SS12's SILVER LINING

Posted by Bethan Holt, Fashion Junior at Large

I’m going to confuse you horrendously now because instead of telling you about fashion weeks and what you might be wearing in six or eight months time, I’m going to talk about SS12 a.k.a what to wear and buy right now. September and February are both months which require seasonal gymnastics in the minds of fashion lovers because we're obsessed with what's coming out of the fashion weeks- see yesterday's and Monday's posts- but we're also feeling that now is the time to shop for the months ahead which means rewinding to the stuff we were getting excited about back in September. Silver is what I want to buy right now.

Silver ruffles at Sarah Burton's Alexander McQueen SS12

There’s rarely a time when metallics are distinctly unfashionable, after all they’re fun, good for evening party dresses and go with pretty much anything. But for Spring/ Summer, if you want to be in fashion then sheeny silver is the metallic to go for. In my book, silver is the nonchalant and much cooler younger sibling to revved up. full watt glam gold. 

 The sheen element which lots of designers gave silver for SS12 is very important. It taps into two of the season’s broader trends; Modern Sportswear and Under the Sea. The subtlety which comes from a sheen is much more in keeping with these moods.  Chanel's drawstring maxi silver skirt is the ultimate case in point. The fabric and cut is techy and futuristic, while the floor skimming length conjures the modern girl's version of a mermaid's tail, especially when styled with a translucent, gilled vest.

Chanel SS12

Olivier Theyskens did a similar thing at Theory. For those of us who are not good with full on dressed down, and therefore a bit worried about embracing sportiness in our wardrobes, Theory is a good place to go because the silver in this slouchy tee takes it up a notch or two in the dressed up stakes. The silver looks amazing next to denim too.

Theyskens Theory SS12

At Givenchy, the slithers of silver flounce trims bring to mind the lights bouncing off the fins of deep sea fish.

Givenchy SS12

Andy Warhol's Silver Clouds, 1966

Giles SS12

There were hints of silver at countless SS12 shows, but the most dedicated to the cause was Giles Deacon. His set resembled walking into a roll of tin foil (in a good way!). It was apparently inspired by Andy Warhol's room of Silver Clouds. Giles used numerous silver and swan inspirations in a collection which was really quite opulent. Having said that, this dress is super simple- the shape nods to sportiness. But the more-than-sheen-silver makes it properly beautiful.

At Christopher Kane, the use of silver was more sparing but it illuminated a collection which was about 'the girls you hated at school'. The metallics transported the initial inspirations of bullies and peeling council house wallpaper into a infinitely more angelic and heavenly realm. That's the power of silver.

Christopher Kane SS12

So, what to buy in silver? To my great regret, I will be limiting my personal silver purchases to accessories. This is due to a traumatic childhood experience in which a silver dress I wore to be a star in a nativity production was confiscated because it 'drained' me. Even though I now have access to blusher, I still can't face the memories. For those of you still able to wear silver, I've mixed in a couple of brilliant silver basics.

Acne's pistol boots have become pretty ubiquitous and much copied. They are the boot to buy if you need a one item route to looking on trend. So, we were pretty thrilled to see that MyTheresa has a limited edition run of 50 silver pairs since yesterday. They're not sold out just yet, but hurry.

Silver Acne pistols £400

 I bought a pair of wedges similar to these in Topshop's sale. I think they're great for taking the super sweet edge off a lot of what we'll be wearing this season.

Topshop £75

River Island £40

Alexander McQueen at Matches £560

Topshop £22

All catwalk images from catwalking.com

PREFALL AW12: GETTING TROUSERED

Posted by Melanie Rickey, Fashion Editor at Large

As a fashion editor I'm supposed to be analysing the just launching prefall collections to give you a steer on the where fashion is going, but instead I'm shopping for myself.  This is to be expected as the prefall collections are, certainly for me and my friends, the richest source for the designer clothes we hone in on and buy as they arrive at the shops in late summer.

I'm not a woman who buys an off-the-runway look. However fabulous it is, give me the stuff I can wear over and over again please. As a dedicated wearer of trousers (today I'm wearing my navy "Cult of Nobody"jeans AGAIN) I have been looking for inspiration for where to take my trouser style, and happily found it from my personal current favourite crop of designers. These are: Carven, Theyskens Theory, Preen, and Givenchy. Celine is currently off my list as the Autumn collection was too heavy to wear for normal London life, and way too expensive.

Sometimes I feel like the only trousers obsessed woman on the block... Its not that I don't like dresses, I can rock a dress like the best of them, but I love wearing trousers. Are there any more of you out there?

