SS12: TEN THINGS TO BUY RIGHT NOW

Posted by Bethan Holt, Fashion Junior at Large

While most of the fashion world had their eyes fixed on Milan this weekend, London Fashion Week's main venue at Somerset House was transformed into a shopping mecca for London Fashion Weekend. This is the consumer antidote to the press/buyer event earlier in the week. I was representing FEAL in the Vodafone Lounge on Thursday and Sunday, giving a little talk about being on trend for SS12. It was great fun and lovely to meet lots of the shoppers.

Here are the ten items I told them to buy to be right on trend for SS12...

1. SILVER
We blogged about silver just before LFW. We spied a lot of silver around fashion week- usually in shoe or bag form, as well as a brave few in silver jeans. Anything with a silver sheen ties together two of SS12's biggest themes- Under the Sea and Sporty- very nicely.

Silver trousers £560 Alexander McQueen  at Matches

2. SOMETHING LACY
More specifically, white lace. Lace is always in but it's having a particular moment right now. Contrary to its usual reputation as delicate and super pretty, the thicker your lace is the better for SS12. That's why broderie anglaise (white cotton with a cut-out, lace-like pattern) is a good alternative if lace isn't quite your thing. The picture below is a rather classic example of how-to-wear lace from the lovely Erdem. But the couture tee from Oasis is super versatile.

Erdem SS12

White daisy lace tee £40 from Oasis

3. A CRICKET JUMPER
I'll admit these aren't all over the shops but in my opinion a cricket jumper would be a solid addition to the SS12 wardrobe. I love the way Christopher Kane's were styled with silk mini skirts, it's like the most luxe school uniform you could imagine. However, the cricket jumper is also a nice nod to the Olympic spirit without being too literal. And the best thing? They are readily available in the wardrobes of any boys in our lives and/or charity and vintage shops. Score.

Christopher Kane SS12

Vintage Cricket jumper £30.50, from a selection at Beyond Retro

4. A DIRNDL SKIRT
We're not telling you to dress up like Austrian peasants but we are loving the shape of their traditional skirts. One of these, especially in a lovely print, will be a mainstay of your SS12 wardrobe and is super-versatile, dress down, dress up, be girly or tomboy it with a t-shirt and converse. This Warehouse one is not quite so pouffy as many of the catwalk ones but carries the same idea.

Yellow floral £38 from Warehouse

5. PYJAMAS
Ok, not just any PJs but luxurious, silky head-to-toe print, especially paisley, is the idea here. Get the set and wear altogether with heels for evening cocktails. Alternatively, wear separately for a less full-on vibe.

J.W Anderson SS12

Whistles take on pyjamas: top £85, trousers £125

6. BRIGHT TROUSERS
This is a pretty open field- if you're brave enough go for some fluoro/ pastel jeans (the styles below are from Christopher Kane's J Brand collaboration). Alternatively, there are lots of really cute print jeans about, think palm trees and pineapples. My personal choice will be these Topshop chinos.

Christopher Kane for J Brand

Pink chinos £28 from Topshop

7. FLATFORMS
Mrs Prada started this off and there's no sign of the trend abating. In fact, SS12 sees a branching out beyond the styles with brogue uppers to a sandal look. These are a definite move on from the wedge. I love these with a painterly floral panel but ASOS have plenty more, including Nicholas Kirkwood for Pollini's rope ones and more sporty versions.

Floral flatforms £50 ASOS

8. HI-TOPS
Thanks to Isabel Marant's Bekket hi-tops- complete with massive tongue and hidden two inch wedge- the hi-top has gone from street wear favourite to fashion's darling shoe. The Bekket might be the ultimate combination of all the possibilities but there are also plenty of styles which give a sleeker look, as well as those which are more authentically sporty, like the Nike ones below which I will be purchasing shortly.

I spotted the Bekkets at Berlin Fashion Week.

Nike x Liberty £74.99 Office

See by Chloe at My-Wardrobe £262

9. MANOLO BLAHNIK HEELS
The FashEd recently wrote about the resurgence of love for a timeless Manolo Blahnik heel. In September it became clear that Marc Jacobs had been hugely influenced by Manolo's Mary-Janes and Mules- he used the style in his own name and Louis Vuitton collections. Every girl should have an elegant yet run-for-the-bus capable pair of heels in her wardrobe and Manolo is the first man to call. Especially poignant as it is the designers 40th anniversary.

