The British Fashion Awards 2012

Last night Giulia and I attended the 2012 British Fashion Awards at the Savoy Theatre in London. We were beyond excited not only because it's the fashion event of the year in the UK but also because it was our first time at any sort of award ceremony – unless you count school?
Even tough we knew that not everyone in the industry would interpret the black tie instructions quite so literally we jump at any opportunity of dressing to the nines. Giulia in a stunning Galliano gown with lace and ruffle details and me in a more expected outfit spiced up with my favourite new Lanvin flower pin.

It was an amazing experience sitting in the theatre and having all these amazingly talented and accomplished people in front of us. Our hearts stopped a little when, to kick off the awards, Nick Grimshaw and Gemma Arterton announced that Valentino – Legend – Garavani would be giving the British Style Award, which went to Alexa Chung for the third year in a row. We loved that Manolo Blahnik won the Outstanding Achievement in Fashion introduced by a lovely video of Anna Wintour, Grace Coddington, Angelica Houston and Naomi Campbell singing his praise. He received the award from Zaha Hadid, a favourite hero of mine!
Amber Valetta – we died again – gave Stella McCartney one of her two awards of the night: Designer Brand and Designer of the Year. They both look ridiculously beautiful last night. Less of a surprise was Cara Delevingne's award for Model of the Year. She literally rocked the stage with a shirt metallic number by Burberry, of course.
I was also thrilled to see J.W. Anderson win the Emerging Talent award for Ready-to-Wear. He is one of the most talented designers in London and a personal favourite. Jonathan Saunders, Roksanda Ilincic, Erdem and Nicholas Kirkwood all received awards for all their amazing work during this year. Kim Jones got the Menswear Designer award for his work at Louis Vuitton, another very well deserved one. One of the highlights of the night was the emotional moment of Louise Wilson, who won the Isabella Blow Award for Fashion Creator for her years of work at Central Saint Martins, where he has taught many of the best British designers.

See the rest of the guests and what they were wearing here. And click here for the full list of winners.

Images: Getty and Know Wear

Scottish Fashion Awards 2012
Courtesy of Scottish Fashion Awards, Getty

Last night the Clyde Auditorium in Glasgow saw the 2012 edition of the Scottish Fashion Awards. This is the 7th consecutive year of the awards and it looks like they're getting bigger and bigger. I am a big supporter of new independent initiatives like this because, even though the CFDA or the BFC help give exposure and tutor young talent, they're a bit limited to their areas. Hayley Scanlan was the winner of this year's Scottish Young Designer of the Year. You must check out her designs. You may notice certain influences from other British designers in her work, which is a great symptom of how much the British fashion scene is growing at the moment.
Alexa Chung hosted, once again, the award ceremony dressed in one of Kane's designs and following on the shirt-under-dress trend she started herself at the Met Ball. I'm still unsure about it.

Click below on read more to see the full list of winners from last night's Scottish Fashion Awards.

Courtesy of Scottish Fashion Awards

How to and not to Dress for an über VIP Chanel event
JustJared

On Saturday Chanel flew about 200 VIP guests from all over the American geography to the Wynn in Las Vegas to celebrate the opening night of "Numéros Privés: A Journey Through the World of Chanel". This sets quite a landmark in terms of PR because not many fashion companies or brands are pulling off events of this volume lately, not in the last one or two years anyway.
The build up to the event was quite fun as a lot of the attendees tweeted about their trip to Vegas. The coolest, of course, were from Rachel Zoe who flew to sin city with Dree Hemingway (and Rodge) and seemed to be quite overexcited about it.
All guests were decked up in Chanel, most of them head to toe. So this was like a massive celebration of the brand and a way to showcase their PR power rather than your standard store opening/honour dinner event.
Jessica Alba, in a super chic bicolour dress, was my best dressed of the night. The accessories, hair and make up were right on the spot. Second after J was Alexa Chung in a very Alexa-meets-Chanel number, which she accessorised with a Christopher Kane clutch. My big disappointment of the night was Diane Kruger. She normally looks so exquisite but here she looked like a pregnant mess.

Best Dressed of the Weekend: Alexa and the side-slit
JustJared, Courtesy of Burberry

I found it hard this weekend to rank the four ladies on my Best Dressed of the Weekend because each of them have such individual styles.

It would be fair to say, though, that out of all four of them Alexa Chung was probably the one that surprised me the most. Not because she chose Burberry –everyone knows she's a big fan– but because how sexy the look was. We're used to short mod dresses but it's not often we see her pulling off sides-slits like this. I love how she balanced it out with the coat and the silver platform shoes was a perfect touch.

Amanda Seyfried went for a simple pale pink Calvin Klein number very much in the style that Alexa is known for, which she accessorised with a pair of nude YSL Trib Two pumps.

Isabel Lucas, one of my favourites in terms of style at the moment, wore Louis Vuitton Pre-Fall'11to celebrate the opening of the brand's Sydney flagship store. I just love how she managed to look dressed up but thanks to the prints the look still had some of her bohemian surf-girl vibe in it.

