What I wore: LFW Day 1
The day started off feeling like bare legs was a somewhat reasonable option and then it just got colder and colder as it progressed. Ah well, what’s a little shivering when you have...
Read More →
London Fashion Week: DAY 1
Currently, I’m riding off three hours of sleep and a six piece chicken mcnugget… oh, the glamour of attending fashion week. It certainly has it’s highs (Marcus Wilmont recognizing me?) and its lows...
Read More →London Fashion Week: what I'm packing
Just about to run out the door to grab my train but before I do, here’s a little look at some of my favourite things that are coming along with me to London...
Read More →Equipment
My wee little camera is about to get forced into overdrive at the end of this week, so let’s have a little lookie at what I’ll be dragging around with me to cover...
Read More →A valuable lesson.
So here’s the deal, last night I might just have experienced my most embarrassing moment to date. Yes, it’s worse than when I fell flat on my face in front of a room...
Read More →What I wore: LFW Day 1
The day started off feeling like bare legs was a somewhat reasonable option and then it just got colder and colder as it progressed. Ah well, what’s a little shivering when you have friends whose cosy scarves you can snuggle up in. Woke up feeling a bit worse for wear yesterday. I blame it on the fact that I got to bed at 4:00 am and the seriously questionable Mexican food I ate in Notting Hill. Fashion week parties and 8am starts… it’s a very bad combination.
Wearing: Flyaway Dress and Coco shoes in bright yellow by Patouf, vintage Barneys biker jacket by IL2L, Mulberry oak Alexa bag (My Wardrobe), American Apparel cardigan and gloves, Past Times owl necklace, and vintage fur.
A big thank you to Anna from Patouf for sending me the dress and shoes all the way from Stockholm. I am obsessed with both and just wish the weather was a bit warmer so I could show them off better. Thanks also to Jazmin from Conker Communications for the jacket and Susie from My-Wardrobe for the bag. Without you guys I’d be pretty much naked.
Photos taken by Shini.
London Fashion Week: DAY 1
Currently, I’m riding off three hours of sleep and a six piece chicken mcnugget… oh, the glamour of attending fashion week. It certainly has it’s highs (Marcus Wilmont recognizing me?) and its lows (severely blistered feet) but overall there is just a bizarre sense of delirium that sort of lingers over your head, forcing you to say ridiculous things like, ‘Do you have tickets to BBQ?’ (Kit). So here is the deal pumpkins, last year I failed to post on loads of shows I attended because the backlog of images was just insanely overwhelming, so I’m doing things a bit different this time. Each day, you’ll get a highlight of my favourite moments from all the shows and all the action going on at, and around, the glorious Somerset House (I say glorious very loosely, it was so cold today and heavy rain is being forecasted for the next three days). If there’s anything super special I’ll do a separate post on it at another time but for now I just want to bring you as much of what is going on as humanly possible. If there is anything in particular you want to see more of just let me know and I’ll try to get it… unless it’s a nipple slip on the catwalk that you’re after, in which you came to the wrong site.
Buzz
The hotly pursued Matthew Zorpas was on form as per usual, only this year he has stepped things up a notch and has a camera crew following him around to each venue. It is mental and slightly intoxicating to be around. ‘Matthew Zorpas: the film’… it does have a certain ring to it. Other things that caused excitement included: Caroline Mode and her gorgeous yellow Celine tote bag shooting first thing in the morning, Face Hunter looking unusually bright eyed, and the eerily omnipresent power of Twitter (Daniella was likely typing, ‘omg… so glad to have Starbucks finally’)
9:00am: Paul Costelloe
Personally, I thought the Costelloe show kicked off fashion week well. It had an inherently youthful and playful feel to it. Bouncy skirts, colour blocked yellow and pink suits, plus a print that resembled Christmas wrapping paper (come on people, this is an Autumn Winter collection after all, what’s not to like about that??). The hair was channeling a bit of a Topshop Unique Spring 2011 vibe and the collection sort of reminded me of Mulberry’s shapes… but overall, I thought there were some sweet pieces, and it was all very wearable.
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1:15 pm: Corrie Nielsen
This was my favourite show. Corrie, who won Fashion Fringe last year, put on a mind-blowingly atmospheric production. From the music, to the speed at which the models walked, everything was spot on and actually quite moving. It almost felt like it was from a different world altogether.
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3:45 pm: Aminaka Wilmont
Decidedly darker than their previous collection, Aminaka Wilmont sent down a slew of fabrics that were a mishmash of different animal prints with gorgeous leather jackets and soft knits. Together it had a coherent vibe that channelled a forbidden and enraged creature from the jungle (cue yellow eyed models). I did backstage photography and also had a little chat with Marcus Wilmont after the show… but will save that for tomorrow. For now, I’m off to bed to get a few hours of sleep before it all starts up again tomorrow.