Red heels £280 by D&G at My-Wardrobe

10. RUCKSACK
Sporty, cute and easy- rucksacks are already proving popular according to our very scientific survey involving looking at people out and about. If that sporty bit  repulses you then plenty of designers/ stores have done more grown up versions in more structured shapes and expensive leathers.

Carven SS12 (Image from lloyd-evans.com)

Printed rucksack £225 by Diane von Furstenberg at Net-a-Porter

FASHION STAPLES: THE BROWNS EDIT SS12

Posted by Melanie Rickey, Fashion Editor at Large

There are fashion staples and there are Fashion Week Staples. This post is about the latter. In 10 days time the New York fashion shows start, neatly followed by London Fashion Week and onto Milan and Paris. I've never been one of those women to dress up deliberately for the cameras at the fashion weeks; I do get snapped occasionally if I'm having a particularly photogenic day at the shows, but I dress for myself really, experimenting as I go. Of course, there are people out there who organise their outfits in advance, borrow clothes from designers and make a big and fabulous show of themselves to fan the flames of their online careers and web fashion fame. Hello Anna Dello Russo, Susie Bubble, Kristin Knox, Fran Burns and co, not to mention the hordes of fashion-obsessed students trying to get noticed. I wish I was more inclined to play the fashion game their way, but I'm not. No matter. Fashion-paparazzo not withstanding these are the clothes I want for fashion week.

I've been logging into all the major fashion websites everyday over the last ten days to see what is on their respective New In pages, and to see what makes my heart beat faster. For the high fashionista that I am right down to my marrow, Brownsfashion.com is hands down the best place to shop right now. Their edit of Kane, Balenciaga, J.W Anderson, Erdem, Carven and Alaia is inspired and I love the way they find labels that even I haven't heard of yet. I respect that their buying team, including Ruth Runberg and Francoise Tessier have the nous to order the printed Erdem trousers, say, not just his signature dresses which all the safe department stores buy. Browns have even bought into Dr Martens exceptionally cleverly, and the white-soled tassle loafers are truly edgy fashion shoes (even if, to you, they look like something a nurse at Broadmoor might wear).  Designers trust Browns and looking at their edit of Spring/Summer 2012, I can see why.  Now, I have to choose which one of these is the most worthwhile to have in my wardrobe. What would you choose?

J.W Anderson shirt

Christopher Kane skirt

Laurence Dacade boots  

Carven dress 

Erdem floral trousers 

Dr Martens loafers 

FASHION STAPLES: MY-WARDROBE SS12

Posted by Melanie Rickey, Fashion Editor at Large

Myself and the Fashion Junior at Large moved all of our operational data from PC to Mac on Friday afternoon. By lunchtime today most of my data had been repatriated with me via the Cloud onto this very lovely, but still mysterious Macbook Pro. Using this will be a revelation, but I may be some time.

I've been feeling somewhat fragile today following a bacchanalian feast last night at Britain's most famous three Michelin starred restaurant, The Fat Duck of Bray, owned and run by the food genius Heston Blumenthal. I'm not sure whether we had a choice or not, but we had the 18 course taster menu, to which Heston kindly added a few extra courses as treats because he and my other half have crossed paths through work. By the time the 21st course was in front of us, I had begun to empathise with how a fattened duck might feel.

I've been planning on introducing FEAL's Fashion Staples for a while. Successful shopping is about knowing what to buy and when/where to buy it. It is January 22nd, and elsewhere in fashion the menswear shows in Paris are showcasing clothes for next winter, while the Haute Couture is displaying artistry we can only gawp at in wonder and never buy unless we have £30,000 + to spare.  Far more pressing now is what us fashion-loving women should be buying now that feels fashion-right. If you are nowhere near getting a grip on the new Spring trends - and why would you, it is still the depths of winter - then let me show you the way.

I flicked through quite a few New-In pages online before I settled on My-Wardrobe's being the best starting point for FEALS's Fashion Staples SS12. The ethos of My-Wardrobe.com is everyday luxury, and thats what a decent style staple need to be at its core.

FEAL STYLE STAPLES: MY-WARDROBE.COM 22/1/12

1. Acne shoes, £368 
These shoes will lift an outfit from average to high fashion in the length of time it takes to put them on. The colour is perfectly fitting for spring and the shoes are not so bonkers that they can't be passed off as a jazzy pump.

2. M Missoni Fit and Flare dress £315

Fit and flare dresses are where the pendulum of everyday fashion is swinging. if you haven't got one yet, you will soon. They are so about-to-be fashionable, I reckon they'll usurp the body-con dress by the end of the year. If you have an arse and thighs, the flared skirt is legend for the obfuscation of said area.

