The Womens Room

London Fashion Week: what we loved

Paul Smith (all images from Style.com)

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With Patti Smith as inspiration this had to be our favourite collection at LFW. Androgynous classics contrasted with softer, feminine fabrics and bright injections of colour, and we just adore those trousers shapes.

Betty Jackson

Usually one of our favourite collections, this season we felt the strange fabric bases and unflattering shapes were not up to Betty's usual high standard. But we did love the head to toe bright tomato red. We have said it before and will say it again, coloured trousers are a 'must have'!

Giles

Austere and prim shapes in black and white, contrast with wild and shaggy goat fur jackets and gillets in an 18th century governess meets a fierce dominatrix kind of way. It seems black is back - thank goodness!!

Jaeger London

Jaegar London designer Stuart Stockdale played with scale, using exaggerated proportions and over size details. We preferred the simpler shapes and loved the high quality luxe fabrics and colour combinations.

 Jonathan Saunders

Inspired by 40's photographer Paul Outerbridge's pioneering techniques in colour photography, Jonathan Saunders use of colour, print and pattern, and retro inspired silhouettes stood out as one of the most exciting, yet still wearable collections at LFW.

Erdem

Beautiful printed dresses, odd combinations of fabrics and layered colours, combined sophistication with a little bit of chaos at Erdem, and we loved the contrast of the simple shift dresses with the eccentric prints.

What we didn't love however was the sick looking teenagers on the runway at both Erdem and Felder Felder. These young girls may well have fast metabolism's and eat huge amounts of healthy food, but they certainly don't look as if they do and should not be held up as examples of how women should look - end of! We can't believe we are still having this conversation?

Must Haves

• Coloured trousers, or if they are too daring, caramel or paprika coloured trousers.

• Mens shaped trousers, either flat fronted and wide legged, or pleat fronts and paper bag waists (that's a belted, gathered in waist, for non fashion peeps!).

• An oversize boyfriend blazer, either worn with jeans or those lovely coloured cropped trousers.

• 1940's neat blouses and mid calf length tea dresses.

• Colour blocking - this is not going away! Wear a variety of different colours in an outfit, or one bright colour with black if you don't feel like making too much of a statement. 
  Alternatively wear one colour head to toe as seen at Betty Jackson.

• Fur - we saw it at NYFW and again in London - remember you heard it here first (or on Style.com, WGSN etc etc!!) Fur is going to be MASSIVE for Autumn/Winter 2011.

We saw: Translation by Meekyoung Shin

Honestly, they are all made of soap....

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We popped into the Haunch of Venison gallery (as we mentioned before, a convenient culture stop between Bond and Regent Street) this week and saw the most extraordinary exhibition by Korean artist Meekyoung Shin. Ms Shin has sculpted rooms full of beautiful vases -some porcelain, some glass -out of soap! Quite fabulous and you'd struggle to believe that the rooms full of gorgeous shapes and colours were made from something you'd normally find in the bathroom if it wasn't for the give-away smell (which is very carbolicly-pleasent).

In Translation, the vases are all exquisite copies of Chinese porcelain, complete with packing cases. There's a sub plot of transformation/shifting location/fragile manufacture and (I'm guessing) something connecting the fact the Chinese are good at copying stuff from the West themselves, the original porcelain vases would have been made in China for Western consumption.

But my favourite ones were the Ghost Series, a collection of jewel coloured glass-like vase shapes that were set out in colour blocked tables (has Ms Shin been following fashion trends we ask ourselves?). A glorious collection of translucent shades of crimson, amethyst, saffron and honeysuckle (hello? fashion-forward-shade-alert....). 

If you are in the vase making business, then the exhibition is worth visiting for shape inspiration alone, but it's a joy to view for all. You really do have to keep reminding yourself that these are made of soap....presumably they are truly buggered if the sprinklers go off for any reason.....

These too....

In the book shop (you know we can't resist a good bookshop) there was also a fabulous light fitting/art piece by Stuart Haygarth, which was made up of plastic bits he'd picked up off the shore line, cleaned up, sanded down and suspended. Beautiful and yours for £35,0000. We knew beach combing was worthwhile, now where's my reel of nylon thread.....

Meekyoung Shin, Translation Haunch of Venison London 16 Feb-2nd April

Stuart Haygarth

Middleagedmum.com: this season I won't be wearing.............

Image from jakandjil.com

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It's Saturday afternoon and I am walking the dog on London Fields, making friends with trendy young boys with long ginger beards and whippets in coats, and I get a text from a friend.
'I am in Top Shop and there appears to be some hideous conspiracy to make us all wear a horrible shade of mustard this spring. Is this your doing?'  I text her back, 'I'm afraid it might be, sorry'. To which she replies 'I thought so, well there's another trend I'm going to dip out of.' 

