Category Archives: Girl About Town

TOMS x Movember Launch Party

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Movember is about to begin: the month when chaps grow moustaches to promote awareness and raise funds for men’s health, in particular testicular cancer and prostate cancer. For a moustache-fancier like me, it’s a bit like Christmas. TOMS, the shoes and glasses brand, have partnered with Movember, and I attended the official launch party at The Hospital Club last night with Christie of From The Heart 90. 

The concept of M0vember started in Melbourne, and has grown into a global campaign, raising money and awareness for men’s health. The charity encourages men to begin November clean-shaven, and then to grow a moustache for the entire month, providing a constant visual cue to promote awareness of the cause. Since 2003, Movember has raised £184 million. In 2011 alone, £79.3 million was raised, with 1.9 million entrants. We can all work together to make 2012 the most successful Movember so far, and you can do that by donating, holding an awareness party, attending Mo events, or by getting the conversation started with some moustache covered clothing.

I didn’t know much about TOMS until yesterday, when I started reading up a little on them ahead of the launch. I knew they produced adorable shoes and had just introduced a range of glasses and sunglasses, but I didn’t realise the brand had such an altruistic philosophy. TOMS have devised a concept called ‘One for One‘, whereby for every pair of shoes you buy, TOMS will give a new pair of shoes to a child in need. Since the concept was devised, over a million pairs of shoes have already been given away. Likewise, for every pair of glasses bought, TOMS donate a pair to someone in need. To further support Movember, TOMS have produced some limited edition styles of shoe, with a portion of profits going to the charity. It’s exactly the kind of approach that more brands need to start adopting – using their klout to benefit those in need, and I think TOMS are hugely admirable. You can find out more about them on their site.

We trotted along to The Hospital Club to get into the swing of things – quite literally in the case of our dancing. The night was 1920s themed, and as we stepped in we spotted men in waistcoats, bow ties, and hats, and women in flapper dresses and headbands. We also spied a wooden record player, crates of TOMS shoes, and some rather magnificent moustachioed barrels. After swiping some champagne cocktails from the bar, we were whisked aside by a photographer, which entailed dressing up like loons and posing. We then explored the venue a little and listened to the amazing Franky and the Jacks – a very talented AND handsome band. We also caught up with the gorgeous, charming and statuesque Sammy Aki, aka The Groom Style Consultant, who runs an innovative service that aims to raise the style stakes for grooms on their big day. As the band played on, we decided to shake a tail feather on the dancefloor, busting out some prime 1920s moves including a sneaky Charleston, before screen-printing moustaches on t-shirts and finally heading home.

So, what can you do? To get involved with Movember, visit their website, make a donation, grow a moustache if you’re a chap, or get your boyfriend to grow one. If you’re of the female persuasion, how about buying some merch? Or hosting a mo party?  TOMS will continue their charity projects through Movember and beyond, so purchase any item to participate in their ‘One for One’ programme. Above all, be inspired, get involved.

London Fashion Week Days 4&5

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On day four of LFW, I hadn’t actually intended to even go up, but after enjoying ourselves so much on Saturday Grace and I had decided to head in. First up was the Liliyang press event in the Mikado Room of The Savoy. An incredible location with wooden walls and plenty of black lacquer. It suited the luxury handbags perfectly, and Grace and I both fell in love with the IDA bag, an oversized bag with plenty of pocket space and the awesome ‘hand-warmer’ facility; which is essentially a place to pop your Oyster card/phone/wallet/essential supply of macaroons, which can be really easily accessed.

We spent a huge amount of time ogling the bags, and as ever I’ll be writing up in full for LadyMPresents.co.uk. We sipped Earl Grey from delicate china teacups and saved the special Liliyang fortune cookies to break open on our way to Somerset House for the Felicities Presents event in the Portico rooms. The event was absolutely rammo, but I spotted some fascinating designs, including a stunning dress by an urban brand called Phannatiq. (Twitter is @Phannatiq). We scooped up the ingenious cocktails, which were delicious raspberry martinis in smoothie bottles, and peeked into the adorable goodie bags which contained, amongst other things, knickers in a tin. Always useful!

