THE WEEK IN FASHION: 30th JANUARY- 2nd FEBRUARY

Posted by Bethan Holt, Fashion Junior at Large

It's cold outside, here's some fashion news to warm you up...

Jonathan Saunders SS12

Congratulations to the super wonderful Jonathan Saunders who has won the BFC/ Vogue Fashion Fund Award. He'll get £200,000 and specific mentoring to help his business grow. It's clear to me that Saunders 'gets' something about what women want from their clothes which is why his sales have skyrocketed by 118% in the past year; for the London shows, every other front rower was wearing a piece of Saunders. We're really pleased for you Jonathan! Let's not forget the runners-up who must have made the panel's decision pretty tough; Peter Pilotto, Mary Katrantzou, Roksanda Ilincic, Richard Nicoll, Zoe Jordan, Nicholas Kirkwood, Marios Schwab and Meadham Kirchhoff.

When  Jonathan's win was announced, Lulu Kennedy (who supported Jonathan through her Fashion East scheme early in his career) tweeted a picture of Natalia Vodianova wearing a Saunder's dress on the cover of Vogue in 2004. I thought it'd be nice to share- thanks Lulu!

Jonathan Saunders covers Vogue in 2004- image from Lulu kennedy's twitter

A look from Stine Riis' collection (from wwd.com)

The first winner of the H&M Design Award was announced at Stockholm Fashion Week yesterday. Stine Riis is originally from Denmark but recently graduated from London College of Fashion. She wins 50,000 euros as well as the opportunity to have pieces from her collection sold in H&M stores in the Autumn. Check out the video below for all the action from the final...



Talking of LCF, the FashEd and I had a brilliant and inspiring time on Tuesday night at the college's MA exhibition. We heard lots of great stories and saw some beautiful work. Look out for our full report next week.

 Last year, Robin Derrick left British Vogue to work on the re-launch of the US edition of Harper's Bazaar. The fruits of his challenge to revamp the title were revealed this week with a stark monochrome cover starring Gwyneth Paltrow. According to our favourite New York tweeter @jimshi809 the 'Redesigned Harper's Bazaar US is one-inch bigger w/ thicker paper & new fonts & every new section starts w/ the world "the."' Now we know!

One of the many brilliant personalities in the Cunningham film,  Shail Upadhya, a
Nepalese UN representative and one of Bill's regular subjects.

This week, I spent an amazing evening at the UK premiere of 'Bill Cunningham New York', Richard Press's new documentary about the 80 year-old New York Times photographer. The event was sponsored by Grazia, and afterwards Paula Reed hosted a Q&A with Chris Moore, legendary catwalk photographer and owner of catwalking.com. His is a completely unique career which has seen him chart 'true' trends from the past half century. As well as paying attention to what's happening on the catwalks, Bill tirelessly scours the streets of NYC to discover what people are REALLY wearing and how they're wearing it. Many call him the original street style photographer. Although I think that's true, there's definitely much more to it than that which is why I am very happy to see the film's blurb describe him as a 'cultural anthropologist'. His observations are sharp and his knowledge of fashion and trends is encyclopaedic. His comparison of the work of Rei Kawakubo at Comme des Garcons in the 80s with the style of the bag women living on the streets of New York at the time is still playing on my mind, and shows the unique position he is in to marry the pavement and the catwalk. The film is a must-see, even if fashion is not your thing. It's out at selected cinemas in March. 

Cunningham's fab picture of Isabella Blow (from lightbox.time.com)

Another month, another round of magazine covers. Elle and Vogue have both gone with Louis Vuitton's sugar sweet broderie anglaise for their fronts covers. Lana del Rey is Vogue's new cover girl demostrating the astonishing speed of her rise from unknown to virtually notorious; her newly released album has not received the best reviews yet she is number one in multiple countries. But if Vogue puts her on the cover then it confirms that there is something of the zeitgeist about her. Given that Love magazine editor Katie Grand also consults for Louis Vuitton, we thought ice cream girly prettiness was a given for the publication's latest edition. How wrong we were. The cover line reads 'The End of Elegance' which seems a direct challenge to the ladylike loveliness which is clearly the prevailing mood. Does this mean pastels might be as fleeting an obsession as Lana del Rey?