[Gallery not found]
View each designers entire collection on the British Fashion Council’s website here: Paul Costelloe, Corrie Nielsen, Aminaka Wilmont.
Please Note: all photography is my own. If you’d like to use any images please feel free but credit accordingly, because otherwise you are stealing, which isn’t cool. Unless, of course, you fancy being made a fool like Wynona Ryder when she was caught shoplifting… just sayin.
London Fashion Week: what I'm packing
Just about to run out the door to grab my train but before I do, here’s a little look at some of my favourite things that are coming along with me to London Fashion Week:
Zara heels, Doc Martins modified by Charlie May, Mulberry bag (My-Wardrobe), vintage Salvatore Ferragamo heels, vintage pink heels, American Apparel clutch bag, J.Crew leopard print belt, Smythson notebook, Anton Heunis necklace (My-Wardrobe), YSL ring, selection of jewelry from Past Times, and Equipment Shirt (My-Wardrobe).
Equipment
My wee little camera is about to get forced into overdrive at the end of this week, so let’s have a little lookie at what I’ll be dragging around with me to cover the shows, street style, and general madness of London Fashion Week. Oh, and if you’re the poor soul who googled about 30 variations of ‘style crusader camera lens’ yesterday to find out what I use, I apologize that it’s taken me this long to finally release this information to you. I’m not saying this is the best equipment money can buy… but it works for me*.
Camera: Canon 550dslr – the standard camera most bloggers seem to tot around with them. It’s small enough to still fit into a clutch bag (well, if the bag is the size of your head) but big enough to be taken somewhat seriously. Plus, it’s pretty light. Those mega-bad-boy 7ds are about as heavy as a brick and just about as appealing to lug around.
Lenses: 1. My first: Canon 50mm 1.8 – if you switch to this from the regular bundle lens that comes with the Canon you will notice an immediate transformation in your photos. Crisper, clearer, better colours and, the thing that makes the street style photographers go ‘oooohhh’, a decently low F stop – aka the thing that lets you get a blurry background. Prices start as low as 80 quid – so this is excellent for newbies and people that are prone to dropping things.
2. My everyday: Canon 35mm F2.0 – it’s a slight wide angle so you don’t have to stand a mile back to capture someone’s entire outfit. Easier for shooting street style and it has a better build quality than the 1.8. This little sucker will set you back about 200 quid though, so you have to fork out a bit more moolah, but it’s still pretty darn cheap as far as lenses are concerned.
3. My big mother: Canon 75-300mm F4-5.6 – I was given this little telephoto lens and only ever use it at fashion week. It’s gotten a bad rap for being shoddy in poor light conditions but I use it for catwalk shows where the light is always a bit dodge and the photos seem to come out. Also, pretty sweet for spying on people from the opposite side of Somerset House.
Alright little monkeys that’s all for now. Did I mention I’m newly unemployed? Must get back to the job search (aka: Flog It, Antiques Roadshow… and all the other little gems British television has to offer). Oh, and if you’ve got any camera tips feel free to divulge them in the comments sections. A good tip is always much appreciated.
* Okay, whether it works for me or not is really up to your own individual opinion.. but it’s what I use.
A valuable lesson.
So here’s the deal, last night I might just have experienced my most embarrassing moment to date. Yes, it’s worse than when I fell flat on my face in front of a room full of people and the time I ran out of the loo in Wendys with my dress totally tucked into my underwear because the toilet was overflowing. It’s a lot worse and, while it doesn’t involve falling over, it does (thankfully) involve underwear. Right, so last night it was my leaving extravaganza at work because, you know, I’m moving to Zurich and all. I chose to rock my fake leather trousers that I got from Next a while back and all was going well. They actually stretched out a bit over the course of the night which, considering all the french toast I’ve been eating lately, was making me feel pretty good about the size of my belly. Anyway, back to the point… all was going well until I realized that two giant rips had formed across the knees of the trousers. Pretty funny, I thought, which is why I took the above photo of the situation (see, my knees are totally exposed, kind of funny). What wasn’t funny though was a while later when I realized there was an unnatural amount of breeze drifting past my backside. When I reached my hand around to touch my hinny and check that everything was intact instead of feeling platic-y leather I was greeted with the feeling of my cotton knickers. Yes, that’s right boys and girls, my trousers ripped straight up the back seam revealing my entire butt to the whole of Oxford’s classy crowd. Needless to say I made a beeline for the exit, all the while pulling my jumper down as far as possible. My face was likely shining as pink as the underwear I was trying to hide.
I’m just putting this out there as a word of advice to anyone planning to wear any sort of dodgy imitation leather trousers. Don’t drop it like it’s hot and, if you must, make sure to wear panties that cover your bum unless you wish to show your naked tush to the world.
p.s. distraught as I might be about the horrendous massacre of my trousers, I like them too much to let them slip away so I’m going to get another pair. But this time I will try to move with a bit more caution when I wear them.
