A la Mode

TURNING TWENTY FOUR

noreply@blogger.com (A La Mode) — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 21:31:00 +0000

Some pictures rounding up my birthday last Wednesday; breakfast at the Breakfast Club with family and friends (I've just discovered their bacon and banana french toast - totally addicted!), followed by drinks in the sunshine overlooking London, some pampering in the afternoon before, dinner with some of my closest friends Alexxsia, Michael, Kit, Jackie, Alistair and Jade. Lexxi surprised me with my favourite cake in the whole world; a red velvet from the Hummingbird bakery! Happiness is that cake, followed closely by being sung happy birthday to on the piano at the end of the night! It was the best day ever and I have all my friends to thank for that.

Excited to be going back to Devon tomorrow for the week, hope you are all enjoying your bank holiday weekend!

PEARL

noreply@blogger.com (A La Mode) — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 14:01:00 +0000

Wearing: Ann Demeulemeester ball gown, 3.1 Philip Lim clutch, Balenciaga heels, Pearls from Claire's

This dress is probably the most amazing thing I own; it's been worn a couple of times on the blog but never for a special occasion, such as my birthday on Wednesday. Believe it or not it is usually much bigger with a train, but Ann gave it ties at the side to bring it up off the floor and wrap it around your waist. The pearl accessories are inspired by Chanel SS12 and are just little cheapies bought from Claire's. They look so amazing though, no? More birthday photos coming soon!

Photos (and hair) by Lexxi

NEW ADDITION

noreply@blogger.com (A La Mode) — Thu, 31 May 2012 18:06:00 +0000

Christopher Kane jelly clutch

New beauty I picked up today at the Christopher Kane sample sale. Happy birthday to mee! I know I usually post the sample sale links on my blog but I've now moved it all to my facebook page to get better coverage, follow me there to hear all about them. Excited to have this iconic clutch join my collection!

MANY SHADES OF GREY

noreply@blogger.com (A La Mode) — Tue, 29 May 2012 09:07:00 +0000

Wearing: Helmut Lang twisted crop and half cuff bracelet, Nicolas Andreas Taralis skirt with Charlie May satin wrap skirt underneath, Converse shoes and Miu Miu sunglasses

It's been a hot 27 degrees here in London for the past few days, and it's seriously made me realise how winter my wardrobe is. I managed to find this amazing Helmut Lang top stuffed away in a drawer from last year; it's time it went back into circulation I think! My brother's staying with me in London for a few days, which means; serious chill time in the sun, showing him around the neighbourhood and visiting favourite eateries, all before my birthday tomorrow!

GOLD CRUST

noreply@blogger.com (A La Mode) — Sun, 27 May 2012 07:50:00 +0000

Wearing: Ann Demeulemeester blazer and top, Acne trousers, bags by Danielle Foster, jewellery by Imogen Belfield and E. A. Burns, nails by So Hot Right Nail

The second instalment of my accessories shoot with Bengt and nail artist So Hot Right Nail. These were my favourite nails, hands down and I kept them on for a couple of weeks, until picking off the gems one by one became just too satisfying. Totally head over heels for all the Imogen Belfield jewellery, it's like wearing rocks straight from the mine! Also, the coolest up and coming handbag designer, Danielle Foster, all the bronze and matt leathers are too irresistible to me! To see more amazing up and coming talent, go straight to BENGT.

