Forward PR knows how to throw a good party - and I love a cocktail party! There were lots of delicious cocktails - Yum - Vermeer Chocolate & Rasmeers Martinis - the Martini glass gets me every time - the shape, the romance of it all! If something fruity is more your style Tapio - Raspberry & Rosehip with French Vodka! Delightful! We feasted on sushi and danced to music from Audio Sushi! Dance contest and awards for the best facial hair -men only ;)

Michele Obi editor of My Fashion Life & Jessica Bumpus of Vogue.com

Sabinje Von Gaffke wearing Betsey Johnson - great party dresses and a shoes designer with the tiniest feet in the world UK size1!

Jimmy Ho and the lovely Michele Paradise!

Me in my vintage £35 dress and Courtney Blackman of Forward PR wearing Aquascutum - dressed by her date Michael Herz, head of womenswear design at Aquascutum!
For more Party info check out the Glamour Party Blog!

Doing a photo shoot with Olympic athletes can be great, they already have such a strong presence and are comfortable with lots of people running around; which they can just ignore and focus on the task at hand. All the athletes are sponsored by Team Visa. When you have young athletes doing there first fashion photo shoot you need a strong team behind the camera: photographer Joe Lacey and art director Simon Costin! The energy was great and you just know it’s going to be a fun shoot day!

Tom Daley is a diver and wore Vivienne Westwood.
Mo Farah does track and field and looked dashing in a Richard James.
Natasha Baker is an equestrian and wore an iconic Giles Deacon dress.
Beth Tweddle is a gymnast wearing a bespoke Marchesa gown.

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!

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.

I love these bags, very traditional with a twist - a modern day classic. I hate computer bags - they’re so ugly, so why would I want to put my lovely little lap top in just anything? Oh to have a Violet May python clutch for my laptop! I thought I’d grow tired of silver but it’s just so shiny I can’t help but want it.

I’m loving this white bag too, I know I’d use it even if I wasn’t carrying my laptop in it. There’s just something nice, very grown up about a white handbag. In a way it’s a bit old lady - retro perhaps is a catchier phrase. I hate when I want something and fashion gets the better of me!

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

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.

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

This was a great show!! I always love seeing bands that I’ve worked with.

The Subways are known for their live performances and they don’t disappoint. They have so much energy and look like they’re having so much fun and of course the audience is totally captivated. Billy dived into the crowds during Turnaround and he also jumps of one of the balconies into his very loyal audience - you really have to believe in your fans to do that!! Oh Yeah was great and they played their new hit song Strawberry Blonde.

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!

Another day out with Stonefoxx! And of course it was such a fun shoot, it was freezing but the girls looked great! The shoot  was for Nintendo Wii - Battle of the Bands! How cute and sexy are they!

For the fifth consecutive year, Elizabeth Arden and London College Fashion have collaborated on the Eight Hour Cream Photographic Project. Vote online for your favourite image before June 10th!

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.

I’m very excited that I’ve been invited to give a lecture at the Barbican as part of The House of Victor & Rolf events! The lecture will be on July 24th about personal style. I’m also looking forward to seeing the exhibition as I saw a Victor & Rolf exhibition in 2003 at the Musée de la Mode et du Textile in Paris. The Barbican is the first museum to secure a Victor & Rolf exhibition in the UK! They will be showing the designer’s signature pieces from 1992 to the present in a specially commissioned and characteristically theatrical installation that will dominates the entire gallery. I love that in London we have so many opportunities to see so many important and influential artists’ work. The House of Viktor & Rolf will be at the Barbican 18 June 2008 - 21 September 2008.

Puma launched The Reality Bag a while back in January 2008. I’m quite partial to PUMA bags, and I have a black one that I love but it’s started to look a bit tattered, so I don’t use it but I can’t get rid of it. I saw The Reality Bag at the Puma shop on Carnaby Street today - ooh a big silver bag! The Reality Bag is by PUMA® Urban Mobility and the Serpentine Gallery. Multiple artists: John Armleder, John Trembley & Philippe Decreuza created the bag. I like the concept of the Urban Mobility collection & there’s even a bicycle and luggage.

