The Met Ball 2012

1920s style ruled supreme at last night's Meta Gala with the fashion elite going for full on glitz. The annual ball which celebrates the opening of the fashion exhibit at the Costume Institute was this year hosted by Carey Mulligan, Miuccia Prada and Anna Wintour, fashion royalty indeed!

  

Carrie dressed in this fish scale creation and Anna Wintour in this full length beaded dress with fur looked every bit the classic Hollywood stars, both obviously wearing Prada!

It was not just these two who chose 20s glamour for the fashion world's best red carpet event, Cameron Diaz wore this beautiful beaded gown by Stella McCartney and Victoria's Secret model Karolina Kurkova wore a full on 20s glam look by Rachel Zoe.

January Jones wore this amazing golden yellow art deco inspired gown  and Kate Bosworth channeled her inner flapper with this short, feathered dress.

While many of the guests did celebrate the jazz age others played a far more risky fashion move. Eva Mendez, Katherine McPhee, Ginnifer Goodwin and Kristen Wiig risked red carpet clash and wore orange.

Eva wore a peplum detail gown (obviously by Prada) in right tangerine which worked wonders with her skin tone and Ginnifer Goodwin wore a lighter shade of bright orange, opting for a beautiful chiffon gown by Monique Lhuillier

 

Images via Mirror, Daily Mail and Just Jared

The Burberry Experience

Last Thursday saw the opening of Burberry's Taiwan flagship store in the Taipei shopping centre. A huge fan of Burberry myself, I can understand how they are managing to conquer new markets in difficult economic times. Watching the Fall 12 show streamed live online was an amazing experience and the soundtrack heightens the emotions, Numb by Marina and the Diamonds is now one of my favourite tracks.

Christopher Bailey celebrated the opening by unveiling the 360 degree immersive Burberry experience. This multi-sensory show was a feat of ground breaking technology, Facebook followers were able to follow online with live streaming, there was live music by British musician Tom Odell (obviously decked out in a Burberry trench) and an orchestra of Taiwanese students and even the British weather was imitated with confetti falling from the sky. 

The 14,800ft flagship store offering womenswear, menswear, fragrances, watches, and eyewear has received the same high-tech treatment with large expanses of LED walls streaming content from it's London headquarters.

Long gone are the days of the Burberry signature check being associated with, shall we say, undesirable clientele. What's next for the Burberry global empire?!

Let's go shwopping!

No it's not a typo, Joanna Lumley has been brought on board to drum up support for the M&S campaign "Swap and shop" aimed at encouraging shoppers to recycle their old clothes.

This scheme has received mixed reviews in the press with some publications suggesting M&S should not be encouraging fickle shopping by enabling people to readily discard unwanted items in favour of new ones.

This new campaign is part of a scheme that was set up in 2007 when M&S joined with Oxfam to collect unwanted garments to raise money. Who better to support this campaign for M&S than the nations treasure Joanna Lumley? Known for her outragous fashion antics in Ab Fab, Joanna has the classic style and soft speaking tone that fits with the M&S branding.

I read recently that Eastern Europe buys a large quantity of our unwanted clothes. Those items given to charity shops that do not sell or the bag schemes posted through your door where you receive £s per KG, are collected and shipped out to our neighbours on the continent.

I encourage the idea of swapping with my wardrobe styling business Wardrobe Wonders. It's a great way for people to get rid of old, unwanted garments and give them to a new loving home and it's much more exciting than a weekend spent ebaying the contents of your wardrobe in the hopes of raising a few pennies.

A scheme to benefit charities and encourage responsible shopping habits or motivation for customers to shop more, what's your opinion on this new scheme?

Let's hear it for the boys!

Over the past few years men's fashion has become more dominant in the industry with brands like Newlook creating new men's departments in their previously all female fashion stores. 

In January it was announced that London was to get it's own fashion week, giving menswear a much greater part to play in UK fashion than the previous 1 day at the end of women's fashion week. A select committee including Tom Ford and Christopher Bailey, headed up by GQ Editor Dylan Jones, will run the event.

Burberry Prorsum Men's AW12.

Following on from this exciting news, Selfridges have announced a shake up of their men's shoe department. Described in an article, in the latest online issue of Drapers, as "typically quite dry" Selfridges managing director aims to triple the floor space devoted to men's footwear and create a more inviting and accessible shopping experience for it's male customers.

Now I'm not really your regular Selfridges customer (or indeed male!) myself, family and friends often turn to Newlook/Topshop for our footwear needs, however I can see the attraction and logic behind this move. Nothing excites us more than a whole room of shoes, Newlook, Next, Topshop and many more high street retailers have seen the value in creating an individual, well designed shoe room in their women's stores. Why should this experience not be offered to the fashion conscious male?

Ever a fan of a well dressed man, I can't wait to see what's next for men's fashion!

Free people April lookbook

I first came across Free People on one of my design trips to New York and loved their carefree, hand crafted style. Whatever the season their collections have a festival feel, not surprising to learn that the brand's roots lie firmly in the 1970s.

Models Jacquelyn Jablonski and Hailey Clauson have been enrolled for this desert scene shoot. I love the vibrant pops of neon against the dusty background and neutral base colours of the clothes.

I'm mad about Coachella at the moment but these looks are perfect for the festival season and evoke the feeling of great adventures on road trips with your friends. The Navajo embroidery and headdress accessories tie the whole look together showing that tribal is definitely a strong look for this summer.

Alongside the earthy, indigiounous styles sit pretty, vintage pieces and one of my favourite shades, lipstick red. Pretty printed shorts with block colour tees or bold colour jeans, this seasons staple buy, mixed with pretty floral and lace tops.

This weeks task is clear, start planning this summer's fun with road trips and plenty of sunny adventures! (I write this as rain hammers my window, let's hope optimism pays off!)