Posts with tag LondonFashionWeek

Backstage at Issa, the lux London label designed by Daniella Issa Heleya, was spectacularly surrieal. One side of the room was Naomi Campbell getting make up done by the legendary artist Pat McGrath, on another was it model Jourdan Dunn getting her hair fixed by the famous Guido and on the other side was Edward Enninful, the noted Vogue stylist getting pieces ready for the show.

In the wake of what many are calling a snooze of a NY fashion week, it seems that many designers have seized upon London Fashion Week as an opportunity to branch out, try something outrageous, or even try to drum up support for their favorite candidate. Though London seems like an unlikely place to appeal to American voters, that didn't stop Nicole Farhi from replacing the traditional brooch with a "Obama '08" campaign pin.

While the French designer is not a registered voter in the US, she's managed to work her way into what has to be the most intensely fashion-oriented campaign in decades. It seems like a candidate's fashion choices have become an important dimension for many sartorially-inclined voters. Obama is good-looking, McCain wears expensive shoes, Biden is a snazzy dresser, Palin is bringing back the sexy librarian look -- that stuff's important, right?

We're pretty sure that we've never seen this level of wearable propaganda in either depth or breadth. Whether its shoes, boxer briefs, thongs, glasses or hairstyles there seems to be a way to express your partisan ideology with it.

[via StyleFile]

So what would you wear if you were an 18th century socialite with a penchant for pearls who was pulled through a time warp and landed in the 1980s? My guess would be one of the runway beauties at the Luella Bartley Spring 2009 show in London.

So imagine that you were a space cadet who just snuck out of the academy for a night of fun on mars and needed something sleek, chic, and sexy to wear. Something tells me that Schwab's collection is the first thing you would pick.

By now you are already familiar with New Fashion Week's massive tent structure. The legendary tents have a counterpart in London. I snapped a picture this morning as I headed into the shows. Whereas New York's tents are pitched close to super busy Time Square on 42nd street, London's are pitched in South Kensington next to the legendary Victoria & Albert Museum. It's no less busy, but somehow it feels more peaceful.


xoxo, your favorite fashionista, Zandile

Ever heard of Nathan Jenden? You got a gold star and a high five if you have. The British designer is a quiet star in the fashion industry, having worked for John Galliano, Kenzo, and Tommy Hilfiger before his current gig as Creative Director at Diane Von Furstenberg.

Somehow while helping to churn out spectacular clothes at that label, he also does the same at his own label, Nathan Jenden. I had the pleasure of attending his Spring 2009 collection today and meeting him after the show. He was very excited about his collection and the warm reception it received.

See my favorite looks from his collection under the cut.

So let's say you were a jaded ballerina going on an African safari to forget your pain, what would you wear? Why, John Rocha's Spring 2009 collection. The designer has got you totally covered, from chiffon zebra prints layered over bright yellow dresses for your daytime activities to dark, dainty a-line dresses for evening festivities Rocha's collection is your one stop shop.

This Hong Kong native who has lived in the U.K for the past thirty years (first England, then Ireland) is an old-timer in the fashion industry, but I continue to love him for his fresh, youthful take on clothes.

xoxo, your favorite fashionista, zandile!

There was a general consensus last week that all of the models walking the runways under the Bryant Park tents looked considerably more healthy than last season. It was also noted that several models were actually turned away during New York Fashion Week for being too thin and unhealthy looking.

This is a great step in the right direction after very popular mannequins like Coco Rocha and Ali Michael both spoke out earlier this year about the pressures to stay thin in the modeling industry and the life-threatening techniques the two girls used to maintain those unrealistic weights of theirs.

But that aside, it appears the London crowd is far less indifferent about letting rail thin models stomp their runways.

As London Fashion Week kicked off on Monday, the models appeared to be just as tiny as they were the previous season. Last year, the British Fashion Council "announced plans to require models to obtain a health certificate to prevent them from developing and concealing eating problems" but those plans were thrown right out the window once the industry began to get annoyed with the "healthy" thing.

Luckily, though, supermodel Erin O' Connor launched the "Model Sanctuary" this season, a place where models can "eat and drink health foods for free, learn about the risks of eating disorders, and have access to a concierge who can provide information about London to make it easier and safer for them to enjoy their brief time in the British capital."

It's not going to have that much of an impact considering girls are fearful that if they eat anything they won't be able to book their shows, but at least it's start in the right direction.

[via Canadian Press]

What's the longest catwalk you've ever seen? The Victoria's Secret catwalk seems pretty long to us, but that doesn't even come close to the world's longest catwalk, created by the House of Fraser on Monday for the launch of London Fashion Week.

