London Fashion Week & Random London Musings

Where: Somerset House, Embankment, London.

What: An excuse to peruse through up and coming (and some established) designers' wares and to purchase samples cheaply.

Weather: Raincoat, umbrella and wellies required. (It was puddles galore for most of the day!)

Seen: A Vivenne Westwood lookalike with trademark flaming orange hair, scarlet lips and messy batty British tea cosy lady clothing seen marching through security with a lanyard flapping around her neck.
Rarely Seen: Men, unless gay or stupidly dragged along by their female counterparts. (But why, why, why?!!? Why pay almost 40 quid for your boyfriend to come along? Sounds like a rather expensive shopping bag holder to me.)

Seen on the Catwalk: Betty Johnson, Candy Rock & Amazon and......something.

Catwalk trends:

Lolita-esque 1950's knee socks and school girl lace up shoes, full length peg trouser jumpsuits with baggy harem crotch and ankle cuffs, flowery stockings, "double demin", and muted hues.
Accessories: ballerina buns, coral lipstick & lilac eyeshadow.

Closetblonde's Verdict:

1) The Knee Socks & School Shoes

Unless you're a middle aged male history teacher, private school girl or a model, this look is very difficult to pull off without you looking ridiculous (and possible jail bait for men with Lolita-esque tendencies). That wouldn't stop some of the mindless women out there from trying though.
When it Could Work: Vintage queens who carry battered leather vintage suitcases on holiday and wear quirky vintage dresses could own (and probably already do) this look.

2) The Jumpsuit

It could work if you're tall and slender (ie: a model), but if you're short, don't get insulted if some guy passing by sneers and says, "Oi, genie, where's your lamp?"

3) Flowery Stockings

They look like somebody cut up some old lady's couch and made them into tights. If you wore these along with the many other flora pieces of clothing that seem to be in fashion, it could theoretically be camouflage when you sit on a couch. Helena Bonham Carter has been doing this look for years.

See? She even has the knee socks down pat.

4) Double Demin

Double demin, double no.
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no..........
Video evidence as proof:

Some fashion mistakes of the past should be left well alone....in the past. As Carson from Queer Eye for a Straight Guy once said, "There's a reason why so many non-breathable polyester suits are in second hand shops..... That's because their owners are dead."

Purchased: I bought a really cute bikini from Pistol Panties.

I however, am not so cute and the gym hasn't helped with the toning part of things. :/ Plan: More gym and less fried potato.

Eat: On offer were leafy salads, sandwiches included sustainably sourced tuna & cucumber, and chicken & avocado. Hot food on the menu included mushroom and spinach risotto. The cafes were obviously catering to the weight conscious female population. Not a burger or chip in sight.
Verdict on the Sandwiches: J reported that the bread was slightly stale, N's chicken sandwich was disappointing as it had avocado paste and not fresh avocado as falsely advertised. Me, I can never stomach cold food when the weather's cold, so I opted for the risotto which probably ended up being the best choice.
Drink: Champagne while watching the runway.

Plan of Attack: Opt for the early morning entry. There's less people which makes the browsing pleasurable. You are allowed to stay on for the whole day, but come 1pm when the afternoon crowds arrive, you'd likely want to leave by then. The crowds are like Oxford St on a bad day.

The Crowd: There were a handful of fasionistas tottering around in their sky high patent heels, however none that I would call genuinely stylish. The girls spotted were more of the cookie cutter "slave to commercial high street fashion" type; the kind who basically embrace whatever ridiculous trend is thrown at them, including those dreaded shoulder pads. (Just because Lady Gaga does them, doesn't mean you should do them too.) Stylish people to me are those who own their own look and have something distinctively unique about them. It's all about having a distinctive POV (Point of View).

What I Wore Today:

(Above: In the Fitting room - okay, so the colour scheme looks kind of strange without the boots but believe me, it does work with the boots on.)

Tulle Skirt: From Awear, Cork City. Rare purchase from Ireland, the country I tend to bag as having nothing apart from some of the standard high street UK stores at exorbitant prices. (Yup, haven't found anybody I can genuinely say has style over here.)
Layered Peach & White Tees: Gap & Awear
Power Blue Tights: Awear
Brown Leather Cowboy Boots: Benetton (a score on sale because nobody else could fit their darn feet in them :p)
Flower Fascinator & Peach cardigan: H&M
Vibe: Trying to channel that "whimsical ballerina". The kind I was never to be back when I was a little kid. My mum allowed me to quit ballet lessons at age 5 when she realised how ungraceful I was. ("And to think I was going to call you Grace," is what she said.)
Sadly, everyt
hing was pretty much high street as I have limited opportunity to buy anything else but I think it works.

Occasional Fleeting Thought: "Your jewelry line is ugly; I could do better."
Time to prove this hopefully sometime soon......

Other London Musings......
Shop front as seen along my beloved Brick Lane


Spotted near the Big Chill Bar:

I'm not sure whether this is the real mccoy, but the Invader intended for others to join in the invasion.

Quote of the Day
Courtesy from Cousin F. (I wish I could claim that I had said this.)
"Men are very territorial over tv. It's like an extension of their penis which is why they keep on buying even bigger ones. It's the big, hard shiny thing that sits in the middle of the room for everybody to see."