Lana (by Mario Testino) prettified for Vogue (image from www.vogue.co.uk) 

Linda Evangelista covers Love, shot by Mert and Marcus(image from @thelovemagazine)

Fragile: Linda Evangelista in Giles (image from @thelovemagazine)

FEAL is mostly about womenswear but that doesn't mean we don't appreciate a well-dressed man. Both of us think Tinie Tempah is a rather fab dresser so we are happy to see that he has been named Britains' Best Dressed Man by GQ. In other news from the list, Prince William didn't make it into the top 50 despite that bright red Irish guards wedding outfit. Wills, if you're upset at GQ's decision we suggest ditching the flat caps and 'cashmere jumper round shoulders' as starting points for sartorial transformation in time for next year, or ask your Dad who scraped in at no. 50.

Tinie does bow ties and monochrome (image from telegraph.co.uk)

After revelations about extravagant mid-recession halloween parties, we'd have thought the Obamas would be keen to avoid any more big spending sprees- not such great publicity in election year. So the story that Michelle paid a visit to the Madison Avenue branch of Agent Provocatuer and picked up $50,000 worth of goodies- lucky Barack- seems very unfortunate. She was apparently accompanying Sheikha Mozah, the Queen of Qatar, during her trip to the US last year. However, Jay Carney, the White House Press Secretary, strongly denied the story telling WWD:

'In this case, it’s utterly false, and it’s irresponsible of an American news organization to repeat the story, even allowing that it could be true. So it’s wrong.'

Apparently The White House was unable to provide 'evidence' that the First Lady had not visited the purveyors of sexy underwear- the mind boggles. While Michelle cannot be too pleased about the story, Agent Provocateur say the 'unexpected famous names' who patronise the business have contributed to its continued growth.

The Obamas are joined by Tim burton at their halloween do in 2009 (image from chicksontheright.com)

As part of the cultural programme to coincide with the Olympics, the BFC is hosting an International Fashion Showcase across London. Nineteen embassies and cultural institutes will showcase the work of up and coming designers from the countries they represent. Sarah Mower will be chairing a panel of judges which will examine the work of the 80 or so designers set to participate. On 19th February, a winning country will be announced. 

Belgian designer A.Knackfuss is set to be a highlight of the
showcase (image from mussola.style.it)

Finally, while we thought the images for Prada's SS12 campaign were a bit boring but the accompanying video, released this week, adds a bit more attitude to the concept, don't you think?

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THE WEEK IN FASHION: 23rd- 27th JANUARY

Posted by Bethan Holt, Fashion Junior at Large

The world of fashion is racing ahead at full throttle right now; menswear and couture are just done and February is just around the corner which means we're on countdown to the big four fashion weeks. And that all means there's plenty of fashion news to let you know about...

E.Tautz- one to watch at the menswear shows (image from sharpened lead.com)

News from the British Fashion Council: London is to have its very own mini menswear fashion week. The June dates precede the established shows in Milan and Paris. The change also makes commercial sense because it ties into the calendar for buyers. We're glad to see menswear getting its own moment in the spotlight rather than seeming like an afterthought to womenswear (until now, London Fashion Week had a men's day tagged on the end). It makes perfect sense too; London being the home of Savile Row- the ultimate menswear shopping destination.

