LFW ’15 Purchases

Posted on March 3, 2015 by esposavida

Temptation comes in many forms at London Fashion Weekend, which bills itself as London’s biggest designer shopping event. From Maybelline to Moschino, there is something for everyone. Don’t expect much at the lower end of that pay scale.. but there are certainly bargains to be had if you look! I’d definitely recommend booking tickets for the last day, like I did. Lots of designers/vendors were offering discounts and I even heard some brave souls attempting to haggle, so you may well get an even better deal.

Cambridge Satchel Company were worth a look, with decent discounts and free embossing. I popped in to see what they had, as I’m a big fan of the quality of their work (we have recently purchased a gorgeous steamer trunk from them which is just beautifully made). Unfortunately they didn’t have the colour of their large satchel that I was looking for (pink.. obviously). They did have their new ‘Peanuts’ collection, which was nice to see in the flesh. Some fun choices for younger fashionista but I think their prices may still put off that target market.

Somerset House (the LFW venue) has a fabulous book shop at the best of times, so I had to pop in to indulge my guilty habit of collecting fashion books. I picked up Choupette: The Private Life of a High-Flying Fashion Cat which I have been wanting to get my hands on for a while (self confessed cat lady here!) and the first of my two bargains of the day- Valentino- Master of Couture (hardback) for the princely sum of £2.50! With an RRP of £30 I just had to take it home!

Last purchase of the day is a beauty, and I’m almost sad that spring is just around the corner because I won’t be able to wear it as much! Luckily, there’s always the grim Scottish weather to rely on in trips home, where my winter wardrobe can sometimes be needed in July! I bought this Pretty White Lies black faux fur bunny jacket. As you can see it’s sold out online in the black, but it is available in the grey if you love it as much as I do. I went back and forth on buying this but in the end went for it when I saw they had only one size small left on the rail! I paid £40 for it and went away delighted. Later, when googling for it for a picture to send my mum, I discovered the original price of £220 and sale price of £110 and I’m even more glad I bought it now! It even passed approval with my husband (who knows nothing about fashion and insists on making jokes about pirates and asking me where my parrot is whenever I wear my Alexander McQueen skull scarf… bless him) I’m off out for afternoon tea next weekend and I’m finding myself hoping it isn’t too warm to wear it, so I know that I am going to get a lot of use out of this gorgeous faux fur.

SIBLING @ LFW SS15

Posted on March 1, 2015 by esposavida

Never understated, always fun- SIBLING is a London based designer launched in 2008. A collaboration between three friends, they started with menswear and now the label has grown substantially. They have worked with Children in Need and Disney… What’s not to love?

Trademarks of the brand include breton stripes, leopard and bright neons. Today’s show was no exception to this with a cascade of colour, sequins and pattern, set to Madonna holiday.

I was in the front row for their show today, the closing show of London Fashion Weekend 2015. The fun designs and upbeat music made for a highly entertaining show. I’m left wondering if I can work a giant bow hat into my wardrobe…

Catwalk trends for A/W

Posted on October 2, 2014 by esposavida

· 60’s was everywhere on the A/W catwalks. From polo necks to knee high boots for Louis Vuitton to printed shift dresses from Valentino, it looks like the swinging 60’s are back.

· Fairytale of fashion week… bring on the rich jewel tones, embellished capes and fur hoods. You can expect to see these all over the high street as the cold weather hits!

· Fast food… fast fashion! Karl Lagerfeld’s supermarket show led the way here! Trashy but fabulous is in, with garish colour blocking and in your face branding. And who could forget the wonder of McDonalds Moschino?! Definitely the chic-est happy meal around!

· Winter blues are all the rage this season, replacing the pink trends of recent years (Nothing will make me ditch the pink!)

· Maybe it’s the ‘50 shades of grey’ factor, but sexy seductive clothing featured heavily on the catwalk, and we’ll see that on the high street too. Look out for sumptuous silk, soft black leather and flashes of red. (Side note: Hate that book- how about we don’t glamourise domestic violence? – but love this look!)

Prada : Custom Shoe Design

Posted on March 25, 2014 by esposavida

For most of us, couture Prada is something we can only dream of. But now a new service, announced by Prada this weekend, allows fashionistas to design their own shoes. On March 26th and 27th the Sloane Street store will be opening it’s doors to customised orders based on it’s Made to Order Décolleté collection.

Aspiring designers will be able to choose from 9 different styles which they can then customise with their choices of heel height, colour and material. My favourite little details- there is an option to add your initials under the Prada logo, in their signature amber metal- amazing!

The orders take about a month to be made. There is no official word on pricing but it’s safe to say I won’t be popping along to Sloane Street for this, as much as I wish I could!

What do you think of this new service from Prada? Are you a designer shoe lover?

