Tag Archives: Anna Wintour

Perfect Pippa – new style star.

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Almost two weeks since the Royal Wedding, and it’s  still all about Pippa! Pippa Middleton is finding that life will never be the same again as fashion magazines are crowning her as Britain’s newest ‘It’ Girl and Style icon  to watch. Here are some of the fashion news stories that surround the style of the youngest Middleton girl.

1. Pippa may just be Kate’s style inspiration. It has been reported in the press that the now iconic blue Issa dress that Kate wore for the engagement announcement had already been worn by Pippa previously, albeit in a red version. Pippa is known to be a big fan of Issa dresses and wore the red version before Kate’s big announcement.

2. Cover  girl status. This week saw Pippa as cover girl on the cover of Grazia and Look magazine. This is leading to the bookies slashing odds on Pippa getting a Vogue cover before the end of the year. With Anna Wintour said to be enchanted by her, US Vogue is a distinct possibility.

3.  The Pippa effect = High Street sell outs. Like Kate, Pippa is a fan of upper end High Street fashion. The smart blue Zara jacket that she wore at the Goring Hotel on the day after the wedding is already a sell out, as is the Modulo bag. With this in mind, a new M&S press release has been sent out after Pippa was spotted wearing a short, double-breasted navy trench from the Autograph range, priced at £89. I’ve just checked the site and stocks are running very low, indicating that the Pippa effect on fashion is as successful as her big sister’s!

Yesterday, Pippa was pictured looking really summery wearing the lovely Talias dress from French Connection. This is bound to be yet another sell-out, from another of Pippa’s High Street fave stores.

Fashion-Mommy is going to be taking a keen interest in Pippa’s style, which could be particularly exciting if she accompanies her sister on the tour of Canada in late June.

Why don’t you have a stylish January

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The September Issue

Image via Wikipedia

Well, Christmas is well and truly over, with the Mulled wine and mince pies just a distant memory, and January is renowned as a depressing month, supposedly containing the most depressing day of the year. (I believe it January 24th, fact fans!). But fear not, Fashion-Mommy is on hand with a list of suggestions that will brighten up your month. Follow these suggestions, and you will enjoy a fabulously stylish month!

  • Enjoy a fashion film screening at the V&A. The Victoria and Albert Museum are showing special screenings of Coco Chanel and Igor Stravinsky on Friday 7th December at 7pm, and the Anna Wintour fest ‘The September Issue‘ on January 21st January at 7pm. Tickets cost just £4.

    Still from Coco Chanel and Igor Stravinsky

    • As we enter a new decade you can discover a new style decade in a fab vintage store. I love ‘Vintage Chic’ in Cannock(www.vintagechiccannock.co.uk), which stocks a great range of vintage and designer labels. Most towns have a fab vintage store just waiting to be discovered, or you can shop online as many stores are now selling items on the net.
    • Treat someone special, whilst aiding a good cause. New Look’s new gift cards, which are being launched in mid January will match 2% of your initial upload and give that amount to the New Look foundation, which supports a whole host of charitable organisations, including those providing help to victims of domestic violence and gun and knife crime. This means you could treat a friend or loved one AND support a good cause. Oh…if you need any more reason to do this…the cards are sooo pretty!

      Launching mid January, New Look gift cards.

      • Go see the exhibition AWARE – Art, fashion, Identity at the Royal Academy of Arts. This will be on until 30th January.
      • Check out the International/Contemporary Jewellery festival being held in Birmingham at the MAC  until the 9th January. Known as ‘FLUX’, this showcases the work of a range of innovative local designers, including Fifi Bijoux and Sara Preisler.
      • Celebrate the glamour and glitz of the awards season with a red carpet party. January sees the Golden Globes and The SAG awards. Grab a bottle of bubbly, don your best dress and have  a few fashionista friends around to enjoy E Channels Live from the Red Carpet coverage as the best dressed stars and starlets arrive.
      • Sort out your wardrobe. You probably had lots of new things for Christmas and your closet is now bulging excessively. So, it’s time to do the right thing. Sort out everything too big/small/never worn/just doesn’t suit and donate them to your local charity shop. Charity Shops had a distinct lack of donations in December due to the awful weather conditions, so they will be grateful for your unwanted, but good, stuff.
      • Enjoy what may be the most beautiful film of 2011 (I know it’s only January) with the opening of ‘The Black Swan’. With Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis already wowing with their stunning looks on the red carpet, and costumes by Rodarte, this movie set in the world of Ballet has all the hallmarks of an instant classic.  (from 21st January)
      • Make a date with your television set for the premiere of HBO series Boardwalk Empire. This prohibition era series is set to be aired in the UK sometime this January. No date at time of writing, but the cast (Gretchen Mol, Kelly MacDonald, Michael Pitt), fabulous costumes, and great reviews from the US make this a must watch series.

