aquascutum there were beautiful floral painted style prints

Stella McCartney showed some really strong and energetic floral prints with a  romantic feel

A Marc Jacobs the florals were multi coloured on a white background

At Gucci there were incredibly striking black, white and yellow abstract floral prints

This Japanese influenced floral print shift dress will be just the thing for a meal out with the family on mothers day.

Court of French silk, brocaded with gold and coloured threads dates from around 1770, during the reign of King George III

Corset about 1900

Evening dress 1920’s

 pictures from fashionmuseum.co.uk

Last week in an attempt to amuse the children (and myself) during half term, I decided to visit the fashion museum in Bath. We had a great time and found it really interesting to see the ladies fashion through the ages. Some of the historical clothes looked very uncomfortable and extremely impractical particularly the corsets and the court dress which was so wide, I cannot see how they could fit through the doorway- perhaps they shuffled sideways. In fact in terms of wearable, practical and comfortable clothes, ladies fashion has reached an all time high.

There were some very beautiful dresses and my favourite was the twenties style beaded dresses. The intricate beading was really beautiful and I really love the dropped waist style, as it is so easy to wear. This look is currently having a bit of a revival and I have seen it around quite a bit with some really lovely beading. One of my favourite beaded piece is this gorgeous Hamish Morrow Beaded Tank Top, perfect for a glamorous summer parties.

pictures from Londonfashionweek.co.uk

I really love Osman Yousefzadas designs and his collection for for autumn winter 08 was no exception. Osman Yousefzada is really emerging as an up and coming talent after an unusual start to a career in fashion design. Osman originally graduated from Cambridge and became an investment banker before following his heart and retraining in fashion at Central St Martins.

As usual, for Autumn Winter 08, Osman showed a collection of very beautiful clothes. Osman’s unusual designs are inspired by ethnicity and costume of ancient cultures. He seems to have a real flare for drapery and tailoring. His clothes are usually fitted and so are great and very flattering for petites such as myself. I can’t get enough of his striking, timeless and very wearable clothes.

 From his Spring Summer 08 collection I really want this cropped jacket.  An elegant and beautifully tailored timeless piece but something a bit different.

Luella Autumn Winter 08

Gareth Pugh Autumn Winter 08

 Giles Deacon Autumn Winter 08

pictures from style.com

As London fashion week drew to a close, I reflected upon the fact that no matter what, black is probably the most prominent colour in my autumn winter wardrobe, as it is usually part of the trends for autumn and winter. It was evident from the designer shows in London last week that autumn winter 08 will be no exception. Whilst I think the black clothes at London fashion week varied from the sublime to the ridiculous, there is no doubting that black is worn by ladies everywhere. Black can do you a lot of favours by hiding a few extra pounds and having a very slimming effect. However black can also be a very draining colour for some complexions. If I sometimes feel a little pale when wearing black, I tend to wear some blusher or bronzer to give my face more colour. Now is a great time to stock up on key items of black clothing like these Sara Berman black culottes  as they are sure to still be in fashion next autumn.

pictures from daydream-nation.co.uk

I was very excited to be invited to the Daydream Nation Alternative Catwalk Show for London Fashion Week. The show was called Good Night Deer and was described as unique fashion-theatre storytelling. I was really not sure what to expect and from the moment I arrived at the Institute of Contemporary Arts the whole show took on an element of surrealism. The story was a dark Burtonesque tale set in a forest with haunting visuals.  A hunter wakes from a kill one day and finds himself transformed into the deer he killed… Who’s the hunter and who’s the prey if you are your own curse? 

Daydream Nation is the collaboration between brother and sister design duo Kay Wong, textile graduate of the Royal College of Art and Jing Wong, theatre design and directing graduate of Central St Martins. The clothes are devised through play and manipulation with old clothes. Through play they create new myths for the clothes each season, resulting in visual catwalk narratives. I think, what they were trying to do with the show was allow the audience to begin to daydream this allowed them to really understand how the clothes were conceived whilst giving the clothes a dream like feel. I believe they really succeeded; I really enjoyed the show and wanted to see more of the clothes. They were all in beautifully rich and deep colours with varied textures from glossy to matt. The shapes were simple yet interesting and overall the whole collection had an understated elegance.

I think Kay and Jing have a real talent for taking their daydreams and transforming them into charming and wearable clothes.

I have been allowing myself to daydream just a little bit, the dress I dreamed of was similar to this beautiful chiffon dress.

Dries Van Noten

Roberto Cavalli

 Just Cavalli

Pictures from Style.com 

Spring / Summer 08 is to be filled with all sorts of patterns from stripes and spots to stars and floral. Many designers have intensified the effect of the patterns by mixing different patterns together. At Dries Van Noten, they were bright and clashing giving the collection a light, relaxed, summery feel. At Roberto Cavalli the patterns were similar shades of purples and greens.  The Just Cavalli patterns were bold and bright with black and white increasing the contrast.

In an attempt to become more adventurous with my sense of style, I will be trying to experiment with patterns this summer. Some of the mixtures that I have found work particularly well are:

Stripes and floral in similar colour schemes

Similar size patterns but with clashing colours if I am feeling very brave.

Different patterns similar colours like this Ana Mika V top dress below (right)

2 similar colour floral patterns but with different size patterns like this Laura Ashley floral maxi dress below (left).

Pictures from Style.com

A few days ago, I blogged about tights at New York fashion week. Today, I am blogging about stockings at London fashion week. Body stockings! This seems like the most apt description for the creations of the creative and very daring Marios Schwab. No one could say that he did not come up with new and interesting concepts. His collection of ankle length, body hugging dresses was adorned with lumpy bits or metallic embellishments or had cuts across the material revealing other materials underneath. If these dresses were to become a hit this autumn (quite a big if), then I am sure that there will be lumpy bits galore as the nations very normal and unmodel like  ladies waddle around (I’m not sure one could could do anything other than waddle in such a long and clingy dress).

Despite the impracticality of his collection, I couldn’t help thinking that some of the dresses did have a certain elegance about them. When teamed with cropped and voluminous jackets, they enter quite new territory in terms of proportions. For someone like myself, who has even struggled to maintain a streamlined silhouette in this seasons sweater dresses, the only possibly of wearing such a dress would be extra Pilates classes or the Trinny and Susannah high waist body smoother skirt.