{Runway} London Fashion Wk PT1 ○ SS 2013

A well-overdue post, part 1, has been sitting in draft for far too long. Better late than never. Milan and Paris posts to come. 

It's November can we turn the heat on now? Just pretend it's spring & summer like they do below! 

○ Bora Aksu

Accessorizing the collection is Bora Aksu’s second collection of bags in collaboration with Bracher Emden. Laser etched baguette bags and laser cut clutches come in an array of vibrant colours and designs.

○ Markus Lupfer

I usually have a huge lust for Markus Lupfer garments, on my wish list every time! - Icy blues metallic's and nudes.

○ Charlie May

Clean feminine edgy wearable collection, with beautiful layering, my fave the tasty biker jacket. Teamed with Kat Maconie chunky gold detail statement shoes and ZanZan eyewear.

○ Maarten Van Der Horst

MVDHorst did not disappoint, rebel leading the Fashion East line-up making a dictum on throwaway fashion, printing Tesco shopping bag logos in plastic carrier materials, along with leopard and collage clash prints, as well as trenches trussed in Swarovski.

○ Sass & Bide

Origami folds and flowers with metallic adornments

○ Eudon Choi

○ house of holland

Grungey 90's girl glamour twists on the beanies, true to the forever young wrinkle.

○ Eley kishimoto

Shoes from the Eley Kishimoto x Clarks collab.

○ Christopher Raeburn

Holly Fulton

Holly Fulton’s woman is all-American and looking to the beaches of Mexico for her sun-bleached Summer sojourn. Taking a saccharine approach to life, the collection is a riot of bubblegum hues and floral optimism. With ’60s skateboarder Patti McGee as muse, the collection can be typified as laid-back and relaxed luxe. 

Vivienne Westwood red label

Statement accessories with the recognizable motif.

Photos courtesy of Fashion156 + BengtFashion + Insideouttopshop + Girl al a Mode  

Giveaway Secret Agents I Met and Liked - SKYFALL 007, collaboration

Courtesy of Archie Grand I have '2 SECRET AGENTS I MET AND LIKED' notebooks to giveaway celebrating 50 YEARS of James Bond. 

I have been given the license to shake and stir my way to a giveaway. James Bond is Britain's most valuable spy, but my readers, yes YOU! are also very valuable to me and deserve a little thank you. My mission is to open this giveaway to all international bond girls and bond boys. Celebrating 50 years since James Bond first hit the screen.


a Rafflecopter giveaway

You Only Live Twice

Ask her friends Review

Buying a gift for someone special should be one of the most natural things in the world, right? So why when we try to get something for our wife, girlfriend, sister, friend or mum is it such a struggle - with countless hours of searching, browsing and agonising? 

How often have you heard this? 'Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus', I usually never buy into this Mars vs Venus notion, but can't help, but feel sorry for the opposite sex, when it comes to gift buying for those special occasions, that is, until NOW! .... Ask her friends is a unique gift-giving experience aimed largely at clueless males, and of course anyone could make use of this nifty service now, not just the men. 

Courtesy of Ask Her Friends I was given the opportunity to review the site and find a suitable gift for a friend at no charge. I found if you use the nifty idea map, it is super helpful, 1. select the person 2. select the budget 3. select their interests, which goes on to recommend several products that should suit the person you are gifting. Here is what I chose :

GIFT CHOSEN :  ROTARY APPLE PEELER

The advise list is my FAVOURITE : pick items which you think would work and then ask her/his friends via the button, for a yay or a nay, pretty foolproof.  - The Rotary Apple Peeler via Labour and Wait was the WINNER! Since my friend loves to bake!  

I've always been curious to see how a rotary apple functions! and the gift was a big hit ! I now look forward to tasting an indelible supply of Apple Turnovers!! Yes Guilty!! my secret ulterior motive to giving this gift :) 

Forget dropping hints so big, just drop Ask her friends on them!   

Music Monday : October Fall Preys

Let's get moving! on Monday after a little hiatus (life has been busy!) Let's take on this week like WARRIORS!!

TRACKLIST

01  Macklemore & Ryan Lewis - Starting Over
02  Kodaline - All I Want
03  ZZ Ward - Blue Eyes Blind
04  The Black Keys & RZA - The Baddest Man Alive
05  The Dream - Higher
06  Timeflies Tuesday - Taylor
07  Mary J Blige ft Dupri - Everyday People
08  Art of Sleeping - Above The Water
09  Chords - The Dude
10  Ace Reporter - Untouched and Arrived

Listen 

{Runway} New York Fashion Wk ○ SS13

○Proenza Schouler

I'm feeling the industrial-inspired hardware closure clasp's on the fore of the Proenza shoulder bags, At first sight, I did think it was a whistle, yep I blame my poor eyesight. The angular sculpted heels can look pretty groovy on those summer nights out. 

Backstage -Proenza Schouler

Too many P's to mention in the Spring Summer 2013 Proenza collection - Plethora of Perforated leather and Patchwork Python and Photo Print. Vibrant colors of key lime, tangerine and cerulean. The handbags were my highlight.

○Louise Goldin

The architectural silhouette and layers calls to mind the uniforms on a starship voyager, a space age sporty vibe, that included crisp whites along with sandy gold, brown and cobalt blue and teal color theme. The metallic accents look cosmic.

