Happy Christmas

I hope everyone is having a lovely Christmas wherever you are celebrating. There will be lots of exciting posts and behind the scenes from Fashion Week and photoshoots to come next year but until then best wishes for the holiday season and thank you for reading.

My take on this year’s Top Influences

We are in the season for giving thanks and obviously I’m very grateful for my family and friends, good health etc, but I also want to give thanks for the biggest influences of 2010 (some deserve more thanks than others……).

MAD MEN, now in its third season, is still going strong and the clothes, brilliantly imagined and designed by Janie Bryant, continue to inspire and reverberate. Louis Vuitton  S/S10 was such a throwback to longer length gathered skirts, tight corsets and set hair. However big a fan of tortured bad boy Don you may be, for me the highlights are all about the women,  Joan, Betty, Peggy and briefly this season, Fay Miller.

I’m not sure how many fashion insiders would have predicted this next trend taking off….SOCKS WITH SHOES. I’ve certainly been surprised and I’m not sure they work outside in the real world, but the fashionistas at Fashion Week sure seemed to rock the look. The Japanese have been doing it for years but this season has seen a new  edge within Europe. I have worn socks with my miu miu thunderbolt heels and some red turn up Isabel Marant inspired trousers.

ALEXANDER McQUEEN, the inspiring, the incredible. I’m not sure I can say much more about what a tragic loss to the fashion world his death was. A truly forward thinking, innovative, theatrical and controversial designer. His work will live on with Sarah Burton but it will be a huge act to follow.

This is probably my least favourite trend of this year: SHEERLING JACKETS have been the coat to wear this season, done best at Burberry but there have been some bad versions out there at both ends of the market. I don’t find bulky sheep fur very chic or versatile and it can be a funny colour though I can see it might be a good alternative to a biker jacket. I just don’t feel the need.

CRYSTAL RENN makes it on the list probably because she’s the most talked about model this year, not including Kate Moss and I’m definitely not talking about her. She’s walked for Chanel and starred in a campaign for them causing further controversy because it only showed her from shoulders up and therefore defeated the point of using a plus sized model. She was anorexic in her early modelling career and then became plus sized, using this to promote a more healthy body shape within the industry, but then lost more weight herself, which people find odd.

TOM FORD is back! A late contender this year but he caused huge ripples of anticipation in the fashion pond with the announcement of his first solo collection for women. So incredibly exciting and shown exclusively to a select number of elite women at New York Fashion Week this September and some looks now appear in all their glory in December’s  Tom Ford edited French Vogue. There’s more to come when we see the whole collection unveiled in January.

Next is OLIVIA PALERMO who has really hit her stride as a fashion leader this year, becoming less associated with The City and admired more for her independent style credentials. I like the fact that she mixes high street with high end, she’s a huge fan of Topshop and seems to have a great jewellry box.  She is put together and chic and rarely disappoints.

NAIL Fever has been sweeping the nation. All patterns, all colours.  It really started when Chanel’s Jade green colour became a waiting list must-have which really hadn’t been seen before with a nail colour and it’s gone on from there. I’ve always loved nail varnish and have done patterns and great colours since I left school and was free to have painted nails. You will know that I think OPI is still miles ahead of the pack regarding colours and quality and brush size.

Last but absoutely not least and of course it had to appear….MAWI. This jewellery label just keeps getting better and better and this year has had great exposure having been worn by Rihanna, Olivia Palermo and Samantha Cameron.  I totally love it, it’s chunky, luxurious, regal with an industrial twist – I just wish I could afford more of it.

Source: Style.com, Outfitidentifier.com, Mawi

Cover Try

How gorgeous is this? I’m trying not to be too biased because I like most of the things Emily Blunt does, but this is so beautiful. Photographed by Paola Kudacki and styled by the amazing Vanessa Coyle, it is titled “Exquisitely Blunt”. I love the narrowed eyes and open red mouth, it’s super sexy and yet aloof. The blue Tom Ford dress works so well on the cover and the first double page. The main editorial is elegant and languid, she models in a seemingly effortless way, no tacky Cheryl Cole or pouting Keira Knightley to be found!

Source: tfs

Beads and Baubles

As always I was looking through Net-a-Porter with my fantasy wish list in mind (it’s like great window shopping), I realised I rarely look at their jewellery and wow, I want some of it. For me it is interesting necklaces and statement earrings that really pull a look together and Net-a-Porter had loads to choose from.

First these Bijoux Heart earrings. I’ve actually never heard of this brand but it features twice on the list. This pair of earrings are £245; I love the green, it my newest colour obsession for jewellery and I don’t mean Chanel’s Jade nail colour green, I mean forest, glass bottle, emerald greens. I love the graduation of the different textures and colours, from the diamond to the pearls to the green crystals.

Next is Bijoux again with a lovely gold, amber and black necklace for only £780!! I usually go for longer necklaces but I love how edgy this looks with the wrought iron quality.  There is so much detail and so many contrasting elements here that it is practically a work of art.

Now although I don’t think this looks £275 worth of necklace I do like the sparkle it gives and the fact that it hangs a little lower and frames the neck nicely. You could wear it with a t-shirt and it would still look cool. I like the twisted metal running through it making it more, and cleverly less, than just a ‘diamond’ necklace.

These are just amazing, talk about costume jewellery. I love the twist and the grey stones against the pearls set in dulled gold. These I think are my favourite but as ever at £370 from Erickson Beamon I’m never going to be able to justify buying them or persuade someone they should pop them under the tree. I’m also not sure they look that expensive.

The feather motif has been around for a while now but I think this is one of the best uses of it I’ve seen recently. It’s £470 from Kenneth Jay Lane and I love the way it lies on the neck. It’s also got a interestingly vintage feel to it and I like that it has a dull sparkle rather than looking too glitzy.

Followers of the blog will already know about my obsession with Mawi jewellery; these earrings are £135 and for Mawi I think that’s not too bad (still not in my price range for an indulgent purchase though).  I love these, they are like Lalique’s jewellery, and have a sharp thorny quality. I like the almost Egyptian style of the black stone setting at the top, leading to the spray of leaves below, bridged by the understated use of the signature skull motif.  If you are thinking seasonal there is a certain suggestion of holly about them which could be nice and and festive.

Last but not least this Yves Saint Laurent necklace for £720. I like its graphic rocky nature and again the length for me is a major plus. It’s a great mixture of the natural but man made and has a very touchable quality. I love how the silver shines from what seems like dull, battered stone.

Go forth and frost yourselves!

Source: Net-a-Porter.com

Cover Try

From magazine Tush comes this inspired winter cover, photographed by Armin Morbach and featuring model Kirsi Pyrhonen.  I haven’t been very taken with her face previously but this is gorgeous. It’s hard to define just why I like this cover so much: I love the twenties feel to the colours and the graphics, the precise eye flicks are perfect, the play of light gives it an intriguing element of the cinema or maybe a stained glass window.  She looks childlike, sensual and even boyish, all at once; it’s shabby chic, it’s elegant, it’s exotic…. Ok, I just like it!

Source: TFS