Mulberry SS12: A perfect wardrobe for the British summer
Style.com, Mulberry.com

I have saved my post of Mulberry's Spring/Summer'12 collection until now because watching the show last September during London Fashion Week it seemed to me like it would make a perfect introduction to the new season. It's always hard to know how to start introducing new season pieces in your look but Mulberry's got it just right.

It is funny because the reason why the collection is so spot-on is because it's meant for a British summer. There's a lot of amazing maxi skirts paired up with (my favourite) really cute kagools in waterproof yellow or chic nude with a three-quarter sleeve.

The whole style of the collection was was a really interesting take on eclectic British style –being sexy and cool but having to somehow cover up– mixed with one of the main SS12 trends: sportswear. Creative director Emma Hill introduced the trend by adding drawstring to tie the shorts or the tops at the waist, which contrasted with the silks and leathers they came in.
The bags were, of course, another of the highlights. My favourites were the patent leather yellow Bayswater the genius camera cases and the nude versions of the Taylor. I also loved the platform sandals in yellow with the espadrille and braided leather details.

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It's funny how during London Fashion Week this season I kept running into Eliza Doolittle. I've obviously never met her but we kept being sat opposite each other and after 2 or 3 shows where this happened you could tell that she found it as amusing as I did. She's not only really beautiful in person but she's got this really cool vibe.
My favourite two looks of her were both Christopher Kane. It was kind of lucky that London gave us one or two sunny days because it left room for people to give Resort 2012 a shot. I love the whole Christopher Kane cruise collection, as you might remember me saying a few months ago.
I loved Eliza in the rainbow jumper (I sat opposite her at Christopher Kane when she was wearing this). She totally feeling the colour blocking that day and I love how she wore a very casual outfit with really high platform pumps. I don't think this would've worked on many people but on her looks ace! And I loved, of course, the asymmetric tangerine dress with the pleated skirt. This might sound silly but I love the contrast of the straight pleats with her long curly hair.

Tommy Ton / GQ.com

You can't imagine how so not fashion appropriate was the moment when I found my picture by Tommy Ton on the American GQ website. I was ill in bed bbm-ing some friends and just browsing through GQ's street style pictures from London Fashion Week. I always have some hope that I might find one of myself.

It goes without saying that this made me feel instantly better. I don't know how Tommy Ton does it but he makes anyone look pretty good.

In the same group of photos from London I found another of someone else with me on the background and I thought it would be funny to share the few pictures of me at fashion week that I randomly came across. I don't get snapped but, boy, I am in the background a lot! Haha.

First is me entering Somerset House on menswear day, also by Tommy Ton. In the second one I am patiently waiting for the Beyoncé show to start (do you know who that woman is?). In the third I am chatting to some people before we taking a seat for the Christopher Kane show, and the last one, also by Tommy Ton, is at the exit from the show.

GQ.com, Getty, Telegraph Fashion, Style.com

Un Dandy en el Bazaar / Getty

Last Saturday I was lucky enough to be invited to the show that Beyoncé and her mother Tina Knowles to present their first collection for 'House of Dereon'.

At first, when my friend told me about the event I didn't have much idea of what exactly I was going to. We walked into Selfridge's parking lot, which had been transformed into an all-black runway space surrounded by huge screens.

The wait, of about an hour, was worth it. The collection's main influence was Africa, as homage to Beyoncé's roots. The feathers, animal prints and tribal patterns and makeup that gave live to the collection contrasted with the very short dresses and skirts or street wear tops usually seen on the New York runways. It was a very Beyoncé clothing line, a cultural crossroads that brought together her two main influences. She ticked all the right boxes for summer clothing: printed jumpsuits and playsuits, sheer skirts, simpler but sexy mini dresses for the night, and heaps of loose tops black basics.

The models walked down the runway to the beat of a remix of 'Run the World (Girls)', of course. I was hoping for  an impromptu chorus by Queen B but there was no luck. And yet, I can't complain because I had the pleasure of sitting front row rubbing shoulders with Hamish Bowles.

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For SS12 Mary Katrantzou went for a much more abstract approach to the prints that have made her so famous and covetable. It was so that it almost felt like you had walked into, say, the Gugghenheim museum in Bilbao to watch a moving abstract painters exhibition. The huge metallic tubes that served as the backdrop at the old Eurostar terminal at Waterloo station added to this illusion.