Said friend and I and a group of other women have been meeting on Friday mornings for coffee/dogwalks since our children were tiny, to discuss our kids, husbands, politics, local gossip and of course fashion. My friend marks the beginning of a new fashion season, by listing what trends/colours/shapes she 'won't be wearing this season'. Which usually means she will be sticking to her trademark black with touches of monochrome and animal prints. Don't get me wrong, she is a very stylish women, but has quite simply has got to the age where she refuses to buy into trends that she knows won't suit her. From time to time, when she asks for fashion advice, I try to persuade her that she would look great in a pair of coloured tights or shocking pink, but while she makes small adaptations to update her wardrobe each season, she sensibly steers clear of anything that screams 'high fashion' or 'on trend'.

I wish I could say the same!!! Since I was old enough to buy my own clothes, I have been in relentless pursuit of the 'next big thing'. Often managing to track it down before it becomes mainstream, meaning I was wearing trucker boots/puffball skirts/flares/council workers jackets etc etc before everyone else. This of course opened me up to much ridicule on the streets of the Northern towns where I grew up. But undeterred I paraded around looking strange, secure in the knowledge that I was 'in the know', 'on trend' or 'swagger on point' (as the teens would say).

I have calmed down as I've got older and try to incorporate my passion for the latest thing with what actually suits me and try to mix fashion pieces with more subtle basics (gosh that sounded quite grown up!), but it's not always that easy.

Where I (and many other women I know) struggle most is shoe shopping. I have been looking for a pair of new shoes for over a year now. The last pair I bought were my beloved Churches black patent brogues, which believe it or not, turned out to be somewhat of a bargain, as I haven't bought a pair of shoes since.

It seems I have been reduced to a very small capsule wardrobe of footwear, consisting of brogues, Birkentstocks and Converse. And to be honest the Converse have seen better days and are in danger of looking a bit middleaged women trying to be 'down wid da kids', except the kids don't actually wear them anymore!

I have tried and tried to find a pair of fashionable shoes that A. I can walk in and B. don't look like I have had some kind of orthopedic problem and am wearing specially built up shoes, which I understand are fashionable if you are 20, but simply wrong for the over 40's!

The thing is, I want to be able to walk - very quickly, run for a bus, stomp off angrily if need be, and look nice (can't believe I just said that!!). Plus I hate high shoes, they make me walk like Dick Emery! (See below)!! 
I have always favoured masculine styles and was frankly never happier than in the 80's, when Doc Martins, huge crepe soled creepers from Robot, or army boots were my preferred footwear of choice. Consequently, I find shoe shopping quite hard, when all I can currently find is super high heels, or the kind of wedges I wore to school in 1978. 

So when I recently spotted a pair of flat mens style ox blood lace ups behind the counter in COS, I think I slightly scared the shop assistant. ' Are they new', I bark, ' yes' she says nervously. 'I'll have them' I say slightly hysterically. 'Dont you want to know how much they are'? 'No I don't care, I'll have them' I almost shout, feeling slightly unhinged, and shove my credit card into her hand!

At last I have found a pair of shoes I actually like, they are not 'on trend', or even slightly feminine and I don't care. They look a little bit Comme Des Garcons 1985/Margaret Howell any time in the last ten years, but in a good way, and they are very very me, which quite frankly at my age is all that matters!

Fast forward to 2.07.

We love: Sophie Grigson at The Body Shop

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We met Sophie Grigson at The Body Shop's Earth Lovers press day last week, she was there to help us all understand how to make our houses and gardens a bit more eco friendly, and to shift some shower gel. We took the opportunity to ask her what her favourite herbs are, since there was a lot of herb stuff going on, and this is what she said.

Sophie's top tips for growing herbs:

'Pick them! They like being picked, people think they'll will upset the plants if they pick too much, but actually it makes them happy."

'Don't buy supermarket herbs and expect them to do well when they've finished, because they have been hothoused and forced, use them and throw them. You might be lucky and get a bit more out of them, but it's hardly worth the effort'.

'Think where they originate and treat them accordingly.'

What are your favourite herbs, Sophie?

'Coriander and mint, I can't live without them. we don't use mint nearly enough in British cooking, it's such an uplifting herb, it's a 'life is good' herb. One of my favourite teas is fresh mint and fresh rosemary, in the morning it really helps your brain reassemble.Try mint on a tomato salad instead of basil, it's every bit as good.'