We eventually decided to call it a night, sloping off to get the train, chocolate bars from the Chocolate Alchemist at the ready for our journeys, and I headed home to organise myself for Day 5 and catch up on some much needed beauty sleep. I woke up on the morning of the final day feeling like I should be in Sean of the Dead, so much was my need for sleep. The bags under my eyes were starting to catch up with my Mulberry showbag, and I was starting to struggle.

I know it sounds churlish to say I’m tired out by being at Fashion Week, but it’s not just about whizzing along to nice shows and watching pretty models and lazing around drinking interesting things and eating nice food, much as those may be the bits we all tend to talk about the most. Nope, it’s very early starts, hours of pounding the cobbles in Somerset House, dashing from show to show and rushing up to a myriad of well-dressed London denizens to get street style shots. It’s an awful lot of queuing in the cold and in heels, scrabbling to try and write your copy while you’ve got some time on your hands. It’s never quite having enough to eat and running down tube escalators to get to your next show on time. It’s late nights of events then going home to write copy, hours of photo editing, focused networking, and plenty of caffeine. I’ve loved every minute, but there’s no denying it’s hard work!

Back to Day 5. I kicked off the day with a long bout of queuing outside Vauxhall Fashion Scout waiting to get into the Leutton Postle presentation, which was exceptionally fun. Neons, Navajo, fringing, glitter, fine knits…it had everything. And bellinis at breakfast time, which I probably shouldn’t have had. After the presentation, I ran to the press lounge to get an hour or work in, chucking down some Zeo stuff thanks to the lovely Beach Blanket Babylon barman. Like a hawk, I also procured some edamame beans for myself that came sailing past on a tray. Win!

My final show of the day was Nova Chiu, which was heavy on bright prints, and where Ultravox’s ‘Vienna’ was played prior to the show starting, much to my delight. From there it was back to Somerset House to have my makeup done in the Mac Media Booth, by the charming Sarah from the Mac team in Newcastle. She gave me violet eye shadow to match the orchid in my hair, a whisper of opal shimmer on my cheeks, and one of my all time favourite Mac lipsticks, called Crème Cup, on my lips. I was given a very generous Mac goodie bag, and then my LFW adventure was over for another season. Back home via the Southbank, to start writing up pieces on the train home, and during the evening. Snore.

London Fashion Week Day 2

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Quite frankly, after Day 1, I was already pretty exhausted. The days just seem to take it out of you – way too much coffee and vitaminwater floating around, not nearly enough food. I started the day at Somerset House, meeting up with my editor Rachel. I used the time to get some street style photography in, devour some yummy espresso frozen yogurt, and sing loudly along to alt-j, which was blaring out in the courtyard. I got photographed a few times myself, as had opted for a fairly eye-catching floral crown; and I got interviewed by a lovely chap about what I was wearing.

 

Next it was up to Vauxhall Fashion Scout to see the beautiful Ji Cheng show, which was absolutely stunning. Again, full write ups will be on my work websites, so just a quick overview on here. The editor of Vogue China was front row, as was Kate Nash, who had a rather intriguing Cruella De Vil hairstyle going on. After that I went to the press lounge to chill, and drank an awful lot of this stuff called Zeo water, which is supposed to make you feel rather giggly. They had a nice chap from Beach Blanket Babylon making the drinks into non-alcoholic cocktails, with cucumber and rosemary, lime and agave syrup etc. Really yummy stuff, I’ll definitely be serving it as a booze free cocktail!

