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!

I love going to vintage fashion fairs. Many of the vendor have been collection and selling items for over 20 years so if you’re looking for something special just ask them. They might not have brought it with them but most of the vendors have hundreds of items stashed away!

I got two fabulous dresses for £10 each!

The key to looking through vintage is to really take your time. I look for fabrics that I like - I don’t really worry about the shape or cut as I know if I like the fabric I can remake the dress. Occasionally I’ll find a dress that fits perfectly!

The 20th Century Theatre
291 Westbourne Grove
Notting Hill
London W1

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 know there are loads of fashion shows on tv at the moment and I’ve watched them all - and maybe there’s a bit over fashion over kill at the moment but I’m quite excited about Twiggy’s Fashion Trade. It’s is a new 3 part series for BBC2 which taps into the latest trend for clothes swapping parties! I’ve never been to a clothes swapping party - not officially but I have swapped clothes with friends. Anyway so many of us have wardrobes full great piece that we never wear for one reason or another - so why not swap them for something better & get expert advice at the same time! I think the show airs in September.

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.

I saw DJ S.O.L. and just had to take her picture. I love all the colours in this picture - it’s so eclectic & vibrant.

I haven’t been to Camden for ages on a Sunday. I forgot how much I liked it: the people, the tourists who’ve never seen a Goth before and all the market stalls. It’s still a great place to find things for a shoot. I’ve found so many cool things in Camden from martial arts equipment to a super cute black and white polka dot hoodie with cat ears and a tail!

In many shops you’re not allowed to take photos but since I bought something the shopkeeper said it was fine. The reason they don’t like it, is not so much that they worry about people copying their designs it’s more about people gawking at them.

In the new part of the stables you’ll find all the old antiques and vintage shops. In Canada I used to feel compelled to buy an object if it seemed rare or unusual - but in London for the most part I know I can return to Camden or Portobello and find what I’m looking for.

This is the Proud Gallery, it’s reopened and it’s really cool inside. There is a section of “stables” that have become private rooms - which could be quite fun and there is an exhibition Glenmorangie 5 Senses by Mike Figgis, it’s the first exhibition to be held in the re opened venue!

Primark’s sales are increasing and throw away clothes and fast fashion are just part of our every day language. So the timing couldn’t be more perfect for the BBC to launch the on-line magazine Thread in conjunction with the programme Blood, Sweat and T-Shirts.
I love fashion and I want to feel good about any of the purchases I make whether it’s food or cleaning products and especially clothing. I think it’s hard to wear an items of clothing knowing it’s harming something or someone. Fashion is something that I want to feel good about. It’s just difficult to find out what’s true and what’s important. I think any info about the latest eco-friendly fashion is a great idea. Thread addresses a range of issues that the fashion-conscious wrestle with: what damage is sustained by the environment due to irresponsible and unethical practices, what is the impact of the fashion industry on human and animal rights and what fair trade practices are in place. They have a list of eco designers, an A-Z guide of fashion terms and cool fashion shoots. We are finally starting to have a choice; we don’t only choose clothe that are fashionable and eco friendly. Long gone are the days when ethical clothing meant boring and plain!

Fur Coat No Knickers is a tiny shop in Kingly Court just off Carnaby Street. The owners Laura Thomas and Emma Cascarina both have a back ground in theatre costumes which is obvious when you walk into the shop as the selection is well thought out, everything is beautifully placed and the more you look the more there is to see. Fur Coat No Knickers specializes in vintage wedding dressing; they’ll even close the shop and do special fittings for their brides to be.

Laura & Emma have already done all the hard work for you. You don’t have to go digging through boxes or scouring the markets as they’ve already selected the most interesting or valuable pieces. I love how they have decorated this stand with all the lovely broaches!

With a little bit of notice Fur Coat No Knickers offer tech-boxes in the form of roll along trolleys which they’ll deliver and collect from the theatre, film set or fashion shoot. (A tech box is a selection of items, accessories, costumes etc that a wardrobe mistress might need for technical rehearsals or fittings.)

Victim is one of my favourite shops. Most of Victim’s dresses are one of a kind, so they are very distinct and recognizable. They are made with vintage silks and lace: you feel very sexy and feminine when you wear them. Everything is designed by Mei-Hui Liu, a dear friend of mine.