Amber Heard, who has been looking incredible during her 'Rum Diary' press tour, chose Dolce & Gabbana for a screening of the film in the Bahamas. Is it just me or could se be the new Dita von Teese?

Every month I feel like the new covers come out earlier. As much as I like looking at all of them I'm often too tired by the time they hit the newstands, by which point I will only buy the handful of issues I think are really worth it.

After a few months on the up British Vogue is quickly dipping in terms of cover style. Last month's multiple royal wedding covers were as bland as can be and this month's Alexa cover genuinely looks like you've picked up a magazine a couple years old. Her editorial inside doesn't try anything new in terms of styling and photography and it's just Alexa being Alexa in Alexa clothes with Alexa hair. The only thing that saves the issue is one double-page picture by Patrick Demarchelier and styled by Lucinda Chambers in the "Let's dance" story.

Vogue should really learn from the other British fashion titles. This month's ELLE and Harper's covers are chic and spot-on. And I'm especially keen on ELLE's rotated frame on their subscriber's cover. They keep getting it absolutely right every month and it's making me want to get a subscription.

[TFS]

Alexa for Net-a-Porter

Net-a-Porter is introducing a change to their seasonal printed magazine. For their SS11 issue, available to buy online on February 16 for £7, they have featured for the first time celebrity stars. Alexa Chung, shot by Kang Z Feng, and Anna dello Russo, shot by Giampaolo Sgura are meant to epitomise this season's two biggest trends —the minimalist garçon look and the pompous style. I absolutely love both shots but especially Alexa's, who is wearing that Erdem dress I first fell in love with when I saw it on Michelle Williams. And it goes in line with today's first post. Red, it seems, is the colour of the day!

I'm off.

[Picture: Courtesy of Net-a-Porter]

Celebrity Summer Essentials

Every new season we make predictions of what the biggest accessory hits will be based on what we like best. As the season comes nearer we start seeing some of them on our favourite fashionistas and it's then celebrities who take the lead showing what they want better. Some of them, the more stylish, opt for classics or designer staples they can reuse. Others rush to purchase the really bang-on trend ones.
Glastonbury started a few days ago and we've already seen Alexa Chung, who's dressing better than ever, using the ever-famous Céline bag from SS10 as a traveling bag. Lily Allen chose the über-cool but very overpriced Louis Vuitton leopard scarf for a touch of colour.

Emma Watson, who has also been dressing very well as of late, wore a Louis Vuitton corset from the FW10 collection that I found to be a bit of a miss. If you don't mind coping with the rigidity of it, go at least for a brighter colour with a cooler print. That autumnal green looks very sad with the dark denim and the black bag and shoes. And then we have Sienna. She has been looking her best ever since she got back together with Jude. She looked absolutely stunning in high-waisted suede shorts with a slightly sheer baggy tee and the great Chloe Sevigny for Opening ceremony Top Shop wedges in white. She also seems to finally have grown her hair (from The September Issue) and is looking mighty beautiful.

In the guy front, we have a guy whose style was firstly famous for his lack of personal hygiene. But he  now seems to be trying a little harder. For the  premiere of 'Eclipse' in LA. Robert Pattinson wore an amazing marron suit by Gucci. I think he is a very cool guy because he doesn't think so himself. Which is why he wears things with the simplicity that actually makes the clothes look so awesome on him. He has recently trimmed his locks for a film, going for a 50's look that works quite well with the scruffy hairstyle he likes for himself. We might just be witnessing a style icon in the making.

I'm off.

[Pictures: JustJared.buzznet.com, Zimbio.com, OpeningCeremony.us, BlueFly.com, LouisVuitton.com, Style.com, Vogue.com]

the week in news: 24.05.10

This past week has been full of fashion news. From the appointment of new designers, to star-studded store openings and sale profit announcements (Burberry's profits rose $131.5 million). I already talked about Christophe Lemaire's new role as Hermès creative director yesterday but he wasn't the biggest news, by far. Earlier this week, the Gucci group announced that Sarah Burton has been chosen as the new creative director for Alexander McQueen. After months of speculations of weather a big name would take over the brand it has been decided that Burton, whose experience as head of women's wear design since 2000 and who put together the presentation of the FW10 collection after Lee's death, is the right choice. I have a good feeling about this.

Also this week, Giles Deacon was announced as Ungaro's new creative mind. After Estrella Arch's monumental failure in collaborating with Lindsay Lohan for two seasons, the Spanish designer was let go to leave room for Giles. Surprisingly, Lohan is supposed to still 'collaborate' in Ungaro's line. I just hope Deacon can play mind tricks with her and trow ALL her ideas in the bin.
A little less news-worthy was the opening of the Louis Vuitton Maison in London's New Bond Street. I never think of LV as an essential part of the industry but I suppose it is in terms of sales. For whichever reason, the opening of their biggest British home congregated an endless list of celebrities all wearing Marc Jacobs' creations for FW10. I really loved Marc's idea for this last collection but I still feel iffy about the execution. Just by looking at most guests (who don't have the average person's body shape) it was evident that the 30's inspired dresses are not flattering in the least. Luckily, Kristen, Alexa, Gwyneth and Gemma were there to prove being the exception to the rule.
I'm off.

