WANT TO BE THE FIRST TO WEAR SS12?

Posted by Fashion Junior at Large

Nope, I'm sorry but Carine Roitfeld, Lisa Marie Fernandez and Anna Wintour (and more I'm sure) have beaten you to it. I know, I know, we thought fast fashion happened in Primark and Zara, not at Burberry and Givenchy. But think again because some of fashion's best connected are already wearing pieces which are probably warm off the models' backs. Are we jealous? Noooooo.

Lisa Marie Fernandez shows off her SS12 Pilotto in Paris (Image from graziadaily.co.uk)

One of my favourite shows of this season was Peter Pilotto and I thought I was safe in the knowledge that I had nine months to find a way to acquire a little piece of it. Swimwear designer Lisa Marie Fernandez had a head start on us all, earning her chance to premiere the prom dress by collaborating on the scuba ensembles which were standouts in the collection.

Peter Pilotto SS12

Anna Wintour arrived at the Louis Vuitton show on Wednesday morning in an African print trench coat from the Burberry SS12 show which she had taken a front row seat a mere two weeks earlier.

Wintour arriving at Vuitton (image from zimbio.com)

On the catwalk... Burberry SS12

But prize for the most astonishingly speedy turnaround goes to Carine Roitfeld who wore a variation on a number of looks from the Givenchy show the day after it took place.

Carine makes it real-life worthy with a silky blouse and shortened tails (Image from telegraph.co.uk)

On the catwalk...Givenchy SS12

THE HAT YOU NEED

Posted by Fashion Junior at Large

One of the many highlights of my trip to Paris last week was discovering Bernstock Speirs and their super cute hats. The FashEd is already a big fan and I'm not surprised as their Bunny hat seems to me like a Summer version of the much admired Marie Mercie hat which she is so in love with. We're noticing a playful, childish mood come through for next Summer so we're tipping this as the accessory you never knew you needed. And the perfect model is Thelma Speirs herself who began the business in 1982 with partner Paul Bernstock and has been having a great time doing it ever since! Drop by their store on Brick Lane on buy online.

Trust us when we say yellow is the colour to go for...

The Bunny hat is £45 and come in all sorts of colours

 If you're partial to something a little more classic, then Bernstock Speirs also have the most darling boater hats for next Summer. Just add a prom skirt for flirty, feminine, Mary Poppins-y charm.

Boater at Emporio Armani

John Galliano SS12

Catwalk images- catwalking.com. All other pictures Fashion Junior at Large

PARIS FASHION WEEK: GUIPURE, THE SEQUEL

Posted by Fashion Junior at Large

Last week, we brought you news of guipure, the chunky lace which seemed to be making a noteworthy number of catwalk appearences. Well now we are sure that there is some sort of secret guipure society which has infiltrated the minds of some of the world's key designers because its presence has become almost ubiquitous during the Paris shows. So I thought I'd compile you an update of the different ways guipure and the like have taken on starring roles over the past few days of fashion month.

Patchworked, delicate panels by Peter Copping at Nina Ricci

In spearmint as a bodice overlay at Chanel

Pier Paolo  Piccioli and Maria Grazia Chiuri went lace mad at Valentino

This is so chunky it borders on laser cut rather than straightforward lace. Valentino

Giambattista Valli went for blown up 60s floral patterns

At Louis Vuitton, a similar overblown flower on pretty, pretty parisienne dresses

More Vuitton

Louis Vuitton again. Marc Jacobs made his lace so chunky, it almost wasn't lace anymore.

Miuccia Prada continued what she began at Prada in the Miu Miu show. This time it was a little prettier. No bomber jacket to toughen up

Lace on lace on this Miu Miu skirt

 All images from catwalking.com. Miu Miu images from Vogue.fr

SS12: UNDER THE SEA

Posted by Fashion Junior at Large

JW Waterhouse's The Mermaid. This season's collections are moving the image on

As one might expect from Spring/Summer collections, we have seen a myriad of references to all things seaside related during this fashion season; Mulberry took us on a seventies day out at the British beach, Daks (amongst others) was all fifties riviera, Craig Lawrence used sand as his starting point and Jonathan Saunders was all about Miami. But in Milan and Paris, some of the key collections have left the familiarity of the waterside and plunged to the mythical depths of the ocean to draw inspiration from sea creatures, shells and mermaids. 

Givenchy SS12

At Givenchy, Riccardo Tisci served up a streetwise version of mermaid-ness. There was the irridescence of a pearl scattered seabed and a scaled effect which echoed a translucent ocean dweller but the addition of a blazer and flash of leg meant these did not descend into being unwearable back on dry land.

Givenchy SS12

At Versace, Donatella referenced her brother's signature baroque prints and presented a sexed up modern mermaid,who looks like she might be off to the Marine Bar to sit on a shell and scout out the sea horse talent.

Versace SS12

Versace SS12

Versace SS12

At Alexander McQueen, it was all about drawing comparison to the textures of coral and pearl for Sarah Burton. Padded hips and fishtails, not unfamiliar features of a McQueen collection, leant themselves to the creation of  a mermaid silhoutte. The lace caps, called fetishistic by some, emphasise the other worldly, sea bed effect.

Alexander McQueen SS12

Alexander McQueen SS12

Alexander McQueen SS12- This looks like it's slicked in sea water

Finally, at Chanel, Karl Lagerfeld drew on one of the house's most important symbols, the pearl, and paid homage to its oceanic origins not only in the clothes but also on the pure white, ocean floor set. The pièce de résistance was Florence Welch, singing from inside a giant clam shell, 2012's incarnation of the Mermaid fantasy. 

Chanel SS12

Chanel's ocean floor set at the Grand Palais

Florence serenades the audience from her shell stage as the models encircle the set, spines encrusted with pearls.

All images, aside from The Mermaid (from JWWaterhouse.com), from Catwalking.com

PARIS FASHION WEEK: ALL ABOUT MCQUEEN

Posted by Fashion Editor at Large

The Alexander McQueen show this evening was a spectacle of demi-couture as fine as any Parisian maison could create, though this finery is all pretty much handmade in London, England. Sarah Burton, fresh from the most unpredictably brilliant, fame-making 18 months of her life was in typically low-key form backstage, while onstage her work was breathtaking in its scope of technique and the clothes were extraordinarily beautiful and haunting. This served to remind us that McQueen is dead, but that someone lighter and easier in her skin than Lee, holds the key to unlocking the brands future.

It gave me cause for thought, though, that Burton and the Alexander McQueen business is putting out a message of pure high fashion drama, with not an easy-to-wear piece, or new season fashion message in sight. This collection was all dresses. I'm not complaining, because I know full well that the selling-collection and the McQ line lookbooks will slip into my in-box soon, and that there will be clothes for everyday life in there. But where does this leave normal folk interested in seeing what the McQueen fashion message is to be for Spring Summer 2012? I say enjoy the beauty, there is not enough beauty in the world. See for yourself.  It worked on us. We arrived at the McQueen show tired, we left on a high.

Furthering my attempts at photography with the new zoom lens, I give you the McQueen show, Fashion Editor At Large style.

Sarah sandwiched between Francois Henri Pinault (majority shareholder of Alexander McQueen) with his wife, the actress Salma Hayek. Salma said to her post the show "you have made me very happy"

Two tired but very happy Sarahs: Burton of McQueen, Mower of US Vogue, who is due to recieve her MBE next week.