Then it was a dash off to Goldsmith’s Hall for the Jeffrey Michael show. I have to say, I love the venue hugely, but it’s a massive trek out, and the show was probably less than 10 minutes long, so a bit frustrating! I was starting to really flag after literally running from Mansion House to the hall  in heels, and eating only a tiny cup of fro yo and a bag of low calorie popcorn. Never trust anything low calorie, I always say! The show was actually rather beautiful, full of strange and interesting textures and technicolour, and with the ever fascinating front row presence of Pandemonia.

Like a bat out of hell, I moved from the Goldsmith’s Hall (by the way, I’m not saying it was hell. Or that I’m a bat) back to Covent Garden where I got stuck in the Saturday night people traffic while making my way to the Royal Opera House. By this stage, I was dizzy and increasingly disoriented, and desperately trying to get to the venue on the time. I saw the presentation of A La Disposition in the Crush Room, which was impeccably presented and had a theme of ‘Misfit Toys’, but the creepy chiming music box children’s soundtrack made me feel even weirder. As I left, I was proffered a goodie bag containing sweets and one of those Jean Paul Gaultier designed Coke bottles. I’ve literally never been so happy to see a goodie bag, and I ate it like some sort of well dressed pig on my walk back to Vauxhall Fashion Scout.

Back to the bliss of the VFS Press Lounge, where I collapsed into a squishy leather armchair, had some more Zeos and a Vita Coco, and tried to pep myself up for the evening. Bernard Chandran went some of the way to perking me up  – an incredible show by the man whose clothes have been worn by Gaga, Estelle and Rihanna. Very New York, very sports luxe, and extremely glossy. I met my friend Grace and we headed off to the Bloomsbury Ballroom for Fashion Retrospective, an event mounted by the truly awesome Bourne & Hollingsworth. You can read my full write up here, but let me just say it was beyond fantastic. We drank Gatsby cocktails out of champagne coupettes, saw some of the most incredible vintage pieces on the catwalk, watched a man drive a Vespa through the middle of the ballroom, and ogled the hot waiters. Strongly, strongly recommend getting along to one of their events.

I was nearly dead the next day, so didn’t go anywhere on Sunday, but Days 4 & 5 will be coming soon…

London Fashion Week Day 1

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Hi all. I’m only giving an overview on here as writing it up in full for LadyMPresents.co.uk and Jean et Jupe, my new business blog. The first day was absolutely brills. I headed up to Somerset House hideously early for Antoni & Alison, the first show of the week at 9am, and to collect my press pass and Mulberry showbag, which this season features a little gnomey man, much to my enjoyment. I perched in the cafe with a double shot latte to shelter from the oncoming drizzle, looking out into the courtyard. Even at that time, in a half empty courtyard, the atmosphere was still beginning to buzz.

I wholeheartedly love London Fashion Week, and this time around it reminded me irresistibly of the feel of the London Olympics. Walking around seeing people in uniforms or with passes slung around their necks, smiling widely. When I talk to my friends about LFW, a lot of them expect it to be bitchy, aggressive and terrifying. Maybe I’ve been lucky with my experiences, but I’ve found it to be the opposite – people are cheerful, friendly, stopping to take photos, and everyone seems willing to chat. In fact, the only rudeness I encountered was from two women in the queue for one of the shows, who weren’t in fact ‘fashion people’ but knew the designer, as they kept pointedly announcing very loudly!

Antoni & Alison was a beautiful show – conceptual and more towards art than fashion. The pair focussed just on dresses, hand painted, quirky, fun and beautiful. There was a live brass band playing on the catwalk! If you’ve ever wanted to see a bunch of old boys in red uniforms taking their turn on the catwalk, then A&A was the right show for it. Then after a vitaminwater pitstop, it was back in the queue for Caroline Charles. I’m still not quite sure what to make of the show – for me, I felt it was trying to do too much. It straddled tribal prints, neons, lace on lace, and 90s grunge, and I felt it was perhaps not as cohesive as it could have been. Corrie Nielsen on the other hand was high concept, breath-taking and botanically inspired.

