Alexa loves Lulu

We're just a tad jealous of Alexa's Bafta outfit. She's not even left for the States yet and already she's looking more polished than a newly minted £1 coin. Check out the bag - fresh off the production line from Lulu Guinness's new AW09 collection (ie, not in the shops until late summer - typical!).

Fun, fun, fun!

Rainbow heaven at the French Sole press day. We've never seen so many ballet pumps in all our lives!

Cherry Blossom Kit Kat

Only in Japan...

Saturday showers

We had to giggle at these Sartorialist pics.


We suggest they get in line for one of these Lacoste waterproofs for next season...

Cheap as chips

Mulberry's new designer, Emma Hill told Vogue she loves fish and chips. Well, we'd expect nothing less - she's a Brit after all. We bet she'd secretly love to swap one of her ladybags for Red Hot Ruby's organic cotton tote (£9.50) next time she takes a leisurely promside stroll. And who does the best fish and chips in England? We asked Red Hot Ruby designer, our pal Juliette Wills: "The best 'plaice' (ahem) is Bankers in Brighton. You can have a proper sit down dinner without coming away reeking of the deep-fat fryer. The portions are generous, the menu is huge and my tip is to get a takeaway on a balmy summer's evening and head straight down to the seafront with it. Fish and chips on the beach, but nicer than if you bought fish and chips from somewhere actually on the beach." Thank you Miss Wills. (For more of Brighton's secret snack spots, check the Red Hot Ruby Brighton Guide...)

Head girl

When we went to the Lulu Guinness press day, we were bowled over by all the bags - obviously - but something else caught our eye too. Namely, the headgear sported by our PR pal Sophie. We did some investigating and managed to find the source... Le Tour de Force. The work of Camille Roman, this ex-Central St Martins graduate trained at Lanvin, Zac Posen and Johnny loves Rosie before striking out on her own. Her blog is pretty fab too!

Hey dollface!

Last Tuesday saw the launch of the temporary Barbie space at London's Dover Street Market. We didn't go as we were too busy tallying the number of boys in check shirts at the Uniqlo party on the other side of town but we reckon it's worth checking out. Model Tolula has already nabbed a Barbie sweatshirt so you'd better step to it, the shop is only open for 2 weeks.

[Pics: Hypebeast, Wonderland]

AW/09: Alexander McQueen

Another fab find at the a/w 09 press days - Alexander McQueen tights! How much fun could you have with these?

Plus more goodies from the McQueen factory - we can see these filtering down to TopShop/River Island/New Look faster than you can say 'glam rock rebel'...

Bubbling under: The Kitten Heel

We've spent the past few weeks tracking trends for next season including the ongoing quest for the Next Big Thing in shoes. OK, we're only half way there but we can categorically say that while stilettos and plat-heels are still going great guns, there's something else bubbling under. We're putting it down to the Michelle Obama effect and it's the timely return of the kitten heel. The lovely Alex at Rupert Sanderson pulled out some from her secret cupboard especially to show us at their press day - yes, they're that exclusive! After Christian Louboutin unveiled his first trainers last week and Jimmy Choo showed something suspiciously similar to an Ugg clog (but way more luxe obviously), it seems our poor insteps really are about to get some much needed R&R. How cute is this hot little number? We'd wear these with grey knit tights and a mini-shift, offset with bed-head hair and a smoky eye.

Amazing Boot Alert at Benetton!

We know Benetton for their every-colour-of-the-rainbow knits and fab ad campaigns but who knew their footwear was so strong? We're loving their stack heeled boots for next season, but the high-heeled hiking boots gets our winning vote. (Sadly, the glittery floor isn't for sale...)

Pretty in Penguin

We've been schlepping around town to view all the new autumn/winter collections in our quest to bring you 'as-it-happens' news from the fashion and beauty frontline. Our latest lust? The new cardigans by Penguin. We want all three of them...

Teen Vogue tours TopShop

Not over the TopShop-lands-in NYC mania yet? Check out the store (and Kate Moss) on Teen Vogue...

[Pic: Grazia Daily]

Shoe candy at the AW 09 press days

Yesterday was a bit of a shoe love-in at the AW 09 press days. After getting an eyeful of the new Barratts collection (OK, these clearly are not autumn/winter shoes but let's not get too pedantic), we swooned over these old school Nike Air Max. We haven't worn Air Max since, well, the nineties actually but in these hot and poppy colourways we're rethinking our style strategy.

