Bold Blues

This year the blue hues have taken off.  In particular manufacturers have worked on springs electric blues. Royal blue is used for parkas and jackets.  There are strong bold blues in the stores now as well as many greyed blues.  Notice how these examples below move from sapphire to turquoise sea green.

Far left - Dorothy Perkins Cobalt blue short jacket price £50. Centre Left - Evans Autumn Winter 2007/8 blue spot dress.

Centre right features an evening dress from Monsoon Originals Autumn Winter 2007 range. The Pip Sequin Tunic costs £150/€235.  The Originals collection is a limited edition range of exquisitely designed evening wear available in 33 stores and also online.  Inspired by vintage pieces the range is sourced and handpicked by the Monsoon design team. The range has its own exclusive colour palette and has a signature unique to the high street.  Sumptuous fabricsand beautiful embellishment are characteristic of the collection.  Each stunning piece is a luxury to own, not least because no more than 400 pieces of each style are ever produced.

Far right - Monsoon Storm - Elgar Dress - £65/€99 from Monsoon Storm – a new capsule collection launching Autumn Winter 2007.  Monsoon Storm is an exclusively designed, trend driven capsule collection that will be refreshed monthly.  Monsoon Storm range goes into 30 top stores across the country in September and will also be available online.  The range complements the main collection, but has its own distinctive design influences and handwriting.

Off of t'telly

Remember Wayne from Project Runway? The nasal-sounding one with silver hair and a penchant for fetish boots? No? Oh, me neither. But if you do recall the competition and want to get Wayne's seemingly avant garde-ish designs into your wardrobe (just in case he becomes the new Galliano - in his dreams) his first collection launches in November at Debenhams.

All vague 'edginess' has been drained and the pieces look like generic High Street occasionwear. There are 10 items - mainly dresses, with a pair of wide-leg tuxedo-ish trews thrown in. The colour palette is limited to black, white and a pretty Wedgwood blue shade which, when made up into satin bustier dresses, looks cheap. The scenarios that keep popping into my head are; 'bridesmaid', 'Mother of the Bride' and 'posh Essex cocktail party'.

While Julien, Matthew, John and Betty have a large element of freedom when creating their capsules for the store, and can keep a modicum of their own signature style, Wayne has had to bow to the bosses (I'd imagine) and create a far more commercial collection. The plus side is that it should actually sell quite well. Including lots of little black dresses in trendy shapes (there's a cowl-neck LBD that I swear Mis-teeq would have worn circa 2001) will make it popular with shoppers searching for 'special' Saturday night outfits. However I'm still wondering if he actually likes the pieces he's put out and is proud of his acheivements so far.

Three of the best worst pieces
Monochrome cocktail dress with bow neck £100

I'm sure Victoria Beckham Chanelle would die for this dress


















Monochrome maxi dress with beaded deep V neck £180

Actually quite chic in a Halstonian / Julia Roberts in vintage Valentino way. My fave.



















Wedgwood blue lace-up bodice £70 and pleated pencil skirt £70 (back view)

Let me tell you a story; Danni-Elle was planning her wedding to Carl but found out her best friend, Tianne, was secretly shagging her husband-to-be. Instead of kicking Carl to the kerb (he played for Gillingham FC and had prospects you know) Danni-Elle carried out her revenge in the only way she knew; stylistically. This would be Tianna's bridesmaid outfit. 'Nuff said.

Prayers. Answered.

You may or may not have realised that I like handbags. And you may or may not have realised that I quite like denim. Therefore is this not the most perfect amalgamation of said fabric and said accessory? It's a Bayswater, by Mulberry. And come Spring it will be firmly nestled in the crook of my arm. Come to Mama.

































I'd also like to point out a couple of looks from their clothing collection. It's the first time I've ever looked at the pieces and seen a design origin other than Mulberry's own brand of idiosyncratic Englishness (or perhaps generic Ossie Clark-isms) and was rather suprised by.

This zippy frock - rather Balenciaga-ish, no?; denim shorts - hello Marc by Marc. The whole collection looks street-tough (there's even a denim boiler suit in the Spring lookbook!) but also slightly derivative - they seem to have lost the waftiness of previous collections (considering the amount of waftiness we'll be seeing in Spring perhaps it wasn't a good season to do a U-ey).

However on the whole I do believe the change of style to be a good thing and, if the prices are affordable (yeah, right), I could see a lot more of the young set appearing in Mulberry clothing (rather than toting their totes) instead of the forty-something fashion directors who always order blouses and pretty frocks for the office.

UPDATE:
Big Glasses Girl: You screengrabbed the dress image above and posted it one thefashionspot.com which is totally fair enough. Thanks for the semi-credit as the source (although a link or correct spelling - I don't use a dot after Mrs - would have been awesome!)

But, FYI, if you wanted some more info re: the image source you were welcome to email me and ask where I got the shot. It wasn't from "neimen (sic) marcus or something similar", it was from Mulberry's Spring / Summer lookbook.

How to walk in High Heels

For work I love to wear heels. It's quite difficult to stride into meetings, looking important and purposeful in a pair of flats so as soon as I reach my desk I slip into skyscrapers. When the work experience girl wistfully told me she wished she could wear heels like me I did feel a surge of pride. I'm currently lusting after... lots. Especially with the extra lift a platform sole affords. Enjoy.

Jimmy Choo

Christian Louboutin

Brian Atwood

Roberto Cavalli

Alexander McQueen

Stella McCartney

Quote me happy

"Their clothes were ombré-tinted in subtle grays and browns, as if smudged by the murky first light of a city day".


Sarah Mower's description of Nina Ricci's Spring 2008 collection.

See, fashion can be poetry too. I predict Theysken's influence will spread as far and wide as Ghesquiere's, Philo's and Jacobs' has done. I am totally in love with these clothes and can barely breate for want of the patchwork tee and graduated wash trousers. Divine.