I had over an hour before my next show, so headed to the BFC press lounge, which is heaven on a stick. As I was in there, it hit me that I was doing exactly what I dreamt of doing at the age of 14/15. Cheesy moment I’m afraid guys, but I found it really exciting. And I think it’s important to remember that – I don’t care if it’s not very cool and if I should look jaded about the whole experience and bored out of my mind, but I’ve been finding every single moment of it absolutely thrilling. Whether I’m frantically cranking out copy in the press lounge or just people watching in the courtyard, the atmosphere is inimitable.

It’s a huge privilege to be able to see collections that so many people have worked hard on for months. It’s not about shopping or buying or ‘ooh, this skirt looks really good with this top’ – it’s about art, concepts and influences, and I find myself getting chills down my spine when I suddenly recognize something in the collection – the huge earrings that evoke Edie Sedgwick, or the blue silk eye mask from Breakfast at Tiffany’s repurposed as a headband. I love it all. At Vauxhall Fashion Scout last year, I cried when watching the Elisa Palomino show. Every time I’ve been, LFW has reminded me exactly why I’m in this industry, and working hard at it.

Truly soppy post, but I’m endlessly grateful that I’ve been given the chance to go, and I’ve been determined to make the most of it. (Oscars style acceptance speech ahoy!) I’d like to thank my editor Rachel at LadyMPresents, all the amazing PR people I’ve talked to and who have been so generous with tickets and their time, the incredible staff at LFW, the brilliant people I’ve met so far, and the friends who have come and helped me, and made it such a good experience. Hope all of you who have been too have had as good a time, and please do link me to any of your write ups! LFW Day 2 coming soon…

What I’m wearing to London Fashion Week SS13

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A post that does what it says on the tin.

LFW now officially starts the day after tomorrow, and unlike every other time I’ve been, I’ve tried my best to be organised. It’s not an event you can approach halfheartedly – I’ve found that in my previous jaunts along, I’ve always wished I could have prepared myself a little more. The whole thing is a ridiculous; I expect military campaigns have been exercised with less forward-planning.

I thought the most difficult part was applying for my press pass and show tickets. That alone was a process that took days; drafting ticket request emails, printing the mail merge doc of the press contacts, painstakingly emailing each one and ticking them off the list…I thought I was done! But no. Tickets have come in, I’ve had to lay them on the floor and divide them up into days, then devise a schedule to make sure no shows clashed, then choose which to RSVP to, THEN look at my schedule and see if I needed to stay in London at all, and if so, which nights, and with which kind friends. And if I’m staying at so and so’s on that particular night, should I take my Mac so I can do write ups? And if I do that, I’ll have to go back to theirs before I go home to pick my stuff up and….AAAARGH.

Outfit planning was another big part. I know it sounds horribly vacuous, and I’ve found LFW actually delightfully laid back in terms of what you can wear. That said, because I’m trying to plan ahead, I need to know exactly what I’m wearing for each day, down to the tiniest earring. I’ve never been good about this kind of stuff. I even found it difficult to get ready for school in the mornings, and I had a uniform, for christ’s sake. I’ve gradually been accumulating things in piles in my room, and today I decided to pull them out and start forming some outfits. They may not be particularly crazy, but I’m afraid to say I was more keen to make them comfy. The whole thing is a nightmare of strategic dressing – finding something that you can wear from show to a meeting over coffee to an after party, and shoes that will look dressy enough but also allow you to walk from, say, Somerset House to Vauxhall Fashion Scout.

I’ve just read that back, and wow – let’s break out the tiny violins. You know what? I can’t wait for the whole experience. I feel so lucky to be able to go, and to get the opportunity. But being this organised is totally alien to me!! So without further ado, here are a few of the outfits I’m going for…Scuse the face, by the way. I couldn’t be bothered to put any makeup on, so went for the ol’ ‘giant sunnies/hair in face’ look.

