THE BRITISH FASHION AWARDS.... CANDID CAMERA

Posted by Bethan Holt, Fashion Junior at Large
I've gathered up some of the pictures which guests were tweeting and tumbling as a bit of change from the night's official pictures.

There also are a few videos from the night's proceedings. If you weren't there then this is surely this is the next best thing?!

Abbey Clancy with Kristen McMenamy(from LOVE magazine's twitter)

Model of the Year, Stella Tennant, with Kristen (from LOVE magazine twitter)

British Style Award winner Alexa Chung, in Christopher Kane (from Net-a-Porter tumblr)

Amber Le Bon in Peter Pilotto *jelz* (from net-a-porter tumblr)

Caroline Sieber's shoes- pretty sure they're Charlotte Olympia (from Net-a-Porter's twitter)

Christopher Kane, winner of the New Establishment Award (and soon to be Uncle to sister and business partner Tammy's new baby) from Net-a-Porter's tumblr

Chris Kane accepts his New Establishment Award....

Daphne Guinness in Gareth Pugh (from Grazia's twitter feed)

David Gandy chats in the Net-a-Porter lounge (from net-a-porter tumblr)

Kate Moss with Sam Gainsbury, to whom she presented the
 Isabella Blow Fashion Creator award

Kate on stage (from Laura Craik's twitter)

Fashion blondies, Poppy Delevigne and British Fashion Cultural Ambassador,
Laura Bailey (from Laura's twitter)

The 'Loser' table- I can definitely see Paula Reed from Grazia, Jonathan Saunders and
 Kristen McMenamy. Losers indeed! (from LOVE magazine's twitter)

AW, Mary Katrantzou (Emerging Talent winner, yay!) with Alexander Fury from
showstudio.com (@fashedatlarge)

Watch Mary winning...

Sarah Burton backstage after winning Designer of the Year (Grazia's twitter)

Sarah accepts her award as Sam Cam looks on (from @fashedatlarge)

Watch Sarah collecting her award... 

Stella looks on as her mate Kate poses (Grazia's twitter)

Stella and Kate (BritFashAwards twitter)

Watch Stella getting her award...



You can watch all the event highlights here:



And the winners were:


DESIGNER OF THE YEAR - Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen

DESIGNER BRAND - Victoria Beckham

RED CARPET AWARD - Stella McCartney

ACCESSORY DESIGNER - Charlotte Olympia

MODEL - Stella Tennant

BRITISH STYLE AWARD - Alexa Chung

MENSWEAR DESIGNER - Kim Jones

EMERGING TALENT AWARD - ACCESSORIES - Tabitha Simmons

EMERGING TALENT AWARD - MENSWEAR - Christopher Raeburn

ISABELLA BLOW AWARD FOR FASHION CREATOR - Sam Gainsbury

NEW ESTABLISHMENT AWARD - Christopher Kane

BFC OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN FASHION - Paul Smith

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FASHION GOES TORY???

Guest Post by George Langford (Glitterbird)
aka the NEW Fashion Junior at Large

Fashion and politics don't always mix, but it seems that Mr Cameron's recent arrival at Number 10 has had a significant effect on the style set. It may be 20 years since the Conservatives were last in power, but it has taken about 20 minutes for two very Tory garments to become essential fashion items for young cool scenesters everywhere. The Barbour jacket and straw boater hat, previously the uniform of public schoolboys and huntin', shootin' country folk, are now two of this summer's must-have items.

       The Barbour "Bedale" jacket £179 from www.barbourbymail.co.uk

Barbour is an authentic, family owned British brand, which has long been the favoured supplier of outdoor garments to such style doyennes as the Duchess of Cornwall and the Queen.

 HRH Princess Royal showing the cool kids how it is done back in 1988!

The extremely Conservative, upper class jackets are traditionally dark forest green with a tartan lining and particularly pongy waterproof wax coating - so why on earth have they suddenly become fashionable?

This trend has been a slow-burning phenomenon of the power of street style - without any involvement by the brand itself, these jackets have fast become the only outerwear to be seen in, and if you aren't sporting one at a festival this summer, you might as well not have bothered going. Over the last three years, the Shoreditch set have embraced these chunky, hard wearing coats, and Barbour-fever has quickly spread across the rest of the UK.

Boys are rocking the 'Hackney Farmer' look, and smartening up their t-shirts and skinnies by slinging on a wax jacket, whilst girls are teaming theirs with floaty mini dresses and chunky boots for a surprisingly practical festival outfit.  Most bright young things are snapping up second hand Barbours at bargain prices - a brand new one can set you back around £200. However Barbour are quickly producing new styles to keep up with the fickle tastes of the festival crowd - wearing last years model is almost as bad as wearing some neon Wayfarer sunglasses (quelle horreur!). Alexa, Pixie Geldof et al were all wearing their Barbour "Bedale" see below and above at last weekend's Isle of Wight festival, so this trend ain't going nowhere (for this summer at least.) The other Barbour style storming up the popularity charts is the "Antique Coastal Durham".

 Alexa Chung at the Isle of Wight festival in her Bedale

The Antique Coastal Durham, £199.95 from barbourbymail.co.uk

To get the genuine, country-fied Barbour look, have a look at Oxfam's vintage selection here or get a brand new one from BarbourByMail.
 

Also making a comeback is the straw boater hat, which has quickly usurped all other styles to be the headwear of choice. Boaters were usually only seen on the heads of very, very posh public schoolboys - they have been regulation accessories at Harrow and Eton for hundreds of years. Apart from a once yearly outing at the (also very posh) Henley regatta, boaters had been consigned to the fashion skip.

Public schoolboys at Henley

A minor celebrity called Lady Gaga wore one last year and kick started the boater revolution - now these cute, easy to wear hats are all over the high street and on the heads of many a style maven.

Gaga in 2009, looking fairly normal, wearing a boater

 CherryBlossomGirl's best pal and fellow blogger, Louise, at Paris Fashion Week. http://www.misspandora.fr/

They are infinitely more chic than the trilby and cowboy styles that seem to reappear every summer, perhaps because they are remain true to a traditional design, just like the Barbour jackets. Gabrielle Chanel originally made boaters fashionable back in the early 1900s - and anything that was good enough for Coco is good enough for me. I bought my own boater from the Angel's Vintage sale way back in March, much to the ridicule of my peers, but look who is laughing now...

If you want to buy your very own boater, check out the Urban Outfitters version here or this classic style from Albertus Swanepoel at Net-a-porter.

Perhaps this move towards traditional British heritage garments is some sort of ironic protest against the Conservative government - a subversive sartorial mockery of the class divide. Wearing a Barbour or a boater is no longer the sole territory of Home Counties residents - everyone is at it! Young, old, 'have' or 'have not', it doesn't matter anymore. Wear your countryside garments with pride and the knowledge that you know you are being ironic, even if no-one else does.

(Images: Wayne Tippet, Rex, Peter Stigter)

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