Fashion Week Survival Guide

1. Anti-bacterial hand gel. It’s winter, we can’t afford taxis, people get sick, you get on London Transport, you get sick. This gel helps. Someone coughs / sneezes in your face? This stuff is rendered as useful as pissing into the wind.

2. (Evian)Water. Champagne needs to be balanced-out with this odd substance. Apparently this will stop you from feeling as rough as a fashionable badger’s arse the next morning-interesting. Moet anyone?

3. Flat shoes. Let’s be honest, remove your fabulous 5 inchers you’re as good as dead in the eyes of the fashion police but at least you know those Primark flats are there if you REALLY need them.

4. Sunglasses / other random eyewear. Disguise and conceal those late-night eyes. WE all know you were dancing on the table at PPQ but there’s no reason why anyone else would have to. Make like Anna Wintour and don those shades.

5. A ticket or five. Fashion equation: the more tickets per show you can bandy around, the more important you are. Try exclaiming loudly that you have many, many tickets to spare. For extra (evil) brownie points why not try saying this in front of a hopeful, hard-working intern and then walk away (yes, this has happened to me in the past!). No ticket? Get to the back of the line baby-maybe they’ll let you stand if there is space.

6. A fashionable friend or two. These are very useful on a number of levels: they will stop you from getting bored between shows, they will understand the importance of your bag (very) and they will never suggest that you should ‘just go and have a coffee or something instead of watching a show’. A great friend is the best, most potent weapon at your disposal in this cut-throat world we call ‘the Industry’.

7. A famous friend or two. Even if this person is very tenuously linked with the fashion world (or, indeed, very tenuously linked with you!). I was at a magazine party once, actually it was the launch of a magazine that I wrote for and Gerry from Big Brother (I can’t remember which series and frankly, who cares?!) was ushered into the party while I was made to wait. This still stings but it taught me an extremely valuable lesson: never underestimate the importance of ‘Z’ listers in London. Don’t they know who we ARE?!

8. After-party knowledge. This is usually gleaned from unabashed eavesdropping. You might think you are going to the best party of the evening but others may know of something even better. It’s important to ride the wind of change. Keep your ear to the ground and get ready to change venue at the drop of a Phillip Treacy hat.

9. An absolutely incredible designer bag. This says ‘yes, I am most rich, extremely important and am definitely someone to take serious heed of.’ Can’t afford this season’s? Don't worry-no one can.

10. Food. Yes, it may be shocking to some but I personally find it so reassuring to know that when push comes to shove there is a bag of mini chedders secretly waiting at the bottom of my new Miu Miu.

More Neurotica Photos

Liz Parry, Victoria's PR wearing Neurotica SS '09. Her assistants are pictured above (also in Neurotica)

Neurotica SS '09 Launch, Thursday 18th September

Yesterday, I was excited to go to the evening launch of Neurotica’s latest collection, ‘Gently With a Chainsaw. You might remember Neurotica designer Victoria McGrane from the BBC series Dragon’s Den on which she successfully achieved the support of Dragon Peter Jones.

The launch was held at the Royal Academy of Art (as part of On/Off) and the downstairs space had been transformed with an intriguing croquet theme. There was a live band performance from Angie and Alex from Piney Gir throughout the show and their folksy, sexy music went down really well with the crowd.

Victoria’s clothes were fabulous; I loved the movement of the dresses and the way her masculine tailoring cut through the feminity of the chiffon, jersey and silk. Victoria is becoming known for her excellent prints and this collection showcased them perfectly. Depicting poison ivy, venus fly traps and geometric spider webs in a very abstract way meant that you probably wouldn’t initially notice the subject matter until later. This subtly sinister mood was echoed in the colour palette where darker tones of pastel met grey and black. Lynn Cockburn’s styling added another dimension to this considered and confident collection, with hand knitted socks and bathing suits bringing a quirky charm. Illustrated jewellery was provided by Aude Koenig.

The clothes great and were shown so well-on models who looked so good and played with their croquet poles so coquettishly I thought the man standing next to me would pass out. I can’t wait to see more from Neurotica.

Peter Jones and Neurotica's Victoria McGrane

Hannah Marshall Party, Wednesday 17th September

Hannah Marshall’s collections are always so modern and slick that it made sense for her party to be held at one of the coolest clubs in town, Bungalow 8.

The champagne and cocktails flowed, making it increasingly difficult to navigate the confusing horizontally-striped corridors! It was a great party though and when I spoke to her Hannah seemed really pleased with how everything was going. Have a look at http://www.hannahmarshall.com/ to see some examples of her work.