Theyskens Theory Prefall AW12 - these leather jeans are effing gorgeous

Giles Prefall AW12 - digging the flares again

Preen Prefall AW12 - a good shade of orange

Givenchy Prefall AW12 - loving this whole look to the max

Carven Prefall AW12 - i think you would call these "slacks" now theres a word I haven't heard for a while

Images are courtesy of the designers

DUCHESS KATE, WE HAVE AN LFW GUIDE FOR YOU...

Posted by Fashion Junior at Large

Over the Summer, we heard that Anna Wintour had given London based designers a brief: your muse must be the Duchess of Cambridge. It has already been shown that, like it or not, our new royal sells clothes in unprecedented numbers. If she wears it, a certain kind of everyday-stylish blow-dry obsessed girl/woman will want it.

The Duchess of Cambridge is under considerable pressure to wear British designers so it makes sense for them to play to her clearly demonstrated taste levels. But they can't explicitly write 'This is for you, Duchess Kate' on their show notes now can they?

The Duchess has already dipped her toe in the water of experimenting the current London line-up by choosing Erdem to wear for stepping off the plane as she embarked on her Canadian tour. This initial promise though failed to materialise as she stuck mostly to old faithfuls Issa, Temperley and McQueen for the remainder of her time away (apart from another Erdem dress for morning prayer on Day 3)

Kate, in Erdem, and William arrive in Canada (image from Daily Mail)

So, how did the London crew approach Wintour's call to arms? It is likely that the idea of using Catherine as their woman might grate, she's hardly on the cutting edge of glamour and modernity in those nude heels and fascinators is she? Well, we noticed a number of references to a kind of deranged housewife figure. The next chapter in a book begun by January Jones' Betty Draper. And actually, at the moment, that is how many people see the Duchess because she is overwhelmingly defined in the public eye by her role as wife. We don't know what she thinks or what she's passionate about. So, in my first attempt at replicating the previous Fashion Junior's Big Head feature, I have scoured images from the past few days to see what we might be seeing HRH in next Summer, and she'll have a lot to dress for what with the Olympics and the Queen's Diamond Jubilee celebrations....

Burberry- Kate and Wills were engaged in Kenya so she might be quite taken with this Kanga print

Clements Ribeiro. Lace is a sure hit with the Duchess

She already likes Erdem, florals and shifts so this is a must-buy

Giles does classic Princess-y shapes

Kate is Issa'a number 1 fan but this would be a change from the slinky wraps she usually chooses from the label

Sara Buys, Harper's Fashion Director and a relation by marriage of Kate's, chose Osman for her outfit to the Royal Wedding so surely on the radar

The most Kate worthy dress from Peter Pilotto's offering

Add heels and a fascinator and ta da, a classic K-Mid wedding outfit from Richard Nicoll

Daytime prettiness from Jonathan Saunders

Perfectly demure for a black tie event, again from Jonathan Saunders.

I don't even need to add a head to this, it has vintage Duchess Kate written ALL over it...

Issa

 And what she won't be wearing....

Meadham Kirchhoff weren't bowing to Wintour's memo, and good for them!

Images from catwalking.com

GILES TALKS PREFALL!

Posted by Fashion Editor at Large

Got a call from Justine Fairgrieve (the founder of Relative): "Giles has invited you over for a cuppa and a look at his pre-fall, fancy it?" Prefall is a current working obsession. Giles is funny, charming and a very smart designer who never takes himself too seriously and yet has a very serious business creating collections for his own line GILES, new client Ungaro and various other projects. I was there.

Giles thinks his data bend print maxi dress is "a bit Eva Beadle in Little House on The Prairie" (She was the school mistress). I think its beautiful - Giles, consider this a personal order!

Why the prefall obsession?  Fashion consumers desire for frequent deliveries on new product has made the inbetween collections pretty major. So these days while the runway shows are designed to create media buzz and set trends, pre sets the agenda for how we will actually dress and offers a hint of what might come in the mainline.

Did you know we are in fact far more likely to end up wearing"pre" collections for our daily working and social lives. Why? Because its what the stores buy most of! Tom Chapman the co-owner of Matches recently told me pre collections constitute the majority of their buy.

Evidence of how the pre category has vaulted to high importance status was demonstrated last week when several of the world's eminent fashion editors and designers congregated in New York to view/show pre-fall collections. Alexander Wang, Proenza Schouler, Balenciaga and Celine presented in showroom. Lanvin even had a pre-fall fashion show. You can view them on American Vogue's website, or better still read this precis by the lovely Sarah Mower at Vogue.com, then view.