I must confess I found this new approach to prints –oversized, slightly distorted- fascinating. The silhouettes, sexier and less rigid than we'd seen before, still retained that regal air Katrantzou was famous for. Cocktail dresses carried a train at the back or had long sleeves. The most striking and, to me, unexpected of the looks was perhaps the scrap metal asymmetrical dress that closed the show. The designer had used coloured cans to create a stunning effect. Even the way the metal sounded as the model walked was charming.
It was a much more wearable collection than we've seen before but this didn't take away from beautiful and almost magical world that Katrantzou's fashion always manages to take you to.

Courtesy of Burberry, Style.com

It seems like I was right to suspect that the Burberry Prorsum SS12 womenswear collection could go along the lines of the menswear line I saw in Milan in June.
Before I get into what I liked from the collection I have to talk about Burberry's insane front row. I've never seen so many celebrities at the front row of a London show. I must admit I was most excited about seeing Rachel Zoe in the flesh for the first time. Rodger and Mandana were sitting on the row behind, looking a bit confused. I was standing opposite all of them (see picture below) and having Sienna Miller, Gemma Aterton and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley sitting next to each other made it a little hard for me to concentrate on the clothes... But I still managed it.
You wouldn't believe how many times I've heard "How amazing was Burberry?" in the last two days. Everyone was in awe of how Christopher Bailey keeps managing to reinvent the trench coat season after season. This time he took African inspiration in the shape of tribal prints and wooden applique.
The most memorable for me were the raffia trench coats and wedges because of all the craftsmanship that had gone into them and, well seeing Anja Rubik on a catwalk for the first time.

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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.

#BURBERRY

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If I told you that Stephanie LaCava took a plane from New York to Paris on Friday evening, then a Eurostar train from the French capital to London, and barely had any sleep or time to change you wouldn't believe me. She looked as fresh as she would have after a full night sleep and her outfit was exquisitely put together.

Stephanie –who until yesterday was a LFW virgin, can you believe it?– was wearing a custom made Zac Posen white tuxedo jacket with black lapels (it fit her like a glove!), a black short Alexander Wang dress, and an unbelievable pair of Manolos.

There was something very Audrey Hepburn about this look. Perhaps not literally but I feel like if she had lived this new era of fashion she would have, like Stephanie, embraced and edgy and chic kind of aesthetic.

*Stay tuned: More daily looks from SLC are coming your way and tomorrow Know Wear will be co-hosting the Burberry live stream!

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Waiting for the second showing of JW Anderson's SS12 collection you could feel the excitement buzzing from the previous show attendees. People kept giving the heads-up on on good the collection was.

The show was very modern in the way that only Paris knows how –elements like fabric manipulation and deconstruction would only be seen at Balenciaga.

Anderson deconstructed a classic light-weight cardigan and put it back together in the shape of a pencil skirt gently hugging the body but allowing the fabric to flow. He played with panels of sequins, leather and light knits converting wardrobe staples into strikingly chic cocktail dresses with an air of sportswear yet luxurious.

I loved the paisley and geometric abstract shapes that covered two-piece looks of sleeveless tops and tailored trousers. Every outfit was an amalgam of different textures, which changed the reaction of the audience towards each look as models turned the corner. My favourite was the leather that reminded me of a 21st-century chain
mail or a ancient-Roman skirt.

Courtesy of The May Fair Hotel

For the fourth year in a row The May Fair Hotel is one of the official sponsors of London Fashion Week as well as official hotel. For this occasion, they have created an exclusive shopping package starting in September.
The package –£499 per night– includes the stay in the room, a full English breakfast and chocolate dipped strawberries (very Serena van der Woodsen) delivered to your room. It also includes a chauffeured car to take you from Selfridges to Harvey Nichols and from Westfield to Regent Street. The day concludes with cocktails at the very stylish May Fair Bar –a hotspot during LFW.

In addition, also to celebrate LFW, The May Fair Hotel has comissioned graphic artist Spiros Halaris to create  special designer windows. The windows will be unveiled on September 15th anticipating LFW's kick off the following day.