MEADHAM KIRCHOFF SS13 AND A BLOG BREAKDOWN

I KNOW London Fashion Week has been over for ages and I meant to do this post a while back but I got totally sidelined by a PR post and then the Emmys and completely forgot. It seemed a shame to waste these beautiful images though, so LUCKY YOU, you get another irrelevant and out of date Fashion Week post! I'm so good to you.

Truthfully there weren't all that many LFW shows I was overly impressed with. I don't know if it's so much the collections themselves or me being less "into" it as I've been in the past, but I found it hard to get buzzed like before. Mulberry was a highlight though (loved watching the FROW get settled on the live stream - Olivia Palermo you dawl) as was Meadham Kirchoff.

I've had a soft spot for Meadham Kirchoff since their AW10 collection blew my mind - veils, crowns, hunners o' bangles, bright pinks, stickers, heavy eyeliner... Every model was like an exponentially-cooler version of my inner 13 year old.

This year it seems Ed and Ben took a leaf from Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette, channelling a pastel-coloured 18th century France with an air of frivolous, luxurious excess...

Gaudy awesomeness, right? Amazing! I still don't think it beats my favourite collection ever from them...

MK - SS12

..but it's right up there. Are they trying to be uber clever, commenting on the global financial crisis and the resulting age of austerity we've all been forced into... Or are they just having fun with bows and costume jewellery - playing dress up like little kids do? More is more. Let them eat cake. etc.

 I'm inclined to think it's the latter, but, regardless, I love me a bold, fun, ostentatious collection that doesn't take itself too seriously LIKE LOADS AND LOADS OF OTHERS. For that reason Meadham Kirchoff will always be on my must see list for fashion week.

What do you guys think? Love it? Hate it? Are these posts even interesting?

I feel like I'm having a bit of an existential crisis with FFS at the moment. Posts about my recent purchases and wishlists and stuff are always well received and generally attract the most comments, but they don't tend to inspire me as much. I sometimes feel they're a bit of a cop out since they're easy to write and take hardly any thought. But on the other hand I get a kick out of putting together the likes of collection reviews, even though I am a complete layman and my opinion might be totally wack.

I write FFS for myself, mostly on my break at work as an afterthought, to basically have something to DO. I've been doing it for nearly 2 years and I still have less than 300 followers because I almost NEVER promote it, I never post outfit pictures of myself, I hardly ever comment on other people's posts (a bad habit I'm trying hard to break) and I regularly abandon it for over a week at a time. That pretty much breaks EVERY SINGLE RULE there is about blogging! I've never really cared before - blogging isn't real life and if this all disappeared I wouldn't cry or nuffink (maybe) - but I'm fast approaching 200,000 views and I don't want to be BORING those of you who do read. I feel like I've kind of lost my direction.

Should I just stick to the highstreet stuff, recent purchases and wishlists? Or maybe I should take a leaf out of Ayden's book and start trying to be a bit more personal in my posts...? I don't know. Is it fine the way it is? 200,000 views is a drop in the ocean compared to other folk's blogs I am well aware, but it feels like a lot to me and I think it's freaked me out a bit. I might take some time off and have a think. Or I might just carry on doing whatever the hell I like and ignoring all the rules. Do other people feel like this? Am I being dramatic? Do I just need to lay off the coffee at 7:14 am in the morning? What is the meaning of life? Where did I leave my keys..?

Oh hell. Just ignore me. Here's the trailer for Marie Antoinette because although it's a STINKER of a film, it sure is pretty to look at.

NYFW: MARC JACOBS AND ANNA SUI

Watching the Twitter reviews of the Marc Jacobs SS13 show flooding in, I couldn't help but roll my eyes like the cynical bastard I am. Sixties, Marc? REALLY? Yawn.

But then I saw it. And you know what I realised? NOT ONE PAIR OF TROUSERS. Finally my dream! As a short-arse who's packin' in the back, trousers and I have a horribly abusive love/hate relationship, and after season after season with tailored or patterned breeks taking centre stage, it's a relief to finally see a collection that shunned them entirely. In typical wacky Marc Jacobs style, rather than offer us an alternative he just pulled them completely, leaving the models strutting about in their pants. Not sure I can (or WANT to) see that look recreated on Argyle St next summer.

But overall, as much as I was ready to be massively unimpressed, I'm afraid I had to eat my eye-rolling. Or something. This was simple and elegant... Chung-ready and trouserless. Basically perfect.

And guess what else... The makeup was to DIE FOR. Just check out the brows on Cara!

I like that they didn't go for an obvious winged liner but instead opted for a smoky cut-crease, and paled out the lips. I basically rock a bold brow and nude lip on a daily basis and now amma hankerin to try this slightly more amped-up version for a night out. What do you guys reckon? ALSO, could the extreme side-parting from my days as an emo really be back on trend?

Another collection worth mentioning is Anna Sui. Part Where the Wild Things Are, part girlish rock n roll, part Harajuku, this is a collection I'd happily style someone like Gwen Steffani in. And, I mean, she's amazing, so...

And again, loving the makeup:

   

What did you guys make of NYFW this year? I feel like most of it passed me by to be honest... And I hate myself a bit for saying it but I was mightily let down by Alexander Wang. SOB!

Onto LFW now. Highlights are sure to be old favourites Christopher Kane, ACNE, Topshop Unique, Meadham Kirchhoff and Mary Katrantzou. Are we all PUMPED?

BEBAROQUE AND PPQ

Scottish hosiery designers Bebaroque are teaming up with uber-cool London brand PPQ for their SS12 collection which will show next month at LFW.

Exciting! You remember Bebaroque, right? The label founded in July 2007 by Mhairi McNicol and Chloe Patience which uses hand embroidery and imaginative prints to transform tights and bodysuits into works of glorious fashion/art?

Aye, they're the ones!

And you know PPQ don't you? The label beloved by folks like Pixie and Peaches Geldof, whose awesome, structured headgear last season made the models look a bit like cats? (hello inspiration for Topshop Unique's dreadful AW11 collection of doggy-themed Dalmatian heinousness)

That's them!

I'm definitely excited by this pairing - and good on the girls for starting to really make a name for themselves! According to Vogue.com, "featuring colourful tights, knee-high socks and body suits, the collection melds the two brands' aesthetics - including a body and legging decorated with an all over repeat digital print combining leopard print, PPQ brand letters, rope and tassels; and a fully embroidered and embellished body incorporating Bebaroque's best-selling Priscilla print blended with PPQ's rose imagery."

That last part about a fully embroidered body suit with embellishment and rose imagery? I'M SOLD!

RADLEY GROSVENOR

Here, turns out Radley got cool. Who knew?!

Radley you say? No thanks, I'm not a middle-aged mum looking for a rather bland leather purse to house my M&S receipts, but cheers all the same.

........

WAIT, hear me out! Granted, Radley's not really a brand I knew/cared much about, except that their logo is that wee Scottie dug and they ain't shy about plastering it all over purses, bags, umbrellas, wallets... You name it, the dug's on it.

That was until I spotted THIS badboy. Behold, the studded Grosvenor Satchel:

 

It's black... It's leather... It's studded... It's a satchel... It MUST be mine.

This bag's still rocking a smart, sophisticated vibe, but without a Scottie dug in sight. Hurrah!

Though I am forever and always a cat lady, here's a wee promotional vid featuring 8 of the mutts, actually looking pretty damn cute if I do say so.

And, just for the ruddy hell of it, here's a wee full length photato of me from earlier today. Bad case of randomitus today...

Well helloooo rubber puss...