THE WEEK IN FASHION: 12th- 16th MARCH

Posted by Bethan Holt, Fashion Junior at Large

The Week in Fashion is back from its fashion month break and ready to bring you, our lovely readers their end of week fashion news round-up. Following the marathon of catwalk shows you'd think people of the fashion world might have spent the week collapsed on the sofa in the recovery position, however I'm pleased to say that there's plenty to tell you about...

Samantha Cameron, in Alessandra Rich, and Michelle Obama, in Marchesa, at Wedesnday's State Dinner (image from dailymail.co.uk)

Just in case you hadn't noticed, Dave and Sam Cam dropped into the White House for a few days this week to visit the Obamas. Instead of your average bunch of flowers or bottle of wine, the Brit contingent came bearing gifts of a ping pong table and a Jonathan Saunders scarf. There was a State Dinner attended by politicians, celebrities and other powerful people like Anna Wintour. The US Vogue editor picked a Chanel couture gown which she had already, shock horror, worn once before back in 2009.

Anna Wintour at the Met Gala in 2009. She wore the same dress to
Wednesday night's state dinner (image from www.nymag.com)

Michelle and Samantha naturally did us all proud on the fashion front. Alessandra Rich dressed the PM's wife in a floor-length, high neck blue lace gown from her Spring/ Summer collection. The style reflects the new covered up fashion mood we're feeling for AW12. It has been said that the dress was Sam Cam's own way of bringing a bit of real-life Downton Abbey to Americans who are going crazy for the series. Meanwhile, Mrs Obama went for her tried and tested State Dinner look- knockout dress and chunky necklace. Her outfit was by Marchesa; luckily Georgina Chapman, the woman behind the label, was at the dinner to see her good work in action. During the visit, Sam Cam also wore a few of her favourite London designers including Emilia Wickstead, Burberry and the gorgeous Roksanda Ilincic.

SamCam in Roksanda Ilincic with Michelle O in Zac Posen (image from in style.co.uk)

Huge congratulations to Lucy Yeomans, currently Editor-in-Chief at Harper's Bazaar, who will be moving to Net-a-Porter to head up their editorial offering from September. The move is another indicator of the way retail and editorial are becoming ever more intertwined. DisneyRoller Girl has written about what this means for the fashion industry. Jenny Dickinson, currently at Elle, will become Acting Editor at Harper's Bazaar. We look forward to seeing Net-a-Porter with the Lucy Yeomans touch.

In more moving-about news, Barney's Ney York Vice President and Fashion Director, Amanda Brooks, resigned this week and announced plans to move to the UK. We wonder if we'll be seeing her take up a big job in London sometime soon?

Nicholas Sarkozy awards Franca Sozzani with France's highest honour (image from fashionologie.com)

Congratulations are also in order for Vogue Italia editor, Franca Sozzani who was awarded France's highest honour, the Knight of the Legion of Honour, in Paris this week. Many of the great and good from Italian and French fashion were there, including Raf Simons, Karl Lagerfeld, Stefano Gabbana and Domenico Dolce, indeed Franca was wearing straight-off-the-catwalk Dolce and Gabbana for the occasion. Franca is the world's most accessible Vogue editor, with over 80,000 Twitter followers and a daily blog on the Vogue Italia site. She posted Conde Nast's Chairman Jonathan Newhouse's speech the day after the ceremony, it's a great read.

Sparks flying: Arizona and Freja for Chloe (image from telegraph.co.uk)

My own personal number one model, Arizona Muse, has this week been announced as the new face of Estee Lauder. The beauty giant's Creative Director, Richard Ferretti, told WWD that "Arizona is warm, engaging and smart. She has an innate graciousness that we believe will translate to whatever advertising we choose to do with her." Apparently, Muse's first Lauder ads will be out "within a year". We can already enjoy Arizona in ads for Fendi, Massimo Dutti and Chloe, in which she appears with Freja Erichsen, her sometime girlfriend. Arizona has said that she is a big fan of Estee Lauder's Re-Nutriv- we're adding that to our shopping list this weekend then.

