Long Live Luella!
Bored of neutrals already? Take a leaf out of Luella’s book and have a Spring Fling with candy brights, pastel pops, bows and polka-dots galore!
Rumours has it that Jaeger‘s soon to be launched diffusion line ‘Boutique’ is aimed at the ex-Luella girl.
Luella S/S 2010 RTW
It seems other high street suspects have jumped on the Luella-wagon trend wise, and whilst it’s no crime whatsoever to take inspiration from another brand, these BooHoo.com Matalan and F&F Tesco dresses seem to be a copy too far, But then again i’m all for looking like I can afford Luella.
F&F floral printed heart cut-out dress £22, Tesco
Tala cut-out heart prom dress £22, Boohoo.com
Matalan's blatent rip-off complete with identical accessories
Here’s Alexa Chung in her genuine Luella cut-out heart frock:
Alexa Chung in Luella S/S 2010
Poor Luella would be turning in her candy floss-lined, polka-dot grave! There are rumours of a resurrection for the brand if new backers materialise, although Luella failed to show an A/W 2010 RTW collection at London Fashion Week in February and the Spring/ Summer line wasn’t put into production.
Check back here for more updates on Luella’s future (hopefully) soon!
The good news on the other hand, there are Luella bargains to be had a-plenty via Urban Outfitters, The OutNet.com (whom I’m in a huff with for not bagging anything in the £1 sale earlier today, boo) and Luella’s Bicester Village outlet store where I picked up a pair of ‘so on-trend it hurts’ khaki safari shorts for £49 from the Luella S/S 2009 RTW collection (pic of me to follow!)
More Luella-a-Likes (almost all from New Look- copycats!) for Luella fans including Alexa, Pixie and Peaches Gelof, Nicola Roberts, Zooey Deschanel and Princess Beatrice to pick from:
F&F Collection bow dress
Polka dot slingback £20, New Look
Spot bow belted skirt £20, New Look
Spot trousers £30, New Look
The real deal by Luella: can't tell the difference!
Love heart dress £40, New Look
Jumpin’
Jumpsuit fever has well and truly hit. At first feared and only worn by fashion forward insiders and plumbers alike, the jumpsuit is now a spring staple seen on various catwalks including Stella McCartney, celebrities and in high street stores alike.
Kate Hudson in the Sea NY jumpsuit
Check out this stunning Sea New York leopard print twill jumpsuit. Seen on the delectable Kate Hudson, and…me!
Sea NY leopard print twill jumpsuit
I’ll post a picture of me in it shortly as i’m hitting the town wearing it later.
Available at hip boutique Oxygen on Eastcastle Street, London.
£295
The best of the rest:
Studded zip detail jumpsuit, £80 by Stella McCartney for Adidas at net-a-porter.com
Stella McCartney for Adidas jumpsuit
Gingham-a-go-go
Gingham looks set to be huge this Spring after Christopher Kane flaunted the fabric at his Spring/Summer 2010 show.
Christopher Kane Spring/Summer 2010
Pick up these checkered lovelies now and jump on the pretty trend.
Check smock dress, Topshop £32
Gingham box cross-body bag, Topshop £30
Gingham silk 'Katlin' dress, Christopher Kane at Net-a-porter.com £2,370.43
Gingham dress, Laura Ashley £85
Gingham cami, New Look £16
Top 3: Silky Shirts
Neutrals are having their fashion moment- albeit in a minimal styling sense.
Think shades of warmed up cream, beige, biscuit, toffee, caramel, nude, blush pink, and this combined with an androgynous shirt in a silky feminine fabric- is perfect for spring.
Currently being raved about and fresh from the catwalks of Chloe, the neutral shirt is a spring must-have.
