Fashion Week 2009 - London

[2.25.09]

London Fashion Week Beauty Wrap Up

William Tempest

William Tempest

Tudor was the beauty inspiration of the day at William Tempest, where Toni and Guy’s international creative director Tim Furssedonn created sleek ponytails with freshly trimmed ends, curling the front section of the hair to form a flowing swirl on the forehead. John Rocha sent models down the runway with hair slicked off of the forehead with padded headbands reminiscent of Tudor headdresses (the make-up was kept pale and minimal in the style of Elizabeth I.) Marios Schwab followed suit by creating similarly historic headgear teamed with sci-fi sleeked back hair.

Emma Bell

Emma Bell

On the opposite end of the spectrum, Emma Bell’s beauty look du jour was more apropos of today’s club kids. Uber cool hair stylist Charlie le Mindu created crazy crimped hair while make-up artist Rachel Wood screamed “MORE GLITTER!” to her crew. Models strutted out with rainbow cheeks, blue glittery eyelids, eyelashes made from a feather boa and luminous pink pouts. They even sent white puppies down the runway with painted purple tails. Gaudy? Maybe, but it sure brought smiles to the front row, especially when club performer Scotty belted out an ear bleeding performance of ‘How Much is that Doggy in the Window’. It was a suitable finger up to the recession to mark the end of London Fashion Week. —Suzie Dicker, Beauty Intern

[2.24.09]

London Fashion Week – Day 2

Christopher Kane

Christopher Kane Photo: Anthea Simms

Day two of the fashion frenzy and it’s time to bust out the Balenciaga. Sadly where Paris has Mr. Ghesquiere, London has Betty Jackson. Sorry Betty but if you want people to pay attention to your clothes, remove your hotter than hot son Oliver from opposite me in the front row!

Todd Lynn-whoop whoop-was next. With his impeccable tailoring this Canuck can do no wrong. And with his designs more suited to Fall Lynn was in his element. A sombre palatte of black dominated with sharp jackets and pencil thin pants with beaded fringed details. Once again collaborating with shoe maestro Christian Louboutin, this was a strong collection.

Next up was current ‘Head Boy’ of the london fashion class, Christopher Kane. AMAZING. Gorgeous soft pleating, organza and velvet. Once again Kane proved that the title of one to watch is not wasted on him. He develops season after season, retaining a commercial slant whilst never becoming another carbon copy of previous seasons or designers.

Kanye appeared yet again. Every fashion gal worth her weight has a Stalker don’t you know!?!

Whizzed through Richard nicoll, LFW upstarts Krystof Stroznya & Emilio de la Morena before PPQ.

One word. CHAOS. Held in what can only be described as a corridor, the thought of entering the throng to see the childlike creations they churn out seasonally, I decided to hop it to Cecconis for a pint & a pasta instead. Well, a glass of champs & a pasta. Seems like we weren’t the only ones opting out. The voguettes were there as were the great & the good of the European glossies.

Pasta scoffed & champagne quaffed we tottered out the door into our carriage to chauffeur us to Twenty8Twelve aka Sienna Miller & big sis Savannah fashion label. Whilst not being as fashion forward as Christopher Kane or Todd Lynn, the girls know girls like only girls can. Rock chic, cropped leather jackets, jewel trimmed tee’s & all jewel emerald dress, the wearability of this collection is what makes it desirable. And desire it we will.

No one amazing to speak of in the front row but a night of parties awaited. Five in total:

Stop one: MAC Cosmetics and Charlotte Tilbury. Makeup gifts galore, yippee!

Stop two: pink drinks in aid of breast cancer.

Stop three PPQ. I felt OLD! Good music. Bad drinks. I mean SHERRY!?!

Stop four, Christopher Kane. Hot sweaty, weird drunk man dancing in the corner. Great music, cooler than cool crowd. By far the best of the night.

Fifth & final: Twenty8Twelve. At new-ish nightspot Whisky Mist rubbing sholuders on the dancefloor with Ms. Miller and Matthew Williamson, my feet still holding strong in 5-inch Nicholas kirkwood heels. All good things come to an end however and as I kicked off my electric blue lizard skin stilettos in the back of a cab I sighed in contentment.

My fall fashion appetite sated……my London shows end here – photoshoot commitments, but it ain’t over. Milan, Paris here we come!

