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

Shoegasm & Co.

Shoe lovers of the world stamp a big fat admiration mark on your diaries. September 16th (a day before LFW's kick-off) is the day when Selfridges will finally have their Shoe Galleries fully open. The gallery will be the biggest shoe department of the world, holding 4000 shoes on display organised in 6 unique shoe galleries and 11 boutiques belonging to any brand from Havaianas to Chanel and Kurt Geiger. You can see the full brand directory here and even subscribe (here) for updates to stay informed about Selfridges exclusive shoes.
To make this event even more memorable Selfridges commissioned creative director Allannah Weston and Bruce Weber to create the ad campaign following the classic 'girl playing dress-up' dream every woman has had before way before buying their first pair of Louboutins. The result was the quite extraordinary Nicholas Kirkwood for Rodarte hair-do on Edie Campbell (as Cinderella) that you have most definitely already seen on Vogue.

Even better than the opening of the new floor and the publishing of the new campaign is the fact that Selfridges has cerated a contest for a chance to win a year's supply of shoes from Selfridges. All you have to do is click here and write a few lines about your favourite pair of shoes and, if you want, a picture of the shoes on or off your feet. Piece of cake for a price that will give you sheer joy for 365 days!
I'm off.

[Pictures: Selfridges.com]

SATC does Tokyo

I am not nor I have ever been too keen on Sex and the City or Sarah Jessica Parker. It is only in the last few years, after seeing how much influence the show and its protagonists had on women and fashion that I started to get a little into it to see what the fuss was about. After a few tries I am not a SATC devotee yet but I do get a kick out of some of the fashion moments from both the movies and the premieres. After a slow start (fashion-wise) SJP started to get in the zone with her amazing McQueen in London. At her next stop in Tokyo she wore this superb Vivienne Westwood dress from the FW10 collection. There is nothing I can complain about —hair, make-up, jewellery and shoes were spot-on.

I always tease my sister saying she's like Kristen Davis —she looks nice and cute but always a tad too boring. Well, I eat my words. She looked amazing at the premiere in a yellow number that smells a lot of Dior. In my mind, she looks like out of the end of 'Beauty and the Beast'. I might just be a little in love.
UPDATE: Kristin Davies is wearing Jean Patou Haute Couture by Christian Lacroix.

If you follow soVIPzone you know that I love keeping a close eye on what celebrities wear, particularly if they repeat certain items. I do understand that everyone wears everything, at least, more than just once but I still love doing this. My latest spotting has been SJP's Nicholas Kirkwood shoes. She wore them for the after party of the SATC premiere in NYC, again the morning after for her visit to 'Letterman' and yet again five days later when she flew from London to Tokyo. Now, I get that, at £665 a pair, you kind of have to wear them a lot to recover the cost but they are not the kind of shoes for an airport look. Not cool.

WOW, I used a lot of acronyms in this post! And a lot of 'a lot's in italics! haha.
I'm off.

[Pictures: JustJared.buzznet.com, Zimbio.com, movies.broadwayworld.com, daylife.com, BrownsFashion.com]