Michelle Obama at this week's State of the Union address (image from guardian.co,uk)

At this week's State of the Union address, Michelle Obama continued her rather impressive track record on occasion appropriate dressing with a Barbara Tfank sapphire blue dress. However, one blogger on the French Elle website took the opportunity to write an article which argued that the Obamas have enabled black style to move from 'street wear' to 'chic'. Naturally, a row ensued which quite understandably accused the publication of racist leanings. Apparently, the article, which has now been taken down, was 'misinterpreted'. We would just like to point out that Michelle Obama is not the world's first chic black woman. See below, The Supremes, as a starting point.

image from www.sweetlyrics.com

LVMH announced this week that the Celine AW12 show will be scaled back due to Phoebe Philo's pregnancy- she'll be eight months gone by the time of the show on March 4th. Instead, there will probably be a presentation at the same time which is deemed a more manageable task than the full-blown runway affair. Vanessa Friedman at the FT sees this decision as emblematic of a new attitude to designers; 'the Celine move marks a conscious decision to choose the designer over possible marketing returns from the runway pictures'. In a post-Galliano age, designers might finally be recognised as human beings, as well as talented makers of profit earning collections.

Philo's Mum and Dad were at her SS12 show (image from catwalking.com)

Sienna and Savannah Miller have called it a day on their roles as Creative Directors at twenty8twelve, the label they started six years ago and which is named after Sienna's birthday. It looks like the sisters probably haven't had too much to do with the design process for some time, even though Savannah is highly qualified, having studied at Central St. Martins. Nish Soneji, the Pepe Managing Director which owns the label, told Drapers 'We never intended to be a celebrity brand and we remain confident of our DNA'. Don't expect much change at the London show in a few weeks then.

Sienna and Savannah (www.dirklinder.com)

OUTFIT OF THE WEEK: Miss Piggy in Giles at last night's premiere of the new Muppets film. Giles commented 'She's the biggest diva we've ever worked with'.

Fab! (image from graziadaily.co.uk)

We've noticed some particularly deep and meaningful (ahem, not) comments from the mouths of models this week.. SH*T MODELS SAY

Alice Dellal on Karl Lagerfeld: 'He's so nice. It was nice to be able to talk to him'
Dellal on being in a Chanel shoot: 'It made me feel like a lady'

Helena Christensen on advice she'd give to the models she's just selected: 'I want to say "run as fast as you can'

And the biggest gems from Laura Craik's satirical interview with Kate Moss. On Mango's clothes 'The cut and they’re kind of ... you know ... really well made, and the jeans are ... you know, they’re really well made and the cut, you can wear them a lot ... '

Kate Moss on the Daily Mail's obsession with her: 'I don’t know. ’Cos it’s the Daily Mail? They just get on everyone’s tits, don’t they? I don’t know'

Lady Amanda Harlech (from www.justin-teodoro.blogspot.com)

If you haven't read it already, then can we heartily recommend to you Alex Fury's interview with Lady Amanda Harlech, Creative Consultant at Chanel a.k.a Lagerfeld's right hand woman? It's a brilliant lid lifting on the real role of the 'muse' as Harlech is so often called as well as her quite extraordinary life. Particularly apt for couture week. 

Just out: Natalia Vodianova for Stella McCartney. Similar to last season but with pretty flowers this time.

image from wwd.com

The Haute Couture shows are over for another season, not that it matters much for those us not buying. While we can, and do, admire the artisanship, these are collections which only a few of the super-super rich will think about it in an "I want that now" kind of way.

It's easy to feel left out, especially when most of our realities involve the very possible threat of a double dip recession. We shouldn't feel left out. The sad truth is today's Haute Couture is aimed squarely at markets in China and Russia where there is a boom-time economy and fashion is going through a wealth flaunting bling stage. So that yellow shiny long, thigh split dress will never see the light of day again in Europe. In Russia on the other hand....

It is a fact of life that designers now need to straddle all the potential markets from affordable to outrageously expensive. Karl Lagerfeld did that rather nicely this week; he began on Tuesday with his couture show, the next day he launched his affordable, online only collection- available exclusively at Net-a-Porter. Launch events were hosted in London and New York and judging by the huge queues, Karl's mega straddle paid off- they came flocking. Oh, and Chanel have also produced a nail polish in the same clear sky blue which underpinned the couture.  Chanel know better than any other brand how to tickle the fancy of all their critics and fans from uppity newspaper fashion editors to young bloggers, and this is what makes it the world's best fashion brand.

