Our editor ordered these Steve Madden studded ankle booties as a birthday present to herself and since they landed in the office, they have found themselves planted firmly on her feet – and we hear they’re not going anywhere soon!

They’re not only absolutely gorgeous (well, we would say that wouldn’t we!?) they’re apparently extremely comfortable, too… if you fancy them sitting on your own tootsies, then you better move swiftly as My-Wardrobe only seem to have two pairs left.  Calling all size 37 or 39-wearers!

Check out who has been seen around the LFW tents and after-parties these past few days…

Victoria Beckham / Roisin Murphy

Victoria Beckham popped into town last night to attend Vogue‘s Fashion Week Dinner Party, wearing a strapless dress from her own Victoria Beckham collection.  She’s tipped to be one of the VIP front-rowers at the Burberry show tonight.

Another one of our favourite Fashion Week attendees, Moloko singer Roisin Murphy, looks stunning in a ruffled dress at the Vivienne Westwood show – the perfect style for accentuating her growing baby bump!

Alexa Chung / Erin O'Connor

Lucky Alexa Chung gets the best of both worlds now that she is based in New York, getting to attend the best shows at NYFW last week and now, returning home to support her friends and acquaintances who are showing here.  We’re hearting her YSL platform heels!

Someone else sporting a bit of sparkle and sheen was model Erin O’Connor, who looked as chic as ever in her sequinned tuxedo blazer, harem trousers and offset the head-to-toe black with a vibrant fuchsia bag.

Nicola Roberts / Agyness Deyn

Girls Aloud’s Nicola Roberts is pretty much a regular fixture at LFW, and you can often see her red bouffant hairdo bobbing around in the front row.  This week she has attended several shows included Vivienne Westwood, Topshop Unique and Henry Holland (in this outfit pictured above).  She proves she’s bang on-trend in a leather jacket with a pair of thigh-high boots.

Newly ebony Agyness Deyn may have skipped walking in the shows this season, but you couldn’t keep her away from sitting in the FROW (front row) at her mate Henry Holland‘s show last night.  How great is the combination of her sheer patterned tights worn with those flat ankle boots?!

Little Boots / Alex Curran

Little Boots stayed true to her name with the standout piece of her outfit being a pair of fab silver ankle boots.  Meanwhile, WAG Alex Curran was also wearing some amazing footwear – her leopard print ankle boots are to-die-for!

Eva Herzigova / Michelle Williams

Eva Herzigova took a leaf out of Erin O’Connor’s style book and realized a black sequinned dress is the ultimate in evening glamour.

Ex-Destiny’s Child star Michelle Williams looked colourful in this Jenny Packham frock and marigold yellow pumps to attend the shows on Day 2 – what an adorable shade of pink!

Alice Dellal / Pixie Geldof

Alice Dellal and Pixie Geldof are like two peas in a pod these days, both working their Brit punk look to the extreme, complete with ripped stockings, Doc Marten boots, denim and studding.

Sarah Harding / Jodie Harsh & Fearne Cotton

Sarah Harding joined her Girls Aloud bandmate Nicola Roberts at the Vivienne Westwood show, wearing a showstopping black PVC mini dress, patterned tights and sky-high ankle boots.

Jodie Harsh and Fearne Cotton dressed up in their finery to head to the PPQ show and afterparty at the Mayfair Hotel.  Check out Jodie’s gorgeous Terry de Havilland wedges – we want!

[Images: Splash News]

This fun video was brought to our attention this morning, featuring predictions from top US designers in the 1930s about what we’d all be wearing in the year 2000.  They’re not actually too far off…

Blake Lively, Hayden Panettiere and Debra Messing heat up the red carpet in fire engine red.  This colour works well on almost anyone – blonde, brunette or redhead – but the key here is to know which tone will suit your complexion.  Generally speaking, fair and pinky skin tones should look for cooler blue-reds while those with yellow undertones will wear warmer orange-reds well.  Olive and darker complexions can wear the very brightest reds – lucky you!

SHOP FOR RED GARMENTS HERE.

NUDES AND NEUTRALS

Drew Barrymore, Sandra Oh and Cat Deeley show us a variety of ways to wear neutrals – a pretty shade of blush on Drew, twinkling gold on Sandra and our very own Cat has decided on a lovely buttercup frock.  Neutrals, nudes and golds are sophisticated and feminine – the best way to wear them is a bit looser – in other words, not too close to the body (at the risk of looking like you’re not wearing any clothes at all!) – and pairing them with darker colours such as black, navy and brown.

SHOP FOR NEUTRAL GARMENTS HERE.

MIDNIGHT BLUE

Midnight blue is one of those versatile colours which flatter most complexions and help you escape the clutches of boring black.  Christina Applegate, Kourtney Kardashian and Mad Men star Christina Hendricks all have very different colourings and figures but show us how good midnight blue can look.  This colour looks great with either very light and pretty natural makeup or with a heavier, smokey eye.