○Michael Kors

Tasty accessories alert, I gotta say, I am doting on most of the transparent items.

○Anna Sui

Romantic trim edged printed dresses, a homage to Madeleine Castaing, a French designer and interior decorator, with a punk rock chic twist of fishnets to leather. Elaborate statement jewel, bead, cameos seashells and choker accessories. The pointed corners of the sunglasses are decorated with flowers, my highlight are the cat ear-shaped embellished hats decorated with lace and beads.  

 ○Rodarte

The dragon ear cuffs look super, there's many on the high street right now, would like to get my paws on one.

I've been faffing around lately, now I am playing catch-up posting the London, Milan Paris and Fashion week, I seem to do this every season! Particularly since the latter fashion weeks have me more regaled.

Photos courtesy of Sonny Vandevelde + Vogue + Gobackstage 

Baker Days: Letterbox Cake Review

Small enough to slip through a letterbox, but large enough to celebrate the big occasions 

I buy all my greeting cards online and prefer to personalise them, and send them directly to the recipient, without having to leave the house. But I've often wondered ' wouldn't it be great if you could slip a cake through a letterbox like you can with a card!? ' without leaving the house, it could be a perfect remedy for last minute gift/cake buying?! Turns out Baker Days have done just that! Yay!  

Courtesy of Baker Days I was sent the letterbox cake that I personalised via the online store options, the cake had arrived through the letterbox, my postman, decided to attach the small sturdy A5 box with a pile of letters with an elastic band. Here I began to think the cake could arrive a little roughhoused, but my fear was completely unfounded. The cake arrived, well packaged in a pretty stripey tin, along with some fun party goodies seen above.  

I chose the all congratulations perfect evening cake, with Madeira sponge, once I sampled the cake it tasted lovely light and moist, beneath the not too sweet and sickly icing, better than most store buy products, it is large enough to serve 3-4 people at a push.

Above all, I am impressed with the surprise factor this gift would bring. No one in their right mind would assume a personalised cake along with balloons, candles, card and tooter could arrive through the letterbox along with their letter bills and correspondence.... until now! I give my hyena howl of approval :) 

Parsons MFA Spring/Summer 2013

The new MFA in Fashion Design and Society course at Parsons The New School for Design, ( a highly selective program initiated by Donna Karen ) showcased its first 18 graduates from all-over the globe, the show was held during MADE Fashion Week at Milk Studios. This first graduating class is truly international – its 18 students represent Australia, China, Italy, Ireland, Japan, Korea, Norway, Peru, Switzerland, Taiwan, The Netherlands, United Kingdom, and United States.

Jie Li

Highlights : avant-garde pastel pieces, customised headphones / headdress rhinestone floral my little pony 

Jie Li, 26, is from Beijing, China. During her studies at Parsons, she was a finalist in the Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty graduate fashion design competition organized by the Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute. Her work addresses the most fundamental of elements of designing clothes, that of craft, technique and making. For her graduate collection, she combined pleating and quilting, overlapping multiple layers of chiffon to create new colors.

Beckett Fogg

Highlights : oblong textured minimal clutch bags, seamlessly embossed leather and chiffon, clean silhouettes

Beckett Fogg, 24, was born and raised in Lexington, Kentucky. She graduated from the University of Virginia in 2010, where she earned a BFA in Architectural Design, minoring in Studio Art. Upon completion of her undergraduate degree, she moved to New York to study at Parsons, where she interned with Badgley Mischka, Cynthia Rowley, and Peter Som. A capsule collection she created as part of a special project with Donna Karan was selected to represent the United States during London Fashion Week as part of the International Fashion Showcase. 

Carly Ellis

Highlights : Jewellery neck-pieces and rings, sporty street-wear athletic and upbeat digital prints, below knee sport socks   

Carly Ellis, 24, was born and raised in northern England, and received her undergraduate degree from the University of Westminster, where her thesis collection was featured in Vogue.com UK and Vogue Italia, and acclaimed by Hilary Alexander of London Telegraph. During her time at Parsons, Ellis styled signer Rye Rye for her national tour, album artwork and music video, and worked on commissioned pieces for SuperSuper magazine and the Candy Boutique in Tokyo. Using screen grabs to capture the moment before the software has time to fully process images of newsstands, I created designs that united the original inspiration, the Ndebele tribe, enabling me to fuse three seemingly different core influences.

Lucia Cuba

Highlights : the collection broadens your horizons to the forced sterilizations that have took place during Alberto Fujimori’s reign as President of Peru and many other cases of human rights abuse in Peru, I can discern the emotional personal connection Lucia has put into this Articulo 6 collection, using a fashion platform to raise social and political messages in the form of garments.  Prints on cotton and twill, Andean pollera inspired skirts. 

Lucia Cuba, 32, is a fashion designer and social scientist from Lima, Peru. Prior to coming to Parsons, she studied Fashion Design at Centro de Altos Estudios de la Moda , Peru, and earned a Bachelor’s in Social Psychology, a Master’s in Educational Psychology, and a Ph.D. in Public Health from Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia. She has participated in projects for the development of arts and culture in Peru and Latin America, and in conferences and workshops aimed at advancing the development of local emerging fashion.

Images courtesy of Milkmade + Metrovelevet