barre||noire.

I've been in touch with Timm from barre||noire - an amazing label based in Berlin, that just had its first runway show during Berlin Fashion Week (just saying that makes me excited for them - big years ahead, Timm!) - and last week, he sent through these incredible shots barre||noire is all about clean, sharp and precise cuts juxtaposed with an unpredictable element, whether it be the femininity in a giant bow, brights or pastels, and most of all, may-I-say-groundbreaking textures (yellow slash-pattern pants? I love you). And somehow, through all this complexity, the pieces manage to jigsaw with each other into an overall aesthetic of calm, composed sophistication, and in that respect, the beautiful lighting in these particular shots really communicate that (I dream of being able to capture this kind of light).

I've pretty much fallen for the draped jumpsuit. Your turn! Click HERE to see more of barre||noire!

Hope you've all had a great weekend so far.

P.S. LAST DAY to enter the amazing fredflare.com giveaway!! So quick quick quick CLICK. I'll be drawing the winner tomorrow :)

*love*

xx

David Longshaw.

Since taking home an impressive number of international awards, David Longshaw has hit runways, wardrobes and creative minds with enough pizazz to make the front row smile. I'll gladly put my hand up as a huge fan of his FW10/11 collection that went down London Fashion Week runways (blue high-waisted pants? I love you), and even more gladly introduce you all to an exceptional designer with a head full of talent:

Hi David, how’s it going?
Busy but good.

London Fashion Week and seems like such a long time ago now, but your pieces were definitely a hit – can you tell us a bit about the inspiration behind them?
The collection was inspired by a short illustrated story I created specially for the collection. It's called Escaping Emily (you can read it on my website). The story's about a rather disturbed fashion designer called Emily who discoveres an abandoned puppet.

The collection takes its inspiration from various parts of the story and some of the prints are illustrations from it.

What would you describe as the David Longshaw vibe?
I think it's hard to describe the vibe of your own label. I'd say it's modern, feminine with an edge. I like to mix traditional feminine aspects like soft sculptural pleating with sports elements.

What are you working on at the moment?
I'm designing my new S/S collection for September Fashion Week and sorting out production for the orders from my 'ones to watch' show. It'll be selling in Debut (New York), Sister (Japan) and youngbritishdesigners.com (UK).

I'm also writing some articles for different mags like Disorder, where I interview young designers through Maude- the fictional fabric fashion mouse, who's appeared on vogue.com and th efront page of the London Fashion Week newspaper.

We know you can’t give away too much, but what can we expect for your next collection?
Well I'm just designing it at the moment, so who knows. I'm starting to tentatively finalise designs. The collaboration with Kirsty Ward with the jewellery went really well- we will probably be working on pieces for my new collection again and I'm planning to have my first David Longshaw hand bag in this collection so that will be exciting exploring more accessories.

What do you think of the new wave of bloggers coming through?
I think it's great that theres so many enthusiastic people out there who want to share their passions with a wider audience than just their friends. Bloggers now seem to be much more clued up about the subjects there talking about and are really challenging th econventional magazines, especially because of the speed and folowing some have.

One of our previous interviewees, Kim (designer of Kymare), would like to know: Would you make the same decisions again?
I think I probably would, theres always things you could do differently on an individual garment basis, but over all, carear, education and direction of collection wise, I'd probably do it the same way.

And last of all, what’s a random question you would like to ask the next interviewee?
What's the best piece of advice you've been given in your career?



Thanks David!

Check out more of his work HERE.

*love*

xx

Louis Vuitton FW10.

tfs

Is anyone besotted with elbow length leather gloves? And that leather skirt - so shiny. The LV monogram on those clutches are so gorgeous as well. I quite liked how muted the whole collection was from afar but, zooming in, you see all this insane little details that give this nicely balanced, aesthetically pleasing look.

What a star casting :O

*love*

xx

Alexander McQueen FW10.

tfs

All I have been thinking about all day is the Alexander McQueen FW10 collection. With 5 minutes to post something for the day before I continue power-summarising The Great Gatsby (which, by the way, is quite wonderful), I can finally explode this thinking into a post as best I can.

You can't live forever. You can't live forever. You can't live forever.

McQueen lives forever. His return to the medieval makes the collection so monumental and pulls it away from the mass-futuristic-innovation that has been happening this season. He brought back everything that runway was starting lose. He merged his individuality and a very rigid time period into this amazing, structured and organic sequence of art.

I think it's only now that we can really say R.I.P.

*love*

xx

Valentino FW10.

tfs

Is it possible for something to flow sharply? That was all I could think of to describe Valentino. Everything was calculated, clean, proportionate, but not restrictive - I think this showed in the models and the general vibe (makeup versus hair helped too).

