We’re massive fans of the relatively new Asos Marketplace here at ShinyStyle, where young independent fashion and jewellery designers can have a platform to showcase and sell their work. Today it’s pin-curls and court heels at the ready for Poppy Valentine, the vintage-inspired independent label we’ve just discovered that specialises in 40s and 50s designs.
The high street is brilliant for vintage-style pieces, but sometimes you just can’t beat a handmade piece made from genuine vintage fabrics where a lot of love and care has gone into the garment – and that’s what Poppy Valentine is all about.
Our personal favourite design from the collection is their 40s-style wrap dress, which comes in a variety of different prints and isn’t completely unlike the kind of thing Miu Miu has been making lately. They’re completely elegant and perfect for channelling your inner Dita Von Teese with some coiffed hair and red lipstick.
Check out the gallery above to see Poppy Valentine’s designs – just one of many good reasons why you should give Asos Marketplace a go.
Teeny-tiny fashion lovers under 5’3 will be excited and happy to read that fashion giants Asos have released their new petite collection.
The new petite range is a cute and trend-aware collection of mini-dresses, quirky printed shirts and sixties-inspired coats and tunics. We love their modern take on the classic mac coat, which has biker-style lapels and will look amazing with one of their belted chiffon dresses and a pair of Autumn boots.
There’s also some great pieces for anyone wanting to rock the boyish, tailored trend, as they’ve got a selection of chic tapered trousers that would go perfectly with a high-necked blouse and heels.
It’s a gorgeous effort – it’s no wonder that Asos is one of the most successful shops in the country when they cater for different body shapes this well. Check out our favourites in the gallery above now!
How gorgeous is this leopard-printed dress coat? We love the clear vintage and sixties inspirations.
It’s time to get your emergency credit card out, girls, because today British design genius Matthew Williamson has finally unveiled his first diffusion line, MW, on My-Wardrobe.com today. When we say affordable it’s still really quite expensive, but sshhh, it’s still very exciting and I’m quite tempted to go without food for a month to get my mitts onto one of the collection’s pieces.
So far there are only three pieces available on the site but we’ve heard tell that more will be added soon, as there will also be jewellery as part of the collection with prices starting at £98. We’re already impressed and excited with what we’ve seen – I’m completely obsessed with the MW leopard-printed bubble coat, which reminds me of sixties It girls such as Edie Sedgwick.
If you feel like blowing a load of money on something really special today I’d recommend checking it out, and keep looking back to check for more pieces being added. Want to shop the collection? Find it here.
Bride-to-be Lily Allen has taken time out from her wedding planning to launch her own Lucy in Disguise fashion line with her sister Sarah Owen.
The vintage inspired designs were launched in a full seaside style at Harvey Nichols on Wednesday 1 June.
Lily told Vogue.co.uk: “Sometimes with vintage clothes the femininity can get lost – the market didn’t feel quite perfect, so that’s what we’ve worked on. I’ve always been into vintage – before I became a pop star it was all I ever wore.”
Will we be seeing Lily sporting some of her own designs at her Glastonbury honeymoon later this summer?
Luxury brand Chanel is definitely having a good week. As well as a flawless show at Paris Couture Week yesterday, they have just unveiled their slick, beautiful new short film in the store’s name. The two-minute cinematic short, titled “Window World”, features the models Magdalena Frackowiak and Barbara Dvorakova, looking eerily cute in impeccable wigs and various attire from the brand. The girls play mannequins, left alone late at night in a closed Chanel store - the outcome manages to be both chic and creepy. Have a look at the video below and let us know what you think!
Like Coco herself, Karl Lagerfeld has become as iconic as the famous double C’s that immediately spring to mind when we think of the fashion uber-brand that is Chanel. Having swept in wearing leather gloves, a silk tuxedo and that starched-looking white ponytail, he is the grandpappy of Parisian fashion.
Which is why we couldn’t ever imagine Chanel without Karl – the man has done the undoable and carried on Coco Chanel’s legacy of timeless French style effortlessly, churning out collection after collection of jaw-droppingly, sickeningly gorgeous clothes, and each more innovative than the last. Just when you think he’s at the peak of his creative ability, BAM! he sends out a new dress at Paris Fashion Week that makes you faint.
We may not want to think about Chanel without Monsieur Lagerfeld, but it looks like he is. In an interview with Numero magazine, in which he was asked about who he would choose to take over, Karl responded: “I have a contract for life so it all depends on who I would like to hand it to… At the moment I’d say Haider Ackermann.”
For those of you unfamiliar with Haider, he’s been slowly creeping up on the fashion radar for a while – and if his SS2011 collection shown at Paris is anything to go by, I’m not sure I’d mind if Karl eventually handed over the torch to him. (Very eventually, though. Don’t leave us yet, Karl. Sob!)
To check out Haider’s most recent collection, click here. We want to know what you think – do you think that Haider has got something special to bring to the table, or should Karl think again? Comment below with your opinions.
This on-trend cape is a chic alternative to a regular coat when wrapping up warm this winter. Fearne Cotton has one.
Portobello Market has, for a long time, been an iconic site for London shopping – it’s one of the best places in the country to pick up something unique and unusual. Suits of armour, vintage postcards, old luggage, records, and most importantly, clothes. If you live in London, love vintage and one-offs and have yet to go, I wouldn’t recommend anywhere else more highly.
