She's been in pretty much every campaign this AW...

Clarence House, London, July 2013

Yes, you guessed it!  

How could you not recognise those brows?

The lovely miss Delevingne has taken the fashion world by storm ever since she debuted on the catwalks walking for Clements Ribeiro during Spring 2012 London Fashion Week. Shortly after, she took part in the pre-fall Burberry show in New York. This collaboration was a turning point for Cara and soon after, she was officially announced as the face of the legendary fashion house.

Delevingne is building her way to the top of the modelling world step-by-step. During the Spring 2012 season, she walked almost exclusively for Burberry and Burberry Prorsum. The next season, she walked for great designers, such as Kenzo, Chanel, Stella McCartney, Cacharel, Sonia Rykiel, DKNY, Dolce & Gabbana and more. 

However Cara doesn't want to stop at being the super model of the moment, she has dreams to be an actress and dip her toe in music industry, maybe one day even having her own music label! And to celebrate this wonderful woman, I've pulled together her greatest fashion moments so far. 

September 2011

Burberry Prorsum, May 2012

Custom Burberry dress, NYC, May 2013

Emilio Pucci dress , October 2012

Can't wait to see what this beautiful browed lady gets up to in the next 12 months! 

#watchthisspace AQUAZZURA

Edgardo Osorio of Aquazzura,

Hottest new shoe designer, Edgardo Osorio of Aquazzura, has taken the fashion world by storm being splashed all over the red carpet and now stocked in Matches, Harvey Nichols and Browns, Osorio, is definitely one to watch! Well, I definitely need a pair in my life!

Osorio has created his whole brand from single concept of creating a single shoe line which he wanted to be sophisticated, fresh and sexy, and at the same time being extremely well made. He has said himself 'For me it’s not about creating sculptures or architecture, it’s about making women beautiful.' Osorio believes its about the small luxury details which makes something great which I have to agree with. His Italian influence allows his designs to be simple yet bold, not over designed. 

Osorio is strongly influenced by women due to his upbringing. He grew up surrounded by women, and now wants anyone woman who wears his shoes to feel and look amazing. Which no doubt they do. Kate Moss is one of the women; Osorio feels represents the right sort of sensuality and elegance he wants to create. 

The Aquazzura girl, is a modern woman with a hectic lifestyle. This is where the idea of comfort comes from so this woman can wear the shoes throughout the day and still feel great. The Aquazzura girl is elegant and sophisticated, like the shoes! She is also travelled.

In the next few years we can expect Aquazzura's own e-commerce and stores in London and New York which is more than exciting; It might mean more of us can get our hands on a pair of the SELL OUT 'Sexy Thing' booties! 

 

The Great Gatsby Impressive Prada Costumes

The Great Gatsby...

 ...starring the lovely Leonardo DiCaprio is jam packed with madness, obsession and tragedy. To be released this Thursday, and it was Catherine Martin and Miuccia Prada together who created the lavish 20s inspired costumes for the film which has already recieved hundreds of great reviews.

Although Catherine was never a huge fan of the novel, the director, Baz Luhrmann, worked his persuasive charm. When talking to VOGUE, Catherine said "I remembered Gatsby from being a teenager and not quite connecting with the story, but Baz was very persuasive, so I read the novel and - you know how one can rewrite history - I then became the greatest proponent of Gatsby ever. Much to Baz's irritation, because it was really his discovery and his insistence that made me read the book.

Catherine and Prada worked alongside the Brooks Brothers to create the costumes that the cast wear through out the film. The designer has long been fascinated by the book's time period, due to the history which took place around that time including the social revolution that materialised after the First World War. 

Although maintaining the genuineness of original Twenties clothing styles was important to both Martin and Luhrmann, the idea of trying something new and fresh to reconnect audiences with the story was also a main focus.

"Baz was describing to me about the modern music in this version of Gatsby and he said, 'We've got to get the audience to feel how it must have felt to hear jazz for the first time at a party,'" Catherine said. "You need to feel how scintillating, extraordinary, new and dynamic these things were; there needs to be a frisson of the new for people to actually understand what it was really like to be there in the Twenties."

This film is what definitely one not to be missed, even if it is just to look at the gorgeous costumes which so much hard work and thought have gone in to!

An inspiration - Daniel Hanson

An afternoon sat in Manchester Metropolitan University's massive lecture theatre, and I heard the stories of some fantastic and interesting people including the amazing Daniel Hanson. The Association of Suppliers to the British Clothing Industry Conference was a great afternoon and I will never forget the memorable people we heard from.

Daniel currently designs luxurious and beautifully made dressing gowns for retailers such as Harrods, Selfridges London and Barneys New York. His ever growing celebrity clientele makes Daniel's history even more unbelievable. The hard working and extremely talented man with his company based in Nottingham, yes Nottingham! so close to home, is a true inspiration to anyone!

