The third and final series of Danish crime drama The Killing is back on British TV screens this Saturday – and we cannot wait!
Over the past few years, Britain has experienced a Norse invasion as TV series and films falling into the Nordic Noir genre has flooded screens across the isles, with The Killing (or Forbrydelsen as real Scandi crime buffs call it) and its main protagonist Sarah Lund (Sofie Gråbøl) leading the pack. With great twists and turns, one of the more curious things is the Cult of The Jumper. In season one, viewers could see Sarah Lund wearing a very recognisable Fair Isle patterned jumper by Gudrun & Gudrun. It survived being shot at, cuts and crashes (who knows what else). And last season, Sarah sported a fiery red number… also from Gudrun & Gudrun.
We expect the final season of The Killing to offer one or two new jumper goodies. If you want one of your own – and can’t be bothered to knit one yourself, here are some of our favourite Nordic inspired jumpers around…
Woohoo, it’s finally time to dig out the knitwear and walk around the city looking like you’re a ski-enthusiast. But if you find that your precious items from last year has been a feast for the moths don’t worry as there is plenty of Nordic inspired jumpers and cardigans to choose from this season. With November just one day away, we’ve had a look around for fashionable statement knitwear to update your wardrobe with.
Autumn is one of my favourite seasons as it means I get to dig out my knitwear and wooly hats from their summer dwelling (usually a box in the back of my wardrobe). It might be my Scandinavian genes that have made me love the colder weather, but there is just something great about putting on a chunky knit when heading out in the crisp autumn air.
We don’t want you to freeze this autumn because you haven’t found a good woolly hat yet, so we’ve scoured the high street shops for some of the best choices out there to help you in your search…
Forever 21 is a newbie on our high street so we had to check out what they’re offering for autumn winter 2011. Hats with animal faces on (bears, pandas and the like) have been popular for some years now, but might not be so cool to wear if you’re actually over 21. Perhaps this white knitted beanie with pompoms placed strategically as ears is a wiser choice to wintery hat fun that the full blown animal look… This will set you back £7.40 at Forever 21.
For anyone who’s obsessively followed the fabulous lives of Serena, Blair and co in Gossip Girl should be excited to know, there’s a new outlet for your fandom! Because a clothing line inspired by the hit television show is going on sale this weekend in the States.
The new clothing range, which is being created by Romeo and Juliet Couture with a little help from Warner Bros, is apparently going to be all designs that the characters would definitely wear, including girlish chiffon dresses, playful novelty knitwear and embellished tops. With prices spanning from $80 to $200, it’s actually all very reasonable – now all we need to do is fly out to NYC, as the collection’s going on sale in swanky department stores such as Kitson and Saks Fifth Avenue.
We’ve always secretly dreamed of dressing like Serena van der Woodsen and Blair Waldorf, so this is going to be an exciting launch to see what Romeo and Juliet Couture come up with. If you want to check out the label’s current collection to get a feel for what the new Gossip Girls designs could be like, check out their new Fall 2011 Collection here.
As the Film Festivals and premières continue, we’re seeing an awful lot of sweet red-carpet and party looks.
Sarah Jessica Parker is firmly back on our style radar as we spotted her in New York City outside the studios for David Letterman’s “Late Show” – and she’s succeeded in the art-of colour blocking where Cheryl Cole had previously failed, teaming a scarlet blouse with high-waisted magenta trousers. Sound horrible? Maybe, but it really works. SJP 4eva.
At the premiere for the new film Contagion, the French actress Marion Cotillard looked dazzlingly beautiful with a braided up-do, smoky eye make-up and a floor-length sheer layered black gown. A beautiful red-carpet look.
Meanwhile, in London the legendary Italian fashion house Missoni were throwing a big party for the launch of a new pop-up store – and plenty of celebrities were out to show their love for the iconic knitwear company. Poppy Delevigne worked a bohemian, rock and roll look in a sleeveless leather jacket with a floaty blouse and denim hot-pants while the supermodel Doutzen Kroes naughtily broke the Missoni dress code in a clinging black Stella McCartney dress.
The true star of the Missoni party, however, was Elizabeth Olsen, the little sister of fashion’s favourite twins. She looked cute as a button in a Missoni-knit black shift dress with a white collar for a retro look. Is she going to overtake Ashley and Mary-Kate in the style stakes? Watch this space..
