SS12: TEN THINGS TO BUY RIGHT NOW

Posted by Bethan Holt, Fashion Junior at Large

While most of the fashion world had their eyes fixed on Milan this weekend, London Fashion Week's main venue at Somerset House was transformed into a shopping mecca for London Fashion Weekend. This is the consumer antidote to the press/buyer event earlier in the week. I was representing FEAL in the Vodafone Lounge on Thursday and Sunday, giving a little talk about being on trend for SS12. It was great fun and lovely to meet lots of the shoppers.

Here are the ten items I told them to buy to be right on trend for SS12...

1. SILVER
We blogged about silver just before LFW. We spied a lot of silver around fashion week- usually in shoe or bag form, as well as a brave few in silver jeans. Anything with a silver sheen ties together two of SS12's biggest themes- Under the Sea and Sporty- very nicely.

Silver trousers £560 Alexander McQueen  at Matches

2. SOMETHING LACY
More specifically, white lace. Lace is always in but it's having a particular moment right now. Contrary to its usual reputation as delicate and super pretty, the thicker your lace is the better for SS12. That's why broderie anglaise (white cotton with a cut-out, lace-like pattern) is a good alternative if lace isn't quite your thing. The picture below is a rather classic example of how-to-wear lace from the lovely Erdem. But the couture tee from Oasis is super versatile.

Erdem SS12

White daisy lace tee £40 from Oasis

3. A CRICKET JUMPER
I'll admit these aren't all over the shops but in my opinion a cricket jumper would be a solid addition to the SS12 wardrobe. I love the way Christopher Kane's were styled with silk mini skirts, it's like the most luxe school uniform you could imagine. However, the cricket jumper is also a nice nod to the Olympic spirit without being too literal. And the best thing? They are readily available in the wardrobes of any boys in our lives and/or charity and vintage shops. Score.

Christopher Kane SS12

Vintage Cricket jumper £30.50, from a selection at Beyond Retro

4. A DIRNDL SKIRT
We're not telling you to dress up like Austrian peasants but we are loving the shape of their traditional skirts. One of these, especially in a lovely print, will be a mainstay of your SS12 wardrobe and is super-versatile, dress down, dress up, be girly or tomboy it with a t-shirt and converse. This Warehouse one is not quite so pouffy as many of the catwalk ones but carries the same idea.

Yellow floral £38 from Warehouse

5. PYJAMAS
Ok, not just any PJs but luxurious, silky head-to-toe print, especially paisley, is the idea here. Get the set and wear altogether with heels for evening cocktails. Alternatively, wear separately for a less full-on vibe.

J.W Anderson SS12

Whistles take on pyjamas: top £85, trousers £125

6. BRIGHT TROUSERS
This is a pretty open field- if you're brave enough go for some fluoro/ pastel jeans (the styles below are from Christopher Kane's J Brand collaboration). Alternatively, there are lots of really cute print jeans about, think palm trees and pineapples. My personal choice will be these Topshop chinos.

Christopher Kane for J Brand

Pink chinos £28 from Topshop

7. FLATFORMS
Mrs Prada started this off and there's no sign of the trend abating. In fact, SS12 sees a branching out beyond the styles with brogue uppers to a sandal look. These are a definite move on from the wedge. I love these with a painterly floral panel but ASOS have plenty more, including Nicholas Kirkwood for Pollini's rope ones and more sporty versions.

Floral flatforms £50 ASOS

8. HI-TOPS
Thanks to Isabel Marant's Bekket hi-tops- complete with massive tongue and hidden two inch wedge- the hi-top has gone from street wear favourite to fashion's darling shoe. The Bekket might be the ultimate combination of all the possibilities but there are also plenty of styles which give a sleeker look, as well as those which are more authentically sporty, like the Nike ones below which I will be purchasing shortly.

I spotted the Bekkets at Berlin Fashion Week.