Barratts:



Nike:


What to make of Lacoste's bubblegum-a-licious trainers? They're like the sporty version of the Nina Ricci show, no?

Lacoste:


Nina Ricci:

Lip service

We were bowled over at the Manish Arora for Swarovski CRYSTALLIZED launch yesterday, to see the models all made up by MAC in crystal eye make-up and even lip-art. Our favourite look was the model styled as Lakshme the godess of luck, but we're not sure if she loved it as much as we did.

How To Wear White Jeans

Last week's sunny spells meant busting out the sunnies, this week the sun continues to smile so we're thinking: white jeans. And we're in good company because MIH Jeans have just alerted us to the news that Natalie Portman has been spotted out in their close-to-perfection cropped, skinny Paris jeans (although personally, we'd draw the line at dog-walking in them). How to do summery white jeans when it's not quite summer? Like this:

1) Add cone-heeled ankle-boots to keep you warm and cover up those pedicure-pending winter feet.

2) Layer up with a boyfriend cardigan in a bright colour over a ruffly blouse if you're dressing up or a slouchy stripy tee to casualise.

3) Channel your inner Gossip Girl with a fitted round-neck Ralph Lauren sweater in a candy colour and a strand or two of pearls. Too posh? Add a vintage Levi's denim jacket with cut-off sleeves for contrast.

4) The perfect partner to any jeans is a leather biker jacket. Make sure yours is cropped and colourful a la this Lee one. Just sling on a fringe-fest shoulder bag and go...

Ziggy Stardust...hair?

Aplologies if this is you but we just couldn't let this poor girl pass us by on the escalator without stopping her for a photo. She had just had her hair done at the Vidal Sassoon Academy and we adore the cut and colour. Boring old highlights begone!

Pimp Your Peepers

It only takes a glimpse of sun to get us busting our our sunnies so the weekend's blaze of rays made us very perky indeed. Jolly good timing then that we found an email pinging into our inbox from Lazy Oaf extolling the virtues of their latest collection of 'funglasses'.

So what will it be? The retro metal-framed numbers with a flash of primary to colour-clash with your turquoise leopard-print Lanvin-alike dress?


Or perhaps the oversized black-and-fluoro ski-visors?

The Bernhard Willhelm-influenced visor shades with detachable visor offer hours of fun (clip the visor on, clip it off, clip it on, clip it off) while being quite sensible too - who needs a hat, when you have a built-in peak on your sunnies? Certainly not us...

Finally, we saved the best til last, the cat glasses which fold into a cat shape when they're not balancing on your face! Too clever (and cheap too at a mere £12)...



For more fun with funglasses, check out the Lazy Oaf site.

Booty Call

We chased these rock n roll cuban-heeled boots around one of the LFW presentations until we finally plucked up the courage to grill their owner about them. The good news? They're 'random cheap boots by Monkey'. The bad news? You can only get them in Sweden. *Huff*.

Out now!

We weren't sure about YSL's black lip trend last season but this season we're loving their Gloss Pur in No 4 Raspberry - perfect for complementing a Luella-esque cocktail suit. (Don't know what a cocktail suit is? Neither do we. We made it up but it sounds good, no?)

We're also excited about the MAC-meets-Hello-Kitty collab which is on sale now. We saw it unveiled at London Fashion Week in Febuary where we also nabbed a very generous goodie bag. Mmmm, thank you MAC!

Nu rave version 2.0

Thought nu-rave was so last year? Ooh no, it's just been poshed up a bit. How to do it differently:

1) Swap last year's tatty tee for a Sonia by Sonia Rykiel's stripy dress in highlighter-pen pink and white
2) Add a flash of fluoro to your crop skinny jeans and grey marl leotard with Pierre Hardy's radioactive orange heels
3) Luxe things up with Tom Binns' dayglo and diamante bling at Net a Porter (below) or get the look on the cheap from Freedom at Topshop.
4) Make your ankles glow in Sonia by Sonia Rykiel's snazzy supersonic socks

5) Lusting after LV's Stephen Sprouse neon-fest? Not so fast missy. Go for the classier LV totes instead.
6) Need a beauty boost? Try a natty neon nail from Barry M.


[Richard Nicoll pic: Style.com; Tom Binns Pic: Netaporter.com]