Sponsored Video: 'Merino. No Finer Feeling'
Courtesy of Merino

Sometimes we get so wrapped up in fashion-forwardness and designers working with new futuristic materials that we tend to take for granted the ones that actually play a role both on the catwalk and in the day to day of fashion. This is why I thought that the 'Merino. No Finer Feeling' campaign was such a great idea.

The campaign is a 5-year global campaign which aims to educate and inform consumers about the benefits of Merino wool. You might think (I know I did) that you already know about it because you wear it all the time but did you know that Merino Wool is natural, biodegradable and renewable? I didn't. That makes it the perfect eco-fabric to work with. Not to mention how soft it is to the touch. I not only buy my jumpers and scarves in Merino Wool but also my tracksuit bottoms!

And don't think this extends only to classic or high street pieces. Take London Fashion Week designers. Merino Wool was present in all of the biggest SS12 collections shown here – Erdem, Christopher Kane, Jonathan Saunders, Richard Nicoll, Acne, Burberry Prorsum, Paul Smith, Mulberry, Markus Lupfer. Impressive, huh?

Merino have also recently relaunched their website, Merino.com, where you can learn everything about the fibre itself and all its different uses as well as news.

*This post is sponsored by Merino

Best Dressed of the Weekend: Michelle in Erdem, Part II
JustJared

This week I am very happy with the mix of women on the BDOWeekend post! So happy, in fact, that I am not ranking them because I can't choose.

Naomi Watts' Stella McCartney look from the Resort 2012 collection is the ultimate example of understated elegance. I love the top white panels, which make the dress super modern. I also love the fact that there's barely any accessories (perhaps a different clutch?) but the hair and the shoes are simply spot-on.

Brooklyn Decker makes a second appearance on this post in a very different look. Her Proenza Schouler dress has all the right vibes for a pre-Superbowl event. It's the perfect time to give the luxury sportswear trend a go! I am not super keen on the bag but the Karl shoes add the perfect touch.

Rooney Mara just can't get it wrong. She's on like her bizillionth red carpet hit, this time in Louis Vuitton  Pre-Fall 2012. It could have been a boring look had the dress been black but the emerald green injects energy into the look and works great with Rooney's skin tone and dark hair.

Michelle Williams has adopted a much more pin-up-ey attitude lately, no? Like she's been hanging out with Dita von Teese. And it works brilliantly with her SS12 Erdem dress. I didn't think she could top her last Erdem moment but I was definitely wrong. She looked stunning.

Best Dressed of the Weekend: Three top grades!
JustJared

This week I had no doubts about the chosen women for Best Dressed of the Weekend. Click here to have a look at the other three runner-ups for this week.
Diane Kruger in Erdem is, by miles, one of the best looks I have seen on a celebrity in a long time. It was exquisite and delicate, sexy and very classy. She gets this week's number one. And I do hope to see more celebs in Erdem's SS12 pieces, everything was simply stunning!
I am a huge Meryl Streep fan and I have been for years so I am thrilled to see her still at the top of her game and looking so radiant! I can't wait to see what she chooses to wear to this year's Oscar (she has to win!). For the moment I am happy to see her making unexpected choices like this Cacharel number from the FW1 collection. Mila Kunis wore a similar dress from the same line a few months ago, which makes Meryl even cooler.
Blake Lively is the third to get a top grade this week. Her Jason Wu look to celebrate the launch of the designer's collaboration with Target was a great fit. Just like I said last week re. the latest GG episode, her hair is looking great like this and the light coral of the lipstick and the earrings makes her glow. The peplum is super chic and I love the subtlety of the embroidered details on the skirt.

Style.com

Erdem's exquisite SS12 collection seemed as if it had been specifically made to match the neo-Baroque pastel blue room at The Savoy where the designer chose to show it. From the success of his past collections he has learnt that lace work is his forte so he stuck to his big guns. But he didn't just repeat his previous hits in different colours.

The colour palette was a lot more muted than for SS11 –pale blue, pastel pink and dashes of lilac and navy with the odd pastel pink. This time the lace was interwoven with the cottons and silks. it was sometimes to tell whether you were looking at separates or dresses, which made it very interesting to me. The little colourful embellishments had a similar effect. It was as if the flowers on the printed fabrics were glittering under the spotlight.
My favourite garment was the pale blue printed trench coat. I found the rigid material very striking in the Erdem print and I loved the three-quarter sleeves and tapered hemline, which created a very interesting silhouette we haven't seen often from the designer.
I loved the boater hats, sunglasses and the shoes which were like lace fossils that felt very modern and contrasted with the very feminine and almost fragile 20's aesthetic of the Erdem SS12 girl.

