The Vogue Festival

Due to the first year of success the 'Vogue Festival' event is back for 2013, hosting a two day fashion extravaganza on April 27th - 28th held at the prestigious Queen Elizabeth Hall at Southbank Centre, London.

The festival will include talks and panel discussions from some of the most iconic members of the fashion industry giving a unique insight into their own lives and successful careers, including talks from
Natalie Massene, Paul Smith, Alexa Chung, Michael Kors, Victoria Beckham, Mario Testino, Alber Elbaz and Donatella Versace 

The event will also feature panel discussions on the following topics:

So you want to be a fashion designer? 
Can fashion change the world? 
Behind the scenes of a Vogue cover shoot
Mad about the girl
The secrets of creating a British brand
Too fat too thin?

This exciting event is definitely not one to be missed if you can make it! Guests will be able to take part in exclusive activities such as mentoring panels, makeovers, workshops, demonstrations, cover-shoots. You can still purchase tickets from the Southbank Centre website costing roughly £30 for each individual talk.

Dior Wonderland, Harrods

Harrods, one the world's most established luxury department stores have collaborated with Dior to reveal a temporary homage to the luxury label and to showcase a visual history of the renowned brand. Harrods have transformed their Georgian Restaurant on the fourth floor temporarily into a wonderland which exhibits the world of Dior though a cafe, exhibition, window displays and a pop up shop.

Inside the exhibition, you will witness videos describing the concept behind its campaigns, dresses worn by the label's renowned fans such as Diana, Princess of Wales and Elizabeth Taylor, exquisite imagery taken from the brand's archive along with a series of London's top tourist spots each personalised with the Dior label - such as the London Eye and Tower Bridge.

A giant almost-life size doll's house is also featured as part of the project on the fourth floor, which displays tiny furniture made using J'Adore Dior fragrance bottles. The pop-up store also located on the same floor sells a collection of exclusive products to customers.

Take a look at some of the images and a short sneak preview clip from the gallery below.

                     Images courtesy of Vogue and Dior, Facebook

The beautiful exhibition closes on the 14th April 2013. I think this attraction is a great way to excite and entice customers, especially having it located at such a popular destination where they attract large quantities of footfall each day. I will definitely be taking a break from my university work and going down for a visit during the Easter break!

H&M Launch New Label '& Other Stories'

After several months of anticipation, last Friday H&M launched their new high-end label, '& Other Stories' in the Regent Street Store, London.

& Other Stories are a fashion brand who offer women a wide range of shoes, bags, accessories and beauty products in order to create their personal style, or story. They pride themselves on paying great attention to detail and quality, whilst offering an affordable price.


Here are some images below exposing the interior of the store, showcasing the new collection:

The debut collection features simple lines and clean timeless silhouettes as well as showcasing accessories, jewellery and ready-to-wear garments in addition to dedicated shoe and beauty departments displayed across the two-floor space.

"Our diverseness comes from building collections around different fashion stories," 
& Other Stories Head of Design, Anna Teurnell. 

I love this new collection and think it suits H&M's aesthetic to a T, I especially admire the black and white ocean print tailored suit as I am a sucker for anything which contains a monochrome palette. Check out the inspiring video posted at the bottom of the page under the images to see the inspiration behind the ocean print theme.

Below, features some images from the look book of the new collection:

    Images courtesy of Vogue

Ocean Print Inspiration:

ISA ARFEN

I'm always on the look out for new appealing designers (- when I manage to find some spare time that is). It fascinates me to notice how they express their brand aesthetic through their collections and I love to explore their different ideas and where they gain their inspiration from.

Most recently I came across 'Isa Arfen', a new brand which showcases a traditional design aesthetic with quirky cuts and dreamy embellishments. This label was founded by Central Saint Martin's graduate Serafina Sama in late 2011, who grew up in Italy where she gained studio experience working with designer labels including Marc Jacobs and Lanvin before settling as a design assistant at Chloe for two years before moving on to London with intention to launch her own label.