Image courtesy of @jimshi809

This is how Karl celebrated, with a party at his place in Paris. Azealia Banks was performing, can you spy Karl? he is filming the whole thing with one of his many iPads. Looks like the indoor smoking ban is NOT being respected at Karl's place.

Whaaat did she say? (from derekblasberg.com)

In other couture news, Jean Paul Gaultier has offended Amy Winehouse's family by staging a 'bad taste' tribute to the singer to showcase his collection. Barber shop singers performed Winehouse tracks and models wore beehives and smoked cigarettes. Mitch Winehouse said that the show 'glamorises some of the more upsetting times of her life'. We agree that the donning of mourning veils at the end of the show was probably a step too far, but then JPG has never been one to play safe. Jean Paul was a huge fan of Amys and recently told FashEd he was devastated when she died, so the homage was done with good intentions. Perhaps just a bit too soon for the Winehouse family. What do you think?

JPG's couture tribute to Amy Winehouse (image from catwalking.com)

After an eight year absence, Versace made a return to the couture schedule, albeit in a scaled down presentation. This is another label which is doing the 'straddle', only last week Donatella's second Versace collection for H&M sold out. Watch Suzy Menkes' interview to get the lowdown on everything Versace...



A few special looks to sum up couture...

Elegant New Look references at Christian Dior by Bill Gaytten

Livening up the clothes with mohicans at Chanel (this will be big in China)

 Pastel overdose at Elie Saab 

Beautiful Valentino

One for the Russian crowd at Versace (all images from catwalking.com)

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THE WEEK IN FASHION: 16th-20th JANUARY

Posted by Bethan Holt, Fashion Junior at Large

Happy Almost-Weekend...

This week we start you off with a delightful preview of the award winning documentary about Bill Cunningham the original street style photographer; the film has its British premier on February the first. Bill is a living legend.

"Fashion is the armour to survive the reality of everyday life."

 Bill Cunningham

Chanel is off to Japan! Lagerfeld and his team have planned three events as a special treat for their Easternmost fans. In March, there will a winter couture show, a pop-up shop and an exhibition entitled 'The Little Black Jacket'. The exhibition, on for seven weeks, coincides with a book of the same name which Lagerfeld is working on with Carine Roitfeld, showing celebrities and other brand favourites, in their Chanel jackets.

Chanel waves the flag for Japan

More bumper business news from across the retail spectrum this week as Burberry, ASOS and Primark all posted recession defying results. At Burberry, there was a 22% increase in sales with particular strength, unsurprisingly, across Asia. It's the brand's stalwart pieces which are performing best- coats and luggage. While it is well-acknowledged that luxury labels aren't suffering as much as might be expected from the global downturn, word on the high street has been somewhat bleaker; Peacocks was the latest store to go into administration this week. However, Primark and ASOS are proof that the fittest survive. Primark announced a 16% leap in profits for the last quarter while ASOS saw an 18% increase in its share price after profits rose 10%, thanks in the most part to its global reach.

Cara Delevingne and Eddie Redmayne in their trench macs for the SS12 campaign (image from fashiongonerogue.com)

 After much wrangling amongst the organisers of the big four fashion weeks, the clash of dates which looked set to overshadow the SS13 season has been resolved. For attendees, this means that fashion month will kick off earlier than usual with the New York shows beginning on September 6th. Steven Kol, CEO at the CFDA rightfully pointed out that 'there's no value for the cities to compete'. So, there will be no choosing between Katrantzou and Gucci, or Pilotto and Versace for those who skip to all four events.

Piero Tosi with director Luchino Visconti and Dirk Bogarde on the set of Death in Venice in 1971 (image from vogue.it)

 Louis Vuitton has teamed up  with Rome's Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia (Italian National Film School) to bring the worlds of fashion and film closer together. Over three years, there will be a number of projects to support Italian film and young filmmakers, such as workshops and scholarships. One of the first schemes to get underway will be a costume workshop focusing on 17th century design, with Italian costume designer Piero Tosi acting as a key participant. Like Tods, which is in the process of taking on responsibility to restore the Colosseum, Vuitton has taken it upon itself to contribute private money to protect another integral part of Italian culture, at a time when the public purse cannot stretch to such limits.

