How do I look?

Each week on my LCF short course I’m given an assignment to complete. I thought that since I’ve got to write these things anyway I may as well throw them up on the blog for all to see.  Week one, the brief was to write a description of how I look, what I wear and what this says about me as a person. You might have seen I bragged on Twitter that when the teacher gave our work back the next week he said he always reads the best one out to the class and he only went and picked mine! As you can imagine, I was in teacher’s pet heaven. Here’s what I came up with to answer the question ‘how do I look?’

You know the supposedly ‘perfect woman’ that the Daily Mail will tell you every man really wants? The girls with the ideal size ten curves, ample bosom and long, glossy, chestnut brown Kate Middleton locks? Well imagine something like the opposite of that and you’ve got me.

Far from a perfect ten, I’m a scrawny size six, with a straight up and down figure almost entirely devoid of what my mother calls ‘child bearing hips.’ The word boyish is pretty spot on when it comes to describing my body shape. Topped off with a short shock of platinum blonde that my hairdresser reliably informs me is an ‘undercut pixie crop,’ and you get the picture – Kelly Brook I am not.

So when it comes to what I wear, you won’t find me in waist-cinching 1950′s skirts or cleavage-enhancing plunging necklines (FYI, I have no cleavage). Far from it – I know that a bit of androgyny is a far better proposition when faced with my willowy silhouette.

The advent of the skinny jean, circa 2004, was a godsend for me: I relinquished all my bootcut denim with gay abandon and haven’t looked back since.  Along with my faithful skinnies I’ve a penchant for, well, let’s call it ‘unusual’ knitwear – if it features a picture of a unicorn, or looks like something a jolly American soccer mom would have worn at Christmas in 1987 then chances are I’ll love it. Add to that a pair of battered brown leather lace-up boots and you’ve pretty much got my daywear uniform.

When it comes to night time and dressing up, I’m all about the eighties. I’m talking clingy, high-waisted skirts, tight velvet minidresses and plenty of sequins. After a decade of bargain-hunting on EBay and rummaging in charity shops I have amassed a collection of vintage prom dresses in everything from shiny metallic violet to deep emerald velvet. On the whole, they’re very short. I may not have enviable curves, but with fairly lengthy legs I don’t mind flashing a little bit of flesh now and then. My most very favourite dress is particularly thigh-skimming: it’s skimpy and black with asymmetrical orange polka dot sleeves – I can totally see Madonna wearing it during her Desperately Seeking Susan phase.

What does this all add up to? What do you see when you look at me? I hope you see someone who is comfortable in their own skin. Someone who knows their own style and likes to play with fashion, but isn’t a slave to it. Someone who knows that they may not have the ‘perfect’ body as dictated by society or the media or bitchy celebrity magazines, but dresses to suit that shape and, most of all, to make herself happy.

Katie Hillier and the BFC Rock Vault

As London Fashion Week fast approaches, it feels like we’ve reached the home stretch. While bloggers and press dust off their trophy trousers and finery, here at Style and Then Some HQ we have been pouring over schedules and highlights of the bi-annual fashion fest (along with some casual outfit rehearsals, au naturellement)

Year on year, the British Fashion Council constantly come up with new and exciting ways to showcase the city’s best design talent – and quite rightly so. After last year’s Royal Wedding, British Fashion Awards and the New Year’s honours list, never has London’s fashion had such a dominant presence on the international stage

But for me the most exciting news popped through our inbox today – namely, that this season there will be a dedicated platform for fine jewellery entitled the ‘Rock Vault’. Okay, so maybe it isn’t the most imaginative name but bloody hell do they have a stellar line-up that includes Husam El Odeh, Jordan Askill and (my new style crush) Hillier London, all curated by industry favourite Stephen Webster

It’s the new Hillier line that has really piqued my interest, though. Katie Hillier is one of those people that keeps cropping up when I think of my all-time favourite design houses. She was a brand consultant for the now defunct Luella label and created lines for fashion heavyweights that include Loewe and Marc Jacobs.