      Read ‘My Mother’s wedding dress‘ by Justine Picardie. Not a new book, but one which I read over Christmas and just loved. Interesting, touching and moving, this tells the story of the life, and afterlife of clothes. 

    • Watch the filming of the catwalk show for Gok’ s Fashion Fix that is being filmed in Birmingham’s Bullring shopping centre on  Friday 21st January. You might be able to help decide if it is Gok’s High Street picks or Brix’s designer togs that win the catwalk battle.
    • Enjoy a beauty detox courtesy of Bobby Brown. To celebrate the launch of Bobby Brown’s pretty powerful collection, Selfridges will be holding a Bobby Brown detox event from the 3rd to the 29th January. See the Selfridges website for more details.
    • If you are lucky enough to be in Paris this January, you must take a look at the Chanel advert that is currently spanning the length of the Musee D’Orsay. The giant Chanel No 5 bottle, made from gold sequins, looks absolutely stunning.
  • Enjoy your January, it’s really not such a bad month when you look at it!
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London Fashion Week – The good, the bad and Mark Fast!

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Well, it’s almost the end of London Fashion week, and it’s not been without its drama. We’ve had a moving memorial service to the ‘enfant terrible’ of British Fashion, Alexander McQueen. We’ve had lots of models taking a tumble, particularly at the Burberry Prorsum show. Star studded front rows, Anna Wintour, Carinne Roitfeld Reston from French Vogue, Olivia Palermo, Cat Deeley, Sarah Jessica Parker. Star models Daisy Lowe, Agyness Deynn, Kelly Brook and Abbey Clancy. And then there’s been the clothes, so many shows, so little time. So here’s my personal opinion of the good, bad and Mark Fast at London Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2011.

THE GOOD

Christopher Kane. This featured mouth-watering sherbet shades and was completely wearable. Great dresses, pretty two piece suits with a 1960’s Doris Day/Pillow talk feel to it. This collection was supposedly inspired by a young Queen Elizabeth 2nd, a somewhat overlooked style icon who may be due a retrospective. I loved this collection.

Christopher Kane used mouth-watering shades, and look at this English Heritage cardigan.

An amazing two piece from Christopher Kane.

Clements Ribeiro. So good to have them back. There was lots of bright yellow in this collection. (My favourite shade on the catwalk.) There were floral prints in 70’s style and a great yellow cardigan which I am totally coveting. There was also a beautiful black dress that has to be one of my hero pieces of this fashion week – it’s so stunning in its covered ‘upness.’ My one dislike was the strange samurai hairstyle the models wore, but maybe it aloud this collection to speak for itself.

My favourite cardi – I so want this.

My hero piece from Clements Ribeiro.

THE BAD

Giles. To be fair,  I did quite enjoy some of the dresses in the Giles collection, and I was pleased to see curvy girls Kelly Brook and Abbey Clancy gracing the catwalk. But everything was overshadowed by the totally garish, melted clown make-up the girls were sporting. I was reminded of a crying Joan Collins covered in make up in a Badly Drawn Boy video and the image wasn’t pretty. Unfortunately, it overshadowed everything on the catwalk.

Burberry Prorsum. This is a strange collection. Everything looked shrunken. Tiny leather biker jackets that looked like they had been found in the childrenswear department at John Lewis. Short trench coats and the tiniest dresses and skirts. There was an emphasis on snake-skin and there was also two much Barbarella inspired silver fabric. It seemed aimed at the super slim, the leather leggings were totally unforgiving. A really disappointing collection.

space age trench at Burberry

…AND…THEN THERE WAS MARK FAST…

The knitwear designer Mark Fast is no stranger to controversy. He lost a stylist after using curvy models in his Spring/Summer 2010 catwalk shows. But this collection was frankly indescribable. Many designs were barely there, with spiderman and cages seeming to be an influence. At its worst it bought to mind Scott Henshall, but there were some eye-catching designs. One white and silver catsuit evoked images of a 1960’s era Twiggy, and there were some cute, if daring dresses in the collection.  The designer also deserves plaudits for again using a mixture of curvy and slim models, although the slim were very slim indeed.

My favourite dress was a directional black dress with halter neck styling. I can imagine Cheryl Cole wearing this on the X Factor live shows.

One of Mark Fast’s curvier models.

My favourite Mark Fast piece – perfect for Cheryl Cole.