House of Holland SS12 (from catwalking.com)

If you're planning a spot of shopping this weekend then may we suggest that you head to Harrods where the new House of Holland collection drops today? We've had a sneak peek and love the Miami pastel shades and over blown animal prints. Our favourite piece might just be the pastel panel shirt (above). Harrods have also made the lovely Mr Holland their designer of the month. They've given FEAL this little video in which Henry talks about how he started off working on magazines before moving into design- his big break came when Gareth Pugh and Giles Deacon wore his tees to take their bows in 2006. Check out the full interview below and on the Harrods site

Else Schiaparelli, the Surrealist designers whose label Galliano was said to be in talks to
reinvent this week. 

There is still plenty of designer musical chairs action going on. And it's only increased this week with news that Derek Lam is leaving Tod's after six years designing for the classic Italian label. There have also been rumours that John Galliano is set to make a return. Vogue and WWD reported this week that he may have been set to reinvent Schiaparelli, which is now owned by the Tod's group. However, Galliano's spokesman claimed they were 'rumours and nothing more'.

Alexa Chung in Holly Fulton, one of the designers who'll be up for grabs at the British Designers Collective (image from Vogue via catwalkqueen.tv)

If you're a regular reader, then you'll know that we're getting prepped to visit the British Designers Collective at Bicester Village which launches next Wednesday. So, we were very happy to hear this week that one of Britain's best fashion ambassadors, Alexa Chung, is the spokesperson for the initiative. She'll be there on Wednesday and so will FEAL so look out for updates on what Miss Chung loves about the fact we get to buy pieces from the hottest Brit designers at Bicester Village's reduced prices.

Avenue 32 is a new web shopping site which gives each designer their own space- the aim is to make it a personalised experience, more like popping into a designer's own boutique than scrolling through web pages which group many brands together. Just a few of the designers who have areas on the site include Giles, 3.1 Phillip Lim, Preen and Emilio de la Morena. We like!

Now Avenue 32 have created a film 'What are you gonna wear?' which showcases the new designers landing for SS12. To celebrate, they are also offering anyone savvy enough to enter the chance to win a £4,000 Spring/Summer wardrobe. You can find out more details and enter here- what are you waiting for?

Mary and the team in their knicker factory (image from dailymirror.co.uk)

Finally, we hope you were all enjoyed Mary's new show 'Mary's Bottom Line' on Channel 4 last night. It's a three-part series in which Mary dusts off the sewing machines at an old textile factory in Middleton and employs eight young people from the area to launch her Made in Britain "Kinky Knickers". It's pretty emotional but also a really interesting exploration of how the decline in manufacturing has affected whole towns in the UK. And the knickers, I can personally vouch, are lovely. Get them now at Liberty, in-store and online. Our favourites are the pink and peach.

RICHARD NICOLL'S VERY MODERN TIMES

Posted by Melanie Rickey, Fashion Editor at Large

Ask a fashion editor at the end of a busy day of attending catwalk shows what he or she enjoyed today, and you will be met with something a bit like this. "I...er...em.. Oh God, wasn't it Balenciaga this morning? Or was that yesterday? Er, sorry today is just a blur." It happens to everyone, but occasionally great or surprising fashion experiences stand out from a day of shows. Louis Vuitton's awesome steam train with the Marc Jacobs clad models and luggage laden uniformed porters trotting alongside them will stay in my mind for a long time. In London, Richard Nicoll's presentation for AW12 stood out for being totally unexpected and clever.

Nicoll, a feted member of London Fashion Week's young establishment normally presents a conceptual fashion show experience in a modern architectural space. For his Autumn/Winter presentation Richard threw out the so-called fashion show rule-book and set up a space he called "The Factory"at the Institute of Contemporary Art on Pall Mall, to show his collection monikered "Modern Times," in a tongue in cheek reference to the 1936 Charlie Chaplin film.  Before you carry on, why not open another window and click this link so you can listen to the music that was playing on the day, created by Daniel Lea at Golden Hum.

Nicoll created a fashion factory, where make-up artists, dressers, photographers, technicians
 and himself were workers producing the models

To help you decipher what is going on here, observe the rectangular runway. Models walked
 it before stopping to have their photo taken for Richard's lookbook by Jermaine Francis. 
Within the runway is the hair and make-up area and two Mac terminals to record all the
 pictures. Around the runway hangs all 24 outfits from Richard's collection, and behind 
the plywood backboard models changed before walking out again.  

A model, with earphones in, stops on the conveyor belt catwalk to have her picture taken.

