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Update:
Designers of New Couture do not copy other designers work - they have the ethics of a fine tailor; they are not like the typical dress maker who will copy a garment.

Quilted Knee Pad leggings - I think these are quite fun & cheeky! Lindsey Lohan has signed an exclusive deal with Fred Segal stores and her leggings will be available in August. The line is called 6126 in honour of Lindsay’s idol, Marilyn Monroe’s birthday.

I love shops that have that old world feel to them, you just know that there is something extraordinary inside and I love antique jewellery. Bentley & Skinner specialise in fine antique jewels from Faberge and silver to an array of diamonds. They have been buying and selling jewellery for over 180 years.

Much of their jewellery is from private auctions or purchased privately. Jewellery and accessories are key to creating a personal style, and by adding an antique piece of jewellery it helps to create a more personal unique look.

8 New Bond Street, London W1

I went to the Links of London press day and they were offering illustrations by Sophie McElligott and in less then 5 miniutes she drew this illustration of my fashion assistant, Stephanie!

The event took place at an art gallery on London’s very fashionable Dover Street. Links of London is very popular for it’s charm bracelets. I notice girls wearing them all the time. I’m particularly fond of clock faces - not so much the watch itself but really the face, oh and I love keys!

Sophie has been drawing since she was little - her parents didn’t like her to watch TV so Sophie drew instead. She went to art school in Italy and did life drawing and then studied fashion at St Martins and Middlesex.

It was so much fun to be drawn by someone, you feel a bit embarrassed but bit special too! I love this image, I feel like a cool villain in a video game!!

For many designers function versus fashion is optional.

- But if you’re making a watch that’s going to outer space, this is function at it’s most extreme. Somehow Seiko has manage to create a watch that displays the most accurate time in the world in outer space that looks cool! The watch maybe the only piece of jewellery that we wear that serves both as function and fashion. Seiko celebrated the launch of the Seiko Spring Drive Space Walk at one of London’s tallest building “The Gherkin”. This watch is deigned to keep accurate time during space travel and a space walk! As a fashionista I’ve really never thought how does one keep time in outer space? Hmmm, it’s actually a huge question. Just the pure mechanics & the weather, how do you keep time in extreme climates -20C to +70C? You can’t wear a battery operated watch for safety reasons and a mechanical watch can’t retain it’s accuracy in these temperatures. So Seiko created a Spring Drive that has Tri-synchro Regulators.

In October 2008, Richard Garriott, the renowned video game designer and adventurer, will become the sixth private space explorer. This is an image of the Spring Drive Spacewalk as Richard plans to wear it when he goes into free space!

Things to know when you’re designing a watch that will be worn in outer space.

This was the most amazing view and as close to space as I’ll ever get. It’s really important to think about locations for a press launch and how the location represents the brand. This space couldn’t have been more ideal for The Seiko Spring Drive Spacewalk. At the very top of The Gherkin there is a reception room and of course it’s high in the sky like a glass rocket. You feel amazing and just lucky to be in such a unique space.

For those of us not going to the moon I like the Seiko Kinetic watches. I just like the idea of kinetic watches - it utilize the power from the human body to keep the watch running! So what happens if you take the watch off for a while? Well Seiko Kinetic have a 6 month power reserve. So there are no excuses for being fashionably late!

I’m not a sparkly bling kind of girl - but it’s something I do love in a shoot. If you’re looking to customize a garment Swarovski Crystals are the way to go. It’s worth a visit to the Swarovski Crystallized Cosmos & Lounge, 24 Great Marlborough Street, London, W1

Customizing shoes and garments is such a unique way of giving an item some personal style and making it unique!

Swarovski Crystallized Cosmos & Lounge, 24 Great Marlborough Street, London, W1

To celebrate the launch of The William and Judith Bollinger Jewellery Gallery the V&A Museum invited Comfort Station amongst 18 other designers & artists to create an exclusive piece of jewellery as part of their “Cherry on the Cake” collection.

I love this necklace:inside the book are secret treasures & inspirations from the V&A including fabric samples, prints, wallpapers, ink drawings, illustrated catalogues.
Comfort Station was started by the lovely Amy Anderson after completing a fine art degree at the Ruskin, Oxford. Amy had many adventures from working in sculpture, photography and video installation all before creating bags fashioned in oak and jewellery with secrets & hidden messages. Each piece of jewellery is handmade in the Comfort Station studio in East London.