Hatmaking at the film school (imae from WWD.com)

On January 24th, a Prada museum will pop-up in Paris for 24 hours. Conceived by Francesco Vezzoli and the AMO Think Tank it could have the potential to create a bit of a 'moment' as its brings together films and sculptures which represent iconic women including the likes of Lady Gaga. The event will kick off with an exclusive dinner and club night before opening up to the public, who will now doubt rock up early to see the invited guests tumbling out. The three museum spaces, historic, contemporary and forgotten, will provide the backdrop for Prada and Vezzoli's message about femininity now. It may sound a bit obscure, but anything with the Mrs Prada stamp on has got to be fab. Talking of Miuccia, she got herself in hot water this week when she appeared to criticise the Met's new exhibit which will compare her with Elsa Schiaparelli. She told WWD:

“It’s too formal; they are focused on similarities, comparing feather with feather, ethnic with ethnic, but they are not taking into consideration that we are talking about two different eras, and that [Schiaparelli and I] are total opposite,” said the designer before her show on Sunday. “I told them, but they don’t care,” she said with a shrug, resigned rather than upset.

A statement was later released by Prada which claimed her comments were 'taken out of context' and that she was  'honored and proud to be taking part in the exhibition'.

Miuccia Prada on the cover of iD in April 2009, designed by Francesco Vezzoli (image from designscene.net)

After last week's quick dip into the sartorial goings-on in the US Presidential election, FEAL's world news radar turns to the Olympics  where a row has broken out among the boxing community. The point of contention is whether female contenders should wear shorts or skirts. And it's not just a question of what is the best performing item, it does actually come down to the 'fashion' element. Skirts were first worn so that spectators could differentiate between the boy and girl boxers. Polish and Romanian coaches say that skirts should be worn because they create 'a more womanly impression' and are 'more elegant'. We're not sure that elegance is the first priority of any sportsperson looking to win a title so we're supporting  Elizabeth Plank's petition for boxers to able to choose, just like every other girl can!

The Menswear season is in full-swing, moving to Paris yesterday after Milan earlier in the week. At Louis Vuitton, Kim Jones fused Japanese and Parisian influences; the work of illustrator Antonio Lopez was cited by the designer  as a starting point. Further along, the Okujun silk spinning was used to create an ivory suit. The technique is UNESCO protected, and only 20cm of yarn can be produced in one day. The Vuitton show also mirrored a wider trend which began in womenswear to use more Asian models on catwalks.

One of the Asian models who walked at Vuitton (image from WWD.com)

Love this high shine parka/anorak, a nod to Japan on the belt (image from WWD.com)

 Lanvin is launching its first eyewear collection and has made a video to underline the artisan approach it's taken to the range. Along with De Rigo, Lanvin has applied the same levels of artistry to the glasses as it would to its clothes. While the video may not have the catchiness of the dance of late 2011, it serves to remind us of the level of craft which sets designers like Lanvin apart. The question on everyone's lips, which ones has Alber ordered?

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THE WEEK IN FASHION: 9th- 13th JANUARY

Posted by Bethan Holt, Fashion Junior at Large

Happy Friday Fashion lovers and welcome to the first Week in Fashion of the year. It's certainly no slow start to 2012...

Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty is up for a design award (image from Alexander McQueen)

It will be the resounding fashion image of 2011 and this week Sarah Burton's design for Kate Middleton's wedding dress was among the nominees on The Design Museum's longlist for its Design of the Year award. In further recognition for Alexander McQueen, the Savage Beauty exhibition (which is still on track to come to London in the not-too distant future) also appears among the contenders.