Enjoy as a chic fashion look while you can. 

3. Marc by Marc Jacobs paisley slim-leg trousers £295

This shape trouser rocks. They look modern and cool and work with whatever shoe you throw at them. I'd wear them with heels for an evening look or ankle boots and a jumper for day. A true staple, and they're paisley. Right now paisley = cool. 

4. Joseph navy V-neck cashmere jumper, £260

Every woman needs one of these. I recommend navy. All shades of blue are in the colourful spring 2012 spectrum.  

5. Carven evening top £180

I am a HUUUGE fan of Carven and adore the work its designer Guillaume Henry. Guy - as he suggest we Brits call him - has taken the Carven business from 0-500 global stockists in only three years. There hasn't been a brand with such a quick rise to prominence since Acne burst onto the scene in 2005. This top is a twist on the T-shirt that is edgy, chic and easy. All the ingredients for a FEAL Fashion Staple. 

Which one is your favourite?

ADVENT DAY 21: I WANT OPYUM

Posted by Melanie Rickey, Fashion Editor at Large

YSL 'Opyum' high heel pump, £440 at Yves Saint Laurent

While out in central London this morning doing the last of my Christmas shopping I couldn't resist popping into Yves Saint Laurent. YSL is the label that most closely resembles my high fashion ideal. If it were possible on a journalist income, which it most definitely isn't, YSL would dominate my wardrobe. 

Nevertheless, the black interior of the brands' Old Bond Street store has cocoon like qualities which swiftly lulled me into a trance while flitting between cabinets of (relatively) affordable and striking costume jewellery and recessed areas displaying shoes and bags. To give you an idea, a large gilt pendant on thick black rope was £365 at YSL, while across the road at Prada a fairly standard diamante necklace with rose motif cost an astronomical £870.  

I had absolutely no intention of purchasing anything at YSL until, upstairs, I came across a new line of shoes from its cruise collection.  One of them is above. It is an elegant pump called Opyum (the brands most famous fragrance is called Opium) and it was love at first sight. Heads up: elegant shoes with refined silhouettes are back in favour for spring as fashion's first adopters are slowly moving away from the platforms, wedges and chunky blingy shapes of the last few years.

So, darn it that the Opyum range, in store for just six days so far, and offered in slingback and with different toe tip colours, was already low on stock. 

I did what I had to do. They are available to buy online if you click the link above.

“Did they know why they knew? Not at all. But 

they Knew!” 

― Malcolm Gladwell, Blink

British singer/songwriter/musician Anna Calvi is on my radar for 2012. Her eponymous debut album was shortlisted for the 2011 Mercury Prize, and as we close the year both Frida Giannini of Gucci and Karl Lagerfeld are citing her as an inspiration, and she features in this months French Vogue.  Calvi's music is an acquired taste but her look is straight from a Helmut Newton photograph. I love this video for the track "I'll be Your Man." 

ADVENT DAY 16: FEELING FINE

By Melanie Rickey, Fashion Editor at Large

Jumper, by Fine Collection ,
When I checked, there were some left!  

This Autumn/Fall has seen the re-popularisation of jumpers as fashion staples. So enthused are people about them that the fashion for them has overspilled into an ocean of nostalgia for novelty festive sweaters. As I write every single person in the office from which I pen this blog is wearing a Christmas Jumper.  Lets flip back to fashion sweaters for a moment. Regular readers of this blog will know that in addition to fashion journalism for Grazia, POP, this blog and occasional forays into newsprint, the other string to my bow is as a trend and fashion consultant. I knew waay back in March 2011 that we would all be loving sweaters now. So since March I've had it in my mind that I wanted the "perfect sweater". In October after months of searching, and purchasing a few vintage duds, I found THE sweater at Austique, an independent fashion boutique in Marylebone. At first glance said sweater, from new brand Fine Collection, is an unremarkable waffle knit with droopy proportions. On the body it is a different story. The proportions are flattering; I chuck it on over shirts, blouses or dresses and it is a chic as.. Everyone asks where its from, and now you know! The label is French and designed by Ugo Bensoussan. Scroll down for entertaining and slightly surreal shenanigans.....

Long cardigan, by Fine Collection 

SURREAL TIMES...