DINNER WITH UNIQUENESS

noreply@blogger.com (A La Mode) — Thu, 24 May 2012 20:41:00 +0000

Photos by me and Sim Canetty-Clarke

Since my lens seems to have been firmly fixed on the food at Bocca Di Lupo all night, I thought it only fair to mix in some actual event photography from the Uniqueness dinner, luckily somebody is keeping their eye on the prize. The dinner, hosted by Alessandra Facchinetti and Caroline Issa, was super fun and relaxed; a rare chance to meet so many amazing people face to face. I'd never been to Bocca Di Lupo before, but the food was delicious! I can see why everyone loves it, the food was simple and delicate; classic italian cuisine, my favourite being the Crudita di Mare, incredible raw prawn and scallop dish. The reason Alessandra had chosen the restaurant is because it was the one place that tasted just like home. The manifesto of Uniqueness is to have fun and live freely, express yourself with colour, print, desire of the moment. There is no seasonal story, the pieces are affordable and available to buy online immediately after they have been shown at Milan fashion week. Pretty brave and ground braking if you ask me. It's obvious fashion is shifting and I'm looking forward to following Alessandra wherever Uniqueness takes her.

Thank you to Caroline and Alessandra for being such great hosts, and to TCS for organising everything

TAKING TO THE HIGH SEAS

noreply@blogger.com (A La Mode) — Wed, 23 May 2012 07:55:00 +0000

What can you do when you cancel a sailing trip in March due to bad weather and rebook in May, only to have the weather fail you again? Well you do it knowing you can't trust that's it's ever ging to be on your side! Timberland had invited us to go sailing, testing out their new Formentor sailing gear (you've never seen me look so good!) We were sailing out the port of Portsmouth in two teams to learn the ropes, swab the decks, man the crows nest etc, the weather was pretty grim and once we'd got out the port we were thrashed from side to side - this could have just been because Laura was behind the wheel, mind you. We learnt how to tack in and out, turning the sail in the wind which was quite difficult; steering was my forté, pretty much like driving a car and when your standing at the center back you don't feel the waves thrashing you from side to side so much! After two hours on the seas, we settled down for lunch and a much needed glass of wine, before heading out to race the two teams around the harbour. Donna and Graham were naturals at the helm, trying to persuade the team for press trip number two out in Mexico.. I can dream!

To talk about the actual sail-wear, I was impressed by the formentor shoes. They allow water to flow in and out with drainage ports in the bottom. I'm planning to test these out when I get back to Devon, I think they'd be perfect for climbing over the rocks, as I usually fall into a rock pool or two. I've just booked a week down there at the start of June so excited for some country air!

Thank you to IPR and Timberland for inviting me out for the day, and to the rest of the team for such great company!

ABANDON

noreply@blogger.com (A La Mode) — Mon, 21 May 2012 09:25:00 +0000

100 Abandoned houses was started by Kevin Bauman, he's been photographing abandoned houses in his hometown of Detroit since the 1990's. I've always found abandoned buildings to be creepy, adventurous and even a little bit depressing, and my curiosity has grown since living next to an abandoned aids hospital in London, which has since been knocked down to build flats. It's amazing reading Kevin's profile on Detroit; whilst the 'rebirth' of the city is happening in Brush Park, where the entertainment industry is booming, 135 square miles of the city lies largely ignored; people and families attempting to live amongst the abandoned buildings that have largely been taken over by packs of wild dogs or piles of garbage. The images are hauntingly beautiful, like they are screaming out to tell their story. Neighbourhoods that were once wealthy now lay untouched, rotting and peeling until someone puts them to rest.

STYLEMAKERS

noreply@blogger.com (A La Mode) — Fri, 18 May 2012 13:17:00 +0000

Wearing: Ann Demeulemeester blazer, Charlie May satin side drape dress, Acne trousers, Jimmy Choo shoes

A couple of weeks ago I attended the London launch of the Jimmy Choo, Choo 24:7 website; it's an interactive site where you upload your own streetstyle pics, allowing them to be linked and edited by Choo until they are ready for viewers to shop the look.

The beautiful video above is what I really want to talk about. Caroline Issa is the perfect face to represent London for the style makers project, the video with Mr Newton is so chic, I can't even stand it. I love that she's wearing all her own clothes, with only the accessories provided. I think a part of me always felt that Jimmy Choo was too feminine for me, they're weren't my ultimate go to shoe brand but actually, noticing Caroline wearing them over the last year or so has made me realise that they are totally rock and roll. I fell totally in love with the shoes pictured above, sadly they didn't make it home with me, but as least I had my little Choo cake to comfort me!

