If you want to be really fashion forward, the best way is to pop along to Graduate Fashion Week.  It is a great way to find out about new designers and find out who will be the next up and coming designer. If you find a designer that you like at Graduate Fashion week you may be able to get hold of their creations for a fraction of the price of some of the more established designers. Ity is a great opportunity to look original, support British designer talent and possible bag your self a real investment. Previous winners of graduate fashion week that have risen to success have included Christopher Bailey, Giles Deacon, Hussein Chalayan, Stella McCartney, Danielle Scutt and Amy Molyneaux.Graduate Fashion Week was launched in 1991 as a forum to showcase the very best BA Graduate fashion design talent in the UK. This year the annual event took place from 8^th -12^th June at Earls court and concluded with a grand finale Gala awards evening. Scouts from all over the world attend graduate fashion week hoping to spot the next big British talent with a touch of that quirkiness that makes British fashion so successful on a global scale. The event included a static exhibition and 23 shows over the four days. The show is sponsored by high street fashion store, River Island. The most outstanding collection is awarded the River Island Gold Award. The lucky winner will receive an impressive £20,000 prize and this is the only Award of its kind within UK fashion education.

With the sex in the city girls wearing a uniform of maxi dresses whilst on holiday in Mexico in their newly released film, I have become even more obsessed with this seasons must have dress. There are so many different options in the shops from formal and dressy to floral and boho. But the Maxi dress can be a bit tricky to wear. Here is my guide to finding the right maxi dress for your shape.

Petites - Avoid Gypsy skirts as the volume of these will only make you look shorter and wider instead opt for more fitted styles and chunky wedge heels to complete the look. Also opt for block colours and small prints to keep the look in proportion.

Tall - You will look great in almost any style of maxi dress.Pear Shaped - The maxi dress is great for disguising a large lower half. Keep the top fitted to keep the whole look proportioned and look for tops with detail to draw the eye upwards.Apple Shape - A line maxi dresses will look great on you. The material will skim over your stomach without adding too much volume.Bigger Bust - Maxi dresses can be a bit tricky for those with a bigger bust. Avoid spaghetti straps. A halterneck top will be the most flattering make sure it is a really good fit.Larger ladies - Maxi dresses are a flattering and feminine style for larger ladies go for bold and bright large scale prints for a great effect. 

Sixties Brit brand Biba was originally founded by Barbara Hulanicki in 1964. It became hugely popular with its Kensington department store selling everything from fashion to home furnishings and more. Biba played a key role in classifying London as the most fashionable city in the world during the seventies. The store attracted many celebrity customers including Mick and Bianca Jagger, Twiggy, Yoko Ono, Bridgitte Bardot and Raquel Welch. The store were an amazing retail environment that combined Art Decco, Noveau, Victoriana and the golden age of Hollywood. Unfortunately in 1975, the store closed down.In 2006, much to our delight, Biba relaunched at London Fashion Week. The new label has a modern look but still holds onto the bold and innovative design that was it signature back in the days. Biba is distinctly British and manages to combine the legendary rock and roll spirit of its heyday with present day style.The Spring Summer 08 Biba collection is gorgeous. Here are some of my favourites:

Picture from Timesonline.co.uk

With summer here, I think, it is almost festival time. If the weather so far is anything to go by, it could well be another season of muddy wet festivals. But how will this effect the fashion micro trends that are a product of the whole summer festival thing. It is difficult to look lovely and hippy like in a floral maxi dress when you are knee high in mud. The sensible thing would to wear a fleece and cagoul and keep relatively dry and warm, but then that would be boring. The key to festival style is wearing what you like but keeping an element of practicality so that you don’t end up looking completely ridiculous covered in mud.

 The festival look has a certain randomness about it that probably, most of us would not wear, most of the time, but at a festival, it seems completely appropriate. Think about the ball gowns and wellies of previous years. Think of the denim hotpants look started by Kate Moss, then universally copied and teamed with wellies, cagouls and mud spattered legs. The festival is all about normal people leaving there normal dress sense at home and exhibiting some of the eccentricity that the Brits are famous for. No longer a haunt of crusties and the like, Glastonbury has become a haven for style icons such as Kate Moss and Sienna Miller who start whole new trends based on what they wear to the summer festivals.

If you want a bit of festival style this summer, these brightly coloured jelly bean boots would look great with a dress in a clashing print.

I could not possibly write a post today without paying tribute to Yves Saint Laurent one of the most influential figures in ladies fashion. Yves Saint Laurent, aged 71 died yesterday of brain tumour yesterday at his home in Paris. He revolutionised the silhouette of the twentieth century women with his trouser suits, tuxedos and masculine clothes.

Yves Henri Donat Mathieu Saint Laurent was born in Oran, Algeria, on August 1, 1936, when the North African country was a still French territory. He arrived in Paris aged 17 and persuaded Vogue editor Michel de Brunhoff to publish his fashion sketches. Under the advice of Michel de Brunhoff, Christian Dior took him on and when he died three years later, Yves Saint Laurent took over the house. Marc Bohan was taken on to replace Laurent whilst he was fighting in an independance war for his native Algeria, even though he returned after only 3 weeks on health grounds. Yves St Laurent then sued Dior and won with the help of his partner Pierre Berge. Yves Saint Laurent set up his own label which was a turning point in ladies Haute Couture.

Yves St Laurent was very much a leader in the world of  fashion, new versions of his trouser suit and tuxedo appear on the catwalk season after season, with spring summer 08 being no exception. The Yves Saint Laurent trouser suit or Tuxedo has become a must have item in every fashionistas wardrobe. He will be remembered by everyone with a love of fashion as a genius and an advocate of women, who influenced a generation of designers and redefined the shape of womens clothing.