Wednesday 30 November 2011

I-Spy Something Beginning with O

Osman Yousefzada is a regular on the London Fashion Week catwalk schedule. Sticking to a rigidly simply shape that is cut and constructed to perfection from the best fabrics, his designs are tailored, architectural and flatter everyone. Modern and clean silhouettes are classic as they do not conform to colour or print trends, reminding us of New York based Calvin Klein.
Silk blend dress, £758 Osman Yousefzada at Matchesfashion.com
This beautiful and elegant dress has a simple looking front, but the back is simply stunning - monochrome and tied at the back, it has wow-factor.
If you want to show your fashion know-how without the designer budget, check out John Lewis's collection designed by the man himself. Echoing his main line collection, the dresses and coat are great investments.

Long jersey dress, £250, Osman Yousefzada for John Lewis
 
Asymmetric jersey dress, £179, Osman Yousefzada for John Lewis

Tuesday 29 November 2011

British Fashion on top form

Monday night saw the British Fashion Awards at the Savoy Hotel, in London. The star of the show (and this year!) Sarah Burton, of Alexander McQueen, won the prestigious Designer of the Year accolade, whilst Victoria Beckham took home the Best Designer Brand prize, beating off competition from Tom Ford, Stella McCartney and Burberry.

Victoria Beckham, Marc Jacobs and Kate Moss
In terms of new designer names, Mary Katrantzou was given the Emerging Talent Womenswear Ready-To-Wear honour, with Christopher Raeburn winning the category's menswear equivalent. Christopher Kane was announced as the winner of the Awards' debut New Establishment prize.

Kate Moss with good friend Stella McCartney

Alexa Chung holding onto her Most Stylish gong for the second year running
The full list of winners:

Designer of the Year: Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen
Designer Brand: Victoria Beckham
New Establishment Award: Christopher Kane
Menswear Designer: Kim Jones
Accessory Designer: Charlotte Olympia
Red Carpet Award: Stella McCartney
Emerging Talent Award - Ready-To-Wear: Mary Katrantzou
Emerging Talent Award - Menswear: Christopher Raeburn
Emerging Talent Award - Accessories: Tabitha Simmons
Model: Stella Tennant
BFC Outstanding Achievement: Paul Smith
Isabella Blow Award for Fashion Creator: Charlotte Gainsbury
British Style Award: Alexa Chung

Monday 28 November 2011

In very good company with Bastyan

On the evening of Thursday 24th November, Donna Air hosted drinks with friends to celebrate the launch of the Bastyan Boutique pop up store, on Regent Street. Donna, like me, is a great fan of Bastyan, a wonderful womenswear label by Tonia Bastyan, and shared it with her friends Michelle Young, Kate Walsh, Jewellery Designer Anouska Woods, Strictly Come Dancing Star Brendan Cole and wife Zoe Hobbs, as well as top UK fashion editors and stylists, including yours truly!

Donna wore the gorgeous silky Pandora Pleat Shirt (£165) teamed with the perfect pencil Stretch Wool skirt (£150)

Donna's top pick from the collection, the Lucky corset dress £275 with Tonia Bastyan

Donna's celeb friends and guests

In between celeb hobnobbing, sampling champagne and perusing the sporty chic and beautiful prints from the upcoming SS2012 collection, guests were treated to the perfect manicure by The Chelsea Day Spa . The Bastyan Boutique pop-up is open for 5 week in the lead up to Christmas, 288-294 Regent Street W1. Be sure to check it out....my favourite choice for the party season - this gold silk ruched dress.
Danae Drape dress, £250


Friday 25 November 2011

Feel Good Friday

What's your ultimate Feel Good Friday? Apart from chilling out in a spa all day, I think shopping whilst donating money to an incredible cause comes very close. Gap (RED) have joined forces with überchic French designer Isabel Marant, to design an exclusive t-shirt to mark World Aids Day.



The boyish over-sized hetaher grey v-neck t-shirt has a playfully colourful print and a slouchy silhouette, which epitomize the understated easy style of Isabel’s collection. Strictly limited edition, the t-shirt will go on sale in Gap stores globally from Monday 28th November and 50% of profits from the sale of all tees will go to the Global Fund to help eliminate AIDS in Africa. Get one whilst you can!