She also happens to be bessies with Victoria Beckham and you can see her cheeky influence trickle through VB’s new diffusion line, replete with rainclouds and flirty scalloped hems. It might sound a tad affected to talk about building a fluent design language but for all the labels I have admired from my teens to present, Hillier seems to have had a hand in them some way or the other.  Right now, I have an unhealthy obsession with her Bunny Love jewellery line and can’t wait to see what she has in store in February

Read more about the British Fashion Council’s ‘Rock Vault’ initiative here

Is there a highlight of LFW that you’re looking forward to? If so, give us a tweet to let us know @Style_ThenSome!

The eternal feminine: Valentino Spring/Summer 2012

I was such a big fan of Valentino‘s Autumn/Winter 2011 collection that the other day I was considering doing something that only die-hard fashion obsessives do: watch a live video of the Spring/Summer 2012 show in Paris. In the end, I didn’t have time, but when I got around to catching up on what I’d missed, I was not disappointed.

The hems might have gone up and down, and the pops of bright pastel throughout the show might have been thoroughly modern, but the billowy sleeves, intricate embellishment, high neck lines and elegantly nipped in waists were very late Edwardian. It reminded me of the costumes of Downton Abbey, when fashion teetered on the brink of the loose waistlines of the 1920s and it was all about masterful drapery.

The barely-there sandals made it look like the models were walking barefoot, ready to run through a field on a summer’s day with their hair in elegantly dishevelled crowns of plaits (and we know how I feel about those). The lace, the sheer, flowing fabrics – it was all so pretty and just very… well, sweet. As Lisa Armstrong put it, it was full of old school charm. What I love so much about the Valentino dresses is that they look like pieces of unselfconscious art, effortless in their understated beauty. They look like the kind of dresses you would want to pass down to your children and to their children, for each generation to tenderly unwrap from the tissue paper and wear to Gatsby-esque parties, where “men and girls [come and go] like moths among the whisperings and the champagne and the stars,” and the band plays “yellow cocktail music” as the “lights grow brighter [and] the earth lurches away from the sun.”

Whether it’s just shy of the 1920s, or full blown Charleston-dancing, flapper style dropped waistline, there’s no doubt that the big trend for women’s silhouettes this year is a loose and yet feminine shape. These soft fabrics suggest, but never give it all away.

Dear Wildfox, adopt me please?

Dear Wildfox,

I know this may sound slightly unethical, but would you like to sponsor my life?  I promise to wear nothing but Wildfox White Label for SS12 and, as i have pre-empted that you will be more than happy with this arrangement, I have selected from your SS12 lookbook the items you should send me first:

These include all your Rodeo shorts, Pony Slip dresses, and oh yes, I wanted to ask if the tan is included?  I do trust you will find this a mutually beneficial deal, and await your response with eager anticipation.  Oh, and as every girl knows, an outfit is just not complete without accessories, so I have picked out a few of these as well, you know, just to complete the look.  You know, maybe a couple of these Antique Gun necklaces to layer up, as well as this awesome Cow Skull ring.  If I remember anything else, I shall be sure to let you know…

OMG! Tilda Swinton stole my style.

Just look: the maroon blazer, the white shirt, the black ankle-skimming trousers. Even my signature blonde undercut pixie crop – Tilda Swinton has been caught red handed in possession of stolen goods: namely, my style.

Obviously, I’m joking.

I realise I will never come close to being anywhere as near as stylish, chic or downright cool as Tilda Swinton. And our outfits aren’t actually that similar. But I thought it was kind of amusing that her look reminded me a lot of the photo of me that was taken at London Fashion Week last September.

I spotted her outfit while watching one of my favourite TV programmes, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. The Daily Show is a hilarious political satire series and it’s particularly good at the moment because the Republican presidential hopefuls are providing an endless source of comedy material for Stewart and his team. Tilda was there to promote her film We Need To Talk About Kevin. She was wearing Haider Ackermann spring/summer 2012, a designer she’s often seen in (she wore Ackermann to the Golden Globes last week too).

Now, technically, The Daily Show online is only supposed to be available in the U.S., but if you trick your computer into thinking it’s in America by changing some browser settings (my computer geek friend showed me how to do this, I couldn’t even tell you how) then you can watch the whole episode here. Or, watch the Kevin trailer below. The film is supposed to be really good, and Jon says that Tilda’s performance is ‘unbelieveably terrific,’ which is quite the endorsement, even for a talk show host.

