London Fashion Week outfit Day 1

I've only been at London Fashion Week two days yet I've got so many posts lined up to do! I'm especially excited to share the runway shots my fab bf took of PPQ and the Look Show, as well as sharing my stories- so many random happenings took place! Today I'm posting my outfit from Friday.

Me= Dress: Oasis, Blazer: New Look, Shoes: Tesco, Necklace: Next.
Bf= Trousers: M&S, Shirt: New Look



  
What's that in my hand? Vitamin water? On each seat at PPQ, as well as a sheet describing the themes of the collection, was a vitamin water. As everyone was filtering out, Matt & I hung around to take photos and there was so much vitamin water everywhere, of all different flavours. We tried lemonade, tropical citrus and raspberry apple. Collecting a few bottles really helped us out the day after when we were parched with thirst trying to navigate our way through Westfield Stratford City!


These photos were all taken at the PPQ show on Friday night, which I was lucky to attend courtesy of InStyle magazine. I'll be posting my full review of the show and all the photos later on this week, so check back for that.

Dress Your Best 2011

The lovely ladies over at academichic are hosting another great project this year. Dress your best is a way of owning and celebrating your favourite body parts. As has been pointed out, discussing your worst body parts has sadly become a part of female bonding (as seen in Mean Girls). Celebrating your favourite parts seems to have become limited to your bum (Beyonce, Rihanna) or your boobs (Katy Perry, Niki Minaj). It's much harder to think of other body parts that we love that aren't sold to us as valid because they are sexual, whether they be our height, back, legs, eyes, hair, nose, ankles or wrists. If you want to check out more on Dress Your Best, you can do so here.



Skirt: Gap
Vest: H&M
Necklace: Next
Sports bra: Peacocks

This is one of my favourite casual outfits for studying in in the summer. The staying power of this skirt is pretty amazing, it's lined, and I bought it from Gap 10 years ago (seriously!) I have poleroids of me at 12 years old wearing this in Italy with a denim jacket and my hair in 'the Rachel'. I dressed pretty differently to most 12 year olds then.

This vest is also one of my recommendations, the girls in my family have a lot of vests from H&M. This one is lined at the top so I can wear it with my sports bra and still have good support and shape. In this outfit I'm dressing my best for my curves and arms.



1.
Shirt, skirt: New Look
Tights: Primark
Necklace: Next

2.
Jumper: Primark
Dress: my987wardrobe
Tights: Peacocks
Lipstick: Victoria Jackson

In this first outfit I'm dressing my best for my height and features. I'm petite, and for me that's not just about height. I'm about 5'4 so I'm at the top end of petite and I can buy pretty much everything from heigh street stores apart from trousers occasionally. But my features are very petite, so most of the style 'rules' for petites work for me, one of them being to tuck shirts in. I used to think this emphasised my hips, but I think this can be avoided by the cut of the skirt/pants.

The second outfit I built around the tights. It was also a cold day and I wanted layers without being too boring. The dress is one I won from a blogger giveaway with my987wardrobe (although I lost the link to the blog as it was so long ago, sorry!). It's really comfy and work appropriate. I love the neckline. The only downside is that it's hand wash only. This outfit is something I can imagine Phoebe from Friends wearing. I also want to apologise for the mess; I took these photos mid-move, can you tell? :p

LOOK show Part II !

Last week's issue of Look magazine (which was a special £1 price) was a bumper issue that had a number of full page spreads giving the models and outfits that were on the catwalk for us at the LOOK show. So for the full lowdown check out that issue of Look (and for 20% off New Look and £10 off Warehouse).
I've already talked about the experience of the reception and after party so I'm going to talk about the catwalk and outfits now. :)

The order of the day was:

THE LOOK SHOW
Spring/Summer 2011 collections from:
New Look
Dorothy Perkins
Uniqlo
Monsoon
M&S
Interval featuring special guest performance from Alexis Jordan
H&M
Mango
Next
Warehouse
River Island
French Connection
The Look Curvy Supermodel winner announced

Monsoon

back:

front:


This jumpsuit was a stunner. The corsages were actually put on in addition to what appears to be an attatched belt. The dress itself is a plain purple, which you can view and buy here (£100).
How to wear: This outfit would look best on bigger ladies, with the large corsages being perfect against their shape. I think the colours would suit blondes best, and I would wear my hair loose and wavy, and feeling a bit 70s.