Erika Trotzig recently collaborated with Studio Private and photographer Yuval Hen. This is one of the images from their exhibition in London. I just love the feel of this shot, the light & the yellow background. I want to know more about the girl - it feels like a painting.

Yellow backgrounds often remind me of the short story The Yellow Wallpaper (first published in 1891). It’s a story is about a women and her descent into psychosis. Her husband, also her physician confines her to room in a summer house where she is forbidden to work or even write, otherwise known as - the rest cure. With nothing to engage her she slowly becomes obsessed by the room’s yellow wallpaper. “It is the strangest yellow, that wall-paper! It makes me think of all the yellow things I ever saw — not beautiful ones like buttercups, but old foul, bad yellow things. But there is something else about that paper — the smell! … The only thing I can think of that it is like is the color of the paper! A yellow smell.”

Erika’s work is very beautiful, her pieces are very wearable and have the feel of haute couture and fine art. She studied pattern cutting in Stockholm before enrolling at Saint Martins. In 1988 after graduation she went on to work for Belgian designer, Josephus Thimister in Paris and then returned to London to launch her own label. Erika was awarded New Generation sponsorships, and sold in boutiques and department stores across the world, had catwalk shows during London Fashion Week, and exhibited in Paris and Tokyo.

MINE all MINE Sample Sale
Saturday the 28th of June
“I gave my love a paper cut” and other such stories

In case you forgot, this interview will remind you, why you really liked Victoria Beckham in the first place!

I met with the super petite designer Ada Zanditon in her super sized jacket! Ada graduated from London Collage of Fashion in 2007. She spent four season interning with Alexander McQueen and in 2007/8 she worked with Gareth Pugh as a pattern maker.

These images are from Ada’s graduate collection. I love the oversized shapes and how everything feels bit like a super hero. Lisa Snowden and Joan Collins have both been photographed wearing her clothes! For her next collection Ada is using ethical/organic fabrics and she presently has a new eco collection available in Oxfam 245 Westbourne Grove, London W11.

You might have see some of her illustrations featured in the London Underground. This autumn Ada will be exhibiting in The Ethical Fashion Show in Paris.

Rakish Heels is a unique quirky new shoe brand. Lona Jones is the owner of Rakish Heels and she knows lots about shoes but most importantly she’s super sweet!
Rakish Heels only launch in February 2008. I’m a lover of spats and Rakish has something just as cool - heel covers! Each shoe comes with a detachable heel cover - it can transform the shoe from day to evening!

Lona in Vegas!

This video really says everything about Rakish - its quirkiness with it’s Victorian inspirations & charm. I really like when designers are just doing their own thing - they’re not following trends or copying others they’re just making & designing items that are an extension of themselves - things that they like.

I went to the opening preview of The Viktor & Rolf exhibition at the Barbican. It was quite amazing! I love the doll’s house - I think every girl loves a doll’s house. I had so many dolls when I was little, and my mum would make matching clothes for me and my dolls. I never had my own doll’s house and was jealous of one girl who had a German doll house. Viktor & Rolf’s doll house is 6m-high with three floors, endless rooms and it feels very luxurious and empty at the same time. There are 55 porcelain dolls living in the house. The dolls are only 2 feet high, with human hair and are made by hand by master craftsman Mr. B. Terrie. Each doll is designed & styled after the model who originally wore the outfit and the dolls have the same make-up that was worn in the catwalk show. The dresses are a true replica - everything is made to scale and even the original leather is used to make the shoes.

I keep thinking of Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House and everything that Nora felt. Dolls can be so beautiful but have a very scary side to them especially the porcelain doll. One of exhibits had a doll surrounded by broken porcelain. In Viktor and Rolf’s work there is lots of dark humour, and there is a lot of it in the way the models are displayed as porcelain dolls. It’s eerie and adorable at the same time!

Of course an exhibition like this attracts fabulous people. I spotted super stylish Roisin Murphy. She’s a true fashionista and a wonderful singer!

…and one of my favourite people: Gok Wan!

Girls in Viktor & Rolf

Yesterday’s shoot was all about Wonderful Hair. I’ve never had hair extensions and have never had the desire to have them - until today that is.

I love how Yulia looks while waiting for her hair to be done. Most models bring a book or something, occasionally I’ve known models who knit to pass the time.