L’Wren Scott

Posted on March 20, 2014 by esposavida

L’Wren Scott was proof that anyone could become anything that they want to be.

She was adopted, and raised as Luann Bambrough, in Utah. At 12 years old she was already 6 ft tall so modelling was a natural choice. She left school at 18 and flew to Paris, changed her name and walked for Chanel. That is the real American dream right there.

In the early 90’s she went back to the US and established herself as a stylist, dressing A-listers and icons alike. Some of her most famous fans include Madonna, Sarah Jessica Parker, Angelina Jolie, Nicole Kidman (a close friend of hers who has an apartment in the same block), Michelle Obama, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, Naomi Campbell, Reese Witherspoon, Christina Hendricks,Jennifer Lopez, Sandra Bullock and Uma Thurman.

A divorcee, she had been romantically involved with Mick Jagger since 2001 and he has spoken to his devastation over her death.

L’Wren is proof that being beautiful, thin, and rich is just not enough to live on. Those are plentiful things but to be loved, fulfilled and content are worth so much more.

Another bright star in the fashion sky gone too soon. So very sad for all those who loved and respected her.

London Fashion Weekend Recap Part 2: The Catwalk

Posted on February 27, 2014 by esposavida

So after a long day of shopping and a lot of time on our feet, we were ready for some dinner, a few drinks, and a comfy seat!

We headed off to the Strand for dinner, after checking with the guys at the door what time they thought we should be back to start queuing for the 6.30 Julien MacDonald Catwalk. They said to be back at 6 to queue so off we headed for dinner!

We got back to Somerset house at 5.45 to find the queue already about 100 people long- damn it! So we joined and remarkably the next 30 minutes or so went pretty quickly and they started to let us in around 6.15. All in all, we didn’t get too bad seats, and we were excited for the show to begin!

I won’t go in to too much detail, but let’s just say 1)Hilary Alexander is fabulous, she came out before the show & was hilarious and 2)the gowns were sensational! I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves and hope they give a flavour of the event!

London Fashion Weekend Recap Part 1: The Shopping

Posted on February 27, 2014 by esposavida

On Saturday I was lucky enough to get to go to London Fashion Weekend, with my lovely friend who agreed to fly 400 miles from our hometown of Edinburgh to go with me and indulge my fashion addiction.

Our tickets were from 1.30-7.00, with designer catwalk tickets for the 6.30 Julien MacDonald show. The venue was the beautiful Somerset House, home of LFW, just a short walk from Temple underground station. It was a beautiful day on Saturday, blue skies and even warm- we were so lucky with the weather!

We arrived at Somerset House just after 1.30 and joined the queue to pick up our tote bags. We had booked silver level tickets, which included a tote bag with goodies. We didn’t have to wait long to pick these up, as the queue moved pretty quickly and the staff were organised, which was great! We then picked up our lanyard passes and that was it… We were in!

First order was then of course to have a good look at our tote bags and goodies, and to grab some lunch before we got down to shopping!

We made our way to the little cafe in Somerset house, waited in the humongous queue for food, paid £8.50 for a sandwich & lemonade (!) and sat down to have a good look at our goodies!

The tote bags this year were designed by Julien Macdonald, a black tote with a white dragonesque design. Inside we had an Essie nail polish in ‘naughty nautical’ (a nice turquoise), babylips lip balm, some lavazza coffee (they were a sponsor) and various other bits and pieces- like a beauty bar. There wasn’t much in it, but I was pretty happy to see the nail polish and lip balm!

Our next point of call was the Vodafone Lounge, where some brand were there to ‘shop the catwalk’. We also went in to the VIP Vodafone area, and thanks to being a Vodafone customer I picked up my free limited edition nail polish out of the very cool nail polish vending machine – I need one in my house!!! You could also book in to get a manicure & there was a recharging station, which was a nice addition.

I won’t go in to my purchases in detail but lets just say… I didn’t spend much! I did fall in love with a Roberto cavalli clutch bag but for £49 and the fact that it was so tiny that I wouldn’t have even been able to fit a bank card or my iPhone in it, I couldn’t justify the expense! I did buy a book to add to my fashion book collection, a tongue in cheek reference to my upcoming wedding ‘the art to a well dressed wife’ and some maybeline nail polishes and lip sticks. Coming out at just under £20 for all of these purchases- I was patting myself on the back for being so well behaved! The truth is the choice was really.. Spend HUNDREDS, or spend very little, so again the upcoming wedding kept me on the straight and narrow.

I did really enjoy having a good look around the shopping areas, and we happily whiled away a good few hours doing so. There were also some stands amongst the shopping areas, such as the ‘Bueno lounge’ where you could book in for a massage and pick up free kinder Buenos- yum!

This post is getting far too long so I’ll talk about the catwalk show in my next post!