1. Kate Middleton in Erdem, 2. Jess Stam in Vionnet on the new cover of Flare, 3 & 8. Erdem Resort 2012, 4. French Connection,
5. Top Shop, 6. New Look, 7. French Connection, 9. Prada @ Yoox

I already posted about Erdem's 2012 Cruise collection a couple of months ago. I was and I am still in awe of how beautifully simple it is. I particularly loved the navy (or ultramarine) lace, which seemed so chic to me.

Not long after the collection had come out, Kate Middleton picked a dress or two from this collection for her North American tour and she really look incredible in them.
And now it's Jessica Stam who a navy lace number by Vionnet for the September cover of Flare magazine.

I think it was the contrast of the blue next to the black font on the Flare cover that made me realise how much chicer and sexier than an LBD a navy dress can be in the summer.
And so, I decided to see the offerings of other designers and the high street in the navy lace department. None of the options are as exquisite and elegant as Erdem's, except maybe for the Prada jacket, but I think the New Look and French Connection options can make a really nice summer outfit if well accompanied and accessorised.

I have to admit that so far I don't feel very strongly any of the mid-season collections that have come out, which is odd in me. And I am particularly in awe of the Erdem Cruise line.

I love it when designers try to do something fresh for this very commercial 'seasons'. They are also the clothes that are stocked in shops for the longest period of time so it makes sense that they're slightly less fashion forward to be for sellable.

I am particularly keen on the plain dresses with the lace and/or embroidery focused on a particular part of the dress. And I love the printed flower shoes! It seems genius that they've finally done them. The shapes are super classic and I love the fact that they look slightly Charlotte Olympia with the half-detached platforms.

[Style.com]

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]

The best PR for the best collection

I am extremely happy to see how after the last London Fashion Week some of my favourite British designers have really raised their PR game. Erdem is the best example of this. They have been doing an extraordinary job not only because we have been seeing their FW10 and SS11 collections non-stop over the past weeks but because the famous faces who have worn their dresses are the most stylish at the moment. Carey Mulligan's long number at the Dubai Film Festival reminded me of one of my favourite Keira moments from last spring, which was unforgettable. As was Michelle Williams' red lace look from the London premiere of Blue Valentine. It was also Michelle who wore another of my preferred dresses from the collection at another Blue Valentine press tour appearance. Less memorable but equally lovely were Lea Michele, Jessica Biel and Anne Hathaway.

But yesterday twitter brought my way another Erdem moment that will linger in my mind for a while. Jessica Alba shared a twitpic of herself in one of the brand's SS11 floral skirts and made me die. I like the fact that the skirt is the protagonist of the look and how she looks quite minimal but super stylish. I'm not quite sure what she does when she wears something but it's like magic happens. That's why I keep posting about her on soVIPzone.
Coincidentally, I attended the Starworks press day a while ago where the Swarovsky people were showing some of the London designers they had collaborated with for the SS11 season. Erdem was among them. It was incredible to be able to take a look at the clothes so closely. I loved how the brand's signature floral prints have become digital this season. They give the clothes a more contemporary feel and mixed with the Swarovky crystals and the hand-made collars and lace detailing the garments become feminine with an air of demure romanticism.

I'm off.

[Jessica Alba's twitter, Style.com, soVIPzone's]

Round Monday

As promised, we are back to business at soVIPzone. Giulia and I have been busy over the last week and we were both lucky enough to catch simultaneous colds, which reached their peak over the weekend, so neither of us could update the blog. Fortunately, we're feeling a little better with the beginning of the week and even though we're still quite busy again we couldn't go another day without a new post.

I can't tell you how happy I was to find so many incredible celebrity pictures this evening when I got home after a long day. Doing my daily website tour I couldn't believe how many of my favourite people had been wearing some of my favourite designers. They have made my Monday night so much better! Jessica Alba wore Valentino (and a kind of First Lady hair-do) at an event in Hollywood and she looked beautiful and elegant. Anne Hathaway melted my heart with a smile (yet again) in a beautiful sequinned Oscar de la Renta dress from SS11 during one of her appearances on the 'Love and other Drugs' press tour. Carey Mulligan slipped into a red Prabal Gurung and looked stunning at the British Independent Film Awards. Vicky Becks delighted us with yet another of her famous airport looks —this time in a Giambattista Valli cape-coat. And my favourite on-screen couple at the moment, Michelle Williams and Ryan Gosling, looked as cool as it gets —her in one of my favourite collections, SS11 Erdem, and him in a biker jacket brilliantly accessorised with a paisley-print scarf. What a day!

I'm off.