I gave teenagesons the 100% biodegradable shower gel (first of its kind according to The Body Shop although it's not on the website yet) and it passed their stringent quality tests (doesn't smell too girly and isn't a weird colour). it's pricy at £5.00 a bottle, but if you want to save the planet, it could be the one for you.

We love: Fire and Knives and food futurology

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We are huge fans of food magazines here at TWR and love hand drawn illustrations, so the alternative food publication, Fire and Knives, ticks all our boxes, as it's full of beautiful illustrations and interesting food features.

Launched as a forum to give established writers a place for work that would not be otherwise published, showcase new writers work and let experts in other fields write about their favourite subject, the first edition was launched in 2009.

None of the writers are paid and editor and freelance food writer Tim Hayward responds to critics by asking them to think of the magazine ' like a blog  that someone had the brains to put into print'. 

Not content with breaking boundaries in food writing, Tim staged an alternative food event in London this month. Fire and Knives Mixed Grill combined lectures and debate around food in the arts and literary world, food trends, insights into food buying and marketing, live performance and of course eating. Describing it as a live version of Fire and Knives, Tim said he had had designed the day to get 'odder as the day progressed'.

Highlights included ether cocktails specially created by Jellymongers Bompass and Parr, which were somewhat odd, but completely legal and contained champagne, ether and a strawberry, an aphrodisiac mole served by author of food and sex blog The 52 seductions, Betty Herbert, and Dr Morgaine Gaye a food futurologist & senior academic lecturer at Nottingham Trent University, who talked about “Food Trends for 2012″.

She thinks pet food will become more human grade and products like 'Pawrios' and 'Doghnuts' will become more and more popular. Insects will also become more commonplace as snacks and on pizzas. Ball shaped food such as pizzas on sticks and fondue are having a revival, and ice cream sandwiches are the new cup cake.

The speakers only had ten minutes to talk, so only managed to skim the surface of their specialist subject and we were left wanting to hear more.

Dr Gaye is speaking at the V&A on the 29th of March as part of The Experimantal Food Society. The talk is titled 'The Past and Future of Food and Experimentation' and other speakers incude Professor Roland Rotherham, a food historian and Simon Smith, master chef and butter sculptor.

The talk will take guests through the most pioneering and experimental movements in culinary history, demonstrating how they have shaped the present and offering a taste of what the future holds.  From early man’s exploration of foods and the ancient world’s earliest epicureans through to the unique ways in which we will experience and consume food in the future.

LFW A/W 2011 highlights: Amanda Wakeley

A gorgeous colour palette of Chocolate brown, black, caramel, orange and gold, in simple yet structured shapes were decorated with sequins and fur.

Shopping with experts: Vintage DVF

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Nipping passed the Diane Von Furstenberg shop in Bruton Street London yesterday, we noticed in the window that the new vintage range had arrived. Diane by Diane Von Furstenberg revives some of the original prints from DVF's first collections back in the mid 70s and uses them in the best selling classic wrap dress and other simple, easy to wear shapes that look very useful. 

The graphic prints are bright and cheery and are all on the heavy silk jersey that makes the wrap dress such a star. I've had a silk wrap dress for about 15 years and it is still looking as good as new. Although it seems an expensive initial purchase (the cheapest dress is £255) they do last the course and nothing beats them to travel with. I liked the shapes, particularly the tunic, the wrap and the simple dresses.

The range is available on line and is merchandised separately in the Bruton Street store in a riot of colour and print, it almost outshines the rest of the collection. The range will be a permanent addition to the DVF brand, so the classic wrap plus a couple of additional vintage revival shapes and prints will always be available. It's a great idea,

DVF knows how to dress proper (if rich) women and the wrap dress really does suit a whole host of shapes, surprisingly. I actually think it looks better on curvy women. I once interviewed Diane and before I was allowed to speak to her I had to read her book (so I 'understood' her, the eventual interview lasted 2 minutes and 37 seconds, I was taping it) where she points out that the wrap dress needs to be pulled really tight around the body to accentuate the curves, and although this sounds horrible, it does work. 

But if the wrap sounds too difficult, try the tunic, worn over capri pants or jeans, might be a real winner for the summer.

 

 
Clockwise from top left, Jeanne purple silk wrap dress £290, Reina blue silk dress £255, Saihana red silk dress £379, Julian green silk tunic £290, all from the vintage collection Diane by Diane Von Furstenburg

LFW A/W 2011 highlights: Giles

Giles just goes form strength to strength every season and for us, this is his best collection yet. Black is back!

LFW A/W 2011 highlights: Paul Smith

With Patti Smith as inspiration and Free Money as the soundtrack, how could we not love this collection.