[Pictures: nytimes.com, Telegraph.co.uk, Style.com, JustJared.buzznet.com, Zimbio.com]

Met Gala 2010: The great, the bland and the fugly

Last night Anna Wintour, Oprah Winfrey and Patrick Robinson hosted the Costume Institute's Met Gala, "American Woman: Fashioning A National Identity". Celebrities queued to show how they could pull off designer dresses with personality, which seemed very refreshing after last year's blandness. However, I missed the Olsens and the Roitfelds this year.

The great

It just feels natural when you see Jude and Sienna together. The picture looks kind of retro because Sienna has long hair again like she did back then when her and Jude were together for the first time.

Chloe Sevigny in Proenza Schouler, January Jones in Yves Saint-Laurent and Carey Mulligan in Miu Miu prove how short dresses with the right colours and details can be edgy.

Restrained is usually elegant, Diane Kruger proves it in her white Calvin Klein. Less successful at it were Maggie Gyllenhall in Louis Vuitton (could do without the tacky bow and a dash of colour) and Kirsten Dunst in Rodarte for Gap, who could have gone for a different choice in shoes not to be so Rodarte matchy-matchy.

Anna Wintour in Chanel Haute Couture, Margherita Missoni in Missoni and Chanel Iman in Michael Kors.

These all look a lot like Rachel Zoe choices... I doubt she dressed Marion Cottilard, though. Thandie Newton in Vivienne Westwood, Marion Cotillard in Christian Dior and Anne Hathaway in Valentino all look beautifully apt for the gala but there is a bit of a yawn factor in all three. And too many sequins... I guess Rach "died".

The bland

Sarah Jessica Parker in Halston was so disappointment. Pretty, yeah, but we expect much more from a woman with such a fashion-forward education. Rachel Weisz wore a custom made Oscar the la Renta, which colour looked amazing against her skin but which a cut that was borderline tacky. And Eva Mendes just doesn't learn. She wore a Dolce & Gabbana that totally overshadowed her.

Carolyn Murphy (in ?), Eva Longoria in Marchesa (synonym for not trying) and Jessica Stam in Rachel Roy all looked boring and sloppy in every possible way.

The fugly

It is upsetting that Jessica Alba looked that bad in Sophie Theallet for Gap because she had been getting it so right so often lately. I really hate the colour of the satin dress. Malin Akerman looked as if she got ready for another dress and not the Temperly London that she wore. And the dress was a completely wrong choice for this kind of event. Rosario Dawson tried to pull a Saldana and failed tragically. Her Giambattista Valli was as disappointing as the bow on it was ugly.

Kristen Stewart needs to either deal with the fact that people want her picture or find a new career. She wore a more than decent Chanel Haute Couture that, had it been combined with the right hair and make up and a nice smile, would have looked amazing. Vera Farmiga wore a Sophie Theallet for Gap dress that looked like a bad cross between a flamenco dress and a Mexican dancer. Bless Jessica Biel, she never has the slightest idea of what's going on. She wore Ralph Lauren Collection. And Justin looked way better.

And, to top it all off, these three catastrophe's (I bet Anna pursed her lips a couple of times last night). Rachel Roy in her own design, Joy Bryant in Marchesa (if Rachel is still working with her this might be her worst job ever) and orange trannie Lisa Marie Falcone in a God-only-knows-what.

I'm off.

[Pictures: JustJared.buzznet.com, Zimbio.com]

Britishness flash

I know for a fact that if I said I am not big on celebrity Vogue covers many people would give me their nods in agreement. But this is not such time. I saw Alexa Chung on the cover of the March issue of British Vogue and I somehow could not come up with a consistent complaint or any obvious flaws. On the contrary, her casual coolness (or reality chic, as Vogue likes to call it) brings in a freshness that we haven't seen in many months by injecting a more contemporaneous feel that escapes the tacky pastel covers. (Also, check her out on the Pepe Jeans ads, where she looks freakishly like Anja Rubik's evil twin).

Following the like of fashionable Britishness, I was glad to read (also on British Vogue —they were on fire today) that many LFW shows will be streamed live. Woop! Click here for the whole fashion week schedule and get your pens ready for some heavy reviewing. Giulia and I are still trying to be the physically but nothing is yet confirmed. I am pretty excited about Bailey this season, don't ask me why. I can't wait for the 23rd!

[Pictures credit: Vogue.com]

I'm off.

she-bag

Some are old and some new. Some a sigh and some a snort. But they all took their name from someone special to their creators. The Birkin and the Kelly are veterans and the ladies they took their names from marked a style in their era. The Ricky (Ralph Lauren's wife) and the Gisele (Bündchen) have been in the market for a few years already and they keep getting facelifts trying to find their place in fashion history. And the Hayden (Panettiere) and the Alexa (Chung) are the latest additions to the club —to me the first doesn't stand a chance and the second is stunning. Which one is your favourite?

I'm off.