The name on everyones lips......

LFW has come to an end and there's one name on everyones lips.... Meadham Kirchhoff. Headed by designers Ed Meadham and Ben Kirchhoff, the brands SS12 collection brought a smile even to Anna Wintour's face this season with their fun, young and girlie collection. With even more candy colours than Katy Perry's California girls video, the balloon filled stage brought child-like grown up designs with appliqued retro character badges and lace and ribbon trims. The doll like models with fierce candy lips graced the catwalks as if strolling to a wonderland tea party in their frilly dresses and marabou jackets fresh from their magical dress up boxes. This fun, girlie collection was a breath of fresh air to this seasons fashion week setting themselves aside from the other collections, on their fluffy cloud of candy heaven they proved the fashion industry doesn't take itself too seriously.

The Lowdown: London Fashion Week SS12

Today sees the end to London Fashion Week SS 2012 and what a week it has been. Although it may be a biased opinion, LFW is always my favourite. The British fashion scene is exciting, daring and fearless. Some of the most ballsy designs have graced the British catwalks and I could not be more proud to be British! This year was no exception. With the new summer trends established; pastels, metallics, bold prints, braces and fringe ruled the catwalks. I have narrowed the week long fashion celebrations down a picked out a few of my faves!! Here's the cream of the crop.....

Giles

One of the most established designers in contemporary British fashion, Giles did not disappoint this fashion week. He presented his swan inspired collection, made up of metallics and whites infused with shock reds and contrasting neutrals, gave us clean silhouettes, sharp tailoring and elegant feather-trimmed gowns. A beautiful collection inspired by a beautiful creature bringing elegance to our SS12 wardrobes.

House Of Holland

Staying true to the brand, HOH brought a young, fun and fresh collection to LFW. Mixing vibrant prints with tartans and pastels this exciting collection will be dressing the London It crowd next summer. The half and half colour palettes give the collections basics an edge and the mix and match of prints and fabrics leaves something for everyone. Trimming the collection with fishnets and snake-skin injections, this excitingly cool collection is the essence of the hip HOH girl who will definitely stand out from the crowd next summer!!

TopShop Unique

The ever expanding TopShop brand brought their Unique SS12 collection to LFW. Gold metallics, Egyptian inspired prints and Cleopatra's face brought the essence of Egypt to the London catwalk. An edgy sportswear inspired collection gave us baggy jumpers contrasted with bodycon pieces and edgy designs contrasting with girlie two pieces. This collection's designs stay true to the Unique brand and stand out from the designer collections of LFW.

Danielle Scutt

A summer of grunge was predicted by Danielle Scutt, who brought us an exciting fusion of polka dots, acid wash and tartan for an edgy take on the seasons trends. Influenced by both skin head and hip hop fashion, this collection brings and exciting new look to the summers trends bringing a masculine edge with girlie twists. These simple yet exciting designs will be eagery anticipated in next summers trends.

David Koma

David Koma's reputation for embellished body con designs has been further explored this season with an addition of chunky fringing and chunky shapes positioned on flesh baring fabrics. A sci-fi inspired collection fits in nicely with the futuristic trend evident throughout this fashion week. The simple colour palette emphasises the exciting and intricate designs that add another level to Koma's body-con style.

Chelsea College of Art and Design

I was invited to the private view of the Chelsea College of Art and Design's MA Textile exhibition. The large exhibition showcased the work of the students final projects and it was great to see such variety within the  exhibition. The different mediums and materials used in the exhibition presented each students work to feel unique and showed off their personal skills and techniques differentiating each piece from one another. My particular favourite from the exhibition was the work by Jessica Chan. Formally a student of Leeds College of Art, Jessica went straight into her MA whilst working alongside various other designers in the industry. Her collection, 'Second Skin' consisted of a range of 6 dresses, each one uniquely designed and printed to perfection. With influences coming from crystals and reptile skin, Jessica used henna and logwood dyes on featherweight silks and cottons to create beautifully fragile pieces. The minimalism of her presentation was perfect in complimenting the delicate collection and drawing focus to the intricate print design on these true pieces of art.

'Second Skin' collection, Designer Jessica alongside her collection.

