LFW: Bora Aksu AW13

As regular readers may know, I have a severe soft spot for Bora Aksu's designs (you may remember from here, here, and here!) and once again, yesterday I was swept up in a world of dreamy desire at his show.

His signature style of multi layers and multi texture was still a key to the collection while new fabrics such as leather and fur added a touch of tough-luxe to the whimsical and floaty shapes. I was pleased to see the sharp, cropped blazers seen in his last collection were present but this time in a move on in panelled leather. His cute design touches such as shirt collars, ties and puffed shoulders added that touch of Aksu magic that I am so very in love with. 

Intricate technicalities such as lace and lace embroidery brought delicate innocence in contrast to the tougher feel to this season's collection. While the frost colour palette of whites, greys, dusty blues and cream was brought to life with deep berry tones and a touch of navy. 

Once again, Aksu's romantic celebration of modern femininity confirms his ability to make my heart flutter.

SHOW OF THE DAY.

   

   

Temperley SS13

Not wanting to regurgitate the same old content as everyone else during fashion week, I sat back on sharing my photos from the Temperley SS13 show in the vain hope that the burnings on your retinas of these pieces had faded away a little and that they might evoke the happiness and joy that they initially brought upon first viewing.

The blogging world was a little tough around fashion week this season. Many bloggers (big ones at that) have lost their passion for it a little and who's to blame them? PR tickets seemed to be fewer and fewer for the main attendees from the blogging circles and the same old 'show me your stats' situation was happening at the blogger desk at Somerset House.

With the blogosphere being full of the same images and the same shows I attended (for work and pleasure) I felt it didn't really do this particular show (my favourite of the season) any justice so I waited.

So here we are, Temperley SS13 in all it's glory. We were taken back to the French Riviera in the late 40s / early 50s with super-feminine nipped in waists, calf length full skirts and wrist-grazing girlie gloves all in a palette of powdery blues, bold reds and black on a base of crisp, clean whites - delicious.

The vibe of the show was somewhat reminiscent of Christian Dior's 'New Look' which was shown in 1947 with the small waists, full hips and those hats and the kudos that Temperley's collection has received only proves that classic style always wins.

Temperley always seem to hit the nail on the head when it comes to mixing classic and contemporary style but this season has blown me away even more than usual. BRAVO!

 

LFW: What We Wore

For day one, I had a rather lovely little number picked out but the weather didn't appear to be on my side so I went with a different, lovely little number but it did mean that I was in my standard uniform of head-to-toe black (hey, if it 'aint broke, don't fix it right?)...

My partner in crime Sarah-Leigh was a vision in her vintage blouse and denim combo...

Did You Arrive On A Unicorn?

I LOVED wearing this dress. It's a rare occasion that I get dressed up and it's even rarer that I go girlie, but a summer wedding was the perfect excuse to get out of my comfort zone (of black clothing and casual separates) and dress like I was in a fairytale. 

The dress is by Tibi and I was lucky enough to wear it courtesy of designer dress hire site (a girl's best friend)...Wish Want Wear.

Many thanks to Sarah Leigh for the photos.

Sale Picks

It's sale time! Oh I do love a good sale, I seem to spend hours trawling websites, drawing up wish lists and convincing myself that spending too much money is 'ok' because the pieces I am buying are half the original price.

Here are a few of my favourite picks that are up for grabs this season...

   

 

 

1. Yves Saint Laurent at Matches, 2. 3.1 Phillip Lim at Matches, 3.Theory at The Outnet , 

4. Stella McCartney at The Outnet, 5. Topshop, 6. Kurt Geiger

LFW: Antoni and Alison AW12

Antoni and Alison's collection was not my favourite of day one if I have to be honest. The simplicity of the collection is what makes it less of a favoured one for me as I am an absolute sucker for a ton of layers and lots of texture when it comes to autumnal dressing.

Their collection was made up of uncomplicated, silk dresses and tunics with textures digitally printed onto them. An interesting take on AW dressing yes but it just didn't grab me with excitement. I did like some of the prints, the herringbone and houndstooth check printed on the silk did look nice and I also liked the piece with the bow tie. All in all the collection was simple, easy and inoffensive it just didn't rock my world. However, I'm sure one of the silk tunic dresses would be a great piece for this summer with a sandal and a load of jewellery.

Oscar De La Renta Pre Fall 2012

Oscar De La Renta's pre fall 2012 collection was shown on Tuesday. For those not lucky enough to receive an invite, the show was also streamed live on the brand's Tumblr site. What a way to utilise social media!
Any how, back to the topic in hand...the show.

Images via Style.com

Preppy tailoring, statement prints, feminine dresses, floor length gowns and directional design, this collection has it all. I did find it all a bit of a mish-mash of many ideas as we see many different styles and pieces in this collection. I tend to enjoy a subtle signature thread running through a collection to hold it together and I did find that this collection lacks that but that in no way means that each piece isn't pretty darn great...there are unquestionably brilliant pieces throughout and many are in my (somewhat brimming) imaginary wardrobe.

Well done ODLR, another successful season ahead. (Now if someone could get me a winning lottery ticket soon, that would be just grand).

Watch the full show here...

            

LFW: PPQ SS12

The PPQ show was immense. I loved it, I even loved the huge queue (or the PP-Queue, see what I did there?) outside. Ok so maybe I didn't love the queue, but I did love the anticipation that grew whilst I was in the queue. Thank god I got there when I did as I doubt everyone behind me got in.

The sound track was amazing, a soft piano instrumental of Kanye West's Gold Digger played upon entry- a hint that Amy Molyneaux and Percy Parker are still being inspired by hip-hop?

The rest of the show was accompanied by banging 90s tracks which added to the glory of the collection. Opening looks were cutsey dresses in pretty pastels with little touches such as lapels and gold buttons. Then came the fun. Bold, bright abstract prints, lots of gold detailing and inspired yet wearable denim (courtesy of their collaboration with Lee Jeans). The brand also collaborated with Bebaroque for some draw-dropping tights, leggings and body suits.

Images taken from style.com (mine were sadly not up to scratch on this occasion!)

To conclude I would say the collection was a mis-mash of 90s hip hop, western cowboys, euro-trash and a touch of Zorro...all in the best meaning of the sense.

Perfect. It's LOVE.

I also bumped into famous 'FROW' and fashion week attendee, Pandemonia. You may remember her from my interview with her earlier this year. Read the interview here.

The finale...