Nike x Liberty £74.99 Office

See by Chloe at My-Wardrobe £262

9. MANOLO BLAHNIK HEELS
The FashEd recently wrote about the resurgence of love for a timeless Manolo Blahnik heel. In September it became clear that Marc Jacobs had been hugely influenced by Manolo's Mary-Janes and Mules- he used the style in his own name and Louis Vuitton collections. Every girl should have an elegant yet run-for-the-bus capable pair of heels in her wardrobe and Manolo is the first man to call. Especially poignant as it is the designers 40th anniversary.

Red heels £280 by D&G at My-Wardrobe

10. RUCKSACK
Sporty, cute and easy- rucksacks are already proving popular according to our very scientific survey involving looking at people out and about. If that sporty bit  repulses you then plenty of designers/ stores have done more grown up versions in more structured shapes and expensive leathers.

Carven SS12 (Image from lloyd-evans.com)

Printed rucksack £225 by Diane von Furstenberg at Net-a-Porter

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OUR FASHION WEEK FARFETCH SPREE

Posted by Melanie Rickey, Fashion Editor at Large and Bethan Holt, Fashion Junior at Large

How much time and money would it take to travel to over 100 boutiques from London to Berlin to Milan to, er, Dallas? Not as much as you might think now that we've started using Farfetch.com. Shopping for designer pieces online is no new phenomenon but what we love about farfetch.com is what it puts back into our online buying experience. By this I mean that every time you buy an item from the site, your purchase is coming from a small, carefully edited boutique be it Start in London or Mode de Vue in Paris. For us, farfetch.com is a one stop shop for getting pieces picked by a massively varied group of buyers, all with very different customers in mind. Ultimately, it's a good way to expand your shopping horizons.

At this fashion week time of year, a site like Far Fetch is particularly welcome. We've been scouring their products, which at 35,000 is three times the number stocked by most other designer e-tailers, for the best finds for fashion week and Spring/Summer. The mix is immense; there is no one prevailing mood so a bit more scouring than usual is required. The nicest way to browse is via each boutique- you get a small description of the store and an image of the retail space alongside all the products they have available on farfetch.com. The nostalgic shopper in us loves the idea of eventually visiting a boutique where a much loved item came from.

Here are Melanie's fantasy farfetch.com purchases...

I've been hankering after this cuff ever since I first saw it at Balenciaga's showroom in Paris last October. It's my birthday next month if any friends/family are reading this!

Balenciaga cuff £264 from Al Duca d'Aosta in Italy

Every woman needs a black silk blazer in her life, and they don't come as smart or with as much edge as this one by Maison Martin Margiela.

Maison Martin Margiela blazer £1049 from L'Eclarieur in Paris

I buy my summer sandals in February every year. These are the ones for 2012 for me. Love the mix of glitter upper and utilitarian sole

Glitter sandals by Givenchy £510 from Bernard in London

A lace bell skirt from the most formal and most elegant designer in NYC, Mr de la Renta

Oscar de la Renta skirt £1199 from L'Eclaireur in Paris

A Chanel quilted rucksack – the perfect fashion handbag for this spring.

Vintage Chanel rucksack £1650 from Rewind Vintage Affairs in London

And Bethan's fantasy farfetch.com purchases...

Perfect pyjama shirt by the Olsen twin's label The Row

The Row silk shirt £394 from George in Austin, USA

Mad but fab floral trousers from Dolce and Gabbana- I could happily spend my summer in these with a loose white vest and some wooden heeled sandals. 

Dolce and Gabbana trousers £259 from Spinnaker Women  in Italy

Tortoiseshell is my favourite pattern for sunglasses. I love the added bonus of the purple lens on these from Henrik Vibskov.

Sunglasses by Henrik Vibskov £116 from the Henrik Vibskov boutique in Copenhagen

I could get through the whole summer in these Chloe two tone block heels- the height is perfect.

