The Stylist's Rail: Bargain Hunting and Cocktail Sipping Galore

A shiny new fashion event hit the Hoxton Hotel in East London this weekend; The Stylist's Rail was a vintage-meets-new-designers shopping experience, complete with cocktails and goodie bags for the crowds of attendees. I went along to sip and shop (sometimes simultaneously) and report back for you.

 Guests were greeted by quirky displays set against rails of pre-loved or brand new clothing and accessories.

 I couldn't resist snapping these passport covers by Elsie & Fred, made by customising brightly coloured pieces of leather. In fact, I ended up buying the top one.

 A trader showed off her amazingly versatile silk scarves, made in batches of 180.

There was a real mixture of styles available, meaning that you were in no danger of leaving the event empty-handed. From rock chick fringed black leathers to 60s PVC and suede skirts, there was something to appeal to even the pickiest vintage shopper, whilst the new brands on show offered really interesting accessories and outfits, including delicate gold bespoke jewellery and grungy sheer dresses.

 These vintage knitwear pieces caught my roving eye.

 Cocktails were kindly provided by Bloom.

 As you can see, we had rather generous glasses. Chin chin!

The cocktail element of the event was a real bonus. Whilst I'm not normally a fan of gin, I can definitely recommend a G&T made with Bloom, a dry London variety, and served with a strawberry. However, juggling shopping purchases and a glass became something of a balancing act for most of us!

 There was even a DJ to get the party started.

 My +1 was one of my best friends, Katherine, who enjoyed her G&T as well.

 This retro shoe line-up shows just how diverse the stock was at the vintage stalls.

 One of the key considerations when buying vintage at events like The Stylist's Rail is to really go through the rails with a fine tooth comb, so you don't miss anything. We found it helped to do a circuit of all the stalls a few times, just to make sure we saw everything available, and we looked out for eye-catching patterns and textures.

 Jewellery on sale was affordable, blinged up and trendy.

 Some of the pricier pieces were worth splashing out on. I would definitely have taken the plunge and bought these unusual brogue-style trainers (£68) if they'd been in my size.

 Incredibly, this Dolce & Gabbana coat was only £235.

 When checking out designer bargains, it's worth remembering that these items are going to generally be of better quality than your average high street vintage pick, so you won't really be able to haggle as much, because the price will be reflecting the brand name. Also, there will probably be someone willing to give the stallholder the offer they're looking for, so if you really want it then just go ahead and make that designer piece yours.

 A Prada denim twill handbag hung from the rails.

 These colourful bomber jackets were a photo opportunity waiting to happen.

If you wanted something more futuristic and less vintage, this stallholder was happy to oblige.

Having seen the success of this event, I'm sure The Stylist's Rail will be delivering more fashion injections to the people of East London, and I'm looking forward to a similarly eclectic mix of brands and retro bargains.

From Viktor & Rolf to Van Gogh: The Ultimate Amsterdam Fashion Week Outfit

Amsterdam Fashion Week is known for being a hotbed of talent, showcasing the best in Dutch design to a clamouring fashion pack from around the world. So, when Fashion Chick invited bloggers to dream up their ultimate outfit to wear in Amsterdam for the occasion, I couldn't resist taking up the challenge. Here's what I came up with and why I chose each piece...

[Clothing images via Fashion Chick. Background image, Van Gogh's Sunflowers, via Wikimedia Commons].

I wanted to capture the bold silhouettes of Dutch designers such as Viktor & Rolf, but also get a flavour of the Netherlands' great art scene, which is a constant source of inspiration for creative types. From vintage art legends such as Van Gogh in the newly re-opened Rijksmuseum to up-and-coming talented students, it's an inspiring place to be.

