Fashion is elitist, and it has its critics, mainly concerning its detachment from the realities of society, but within the doom and gloom of an economic recession, it can be a breath of fresh air. Most of us will never be invited to a catwalk show. Yet it is a hobby for so many, and goes way beyond merely wanting the clothes.
For her DAKS womenswear Autumn/Winter 2012 collection in the year that the brand celebrates 50 years as holder of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II's Royal Warrant, Sheila McKain-Waid took inspiration from the inherent dichotomies and similarities that are found in British landscape and architecture.
Lipstick colours take a bit of playing around with. Obviously much depends on skin tone and lip shape. It's fun to experiment with colours, and make up styles. For anyone who enjoys wearing make up, it seems a shame to use the same products, and colour palettes day after day.
Fashion Week is a rollercoaster, you duck and dive between the shows, between the real world and fashion, between show spaces, grabbing and chatting to everyone and anyone. Some of these folk you see but twice a year, perpetually promising to do more in the doldrums between fashion weeks. It was with one (well two) of these people I began my day with before Fam Irvoll.
The beauty of second-hand clothes lies somewhere between owning a timeless classic and being creative with your personal style while on a budget. Plus, there is the added feel good factor of knowing you are saving a garment from the landfill and in doing so, you are supporting a good cause.
Saturday mornings for me are normally spent recovering from Friday night, generally with some vague notion of hitting the gym to sweat it all out. However during London Fashion Week there is only one place you will ever find me, Jasper Conran.
As London Fashion Week's second on schedule show Corrie set the bar high. As I said in the preview it is one thing to see the collection in the final stages of production in a studio, it is something completely different to see it in it's entirety as collection on the runway. My breath wasn't taken away, it was stolen.
Rose-tinted vision, a gathering of trampolining nerves, veins rushing with a tide of excitement and anticipation; that was me, this time last year. My very first London Fashion Week. If you are a Fashion Week fresher this season, you may find these pointers useful...
There was something naively perverse and yet intensely British and alluringly eccentric in selecting Antoni & Alison's runway show to open London Fashion Week for Autumn/Winter 2012/13.
When the designer in question is Corrie Nielsen, ascending star of London Fashion Week, you grab the opportunity to see the show with both hands, plummet deep into the depths of Somerset House, try desperately to take in the beauty before you and remember all that Corrie has said.
I deactivated my Facebook profile the other day. I find it difficult to explain my exact motivation but I had an uncomfortable sense that they were suddenly getting more out of the arrangement than I was.
"Getting caught is the mother of invention," wrote Robert Byrne, and he was right - getting caught in the zips and buttons of incorrectly sized high-street wear has been a problem in need of solving since, well, forever.
Harrods is already ahead of its competitors "socially" from a raw numbers perspective, over the last two years, it has amassed in excess of 165,000 Facebook fans, and over 85,000 Twitter followers - more than any of its competitors, even with regional stores combined. This digital community growth is a result of sheer investment and strategic interaction from the brand.
I have often felt anger at judgments made toward strippers or nude models or porn actresses. The people who argue that what "those" women do is wrong, but that what Sports Illustrated models or fashion magazine cover girls do is acceptable. Who is to say which does more harm?
Being a redhead is about being YOU and all beauty regiments must follow suit. Stop fighting your natural features, and instead, embrace them. When your energy exerts confidence, people will think you're the most beautiful woman on the planet!
Starting up in fashion with no investment doesn't seem like a very sane thing to do; especially in this financial climate. Last week, in fact, I was told by an industry consultant that I'd find it "very difficult" as I don't have a money-laden family or boyfriend. I liked his honesty; money would definitely help, but I think there's big change a foot in the fashion industry.