Chloe spring/summer 2010
Chloe spring/summer 2010
Here’s my pick of the top 3:
Topshop
silk oversized blouse, Topshop £45
Cos
Shirt, Cos £59
Red Herring at Debenhams
Silky blouse, Red Herring at Debenhams £25
Alexa Chung having her wicker-way with a Chanel box-bag
Make like Chanel- via Alexa- and sport a bag made of natural raw materials, those materials namely being wicker -that usually of summer holiday chair which gives appearance of cellulite inprint on legs- raffia -usually found on 3 euro beach mats in Benidorm- and a natural tone of tweed -a new twist on the classic Chanel 2.55.
A wicker wonder from Chanel'S spring/summer 2010 RTW collection
ribbon and wicker woven on the Chanel S/S 2010 catwalk
Seen on the catwalk at Chanel RTW for this spring, Alexa carried her lunchbox-style wicker basket to the Chanel autumn show – a season ahead- and on-trend and faultless as usual.
Dip your toe in the trend…
There are some amazing high street copies around at the moment- and with the real deal costing well into quadruple figures, i’d say this is a trend which will come and go- so best not to invest. Although i’m never the one to say that Chanel isn’t an investment!
wicker clutch bag, Topshop £30
Raffia satchel, Topshop £30
Burberry? Very.
Check out these Burberry Prorsum-a-likes.
It's all in the detail...
The real deal
This lavender ASOS mac has the twisted detail down to a t.
ASOS Black twisted skirt mac £100
Whilst this sorbet coloured sateen twill New Look bargain nails the trend.
New Look sateen twill trench £40
Lipsy (cringe) have also done a suprisingly realistic version.
Lipsy mac £70
Can you tell the difference? Accessorize with a thick belt and socks with sandals for spring pastel-utility chic a la Christopher Bailey- can you still tell the difference?
Is it or isn't it? (OK the catwalk kind of gives it away...)
Pubbly jubbly.
Mine's a pint
Monday marked the opening of Anya Hindmarch’s pop-up pub ‘The Bag and Bottle’ in posh Belgravia.
Anya, the self-proclaimed ‘Bag Lady’, is Landlady for the week, proudly showcasing her new collection of sumptous leather goods and bags.
Ye Olde 'Bag & Bottle' free house
The Bag & Bottle, usually The Star Tavern (where the great train robbery was planned) is open to the press on Monday and Tuesday acting as a showroom, and for the public for the rest of the week.
The pub is the eptimome of olde-English pub kitsch, decked out in antique wood and with Anya’s personalised beer mats strewn across tables and thw whole thing embellished with Anya’s beautiful bags proudly on display.
Crowd pleasers included good old-fashioned favourite bar snacks- including pork scratchings and pickled eggs-, real ale and darts. Bag & Bottle sailor style tattoos and boxes of matches were also being given out, I will put up a photo of the one adorning my wrist tonight.
“ I have always loved anything that is traditional and British and what could be more so than the iconic British pub. Being landlady for a week and having the chance to give this pub a make over is like a dream come true for me ”, says the lovely Anya who is propping up the bar and greeting ‘punters’ from publications including Glamour, ES Magazine (I greeted some old colleagues with a mouthful of pork scratchings, classy) and Vogue as well as little old me.
I bagged myself some pig snacks and a pint of Anya’s home brew whilst I browsed the collection, inparticularly the new season Carker bag which has been brought bang up to date in a butter soft, battered leather and in metallic bronze and silver as well as black and cream- but with a £600+ price tag to match, naturally.
The trademark Hindmarch designs returned for the new season, namely the slogan purses- my favourite being a coin purse with “magazine money” simply embroidered on to the front.
Anya was the pioneer of the eco-bag craze, launching the “This Is Not A Plastic Bag” canvas shopper at Sainsburys back in 2007 for £5 which was an instant sell-out and was later seen on eBay commanding a much larger sum- yours truly queued at 6am to get her hand on one. Although, not so unique now Primark et al have done a version- but probably my only chance to own an Anya Hindmarch bag in the near future, let’s be honest!
Anya’s designs are simple yet sumptuous and brilliant for real women- who like to carry around all but the kitchen sink. Hindmarch’s designs incorporate various clever pockets, pouches and slots for the multi-tasking girl’s mobile phone/ lipstick/ keys.