Miu Miu SS12 (image from fashiongonerogue.com)

  A few interesting announcements on new brand faces this week. We're loving Mia Wasikowska for Miu Miu. The star of 'Jane Eyre' and 'Alice in Wonderland' fits perfectly with the dark kookiness of their SS12 collection. Not so cool though is this morning's news that Kristen Stewart (yes, she of Twilight megastardom) will be the face of Balenciaga's as yet unnamed perfume which will be released in the Summer. It's not that I actively dislike Kristen, it's just that she doesn't Wow. She follows in the footsteps of the aspirationally chic Charlotte Gainsbourg which kind of makes it worse.

Charlotte Gainbourg for Balenciaga (image from lafascination.com)

 While us fashion press might have our opinions about Crocs, the ultimate 'ugly' shoe, it seems the world's love affair goes on. It was reported this week that the plastic clog company has raked in $1 billion revenue this year, a peak in its ten year existence. If any of us were sort of hoping they might quietly disappear then then we will be sorely disappointed to hear that they have gone from 'a casual fashion trend to a phenomenon with staying power'.

Rick Santorum is claiming the sweater vest as his 'thing' (image from latimes.com)

 For Britain, 2012 will be the year of the Olympics and the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. In the US, it's election year and Barack Obama is seeking a second Presidential term. Just a week into election year and we already have TWO fashion stories to report. First up is Republican candidate Rick Santorum who is responsible for reintroducing 'the sweater vest' back into the collective consciousness. He has hailed the sleeveless jumpers as central to people starting to notice him, he claims they give him 'power'. And should you be inspired to follow Santorum's sartorial lead, then you can purchase your own sweater vest from his website. Unfortunately, this also means you'll be contributing to his campaign, hence I'm not posting a link.

A cute photo of the Obamas on their wedding day (from instyle.com)

 Obama's Democrat campaign has a tad more fashion kudos behind it after the launch of Runway to Win. Anna Wintour, a big supporter of Obama from the start, has spearheaded the project (a repeat of the 2008 one) and persuaded 22 American designers to partake, including Marc Jacobs, Jason Wu, Diane Von Furstenberg and Joseph Altuzarra. Various accessories will be sold with proceeds going to Obama's Victory Fund. Wintour will be attending numerous events as part of Runway to Win, starting with a reception which Scarlett Johansson will co-host in February.

A Derek Lam tote for Obama $75

Karen Gillan and Aneurin Barnard in We'll Take Manhattan (image from dailymail.co.uk)

Shrimpton and Bailey (image from dailymail.co.uk)

 On January 26th, a new film, We'll Take Manhattan, about the relationship between David Bailey (played by Aneurin Barnard) and Jean Shrimpton will be shown on BBC4. Shrimpton is played by Dr Who star Karen Gillan and there is thus plenty of buzz about its screening. From the images released this week, it looks set to be a visual delight. As part of the renewed interest in 'The Shrimp's' career, images taken by Ronald Falloon- a friend of Bailey's- have gone on sale here and they are quite gorgeous.

Jean Shrimpton by Ronald Falloon (image from vogue.co.uk)

It's hardly unusual for celebrity offspring to venture in their parents' footsteps- see the Geldofs and Jaggers for prime examples- but the moment when transformation from child to it-teenager takes place is quite intriguing. This week, Meg Matthews tweeted a photo of her daughter Anais, whose Daddy is Noel Gallagher, taken by Mario Testino. Although she's only 11, the image will surely get model agencies excited at the prospect of the dynamite combination of beauty and famous genes. Watch out Anais and enjoy being a little girl a while longer, however hard that may be when you have Mario Testino taking casual snaps of you. We suspect Noel was a bit pissed off.

Anais Gallagher by Mario Testino (image from Meg Matthews via Daily Mail)

 As big fans of anyone who take it upon themselves to support young design talent, FEAL was happy to hear about the new H&M Design Award, details of which have been announced this morning. The winner of the International Award will receive a very helpful 50,000 euros plus the chance to show at Stockholm Fashion Week which, as judge Hilary Alexander says will 'catapult them straight to the front line of fashion'. Other judges include London design genius Christopher Kane and Head of Design at H&M, Ann-Sofie Johannson. You can follow the progress of the designers from Europe's most prestigious design schools (including London College of Fashion and St Martins) at the  project's site. The winning designer will be announced on February 1st.



