Model takes a tumble at the Prada show at MFW

The Prada show had the fashion pack buzzing due to the poor models teetering on seven-inch platforms. The girls wobbled, stumbled, fell and one girl put her foot down quite literally and sauntered down the catwalk with the shoes in her hands, and not on her feet.

Prada model on her feet at MFW

Seen at the shows:
Civilians (all totally glamorous!) were wearing enormous platform heels and cocoon shapes featured quite a bit in their outfits. Scarily, the 1980s trouser shape with peg tops and narrow legs seems to have invaded the continent as well.
Pretty prints featured at Etro, all very elegant and a bit boho with lots of long, floaty dresses.
At Prada, it was all a tad sportif with crinkled fabrics and the aforementioned vertiginous heels.
Great geometric, avant-garde prints featured at Marni.
Interestingly, Bottega Veneta are branching out into prints, and very successfully too.
Forget bags, this year it’s all about statement footwear!

If you’re lucky enough to be in Milan, some fab happenings include:
A fab exhibition at La Triennale profiling Salvatore Ferragamo with a showcase of his most iconic footwear.
Giorgio Armani has just opened his biggest boutique in the world in Milan. Armani muse, Cate Blanchett was there at the opening, looking lovely as ever.
Picture credit: The Telegraph

Decorex Exhibition, Royal Hospital Chelsea, 21-24 Sept 2008

Ralph Lauren Cottage Toile Bluebell wallpaper

Ralph Lauren Out to Sea wallpaper

Ralph Lauren have just launched their range of fabrics and wallpaper for children. It’s all tremendously fun and very pretty with charming themes: nautical, sweet florals and Rachel’s favourite, glow-in-the-dark star-themed wallpaper. Fab for children but equally suitable for grown-ups. Click on the thumbnails to view them larger!
At Decorex, bespoke furniture and rugs will be a huge trend for this coming year. Check out glorious, made-to-order floor adornments from the likes of The Rug Company and Luke Irwin.

Luke Irwin Parrots rug

Miracca David pendant

Josef Koppann ring

Sarah Parker Eton pendant necklace

Sarah Stafford pendant

Goldsmiths’ Fair is the place to buy jewellery from the most creative and talented individual jewellers and silversmiths in the UK. Fizzing with creativity, 160 of the UK’s top jewellery designers will be showing over a two-week stretch in London’s grand Goldsmiths’ Hall.
Take your time and don’t be overwhelmed by the amount and variety of jewels on display. Even if you only see a few stands at a time, it is worth the effort as this is where you will find the most original jewels as well as having the chance to talk to the very person who made them. It might not be as luxurious as gliding into a big name boutique on Bond Street but it is so much more rewarding to walk away with a jewel that is bursting with individuality and personality.
And even better, prices reflect the fact that at Goldsmiths’ you are paying for the jewellery, not a large advertising campaign, swanky boutiques or red carpet sponsorship so you will be surprised how far your money will go. If you love jewellery, do not miss this event. I challenge you to leave empty handed, something I have never managed. — Maria Doulton

Jewellery by Kathy Vones, courtesy of The Goldsmiths' Fair

Goldsmiths' Fair, London

Jelly shoes designed by Zaha Hadid for Melissa

Never mind overblown Fashion Week charity bashes - the place to be on Thursday night was the Wapping Project, an old pumping station still full of massive machinery, but now an installation gallery and restaurant. It was the perfect setting to launch the latest arts world crossover - brilliant architect Zaha Hadid’s extraordinary, organic-looking sandals for hot “jellies” firm Melissa. They’re asymmetric to make a complete design when you stand with your feet together and they come in a great colour range - the silver is other-worldly. — Avril Groom

Vanity Fair October 2008 Collector

Vanity Fair’s October issue celebrates its 25th birthday with one of the most iconic women from the last century on the cover. The cover shot comes from Marilyn Monroe’s last shoot which took place weeks before her death in 1962.

Top features include the collection of the past quarter century’s worth of covers (all 309 of them!), a Fall Culture Guide to New York, Masha Gessen’s piece on Putin’s death-grip on Russia in the wake of the recent conflict in Georgia and the tragic saga of Brooke Astor’s final years as her son heads to trial on charges of fraud and conspiracy. Society gossip, political discourse, celebrities and fashion tips… might all seem incongruous but when it’s Vanity Fair, it’s sublime… www.vanityfair.co.uk

Some iconic Vanity Fair covers from recent years

Marc Newson with his London Design Medal, Photo credit: London Design Festival 13 - 23 September 2008 www.londondesignfestival.com +44 (0) 20 7734 6444

He’s an absolute genius who specialises in funky, futuristic designs and interiors and produces iconic pieces that become instant design classics. We swoon over pieces like his Embryo chair…

Marc Newson Embryo chair

Sinha-Stanic at London Fashion Week S/S '09

Peter Pilotto at LFW

Dries Van Noten’s influence is pervasive and very strong with mismatched prints on the catwalks as seen the other day at Nicole Farhi but with a real Eighties twist.