The brand features sensual silhouettes and muted colours yet containing a relaxed, feminine and fun feel as you will notice from the S/S13 collection below, which displays signature pieces including high waists, cropped tops and oversized shirts, main colours include emerald green and petunia pink. Stockists in the UK include Opening Ceremony situated in Covent Garden.

                            Images courtesy of Isa Arfen

Cheap VS Chíc

Although it may only be February and there are no signs of the weather in the UK getting anywhere near close to warm! Spring/ Summer 13 trends have already started filtering through stores, showcasing their energising bright bursts of colour in order to try and give us a little boost of motivation that Spring/Summer is on its way!

Bold neon colours are always popular when it comes to Summer, so it's no surprise that the hot colour of the summer is the admired orange palette, noticed in many different shades including peachy, apricot and burnt red orange. Renowned designers and famous celebs have been noticed accessorising orange into their outfits and embracing the trend.

As usual, once a month I update my blog with a 'Cheap VS Chíc' post, in order to analyse recent trends within the current market, to make a comparison between what's displayed on the high street compared with the luxury high-end market, whilst also demonstrating that you don't need thousands of pounds in your bank to capitalize on trends, however if you do then there are some options here for you too!

Fashion Scout - London Fashion Week

I have just completed working for 'Fashion Scout' for my second season running (In September and February for London Fashion Week). For those of you who don't no much about Fashion Scout they are an International showcase for fashion innovation, renowned for championing creative design talent, where they scout and present in both London and Paris.

Since they begun fourteen seasons ago, they have managed to roll call designers including Peter Pilotto,  Felder Felder, David Koma, William Tempest, Eadon Choi and Pam Hogg. Fashion Scout can be interpreted as a springboard for International design students, enabling them to showcase and promote their work through catwalks and exhibitions, in order for them to emerge and become established by top media and buyers.

I thoroughly enjoy working with Fashion Scout, the atmosphere is always so exhilarating, and the team are all so lovely to work with. During my time with FS I was working as a PR/ Social Media Assistant, so my daily duties consisted of mainly; 

• Constantly checking all socials media sites including  Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and updating them with images/ descriptions from the catwalk shows
• Liaising with house photographers  
• Searching for press articles about Fashion Scout and the designers 
• General assistance - making sure each photographer and blogger knew the daily schedule for where they should be for each catwalk show or exhibition

My favourite part about working for FS is when there wasn't t too much to do I was able to go and watch the catwalk shows. Due to being so busy this season I only had time to visit one show; Phoebe English, however I am a big fan of Phoebe's work so this was an extra special treat!

Being in the catwalk shows really gives off an exciting buzz (even though this may sound a tad cringe). With the music blaring, striking lighting and important familiar faces scattered around the room and of course the amazing outfits strutting down the runway by the extremely talented designers it's fascinating to watch!

For a sneak preview of the catwalk shows, take a look at the clip below from Phoebe English AW13.

Phoebe English AW13


 To see more images and to learn more about each designer and their collection take a look at the Fashion Scout blog.

Dover Street Market Re-Vamp!

Dover Street Market (DSM) is one of my favourite stores in London, offering cutting-edge fashion. For those of you who haven't heard of DSM or don't know much about it I would seriously recommend checking this beauty out, it is well worth it!

Dover Street Market is a market-based department store concept, which was founded in 2004 by Rei Kawakubo, also the owner of private Japanese fashion label 'Comme des Garcons'. Located in Mayfair, the store showcases a range of eclectic luxury brands (including Comme des Garcons) as well as renowned International brands such as Celine, Saint Laurent, Simone Rocha and Alexander McQueen, whilst also offering impressive contemporary art and design installations. 

The interior of the shop is remarkably striking, changing every six months to re-install, they feature very simplistic yet exciting installations to add to the contemporary feel of the store such as a giant gold birdcage that doubles as a changing room. This appealing approach is a great strategy in order to entice customers into their stores to encounter the experience rather than simply shopping online. They also have stores in Beijing and Tokyo, with a fourth opening in New York later in 2013. 

Images courtesy of Dazed Digital

The highly respected and inspirational Rei Kawakubo commented;

   "The more people that are afraid when they see the creations, the happier I am."