Com-pleat-ly in love… with pleats

It’s often the way with fashion that us plebs can’t afford to buy into the trends that we like straight away, and so eye up what we want for a season or so. Pleated waist skirts were big last year, and I lusted after the emerald green shade in Whistles, hoping it would go in the sale. After finally getting my own electric blue version from Pret A Portobello for Christmas, I was very glad to see that pleats – and maxi skirts – have carried through into the new season, with the Art Deco draping featuring in the Givenchy Spring/Summer ’12 collection and pleats playing their part in the Chanel couture show. When money is tight, trends with longevity are just what we need.

The maxi skirt is a way of life. It immediately makes you feel like you’re wearing something from the dressing up box (in the most fun sense, not in an embarrassing way), as if you’re from any era except your own. It makes you feel feminine, queenly even – although tripping up the escalator in the London Underground is not particularly conducive to lady-like thoughts, it must be said. Once you start, maxis can become addictive. (And I’ve always thought it was a total lie that only tall girls can wear them. Short girls look wonderful in long skirts too.)

This particular style is a revival of a late 1930s/early 1940s model, brought back in the 1970s for the Annie Hall, bluestocking type girls. Katharine Hepburn wore a skirt like this in the film, The Philadelphia Story in 1940. There’s something very can-do, a kind of elegant feminism about the style, and I think this is a large part of its enduring popularity. I’ve now got my sights set on this lovely pleated dress from ASOS. This is definitely a new obsession.

Doing it for the Boys: Menswear Week to hit London

Menswear Day.  Yep, if you are a regular on the London Fashion Week scene you will be familiar with the one day that British fashion has deemed sufficient enough to collectively show all of its wares every season.

Trailing behind an intense week of non-stop womenswear, almost like an after-thought, Menswear day isn’t given much time to breathe.  Bish, bash, bosh, and it’s over.  And unlike the Womenswear shows, which follow on seamlessly (okay, we are still hoping that will be the case come September) from one city to the next, Menswear day in London sticks out like a sore thumb.

However, this week the British Fashion Council have unveiled plans to add much needed credibility for London’s menswear designers on the international calendar, and plan to align it with the established Menswear weeks of Paris and Milan.  With London poised to take the lead, 15-17^th June will see our first ever Menswear week, entitled London Collections: Men.   And with some big-boy names getting involved, such as Mr Porter and Topman, hopefully in time it may persuade some of the UK’s brightest menswear designers to return home.  Yes Paul Smith, I’m talking to you.

Check out all the manly details over on the LFW website.

Pre-book or prepare to queue|David Hockney’s A Bigger Picture at the Royal Academy

The new David Hockney exhibition, A Bigger Picture, at the Royal Academy has only been open for four days and it’s already proving extremely popular.

‘I’m SO clever,’ I thought to myself. ‘If I go to the new Hockney show on a Monday there will be hardly anyone else there. It’ll be lovely and quiet.’

How wrong I was. The queue for tickets snaked out into the middle of the Royal Academy courtyard, and I had to endure a forty minute wait listening to a very posh mother and daughter standing behind me slagging off practically every member of their extended family.

It was worth the wait though. Spread over a dozen rooms in the main galleries, A Bigger Picture is designed to showcase the Yorkshire-born artist’s landscapes, in particular works created in the last eight years, since Hockney’s return to his home county. So lots of trees then? You might ask. Well, yes, there are, but this exhibition is far from boring. Alongside British countryside you also get huge sunset-bright Grand Canyon vistas, vertiginous Yosemite valleys, plus a giant technicolour biblical scene by way of ‘The Sermon on the Mount’ and a seemingly unrelated series of videos featuring tap and ballet dancers. Even the Yorkshire scenes belie the usual ‘it’s grim up North’ aphorism with their purple roads and orange buildings.

Alongside the many vibrant oil paintings – Hockney prolifically documented the changing of the seasons by painting the same scene repeatedly at different times of the year – there are prints on paper from as recently as October 2011 that demonstrate his latest fascination: ‘Hockney delights in the immediacy of the iPad,’ the accompanying text reads. And he uses the touchscreen tool to great effect, employing an app called Brushes to capture landscapes with the same vividness as if he’d used a paintbrush – but a heck of a lot faster. Check out the video of Hockney at work on an iPad below.