Warehouse



This is a jumpsuit from Warehouse. I thought the front was rather plan (scoop neck, keyhole front) but the back was quite unusual. It doesn't appear to be available to buy in online yet, but it retails at £160.
How to wear: I can see it worn on the beach with a wide brimmed straw hat and a cocktail. The white color makes it easy to glam up with some statement jewellery and heels. I think this would best suit tall ladies.



This rainbow maxi dress made such a statement on the catwalk. It is £100 from Warehouse and you can buy it now here.
How to wear: I think this dress would look great against very dark skin. It can be paired with gladiators and gold jewellery for a summer evening at a restaurant.

New Look



This look was really channeling Parisian chic. It seems perfect for the beach with the rope duffel bag, yet great for sightseeing and shopping in the casual t and flats. I can't get over how comfy those shorts look, but the scarf makes the whole ens amble look oh-so-stylish. You can shop all the items in this look here.
How to wear: I would wear this for a great day-to-night outfit when on holiday and nipping to a cafe for lunch. I might give it a little pop with some delicate orange stud earrings that sparkle in the sun.

H&M



I love the delicate almost-peasant yellow blouse. The blouse would also be great with bootcut jeans and wedges. With the trousers you could go minimalist and pair it with a pale blue loose t or a white bodysuit and cloth blazer.
How to wear: This look creates curves around the hips, so would be good on a boyish figure.

Next



In this look you can see the scalloped detail on the blouse that is very popular for spring. In Look's photo the model looks really skinny but on the catwalk she was all curves, and the look certainly suits curves. Next always manages to nail style for the mature woman.
How to wear: This look would suit tanned or darker skin. The denim skirt shows off great legs, so I think this look would be perfect for an apple shape (big bust, slim legs).

Halfway through the show Alexis Jordan played, and I managed to record a bit of it here:

Alexis Jordan from Eve Maria on Vimeo.

Thanks again Look for a great show! You can watch the look show in its entirety below or at the Look website.

LOOK show SS11 Part 1

On Friday my boyfriend and I made our way down to London for the Look show SS11! It was at Victoria House, London. We arrived at Bloomsbury square and looked around to see where it was. I immediately spotted a long line of fashionistas and I knew it was there. I also spotted Lily and Victoria in the line ahead of us but was too shy to say hello. *foolish* I also spotted Sara and Kavita. My boyfriend was very conscious of being one of a very small minority of men! I said to him 'don't worry, all the photographers are men' and of course they were. There were some awesome drool-worthy cameras with mega lenses.

As we go in, we hang our coats and bags in the cloakroom and are handed canapes and champagne by the waiters. All the food and drink was provided by M&S and from my boyfriend's report they were all lovely! They served shellfish, mini sausages and mini spring rolls.



After we had had our welcome champagne, we had some fun with photos in the New Look photobooth. The staff held out some accessories and I took the hat and Matt some sunglasses. We also entered the Look Good Feel Better raffle. Look Good Feel better is a charity organization that holds skincare consultations for women with cancer.


Dress, tights and belt: Primark, waistcoat: Bhs, shoes: H&M, ring: Topshop



Apologises for looking like I'm about to stab someone! I actually had an amazing time, despite perhaps not looking it. I'd like to reassure everyone that this is not my 'happy face'! The reception also had a quite fun chocolate fountain. We had our picture taken with Marina from Marina and the Diamonds by the fountain and she asked my boyfriend if she had chocolate on her face! My boyfriend, being the gentleman he is, told her she had it on her chin. Sorry Marina! (and he's a bigger fanboy of hers than I am) :P





Marina being interviewed by the Paparazzi. She told them her mouse jumper dress was made by a friend, her lipstick was Barry M and her bag was Vivienne Westwood.