LFW A/W 2011 highlights: Burberry

New York Fashion Week: what we loved

 Luca Luca - all images from Style.com

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Last week it was the turn of the US designers to show their runway collections for Autumn Winter 2011, so here are a few of favourite collections and a round up of what we thought was important.

Our number one favourite was Luca Luca, simply because we loved the amazing colour palette in lovely, easy to wear shapes. Almost every designer showed fur in their collection and this short ginger fur jacket (described perfectly on Style.com as an orange chubby fox) was our absolute favourite.

Lela Rose

A trip to the Chicago Art Institute to view Gerhard Richter's work inspired the abstract prints in Lela Rose's collection. We loved the eclectic colour palette and flattering shapes and are now on the look out for a knee length pencil skirt.

Caroline Herrera

Described by the designer as streamlined and straightforward, this collection combined delicious shades of darkest chocolate, paprika, aubergine and vintage blue. Retro inspired prints, Mad Men styling and statement evening wear completed the look.

Diane Von Furstenberg

Inspired by style icons Millicent Rogers, Diana Vreeland, and Gloria Vanderbilt, the Queen of the wrap dress named her fall collection 'American Legends'. Tones of raspberry, teal and turq took colour blocking to a whole new level and were perfectly accessorised with coloured fur. 

 Micheal Kors

Neutrals are back in a big way and no-one did it better than Micheal Kors. Beautifully cut essential key shapes in head to toe colour and sophisticated styling - whats not to love? 

Must Haves

• Coloured fur - gorgeous and its obviously not real!

• Midi skirts - think the length you wore to school in the 70's if you are old enough, think what you would usually consider naff if not. Mid calf length is the way forward especially in denim.

• Maxi coats - if you haven't already got a maxi dress for spring - you need to buy one soon.  We loved the full length wool coats seen in almost every collection, but wonder how they will fare if it snows - grubby hemlines are so not a good look. So midi may be more practical.

• Colour, colour and more colour - is everywhere. If you buy nothing else this Spring and next Winter, treat yourself to something bright. Toffee tones and shades of orange continue to be important, and for A/W they are teamed with rich chocolate browns and caramel shades. If this all sounds a bit too much, fear not, as neutrals are back with a vengeance.

• Colour blocking either in individual garments or lots of tones of the same colour in an outfit. Alternatively wear one colour head to toe. Most importantly - make a statement with colour.

• Key fabrics include satin, re-worked traditional checks such as hounds tooth and herringbone and we don't like to keep going on about it, but just have to mention it again - fur!

LFW A/W 2011 highlights: Nicole Farhi

 If you like wearing black and shiny, this might be for you....surprisingly for Nicole Farhi, there's no print. 

LFW A/W 2011 highlights: Topshop Unique

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So, if wanting to look like something out of 101 Dalmatians is something you aspire to, look no further, Topshop Unique has you sorted for next winter.

Once again, we're not suggesting you start practising putting you hair into dog ears or actually dress like this, but look through the funky styling and the sequin dog jumpers start to look interesting as do the fabulously spiralled lace tights. Shaggy dog-hair coats look to be big next winter too. One for your teenage daughters perhaps....

LFW A/W 2011 highlights: Vivienne Westwood Red Label

 

Oh this will cheer you up this Monday morning, good old Viv. We're not suggesting you really dress like this, but check out the bold mixes of prints, the terrific colour and texture combinations and the shapes. They are bold, cheerful and interesting. Go Vivienne!

LFW A/W 2011 highlights: Osman

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Some sharp tailoring here at Osman and some interesting mixes of textures. Osman is a protege of TWR reader Angela, so we're cheering extra hard for him and he seem's to be going from strength to strength. Rather nice hand blotted catwalk design too....

We will be watching: The Model Agency with Carole White

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Carole White is a name that might ring a bell. She was the one that told the European Court of Human Rights, that Naomi  Campbell might not have been telling the whole truth about those blood diamonds.  She’s also in The Model Agency a TV fly-on-the-wall series about the agency she co-founded with her brother 30 years ago, Premier Models (it starts on Wednesday).

Premier is hugely respected and Carole has looked after, at one time or other, most of the super models and many beautiful young things, so she’s something of an expert at handling emotional temperaments and over excited women. Not much daunts her, including Naomi, and she has survived at the top in a tough old industry (IMAGINE the bitching!) for years and still seems extremely down to earth and well, very nice.

So TWR thought, who better to ask about the way 40+ women are portrayed in the fashion industry today? As Carole herself is 60 and looks fab, could she give us a few insider tips on how to look good? Here’s what she told us.