[Pictures: JustJared.buzznet.com, Celebrity-Gossip.net]

Thinking ahead: Erdem SS11

I am yet to make my mind up about whether I enjoy how some brands start selling some of their pieces ahead of the season. Cases like this, however, make it more difficult for me to decide because I love some of the collections so much I can't wait to see them on! Erdem is one of the first ones to be selling SS11 and they are doing so in the shape of a capsule collection for Matches for which they have included some of their incredible printed dresses from the runway collection as well as some exclusive pieces for the famous London retailer. This satin dress below is my favourite piece in the collection because I love the mix of the kind of more traditional flower print brought up to date with a 3D effect and the more modern abstract one cutting it off. Are you a fan?

I'm off.

[Pictures: Matchesfashion.com]

it's all in the skirt

It took me a while to realise why these pictures of Lauren Conrad seemed different. All the usual black and her jumbo Chanel were still there, her golden locks done up casually. It was the skirt. A burgundy satin skirt with two flaps on the sides as if a massive bow had been tied around her waist and left to rest upon her legs. It worked well with Lauren's style but it added a bit of an edge, which she really needed.

Skirts monopolise the best part of the spring as they are the perfect compromise between wearing a dress and having to cover the shoulders. In need of finding ways of creating something new and flirty yet lacking flamboyance designers and high street have found the best compromise in restrained but fun detailing. Pleats and drapery reign over SS10 with slightly uneven hemlines and that sinuous movement that a skirt should always have. Others have opted for layers of ruffles (the summer staple) or more generic A-line minis in neutral hues or covered in feathers.

1. Balenciaga @ Browns, 2. Top Shop, 3. Carven @ Net-a-Porter, 4. Theory @Net-a-Porter, 5. Adam @ Net-a-Porter, 6. Top Shop, 7. Diane Von Furstemberg @Net-a-Porter, 8. Oasis, 9. Erdem @ Browns, 10. Oasis, 11. New Look

What kind of skirts are you wearing this Spring?
I'm off.

[Pictures: As credited above, Celebrity-Gossip.net]

London showrooms

It seems Emma Watson was not the only one that had slipped into a dress from a season ahead at NYC's London Showrooms event this week. Amongst the SS10 Marios Schawb's and Preen's I found one of the Erdem that we featured earlier on soVIPzone along with one of the cool art deco-inspired Holly Fulton dresses that we also adored from LFW. But it was one of those cool orangy-brown Peter Pilotto dresses that truly put a smile on my face; specially after yesterday's post. It's kind of exciting to see so many pieces being worn ahead of time but at the same time it worries me because this speeds up the pace of fashion even more. I'm pretty sure wearing seasonal clothes is still pretty fashionable. Or at least it should be.

'

[Pictures: Style.com, Vogue.co.uk]

I'm off.

Keira in Erdem

Looking back at our coverage of fashion week I realised soVIPzone had payed little attention to one of our favourite London shows: Erdem. Once the fashion week momentum is gone it seems hard to find a way to talk about shows that took place weeks ago. So I was happy to find this picture of Keira Knightley walking the red carpet in one of the gowns from FW10 and use it as an excuse to go over the collection once more.

It was nice to find out that Erdem Moralioglu had refocused the brand's vision by refraining from over-embroidering dresses. Instead, we saw a beautiful reinterpretation of romanticism. Full length gowns, high necks and stunning cocktail dresses in anything from flirty A-lines in silk to body-con lace.

[Pictures: Style.com, JustJared]

I'm off.

the copper globes

It has been a while since any award gala succeeded in getting to a fashionista's heart. And this year Golden Globes has been no different. However, I have come to the conclusion that if you will fail to even be vaguely fashion-forward you might as well stick to the classics.

Drew Barrymore has very much blossomed into a very interesting fashion personality. This Versace is not only on trend for next season but the bulgy detailing on the shoulder and hip add that edge she always needs. Emily Blunt, however, went for something a bit more restrained yet very gripping because of the way the fabric has been wrapped around. Plus, that haircut is a keeper.

Maggie Gyllenhall might or might not be aware that she doesn't have the most gifted face in Hollywood but she certainly knows how to compensate. Again, the subdued detailing makes her Roland Mouret captivating. Sandra Bullock gave me a big surprise. I loved how Coco's Tea Party chose her dress as the most unexpected colour, it is all about the hue.

Black doesn't really ever go wrong. I love how January Jones was one of the few to choose a high neckline. It made her Lanvin kind of intriguing and her casual hair-do added to that. Julia Roberts looked quite alluring in a very straightforward version of the LBD and the fact that she went into the YSL archive to get it really gives her bonus point in my book.

I was sad to hear from my flatmate that Julianne Moore was in the worst dressed list. My favourite moment of the night was when Tom Ford was asked if he approved of her dress and he almost spit out a "duh", noting that he is very good friends with Nicolas Ghesquière. And, of course, Ashley (the future Mrs. soVIPzone) in a flirtatious electric blue Erdem that takes my breath way. She also wore the Manolos from Sex and The City, which only gives me more ideas of how to propose.

[Picture credit: JustJared]

I'm off.