SHOP FOR BLUE GARMENTS HERE.

[Images: Splash News]

It was a homecoming of sorts for Australian design duo Sarah-Jane Clarke and Heidi Middleton of Sass & Bide, who were back in London on Friday night to show at Fashion Week.  Clarke and Middleton started their brand 10 years ago by selling jeans at the Portobello Road Markets in Notting Hill, and quickly gained a cult following for their denim and It-girl party frocks, which are seen on celebrities such as Kate Bosworth, Kate Moss, Mischa Barton and Nicky Hilton.  After returning to Oz to grow their business, they headed to New York, but decided it would be more meaningful on their 10th anniversary to show in the city which gave them their start.

Their Spring/Summer 2010 collection is apparently inspired by South America (well, Argentinean gauchos according to the show’s programme), and there was something of an Aztec theme going on with mucho embellishment – beading, studded and jewelled collars and harnesses and sequins aplenty.  Dresses were short and tight, harem pants were seen more than once (eek), and we’re thinking that SS10′s answer to the famous Black Rats leggings will be the gold ‘The Afterworld’ fishnet tights you can see above, complete with knee pads and yep, more beading.

SHOP CURRENT SEASON SASS & BIDE HERE.

[Images: Splash News]

Wearing Anya Hindmarch: Angelina Jolie / Naomi Watts / Jennifer Garner / Reese Witherspoon

It all started for Anya Hindmarch at age 18, when, after a spur-of-the-moment decision to study in Florence, she had a brainwave to import a popular Italian bag design back to the UK.  Thanks to some contacts at Harpers & Queen, the bag featured in the magazine and Anya received an order for 500.  And so her bag business was born.  Opening a store on London’s Walton Street, she soon turned her attentions to design, and these days her bags are stocked all over the world and carried by some of the most fashionable and well-known women, such as Angelina Jolie, Reese Witherspoon, Margaret Thatcher and Madonna.

Describing her brand as “British, humorous and bespoke”, Anya places a huge emphasis on quality and craftsmanship and this has been carried on through to her collections of footwear, luggage and ready-to-wear.  She has been called upon to design gift bags for the Vanity Fair Oscar’s party three times but what she may be best known for, is her limited-edition “I’m Not A Plastic Bag” totes, created to bring awareness to wasted plastic bags – they had 80,000 people queuing up in one day in the UK alone, caused a “scrum” of shopping hysteria in Beijing and spurred people to sell them for ridiculous amounts on eBay.

SHOP ANYA HINDMARCH HERE.

Lauren Conrad looked a dream in this really simple, and yet completely stunning, green sparkly dress.  As soon as we saw it, we knew we’d seen it’s doppelganger somewhere – lo and behold, Oasis have done something very similar with sequins and shoulder pads.  Doesn’t Jennifer Hudson look fantastic after giving birth only 3 weeks ago!?  She was another one to give metallics a go and paired her shimmery dress with some slouchy over-the-knee boots.  If you’re after something which will give you a similar shimmer, you might want to consider splurging on this racy Herve Leger stretch metallic dress.

The City‘s Whitney Port showed us once again she doesn’t like to follow the pack and instead works her own eclectic style in this one-shouldered lace number with some cute T-bar heels.  We’ve found this amazingly priced Betsey Johnson number which is pretty similar – add some turquoise bracelets and cute heels to give it a Whitney-twist.  Meanwhile, mini diva Miley Cyrus looked very grown up in this shoulder-embellished dress with long train.  You might want to skip the mullet skirt and instead focus on the shoulder embellishments, as can be seen on this gorgeous Philosophy di Alberta Ferretti twist strap dress.  Pair with sky-high heels for the ultimate diva look!

[Images: Splash News]

Another thing to keep in mind is Fashion Weeks worldwide are notorious for being sauna-like (that’s when show programmes come in handy as makeshift fans!), so layering is your best bet.  A dress or cropped trousers worn with a loose top and fitted jacket are ideal in this situation – we’d also suggest a pair of statement heels or booties which will also take you into the evening.  Colour-wise, basic black always looks chic, doesn’t show spills or sweat marks (ewww) and doesn’t require any effort when it comes to mixing and matching.  But we understand that if everyone wore black, this fashion gathering would be a pretty boring affair.  If you’d prefer to get experimental, then an airy dress (again, no mixing and matching required) or brightly coloured top worn with dark trousers will solve that problem.

We’ve come up with a few different looks  - which one would you pick if you were a high-powered fashion editor heading for the tents?