“Since I don't smoke, I decided to grow a mustache - it is better for the health. However, I always carried a jewel-studded cigarette case in which, instead of tobacco, were carefully placed several mustaches, Adolphe Menjou style. I offered them politely to my friends: "Mustache? Mustache? Mustache? Nobody dared to touch them. This was my test regarding the sacred aspect of mustaches.”  Salvador Dali

I found Marcel this morning. I LOVE Marcel. Marcel has millions of fans. She reminds me very much of my friend Brix. Only Brix doesn't sleep on slices of bread....


Directed by Dean Fleischer-Camp
Written by Dean Fleischer-Camp + Jenny Slate
Starring Jenny Slate as Marcel

FASHION STAPLE: THE BEST JEANS NOW

Posted by Melanie Rickey, Fashion Editor at Large
My first weekend job was as a denim grader for the vintage store Rokit. I've written about this here before, and I'm am planning a trip back to Rokit HQ in the New Year to see how its done today (probably not that differently, I'm guessing). During my subsequent decade and a half as a fashion writer and editor I've seen denim trends come, go and return again albeit utilising lighter more technical fabrics as befits the digital age. The current trends for coloured denim, skinny cuts and ripped up micro shorts mirror early 90s fashion pretty much to a tee. (The 90s are resonating now in music, fashion, protests, recession, even ecstasy is back in favour as a club drug.)
Through all of this I have been constantly evolving my taste in jeans and moving from one brand allegiance to another. Its quite a monogamous relationship I have with brands, I'm loyal with them until we split up; but it looks like I'm about to start an affair...
Apart from an ill-fated detour to Wrangler, the last few years belong to J Brand. I have moved through their Love Story flare to the skinny crop Bardot and combat style Houlihan. I'm now wearing the J Brand 811 candy pink jeans as much as is decent without being accused of being a style slut. The store, or rather I should say, the person who has seen me through all of this faddery, always on top of what is happening in the world of stylish denim, is Donna Ida Thornton owner of the denim boutique Donna Ida.

Hello Donna Ida Thornton!

 Hello my J Brand 811 in Shocking Pink, £205 

Donna is a dynamo. A ball of sunny Australian energy. She is a woman who refuses to call her husband Bobby by his first name "because its boring." So she calls him "Bobby Dazzler" instead. You've got to warm to a woman like that. When I first met her back in 2007 she had one boutique. Now she has four situated in all of London's Yummy Mummy enclaves, but this should not be held against her. I use her website Donnaida.com to buy replacements to existing jeans in my collection once I've worn them out. Recently, though, I've changed dress size, allowing myself to inflate to a size 10 after a decade as a size 8. In a battle between face or body, face wins. So now I have new denim needs: they need to slim my thigh and be high waisted so as not to emphasise hips. The leg cut has to be slim in order to create the impression of longer legs, and look cool as well as ultra flattering and subtle enough to befit the term "style staple".  

I trust Donna, so along I went to her Elizabeth Street store (London, SW1), and she gave me the treatment. Namely Donna hustled me into a changing room and then stood outside passing in jeans from labels I know about, but have never tried or worn. The first was MiH, or Made in Heaven, a British brand which is  the darling of fashionable women everywhere. The cut of the "Paris" jean was too square for me and made me look like I had bloky hips. Next she passed in leather J Brand jeans, which to my horror cost £875. They didn't fit me too well either. Apparently Donna sold 25 pairs of them the day they launched on the DonnaIda.com website. The other pair of J Brands I tried was the Jodphur, below, essentially a jean with a knee panel that flatters the leg shape. These were a contender until...

                                                            J Brand jodphur in burgundy, £265 

...Donna passed me in a pair of navy jeans by an Australian brand called Nobody out of Melbourne. I pulled them on, wriggled them up past my hips, zipped them up, and bejeezus if these were not the exact pair of my dreams! They instantly felt like a second skin, and did everything I needed them to do. I looked slim, leggy, with a feminine curved rear (not some flat shapeless butt), and I knew Donna had done it again. I would wholeheartedly recommend these jeans to everyone. I asked a  younger girlfriend with a very different body shape to me to try them on also,  and she loved them so much she went out the next day and bought some.

Cult of Nobody jeans, £150 

J Brand have got some competition at last. I would love to hear what your style staple jeans are. What jeans do you wear that always deliver and why?

Here's a film that follows the story of the Nobody jean factory in Melbourne.

I like how the factory is so oldschool. I wonder if the blokes behind Nobody know just how damn good their "Cult of Nobody" jeans is? With  a name like that, I guess they do.