See Facebook for more pictures of the event

A TRIP TO TUSTING

noreply@blogger.com (A La Mode) — Thu, 17 May 2012 09:13:00 +0000

It's so exciting for me to poke around a busy factory of such an established brand as Tusting; marvelling at all the different machines and jobs to complete one bag, making mental notes of the machine parts that I should be ordering for my studio; it all reassures me that I'm heading in the right direction for my own brand and excitingly, that I'll have a factory of my own to poke around in one day. Don't you love that each workspace had it's own cheesy calendar? Anyway, getting a little off the point, Tusting is the second largest manufacturer in the UK, based in the small town of Bedfordshire, the workers even walk to work from the nearby village! They started their company by importing leather from india in the 1870's and selling shoe soles to companies like Church's -which they still do today; now they have been manufacturing bags for over 130 years, giving them a timeless quality and heritage.

They're even involved with the young British design scene, helping Richard Nicoll design his bags for AW12, with Vodafone. I went to the breakfast launch just under a year ago to hear them talking about 'an exciting new accessory' to be debuted on the runway, so it was fun to see it come around full swing. The bags on the runway were all white and have a battery pack in the botton that can charge various devices, a pretty nifty idea in theory.

After we'd seen the factory, we went for lunch in the village pub where Tusting brought along some bags and leathers and we got to choose our own! I'm excited to show you the finished result when it arrives. We also got to discuss manufacturing in the UK and debate why it's obviously so important for brands to start bringing their factories back. Ella told me that Burberry were planning on returning their factories to England, which would be amazing! Tusting's largest export is Japan, where they go crazy for traditional Western products therefore they must be made in England; I would think this must fall on Burberry as well; when you sell your brand as heritage I think you subconsciously expect these products to be made in the original country, it's time we all realised how much this isn't happening and start bringing our brands back home.

Thank you Tusting for having us and to Louisa and Push PR for organising the trip!

PEELING

noreply@blogger.com (A La Mode) — Mon, 14 May 2012 14:33:00 +0000

Wearing: Charlie May tie side shirt (now available on Bengt), Unknown gold collar, Vivienne Westwood trousers, Dr Marten shoes, Miu Miu sunglasses

The weather was finally nice enough the other day for me to start wearing some of my SS12 collection, which as you can now see from my tidied side bar, is now available to buy online. Jen's been in town for the last few days and I've been enjoying relaxing in London; going to newly discovered coffee shops, eating cupcakes for breakfast and generally doing things that I don't usually get to enjoy!

Photos by Jen-wen

SPRING INSPIRATION

noreply@blogger.com (A La Mode) — Sun, 13 May 2012 19:13:00 +0000

Some images I'm finding inspiring for SS13, being frantically pinned on my Pinterest boards. I'm getting excited about starting the new season and have plenty of exciting design ideas coming to mind, with HPR meetings and possible designer collaborations on the headlines; it's all just a few months away, but for now let's just look at these relaxing images and think fluffy thoughts. Hope you all had a great weekend!

L'ECLAIREUR

noreply@blogger.com (A La Mode) — Fri, 11 May 2012 16:42:00 +0000

One of the highlights of my Paris trip was being shown around the cult boutique L'eclaireur. They have six stores in Paris alone and are Farfetch's biggest retailer; what sets them apart is that the stores are designed by artists, not architects. The Sévigné was designed by Studio Arne Quinze; with the interior made of layered cardboard, covered with silver car paint and laid next to television screens set in the material; the space certainly is unique. The walls are also interactive; pull of a leaver and a screen comes up to reveal a clothes rail beneath or a hidden mirror, designed so that every buyer will have a totally different experience when shopping here each time. In this store you will find every favourite from Celine to Givenchy to Haider to Ann, the buying is impeccable. Aside from the Demeulemeester, the furniture in the space was a particular highlight for me, I can't remember which architect it was designed by, but the giant pony hair morphed couch deserves a space in my future home, I think. I'm looking forward to discovering the other five stores when I go back to Paris!