• I started with a Vivienne Westwood Anglomania Halton dress, covered with text and being a real statement piece. If you want to see more oversized text, the iAmsterdam sign is a cool place to hang out in the city - I'd have to make a pilgrimage in my fashion ensemble.
• I added a black cape by Lovarni to give a nod to the Viktor & Rolf retrospective at the Barbican several years ago, where dolls were clad in their designs, including voluminous cape-like coats.
• Accessories were Miu Miu cat's eye sunglasses, which add to the doll aesthetic, and a sunflower yellow spider clasp bag by Charlotte Olympia worthy of any Van Gogh fan with a designer budget. Of course, there had to be some real Viktor & Rolf in the mix, so I chose a waist cinching leather mirrored sphere black belt to work well with the Anglomania dress.At only €49 from Hervia (sourced using Fashion Chick), this is a real bargain.
• To continue the sunflower yellow injection of colour, I went for Topshop's Logan flared heel platforms, which add to the vintage feel of the whole outfit, perfect for taking out on the town at all those Fashion Week after-parties.

Aside from the items I've chosen, I'd also be keen to browse the city's best shops. I've done my research thoroughly and I know there are some great retro boutiques to visit, like Wini Vintage, as well as the Nine Streets, a key shopping area. To top it all off, the World Fashion Centre mall offers a huge range of stores and would keep me busy for hours.

So, that's my dream outfit to bring to the streets of Amsterdam, and an idea of what I'd get up to if I was jetting off to experience the best of Dutch design. Would you channel sunflower yellow or would you go for something totally different? Let me know what you think.

Fashion Book Review: Coco Chanel - The Legend and the Life, by Justine Picardie

Coco Chanel was, like her fashion house's logo, a mass of contradictions. Just as the interlocking but equally opposing letter 'C's could have more than one meaning, their creator often had more than one state of mind, recollection or opinion, depending on who she was addressing and why. 

 [Image via Wikimedia Commons - credited to Time/Getty].

The designer photographed in 1920.

She demanded simplicity, yet was often surrounded by ceremony and grandeur, living at the Ritz when the mood took her, or building a haven on the French Riviera, heading to Hollywood and regularly partying on her lover the Duke of Westminster's yacht - so far, so glamorous. But her humble beginnings were more like a fairy story, as the young Chanel (known then as Gabrielle rather than Coco) dealt with her mother's death and her father's reluctance to be a parent. She was placed in an orphanage, along with her sister, though later she would describe this period of her childhood as being raised by strict aunts, rather than the nuns who actually ran the orphanage and taught her to sew. 

It's clear very early on into the book that Chanel was like the classic unreliable narrator in literature, forever changing her story and her circumstances; she would regularly lie about her age and her origins, tailoring a fantastical beginning of her own that could induce jealousy or sympathy at the drop of a hat. Fortunately Justine Picardie replaces the unreliable narrator's tales with as many of the facts as she can muster, interviewing many people who were close to the great woman and her world. 

 [Image via Instyle.com].

Vintage earrings featuring the instantly recognisable logo.

Picardie's detective work and her fluid descriptions bring this biography to life, despite all of the twists and turns and the regular stumbling blocks of Chanel's little white lies that the writer encountered whilst trying to unravel the reality behind all those myths. One of the most bizarre anecdotes involves the designer's favourite childhood haunt - the cemetery at Auvergne. 'If Chanel's own account is to be believed, by the age of six she was spending as much time as possible in a graveyard... she became attached to two unnamed tombstones, decorating them with wildflowers' (p.16). Imagery like this stays with the reader and helps to peel back the layers in her personality. 

The graveyard ties in nicely with the love of wearing black that she brought to the public, taking it out of the state of mourning and into the everyday, 'wearing black as a symbol of strength and freedom' (p.85). Conversely, she also pushed white clothing as a trend, to suggest 'candid innocence' in the wake of the Great Depression (p.179), and her all-white collection of spring 1933 went down a storm. Chanel even wore white to one of her friend's funerals, though she never wore white as a bride, staying unmarried throughout her life, despite numerous all-consuming love affairs up until her 50s. She emerged from every broken relationship a stronger and more resilient person, often staying close to her ex-boyfriends (much to the chagrin of their future wives). 

[Image via Gawker.com]

Still glamorous in later life and getting the wear out of those pearls.