The venue also played host to a Vogue fashion pub quiz see The Times piece here featuring the tricky questions: see how many you can get correct. I got a limp 18 out of 30.
Celebrity guests which dropped by included Barbara “get aaaaaagght a my pub” Windsor- perhaps the eptimimoe of London barmaid chic.
Peggy Mitchell
Go and check it out for yourself from now until Friday:
The Bag & Bottle
6 Belgrave Mews
London SW1
Walking In A Tim Burton Wonderland…
With the long anticipated release of ‘Alice In Wonderland’ creating a merchandising frenzy -perhaps the biggest since the High School Musical uber annoying franchise- here’s my pick of the best to get your own Wonderland look.
The resurrection of the childhood classic has prompted collaborations from everyone from OPI; with nail lacquers kitschly named ‘Mad As A Hatter’ and ‘Absolutely Alice’; to Stella McCartney who has put her hand to designing some Wonderland themed jewellery and also London department store Selfridges who have coined “The Wonder Room” within the store featuring costumes from the film and an assortment of memorabilia in ode to Alice.
Tim Burton’s signature kooky take on the childhood classic by Lewis Carroll, sees Alice all grown up and back in Wonderland.
Alice is played by little known Australian actress Mia Wasikowska, alongside Burton regulars Helena Bonham Carter as The Red Queen, and Johnny Depp as The Mad Hatter. The motion picture also stars a gothic looking Anne Hathaway as The White Queen and Little Britain’s Matt Lucas starring as both Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum.
Lucky for die hard Wonderland fans, this spring’s trends also have Alice’s look nailed down to a T.
Make like Alice in gingham, which has gone all grown up this season, courtesy of Christopher Kane who sent the iconic picnic tablecloth check down the runway adorned to fine chiffon bustier dresses and pencil skirts with thigh high slashes for a more grown up look.
Also on trend this season are feminine, floaty fabrics in an array of mouth watering pastels from mint green to buttercup yellow via sugared almond pink- but don’t forget to add the Burton-esque gothic twist with flashes of black lace and satin.
And that’s not forgetting the trademark Alice staples to nail the look: Alice Bands-coined after the lady herself don’t you know- looking glasses, tick-tocking pocket watches, cute mary-jane shoes, oversized key charms and or course, the humble cup of tea.
Spring In A Bottle? Nailed.
Trust Chanel to help nail the look
In a life-long battle to stop biting my nails, I have a new game plan this week. My inspiration? I want WAH Nails, and I can’t get the WAH factor with chewed cuticles can I?
WAH is a nail salon with a difference. Based in Dalston, East London WAH have also recently opened a pop-up shop in the mecca that is Topshop Oxford Circus.
Now, normally I would say that nails, indeed nail art applique, is the height of WAG-a-like chav chic. But I think that WAH are so obviously chav that they cancel out the chav-ness- if that makes sense? Either way, I want.
I have tried numerous anti-nail biting solutions which taste like bleach if you try to sneak a nibble, all good I hear you say, as this will surely stop the temptation: only problem being that handling a sarnie, crisps or any other finger food for that matter, the taste transfers to your snack! Not good.
So this time around I am using cunning reverse psychology on my talons in a tactful plan to make them grow!
I have treated myself to the must-have Chanel nail polish for Spring, ‘Particuliere’ (see above), a beautiful putty mink-brown shade. So far so good. OK so it doesn’t look amazing on my miniscule manicure, but it has lessened the temptation to bite said nails as the colour is so pretty. So give it a couple of weeks, I will report back- hopefully with longer more elegant nails.
Here are a couple of WAH Nail designs so you can see what the hype is about. Follow @WAHNAILS on Twitter to see more.
Chanel interlocking C's
POW!
Tiffany boxes with bows a la WAH
Emma Hunt, fashion intern and blogger. I basically like shoes. Quite a lot.
shoesgloriousshoes 
