Monday fun day

Week off work - too good. Monday cruising Brick Lane and Columbia Road, lunch at the genius lunch spot that is Brawn and now cinema and a Snog. Happy days.

Paris Fashion Week: Spring/Summer 2012

Try as i might i can't avoid all the really big shows altogether, especially when i'm talking about Paris. So i'll spend a line on Givenchy, which I thought was really beautiful. A muted palette of the lightest fleshy pinks, sting-ray green, black and white with crocodile skin lapels and sleeves, which a healthy portion of my favourite buttoned-up collars.

The rest of my Paris faves were a mix of prim, little girl chic and relaxed surf-girl layers in understated colourways, with Marant delivering on desirable knitwear and Carven, the A-line skirts.

Carven

Vanessa Bruno

Isabel Marant

(images from style.com)

All done. That's it. Am looking forward to next summer already.

Milan Fashion Week: Spring/Summer 2012

So.... Milan Fashion Week as a general rule leaves me pretty cold. Obviously Prada is epic, that goes without saying, but i can't be bothered to blog about it because everyone in the world knows it's epic and that's a bit dull. I'd much rather focus on this weird and wonderful collection by Akris which was my absolute favourite of the week.

Born from the random but brilliant inspiration pool of the Monaco Grand Prix, the dresses had go faster stripes made from vintage racing cars and prints made of sweeping track corners with crowds looking on. Bizarre. But brilliant. Best of all though is this one particular dress, I can't work out whether i want to wear it or turn it into a print and slap it on my wall. Or both. Either way it's wicked. A seriously left-field but clever use of print.

London Fashion Week: Spring/Summer 2012

London Fashion Week. Things were looking good on the home field this season, some disappointments, some surprises and some reassurances that those you thought were becoming really epic, actually were. Namely Chris Kane and Jonathan Saunders. YES. They are some seriously nice clothes... Plus some really quality details, like the Burberry hat Abbey Lee is so kindly modelling upstairs.

Christopher Kane

Jonathan Saunders

Acne

The thing that has been the subject on everyone's lips this season is the colour. Colour everywhere. How has an industry so hell-bent on black suddenly become a paint box of citrus and sorbet-brights? Who knows, but i love it. Colour combos i would never have thought of all meshed together in a big colour clashing print pile. It's seriously nice, and exactly how i want to dress.

But, on the flip side, still advocating the good ol' mostly monochrome is relative newcomer Simone Rocha - my newest London design crush and daughter of the LFW legend John, who sat opposite me at the show wiping tears off his cheeks with paws shaking with pride. Detachable lace collars sandwiched between layers of plastic, rubber box T-shirts, absinthe green net skirts and dresses made from the thinnest leather and organza i've ever seen.

Simone Rocha

(all snaps from style.com)

New York Fashion Week: Spring/Summer 2012

New York, my favourite fashion week, did not disappoint me this year (apart from my beloved Proenza Schouler going off-road and heading inland by way of the African desert, abandoning their faultless beach-chic aesthetic and hitting up the tribal vibe. Sounds good? It wasn't. At all. I feel a bit like i've been robbed). ANYWAY, what Proenza lost Prabal Gurung gained, i.e. a big fan in me. Whilst old favourites Rag and Bone and Alexander Wang, and relatively new face Band of Outsiders, got the cockles of my creative heart going nicely for the first week of fashion month.

Prabal Gurung

Rag and Bone

Alexander Wang

Band of Outsiders

All seriously good shows, mostly anyway (Alexander Wang had some questionable moments) and all so wearable, which is why I love New York FW. You could actually rip the clothes off the models skinny backs and wear them in real life without feeling like your playing dress up in your mother's clothes, like i would in Milan and Paris's uber-chic offerings.

Stateside favourite though (and a contender for my season favourite) was 3.1 Phillip Lim. A layering masterclass, a palette that made you want to lick each look as it came down the runway and cute boyish shapes that somehow still made for a feminine silhouette. Perfection.

3.1 Phillip Lim

(all snaps from style.com)

Spring/Summer 2012

Wow. Today was the end of a seriously long month. Was sort of reduced to a fashion slave for the past four weeks, watching shows and putting stuff online, generally just moving and shaking on the fashion world's every whim with only two days off, one of which i spent running the aforementioned half-marathon (which btw i managed to crack out in 2hrs, 2mins and 22seconds against all odds).

But i've managed to muster up a last bit of enthusiasm for the fashion cause and gathered together a shitload of pictures of my favourite shows to share with whoever reads this blog. If anyone.

So without further ado... following this here post, there'll be four photoshop-tastic posts devoted to my thoughts on SS12.

Enjoy

x