SHOW + TELL: SOPHIE HULME

Posted by Melanie Rickey, Fashion Editor at Large 

The first time I met Sophie Hulme in person was last September at London Fashion Week when I stumbled across the young designer with her Spring/Summer 2012 collection in the Elle Talent Launch Pad exhibition at Somerset House. It was quite weird because only the week before that I was standing in Selfridges' enormous bag hall looking at a large and prominent display of Sophie Hulme luxury leather tote bags thinking "Who this is this Sophie Hulme person?" From the way Selfridges bought into her label and showed it off right next to the hallowed Celine area, the Hulme brand seemed fully formed and in full flight mode. 

Then I dimly remembered, is this the same Sophie who graduated from Kingston back in 2007? I remember a Sophie Hulme who won Student of the Year, so I Googled around a bit and it was the same girl. She also won Student Collection of the Year in 2007, so a bit of a prodigy girl then. Turns out Sophie set up her label two months after graduating and has been quietly getting on with building her brand ever since. 

Her trademarks are clean, tailored silhouettes with masculine and feminine influences, with an emphasis on chunky hardware and almost childlike detailing; and as such the designer is building quite a solid business almost under the nose of the talent watchers of London.  At London Fashion Week in February Sophie did her first mini fashion showcase, sending out the models dressed in her modern young elegant ensembles every 15 minutes. The show was mobbed, and the whole thing was so overwhelming for Sophie, that by the time I caught up with her, she had cried most of her mascara off. This week she joined My-Wardrobe.com as one of their new roster of designers. I wanted to share my images of her show, and her gorgeous bags on My Wardrobe now. There'll be a second blog post very soon with a full Sophie interview.

Sophie Hulme embroidered bag £370 at My-Wardrobe

Sophie Hulme stamped tote £620

The brilliant Sophie Hulme whose LFW presentation was a highlight of the week

Sophie Hulme leather tote £535 at My-Wardrobe

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?

AW11 TRENDS: BEING BORING (with boring fashion on the side)

Posted by Melanie Rickey, Fashion Editor at Large

I'm going to tell you something you might not like. You are fricking boring. Booorrring. You make me want to cry tears of sheer and utter head-banging against a table-top frustration. It's not just you, I'm boring too. Well, actually, it's not quite like that. But it has been firmly established that Being Boring is a powerful trend infecting music, TV and culture in general. The Guardian last Thursday summed it up succinctly, citing our love of Adele, Kirstie Allsop, baking and Downton Abbey as key signifiers of the movement christened The New Boring by the excoriatingly smart popjustice.com editor Peter Robinson. All together now "We coudda had it aaaa- aa alll, rollin in the deee eee eep." Even now, as I write this, me and the Fashion Junior are listening to "Don't Your Remember" with a tear threatening to trash our carefully applied eye makeup.

Nice, boring jumper from L'Agence on Net-a-Porter.com just what the doctor ordered!

Well, I'm here to do my bit for boring fashion. Hopefully you're already in your pyjamas? Sales of those have gone through the roof recently, and you'll find the trendiest online and real world stores are heaving with sensible cable knit jumpers, lace up shoes, dull mannish coats, pared-back shopper bags, satchels, polo necks and novelty reindeer and snowflake jumpers. Alexa Chung's successful collection for Madewell is the height of Being Boring, what with its Bin Man Coat, and cosy cardigans. 

So dull, even the bin men stopped wearing them. Alexa Chung loves her Bin Man Coat though. 

It sounds wrong on paper that we should aspire to -  nay even enjoy - boringness, but in fact we are all rather partial to it right now. I know I am. I draw the line at X-Factor and Coldplay's new album, but Frozen Planet is currently the highlight of my week, I can't listen enough to Arcade Fire's The Suburbs and my favourite new fashion item is a Isabel Marant Navajo inspired sweater. It certainly seems that we have an affection for boring things and find them amusing. How did this happen? Recession obviously. Dire straits cause us to contract into a smaller world of familiarity and safety. This directly correlates to our penchant for novelty Christmas jumpers.


The Pet Shop Boys brilliant ode to how not to be boring: "Being Boring." (1993)

When the Killing II hit BBC4 this weekend, all everyone could talk about in print and on Twitter was Sarah Lunds jumper. A fricking JUMPER. Boring! Yesterday aftertoon while Hugh Grant gave evidence to the Leveson Enquiry, inane and amusing Tweets about the #womanontheleft began trending on Twitter.

Grenson for girls at My-Wardrobe.com

At the weekend a young codger named James Ward hosted the world's first Boring Conference in London. Here's how yesterdays The Sun newspaper reported on it. "IT was billed as a dreary look at life's dullest things — the world's only Boring Conference.  Speakers were lined up to talk on topics so mundane that delegates would be forced to poke themselves in the eyeballs with sharp objects just to stay awake.  After the cancellation of the "Interesting" conference last year due to lack of interest, Ward tweeted that there should be an alternative event called Boring.  The response from his Twitter followers was so huge he had to follow it through and stage an event. James said: "Last year we held a much smaller gathering but this is the first ever conference. I can't believe the number [400] attending.  Subjects included polite small talk, electric hand dryers and the first ten years of Which? magazine 1957-67. But once the conference started it all went horribly wrong — it failed to bore the audience rigid." Oh how I laughed. 

 Nostalgia with a hefty dose of boring: a Cambridge Satchel Co. satchel, 

Borring! From the New York Post's The Cut blog that boringly follows every outfit K-Mid wears

Protest against Being Boring here: Snow Bored by Ashish from TopShop

GET YOUR BROGUES ON

Posted by Fashion Junior at Large

We may be experiencing a temporary heatwave (putting our Paris wardrobe plans into COMPLETE disarray) but we all know that soon enough, temperatures will drop, winds will whip up and we will have to put away sandals and flippy dresses for another season.  

This prospect might leave you feeling a little dejected but, never fear, My-Wardrobe is here with a very exciting  boost in the form of Grenson's debut collection of womenswear brogues. The brogue has become a new winter staple but the love is peaking right now with sales and searches up by 68% compared to last year.Many of the savviest brogue wearers have been buying men's styles already so the Grenson line gives a slightly more feminine edge (an elevated heel and slimmer silhouette) alongside the old-school quality that Grenson is famed for. 

My favourites- the two tone Marthas £176

My-Wardobe's Merchandising Director Luisa De Paula says that ‘When it comes to the brogue, Grenson is one of the best go-to brands, so it’s fantastic to see the brand launch a womenswear collection.   The craftsmanship and quality leather used by Grenson ensure beautifully-made shoes, which will last for years.   With brogues firmly back on the agenda with the androgynous trend, we believe that the Grenson collection will be a key buy for our female shoppers.” 

Patent £176

Grenson's expansion into womens shoes is long overdue given the brand's 140 year history ( they began as Green and Sons). In 2004, Christian Purslow and Tim Little joined the company and have taken its heritage aesthetic into a new place with some highly desirable styles at super reasonable price points. We recommend a flash of bare ankle to keep a brogue sexy, or wear with skirts and tights when bare flesh becomes unthinkable.

Grey Suede £176