There was an especially stylish crowd at this party so I took some pictures…

Henrik Purienne (left) has a cool magazine called Mirage which he describes as 'swimwear and jetset hedonism' intrigued? Check out www.miragemag.com

Some of Hannah Marshall's lovely team

Niels Beenen from Outside Line (www.outsideline.co.uk) and moi

Doesn't she look great?! Vivienne Westwood does it again

revellers

Bernard Chandran SS '09 Wednesday 17th September

Bernard Chandran showed his latest collection at the Royal Academy of Art as part of On/Off. This was Chandran’s sixth season at fashion week but I can safely say that it was anything but stale.

Drawing inspiration from the pop culture of the east, Chandran showed large, flamboyant shapes. The trapeze-shaped dress was particularly well executed and I expect we’ll soon find this trend on the high street once again. Chandran’s tailoring was sharp with angular, bold cuts.

Colours included rich dark pinks, warm gold, ochre, silver, blue and black. These rich colours were combined with opulent fabrics like shantung silk and contrasted with the sharp cuts. The pieces were sometimes embellished with metal studs and crystals which added another dimension of luxury.

Reem, Monday 16th September at the Royal Academy of Arts

For their “Charlie says….” Collection, Reem really pulled out the stops. In a static exhibition as part of ‘On/Off’, their beautifully distressed dresses with trailing ostrich feathers and deconstructed tailoring were mixed with lacy ruffs. A jacket was made partially from worn leather gloves and bowler hats, bowties and boots featured as accessories.

Reem’s colour palette was typically dark with black and petrol blue being highlighted with a soft tea and some glistening bead-work.

This nostalgically ravaged collection was really quite a refreshing change from the more commercial collections and perfectly encapsulated what is great about young design talent: fresh ideas, a willingness to experiment and a brave attitude.

Peter Jensen Sping Summer '09 'Jodie'

Jensen's Invitation

At the Cafe between Ann-Sofie Back and Peter Jensen's shows

Danish designer Peter Jensen’s new collection was inspired by Jodie Foster in ‘Silence of the Lambs’. Personally I found it difficult to work out where so we’ll move on! There were actually a lot of parallels with Ann-Sofie Back’s collection (shown directly before Jensen’s). Both were sporty, had mannish tailoring and featured stripes and frills.

Jensen’s Spring Summer ’09 was perhaps a little less focused than his previous collections but was certainly no less interesting with plenty of different styles and shapes experimented with. I particularly liked the printed chiffon dresses paired with the over sized tailored jackets. A candy-coloured t-shirt dress was a collaboration with Julie Verhoeven and was also a favourite. The red and white striped cardigan was extra long and a little too ‘pyjama-like’ for my tastes-also the thin horizontal stripes could not be described as figure-forgiving.

Accessories included sporty caps. The current headscarf trend was present in the form of black (possibly Organza?) scarves tied in a large bow at the chin. Menswear was typically Jensen with springy floral printed suits and cut-off trousers. A fresh, if not entirely cohesive collection.

Ann Sofie Back Sunday 14th September

Inspired by celebrity culture, Ann-Sofie Back's Spring Summer '09 collection was interesting and quirky as always. A muted colour palette of white, cream, taupe and black was brought to life with mint, pistachio and pale yellow. Dresses were often body-con and were striped, evoking Herve Leger's style.

Youthful and fun, frills and tassels brought interesting details and the contrast of mannish, over sized jackets and light jersey dresses (which featured clasps similar to those used in plastic surgery) was modern and wearable.

There is no denying that Back has made a conscious move into the commercial but her pieces still retain some of the quirkiness of her early collections. This is largely owing to her prints. A paparazzi print uses an image of a bulb flash and another resembles the marks made on the body before surgery.

Accessories were intriguing with pierced sunglasses and large, thin gold hoop earrings. They were created by Sheefun for Ann-Sofie Back.

For more photographs, check out the pictures by catwalking.com which can be found at www.londonfashionweek.co.uk

Fashion Week Excitement!

Ah, so fashion week is upon us once again. The anticipation grows, the pace quickens and the artistic, materialistic and fabulousness takes over! Today the schedule is as follows:


09:30
Paul Costelloe
BFC Tent

11:30
Caroline Charles
BFC Tent

12:45
Charles Anastase
NW1

14:45
Ossie Clark
BFC Tent
16:00

Graeme Black
W1
17:00

PPQ
BFC Tent
18:15

Ann-Sofie Back
TS/NW1
19:30

Peter Jensen
TS/NW1

Watch this space and check out http://www.londonfashionweek.co.uk/ for more information about the designers and their shows.