London Fashion Week SS13: Battle of the Prints

It seems that we're either going to be embracing a mishmash of colours and designs or keeping it simple next season; monochromatic-minimalism has already dominated several of the SS13 catwalks but head-to-toe prints aren't all that far behind...

 Temperley London

Erdem

Michael van der Ham

For SS13, prints have been given a bit of a grown-up makeover; knee-length pencil skirts, high-necklines and classic shapes inspired by Dior's 'new look' were all transformed by various forms of print. Michael van der Ham and Erdem are among my favourites from the London catwalks so far although I'm not convinced I'll be wholeheartedly embracing the trend next season; I'm much more of a black and white kind of gal:

Christopher Kane

As much as I love the colourful and aesthetically exciting variety of print, I feel comfortable in a monochrome palette; it requires much less thought in the morning and you know you'll always look half decent. What are your thoughts on the London collection so far? Have any designers already caught your eye for SS13? 

photos from style.com

London Fashion Week: Fall Forward with Florals

Unless you've been living in a cave since September, you'll be acutely aware of the amount of floral prints that have cropped up all over the high-street. Everyone from Topshop to Marks and Spencer are having a go which undoubtedly means that there's something for everyone - even the colour-phobes like myself. However, amongst others, Christopher Kane and Jonathan Saunders have been flying the floral flag here in London for Fall/Winter 2012:

Christopher Kane

Jonathan Saunders

Unlike the prints that we saw in abundance on the Spring/Summer catwalks, Winter florals are bigger and somehow more mature. Instead of the familiar pale yellows, blues greens and pinks that came in the guise of small, dainty designs, next season is more dark and brooding with greens, red and purples taking centre stage.

There are millions of different varieties of floral print on the high street already so if you're sensible, you can buy statement pieces to take you through both seasons. Recycling doesn't get much better than that! So if you want to get ahead then ditch the pretty pinks for murky greens and remember, the bigger the print the better. Capish?

photos from gorunway.com via Vogue

Elle Style Awards 2012: Best and Worst Dressed

New York Fashion Week, the BAFTA's, the Grammy's and now the Elle Style Awards. Is anyone else completely overwhelmed by the amount of events that have taken place this week?! As much as I want to harp on about how I'm obsessed with several NYFW collections, I'll start with the Elle Style Awards which took place last night. It's a little baffling that some people turn up to the red-carpet, for an event based solely on style and fashion, looking insanely boring. And yet it always happens. I'll start with some of the best-dressed of the evening and although it's not properly Spring yet, florals have already made quite an impression on the red-carpet.

Florence Welch rarely puts a foot wrong when it comes to red-carpet dressing and this midi-length floral Erdem number looks great on her. Her posture is pretty terrible here which gives the whole look a dodgy granny vibe but otherwise I would say this is the perfect look for her. I attended one of Mary Katrantzou's first shows at the LFW Topshop space back in 2009 and thought her designs were fantastic from the beginning. Poppy Delevigne looks consistently beautiful and this Mary Katrantzou for Topshop dress is stunning on her - forget the cute and quirky print, look at those legs! If anyone else has watched Britain and Ireland's Next Top Model then you'll know just how irritating judge Julien Macdonald is. However, to his credit, he knows how to make a show-stopping red-carpet dress, worn here by Tali Lennox. Only an uber-confident (and toned) woman could wear this dress and Tali pulls it off brilliantly, if you've got it, flaunt it. Right?

Now, on to the not so fantastic. The thing that most annoys me about these dresses is that they are all gorgeous in their own right: they just haven't been worn properly. This might sound strange, but so many potentially great outfits are ruined by bad posture, opaque tights and strange accessories.