I can't say I'm a massive fan of the pointed, awkward-height shoes that seem to be around this season (Stella McCartney, Lanvin, etc.), but I guess, here, they acted as conceptual anchors (I'm admittedly writing a pretty intense English essay at the moment :D).

Love those ruffles and layers though. Also good to see some Valentino Red once in a while :) Thoughts?

*love*

xx

Giambattista Valli FW10.

tfs

I am in love with this season's emphasis on sheer fabrics! Definitely experimenting this Winter.

This Valli show was just so right - everything jigsawed so nicely and the shoes were just *pop*

Thoughts?

On a different note, how was everyone's Tuesday? I'm so tired and run-down already - so many commitments and deadlines to meet. Tomorrow should be less packed though. Some fun little side things: was going through Mother's things and found some vintage knits! One is very Wang-cross-D&G (more Wang), and the other is a bit Vince, but in a more homemade way. All I want to add now is a giant belt - any ideas for finding a nice versatile one?

*love*

xx

Viktor & Rolf FW10.

tfs

I am at a loss as to how I can communicate to you guys how purely absolute Viktor & Rolf was. It wasn't even [insert adjective] something. It just was. And this amazed me.

Normally, I hate watching footage of shows, because it feels like it's taking away from the art and concepts that the designer intended - I don't even know. My mind makes weird connections like that :) Beside the point, I had to watch this one (or this) and I've spent the day trying to think how I can possibly encapsulate the show - the performance - into one post without posting the entire collection or the video.

And I clearly failed - apologies for this - because I've left out so many of the spontaneous silhouettes that went down that runway, and I really do want you all to see all of it! So off you go to Style.com or somewhere similar, to gobble up this collection. Please. :)

I've tried to show some of the transformation involved - for those of you who haven't heard/seen/read about this yet, the show opened with Kristen McMenamy strutting out in this monstrous pile of crystal detail, along with Mr Viktor and Mr Rolf, who proceeded to Babushka her (so to speak) onto the other models. Once she was down to just a nude bodysuit, we went backwards and finished up with a completely different, but equally beautiful pile.

The fact that everything was styled in plain sight with such precision, was what I found most incredible. The second point of genius in this was how much it sold the versatility of every piece - a body con, crystal encrusted mini dress could, with a few pullings around of drawstrings, become a leather cape.

How?

I can't even explain it. Viktor Horsting and Rolf Snoeren are quite possibly, the new idols of my life.

Thoughts?

P.S. Sorry for the freakishly long-winded post. :)

*love*

xx

Lanvin FW10.

vogue.com

Once I got over the novelty of Constance with with black hair, I realised that this uniform look that made the models almost indistinguishable, and so I was focusing less on whether or not the looks suited the individual, and more on the very design - no questions asked.

I guess some would argue against this, and I'm all for individuality, identity, etc. but I must say, this time, I appreciated it. Alber Elbaz threw in so many subtle twists to complement the asymmetry and drapes, that looking at it now while I'm writing this, I see so many things I didn't see before.

I love the single glove in the first and third - cherry on the icing on the amazing amazing cuppycake, I tell you :)

Agreed?

*love*

xx

From time to time I try my hand at show-stopping.

modelsoffduty.com

More Fashion Week street-styling loves.

I want Ieva Laguna's Derek Lam cape! It looks so warm and comfy. Who's also in love with her (PRADA?) heels? It has triggered the thought that maybe I can try socks and heels this Winter.

And Ms Newcomer - Ruby Albridge. If she's going to castings looking like that, she has this season in the bag. A pretty amazing bag at that - studs studs studs. Also loving that tie-dye scarf - I'll have to find/make one some time.

*love*

xx

Aquilano e Rimondi FW10.

vogue.com.au

Totally slipped my mind to share how amazing I thought A&R was in Milan! I really want a tween blazer like that now. And the shoes are incredible! I have to say though - the thing I loved most about the show was the staging. I love it on runways when they manage to pull off the spotlit walker thing - I think it was Marc Jacobs who managed it last year, possibly the year before, and the effect was incredible - so focussed... especially for this collection.

*love*

xx

Peachoo + Krejberg FW10.

tfs

I know I never post anything other than full length runway photos, but really - everything from the waist up in Peachoo + Krejberg in Paris was far too stunning to avoid.

How great are the braids? Sequins and cuts and makeup are also so stunning.

*love*

xx

Pop.

This incredible snap was taken by the talented Tommy Ton of Jak & Jill for Style.com.

I'm now going to go out and find 500 million statement magazine clutches and wear them with black.

I kid :)

But you get the idea, right? This Prada one is gorgeous...

*love*

xx