BENGT X NAILPOP PART I

noreply@blogger.com (A La Mode) — Thu, 10 May 2012 08:39:00 +0000

Featuring Moxham patent clutches, taba cuff and E.A Burns necklaces on BENGT, nails by Nail POP.

Whilst shooting behind the scenes for Bengt, I had the chance to get involved myself with Bel on hand for some nail art. I was like a child in a candy store, she had so many colours, gems and even a real shed snakeskin for a very real snakeprint manicure! How could I resist? First off I got this leopard split nail that went particularly beautifully with a fluro Moxham clutch. All the items are available to buy on Bengt now and Bel from Nail Pop is free to come and fancify your nails! More to come from this later..

DROUGHT

noreply@blogger.com (A La Mode) — Tue, 08 May 2012 20:46:00 +0000

Wearing: Ann-Sofie Back coat, Ann Demeulemeester blazer, Goodone jumper, Rachael Barett shorts, Miista shoes

Last Friday I went to the countryside in Bedfordshire; we've had a lot of rainfall in the past week and most of the fields were flooded and the rivers burst their banks, it's hard to believe that we are still in a nationwide drought somehow. I dressed up warm in lots of black layers and my sheepy Goodone sweater that is so comfy to wear it's unreal! Also, the girls couldn't believe I'd worn heels to the countryside but Miista shoes are so comfortable it wasn't hard to scale the walls and walk about in the fields.

Thanks Kit for the photos!

TASTE OF SUMMER

noreply@blogger.com (A La Mode) — Tue, 08 May 2012 11:10:00 +0000

So, despite that the fact the English are currently being robbed of a good summer, we can still pretend by sitting inside and watching summery videos! Carling have partnered with youtube to bring us sounds of the summer from various artists including, DJ Yoda via a new app on the video site that lets you mash together sound and image. It's all for the limited edition Carling Zest, yummy yummy and should be on sale now. At the end of May the YouTube app is going to be released and I'll get to try it out myself. I can't possibly imagine what I'm going to mash but I feel like it could be a great app for fashion week roundups, etc!

You can see more off the mash ups here and fingers crossed to a belated summer

24 HOUR PARIS

noreply@blogger.com (A La Mode) — Mon, 07 May 2012 11:08:00 +0000

My 24 hour Paris trip with Farfetch was filled with excitement - we'd gone for The Playlist event in the evening which left us a day to explore the city. After we'd checked in to our hotel, Le General, we headed out in our car for the day (now I know how good those fashion editors have it); first we stopped of at L'eclaireur for some fantasy shopping and then afternoon tea at the Ritz! Unfortunately no photos were aloud inside except for some sneaky Instagrams, which was a shame but I get that it's probably better for everyone else not to have my fat DSLR sticking in their face. The rain was pretty terrible whilst we were there, we sat eating our afternoon tea and the buckets of water being thrown off the Ritz canopy was quite mesmerising to watch! After this it was time to get back in the car and head back to the hotel for Ladurée macaroon time. The next day we had time for breakfast and then it was back to Gare du Nord where I was headed back to London and straight to the Sanderson for an Alice in Wonderland themed afternoon tea, where I was more than welcome to take pictures. What a perfect end to the perfect trip!

Thank you to the Farfetch team for such a wonderfully organised adventure and to Alex and Karen for the fun company!

P.S. - Can we please talk about the pills for breakfast at the hotel? I can't think of anything more 'fashion'; there we have a perfectly normal breakfast buffet and then on the end little jars and spoons of pills to make you happy, younger, more beautiful. I wonder if this is the future?