However, market shopping is tiring and can be a bit of a pain; especially for those of you visiting from outside the city. That’s why Shiny Style hearts the new clothing site Pretaportobello.comso much. Taking all the best boutique clothes and accessories available at Portobello and squishing them together in one lovely website, you can now shop the best of the market at a click of your mouse.
I’ve been hard at work (poor little me) searching the website to compile a shortlist of all the very best clothes and jewellery that the site has to offer, readers – and you can see the clothes in the gallery above. Everything we found is gorgeous, but ShinyStyle’s favourite is the cute sixties mini-dress with bow cuffs – the perfect cocktail dress.
The words “Tom Ford” and “womenswear” are enough to have any fashion-lover worth their salt quivering and shuddering with excitement these days – move over, Mr. Lagerfeld, there’s a new Don of fashion and his aesthetic is much more modern, much less “fashion-bitch on an ego trip”, much more now. (Not to put Karl Lagerfeld down – I still love him obviously.) You know that you’ve got a ridiculous level of fashion influence when you can bossily insist that Victoria Beckham gets out of those sloppy clothes and into something more haute, pronto – which is exactly what Mr. Ford did when he met VB on an international flight recently. Amazingly, she complied. It’s the stuff legends are made of.
Graduating from creative director at both Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent to becoming the head of his own brand, Mr. Ford has been primarily known for his impeccably tailored menswear and his directorial debut in last year’s A Single Man, which received Academy Award nominations and is worth seeing for the clothes alone. (Frankly, Colin Firth has never looked better.) But now Ford is set to return to what he has spent most of his professional life doing for other fashion houses – womenswear.
The Spring/Summer collection for 2011 has been very hush-hushed and kept under wraps, but he’s finally relented enough to let the public see the first four official photos of what is his first venture into womenswear for the past six years. And the man doesn’t disappoint. It’s a super-glamorous collection manages to be both sexy and masculine at the same time – he doesn’t have an understanding of tailoring for nothing! The clothes are modelled by some of his muses, which feature Beyonce, supermodel Karen Elson and Stella Tennant. We love, we love, we love.
Check out the gallery above for the first official images of his SS2011 womenswear collection.
It’s the fashion moment that we’ve all been waiting for: H&M teasingly let us have a sneaky preview of their campaign photo for their dream high-street collaboration with Lanvin. And so far we’re loving what we’re seeing – sharp androgynous tailoring and some dramatic LBDS that we can’t wait to introduce to our wardrobe. Thankyou, thankyou, thankyou, Alber Elbaz.
It’s been a long time coming to get our hands on edgy, trademark Lanvin style at our favourite H&M prices, and it’s only a little while longer to wait until the collection goes on sale; it hits shops on the 23rd of November. Mark it down on your calendar, because you’ll have to get there early to avoid the inevitable shopping-centre stampedes.
So far H&M is being cruel and withholding any further photos of the collection (the teases), so keep checking back on the site for more news on this couture/high-street mash-up.
Exciting news as Gap unveil the fruits of their most recent collaboration with design geniuse Pierre Hardy; one perfect pair of black suede and leather shoe boots. Well, sometimes simplicity is best. The shoes won’t hit stores in the US until the 28th of October at the slightly un-Gap price of $195, but we can forgive them – it is a beautiful shoe, after all.
Gap’s had a rough time of it these past few weeks; it’s taken a cutting verbal beating from the internet and worldwide fashion-lovers for its’ attempt to ditch their iconic logo for a newer, spiffier one (turns out that the phrase “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” is an important lesson to learn in fashion), so this collaboration could be exactly what the brand needs to get back into their customers’ good books. And we’ll certainly be helping out – by fighting tooth and nail to get a pair when they become available to buy in the UK.
Cast your eye back to the poetry and romance trend that we highlighted on the site recently, and then read on. Inspired by the likes of Valentino, who showed their delightfully girly and fairytale-esque creations at Paris Couture Week earlier this year, it’s not a mode of dress to be sniffed at and you don’t have to look like a model to wear it well.
The River of Romanskstore on Etsy.com ticks all the right fashion boxes, using delicate and girly colours such as peach, nude and lemon in the dresses while creating dresses which sport hourglass silhouettes that Mad Men’s Joan herself would be green over. The creators of the store themselves describe their little dresses as recreating “an era of dainty loveliness; of sash and ribbons, satins and laces.. all of which are reminiscence of a time more dreamy and innocent.” They’re beautiful clothes, but one could argue that their teeny-waisted wiggle dresses are more sexy and knowing than innocent; they promise to create curves that you never knew you had and put an extra slinkiness in your step.
Major fashion points go to River of Romansk for their caramel-toned wiggle dress, which features the silhoutte of the season (womanly) and the colour of the season (camel). A modern approach to the fifties, if you will. Meanwhile, any serious shopper worth their salt would realise that the pale-yellow tea lace skater dress with the zip front is an investment worth making – why get one from Topshop that all your friends own when you can get a unique, River of Romansk original? If you don’t feel like wrapping yourself up in shearling and granny jumpers this winter, do Autumn/Winter the pretty way instead and check out the gallery above for some of our favourites from the store.
From:Pictures: 2012 British Soap Awards - Best dressed, Michelle Keegan, Jennifer Metcalf and more