Peaches Geldof was in Mei-Hui’s shop Thursday after shooting at Concrete - another very cool shop on Marshall Street. As reported in The Sun, The Mirror and The Daily Mail, after Peaches left Mei-Hui realized a dress was missing and called Peaches’ management. The dress was later returned and then paid for and a receipt was given. The dress was originally the feature piece for an upcoming fashion show.

The first English Bakelite phone!

Bakelite was used to make tape measure! Check out Old Tools, they have lots cool items and a good selection of tape measures!

We often see many fashion items and we don’t know their influences or their significance. Top Shop and most high street shops have a good selection of plastic bracelets that are art Deco inspired and a plastic bracelet is nice but it doesn’t seem very special until you start looking at the original ones and their history.
Leo Hendrik Baekeland, a Belgian-American chemist working in New York applied for The “Heat and Pressure Patent” on July 14th, 1907. The name Bakelite was originally a brand - trademark name, but it’s become a generic term for all phenolic resin products. It’s hard to imagine that one patent was used in so many different objects: saxophone mouthpieces, cameras, solid-body electric guitars, rotary-dial telephones, tape measures, early machine guns, appliance casings and jewellery. Many of these pieces have become collectors items and are extremely sought over. Phenolics are presently used in the electronics, power generation and aerospace industries.
In London you can find a selection of the popular JMP (Paris) 70s Bakelite jewellery pieces - manufactured for Dior at Palette London.

First you need a great place to go for tea and cupcakes. So on a grey and ever so slightly snowy day I would recommend The Hummingbird Bakery in Notting Hill, 133 Portobello Road. If you’re not able to find that perfect vintage dress in dusty pink here are a few suggestions.

Lipsy, Pleated Silk Bib Dress, £55

Arrogant Cat, Flower Leaves Dress, £148

Asos, Premium Vintage Lace Dress £40.00

I’ve always loved visiting costume houses! Most of the costumes come from different musicals and theatre shows. It’s a great place to go if you’re looking for period clothes for a shoot or anything a bit unusual!

Liberty of London: Designs of Our Times

Anna Buruma is the archivist at Liberty of London and she spoke at the V&A’s Friday evening talk. (You can see her in the 3rd image, she’s wearing a black dress with a red necklace). I wanted to go to this lecture because Liberty has been such an important part of London’s fashion history for more then a century and I also love some of their handbags!

Sir Arthur Lasenby Liberty opened his first shop with three employees on Regent Street in 1875, where he sold ornaments, fabrics, antiques and artifacts from Japan and the Far East. Liberty quickly expanded to include fashionable clothing and furniture as well as decorative items such as vases, clocks, jewellery, textiles, and wallpapers. In 1877-78 the South Kensington Museum (now the V&A) purchased antique embroideries and rugs from Liberty.

Liberty catered for an eclectic mixture of popular styles while developing his own distinct style. Although many designers and artisans worked for Liberty, the store’s policy of maintaining the anonymity of its designers allowed the shop to create the Liberty Style. In 1890 Liberty opened a shop in Paris, and the shop became synonymous with Art Nouveau, so much so that in Italy the new style became known as Stile Liberty!

In 1884, Liberty asked architect-designer Edward William Godwin to set up the “Artistic Costume Studio” to showcase Liberty designs and fabrics. They made dresses for its elite clientele, including Isadora Duncan and Mrs. Andrew Carnegie. Proust bought his ties there, and Gilbert and Sullivan dressed their casts in his fabrics. The demand Liberty created for his fabrics was greater than the resources of his suppliers and he decided to import ready woven fabric and dye and print them in the UK. Liberty relied on the experts of two printing companies: Thomas Wardle of Leek, in Staffordshire and Edmund Littler of Merton Abbey in Surrey. By the 1890s Merton Abbey was sending its entire production to Liberty and in 1904 Liberty purchased the company.

Liberty had become famous for its prints and textiles and by the 20th century Liberty fabrics were used by great designers like Paul Poiret, Yves Saint Laurent, Cacharel and Jean Muir.

It’s important to understand how relevant and popular these prints still are today. Just take a look at Luella using Liberty prints for her Spring 2008 collection!

Sir Arthur Lasenby Liberty - timeline:

Liberty of London, of course, continued on well after the death of Sir Arthur Lasenby Liberty, expanding it’s operations even further:

If you’re looking for a pre-loved authentic Chanel 2.55 bag French Touch is the place to find one. Samantha Thayi is the owner and she’s collected so many delightful little bags, scarves and accessories!

French Touch
11 Shelton Street
Covent Garden
London WC2H 9JN