I also tried on:

Hudson Nico in Python £225
J Brand 901 Leather in Black £875 

Goldsign Misfit Jeans Position £280

MiH Jeans Paris Union Navy £160 

American Retro Betty Tee Lace £200

www.donnaida.com

MY DAD & THE FUTURE FASHION ME

Posted by Fashion Editor at Large

Like I said earlier on Twitter, my dear Dad Mr. Robert "Roy" Rickey passed away last Friday. He wasn't ill, in fact he remembered to post my birthday card the night he died, before going to the pub (he was extremely sociable), and coming home to settle into his favourite chair and watch TV. He didn't see the morning, and died in his sleep. (I'll know why later today.) I'm OK with this. Not OK with the fact he was just 62; he would have turned 63 this Friday.

My feelings are up and down, but I've a handle on how grief operates having been through it before. One minute you can be laughing fondly about the person you have lost and then, as I did today, dissolve at the sight of a man walking down the street who, from a distance, could be him even when you KNOW it is not. It's irrational.

HOWEVER.  How can one reconcile grief with work and the work mindset? I've been mulling this over, and decided not to mull it over any more!  This - journalism, blogging, trending - is what I do, and I can no sooner disentangle my work mind for the matter at hand, as I can't not breathe. Not everyone could align themselves to this approach, but I know it is the Rickey Way and steeped in the DNA.  I will be digging up 'Dad Style Through the Years' in the next few days. He looked like a movie star when he was young.

Back to what has been on my work mind. Having digested the ENTIRE show season - my 300 page trend report is *humble cough* the most comprehensive of my career to date, and been declared a "triumph" by a colleague. I can safely report that the AW season represents a huge and positive change in the way we will be dressing. This change is what I am calling a return to "practical desires" (tm). Never have I wanted a camel jumper and pair of flared black trousers more than I do now.
So here, three long weeks after getting home from the shows, are the ten looks I just cannot get out of my head. These clothes represent the future fashion me. I will be dressing like this next season. In fact I think these ten outfits could see me through the entire winter -well, these and at least TEN jumpers, a Celine "classic" handbag, some yeti boots and a pair of kitten heels from Manolo. Thinking about winter is all too easy on this bleak, FREEZZZING day.

       FASHION EDITOR AT LARGE'S PERSONAL FASHION TOP TEN FOR AW 10

by Philosophy

by Celine (Pre-Collection)

by Bottega Veneta

 

    by Christopher Bailey for Burberry

 

by Dries Van Noten

by Julien Macdonald

                                                              by Behnaz Sarapfour

by Celine (Pre-Collection)

by Rochas

           by Peter Som (the coat of my dreams!)

Photo credits:

Catwalking.com

Celine

'INVESTMENT' - FASHION SPEAK FOR GUILT-FREE SHOPPING! YESSS!

Posted by Fashion Junior at Large

I love this time of year. Not just because of the milder weather and longer lighter days but because it's one of those rare periods when you don't have to feel guilty about shopping. A complete wardrobe overhaul can be justified as an 'investment' for the season ahead. I've got my eye on these little 'investments' this spring:

(From top left)

1. Laser cut waterfall fronted leather jacket, ASOS, £120. I got this last week and I can't tell you how zzzexy and expensive it looks. Leather is sticking around as a major trend for AW as well, which makes it an even better investment.
2. Floral print leggings by Hermione De Paula, Browns, £120. Since seeing her first stand alone show this season and meeting Hermione herself backstage I've become a big fan. The girl knows how to make a great print.
3. Lace up suede ankle boot, Urban Outfitters, £55. Urban is one of the first places I head to for shoes. These navy booties with cream laces are high on my wish list.
4. 'Bad Bunny' jumper, French Connection, £45. 'Bad Bunny' must be the best garment name ever! Why is the bunny bad I wonder? This looks like a nice low-key Sunday afternoon in the pub jumper to me.
5. Jersey maxi dress, Full Circle, £50. Forget floaty bohemian long-length dresses, it's all about the jersey maxi this season.
6. Blush summer dress, Hoss Intropia, £171. Gorgeous on-trend colour and a shape that works whatever the occasion. I intend to picnic in this little dress come summer. Check out the new Hoss Intropia store in Covent Garden for impeccable service and lots more demure dress options.
7. Backless mule, River Island, £44.99. I never thought I'd see the day I wanted another clog (the last time I wore one I was 9. It was patent lime green. Hot huh?) but lo, that day is here. I love this clog's Fashion Junior friendly price as well.
8. Cats eye sunglasses by Luella, ASOS, £68. Not quite as amazing as the Alexander Wang ones, but a pretty close second. Cats eye is obviously the shape of choice for the season. A good 'investment' wouldn't you agree?