The iPad prints in this exhibition are beautiful, but the real stars of the show are the huge oil paintings, often comprised of several canvases and taking up entire walls of the gallery space. Bright, dramatic and epic in scale, they really have to be seen in person. I’d urge anyone with even a vague interest in modern art to go. But definitely pre-book a ticket – unless you’re also a big fan of queueing.

David Hockney’s ‘A Bigger Picture’ exhibition is open now until 9 April 2012 at the Royal Academy of Arts in London. For exhibition information and to book tickets visit the Royal Academy website.

Sizing up: On the importance of good underwear

It was Coco Chanel who reportedly said that ‘Fashion is architecture: it is a matter of proportions.’ It’s a trite cliché to say that when dressing, women should start with a good bra and work up from there. But apparently I was, until recently, one of the 80 odd percent of women wearing the wrong size for years, so excuse my excitement as I rave about how wonderful it is to wear one that fits properly. (It makes your clothes hang better! Now I finally understand all of that fashionista chat about silhouettes and the importance of underwear. Oh, I could take on the world in this well fitting bra, I can walk taller, prouder!)

I’ve always loved pretty underwear – it can be the secret that puts a spring in your step, your hidden super power. But ever since I bought my first bra, I’ve always felt almost as if I’m a fraud, a child pretending to be a grownup… that the shop assistants don’t take me quite seriously when I ask them for advice about which bra size I am. (I’m not sure why this is – I always put it down to the fact that I didn’t have big enough boobs, but perhaps it’s just because a lot of shop assistants are lazy or feel awkward about the whole thing.) I’ve fluctuated between wearing painful bras that ride up and dig into you in all the wrong ways, and ones that flap around with too much room in them and make you feel like your boobs are disappearing off the face of the planet.

The other day, I finally got up the courage to go and get properly fitted in Bravissimo. My hesitation and embarrassment was down to the fact that I was sure I wasn’t big enough; I felt like an intruder. But the lovely, motherly lady in the fitting rooms told me that it didn’t matter, she’d let me know what size I was even if they didn’t have the right size for me there. Turns out I was way off, so it’s a good thing I checked. Now I can’t wait to donate all of my old, ill-fitting bras to the bra bank (for charity, there’s one in every Bravissimo shop) and start a new collection. In an ideal world, it would be made up of Elle Macpherson Intimates and the chic French brand, Princesse Tam Tam. If you haven’t ever had a proper bra fitting – DO IT!

I’ll leave you with the brilliant Caitlin Moran, on the subject of bad bras:

‘The relief of taking off a bad bra is immeasurable…. Bad bra removal is a measure of your friendships. If you would feel comfortable in going round to someone’s house at the end of a long day, and saying, ‘I’m just going to take my bra off,’ you know you are intimate friends.’

The Olympics: Riches or Ruin?

The Olympics.  These two words conjure up a somewhat mixed bag of emotions for me.  As someone who has never been excessively involved in competitive sport, I find it’s becoming increasingly difficult to be swept up in London’s apparent ‘excitement’ of hosting this Summer’s games.  To the outside world, this is London’s chance to show off its shiny new Stadium and how well we can put on a jolly good show.  But for the rest of us, am I not alone in worrying this massive financial gamble may not pay off? 

With an ‘expected’ £5.1 billion boost to the UK economy, it is no secret that the games in total may have cost us anything up to or over £9.3 billion.  And for a country with out an apparent pot to piss in, it seems Cameron has some serious mozzarella stashed away in his Olympic contingency fund.  Sarah Beeny would be proud.  And for anyone who lives in and around Stratford, or like me, takes that train route in to London, it may be wise to start planning a far away holiday to escape the inevitable inconveniences that no doubt will ensue.  maybe even sub-let your place and cash-in?  Now there is an idea worthy of a gold-medal.

Despite my raging negativity towards the games, I do have to admit there are a few little positives I am fond of.  As a fashion blogger, and a GIRL any new mega shopping centre so easily accessable for me is always a bonus (especially as I managed to spot Taylor Lautner and R-Patz there), so Westfield, you have my seal of approval.  Other than this, the recent rumour of a Spice Girls reformation for the opening ceremony  has sent literal tingles down my spine.   Feel free to mock away, but who better suited for this than Sporty Spice?

What do you think?  Are you genuinely excited, or like me, completely underwhelmed?  Do share your thoughts…