London Fashion Weekend 2

So today was the day that I have been waiting for! London Fashion Weekend!! Bright and early (ahem 10:00) Susie, M and I did the standard train hopping to Somerset House, a really beautiful venue compared to the tent outside the Natural History Museum where I attended my first London Fashion Weekend a few years ago. To general surprise I managed to stagger across London Bridge in my coral wedges [stilts] and again across the cobbles at Somerset House. How I managed is a mystery but I was quickly collecting my Show Bag (which between you and me, had drastically dropped in standard- where I had Juicy Couture perfume in September, I now have a packet of chewing gum...) We spent a couple of content hours browsing the many stalls and had the prices been slightly more within budget, about £100 more in budget actually, I can think of many things that would be taking pride of place in my wardrobe. To name a few, an embellished Raspberry dress, a hooded chinchilla fur jacket and a perfect sheepskin aviator jacket. Still, I managed to pick up a hair band from blakegodbold which also had some beautiful collars and necklaces. My allowance was well spent on an Elle subscription also which I consider as an investment. I cant wait for my issue to arrive next month! After a appreciated lunch and delicious coffee, we split up. M went to have an Elizabeth Arden makeover and me and Susie went to queue for the catwalk. As an experienced LFW goer, I knew that for front row seats, 45 mins is a necessary price to pay! Our insight payed off and we were comfortably sitting squashed up on the front row where I can only begin to imagine who else had sat in that very place earlier that week.... After another long wait, the lights dimmed and the very same Zara walked/staggered centre catwalk to introduce the first trend; Swan Vesta. This was basically feathers, lace, tulle, crystals and chiffon all perfectly thrown together. Based on the movie 'Black Swan' which I am yet to see but am unsure whether to wait until it comes out on DVD... I'm a bit of a wimp like that.. Annnyyyyway I absolutely love this look. It was dreamlike perfection. The stylist, Miss Molly at Mandy Coakley Represents was clearly amazing and the likes of William Tempest, a personal favourite of mine, Bodyamr- whose show I saw last September and I was blown away!, Rodarte, who I believe were the people behind some of the costumes in 'Black Swan' , Alexander Wang and quite a number of others. What I also like about this trend is that it is the opposite of the colour blocking and neon that going on at the moment!

After another bout of words from Zara, we were treated to the collection of Bora Aksu, a turkish Central Saint Martins graduate who based his collection on ants. We could see armour like padding, clinched in waists and lots of ruffles. The colour scheme he used was beautiful and the patterns were gloriously geometric and under close speculation, fairly complicated.

As predicted by myself, there was obviously a Colour Blocking trend and that came next, appropriately dubbed Lady Brights.

As much as I like the trend itself, I wasnt quite so keen on some of the clothes that were sent down the catwalk but having said that, I was thrilled to see some Halston Heritage dresses and a Christopher Kane top (made of lace naturally). Call me old fashioned but some of the dresses were just to short! Your. not. supposed. to. be. able. to. see. the. model's. bum.

Thats just the way it is!

Finally, we saw the collection of Mark Fast. It was stunning. If, like me, you are a fan of fringing, then this Canadian designer will place you firmly on the cloud 9 of fringing. Famous for his knitwear. It is easy to see why. All of his clothes had great movement as they were walked down the catwalk. It was an incredible collection and a certain Black jumpsuit and a White dress stole the show.
Dont get me wrong, most of the clothes were beautiful but...were the models? The stick thin girls were impossible to ignore (I put the impossible to ignore bit down to M gasping and muttering about feeling sick about their weight). Wasnt size zero over? Well apparently not, you only have to look at Erdem's A/W show to see a particular Chloe Memisevic aka walking coat hanger... Then again, Victoria Beckham had the right idea by banning the unhealthy aspect in her shows. I think this problem needs to be stopped once and for all!

i'm wearing:

Coral espadrilles- Topshop

Black Stockings- M&S

Grey wool trousers- Vintage

Bag- Spitalfields Market

Belt- Vintage

Shirt- Oasis

Cardigan- Mango

Hairband- blakegodblod

Coral Lipstick- Bobbi Brown

In a mist of euphoria, I managed to walk (as gracefully as possible) out of the show tent and towards the exit, for as much as I wished to stay there forever and ever, I had seen everything and I didn't have the means to buy anything else. After a shoe change, we walked considerably faster back to Waterloo and caught a train almost immediately.

Typically, the skirt I ordered to wear for today was sitting in my hallway. My anger at Royal Mail was short lived and rather caught up in the moment, I had a small photoshoot to show it off.

i'm wearing:

Skirt- American Aparell

Shoes and Stockings see above

Crop top- Topshop

Fur Scarf- My mums wardrobe

Ring- Accessorize

Pink Lipstick- Elizabeth Arden

If you have never been to LFWeekend, then I URGE YOU TO GO! Its a real experience! Well thats me done- its been a long day and the feeling has finally started to come back to my feet. Im in a substantial amount of pain!