Of course, not every moment was a bed of roses, and Picardie does shed light on the most scandalous boyfriend of all - a high-ranking Nazi, albeit one who could have potentially been a double agent. Unlike many of her couturier contemporaries in the city, Chanel closed her atelier during the war, and the only German she was seen to spend time with was her lover, Baron von Dincklage, but still the rumours about her being a Nazi collaborator persisted. This was obviously a tricky area for Picardie to research, but it does feel like the weakest section of the book, given the strength of those rumours, which persist today. I would have loved to see more investigation and depth in this part of the  biography, as there are still so many unanswered questions about the designer during this period. 

Essentially, this biography provides a huge amount of insight into the complicated life of Coco Chanel, from her humble beginnings as Gabrielle, to her stellar reputation and her line of properties along the Rue Cambon in Paris. It explores the dizzying heights, but also the pitfalls that she encountered, such as the poorly received comeback collection of 1954 (the ever-strong Chanel 'faced the critics with her lips and nails in brave warpaint... the reviews were savage enough to have felled a woman less sure of herself', p.269-270). This is not a lightweight coffee table book, least of all because of its slim line photo sections at the expense of more text; it's a solid and engrossing profile of the great designer, written with Picardie's own insider knowledge and contacts in the fashion industry to hand. If you're keen to learn more about this fashion icon, The Legend and the Life is a great place to start your education.

Disclaimer: I was kindly provided with a review copy of this book, courtesy of the publishers, Harper. However, the views expressed in this post are my own.

Moda Lisboa S/S14: Portuguese Labels to Love

Yes, I'm turning my attention to yet another Fashion Week around the world, and this time it's Lisbon that has managed to catch my eye. There are some really talented Portuguese designers out there, and I spent ages poring over their work on Portugal Confidential and the official Moda Lisboa website.

Here are six of my favourites, as captured by photographer Rui Vasco; firstly, three designers who relied heavily on blue as an accent colour, and then secondly, three designers striking out with very individual styles.

 [All images via Portugal Confidential and Rui Vasco]. 

Pedro Pedro's tactile collection focused on texture, right down to the glossy hair of the models.

There was an interesting clash of femininity (delicate layers, long hair, little satchels) and masculinity (flat grey caps, overcoats, the face as a blank canvas) in the clothing here. I feel that these are the kind of ensembles worn by a Burberry devotee who seeks something a bit more individual and pared down; something more authentic than the sleek trench coat.

 Ricardo Preto went for practical pieces emphasised by folds, with iridescent sheer layers underneath.

Unlike Pedro Pedro's bare models, the ladies at Ricardo Preto sported washes of gaudy eyeshadow in purple, blue and red, worn against a muted colour palette of blues, greys and greens in the clothing itself. I loved the different silhouettes created by the changing volume of the outfits - cocoon coats and slimline waistcoats vying for attention on the same catwalk.

SayMyName had an Avatar-meets-Gaga feel to its S/S14 line.

According to the notes, SayMyName was inspired this season by the robes of a Senegalese brotherhood, but (to my untrained eye) I felt like there was a distinct note of Gaga to the proceedings. I loved the oily slickness of the dresses, clinging in places and glossing over the figure in others. There was a real sense of craft and playfulness that I couldn't resist.

 Nuno Baltazar made an impression in black.

How much do I want to be a Nuno Baltazar woman? She's like one of those effortlessly cool types that I always clock at Fashion Week, strutting through the courtyard at Somerset House in vertiginous heels, without a care in the world. I picked these black and white pieces to show you, but there was some colour in the collection, however my stand-out picks reflect the power of simple pieces to really make an outfit. Barbed wire print and clever drapery? Yes, please.

 Os Burgueses delivered a collection inspired by '1960s wallpaper'. 

The power of print was evident from Os Burgueses' range for this season. A humble banana became key to the quirk appeal of these outfits, topped off by punk-lite belts and precisely wrapped head scarves. These looks had the feeling of playing in the dressing up box at first glance, but you just know they'll be worn by fashion leaders who never put a hair out of place. I'm envious.

Ricardo Dourado's range was called Drop the City and blended simple street wear with intricate dinosaur prints.

If you're seeking something a bit more streetwise from Fashion Week, you can't fail to be impressed by Ricardo Dourado's vision for Spring/Summer 2014. His ideal customer seems to be a woman who isn't afraid of fashion's chameleon potential; she wants to be someone else and is happy to experiment with ballooning fabrics, off-the-wall prints and man repelling dungaree dresses. What's more, she's proud of the way she looks.