I do feel like I walk around with my whole life in my handbag and somehow it becomes quite simplified although the bigger the bag the more I carry. For example I usually wear flat shoes because I’m running errands or going to meetings, if I have a bigger bag I might add some heels - just in case…and maybe another lipstick or gloss…The reverse is also true, if I have a small bag, I carry maybe one piece of ID, some cash - usually not in a wallet or purse as it takes up too much space, mobile, house keys & lip gloss.

I do love & identify with the name, Urban Mobility. I want to live in urban settings and I want to be mobile and I like shiny things :)

The Story of The Supremes from the Mary Wilson Collection

The Supremes - Mary, Diana and Flo, and later Cindy Birdsong, Jean Terrell, Lynda Lawrence, Scherrie Payne and Susaye Green were glamorours, strong and sexy looking women. I can’t wait to see this exhibition, it’s on until October 19th at the Victoria and Albert Museum (London). I feel spoiled for choice living in such a big city - there are always so many exhibitions and event to see and it’s easy to put something off and see it later and then you realize that it’s gone…I do love going to see fashion exhibitions - seeing into someone else’s wardrobe and how they create their own style is very telling. I’d love to be a bit more glamorours. When I think of the Supremes I think of real glamour. You might say that there is still lots of glamour in the music world - but a lot of it for me is hit and miss, one day it might be really beautiful, and sensual and then another day it might be a bit cheap & tacky looking. Maybe modern glamour is more about making an effort - looking dresses up. Nothing beats old school glamour!

Thakoon, Richard Nicoll, Bora Aksu and Matthew Langille have created exclusive Fair Trade fashion pieces for People Tree. The limited edition collection, only 100 pieces per style will are available ion line in the UK and will appear in the June 2007 issue of Japanese Vogue modelled by supermodels, Helena Christensen, Lily Cole, Shalom Harlow and Anne Watanabe.
Bora Aksu                                                 Matthew Langille


Thakoon                                                     Richard Nicoll

With the hot weather it’s easy to start thinking of summer dressing. I’ve always been a big fan of Bora Aksu so I’m loving this summer dress! Check out People Tree as each designer has done a couple of styles in a few colours, so there more to see!

I went to visit Kristian Aadnevik at his studio in London. Kristian is warm, kind and friendly and of course incredibly talented. Needless to say he works very very hard. He just returned from Australian Fashion Week and he’s already busy in his studio planning the next collection.

Kristian set up his own label in 2004 after graduating from London’s Royal College of Art in 2002. Before then he won several awards and worked as a design assistant for Alexander McQueen. He also worked with Harrods International and Charles Jourdan in Japan.

Kristian’s collections are beautiful, glamorous, sexy and verge on couture. His dresses have a dark edge and a slim cut silhouette using feathers, leather, texture and embellishment with luxury fabrics. Every piece is stunning. Recently I’ve had a desire to wear more fabulous dresses and to feel glamorous. I just want to dress up. Kritian’s studio is full of so many amazing pieces that my head was spinning! I really have a physical reaction when I see things that I love, I’m sure my heart rate goes up - it’s like an adrenalin rush.

Kristian just returned from showing in Sydney. He’s is part of the Wool Protégé show, which features the collections of six emerging designers who have been hand-picked and mentored by six international fashion figures to develop an Australian merino-based collection.

The Protégé Collection:

Jean-Pierre Braganza (mentor Karl Lagerfeld)
Kristian Aadnevik (Donatella Versace)
Julian Louie (Francisco Costa)
Ioannis Cholidis (Paul Smith)
Sandra Backlund (Vogue Italia editor Franca Sozzani)
Friedrich Gray (Vogue Australia editor Kirstie Clements)

Pattern Cutter, JP with Courtney Blackman and Jaime Cooke - the Director of Muks!

The Muks Fashion Soiree was a great success! We drank cosmopolitans and mojitos and danced until the early hours of the morning. Michel Herz, head of womenswear design at Aquascutum with Coutney Blackman.

Catherine McColl, fashion editor and her the team from Amelia’s Magazine.
Alexia Somerville (middle) and fashion designer Karen Brost (far right)

Amechi Ihenacho (on far right) with other happy partygoers!

Stylist David Bartlett & a cute actor!

On the far right Justin Cooke, Managing Director of Fortune Cookie.

Update:

Muks’ Soiree on Glamour.com!