–Dee Williams

[2.23.09]

London Fashion Week – Day 1

Charles Anastase

Charles Anastase Photo: Anthea Simms

The excitement had been building for weeks & it was finally here. Fashion week. I donned my skinny leather pants, boyfriend blazer & vintage Norma kamali boots and skipped out of the house. Felt slightly over dressed for 8am on a Saturday but it’s fashion dahhling.

As the sun rose on the glorious spring morning do did the international fashion pack. Kinder Agguggini was first up. Signature florals & polka dots once again dominated mixed with exquisite tailoring and deconstructed tea dresses. When the Editor of British Vogue, Alexandra Shulman, is sitting front row by 8:56am you know you’re on to a good thing. A beautiful show but I couldn’t help feeling it would be better suited to a more intimate venue to really appreciate his fine craftsmanship.

Next, ladies that love lettuce fave, Graeme Black. Set in the splendour of Spencer House the most interesting thing about this show was watching the frozen faces in the front row. Step awwwaay from the Botox ladies…

The usual London kidults peppered the front row of Charles Anastase’s show. Pixie Geldof, Alexa Chung, Alice Dellal. “Who?!” I hear you cry. Precisely.

On to the Topshop venue for peter jensen & ann sofie back. Mediocre shows but it provided my first real celeb spot of the weekend. Hoorah! According to my fellow fashion whores, In my haste to grab a much needed glass of champers (recession-schmesion!) I thwacked a man. Not just ANY man. THE man himself, Kanye West. Random. He was there at Vivienne Westwood‘s Red Label show too. (Clearly stalking yours truly, treat them mean keep him keen….)

Westwood was the final stop of the night. We trotted through the hoards & took our seats. Typically the show was running close to an hour late so much gawping of the front row ensued. Apart from Kanye and his shaven haired female companion the front row was largely absent of the A-list heavy posse of last season.

To a sound track of regal punk drummer boys, Madame Westwood showed a fabulous array of classic tailored pieces, corseted numbers which scream sophis sexy woman. Proving you can never have too much of a good thing.
–Dee Williams

Beauty News

Ashish

Outside of Ashish

London Fashion Week officially started on Friday with an exciting Ashish show where models wore lipstick in a multitude of shades including powder blue, ruby red, sage, indigo, grey, bubble-gum pink, and bright apricot. Not only was there a rainbow of shades on parade, but also a range of application techniques—from geisha pouts to accentuated cupid’s bows to rose-bud shaped Marlene Dietrich puckers. It wasn’t just the runway models wearing outlandish lip colour, but the front-row ladies too. We snapped this girl wearing a gorgeous peach shade before the show started outside Leicester Square’s Hippodrome.

Alex Box

Makeup artist Alex Box

Next, we dashed over to Selfridges where Alex Box (some are calling her the next Pat McGrath), creative director of the UK’s newest make-up brand Illamasqua, was busy creating the perfect red-lip. Her runway ready tip? Apply red lipstick with an angled eyebrow brush to precisely outline your cupid’s bow into a perfect V, and then work the colour over the rest of your lip. Now, which shade of lippy shall I dare to wear tomorrow…
—Suzie Dicker, Beauty Intern.

[2.20.09]

Beauty News from London Fashion Week

Ionnaisdimitrousis

Ionnaisdimitrousis

An early hair trend is emerging on London’s catwalk—the chignon—whether a sky scraping top not, an architectural square or a traditional ballerina style ‘do. Backstage at Ioannisdimitrousis, Bill Watson of Toni and Guy carefully blow-dried and ironed hair poker-straight before securing it into a high ponytail at the crown. From there, woven hairpieces were coiled and stitched into models manes. The look was seriously fierce, living up to the theme words of the collection ‘Dangerous Elegance’.

Kangst

Eley Kishimoto

At Eley Kishimoto, models wore a more relaxed ‘undone’ bun that was created with a loose plait twisted and secured into a low side bun—very 1950’s airhostess chic. Recent London College of Fashion grad KANGst had models donning square buns constructed with squares of cardboard and held in place with a fine hair net.

attendees

LFW attendees

But do these avant-garde hair tricks have a place in the everyday? Judging by show goers’ elegant chignons we spotted this weekend, definitely. Ready… steady… get your bobby pins at the ready.
—Suzie Dicker, Beauty Intern.