Trapezing in to Spring

Today is a beautiful sunny day in London. For weeks, the skies have alternated between between buckets of icey rain and depressing drizzles that have kept my wardrobe in tones of Winter blues. But today's yolky sun, tearing apart the brilliant blue sky calls for a reawakening of the palette. What better celebration of the turning of the seasons than Céline's strikingly elegant Trapeze handbag in its Summer 2014 colours? Cobalt blue and sunflower yellow - I can almost see the South of France...

Leather Goods @LFW

Leather will always cast an effortless ruggedness. But we tend to forget that it's viciously versatile too. It is both lust and luxury, erotica and elegance, naughty and natural...

                                  FELDER FELDER                                                Daks

                       Haizhen Wang                                           Amanda Wakeley

                                    Tom Ford                                                       Mulberry

Melted Metal @LFW

There's something deeply toxic about an unrefined metal shine. It has an alluring futuristic luster, cast in the looming mould of the industrial revolution. In one word, it's avant-garde.

        

                         SIMONGAO                                                 Matthew Williamson

                    Huishan Zhang                                       Jean-Pierre Braganza

                         Mary Katrantzou                                               Topshop Unique                                               

A Ruby in the Rubble - London Fashion Week AW14

London Fashion Week is like a ruby in the rubble. Just when the saturation of the Winter sales sinks in, when all the frustrations of your favourite shoes you never bought now available only in size 3 or 14, when the Spring/Summer collections tease you through the icey windows in all their impossibly sunny colours, and when you've been wearing the same boot and coat combination for a week out of sheer lack of inspiration… That's when Fashion Week comes about. 

Following Fashion Week is like being granted a golden ticket to the Chief Charm Factory, where colours you had forgotten existed come flooding out in a catwalk concoction; fabrics, both old and new, float by around the ankles of a power strut; and new forms are born: shapes to adorn the human body - some re-awoken, others pioneered.

And patterns are formed: patterns to tell the story to come. And AW14 is born...

Isle of Wine

Think Radiant Orchid after a long summer's sun. The aubergines come out to play, Port grapes are collected and oak leaves turn maroon. A rich and complex foliage for a classic Autumn trend.

                                     Hunter                                                 Emilio de la Morena

                            Lucas Nascimento                                       Roksanda Illicic

                     Mulberry                                                   Burberry Prorsum

Re-Smoking

French Le Smoking? The Brits are Re-Smoking it. Nothing clouds the air with timeless androgyny like peak lapels, cummerbunds and a sleek, midnight palette. General revivals of the tux are to be expected…with a feminine twist.

                        Joseph                                                    Richard Nicoll

               Temperley London                                              Mary Katrantzou

                        GILES                                                        OSMAN

Whack & Blite

It's no secret that Black and White are the perfect harmony. But when played about with in a craze of dizzying patterns, they can be as exciting as colour itself. Meet Whack and Blite…or Blite and Whack? Either way, their intermeshing is extraordinary.

                       Orla Kiely                                                Margaret Howell

         Vivienne Westwood Red Label                                    Antonio Berardo

                                      Issa                                                          David Koma

 *Images borrowed from London Fashion Week.

#LFW - The Big Finale

Cara for Mulberry

When it comes to grabbing the It Girls and running with it, Mulberry is the name to follow. Its been nearly two years since the roaring British fashion house announced their last collaboration, and we have been aching to see how they’d top the suave Del Rey number from 2012. But when Cara wandered on to the catwalk on Sunday, bare-foot and naughty eyebrows flaring, we knew we’d found ourselves a new Alexa to fall in love with all over again.

It’s something about the cheeky, fresh-faced 21-year old that makes this 3-in-One collection so gripping. She has the sort of doll-face that takes us back to the days of Twiggy, entangled with the grungy awkwardness pioneered by Kate Moss. And just like that, an edgy blend of quilts and rivets on retro-tinted leathers emerged from the ethereal forest of the Mulberry set. Cara X Mulberry took London Fashion Week by storm: crossing the best British supermodels with the best of British style. 

Large Cara Delevingne Bag in Black Quilted Nappa

But ultimately it’s the heritage behind it that has us bewitched by the bag of the moment. What Mulberry and Cara brought together to the table on that Somerset shoot over a year ago was a profound and mutual love for elegance – the English way: a marriage between functionality and beauty, with hidden pockets of oozing charisma.

Limited Edition Cara Delevingne Bag in Taupe Silk Classic Calf with Lion Rivets

The result is a bag that embraces the English character, as well as the English lifestyle. As Mulberry puts it, “It can be worn on the back: for running from the gym to work, or from train to plane. It can be worn on the shoulder: it can take you from work to dinner, or from town to country. It can be hand-held: for maximum elegance at all times or when you need to rise to an occasion”.  What more could we ask for?

Cara Delevingne Bag in Green Quilted Nappa

For the full Cara Collection visit Mulberry.

A fine Sunday for #LFW

After days and days of pouring rain, London woke up this morning to a beautiful sunny Sunday. Third day's the charm right? Day 3 at London Fashion Week was aglow with the sun streaming over Somerset House.