Unlike at a fashion show, when generally the designer is backstage stressing out, Richard was 
out front, relaxed and chatting away. First he told me what the idea was conceptually inspired
 by,"I thought about modern work habits and looked to constructivism, Jacques Tati’s 1967 
film ‘Play Time’ and industrial factory wear for form and colour references,” he explained. 
Hence the workman orange, cobalt blue, and neon yellow coloured clothes. 


To frame the why of this happening Richard was honest, "I didn't want to do a show. 
For me, personally I have a block when it comes to the show. I think of the concept, then
 the clothes. I'm just a kid from Perth, it doesn't fit my personality to do conceptual shows.
 I want the clothes to come first. I wanted to create authentic, simple and sensible clothes 
women can wear in their daily life."

Looks from Richard Nicoll's Modern Times collection (shot by Jermaine Francis) 

"Really what this is all about is, I suppose, me making peace with my commercial side," said

 Richard. "I feel creatively fulfilled. What I am all about now is serving my customer." Then

 he gave me a quick whoosh around his Factory space, stopping at the Mac terminals for a

 gaze at the lookbook shoot...

The photography studio area which was located inside the catwalk loop

Acid colours in Nicoll's AW12 collection 

All the looks from Richard Nicoll AW12

Cards setting out the look for each model.

Nicoll collaborated with Tusting on bags.

...before coming to a standstill in front of these two bags. The one below is the bag that based a wave of hysterical fashion Tweeting because it recharges mobile phones, something I wish my handbag could do, especially during the shows.  Richard created the bag with his sponsors Vodafone, whom he has partnered with for the second time for AW12 "we wanted to create a collaborative product that fused technology and fashion," he said. "So we came up with the idea of doing a charging bag that charges your mobile device on the go, which is especially relevant because this collection is about the notion of work and all its facets in modern times."

To use the bag it must be charged from the mains power using a cable that magnetically attaches to the outside of the bag. Once the bag battery is full, it will charge handsets for at least two days.

If you are thinking Where Can I Get One?? Join the club. To find out I called Richard who is out in L.A with the British Fashion Council presenting at the London Showrooms and he told me the bag is coming in white, orange, blue and black leather and Net-A-Porter have the exclusive on it. Will update further when I get retail price and in-stock date.

Nicoll, Tusting and Vodafone created the bag (above, and below) which charges your phone for you.

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

GLITTER SHOES: OUTDAZZLE THE NUDE

Posted by Fashion Junior at Large

Miu Miu FW11. Note the glitter shoes sparkling as they walk away on the left (Image from catwalking.com)

On the shoe front, Summer 2011 has been rather dull. Duchess Kate brought nude heel 'fever' upon the nation, egged on by early enthusiastic ramblings about the leg-lengthening magic such a shoe might offer. Nobody ever thought that though one's leg might look longer, the effect of no feet or shoes might be so disturbing as to detract from any initial benefit. ANYWAY, September is here and the fashion press are keen to move on from Summer's yawn-inducing blip. Lisa Armstrong at The Telegraph and Karen Dacre at the Evening Standard have both plumped for the red shoe as the New Nude. I would like to introduce you to the real fashion choice: the glitter shoe.

I understand that the red shoe is probably a more likely contender for what Kate wears next but the for the rest - break free! Abandon the nude boredom (by the time of Zara Philips wedding, the entire Royal clan had nude feet) and have a glitter party a la Miu Miu and Dolce Gabbana. The great news is that although these styles are particularly fabulous in heel form, the brogue and trainer versions will also bring glitterball brightness to an autumnal morning. The ultimate members of the glitter heel club are the Miu Miu varieties, some of which have already sold-out. Thankfully, there are still plenty to chose from but here are our favourites.

Miu Miu at My-Theresa £555

 Marc Jacobs at My-Theresa £525

Love the glitter/calf texture clash on these Miu Miu at Net-a-Porter £400

Glitter slippers- Pedro Garcia at Net-a-Porter £225

ASOS £40





Sparkly brogues at Dolce and Gabbana FW11 (Image from catwalking.com)

 These are boys shoes but they would be rather wonderful for emulating a Dolce and Gabbana catwalk look if your feet are anything over a size 6. I would love to spot a boy with beglittered feet, do you know any who might dare?


Glitter for Boys: Ask the Missus at Office £71.99

 If your glitter fixation knows no bounds then you could spend the whole of the next few months swinging between a Miu Miu heel and a Miu Miu trainer. We are very seriously considering that option.

Available at Miu Miu stores and concessions