London Fashion Weekend: The Sunday Fashion Panel

During my jaunt to London Fashion Weekend, I managed to grab a seat for the Sunday Fashion Panel discussion to find out the skinny on personal style and how to get it. Its not every day you get to see the UK fashion royal Hilary Alexander, top designer Olivia Rubin and fashion icon (and TOWIE's best...) Lydia Bright sitting around chatting about shopping now is it? Needless to say I felt really rather lucky. Anyway, here is the jist of what was said...

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How do trends start?
Hilary (H): Well, what comes first? The chicken, or the egg? Fashion is a huge collaboration of street style, designer insights, print factory risks, celebrity-wear and so on. If enough people pick up on a look, it automatically becomes a trend, no matter what the conglomeration was inspired by.
Olivia (O): I think every designer has their own signature style and looks they like, for example, bold graphic prints. I like that trends evolve and progress from season to season.
H: It took just two months for the high-street to pick up on the military look. Once the high-street is doing it, you KNOW it is a trend.
Lidia (L): I think the best way to follow a trend is when a true personal style shines through. Although trends by their nature indicate something that numerous people like, you should never feel pressured to dress a certain way. Sometimes, as a celebrity, I used to forget my own style and would just dress for the fans but now I make sure I'm wearing what I want to wear.
H: Yes, it is really important not to be someone else. Copying is so bad. You should always adapt a look to suit your own personal likes and dislikes. Dare to experiment!

Obviously fashion confidence is really important for leading trends...
L: Definitely! Be brave and try something different. After a while it just becomes second nature and it is so important to know yourself and have your own look at forcing yourself out of your fashion comfort zone sometimes is a good habit to get into.
O: My style has changed since I was a fashion student. I'm more natural and comfortable in my own skin now and I think I look and dress better for it.
H: I'm personally a hippy at heart and I travel a lot so I wear clothes which are comfy, practical and brightly coloured. I'm a Woodstock granny. One other thing I'd say in terms of finding looks that you are confident in is to pin-point a celebrity or an icon with a similar body shape to you. See what they wear, what looks good and what doesn't and learn from them.
L: I did that with Sarah Jessica Parker!

Inspiration is very important in fashion as it is a way of expressing yourself creatively and responding to the world around you. What else inspires you?
O: Everything inspires me. From modern art to architecture, street style to nature. I find inspiration everywhere in so many different sources. It comes so naturally now that I don't even think about it. It is better to let fashion just happen organically and evolve freely.

Speaking of evolution, what are the main trends going to be for the coming season?
O: During the next season we're going to be seeing a lot of prints, bright colours and intricate patterns, which is brilliant really because those looks are so versatile and timeless that they can be worn all year round really.
H: I always tell people to go back to their wardrobes and just rework their old outfits. Print-on-print for example is really in for next season but we might never have considered it in the past. In fact, the dress I have on right now is from Whistles... 21 years ago! I just call it 'vintage' now!

Lidia, what up-and-coming trends will you be pioneering in your new clothing line?
L: I've literally always loved fashion and I decided to share my passion for 1950's girly style with my fans. I am very lucky to have been able to use my fame as a platform to make this happen.

What advice could you each give someone who is interested in starting a career in fashion if they didn't have a fame platform?
H: I'd urge anyone interested in fashion careers to come along to Graduate Fashion Week in June. Its a great networking opportunity and a brilliant forum for finding out more about fashion education. I do think it is quite important to study something fashion-related in order to learn the theory behind the creative.
O: I know its a boring one, but everyone interested in fashion should really get themselves on a good internship... I did seven! I did two in Paris and five in London. I'll never forget the fantastic first-hand experience I gained of the fashion industry from my internships.
H: Oh yes, it is really important to be proactive in this industry.
O: Also, I think a deep-rooted knowledge of the high-street is quite important these days.

So we've spoken about celebrity-fashion collaborations now, how about designer-high-street collaborations now? Thoughts?
H: I think they are a brilliant way of helping the customer out in terms of finding cheaper, more-accessible alternatives to catwalk looks. Plus, it gives younger designers an opportunity to break into the industry. Take Mary Katrantzou and Topshop for example... great success.

If we were only going to buy one item this season, what should it be and why?
H: I think a belt is vital this season as the silhouettes are changing. Tighten your belt around last year's chunky cardigan or knitted jumper and wear it with a feminine mid-length skirt. Brilliant.
O: Separates are really in this year, but as Hilary says, the main thing is to maintain that classically feminine silhouette. I'd advise everyone to invest wisely and choose a versatile yet stand-out printed blouse.
L: I think brightly coloured heels are a must. Also, I think military jackets are amazing for elongating the body.