LB xx

Make Do and Mend

With GCSEs looming in May, a little thing called 'History Controlled Assessment' has entered my life and it was due to this that I found myself in the Imperial War Museum in London this very morning. With only an hour to type up said assessment,it wasn't long before Susie and I had exhausted the Second World War Propaganda resources and after some wandering around aimlessly for a while, I found my self in fairly familiar territory; Fashion! Or as it happens, lack of it in the war due to the intense rationing.

The slogan Make Do and Mend was everywhere in wartime britain to encourage women to spend coupons on food and bedding etc rather than fashion. As most people could sew in those days, it was not such a hard thing to do but if we have another war, I dread to think what would happen to the system!

There was an activity on a touch screen where you were given the amount of coupons you have to spend and the cost of all the clothes that I consider basic necessities (Picture below). It is so hard to cut down! Try it!

Besides these obscenities, that I sure as hell could never cope with, there were some things recognisable and not so different to todays clothes, like the pussy-bow shirt and some brown brogues.
I do think that there was a lot more glamour in the 40s that we dont have now. Even though people were so restricted in what they wore. I once heard that because they could not afford tights in the wore, women used tea-bags to make their legs darker! An earlier St-Tropez it would seem!

A selection of day, night and under wear at the museum. ( Sorry about the horrible picture quality- the combination of using my phone camera and the glass over the exhibits is no good!)
Said brogues, and below is a children's dress made out of maps! That is 'make do and mend' taken to extremes!

As it was it was not long before my interest fizzled out and we went in search of cake. Chocolate in fact. And a cappuccino. That was the definite highlight of the morning! Seeing as we got up early and spent the morning relatively productively at the museum, we (Me, Susie and Ellie- my cousin) were granted an afternoon of shopping time, provided I returned for maths tutoring (I know...) at 5:30. With 4 hours stretching ahead of us we jumped on the tube to Liverpool Street Station and made our way to Spitalfields Market (Definitely my favourite place in London) and after some browsing, I managed to haggle a bag down to £17 (Picture below!) and then we started to make our way through the maze of back streets to Brick Lane and Cheshire Street, home to the magnificent Beyond Retro. I could genuinely live a perfectly happy existence within the confines of that shop!

Some rather jazzy shoes that are surprisingly easy to walk in!
It was, in the end, the most successful shopping trips I've had in a very long time and I didn't buy anything [too] unnecessary! Although I've been there a few times, this time made all the difference as for once, I was armed with a list telling me all the cheap places from my older and much wiser next door neighbor Paige. Other than a small fight with my mum about career choices and slight terror of losing Ellie in the busy market (She didn't have her phone so goodness knows what I would have done had she left my line of vision), the day ran smoothly and I have no regrets about any of my purchases!

The bag. The picture doesn't give the lovely blue green colour credit. Not so dissimilar to the style of Mulberry's Alexa... I can dream. One day it will be mine.
A silk head scarf/ belt from 'Absolute Vintage' where I also spotted the most incredible vintage burberry trench. Love. But slightly out of budget.
My other purchace from 'Absolute Vintage' The slight sparkle in the stripes drew me to it like a moth to the flame....
The whole cardigan. As I only have half a term of school uniform left before we can wear our own clothes, I am stocking up on chunky knitwear to keep me cosy in winter, and knowing England, probably summer!

My prize buy. I found these trousers for £10. They are of a comfortable material, my perfect and favourite colour for clothes, grey and are possibly too good to be true as they also fit perfectly!!

My skirt has still not arrived and I'm praying that it will before Friday!

Ellie goes home today and I have a suspicion (actually I know for a fact because she told me) that Brick Lane wasn't her scene. I think I might have thrown her in the deep end of vintage shopping but hey, its an experience right!

I will definitely post after LFW if not before so stay stylish!

LB xx

Maxi

In anticipation for London Fashion Weekend on Friday (for those of us who dont get invites to London Fashion Week..) and after much internal debate about that joke I call budgeting, I ordered a blue chiffon maxi skirt from American Apparel! Now admittedly, maxi skirts arent everyones cup of tea but they are absolutely everywhere this season, and if Im honest I've always had a bit of a thing for them- they are so feminine! I order to justify the buy, seeing as the order has been made I have a few working days before the skirt actually arrives to decide what to wear with it so as usual, I turned to the perfect dreamy thing that we know as a Catwalk.

My skirt in all its sheer and princessy glory.
I love the way it is being worn in this picture but alas I am not in the possession of a top like this so the search continues.



1. Givenchy 2. Dolche and Gabbana 3. Chloe
My personal favourite is probably the Givenchy as always for my weakness for masculine and feminine combinations.
I'm thinking of mixing the sheer maxi trend with the block colour clash trend so that I can wear it with my beautiful coral espadrilles and matching coral lipstick from Bobbi Brown.... Another trend im loving at the moment is bangles! On occasion, yes they jangle around a bit too much but they are defiantly worth investing in as they keep coming back on trend! One of the bangles shown on the picture below was hand made of bone in Barbados! I love the combination of different texture ( its not metal) and the fact it has a history- it wasn't just factory produced. I dont know about you but I think it makes every time you wear it just that little bit more special!