Creamfields

After a long bank holiday weekend the Creamfields festival came to a close. A weekend of rain, mud and a tiny little £4 tent which was about as useful as a holey umbrella, was not enough to ruin an amazing weekend of dance music and binge drinking. Instead we embraced the conditions and faced it head on with our waterproof macs and wellies to pull us through the river of mud running through the campsite. Highlights of the weekend included performances by Magnetic Man, Example, Katy B, Chemical Brothers and DJ Zinc. The outstanding visuals used in the main stage performances where mesmerizing and the clown-head video played though the Chemical Brothers' performance was enough to baffle the minds of any onlooker. All in all I would like to thank my Primark Wellies and Topshop pack-a-mac for getting me though a very soggy weekend and just proving that fashion can save you in any situation!

Just Kids

I find that I am very selective when it comes to reading books. I tend to go for the gripping biographies of troubled souls or glamorous tales of the high society of the 1930's and their frivolous antics and so when I came across Just Kids by Patti Smith I soon come to realise that it was right up my street. It is a tale of passion, devotion and a search for self discovery. Both Patti (Smith) and Robert (Mapplethorpe) are equally devoted to both their art and each other and it is this devotion which sees them through the struggles of their path to self discovery within themselves and their art forms. It is a truly inspiring tale proving that no matter how rough times get there are still means and ways of realising dreams and ambitions and allowing creativity and emotions to take over. Armed with their tools, side by side, they embraced seventies' NYC with starry eyes and grew through their path of self discovery, final destination, fame. Their bohemian life style was one to envy. Though they had little money, this drove them and pushed the boundaries of their art forms through the necessity to create art with the little materials they had. Not only was this way of working used in their art but also they way in which they lived, breathed and slept. Surrounding themselves with their idols and other creatives they lived through their art and their curiosity of others techniques and skills. Though their wardrobes where small, their outfits where always as carefully considered as all of their creative choices. Their boho-rocker individual styles where heavily influenced by their lifestyle and expressive natures allowing them to use themselves as a canvas and inspire each other in their choices.

I was very much moved by this beautiful story and extremely inspired by their devotion to their art and each other. It is inspiring to see that if you have a dream, no matter what life throws at you, keep dreaming and if you work hard enough your dreams will eventually become a reality.

Festival Packing

OK so the summer is coming to a close and festival season is almost over.... almost! However, this August bank holiday brings us great festivals such as Creamfields (of which I will be of attendance) and Reading and Leeds fest. I now must confess that I am a festival camping virgin and the coming weekend has brought me great excitement and anxiety! However, top of any fashion obsessives agenda is the wardrobe that will be coming along for the ride. After much deliberation I think it is almost complete.... almost! Here's what I have opted for.....

This line up includes ( clockwise ) green topshop pack-a-mack, primark blanket poncho, rokit animal print sleeveless blouse, rokit koala bear print tee, topshop animal leggings, select black leggings, rokit turban, h&m feather headband, new look feather headband, rokit leather scrunchie, rokit red hotpants, topshop white sleeveless blouse and crop top, h&m leather jacket.
Along with this mix and match bunch I will also be bringing along a floral rucksack, wellies and plenty-o-bling. I have found this packing-malarky on par with an extreme game of tetris. Addictive yet infuriating!! Stay tuned to see how the final result worked out!!

Please note these outfits are subject to change due to my lack of packing skills and inability to make a final decision.

R.I.P camera

OK so it turns out that no matter how many times I attack my camera with screwdrivers and knife screwdriver substitutes it will not make my camera work! I would like to apologise therefor for the next few posts to come as I plan on selling all my belongings to purchase a better, newer, shinyer one to bring me out of this mourning period. Until then I have the world wide web, my mothers digital camera and maybe even a few hand drawn images to mix it up a little! Things are about to get very interesting people....

Spot of Styling

Firstly, apologies in regards to my last post as there was a technical problem with the images however it has now been rectified and up in full glory so don't forget to keep your finger on the scroll button and check out some stripey piccys! Anyways, back to blog time fun! I would like to dedicate today's post to a shoot I worked on not so long ago with the fabulous photographer Freddie Lee Thompson. Yours truly was stylist for the fashion shoot along with Karly Shead creating beautiful make up and high fashion barnets and Leigh Adams as the truely gorgeous model featured in the piccys. The shoot was made up of three genres including Avant Garde (featuring my own designs), High Fashion and Vintage Love. After a long day shooting the results looked fab! Check them out for yourselves...