So, it's December! We've opened the first two doors of our advent calendars! The ridiculously enormous tree is dominating the living room in Mouse Towers Hong Kong and the London Mice are on the Christmas tree case this evening! If you're even a little Scrooge-like, it's probably time to stop reading now and to be frank, you're best off not coming back til January… We all love absolutely everything about Christmas. We're just too excited for words that it is now officially ok to watch Christmas films on a loop, crack open the mince pies and hint at things we'd like to find under the tree in twenty three day's time (OMG, only twenty three days to go….!). And to get festivities going in Hong Kong, this weekend I'll be wearing my very best Christmas jumper to not one but two parties while I drink my way through gallons of mulled wine! If you don't have your Christmas jumper yet, it's time to get shopping because on Friday 13 December it's Save The Children's Christmas Jumper Day. If you haven't had the make-it-better-with-a-sweater memo yet, we're talking one day when everyone dons their most festive knit, donates at least a pound to Save the Children and well and truly gets into the Christmas spirit while helping out a very good cause. Thinking that your Christmas jumper is something you'd really rather keep behind closed doors? Then it's probably time to got involved in the Wooly Big Text Auction for the chance to bag yourself a snazzy knit designed by the very best of British fashion talent. We're talking… Alexander McQueen…
…Vivienne Westwood…
…Burberry…
…and Mary Katrantzou.
Check out the full set here. All you need to do is text the name of the designer whose jumper you're after along with the amount in pence you'd like to bid and the lowest unique bidder will walk away with their wooly… What are you waiting for?! Get involved! If you're not feeling lucky, it's probably best to secure a back-up, so here's our pick of the Christmas crackers to keep you cosy this December... River Island Grey Sequin Reindeer Jumper £38
Oh London Fashion Week, we love you so, so much! You really are the ruby red, gleaming cherry on the top of the fashion cake - a great big juicy, sweet bite of (perhaps ever so slightly kitsch) deliciousness. Don't get us wrong, we've lapped up a week of Stateside polished grooming and sleek, wearable pieces. We've loved the easy elegance of the boxy, sports-luxe separates; the tailoring with a zesty dash of prep; and all those jaw-droppingly stunning Hollywood gowns. But, we're sorry Calvin, Tommy, Ralph and Oscar, we lost our hearts to London years ago and no amount of glossy slick sheen can match up to the riotous sartorial spectacle of the British capital's catwalks. And, if there's one show that we always look forward to with particular Christmas Eve-like glee, it's Mary Katrantzou. The Greek designer's intricate digital prints, often cast in eye-popping brights, had us at Hello all the way back in 2009... Every season since, we've waited with baited breath, sure that no collection could be as amazing as the last, and every season since Katrantzou has somehow managed to kick things up a notch. This season thankfully was no exception. Well, how could three shoe obsessed Katrantzou super-fans ever be anything but completely bowled over by a collection inspired by footwear?! From shiny conker-coloured brogues to acid bright trainers and, last but not least, intricately, bejewelled evening slippers, Katrantzou has literally made it possible for you to live in a shoe. MK, you are a fashion genius. That is all...
We've reached the halfway mark! London's done and dusted, and now the fashionistas have hotfooted it to Milan for the next leg of the fashion merry-go-round, Milan Fashion Week. We're already swooning over Aerial the mermaid hued beaded slips of gorgeousness shown yesterday at Alberta Ferretti and we're seriously loving the kaleidoscope of hothouse colour-blocked Gucci pieces which nicely offset the monochrome evening gowns that Frida Giannini sent down the runway. But, can the rest of Milan match up to last week's London out-and-out amazingness? We'll have to see... In the meantime, here's our round-up of our favourite moments from LFW staged in the indisputable fashion capital of the world... (what can we say? We're patriotic!) More Than Just Pretty Dresses at Vivienne Westwood Who says fashion's frivolous? In usual punkish Westwood style, the 71 year old designer closed her LFW show by parading down the catwalk in a t-shirt proclaiming 'Climate Revolution' below a banner bearing the same slogan. Championing the sustainable fashion cause, Westwood urged dedicated followers of fashion to "buy less, choose well, make it last". And the politics didn't stop there. In a show of support for the WikiLeaks' founder's battle against his extradition, Westwood handed out T-shirts to models and celebrities bearing her face and the words "I'm Julian Assange". a A particularly provocative move given that the show was being staged at the Foreign & Commonwealth Office Headquarters in London...
Images via: www.mydaily.co.uk and www.elleuk.com
Issa: Exoticism and Acid Brights Politics aside, fashion week wouldn't be fashion week without some very pretty dresses... And very pretty dresses is what Issa excels at. We brought you news earlier this week of the brand new Issa online store and we now can't wait until these beauties land next spring. We sense that internet shopping time may need to be rationed to avoid fatal damage to our credit cards...
Images via: www.style.com
Liberty Ross Hits Back Liberty Ross walking at Wang was one of our NYFW highlights and, this week, at a London Fashion Week party, the new head-held-high Liberty stepped out looking fabulous in fur with a new man on her arm. Rupert who?