Finally, give us your Holy-Grail style tip...
H: Try, try and try again. Don't be afraid to try something random, and if you think you need to see how fifteen dresses look before buying The One, go for it. We have to kiss a lot of frogs before we find our princes in our love lives, and fashion is no different!
O: My tip is simple, mix high-street and designer.
L: For me it is all about courage. Be bold and brave whilst also making sure that the items you invest in are cost-effective and transferable.

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I'm such a nerd... Most girls go to London Fashion Weekend to shop, meanwhile, I'm missing out on serious purchasing time so that I can gain some insider knowledge to share with all my readers! So what are your thoughts? How do you adapt trends? What would be your number one fashion pick for the season? What inspires the way you dress?

Love and snuggles...

GabriellaSofia

x

Vodafone London Fashion Weekend Event Review

This time last week I was packing my suitcase for a weekend away and boy, was I excited? Having never been to Fashion Weekend I was super-psyched to be heading out on the Sunday to Somerset House in London for the event...

 

Having never been to Fashion Weekend, but also knowing that it is one occasion where you really do need to dress to impress, I hunted through all of my clothes and finally settled on a mid-length graphic-print tube skirt from Topshop (which apparently magnifies my butt so it looks almost Kim Kardashian-esque *so says my mom*), a black peplum top from Topshop, and my sky-scraping wedges from (you've guessed it) Topshop.

As for my make-up on the day, I wanted to try something truly different, so took a leaf out of my friend Cara's book and got creative with my eyeliner extending it into three elaborate swirls on my temples. It worked quite well considering this was the first time I'd ever done it. I kept the rest of my make-up really quite simple and used my Estee Lauder Double Wear foundation because I find it keeps my skin matte throughout the day, which when you're trying to navigate the London Underground on a Sunday morning carting a heavy suitcase around you could really do with safe-guarding.

 

Now, onto Fashion Weekend itself.

As I was working on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, I wasn't able to attend until Sunday, the last day. So I arrived at Somerset House on Sunday morning having strolled down the Thames in the rain. I was eagerly awaiting being indoors for the day. How wrong I was... Although everything for Fashion Weekend is technically indoors, you needed to go outdoors in order to access the different areas which when it is bucketing it down outside isn't fab. Within minutes my hair was frizzy, my feet were wet and my damp skirt was clinging to my apparently huge butt even more than it previously had. But I wasn't bothered, because LIFE IS NOT A DRESS REHEARSAL and you only live once. So I soldiered on...

After putting my suitcase in the cloakroom (which was free by the way) I headed over to the press desk, to collect a map and find out which areas I had access to. Sadly, there was no-one manning the desk so I grabbed a map and wandered aimlessly for a little while just trying to soak up my bearings. I checked the press desk again another two times during the day and there still wasn't anyone sat there...

Nonetheless, I soon realized what was what and was able to go explore the different exhibitors. I was expecting more of an exhibition hall layout like The Clothes Show in Birmingham, but found myself in a very different type of setting. Imagine a big huge mansion with loads of different corridors with rooms going off on either side, then the exhibitors are based inside those rooms. It was nice in a way because it felt like you were really in the designers own little pop-up shop, but everything was a bit chaotic as most rooms only had one door to come in and go out of so I found myself doing that awkward little you-go-first-no-you-go-first exchange multiple times throughout the day.

I'm sad to say that the exhibitors themselves generally weren't much to my taste... It was nice seeing Elizabeth Arden had such a large stall (being one of the event sponsors) but it wasn't quite big enough for me to get anywhere near it because there were so many people there! This was a huge shame really because I've been wanting to chat with an Elizabeth Arden representative about skincare for ages, so I guess I'll just have to head into Debenhams one weekend. benefit had a stall, but they weren't actually selling their products but just offering their services such as eyebrow threading and lash tinting, neither of which I was interested in. Diet Coke were giving out free cans (but I don't like Diet Coke), Kinder Bueno were giving away their new white chocolate bar (but there were none left when I was there) and Compeed were handing out free blister patches like they were sweeties. Apart from that, I didn't experience any freebie pushing or hard-selling all day which was kind of a nice break from what I experienced at The Clothes Show where if I so much as blinked in the direction of a stall I was pounced on and told about an 'exclusive offer' or five...