Models started walking the catwalk on Monday in Land's End, and the models will walk a relay from there to John O'Groats -- a walk that will take a total of about 382 hours.

A variety of models, volunteers, and House of Fraser staff will walk a distance of 1193.6 miles, not stopping for night, nor rain, nor snow. They will pass some of the UK's most well-known points of interest, including Stone Henge, The Angel of the North, and Edinburgh Castle. Hope everyone's comfortable walking in heels!

Grand Dame Vivienne Westwood is impossibly cool. The orange-haired style maven, who brought punk style to the masses, protests all injustices in our society, and designs a mean tartan blazer, is prepping to takeover iTunes with her new album.

Aptly entitled Catwalk Breakdown, the British designer put together quite a funky mixtape, which includes everything from The New York Dolls' Personality Crises to Tchaikovsky's Sugar Plum Fair. On her journey into music, Westwood said: "My clothes always tell a story... And I choose the music accordingly. Sometimes the music can just be sexy, it can let you relax, look at the clothes, put people into a fantastic mood."

All those able to get an invite to the "exclusive" London Fashion Week event taking place at Selfridges today will be able to walk away with an enviable goodie bag as well as the rocking mixtape by Westwood.

[via Marie Claire UK]

Gum. We all love it. We pop it, smack it, and annoy everyone with fully-functioning ears who have the audacity to stand near us. So, we couldn't have been more happy when Wrigley's had the ingenious idea to create the Extra, the medium-sized container for your car that is packed full of yummy gum.

And now those Wrigley's Extra containers just got that much more appealing:

The UK's man-about-town, Henry Holland, has been tapped to redesign the packaging of everyone's favorite gum product. All those whom have the privilege of sitting front row at Holland's show this Wednesday will all be able to walk away with the funky tin full of gum.

And with that, we're kind of jealous.

[via Vogue UK]

OK. We all know Henry Holland by now, right? So, admittedly we don't know him like on a first name basis, but we do know that he loves Agyness Deyn, heat-sensitive material, and day-glo t-shirts that have cheeky sayings on them like: "Do me in the park Marc" and "I've got more than a handful for Naomi Campbell."

See? He's fun. He's impossibly cool. But he isn't going to be starting any fashion wars with his fellow designer pal, Gareth Pugh, anytime soon. However, don't count the British "it" boy out just yet. According to recent reports, Holland plans on sharpening up his ready-to-wear skills with the help of Levi's:

Dropping in the spring/summer of 2009, the Henry Holland for Levi's collection will consist of six different pairs of 501 jeans, each blessed with the Brits funky aesthetic. If you happen to live across the pond, fast fashion mecca, Selfridges, will be selling the jeans the day after their London Fashion Week debut on September 17.

[via Vogue UK]

Maybe you're not a designer, but you have the magic touch when it comes to putting together an outfit. And perhaps you are also very into ethical style, reworking vintage into something new, or finding the newest organic styles? If you're also over 16 and in England, you should totally enter the BBC Thread's Style Search Competition.

Four finalists get to go to London Fashion Week in September, and the winner gets to work with a stylist on a runway show. All you have to do is upload a digital photo of an outfit that you styled, and hope that the eco-fabulous experts think you're the best.

Well, there's a little more to it than that. If you're interested, check out the criteria and rules. But hurry! Deadline for entries is coming up fast: August 26, 2008.

If fashion is war, then consider Zandile Blay your embedded reporter. From fashion shows to stylish parties, she's there to cover it all -- from London to New York and everywhere in between. Read all about it from your favorite fashionista.

See, I sorta wish that was just a witty play on words. But fringes - and lots of them - were the detail of the day at the opening of Graduate Fashion Week. Leather fringes, straw fringes, cotton fringes, multi-colored fringes and beyond paraded down the runway on the first day of the event, which started on Sunday and ends to today. I am your girl in London for the week, as I check out the good, the bad and the fugly at what has become the largest event to promote student fashion designers across Europe.

The British label Luella (née Luella Bartley) offered a heroic ready-to-wear collection during the Spring 2008 shows in London. I don't mean to suggest that the line was especially brave; rather, by heroic, I mean, superheroic. And by superheroic, I mean, the clothes had Batman on them. Luella dubbed it "comic book chic" -- whatever that is supposed to mean...

Believe it or not, this is hardly the first time that a cartoon character has struck a pose in high-end fashion. As Jonathon pointed out earlier this year, designers have been on a 'toon kick for a while now, channeling everyone from Charlie Brown to Tweety Bird.