This was a busy shoot as we had lots to accomplish but we really had a great team and worked really well together.
I think too many people are thinking that working in fashion is just like life in The Hills! Although The Hills is my assistant’s favourite show she knows what really happens on a shoot & how much work is really involved.

And yes, sometimes there are perks! The perk was some red hair extentions!!

How cool is this! I thought being asked to speak at the Barbican was a great privilege and honour. And now to be on Vogue.co.uk is so so cool!

This is what I love about London: men with style. It’s a hot summer’s day and I spotted Dai Rees and MA course director Darren Cabon at The London College of Fashion! I think they both look amazing, quite handsome and I love the bags!!!

Ben Sherman and PPQ have collaborated on a new limited collection of dresses. There are only 175 dresses available in each look. There are 5 dresses and each one represents the look of the decade. PPQ has always been involved in the music scene and they even have their own record label 1-2-3-4. And of course Ben Sherman is known for supporting loads of bands.

I love the shop windows on Carnaby Street!

I recently met with the lovely Leon Bailey Green. He is an online marketing and branding consultant. He is also the director of marketing for OSOYOU.

OSOYOU is one stop shop which helps shoppers navigate their way round the internet. If you’re looking for a little black dress OSOYOU is going to give you a selection from many different shops - my search results gave me “18,947 items “! Of course this is a lot of dresses but it’s really only about 30 pages and I could have refined my search. So really it’s just not a lot of click-throughs to find the perfect dress!

Dawn Bebe is the Managing Director of OSOYOU and if it wasn’t for her and all her persistence and hard work we would not have Grazia!! She’s responsible for bringing Grazia to the UK! It’s one of my favourite weekly reads

I’ve always loved platform shoes. Being only 5′2″ high shoes make me feel powerful (and taller) but it’s the platform or wedge that really works for me. I think if I had a high arch I would have loved the stiletto heel.

Marni patent leather wedges

Platforms have been around forever and I mean centuries. The Greeks first wore them in theatre plays - the more important the character the higher the platform. In the 15th & 16th century high-born prostitutes or courtesans in Venice wore platform shoes.

You could even be divorced for wearing high shoes. Charles ll passed the 1670 Act of Parliament - The Marriage Act, which said that women who “betray into matrimony” an Englishman by use of “scents, paints, artificial teeth, false hair … high-heeled shoes” risked having their marriages declared null, and they were subject to the same punishment as witches.

Platform shoes became immensely popular in the 1970s and in the early 1990s Vivienne Westwood re-introduced the high heeled 5″ & 9″ platform shoe.

I think platforms look great in the summer - they look great with jeans and the open toe platform can look great with a dress. Since I’m usually spending most of my day running around London - the platform will be the perfect alternative to my flats!

Check out this book Shoes by Colin McDowell (1989)

I like going to the Debenham’s press day, it’s quite impressive as it was in a big marquee right in central London. They show womenswear, lingerie, accessories and homeware. I usually like how it’s merchandised and the how each section is theme based.

I met Eric Van Peterson a few years ago, on a shoot. He was so kind and gentle. He’s originally from the States and after backpacking through Europe he moved to London where he met his wife Lyn at the original Hard Rock Cafe. He had a stall in Camden selling “objets d’art” and jewellery and later open a shop near Sloane Square. In 1981 he and his wife opened their Walton Street store and started creating their own jewellery designs. Their jewellery is very distinct so it’s not surprising that they have a large celebrity following including Cher, David Bowie, Goldie Hawn, Yasmin Le Bon, Michael Douglas and Ringo Starr.

Theo Fennell, Erikson Beamon & Eric Van Peterson all have collection for Debenhams.

This is titled New Goth.

I think we tend to forget or ignore how important department stores are in the fashion retail world. If you live outside a major city a department store can offer you the latest trends and since most of them have a concessions shops you have access to numerous designers and high street looks.

FYI:Debenhams has a total of 135 department stores in the UK and Republic of Ireland and 10 Desire by Debenhams stores, which are a new small store concept featuring a mix of womenswear, accessories, lingerie, cosmetics and childrenswear. Debenhams has a further 40 international franchise stores in 16 countries.

Designers at Debenhams include: Matthew Williamson, Betty Jackson, John Rocha, Jasper Conran, Julian MacDonald, Ben Di Lisi, Antoini & Alison and French Frost.