Top Ten Spring 2012 Catwalk Trends

Now that the autumn/winter 2012 shows are almost over, we can get back to the task at hand: our spring wardrobes – or at least daydreaming about them like me, when you have nigh on zero budget for clothes shopping. Here’s a refresher course in spring 2012: the trends, plus some shopping ideas (click on the photos to shop).

1. The decade: 1920′s. Blame Baz Luhrmann and his forthcoming The Great Gatsby remake. Ralph Lauren, Alberta Ferretti and Gucci all went flapper happy on the catwalks, as did Spijker and Spijkers at London Fashion Week. This trend is a dead cert to hit the high street too – you won’t be able to escape dropped waist dresses on the shop floor soon.

2. The life aquatic. Karl created an underwater dreamscape at Chanel and Donatella picked the starfish as a recurring motif at Versace. Who are we to argue with the Kaiser and Queen of Fashion?

3. Seaside summer. We’re all going on a summer holiday declared Daks and Mulberry. It’s a traditional British jaunt, so pack fifties skirts, ice cream colours and a cagoule (because, obviously, it’s going to rain).

4. Out of season. Heavy outerwear at Burberry and leather at Chloe could be forgiven (those are their specialities, after all) but fur? Really, Kanye West? And that was just one of Yeezy’s many errors.

5. Bare bellies. This spring the most unforgiving, flesh-exposing trend is decreed by fashion dowager Miuccia Prada. Both her eponymous and Miu Miu shows featured cropped tops, as did Viktor and Rolf’s. Check out my Pinterest crop tops board for more inspiration.

6. Print setup. Easily the most ubiquitous trend, even pattern-averse New Yorker Alexander Wang had a go at florals. In London, it was business as usual for print pros like Mary Katrantzou and Erdem.

7. Safari so good. NYFW stalwarts Oscar de la Renta and Michael Kors both came straight outta Africa with their khaki safari pieces, soft tribal prints and a healthy dose of zebra, of course.

8. The colour: tangerine tango.  In their trend report, palette experts Pantone point to this scorching shade as taking over from mustard as accent colour of choice next Spring, taking cues from Victoria Beckham, amongst others. Helen told ya so.

9. Ruffles up. Not tiny delicate ones, we’re talking stiff waves of fabric, seen on practically every look at Givenchy. The wavy peplums at Alexander McQueen were cute too. I think the Man Repeller will approve of this vaguely vaginistic trend (no, I don’t think that’s a word either).

10. What a mesh. Almost entirely New York-based, led by Derek Lam and Alexander Wang, this trend took a sports kit fabric from the playing field to the catwalk.

Christmas Shopping Ideas | Vogue.com Online Fashion Week

My advent calendar’s up and has now become a constant reminder that I have 21 days and counting left to get all my Christmas presents bought, wrapped and smugly piled under my (as yet non existent) tree.

Coming from a rather sizeable Indian family, this time of year is never kind to my bank account, given that there are twenty people in my immediate family alone. So this year I have made myself a promise, namely that it is ALL going to be done online and everything will be bought, stuffed and dressed two weeks before Christmas day.

Now, for fear of sounding a bit like a Tesco advert, every little helps – and this year the team at Vogue.com have come up with the brilliant idea of an Online Fashion Week.

Following up on the huge success of the global Fashion’s Night Out phenomenon, the Voguettes announced back in July that they will be organising a scheduled week of exclusive online offers and events – take a look at the schedule here to see just how many brilliant online retailers and shops they have managed to get on board.

Given my personal promise of refusing to negotiate the crowds in bustling department stores, this is a veritable godsend. With brands like Topshop, Matches and Mulberry involved, Vogue.com editor Dolly Jones and her team have hit on a stellar idea for the time-poor woman who wants to bag a bargain in the run-up to Christmas. I know I’ll be logging on tomorrow morning to do a bit of digital splurging.

British Vogue’s Online Fashion Week begins Monday 5^th December at 9am. Check out the schedule here, and tweet us if you are taking part in the online extravanganza yourself!

Bid on a Bag to Save a Life

The Bag to Save a Life auction is now open online – nab a designer handbag at a bargain price and support Save the Children at the same time.

Bag to Save a Life is this year’s Save the Children’s Christmas campaign. Launched last Friday, fronted by UK supermodel Erin O’Connor, the appeal lets fashionistas bid to get their hands on bags from Christian Louboutin, Mulberry, Jimmy Choo, Miu Miu, Prada and many more in an online auction through www.savethechildren.org.uk/bagtosave.