Outfit 1 product details:

T by Alexander Wang jersey dress, £75 from Net-a-Porter
Lover drape lapel wool blazer, £375 from Net-a-Porter
Givenchy wedge booties, £540 from Yoox
New Look pleated shoulder bag, £7 from New Look
One Grey Day multistrand rope necklace, £190 from My-Wardrobe
Wallis  silver wide detail cuff, £18 from Wallis

Outfit 2 product details:

Vivienne Westwood Anglomania squiggle iris blouse, £98 from My-Wardrobe
Katia Lombardo black peeptoe patent heels, £220 from My-Wardrobe
Miss Selfridge black elastic multi chain belt, £18 from Miss Selfridge
Nudie Jeans Long John skinny jeans,  £83 from My-Wardrobe
House of Harlow 1960 plated medallion earrings, £46 from My-Wardrobe

Outfit 3 product details:

By Malene Birger nude and black silk chiffon mini-dress, £254 from Stylebop
Bottega Veneta embellished hair comb, £365 from Net-a-Porter
Pedro Garcia high heeled boots, £169 from Yoox
JJ Winters black leather croc embossed chain bag, £176.17 from BunnyHug

]]> http://blog.empora.com/2009/09/18/london-fashion-week-is-here-but-what-to-wear/feed/ 2 emporaltd basic_black_lfw bold_colour_top_lfw dress_lfw http://blog.empora.com/2009/09/17/get-the-look-taylor-swifts-post-vmas-outfit/ http://blog.empora.com/2009/09/17/get-the-look-taylor-swifts-post-vmas-outfit/#comments Thu, 17 Sep 2009 15:59:45 +0000 emporaltd http://blog.empora.com/?p=329 Continue reading →]]>

Taylor Swift has suddenly been in the glare of the media spotlight this week, no thanks to a certain Kayne West and his stage intrusion while she was accepting her award for Best Female Video at the MTV Video Music Awards.  We have to say, we’re feeling mixed emotions about this – we feel sorry for her, we do, but we’re also quite pleased because it means we also get to spy on her wardrobe a lot more as she is trailed by the paparazzi!

She’s got a fun, youthful style that is easy to emulate.  This outfit for instance, takes classic (perhaps verging on boring) head-to-toe black and gives it huge pops of colour in the form of her purple heels and orange/brown patent bag.  It’s inspired us to put together our own version – the results of which, you can see here.  (LOVE the Tod’s shoes.)

There can be no doubt: the big, padded shoulders of the 80s are well and truly back.  If you were around to experience it the first time, you’re probably feeling a bit apprehensive right now – we don’t blame you!  This guide will hopefully give you the confidence to give it a try again in 2009.  And don’t worry, the new bold shoulder has a modern, futuristic look about it and there isn’t a skerrick of blue eyeshadow or permed hair in sight!

A bit of background: First seen at Balmain Spring 2009 RTW, the emphasis on the shoulder has caught on at a drastic rate, with other designers picking up on the trend and interpreting it in their own way – from feminine and puffy to boxy square shapes to pointy peaks – it is all about the shoulders right now.

In order to wear bold shoulders which look fresh and modern (rather than Alexis Carrington in her heyday) and which complement your body shape, follow our tips:

1. Colour is important.  To avoid looking like you’ve just stepped out of your 80s prom photo, stick to black, grey, charcoal and muted tones rather than a garish green or plucky purple number when you’re selecting a jacket.  It’s also vital that you select a colour which will work into your current wardrobe – another reason why black and grey are favourites.

2. Bold shoulders are perfect for pear-shaped ladies, as it will give balance to your silhouette and make your waist look even smaller – yahoo!  Just make sure you team your bold shoulder jacket or blazer with a slimline shape on your lower half:  skinny jeans, tuxedo trousers or leggings work a treat.  You can also team it with a mini skirt and a casual, half-tucked vest top for a really chic, devil-may-care look.  Women who have broad shoulders should probably avoid this trend, as it will only accentuate this part of your body.

3. If you are petite, you can still give the bold shoulder trend a go – the peaked and extended shoulders actually serve to lengthen your arms, making you appear long-limbed!  Just be careful when selecting a blazer that it isn’t a long-line, boyfriend style, as this will make your legs look shorter and throw your proportions off-balance.  A cropped or hip-length jacket serves to elongate the silhouette by creating the illusion of long legs.  Go for dresses with a shorter (but not indecent!) hemline.

4. When you wear bold shoulders, your outfit should be all about – guess what? – the shoulders.  Keep the rest of your outfit simple and avoid going overboard with accessories and other distractions.  A small, dainty clutch and classic heels will fit in perfectly.

5. Wear your bold shoulders with confidence.  This silhouette is empowering – make sure you work the heck out of it!

We’ve listed our best bold shoulder jacket finds here. (Stay tuned and we’ll bring you our best dress finds, too.)