Daniel was once Nominated for Designer of the Year by the British Fashion Council in 1984,  been part of a wide variety of subsequent high profile Commercial Design Commissions which included working with the International Wool Secretariat in Paris and, as Non-Automotive Design Director for Jaguar Car Company. He also lectured at The Royal College of Art during these years; Daniel was finally appointed as Principal Lecturer and Course Leader in Fashion Design at Nottingham Trent University in 1989. Before long he realised that the satisfaction he gained from his work was from manufacturing side of the design industry was too great to ignore. Then, the company 'Daniel Hanson' was born. 

'Daniel Hanson' is recognised for producing the best nightwear in the world! The garment prices range from £1,500 to £7,500 for a hand embroidered cashmere gown. The company's biggest market is in the USA. Elton John, Brad Pitt, Catherine Zeta Jones and many more are major customers of Daniels. Daniel is also art director at company 'VOSSEN FROTTIER' this a toweling company, the interest to me behind this is that Daniel said he loved designing towels as he feels they're a 'blank canvas' and loves to be creative.

I would tell anyone to read more about Daniel and learn more about how talented is, and if you can afford it - buy one of his pieces! They are amazing!

#watchthisspace CREATURES OF THE WIND

Chicago based design duo Shane Gabier and Chris Peters of Creatures of the Wind have no fear when it comes to textiles!

A/W 12

The pair treat materials, proportion and silhouette very democratically.  There's equal aesthetic value and beauty to be found in lots of different materials, be it a deadstock lame' or a couture, hand-made lace. By putting these materials next to each other, they feel they can create an entirely new context.
 
There's a wide range of women who wear their clothes, they have customers who are more mature, conservative women who put their designs together in a very ladylike way, but the clothes also appeal to much younger girls with really crazy style, who can wear it in a super punky, personal way. Shane and Chris feel that anyone with a strong sense of self can easily wear their clothes.  

When asked 'what can we expect from the Creatures of the Wind label in the next 3-5 years?' The duo replied 'We're starting to work toward developing bags, and in general, we just want the collection to keep growing.  We'd really like to expand the knits, add sunglasses, other accessories, that sort of thing.  We've got specific stores in mind that we'd love work with, and our goal for the next few years is just to grow the company organically, make careful decisions about stores and press, and keep enjoying what we do.'

A/W 12

The idea behind their Autumn/Winter collection entitled ‘The Secret Commonwealth’, comes from the book of the same name, written by Reverend Robert Kirk in 1691.  The book is Kirk’s account of his extensive research of fairies, and included personal accounts of people who claimed to have encountered them. Kirk believed that the gateway to the land of fairies was through a specific tree on a hilltop; as the legend goes, this tree is said to now contain Kirk’s imprisoned spirit, after the fairies took his life in retribution for revealing the details of their world. Shane and Chris wanted to portray the idea of being in two world rather than the obvious of another fantasy collection.

Creatures of Winds' collections inspiration always begins with some sort of abstract concept, from which they look for some sort of tangible representation. They look at subcultures, youth cultures, folklore. Music is a big inspiration for the pair, always important in the development of every collection.     

They are currently focused on Spring 2013 right now, and are already developing ideas, colors, fabrics, for Autumn/Winter 2013. I can not wait to see what they next have in store for us...

VODAFONE London Fashion Weekend 2013

Over the moon to have booked my tickets for London Fashion Weekend for the third year running!
http://www.londonfashionweekend.co.uk/

Hope to see everyone there! 

Who looked good at the British Fashion Awards this week?

It is fair to say everyone who attended the British Fashion Awards on Tuesday night all looked amazing!
The red carpet was covered in beautiful designer outfits from Roksanda Ilincic wearing her own award winning design to Alexa Chung in a black embroidered sleeveless Simone Rocha dress from the Spring/Summer 13 collection.



Alexa Chung with her British Style Icon Award,
third year running!

The night ran smoothly and some incredible people won the awards they deserved! One of my favourite shoe designers Manolo Blahnik won the Outstanding Achievement award, whilst the stunning Cara Delevingne picked up the Best Model award.

At The Savoy, Stella McCartney won the esteemed Designer of the Year award while also picking up the Designer Brand award on behalf of her eponymous label, recognising a momentous year for the designer in 2012. 

Roksanda Ilincic in her own design

 The Menswear Designer award went to Kim Jones for Louis Vuitton,  a leading British designer of ready-to-wear and bespoke tailoring who has been instrumental in enhancing men's fashion in the past year.

A massive well done to all those who picked up awards and looked gorgeous at the British Fashion Awards 2012!