Gucci


Tomorrow, my 13 year old cousin Ellie is coming to stay for a few days as it is half term so looking forward to it!
LB xx
Images credited to Style.com and American Apparel

Careers

It finally struck me today that this is it! Im handing in A-Level choices tomorrow and taking GCSEs in no time at all. I suppose its time to get down to work! But from a fashion point of view it has been an exciting sort of week. Aside from still having no work experience for the summer, I have decided to take a course at London College of Fashion in Fashion Journalism for a bit in the summer holidays. I am crazily excited, I mean really really excited- all I need is some work experience and Im in for a pretty awesome summer! Also, today was my school careers evening and after making a concious decision to go in with an open mind, went and spoke to a visual merchandiser at the fabulous Mulberry and a fashion/ interior designer called Roland Klein who actually worked in Paris at Dior and spent 6 years as assistant to Karl Lagerfeld. Im just going to pause for impact so that you can let that sink in. Karl. Lagerfeld.
After resisting the urge to fall to my knees and grovel for work experience, I simply accepted that as he said in a heavily french accent, "You must be experienced for my experience." So basically, I need work experience just to get his work experience! Even so, I left with his business card so when I am satisfactorily experienced I can get in there! Looking back I'm not sure that he answered any of the keen, prepared questions I asked but I suppose people who hang out with royalty (Yes im still banging on about Karl) can get away with talking about whatever they want.
I also payed an Art consulatant, another art business man (I switched off a little bit- I dont think Art Buying is for me) and a very...enthusiastic journalist who's only knowledge of Fashion Journalism seemed to have stemmed from The Devil Wears Prada, which he assured me is all true. But as I thought to myself, 'If Miranda Priestly is what it takes then so be it'. Even so Im not sure he knew a whole lot more about it than I did- in fact probably less!
So yeah! Definatly food for thought!
Another highlight of the evening was another purchase, and yes I know im meant to be saving but I simply had to have it!
The sleeves of this Oasis shirt are sheer chiffon and under the ruffles (which I love because they are so sweet and girly) the fabric is opaque.


LB xx

Fate

Whilst jogging to the gym at around 5:55, I went past a local shop, Motto, which seems to have been there all my life but still I check it out occasionally. In the shop window, I saw an amazing dress. Checking the closing time of 6, and feeling like a psychic by the sudden urge I had as I left the front door to bring my purse, I went in and saw the last dress left. In my size. Despite my vow of money saving, I cant argue with fate right?! So I forked out a well worth it £24.99 and left the shop a minute before it closed with a highly satisfied look on my face. The funky printed chiffon number seems pretty good for this Friday's mufti day, which, if I'm honest, I couldnt be less bothered about. Dresses are sooo easy so this one will do me just fine!

Another highlight of my day was a visit from my grandma. She used to make dresses and other garments [of much better and generally neater quality than my own] and it was her that gave me her sewing machine so I could get started on my own dresses. As every good visitor should, she came bearing gifts ( a very late christmas present that never arrived until now). 'Fifty Dresses That Changed The World" What can I say- she knows me well! True to title, the book contains all those dresses that I wish I had in my designer deprived wardrobe- The Givenchy LBD, The Chanel suit (I will own one one day), The Black Valentino that Julia Roberts wore to the Oscars in 2001... I could go on, but I am in a state of blissfull longing staring at all the pictures- go and buy this book....

LBxx

Clothes Swap

Yesterday, the clothes swap finally arrived. Having made some, admittedly, over the top and, in some cases green cakes the night before ( and running to the shop on Saturday morning after the discovery that my dog had eaten 24 cupcakes...) we were definatly all set for some serious swapping. I compiled a look book of clothes on sale and managed to sell my first dress (The blue net one)! I also took in an order for a lace backed cardigan and sold the lace cover up/jacket/kimono thing!

I am wearing:
I <3 NY T-Shirt ( cut up)
Slip Skirt : River Island
Black and Silver necklaces: Topshop
Green Gem necklace: Vintage
Costume Pearls: Vintage
Studded Belt : Topshop
Tights: M&S


Two or ten slices of cake later, the pile of clothes on the table was significantly depleted and people (hopefully content with their swaps) began to leave. Despite a few scathing people who thought it wasnt my best idea ever, I think most had a good time- I certainly did-( cake + clothes = happiness) and we made £13 for The Children's Society!



Above are some of the clothes I swapped ( sorry abou the bad quality images)
Thanks to everyone who came and donated!
I also want to quickly add that there are still clothes avaliable to buy and to order to your preferences. If you are interested please email me at bentonlouise@gmail.com Thank You!

LB XX

Illness

With the clothes swap NEXT WEEK, due to slight illness over the past two days, I got a phenomenal amount of sewing done and have made a maxi skirt, a dress out of netting and a lace kimono style something- none of which had ideal fabric....! Im afraid this is only a short post- sorry- I have no time these days but here are some pictures. See you (if you're invited) at the clothes swap!!


LB xx