I've definitely been inspired by the work of these designers; Lisbon is clearly one to watch on the global fashion stage.

Saint Laurent S/S14: The waif chic look has gone too far

There's a point at which the banality of seeing size 0 models on the catwalk goes too far; when it stops being banal and starts being a cry for help. For me, that point came when flicking through the images of the Spring/Summer 2014 Saint Laurent (the brand formerly known as YSL) collection by Hedi Slimane.

Slimane, it's fair to say, loves the waif chic look through and through; he champions Pete Doherty, grunge and the faux-punk rebellion of the over-hyped Cara Delevingne, and he's previously created a book of rock photographs in his spare time. However, whilst I'm willing to accept the flannel shirts and rock 'n' roll attitude he brings to the brand, I am not at all comfortable with the aesthetic that his models are simultaneously bringing to the table. 

[Images via Style.com]. The Saint Laurent look for next season: worryingly thin.

The skeletal figures are not only upsetting, but they're also distracting, to the point where I can barely see the clothes because all I can picture are the jutting collarbones, alarming thigh gaps and paper-thin arms. I know that these models have walked other shows this season, that they look like hundreds of others on the circuit, but I've never seen their shape - or lack of shape - emerge quite so disturbingly from the catwalk before. This is not femininity or girl power; it is plain and simple deprivation.

Perhaps it's the slimline aesthetic of Hedi Slimane's designs, with the deliberately skinny ties and the asymmetric tops and dresses designed to highlight the shoulder and the collarbone? Whatever it is, it's not making me feel good about fashion or the health of these poor girls. Yes, they lead pressured lives and may 'accidentally forget to eat' sometimes or 'have a really fast metabolism', but at some point shouldn't the people around them intervene for the sake of their wellbeing?

Somebody please take these girls aside and give them a hug.

Besides the lack of professional concern for the models' physical and mental health, what concerns me is that these girls will be seen by the fashion world, and everyone interested in it, as perfectly normal, right down to the pre-teens who idolise them. Surely there is something wrong with the message being sent out here.

Considering the legacy of fashion shows past, I guess it shouldn't even be shocking to see such emaciated figures strutting down the runway, as the size 0 phenomenon has stayed with us since the 90s and shows depressingly little sign of disappearing. Maybe I was naive to hope that we'd get a bit more diversity in modelling in the 21st Century, with the healthier figures used by Mark Fast and, most recently, championed in the form of step dancers at Rick Owens' S/S14 show. But change is what we need, before we really do get stuck in a rut of terrifying proportions for the next generation of women seeking beauty validation from the catwalk.

Whatever Slimane might think, I do not believe that these girls should be modelling and I do not believe they should be part of his look. I really hope this show isn't the shape of things to come.

Photo Essay: Exploring Czech Labels & Friends

A little while ago I was lucky enough to step over the threshold of one of the coolest shops in Prague, during a city break there, and suddenly I was thrown into the achingly cool world of home-grown design talent from Czech Labels & Friends. Just moments from the Old Town Square, this boutique is a breath of fresh air.

 With accessories as good as these, it's hard to narrow down your selection!

The shop's window display was hard to ignore, with a cute replica of the tower on Prague's Petrin Hill being used to great effect. I was also tempted by the range of Melissa shoes in the window - the Brazilian shoe company is the only non-Czech designer stocked here, and her minimalist footwear really compliments the clothing on offer.

 Melissa shoes on display in the window.

 My changing room choices - there's nothing like a bit of cobalt blue.

 The gold detailing on this dress makes it even more memorable.

It's by Libor Komosny, from his m.ona collection.

 Whether you want humbug stripes and florals or bold orange fabric, there's something colourful here.

 This terracotta skirt is irresistible.

 What grabs your eye?

 An asymmetric silhouette and wooden jewellery: I love the combinations at work.

 Clean lines and evergreen basics like these will always be popular.

 Another peek at the windows.