To see who we’ve been spotting, check out the gallery above.
This dress is so Marc Jacobs it's untrue - the ultimate first-date dress. With a chunky cardigan and a pair of vintage ankle boots, you're good to go. Find it here.
I absolutely love putting together Shiny’s fashion hot-list for the week, because for me it is basically an excuse to go window-shopping and compile a mental list of all the things that I want, nay, need the most. This week the hot-list is a merry mash of different prints, textures and styles – but did you expect any different from me?
I’m in a bit of a “back to school” mode this week which is looking towards Autumn and the weather getting colder, so I’m daydreaming about new tights, new knitwear and new bags to put all off my books in. I was especially taken with Oasis’ dreamily soft-looking pale pink tea dress with a sparkled collar detail, which is so like the Marc Jacobs design that it’s untrue. That dress is going on my list, along with a chunky cardigan and some cute ankle boots to go along with it.
My ultimate buy for the week? It has to be the Sam Edelman slipper shoes from Urban Outfitters. Slipper-style loafer shoes are massive this Autumn because they spell luxury and comfort, and you can’t get any more luxurious than this designer pair, which is covered in black gemstones and studs. So delightfully rock and roll.
Check out the gallery above for our top buys for the week.
It’s almost time to start wrapping up warm again (as I write this the house is cold and it’s raining outside, guh) – I am always sad to see summer go, because it’s my favourite season, but I always manage to cheer myself with the thought that colder weather means NEW JUMPERS.
Luckily, jumpers and pullovers are one of the key pieces that you’ll need this A/W if you want to keep in with the current trends. Thanks to Givenchy’s mental, luxurious take on grandma-wear which included shiny sweatshirts with prints of naked pin-up girls and wild animals on them, it’s all about silly, kitsch and often quite tacky knitwear.
The more stuff crammed into a jumper design, the better. If it makes your eyes water a little bit when you look at it, it’s probably perfect for this season. If you want to find something quite as spectacularly kitsch as the designs we’ve seen at Givenchy then you’re best off looking in vintage and charity shops, or having a quick flick through your mail-order catalogues. Or, if you just want a statement jumper there are also some cute pieces on the high street.
Check out the gallery above for our favourite statement jumpers.
It's all about quirky knitwear this season thanks to Givenchy. We love this quirky knitted jumper from River Island which will look great layered over a midi dress with costume jewellery.
It’s time for a round-up of Shiny’s dream buys for the week! I’m starting my fashion illustration degree in September and I’ve got serious fashion nerves at the moment; whenever I look at my wardrobe I feel like I’ve got nothing to wear (which is definitely not true, but sadly this is the way a compulsive shopper’s mind works).
So I’ve been scouring the high-street sites for the past couple of weeks mentally compiling a shopping list that I thought I’d share with you- this week I’m inspired by the “eccentric granny chic” look that Givenchy brought to the catwalk, which means quirky jumpers, layerable midi dresses, lavish costume jewellery and clashing prints. Basically, a look that is really fun to put together.
My ultimate star buy of the week is Topshop’s faux fur leopard-print coat, which is oh-so-sixties and will look amazing with a plain tunic dress and opaque tights. Check out the gallery for this week’s top picks from the high street.
Claudia Schiffer has spoken out about her brand new cashmere collection to say how proud she is of each piece.
The collection, which was a collaborative effort between the supermodel and knitwear brand Iris von Arnim, includes a range of granddad cardigans, knitted dresses and boyfriend jumpers – each of which Claudia designed with her own tastes in mind.
Claudia told Hello! magazine: “When deciding to launch my cashmere collection it was important to create something true to my personal sense of style and aesthetic, where I would want to wear every piece and be proud of what I was offering to other women. The model also revealed that her inspiration behind the cashmere collection was the woodlands that she walked in as a child in Germany. “My inspiration is the forest and its dark side. It’s not about the cute fox, more the fox eating its prey and pebbles lying on the forest floor that could turn out to be spiders.”
This new project means that Claudia won’t be returning to the catwalk anytime soon, as she wants to devote all her time to the new knitwear venture. When asked about the lack of plans to return to modelling, Claudia said: “I’d much rather be working on this new project anyway. I want to meet all the press and buyers personally – it’s that kind of project.”
