Design duo Meadham Kirchhoff seemed to be asking us to get ready to party next Autumn with their latest show at London Fashion Week. Their catwalk show was a celebration of glitter, sparkle and primary colours in a glam rock style with stand-out pieces that could make your wardrobe dazzle. The collection was like entering a huge dressing up box of flamboyant garments. Which item would you grab from the treasure chest?
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Fashion: Mary Katrantzou’s clothes erupt on the catwalk
23 FebThere were a number of times when I gasped and swooned at the delectable combination of patterns and fitted or flouncing frocks at the London Fashion Week Autumn/Winter show from Mary Katrantzou. Her collection is for anyone who likes a little excitement in their clothes. You can’t really be a wilting wallflower in the corner with her bright blue, green, yellow and red prints. The fabric designs were wonderfully striking and sure to liven up those short days of winter and very long nights. Makes me wish I’d splashed out on her Top Shop collection last week but my favourite item was the first dress to sell out.
Fashion: Tracy Reese adds gold dazzle to autumn collection
18 FebBefore we leave the delights of New York Fashion Week, let us dip into the delights of the Tracy Reese collection. She gives us a taste of sunshine to look forward to in the midst of Autumn/Winter with her shades of yellow, orange and gold. It’s a spirited mix of fun items to bring you alive in the depth of gloomy weather. It does have its more serious shades such as dark purple but each item is injected with fun. The collection offers a broad range of hemlines for dresses and skirts alike. Also for tops you can select from v-necks and crew necks.
Fashion: Victoria Beckham unveils her Autumn collection
16 FebVictoria Beckham’s catwalk show for Autumn at New York Fashion Week makes no attempt to distract you from the main highlight – the clothes. With a stream of models clad in slimline figure-hugging mid-length dresses in muted, serious shades designed to focus you on a womanyly shape, the clothes are the star. You home in on the contrast panels shaped to the female silhouette and the long zips at the back which flow over curves to a seductive split. Sometimes there’s a cut-out back to add to the femininity or accentuation of the waist with a belt. Straight coats add a chic cover-up and of course a boxy handbag to set up the complete look. There’s the occasional A-line mini dress skimming the hips too. All very alluring.
Fashion: New York Fashion Week is here!
14 FebWell Spring is about to launch but it’s time already to look ahead to what we’ll be enticed to wear in Autumn. New York Fashion Week started on 9th February and continues until 16th February.
One of the highlights so far has been Alexander Wang’s collection of tailored womenswear in mainly black, white with some flashes of colour. His models weaved between urban blocks in a grey urban ladscape to show off boxy coats and jackets, boots gracing the knees, slim trousers ending at the ankle, centre-split pencil skirts with tight figure-hugging dresses with shoulders out (see more in the video above).
Strawberry sorbet chic!
29 Jan
Cherrydial’s homage to all things pink this month closes with searching through my jeanswear and jumper collection. I found the corduroy (Next) and denim trousers (NW3) featured and a cute pink fluffy jumper (Miss Selfridge). I was desperate for some strawberry sorbet or some smooth ice-cream after gazing at them. Perfect items for Spring.
Fashion 2012: Think pink!
15 Jan
My pink Hobbs NW3 coat is coming out for this season
As we look forward to longer days and have our fingers-crossed for warmer weather, a new fashion season is here. An old favourite is back on the scene – the colour pink! This time it’s not just for little girls but us big girls can get our hands on loads of it too. In the interests of being frugal – I delved into the back of my wardrobe and picked out an old pink coat of mine from NW3 at Hobbs. It’ll keep me warm while brightening me up on these chilly days.
Going back in time with… coats
13 Nov
Winter’s nearly here and my thoughts have been turning to coats. I’ve been delving into my wardrobe to see what fits that seventies trend that I mentioned in my blog earlier in the year. My latest seventies styled coat is the burgundy one above from Wallis. I also found a couple from years gone by – a brown leather one from Rocha.John Rocha and a yellow check one from TopShop. Cherrydial loves a bit of colour.
Film review: Coco Chanel and Igor Stravinsky
5 SepYou may expect, with a biographical movie about a fashion legend such as Chanel (Anna Mouglalis), to see much of her fashion but this isn’t the purpose of the movie directed by Jan Kounen. In this French production set in 1913, there are scenes that hint at her powerful place in fashion but this really looks firmly at the affair she had with the great composer Stravinsky (Mads Mikkelson).
The Russian composer is struggling financially and the affair starts when Chanel offers a home to him and his family, including his sick wife, at her villa just outside Paris. In Chanel’s gloriously stylish black and white decor home, he is able to make progress with the Rite of Spring, a ballet which controversially eventually causes a riot as some feel it is too modern for it’s time.
Chanel has a strong physical attraction for the composer and he for her. They embark on a sexual relationship with no boundaries and seemingly no conscience while Stravinsky’s wife (Elena Morozova) is but a few rooms away with her children.
We gain no real insight into what they feel for one another apart from a strong physicality but I took from it some hints. Psychologists say strong romantic relationships need to have a good mix of friendship, respect and the sexual side or else the partners will feel something is missing. With Chanel she seemed to eventually feel the respect was missing and maybe even the friendship – the result of rushing into an addictive physical interaction without even knowing how much they truly like each other as people. For Stravinsky he misses the friendship and support of his wife who understands his relationship to music more than anyone. You could argue that he may never have turned to Chanel if his wife hadn’t been ill. You feel most sorry for the wife who, though her husband still loved her, was turning to someone else for his intimate physical needs. This made her feel worthless, unattractive and isolated. Of course there was only so much of this that she could take and she felt driven to leave the situation – the rejection eventually being too much to bear no matter how much she loved him. The friendship and respect wasn’t enough to sustain her as it wouldn’t be for most. The affair itself was doomed and apparently only lasted a few months in reality.
However these are just my interpretations of their feelings and it certainly did make me think about the structure of relationships as I wrote this. What makes a happy balanced relationship? However, this is just guess-work as none of the insights were quite so direct in the film. This is one of the failings of the movie – that we have to guess and we really do not know what they felt so it makes us also feel a little dissatisfied though it is beautiful to look at and the acting is compelling.
Fashion news: Button up! Autumn’s here
22 Aug
Military is in again this autumn
We’re in August, the nights are drawing in and there’s moisture in the air that suggests we’re not that far from colder weather though it’s not time to dedicatedly take a scarf out with you yet. One of the only few pleasures of the increasing cold is the return of sumptuous winter jackets and coats.
So what’s in store this year in women’s fashion? Camel’s back after being shunned for a few seasons. Reiss has created a chic camel cape to hide inside. You can also rely on red to brighten your look – Hobbs has several red jackets to take you through to winter. Also, if you’re feeling unadventurous but very practical, the high street still reliably supplies many black and grey style outerwear options.
This winter sees another take on the military look with longer coat styles back on the menu. Double-breasted button details abound. Leather is still big this season with the jackets from brands like All Saints and Muu Baa having a military edge.
One of the biggest trends is the shearling aviator jacket – a take on the very successful look from the catwalks of Burberry Autumn/Winter 2010. The style is likely to be a big hit because it’s actually really wonderful to be warm and chic at the same time!
Happy coat shopping!
(Deborah’s photo taken by Beverley Twaites)
Cherrydial 