Peter Pilotto (a real star in the making) paired his abstract prints with long, loose jackets.

Fashion team Sinha-Stanic also presented a very strong and impressive collection.

Left to right: Christopher Kane, Louise Goldin, House of Holland, Julien MacDonald, Basso and Brooke

For more catwalk pictures from London Fashion Week, go to the LFW website.

It has been a frantic week for fashionable folk as London Fashion Week has arrived to brighten up morose September skies. Our resident fashion guru, Avril Groom has been on the frontline, in the catwalk trenches armed with her mobile phone, ringing IC Towers with updates during lulls in proceedings. Here are some of her observations:

Celebrity spotting:
Mischa Barton, Emilia Fox and Rosamund Pike at the Temperley show.
Shirley Bassey, Joely Richardson, Natalia Vodianova, Erin O’Connor at Julien Macdonald.
Samantha Cameron at Giles Deacon

Roland Mouret Pigalle dress

Seen on the catwalks:
Body con skirts at Giles and models wearing the most extraordinary Louboutins with huge heels and triple ankle straps.
Abstract floral prints at Nicole Farhi, vaguely reminiscent of Dries Van Noten’s offering from last year.
Silhouettes and trims inspired by dinosaurs at Christopher Kane, and models wearing vertiginous and super-fab Manolo platforms on their feet - more dinosaur scales, plus rhinoceros horns.
Julien Macdonald, with a new backer behind the brand, pared down the glitz and showed a sophisticated collection in shades of the desert with a whiff of the 1980s - very Versace-esque, in a good way.
An abundance of flora at House of Holland, with sunglasses bedecked with flowers and fabulous floral-printed fabric bags with red leather trim (all very Gucci).
We time-travelled to 1985 at Topshop Unique with tongue-firmly-in-cheek teddy boy-style big, long, loose single-button jackets.
Similar but more grown-up, in gorgeous block-printed shades of pink, at Richard Nicoll.
At Louise Goldin it was all weirdly sportif yet futuristic, like Bladerunner meets the Bolshoi. Incredible, mind-blowing knits, some of them (padded geometric bra-tops especially) wearable only by the flat-chested.

Model wearing pearls at Luella Bartley (LFW)

Fashion predictions for next Spring/Summer:
The new erogenous zone: shoulders and shoulderpads, believe it or not - team with slim knee-length skirts so it’s not volume all over.
Mini-crinies will be huge - if a skirt is short make sure it’s voluminous.
Mirrored silver elements were spotted on fab Louboutin shoes at Giles and on great clutch bags at Mulberry, so hang onto your metallics.
Floral prints will still be huge, metaphorically speaking, as florals for 2009 will be dainty or abstract.
The Eighties is a decade that refuses to die stylistically so embrace your inner Melanie/Sigourney circa Working Girl as we might be wearing lots of draped jersey tops with body con skirts and dresses, sharp suits with sharper shoulder pads and even paper bag-waisted, pegtop trousers (oh the horror).

“At the Van Cleef & Arpels launch party for their stunning Les Jardins high jewellery collection, Christian Louboutin was spotted amongst the great and the mighty of the world of jewellery collectors. Does this mean that we are going to see diamonds on the soles of his shoes or is he also a lover of the art of the jeweller?

Isabelle Huppert and Christian Louboutin

Another observation from a few days in Paris visiting the top jewellers at the Biennale des Antiquaires is the rise of stealth wealth. Top of the list of anti-bling style is the old-fashioned rose cut diamond. This traditional diamond cut has less facets and bigger planes, giving a softer glow than the clever modern, multi-faceted cuts that throw about more light. Often lower value diamonds were employed for this cut but today top grade rocks are being used to great effect as we appreciate their age-worn allure over the brighter bling of the perfect brilliant cut. Very Keira Knightley in The Duchess and one way to make your jewels look like Granny left them to you, rather than fresh out of the workshop.

Keira Knightley, The Duchess poster