Many of handbags were donated by celebrities, and we’re talking VERY stylish ones at that. Tilda Swinton, for example, handed over a really chic Chanel bow bag. Others came straight from designers – my favourites have got to be the two-toned Jason Wu ‘Miss Wu’ tote bag and the futuristic Christopher Kane PVC clutch, pictured above. I’ve wanted one of these ever since Sophie and I went to his London Fashion Week show in February.

The starting price of all lots will be set at around a quarter of the bags’ recommended retail price. Save the Children is also urging the public to show their support by donating and dropping off unwanted bags at any of their Save the Children stores around the UK.

The Bag to Save a Life auction is open until Sunday 4th December so get bidding now at www.savethechildren.org.uk/bagtosave.

Our pick of the Selfridges winter tech line-up

There’s nothing worse than a smartphone or laptop accessory that’s pink and diamante’d up and the only option other than plain old black or silver. Fashion tech accessories are now a huge market and Selfridges is stepping up its game – they sent us a preview of their winter line-up and here are our favourites.

Mulberry Simple Croc iPad Sleeve £165

The clue is in the name: Mulberry’s series of iPad and MacBook sleeves are simple, chic and much more affordable than a handbag. You might not want to get your iPad out of this pink croc version.

Nixon Nomadic headphones £80

Nixon make great, stylish over-ear headphones like the Nomadic line-up that will also provide good padding for your ears and head. Who needs earmuffs when you’ve got these?

Etre Fingerpoint Gloves £40

You might have already experienced the first-world problem of your gloves not being compatible with your touchscreen but if you haven’t already, you will soon. The answer is to splash on a pair of specially made gloves that will allow you to use your phone without getting frostbite.

LG Giles Deacon 3D Passive glasses £28

If you’re sat at home with a huge LG 3D TV, chances are you’re more into tech than being seen out and about in the latest trends. But with more and more of us having 3D film nights over at friends, you might want to think about an alternative to the horrid free (often white) ones that come in the box.

Mulberry’s billion pound price tag

My lust for an ‘Alexa’ is slowly turning into a must.  Having spent a considerable amount of (wasted, some might say)  time daydreaming about the day when I own my own – note the lack of ‘if’ in this sentence – my infatuation was only spurred on last night when I came face to face with the Angel of all Mulberry bags…

This white ‘Alexa’ Satchel formed part of the display at the Christmas Press launch for Selfridges…and I thoroughly believe if the old Arc Angel was en Vogue, he would have been sporting this beauty.  But alas, it seems I am not the only one taken over by the power of this quintessentially British brand.  This week it was announced that Mulberry have tipped the £1 billion profit margin, making them the WORLD’S top performing brand this year.  And the ‘Alexa’ alone counts for around 30% of that.  Not bad for a Somerset based label.

So maybe there is a lesson to be learned from all of this?   Maybe, as we are just pulling ourselves out of this godforsaken recession, we want to invest our money in British made goods, who we know and trust…Maybe it is time to start investing in likewise companies…

Stocks, shares and…sequins?

Ok, so I’m no Alan Sugar, and I’m not even going to pretend like I know what those mythical ‘city folk’ do day in day out, but for some reason this week I have been absolutely craving to know all about the business of fashion.  And by this I mean the down right nitty-gritty.  Not the models, not the clothes so to speak.  But how these companies handle their cold, hard cash.  

 

I think this fascination has stemmed from finally picking up a copy of Drapers Record that is usually tossed around my office still in its packaging.  And this appears to have led to me not being frightened to look a the ‘grown-ups’ section in the back of the evening standard a.k.a the finance pages…shudder.  But lo and behold, it looks like there is a valid reason why they put those extra pages in.

This week has seen Mulberry, for one, hit a 358% profit rise.  358%!!!  And it’s apparently all down to two names; ‘Alexa’ and ‘Bayswater’, and the fact that even though we are still technically in a recession, it looks like we still want to spend, but just on established and well crafted goods.  And apparently Chung’s name isn’t putting anyone off…who’d have thought it.  Not only this, but Prada are tipped to float on the Hong Kong market (ok here is where my knowledge of technical terms gets hazy…but hey its only my third day swotting up) as well as expanding in Asia with up to 80 new outlets!!!  And if that isn’t enough, Ted Baker apparently scored points worldwide, with a 15% increase in sales in the past few months.  

So, turns out I may yet get the knack for this biz, and maybe I will become the Alanah Sugar of the fashion world. ..maybe.