Schiaparelli, The Savoy, and Shoreditch

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Hello all, sorry for being super quiet the past few weeks. In  fact I’ve been MORE than super quiet this week. I’ve been more or less asleep for the most part, thanks to a lovely (and probably well-deserved) bout of flu. A little tickle in my throat turned into an awful lot of time spent in bed. I remember actually quite enjoying being ill when I was at school, as it meant a few precious days off – I know that I must be growing up as I was just mega annoyed! Anyway, I won’t bore you with the details, but let me just say that I asked Twitter and Facebook for remedies, and the one that came out tops and genuinely worked was: hot milk with a splash of brandy,  and honey swirled in. I styled it out with some nutmeg and cloves, and I think I may have found my new drink of choice.

Just a quick line about something that I’ll be discussing in more detail soon, but on Monday we had a meeting of the *deep breath* Tunbridge Wells Teenage Cancer Trust Fundraising Group. We’re in the process of planning a Winter Ball on the 29th November in Tunbridge Wells, and we’ve got some very exciting plans that we’re just starting to sort out. I’ve mentioned TCT before – I’m an ambassador for the charity and am really looking forward to raising their profile in the coming months. If you would like to be involved in any way – if you’re an entertainer, a caterer, an organiser, a generally brilliant person or you’d be interested in attending, please drop us a line at tunwellstct@gmail.com or check out our Facebook page. Thank you!

Before the dreaded flu hit, I popped to The May Fair Hotel (in, uh, Mayfair) on Tuesday for the launch of the Chamilia & Breast Cancer Care collection. It was a lovely afternoon spent with the delightful girls at Push PR and some very sweet girls, mostly spent lounging on the ginormous sofa, eating marshmallows and cupcakes with edible flowers on them, drinking pink champers and gossiping. We were in the jaw-dropping Schiaparelli Suite – allegedly Paris Hilton’s room of choice when she stays there. We were all really quite overexcited by the space and spent much of the afternoon dreaming about staying there. I’ll be writing it up for LadyMPresents.co.uk, but in the meantime check out Chamilia here.

I then had a call from an old advertising chum, and ended up leaping in a cab from Mayfair over to Brookes Brothers bar in Holborn. Thanks to my amazing powers of geography, I very nearly sent my driver to Brooks Brothers, the shop on Regent Street. What?! I bet some shops totally have bars. Aaaanyway, we hopped from there to a true heritage pub, also in Holborn, and which I’ve forgotten the name of, then made a stop in the American Bar at The Savoy. I’m a big fan of The Savoy. Low lighting, a pianist even on a Tuesday, and inventive cocktails. If you’ve never been, I insist that you do. Just…don’t send me the bill. We finished with a nightcap at Simpson’s-in-the-Strand, which was pleasingly deserted. See what I mean about deserving the flu?

After lying low until Friday, mostly asleep, I was getting cabin fever. I missed going to Fashion’s Night Out on Thursday, watching Frasier in a fug of Lemsip fumes, but I suppose there’s always next year. *Tiny violins* Anyway, by Friday I was more than ready to see an old chum and drag him along to photograph the launch of the 5 Inch and Up line for Nelly.com at Beach Blanket Babylon in Shoreditch. After days of hot milk and medicinal drinks, the mojitos and prosecco both proved a welcome tonic. The collection’s intriguing – full of vertiginous wedged heels and panelled, highly tailored jackets. Again, review coming soon on LadyM. The old chum, Paul, took some alarmingly good photos – some of which you can see below, and should you need a photographer I can’t recommend him enough. (Get in touch with me should you like to contact him.) I also wagered him that I couldn’t make a pizza when sozzled – I’m pleased to say, readers, that I won the wager, although I’m not sure to what degree of success…

And on that note, I’ve exhausted myself again – my energy levels are truly pathetic at the moment. It’s Fashion Week next week, and I need all my strength reserved. Hope you’ve all been enjoying the gorgeous weather! x