SWATCHES

noreply@blogger.com (A La Mode) — Fri, 04 May 2012 08:55:00 +0000

This is what happens when I'm left to my own devices. Sometimes there's nothing more satisfying than buying a new sketchbook and slowly filling it with beautiful things. When it comes to fabric scraps, I'm a bit of a hoarder; never sure what to do with these few beautiful inches left over from the cutting process, so I decided to make this little sketchbook filled with swatches of the fabrics I've used each season. The little scraps look so beautiful side by side and I feel the texture stands out even more than when on an actual garment. I can't wait until I've completed 20 seasons and I can flick back through, satisfied at the fabrics I've used throughout the years.

THE PLAYLIST

noreply@blogger.com (A La Mode) — Wed, 02 May 2012 15:47:00 +0000

Photos by me and Quentin Saunier/Farfetch

Last week I headed off to Paris, with the Farfetch team and fellow bloggers Alex and Karen for the launch of The Playlist; a project that partners Farfetch with six of the worlds best independent music stores and two up and coming bands; Singtank and S.C.U.M, to fuse music and fashion together.

The event was held at RA where we saw Singtank perform a live set as well as see the premier of the short fashion film with Farfetch and Singtank. As Alex said on her blog, that photo of all of us looks like we've been hitting that Absinthe hard! The bartenders did get a little happy on the punch towards the end but we weren't that drunk, I swear!
Before the show we got to sit down with Joséphine and Alexandre who hadn't yet seen the final cut of the film. I'd never interviewed anyone before and so my first enthusiastic question - 'Where did you guys meet?' was followed with a they're brother and sister Doh! That's what happens when you don't do your research!

I've attached the short fashion film below for you guys to check out, I feel like it has a serious 70's vibe! All the clothes are available to buy on Farfetch, I'm really craving that brown Acne jacket Joséphine's wearing. I think Singtank are even better live and you should definitely check them out if you haven't already!

A huge thanks to Farfetch and the RA for such an entertaining evening!

RITZING IN PARIS

noreply@blogger.com (A La Mode) — Tue, 01 May 2012 11:54:00 +0000

Wearing: Ann Demeulemeester blazer, top and boots, Acne trousers, Mimco bag, Dominic Jones rings, Helmut Lang cuff bracelet, Nails by Nail Pop

Last week I was lucky enough to accompany Farfetch to Paris, despite the crappy weather we had so much fun and managed to fit a lot into the one day we were there. This outfit was taken outside the Ritz where we had afternoon tea; apparently they are closing over the next few weeks for renovation and won't be open for another 3 years, glad we managed to go in time! I'll be sharing the rest of my trip over the next few posts. Hope you're all having a good week!

Photos by Alex

BEHIND THE SCENES WITH BENGT

noreply@blogger.com (A La Mode) — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 12:45:00 +0000

Last weekend Bengt invited me along to be a fly on the wall during the SS12 and AW12 shoot. There were so many things to feast my eyes upon, I'm always keen to see what goes on on the other side and it was fun watching the Bengt girls style the looks together, whilst Lou Lou strutted back and forth in the insane platform Finsk shoes!

I'm so excited to announce that key pieces from my SS12 collection are available to buy on Bengt as of today, along with the other beautiful accessories you see accompanying the collection! The AW12 pieces you see snippets of will be available from September. I can't wait to see you guys rocking the pieces! I'll have to finally make some for myself too - crazy that I haven't done that yet.

See more on BENGT.

DIY SPORTS LUX WITH COMPANY MAGAZINE

noreply@blogger.com (A La Mode) — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 18:14:00 +0000

Last month Company magazine asked me to take part in their DIY blogger challenge, as I was heavily inspired by Alexander Wang SS12 collection, I thought it would be fun to try and create a sports lux garment from the high street. I think this is the first DIY tutorial I'd ever done on the blog and it was pretty hard work punching all the holes! The shirt turned out great though and I'm looking forward to styling it with my wardrobe.