The week after next the Haute Couture shows will take place in Paris. For the average busy fashion editor there are six significant Couture shows to attend, but for the first time I can remember an equal number of hours will be spent viewing the pre-fall collections from labels ranging from Chloe to YSL.

Along the pre-fall rail at Giles cavernous new studio in The Truman Brewery

Three years ago the Giles pre-fall collection comprised ten dresses. Now it is a 70 piece collection (above) and the stores spend almost as much buying into it as they do on his runway collection. That also tells you how times they are a changin.

"Pre collections can't just be nice basics anymore," he says while flicking through the rail of blouse dress, maxi dress, draped day dress, cropped jackets, jazzy flared trousers and some applique chain detail Miss Haversham evening dresses. I see a lot of GILES best silhouettes reworked in stricter proportions, and a few new ones too like the eye-poppingly intense violet cerise blouse dress below.  

The blouse dress in cerise silk crepe and silk satin

GILES collections tend to have one of two moods; playful or strict. This one is veering strict. "Yeah its stricter, tighter, more austere," he says, though there is techno fun to be found in his data bending print. "Data bending is when kids mess with the binary numbering of pixels within photographs. I don't get what they do, but my print designer Rory Crighton ran with it. I think this was achieved by lifting the scanner lid..."  

Ooh trippy! The data bend print again. I shook the camera a tiny bit for effect.

"You need workness. It can't be boring. Really, I see this as setting the agenda for how I move forward on the runway collection."

All Giles hangers have the little goggle eyes. So cute!

Then it's time for tea and we discuss the inspirations for his runway show, (to be revealed later) and he shows me the venue for his Ungaro show in Paris on March 7th. It is a government building that has never been used for a fashion show, and it took 11 years of asking for Ungaro to be allowed to use it. Judging from the pictures the ambiance of the Ungaro show will be utterly magical.

The Katie Grand styled lookbook images getting laid out for running order.

Pre-fall hits shops at the end of June. For more pre-fall check back Monday when Fashion Editor at Large picks her personal top ten from the collections so far, and Fashion Junior at Large picks her top five. 

HAVE A GOOD WEEKEND! 

MALIBU BARBIE: THE NEW STYLE ICON FOR SS11?!

Posted by Fashion Editor and Junior at Large

I'm in Paris. I love my little hotel on Rue St Honore, and how its just a block from Colette. In the cafe downstairs the manager even remembers my favourite red wine. The first 24 hours have been hectic. I interviewed Heidi Klum at the Ritz for Grazia, not before practically walking into Mario Testino in the lobby, and then being caught up in the flurry of Naomi Campbell leaving the building. Then there was Cavalli's amaaaazing party (read about in Grazia next week). After delivering the copy my first show was Balmain. Read the review over on Grazia Daily.

In the meantime, we have been thinking about the most important looks from London, and have realised that there is a new style icon in town.

Meet the muse for SS11: the one and only Malibu Barbie.

 

 The original Malibu Barbie, circa 1971

Having been released in 1971, Malibu Barbie is an icon from the era that nearly every designer referenced in their SS11 collections. Originally, she was sold wearing a fetching aqua swimsuit, with an eveningwear ensemble called 'Lemon Kick' - a yellow confection of pleated chiffon, with on-trend angel sleeves and flared trousers. 

As bizarre as it may sound, it does seem that Malibu Barbie's pastel-perfect colour scheme, love of a pleat and a way with floaty chiffon has indeed influenced what we will all be wearing next summer. The catwalks were awash with a palette of aqua, vibrant pinks, and flashes of yellow. Sleeves, capes, trousers and dresses were billowing silk-chiffon affairs in very Seventies styles, and denim was always in the palest of Charlie Girl washes. There were large helpings of crystal glitter (a Barbie essential), A-line shapes were enhanced with pleating and the abundance of fringing added to the Malibu beach feel. 

Still don't believe us? Let the pictures speak for themselves...

 House of Holland SS11

 

  House of Holland SS11

Richard Nicholl SS11

 

Giles SS11

 Unique SS11

 Matthew Williamson SS11

Mark Fast SS11

 Richard Nicholl SS11

It's not just the clothes, either. California golden blonde flicky hair, rainbow eye makeup, neon pink highlights and glittery lipgloss were the key runway beauty looks. Remind you of anybody?

Julian J Smith SS11

So there you have it: Malibu Barbie, inspiring girls since 1971, and the style icon for the new season. 

Images: Mattel, Style.com