A catwalk without Claudia is like a day without sunshine! Come back to us soon.
The luxury label Balmain is most well-known for its opulent and glitzy designs
It looks like it’s time for label-lovers to start saving up their pennies and stretch out their overdrafts that teeny bit further, as high-powered superlabel Balmain announces the launch of its new diffusion line, Pierre Balmain, will happen in December.
The diffusion line aims to target a younger, more on-the-pulse market with a collection of more affordable pieces, stocking knitwear, basic tees, denim and tailoring for both men and women. When we say more affordable, it’s not that affordable, with some of the more glamorous pieces coming in at a cool £795, but we’re still going to want a piece of the action, even if we can only afford a T-shirt.
The director of Balmain, Alain Hivelin, said on the new label’s launch: “We see Pierre Balmain as a new and distinct brand that is inspired by the successes and history of a great house, but offers a look and product that respond to the needs and desires of today’s marketplace…. Our goal is to position Pierre Balmain as a new global brand that will be established in all the key international markets.”
To us, Balmain has always been the wild child at Paris Fashion Week – always fabulously over the top and rock and roll with sprayed-on silhouettes and brilliant metallics. Can we expect the same from their diffusion line, or will we be surprised? Watch this space.
One of Christian Louboutin's sketches for the collaboration
Hold on to your Phillip Treacy hats, designer lovers, because there’s an exciting new collaboration on the horizon: queen of the knitted jumper, Bella Freud, is hooking up with the daddy of footwear, Christian Louboutin, to create a range of fetish-inspired knitwear. Freud will incorporate Louboutin’s shoe sketches into the designs, resulting in what we hope is going to be a cool and exciting dream collaboration.
There couldn’t be a better shoe designer for Bella to choose for the project, as Christian Louboutin is literally the daddy of high heels. Favoured by the young and old alike, the socialites and the high-profile actresses, a pair of Louboutins is standard issue in Fashion 101.
Freud said of the legendary footwear designer, who she has known for over twenty years: “”I have often admired his drawings and I wanted to use some to put on my knitwear. I love the way a drawing comes to life when it is reinterpreted in another medium. On a knit it you get the sense of someone having actually drawn it, rather than it being a computer generated image.” We really can’t wait until this range is up for grabs in mid July.
Keep your eyes peeled for this luxe collection when it finally hits the shops: we predict there will be a scrum.
Italian knitwear label Missoni is one of my all-time favourite designers, so it was a treat to have a look through the Spring/Summer 2011 collection and see what they’d come up with this time. And what they came up with was super-fun.
Somebody said (I don’t remember who) a couple of years back, “it’s impossible to be unhappy in a poncho”. Well, I don’t know how it would feel to actually wear one the Aztec-printed, eyewateringly bright ponchos that got sent down Missoni’s catwalk (I’d probably just explode) , but I sure felt pretty happy just looking at them. With lots of Milan Fashion Week shows churning out plenty of euro-glamour and not much else, it was lovely to see that Missoni weren’t taking themselves too seriously.
The iconic brand showed us exactly why they are famous for their knits and use of colour, using what looked like an awful lot of inspirati0n from Native American and Mexican textiles for the collection, which proved to be a happy poncho jamboree. Perhaps a little silly, yes, but there was also a lot to wear for those of you who don’t fancy completely channelling the Speedy Gonzales look, with beaded midriff-baring tops and little miniskirts in the same prints that were far more wearable and easier to integrate into your wardrobe.
I for one think it’s great to see designers having so much fun with their clothes. After all, that’s what dressing up is about – fun. I might dig out my childhood poncho now.
We were excited about the first part of Sonia Rykiel’s collection for H&M, which came out last year, and managed to get our hands on enough lingerie to keep us going into 2011.
However we can’t wait for the second part, which focuses on knitwear and is out on the 20 February.
To taunt us that little bit H&M has put together a video , which shows how the collection was made and what we can expect to see on the shelves once we’ve finally pushed our way through to the front.
We’re already in love with the bright stripped jumper dresses and our sleeping bags are waiting patiently by the door.
From:What does your selfie say about you?