Chloe sandals £345 from Biondini in Paris

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SHOPPING: BOXPARK

Posted by Melanie Rickey, Fashion Editor at Large

Boxpark Shoreditch looks a lot like this, but I didn't have a helicopter to get the angle

I must admit I was quite excited about the prospect of Boxpark, which promised to be the "coolest pop-up shopping mall in the coolest area of the coolest city of the planet." The idea behind it is to use former shipping containers recycled to use use as shops, and have them occupied by young clever brands that would not normally be able to afford their own retail space. The concept allows the piled up containers to be placed in a disused area, thus regenerating it while also creating work for local unemployed people and helping young businesses to flourish in these challenging economic times. The Boxpark idea also seemed to offer something new and, crucially, uncorporate to the shopping area of the locale it is placed in.

The charity Art Against Knives has my favourite outlet. Their rent is subsidised by Boxpark: thumbs up for that. 

That was the idea. The reality is the two storey "pop-up mall", with 40 units downstairs and 20 units upstairs which is dropped next to the new Shoreditch High Street overground station, opposite Shoreditch House private members club, is everything it said it would not be.

Ok, you can build it in a no time; but this is no pop-up. The plan is for Boxpark to stay in positon five years.
I imagined an array of eclectic brands moving in - and was looking forward  to making some discoveries but independent contemporary brands are certainly not in evidence.

This place will be heaven if you are a man over thirty who loves streetwear. Nike has four units. New Era, Kangol, North Face, Diesel, Oakley, Dockers and Puma all have units. Err... last time I looked all of these brands were amongst the biggest and most powerful in their category on the planet.  There are some quirky stores: Cyber Candy sells fun American sweeties and oddly flavoured lip-balms, and both Amnesty International and Art Against Knives have units upstairs alongside the food and drink outlets which are genuinely good...

Fancy kissing someoen whose lips taste of chips?

The guy behind Boxpark is Roger Wade, the founder of the Boxfresh street wear label that was cool way back in the 90s. In his press conference, he gave us a whole spiel about how he was "a little guy thinking big". He cited Steve Jobs as his inspiration before painting himself as a Man With a Dream, an idealist who wanted to make shops out of container boxes and change the world of retailing. When he was asked how much it cost to set up, he claimed "It's not about money, its about the the community, the idea, giving back..." Then he introduced his new non-executive chairman, Charles Dunstone of Carphone Warehouse asking him "How many shops do you have, Charles?" The answer was 850.

It would have been so much better if he'd just been honest. Boxpark is about money. Boxpark is a business. There's nothing shameful in that. It is also about his big idea, which is patent pending. Wade got into hot water last month after threatening a similar container shopping mall in Christchurch New Zealand with legal action over Intellectual Property rights. That the container mall was created to house businesses displaced after the earthquake, didn't deter Mr Wade's lawyers.

Roger Wade says "All high streets look the same, from Brighton to Bristol." Yet his plan is to bring Boxpark pop-up malls to the world.

The high points of Boxpark were Art Against Knives and a visit to Hop Namo, the Vietnamese cafe upstairs at the venue. It turns out the owner's parents used to run my favourite Viet Cafe in my old Dalston neighbourhood.

Yum!

Hello!

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Uterqüe

It's time for you to officialy meet my new favourite bag, already seen here and here. Buttery soft cognac leather, big enough to hold both my laptop and DSLR, with the perfect shoulder strap length to carry it around all day.

Bought 50% off a couple of months ago at Uterqüe.

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Changes

I really can't decide what's the weirdest in this post. The fact that H&M finally started stocking real leather accessories or that I bought nail polish?

Nevermind if I will actually use it, but still.

People and brands alike should try new things once in a while.

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Accessorize for summer

Last year's. One of my now traditional lets-pop-into-the-airport-Accessorize-shop-and-try-not-to-miss-our-flight buys.



Let the holidays begin.

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Saia, my Melissa dealer

I've told you about Saia before. It's where I go to get my Melissa shoes fix.

Remember those? Well, meet these:Melissa Patchuli in cream, from this season's collection.

Yes, they came home with me.

Proper shoe porn pics to follow, as usual.

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H to the M

Bremen, summer of 1998.

Back when H&M was still Hennes & Mauritz.

I still remember everything I got in that first fast fashion shopping spree of mine. I was like a kid in a candy shop. Still wear several of them. I love my clothes. Who said fast fashion has to be disposable?

Oh and yes, I am that old.

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