The awards season is getting under way already.Last night, the Critics Choice Awards took place and The Artist, my cinema choice for this weekend, swept the floor. Nevertheless, Meryl Streep is set to be the actress of the season and so all eyes will be on her designer choices- she's been loving Stella McCartney thus far. Yesterday, the FashEd bumped into Christopher Di Pietro of Vivienne Westwood, who revealed that the brand was in the final two for Meryl's Golden Globes dress. We'll be keeping our eyes peeled. And before you ask, Meryl is sorted for the Oscars apparently.

Christopher Kane styled by Francesca Burns for SS12

New season Jil Sander styled by Francesca Burns for British Vogue

 We are loving some of the fresh approaches to showing the SS12 collections. Two standout favourites this week are British Vogue's 'Spring Forward' SS12 Spring Collections story by new Fashion Editor Francesca Burns, which is fresh with just the right smattering of quirks, and Steven Meisel's IVC film (a pun on QVC) for Italian Vogue. You can see it for yourselves below, but I completely love how they take a tired, outdated yet consistently cheesy and hilarious form of shopping and pop in the coolest, most desired new pieces in place of fish poachers and slankets.



A sale tip-off now: Hermes are having sales today and tomorrow of their Men's and Women's collections plus accessories. It's taking place at: Music Room, 26 South Molton Lane, London, W1K 5AB until 7 today and 8 til 6 tomorrow. Judging by Francesca Burns' twitter pic this morning, most of you are already there.

The Hermes queue, courtesy of Francesca Burns' Twitter

On Wednesday evening, I went along to the launch of Smile for London's new project for London Underground, Words in Motions. They've teamed up poets and animators to create short films which will be shown from Monday in tube stations. They were some brilliant performances from London poets, particularly fab were Salena Godden and Musa Okwonga. If you're not in London, or just fancy a sneak peek then press play below...



SfL: Word In Motion Teaser from Smile for London on Vimeo.

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THE WEEK IN FASHION: DECEMBER 19th-23rd

Posted by Bethan Holt, Fashion Junior at Large

I may have said that last week's fashion news was the last of the year but then stuff happened and we agreed that it wouldn't be right if we didn't tell you all about it.

Despite the rest of us winding down, the week has been full of pre-fall collections and SS12 campaign imagery. We'll bring you pre-fall news later in the festive period, for now here are the major campaigns which have been unveiled in the past seven days.

NINA RICCI: Raquel Zimmerman shot by Inez and Vinoodh

VALENTINO: Zuzanna Bijoch, Bette Franke, Maud Welzen and Fei Fei Sun shot by Deborah Turbeville

Very beautiful. I love Deborah Turbeville's work and it's nice to see a major label using a photographer outside the usual band of names called upon for the ad campaign job.

VERSACE: Gisele Bundchen shot by Mert and Marcus

YVES SAINT LAURENT: Mariacarla Boscono shot by David Sims

PRADA: Natasha Poly, Meghan Collison, Elise Crombez, Ymre Stiekema and Katryn Kruger shot by Steven Meisel

This is so much more prim and grown-up than AW11's surreal campaign. It underlines the observation that this is Miuccia Prada's most commercial collection for some time.

GIVENCHY: Gisele Bundchen shot by Mert and Marcus

Gisele also stars in the Versace campaign. Funnily enough, Givenchy and Versace were two of the labels whose SS12 made us think of Under the Sea. For their campaigns, they've gone super modern, super sexy mermaid- the water is there but it's in no way whimsical or mythical.

CHANEL: Joan Smalls and Saskia de Brauw shot by Karl Lagerfeld

Similarly, this could have been so mermaidy, but is instead very riviera. Mademoiselle would surely approve.

BALENCIAGA: Laura Kampman shot by Steven Meisel

All campaign images are from fashiongonerogue.com

In other news...