Image via: www.dailymail.co.uk
What's Black & White and Worn All Over? We sensed that monochrome was going to be hot for Spring when we spied Marc Jacobs' Bridget Riley-esque collection and a runway awash with black and white at BCBG Max Azria. But if there was any doubt at all in our Micey minds, it was definitely pushed aside by the monochrome mania sweeping London last week, in particular at Sass & Bide, Giles and Topshop Unique. Gucci continued the trend over in Milan yesterday. We say go and dig out your best black and white immediately, nothing's chicer than this classic colour combo.
Images via: www.style.com
Treacy went Gaga Is it a bird? Is it a blancmange? Don't be ridiculous, it's Gaga... Following surprise catwalk guests in New York last week, milliner, Philip Treacy, outshone them all by sending a hot pink net shrouded superstar out to open his first runway show in thirteen years. Lady Gaga kicked off the show before darting to sit front row to watch the parade of eye-popping headpieces modeled by an all black cast of girls wearing original Michael Jackson stage costumes. You couldn't make it up...
Image via: www.huffingtonpost.com
Stellar FROW at Mulberry (as well as gnomes and real life poodles...) Alexa Chung, Olivia Palermo, Jessica Ennis, Lana Del Rey, Kate Moss and a whole host of our current favourite actresses. A page from Victoria Beckham's address book? No, just Mulberry's front row...
Images via: www.huffingtonpost.com
The vibe was English country garden, complete with giant plastic garden gnomes, laser cut flowers, lizard motifs and real life poodles... The show kicked off fashionably late, thirty minutes after it was due to start, reputedly down to the fact that Miss Moss wasn't running to schedule. Still, we're sure that Emma Hill will forgive her, the Super later gushed to the press about the latest Mulberry arm-candy offering, the Willow - a tote which comes complete with a removable clutch. We're with you Kate, we want. A LOT!
Image via: www.graziadaily.co.uk
Mary K Wishes You Were Here The queen of print, Mary Katrantzou, reigned supreme this week with a collection inspired by stamps and bank notes from around the world. We weren't quite as enamoured with the SS collection as we were with the teaspoon and typewriter prints from the AW collection, but we're head over heels for those serrated stamp-edge trimmed Louboutin booties!
Images via: www.style.com
Anya Hindmarch Merry-Go-Round In February, handbag genius, Anya Hindmarch turned nutty professor meets Willy Wonka to showcase her AW collection, so we were super excited to see what the SS showcase would bring... And Super excitement was most certainly warranted! The final day of LFW saw Poppy Delevigne and Olivia Palermo perched front row before a carousel swirling to provide a glimpse of a various cheeky Victorian tableaus centered around some particularly delicious handbags. Words can't do it justice, check out the video below...
Bum's the New Black at Pam Hogg Better step up the squats immediately, it's official, next spring if you want to be on trend your bottom's going to need to be in tip top shape. In a move that makes McQueen's bumsters look chaste, Pam Hogg sent Alice Dellal down the runway with her peachy posterior fully on display. Hmmm, we think this may be one look that the Mice won't be channeling...
Image via: www.huffingtonpost.com
Right, we're off to resume Style.com watch to see what those impossibly stylish Italians come up with next...
The SS12 catwalks were awash with printed pants from Nicole Miller and DVF in New York to Mary Katrantzou, Erdem and Peter Pilotto in London and Roberto Cavalli and Etro in Milan. But the printed trouser doesn't appear to be a one season wonder, the AW12 catwalks were also print and pattern crazy....Prada had fab 60's geo, Marni went mad for monochrome statement prints and some amazing ombre striped patterns at Nicole Miller.
Mary Katrantzou SS12
Peter Pilotto SS12
Prabal Gurung SS12
Prada AW12
Images via: www.style.com
Whether you go for digital prints, floral prints or Mexican tapestry prints just make sure they're adorning your pins and you're guaranteed to look print-tastic. There's a pair for every price range and every body type. They're comfy, fashion forward and such easy dressing. If you're daring, pair them with a clashing print top or alternatively let your pants do the talking and just chuck on a plain cashmere vest or oversized tee and you're good to go.
Now you just need to pick your print and get your pants on. And to help you out, here are the 3BM top printed trouser picks...
London Fashion Week drew to a close yesterday with a bang.
At Holly Fulton a riot of prints. At Meadham Kirchhoff glitter, tinsel, raucous colour and Mariah Carey's 'All I Want for Christmas'. At Anya Hindmarch a chocolate factory featuring 'Anya's Quality Treats' chocolates and conveyor belts of handbags powered, it was revealed at the end of the show, by the designer herself pedaling mad professor style on a bicycle.
And then there was Mary Katrantzou.
The woman is a genius. The concept behind the show was the elevation of everyday objects "from the mundane to the sublime". Bathtubs, telephone dials, coat hangers and teaspoons were digitally printed in seven main colourways and then crafted into classic Katrantzou structured, sculptural pieces. While this may sound like an attention-seeking designer attempting to be "zany" presenting a cartoonish show, Katrantzou executed the collection beautifully with measured elegance and refinement. At a glance the concept isn't apparent; its only on the careful examination that these pieces deserve that you realise that the pencil skirt is actually constructed from HBs complete with pink erasers.
Words really cannot do the undoubted star collection of fashion week justice. So, we bring you thirty two beautiful pictures of the full collection in all its splendour for you to gasp and squeal over and forward to all your fashion friends.