You will need:

A mini punch set (can also just use scissors but this is better for precision)

A wax chalk (melts under heat, leaving no trace)

A hammer to punch the holes with the set

A ruler to measure out your markings

A cutting mat so you don't punch holes in all your furniture!

So, using a shirt from American Apparel, I marked out roughly where I was going to punch my holes with my wax chalk and then got punching using one of the larger hole settings, using the cutting mat to ensure the holes don't go through to the back. When you're done iron your garment to melt any wax chalk away, leaving your new sports lux piece!

The feature is in the June issue out now, I'd recommend buying it as there's a pretty sweet DIY tutorial from Kit making a Simone Rocha inspired clutch that's way cooler than mine! Let me know how you get on if any of you try something similar.

Wearing: American Apparel collar top, mesh top and clutch, Dior shirt, Rachel Barett shorts, Nicholas Kirkwood shoes, borrowed baseball cap

Thanks Lexxi for the photos!

ANTWERP PHOTO DIARY

noreply@blogger.com (A La Mode) — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 17:49:00 +0000

The full and final post from Antwerp, where we attended the stock sales, celebrated Michael's birthday and generally ate and drank the local delicacies. Favourite eatery was Renaissance - used to be the Yohji boutique but is now a store and restaurant combined; favourite bar has to be the Het Kathedraal Café, situated just down from the Cathedral and FILLED with religious statues; as well as serving a large variety of beer made by monks and twice the usual percentage; finally, favourite boutique was the RA, which luckily were having a 70% off sale when we were there and stocks favourites Simone Rocha, Damir Doma and Ann Sofie-Back.

Tomorrow I'm off to Paris to party with Farfetch at the other RA, with S.C.U.M and Singtank! Follow me (girlalamode) on Instagram for updates throughout the day.

OUR STAY AT SIR PLANTIN

noreply@blogger.com (A La Mode) — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 11:36:00 +0000

Whilst in Antwerp we had the pleasure of staying at the Sir Plantin hotel in downtown Antwerp, just a 10 minute walk away from Centraal station. On arrival we were greeted by the hotel manager, Wim, who filled us in on where the best eateries were in the area - which did not disappoint.

The quirky boutique hotel designed with contemporary suites dominated by a huge tudor painting on one wall of the room - ours had old queen Liz looking down upon us in shades of green, whilst the boys next door had Anne Boleyn in orange. I loved the contrast between the dominant artwork and the subtle minimal furnishings; the bathroom was tiled all in black with white highlights, whilst the rest of the hotel was a mushroom grey with black furnishings. The paintings continued throughout the hotel but were chopped up and put together, a selection of hands on one wall, faces on the other.

Other than the decor, one of the highlights was the breakfast bar from 7am, where you'll be offered waffles and coffee or can help yourself to hot food and pastries. Such a perfect start to the day! To end the day you can wind up at the bar, along with your complimentary drink ticket you receive on arrival. There's also a free minibar in each room with a selection of water, fizzy drinks and beer.

It's worth a big mention for all bloggers out there that there is free high speed internet. Always the nightmare of any journalist, having to fork out money for internet that can't even handle it, but at Sir Plantin the internet was amazing!

Thank you so much to Wim for having us, and making our Antwerp trip that much more enjoyable.

You can see more of the hotel on their website.

SKULLS AND TRINKETS

noreply@blogger.com (A La Mode) — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 10:43:00 +0000

I discovered Kyle Hopkins through a meeting one day with Harriet from HPR, as we were chatting I started noticing the gold and silver pieces beside me, slowly trying them on Harriet started explaining to me all the stories behind each piece; lips cast from his first kiss, his sisters ear, fingerprint rings (you can have these done with your own print); it was clear that there's meaning behind Kyle's work. 'He casts imagination and enquiry, starting a story for someone else to finish. So when the jewel reaches its new owner, she just takes over the narative'. I think the silver pieces are my favourite, especially the signat rings shown here, and the fingerprint rings which for some reason aren't here! Currently, you can buy Kyle's pieces on Kabiri.