You can also see behind us a billboard of Taylor Momsen for Parlez-moi d’Amour (Speak to me of Love) by John Galliano perfume. There were samples of it in the Look goody bag (some exciting news related to that coming soon!) and it smelt gorgeous. I'll definitely be buying it.




Other celebrities that we saw were Shane Ward and Lucie Jones from the XFactor, Sophie Ellis-Bextor and Olivia Palermo! She wasn't announced until the very last minute and everyone got really excited on twitter. She looked very beautiful in a H&M dress.







After the show, Sunday Girl sang, supported by the girl band Wonderland. I'd never heard of them before, but they sang well. Sunday girl has such amazing eyes! Did anyone else think that?

Untitled from Eve Maria on Vimeo.

After the show most of the celebrities disappeared and the rest of us celebrated with some amazing cocktails made on demand! I saw mojitos, rose and white wine, but our cocktail (we just had one between us, one of us had to drive home!) was fresh mint leaves, champagne, gin, lemonade and an unmarked bottle of something alchoholic! To be honest, if you'd wanted to get drunk, it would have been very easy! This is something I'm not sure is a good thing. I heard that they did give soft drinks on request, but I felt like soft drinks should have been circulated as well as alchohol- if I had brought my mum, as a teetotaller, she would have initially thought she'd been offered nothing to drink...just a thought. I don't see why alchohol is necessary- if you need it to have fun, that's a definite bad warning sign. Anyway, moving on...

You can check out more photos, and videos of Marina, Sunday Girl and the show itself on the Look microsite and their facebook here.


coat: Zara

That's it for now! In my next post I'll be reporting on the fashions on the catwalk and Alexis Jordan's performance, and posting photos. I'll also show what we received in the Look goody bags and I have a little surprise for you guys in the form of my first giveaway! :)

LOOK show & Saatchi gallery

So I'm super excited- I found out today I'd won a pair of tickets to the LOOK show! :) And my boyfriend has agreed to go with me! What a star he is! It's next week in London, and I'll be tweeting and blogging about it. You can follow me on twitter here.

The previous LOOK shows have been a success with celebrities like X Factor singers Lucie Jones, Joe McElderry and Shane Ward attending and musicians such as The Like, Diana Vickers and Pixie Lott performing. The Look show has also been popular with bloggers invited such as LLYMRS and From Primark to Prada. I'm really looking forward to attending and having a good time around music, fashion and art. :)

I love that it has previously (although not this year) been hosted in the Saatchi gallery- making and supporting art has always been really important to me, and I've never been to the Saachi before so it'll be good to have a nosy. The Saatchi became famous for its support of the YBAs (Young British Artists) like Tracy Emin and Damien Hurst and is credited for effectively making them famous. In the spirit of this the Saatchi often hosts installation art.




The combination of fashion and art can often produce some exciting and innovative work and hosting a fashion show in a gallery points to this relationship in the world of design.


Tracy Emin, Exorcism of the Last Painting I Ever Made

Dress me up

A round up of some of my favourite dresses in the spring collections at the moment. If you haven't heard of Modcloth, it's one of my favourite vintage stores. I've never bought anything from there though as the items are pricey, especially shipped overseas. But I adore from afar, and enjoy The Delightful Dozen styling up their pieces. I am actually dying over those beautiful blue shoes!

Ok, I cheated a bit with New Look, there is a playsuit here, but one of the reasons I love dresses is the same reason I love playsuits: they're so comfy and easy to wear!

I love the shoes with socks in the last post! I know some people aren't keen on shoes-with-socks (it can all get a little mens-socks-with-sandals-type) but styled like this they have a childlike, fun, innocent feel. :D
Do you think you'll be in a dress this spring/summer, or a playsuit?