Other brands I was interested in browsing through included House of Holland, American Retro and VV Vintage. However, as much as I enjoyed having a look through their bits I didn't spot anything I was desperate to buy although I must admit the discounts available were really quite reasonable. Apart from these three, Elizabeth Arden and benefit I genuinely wasn't really that interested in many of the other exhibitors. Having said that, I was pleased to be introduced to a brand I've never known before named Lotus London which has a collection of Indian-inspired pieces (I'm a bit obsessed with Asia in general at the moment so I was automatically drawn to this brand) and another called Attiqueue which had some of the most reasonably priced vintage fur coats I think I've ever seen.

The only offer which I was drawn to all day *and then decided against* was that of Elle magazine who were offering 12 issues of the magazine for just £15 plus a free gift from benefit cosmetics worth £25. However, when I noticed that the Elle representatives were solely giving each customer two travel sized BADgal mascaras each and remembered that I only rarely pick up Elle I decided against investing. That said, I did invest in a £1 copy of their most recent issue. I kind of wish I'd spent the £15 now because I'm really enjoying the pieces especially the beauty pages... Nevermind.

I found bloggable fashion on the guests a bit thin on the ground to be honest... There was only one girl who I had a true style crush on but she breezed past me too quickly to grab a photo. She was wearing a shorts-suit which was in the most cutesy red and black focused plaid print you've ever seen with a white blousse secured with a black ribbon at the neck. Very adorable.

As for the catwalk fashion I found the best look on the Trend Catwalk Fashion Show to be the Lady Brocade look which is something I've been obsessed with for the past couple of years in fact. Its all about the vampy black and deep red colour mix, except its more grown-up than Twilight. Think structured silhouettes, stiff fabrics and a generally more professional approach. Obviously this is perfect for me because since gettinga job I NEED formal work-style clothes and I found this look really quite adaptable. The other two looks which where presented were Kitchen Chic and Sergeant Indigo but I didn't find either of them to be particularly ground-breaking.

 

I did manage to attend two of the talks which I wanted to see including the ELLE Beauty Panel and also the Sunday Fashion Panel, but I plan to blog about them in more detail in the upcoming week, so you'll just have to bear with me!

*£5.50 worth of cous-cous salad I didn't even want...*

When it was time for something to eat I was really quite disappointed with the lack of options and the price of food. I just wanted a simple ham sandwich and some crisps, but Tom's Deli only had posh salads and beef and horseradish sandwiches. I ended up with a cous-cous salad with melon and parma ham which was alright but wasn't worth £5.50 at all. Stinger.

Also, I know a lot of people will be wanting to know if I got a show bag but I have to admit I did not. In order to get one I was expected to part with twelve of my hard-earned Great British Pounds and after listening to a rather disgruntled 'goodie' bag buyer grumble about the fact that the only thing worth having inside it was a self-tanning mitt I very rapidly decided to keep my walled closed.

To conclude, London Fashion Weekend was a good day out for me without a doubt. Although the exhibitors weren't to my taste, the food options were terrible, the day seemed rather disorganized, there was no-one around to assist press and the goodie-bag was labelled a 'farce' by the aforementioned disgruntled girl, I felt that the two talks I attended were more than worth my heading down to London for the day. Plus the atmosphere *although chaotic to say the least* was amazing and it was fantastic to be able to soak it all up. Plus, I even spotted a couple of celebs...

 

*Fashion Royalty Hilary Alexander and TOWIE's Lydia Bright*

Did you go to London Fashion Weekend? What sort of exhibitors would you be interested in seeing at an event like this? Would you have taken advantage of the various discounts on offer?

Love and snuggles
GabriellaSofia

ps. I must add that I did select a blogger as the winner of my Press Pass giveaway, sadly she was unable to make it at the last minute due to family commitments so I was unable to invite my other entrant at such short notice. Only two bloggers entered and I was really shocked with the community that no-one bar a friend of mine re-tweeted the giveaway or showed any interest whatsoever really. Its like, when the prize is free beauty bits everyone enters, but when it is a prize which offers the opportunity for bloggers to actually have a bit of a networking opportunity where they have the chance to interact with the industry they can't be bothered. I understand that many girls won't have entered because they couldn't get to London, but I also know that a great deal more could have done if they'd been passionate enough to generate worth-while content for their readers, Really quite disappointed. On the flip-side I wanted to say a great big thank you to the two committed bloggers who actually did enter. I have a really deep respect for both of you since seeing that your passion for your page apparently puts you in the minority group that place good quality blog content above free products. Thanks.