This is the dress I bought, in just one of its many forms; it can be worn in several different ways (even more than what the designer's website suggests - Katarina, who works here, showed me six options).

Not only that, it's by an eco-friendly designer, Odivi.

If you're ever in Prague, I'd urge you to set aside some time to visit this shop, where the team - Katarina and Martina - are really knowledgeable and have a passion for style.

Czech Labels & Friends

Zelezna 12, 11000 Prague.

Mirror, Mirror: three brands launching beauty lines in 2013

It seems that the latest move for fashion brands isn't to launch a line of sunglasses or team up with a drinks company - it's beauty that's got them all motivated. Look at the retail success stories and it's not hard to see why, with Giorgio Armani counters consistently delivering cult products to beauty halls, American Apparel getting its claws well and truly into the heady world of nail varnish, and Topshop's lipsticks being a reliable staple in many women's make-up bags.

 [Marc Jacobs images via Popsugar].

Of course, with every fantastic cosmetics line like Gareth Pugh for MAC (be still, my beating heart), there is always the risk of a dud - does anyone remember the ill-fated Rodarte range, also for MAC, which made light of the feminicide in Juarez and was therefore scrapped at the last minute? The best thing is to stick to inoffensive but cool product names, a mixture of quirky disco colours and wearable everyday shades, and ultra-glossy packaging. Here are the newest three ranges you should be adding to your shopping list pretty soon.

It's all about orange.

 This burgundy polish is perfect for autumn.

Marc Jacobs

Whilst there have been a few tempting images doing the rounds on the internet over the last few weeks, Popsugar was the site to release a preview of the entire collection. Ok, so nobody can get their hands on it until 9th August at Sephora (sadly we're Sephora-less in the UK), but there's no reason not to drool in anticipation over the wearable colour palette being delivered by the great Mr. Jacobs. Many of the products are the kind of thing that a Jackie Collins heroine would wear; slick tangerine lipstick, sparkling champagne nail polish, pillar box red lip gloss, topped off with an eyeliner called Magic Marc'er (utter genius). These little gems are the perfect kick-ass finishing touch to your beauty regime and I'm sure they'll sell like hot cakes.

 Make Up heel [image via Polyvore].

 The famous Pigalle [image via Net-a-Porter.com].

Christian Louboutin

Now, this story may be old news - it first broke in May 2012 - but there's no sign yet of the collection created by Louboutin with Batallure Beauty, despite him recently stoking the fire with a sound bite about women being 'unsophisticated' without make-up. Knowing that the great man is famous for his red-soled vertiginous heels (most notably the Pigalle style), it's safe to say that his cosmetics probably won't be aimed at wallflowers either, and red is bound to play a part in the colour palette. However, there's also a high chance of seeing some serious bling and loads of mad-cap unrestrained creative expression - very different from the simplicity of the Pigalle. After all, his shoes have been inspired by bondage, googly eyes, Guinness cans and the pointe position of ballet dancers. When the range does eventually launch in late 2013, you can bet that Louboutin stalwarts like Dita Von Teese and Daphne Guinness will be the first to sport it. 

 The original Marchesa dress that inspired the wraps [image via Fashionista.com].

 Ready for 3D designer talons? [Image via Fashionista.com].

Marchesa for Revlon

Marchesa often makes waves for dressing glamazons on the red carpet, but this partnership with Revlon offers a bite sized - or finger sized - slice of luxury to an audience that can only dream of dressing like a star. Nail wraps are already a huge trend, so creating designs inspired by the brand's catwalk creations is a simple but effective way of spreading their appeal. All that's been revealed for now is that the first part of the collection will consist of eight different sets, called 3D Jewel Appliqués, and they'll hit the US in October - again, no word yet on when they'll be available to UK customers. The sneak preview image of one set shows gorgeous jade and turquoise florals inspired by a lace and tulle dress. Further editions from the collection will cover make-up and brushes, which should be similarly feminine and sophisticated. 

So, with all of these cosmetics lines dropping in the near future, the question is: who'll be next to jump on the bandwagon? I'm dreaming of eco-friendly Vivienne Westwood lipsticks, shocking pink Roksanda Ilincic blusher and punchy House of Holland nail art pens...