As head designer at Alexander McQueen, Sarah Burton has no excuse not to be impeccably dressed. With that in mind, this black-velvet knee-length number is doing nothing for me; granted her choice of shoe is spot-on but otherwise this outfit is extremely average. I have no idea who Laura Carmichael is but everything about this stunning embellished Christopher Kane dress is wrong for her; had she stood with more confidence, ditched the clutch and given the good ol' 'hand on the hip' pose a whirl she probably would have look great. Sadly, she just looks incredibly awkward and out of place, sorry Laura! I don't even know where to begin with Hayley Atwell: the black opaque tights, the ankle boots, the hair, the earrings - what was she thinking?! It's almost as if she raided Debenhams and then forgot how to dress herself. If she'd have lost the earrings, clutch, tights and boots this might have stood a chance at being a half-decent outfit.

There's never any telling which celebrities will get it right and which ones will get it wrong but good posture and confidence never fails to make someone look great. What do you think of these outfits and how would you have styled them?

Photos from Elle.com

Pre-Party Inspiration

This gorgeous photo of Carey Mulligan from this evenings Moet British Independent Film Awards got me thinking, what on earth should one wear to a Christmas party?!

Prabal Gurung has been worn by every hot-young-thing in recent weeks and this dress looks as though it was made for Carey. Unfortunately Prabal Gurung is a little out of my price range (OK so it's massively out of my price range) but I really love the simplicity of this look and think we should all take a leaf out of Carey's book this Christmas. 

I've put together 9 going-out looks for the inevitable onslaught of festive parties and although I'm a creature of habit, mainly a LBD habit, I've experimented with a touch of colour. What do you think?

Topshop never fails when it comes to party dresses, cheap and cheerful is definitely going to be my motto this season and these outfits won't break the bank. Unless you've got superhuman powers then black tights are an essential this time of year and all of these looks are great with or without. 

From left to right: Antonio Barardi dress, Charlotte Olympia heels. Christopher Kane dress, ACNE wedges, Mary Katrantzou dress, YSL heels.

Matches, although on the slightly expensive side, has more amazing dresses than you can poke a stick at. I'm particularly fond of the Christopher Kane number and have been drooling over all of the shoes since I first clapped eyes on them; the ACNE wedges have been in my sights for quite some time now, early Christmas present to myself? I think so.

From left to right: 3.1 Phillip Lim dress, Marc Jacobs bad. Issa dress, Valentino bag. Marc Jacobs dress, Herve Leger clutch.

The OutNet has some great party-pieces but I wasn't so taken by the shoes and have instead replaced them with bags instead - a girl always needs a good bag, right? These dresses scare me a little because they're so colourful but I'd happily wear any of them because they're so pretty. 

I definitely think its all about fun mini-dresses teamed with black tights for Christmas because everyone's so god damn depressed at the minute. If you want the designer label but not the designer prices, head over to Girl Meets Dress where you can find hundreds of gorgeous dresses to hire. You only need wear something once and they have a massive selection - perfect for partying! Check it out, you might be pleasantly surprised.

What will you be wearing this Christmas? Will you keep it simple like Carey or go the whole-hog and don all the tinsel you can find?

photos from matches.com, topshop.com, theoutnet.com and justjared.buzznet.com

Uniqlo does Glamour

If you add Uniqlo with hundreds of Glamour readers what do you get? A stampede and a hideously long queue.

On Tuesday, Glamour invited a selection of its readers to shop, eat Yo!Sushi, drink Vitaminwater and get a make-over in Uniqlo's flagship store on Oxford Street. Luckily I was accompanied by the lovely Em from Make Lemonade (check out her blog and uhmazing vintage store - everything is literally under £20. Bargain!) because the whole experience was a little overwhelming - check out the queue, and this was just for sushi!

But of course, being an event held in the name of shopping, I couldn't leave without buying something. Not wanting to risk another queue to try things on I settled for an adorable Christopher Kane style checked smock-top and a print tee. Cute, non?

Overall the event seemed to be a massive success, and if like me you got shopping fever, then you also receieved a free goodie bag (oh how I love a goodie bag) with a gorgeous red Victoria and Albert Nails Inc polish.

Seriously though, if Uniqlo was always one of those stores you walked past but never went in (like me) then you should really check it out next time you see one, you might be pleasantly surprised. Thanks to Em for keeping me company and for introducing me to her brilliant store, Bestival here we come!

photos taken by me