Thursday 24 November 2011

In-My-Bag Boden Velvet Straightleg Cropped Trousers

These Boden gorgeously chic navy cropped trousers are perfect for the upcoming party season - so wearable, if you want to dress them down with flats and a (Boden, of course) stripy Breton, or style them with heels and a sequin/beaded top to play with textures....


Velvet trousers, £75, Boden


Wednesday 23 November 2011

I-Spy Something Beginning with N

Nicole Farhi is a British designer institution - she designs womenswer as well as menswear, and offers a London Fashion Week catwalk collection together with her diffusion line FARHI. With the nights getting longer and days getting darker, a warm and cosy knit is just what you need - take your pick of these two...


Wool wrap cardigan, £185, FARHI Nicole Farhi

Cashmere cable knit, £195 FARHI Nicole Farhi
For the nights where you are heading out rather than cosying in, pick up this stunning sequin show-stopper dress.
Sequin and wool dress, £495 Nicole Farhi

Tuesday 22 November 2011

The Invincible Mrs. Thatcher

I am currently fascinated with Margaret Thatcher...it could be due to the current UK situation as it is (Tory government, high unemployment, rioting) so similar to the 1980's when The Iron Lady was in 10 Downing St herself, or the fact that she remains an inspirational, powerful, caring and, at times, vulnerable woman.

In this month's Vanity Fair, The Invincible Mrs. Thatcher gives an insightful and quickly addictive recount of her life and work. A truly powerful woman, who was often misunderstood in her role as the first UK Prime Minister, but who held strong personal as well as political values, which (some) still stand strongly today. Values aside, she remains inspirational, forward-thinking and, in her own words, "undefeated".

In January 2012, The Iron Lady will be in our movie theatres with Meryl Streep playing the Lady herself, along side Jim Broadbent as husband Denis Thatcher and Richard E Grant as Michael Hesiltine. I can't wait!

Monday 21 November 2011

Return of the ElleBelle

I have been AWOL for the last month or so, with very busy life changes - I moved house and changed jobs in the same month. I DO NOT recommend it! The house move is a great success, and I can quite happily while away the hours online-shopping for home accessories and furniture - a joy! The job move came to fruition last week, when I left my job at a monthly glossy magazine. All in all, I have been sorely neglecting my lovely indulgent ElleBelleFashion blog....no more - I'm Back To Work!


Happy and rested after a quick family weekend trip to Kinsale, Ireland, we drove further along the beautiful coastline to Inchydoney Island (just after Clonakilty). The weather was spectacular for November, with calm waves rolling into the bay for the surfers as well as a perfect sunset to enjoy with a pot of tea or two.... The Inchydoney Lodge & Spa lies along 2 different beaaches, with space to walk, run, or just to take in the amazing views and offers a hotel, a huge spa (which was Ireland's first Thalassotherapy Spa when it opened) with more treatments than I could list here....if you fall in love with the location, you can also look into personal apartments.


This trip was my first trip that I could show off my personalised Smythson Travel Wallet, which was a parting gift from my friends and colleagues at my magazine. I absolutely love it, and have definitely got the bug for personalising and monogramming everything! Smythson can emboss your diaries, cosmetic bags, notebooks, etc so do pop into store and ask for John.

As well as Louis Vuitton, who has revolutionised chic and elegant monograms, there are many more brands who can personalise almost everything...

Iomoi sell beautiful personalised EVERYTHING - my favourite picks are the canvas tote bags (and cosmetic bags) as well as their customised stationery (letters are the new emails)...



Anya Hindmarch is the go-to woman for elegant day bags and glitzy evening clutches as well as an array of wash-bags, launched her bespoke store online, where you can now customise bags, diaries as well as travel accessories for men and women with names, or phrases.
Leather embossed bookmark, £75 Anya Hindmarch

Sunday 20 November 2011

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SISTER!

My beautiful sister celebrated her birthday today, and I'd like to wish her a very happy birthday!
As she is over 8 months pregnant, most gifts are tricky - beauty treats, clothing, etc all not quite right. I was thrilled when after a day of appointments, I took myself off to the Laura Lee jewellery boutique in Covent Garden and spent almost an hour trying not to shop for myself...I settled on this engraved gold disc necklace, which Laura added a tiny ruby for me. Also available in rose gold or sterling silver, I love that she can add small charms to it, an initial for the new baby, a star or a flamingo!