Marques' Almeida (image via catwalking.com)

The AW12 line-up for Fashion East has been announced this week. The panel decided to stick with the success of SS12 and so there are no new names to report. James Long, Marques Almeida and Maarten van der Horst have been given a chance to build on the success which their collections shown in September have achieved. Panel member and FEAL favourite Sarah Mower said:

‘Fashion East’s 2012 cohort of designers excelled so remarkably that all their Spring collections have already been picked up by stores. So having them back to show together again for Fall 2012 will give buyers and journalists a second chance to spectate as these contenders take off in [the] Olympic year.’

James Long (image via catwalking.com)

Maarten van der Horst (image via catwalking.com)

Giambattista Valli has been officially admitted to the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture. The label showed in July as a guest at Haute Couture week but has impressed so much that the usual five year process for acquiring membership has been fast-tracked. President of the Chambre Synidcale, Didier Grumbach said:

“It was clear from his show [in July] that he has caught the attention of a new generation of customers, and he immediately took important orders for his couture ... it’s true that the haute couture appellation gives him legitimacy, but objectively speaking, he is already part of the system.”

A look from Valli's July show (image from nymag.com)

Duchess Kate's five-outfits-in-a-day for Christmas at Sandringham may be causing hysteria among certain sections of the media, but here at FEAL we're slightly more interested in the announcement this week that Princess Diana's dresses are to be displayed at Kensington Palace from 26th March next year. Proper fashion history.

Diana meets Princess Grace of Monaco (image from telegraph.co.uk)

Tempted to dress like a panto fairy? Take this Christmas fashion advice from Karl Lagerfeld, via Courtney Love, backed up by Karl's muse Lady Amanda Harlech:

"One time I was standing at the Mercer and Karl Lagerfeld goes, ‘What are you doing in this tutu?’ and I say ‘I have a record coming out.’ So Lagerfeld says to me, 'you are not getting laid in a tutu.' And Lady Amanda Harlech, who I adore who works for Karl, goes 'Courtney, you’re really not getting laid in a tutu.' And I realized, you know, that I did look like Baby Jane Hudson."

Karl says NO (Image from telegraph.co.uk)

Everyone seems to be holding their breath for a challenging 2012. This week, Paul Smith announced a 36% rise in profits to £34 million despite the fact that Japan, one of their biggest markets, has had a turbulent year. More pessimistically, Prada's share price has plummeted by 32% since July. Analysts predict that even Chinese consumers will be cutting back on spending in the New Year. Given that over 40% of Prada's revenue came from this market in 2010, that forecast paints a dim outlook for the label into 2012. Hence the commerciality of SS12 perhaps, clever Miuccia. 

We may be awaiting news of Chanel's SS12 campaign but it was revealed this week that Alice Dellal will be the new face of the Boy bag campaign. After spotting Dellal at a photoshoot several months ago, Karl Lagerfeld apparently couldn't get her out of his mind. Chanel said: "Alice Dellal represents the perfect incarnation of all that is unique about the Boy Chanel handbag collection, which strives [to be] far from conformist notions of femininity." In the teaser image which has been released, Alice is looking super girly- where's that undercut?

Image from Vogue.co.uk

Bruno Guillon has been recruited by Mulberry to take over from current Chief Executive and Chairman Godfrey Davis. Guillon is leaving his position as Managing Director at Hermes to take up the position. Mulberry's growth has been nothing short of jaw-dropping but this move makes it quite clear that label has no intention of slowing down. There is plenty of room for Mulberry to expand with more stores abroad. It seems that with Guillon working alongside Davis (who becomes non-executive chairman) there will be the know-how in place to one of Somerset's finest exports a properley global brand. 

Finally, in case you've been living on Pluto then you will know that fashion's favourite TV show, Absolutely Fabulous, is back with new episodes for Christmas after a hiatus of more than seven years. Edina has apparently embraced blogging and tweeting and has replaced her love of Lacroix with a Stella McCartney obsession. Be sure to have the Bolly on ice for Christmas Day at 10 sweeties. 

A sneak peek...

For old time's sake...

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