On the state of the 40+ woman in fashion today

'I think that women who are 40+ are quite lucky to be around now. Years ago when you got to 40 you just gave up and wore tweeds. Going back to my mother’s generation, fashion didn’t really go anywhere near that age group. I think they’ve got better at being fit, taking care of themselves and looking better in general. Hair and make up is easy and I don’t think there’s such a barrier between 20 and 40 anymore, you just adapt it to your age.'

On what to wear at 40+

'As you get older you need to get more simple. There are so many really good labels out there, you don’t have to give anything up, you just have to adapt. I’m influenced everyday, I watch young models come in here and almost without knowing it you are influenced by a belt they wear or whatever and I’ll adapt that to work for me.

I wear a lot of COS, it’s so easy and not a big statement and I like that, I love J Crew, Jaeger and I’m wearing Topshop’s Baxter jeans. I’m not a big fashion-expensive person, I like mixing high street brands with an expensive accessory. I do like Chanel and I might buy a pair of Chanel shoes and mix them with Gap, and I do love Prada cashmere knitwear, although I'm always shrinking it in the wash.'

On role models for the 40+

'The style queen of 40+ is Carine Roitfeld, (ex editor-in-chief of French Elle) she is so cool. So cool that even 19 yr olds think she’s cool. I think that’s a great position to be in if you’re over 40, she has tremendous style, she has access to anything she wants and she’s influential.

It’s getting better for role models (we mention the use of Christy Turlington, Kristen McMenamy, Linda Evangilista, all still working) and there are so many beautiful women out there that can become our icons.'

On using older models in advertising

'The problem is at 40+, you don’t think you’re that age! You are looking and thinking about how you were, so you actually do relate to a younger look.  You look at that younger look and think, hmm I could do that but I’ll change it a bit, you adapt it.  So should all models to sell to that age group be 40+? Will they sell more clothes from a 40+ model? Probably not, because I don’t think women believe they are that age. It’s an interesting question and I’m not sure I know the answer.

People are experimenting more with older women. We are always being asked for models for anti ageing skin care, in the past it was always 25 yr olds, it’s never that now. The brands are always looking for 40 or 42yrs. 

Real beauties carry on and I have noticed that the age is going up, but it’s still not something you can rely on in a career as a model, it’s not every day that happens.'

Her tips for looking good

'To keep my figure I very rarely eat in the evenings, I have a really good breakfast and really good lunch and then don’t eat an evening meal unless I have to go out for supper. That works for me. I don’t do any exercise and smoke like a chimney. Also I just drink white wine.

If I get a spot, which is rare nowadays, I always use witchazel, it costs about 20p a bottle. if you feel a spot coming use it and it just goes.'

On cosmetic surgery. (She has just had her under-eye bags done).

'Do it! 100%! When I did the TV programme I was so worried because I had eye bags. I kept saying to the producer ‘I have to have them done’.  But she said ‘no, I love you how you are’.

Then I had this stye in my eye, which turned into a tumour, I had to have surgery to remove it, so I thought if I am going to have a black eye anyway……I wish I’d had it done years ago, it doesn’t hurt and I was back at work in tens days.'

 The Model Agency (click the link for a trailer) is going to be a good watch, an ESSENTIAL watch if you have daughters who are thinking of modelling, and be warned, Carole says she's 'A bit shouty and swears a lot' in the first episode. We can't wait. Starts Wednesday 23rd Feb, C4 10pm

LFW A/W 2011 highlights: Acne

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Yes we love the Acne clothes here, but we couldn't help but be distracted by the rather lovely textures and colours in the distressed plaster-and-paint wall at the back of the cat walk....

LFW A/W 2011 highlights: Margaret Howell

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Margaret Howell, what's not to love? We'll take the lot, thanks. Off to practise wearing thick-ish leather waist belts (done up at the back!) with everything .....

We are reading: Power Dressing

 
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We are more than a little worried that Margaret Thatcher may be having a bit of a fashion moment. God forbid, but what with Meryl Steerp playing her in the forthcoming film The Iron Lady and this fascinating new book about powerful political figures and their style, we fear that blue suits and 'done' hair may pop up on the catwalks before we know it - surely not!

Power Dressing by Robb Young explores how women in politics are judged by the way they dress and how style can potentially influence their careers (phew that rules Maggie out then!).

The book profiles over fifty female presidents, prime ministers, MP's, royals and wives around the world, ranging from such contemporary figures as Michelle Obama, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, Angela Merkel and Queen Rania of Jordan to historic icons such Eva Perón and Imelda Marcos.

LFW A/W 2011 highlights: Jaeger

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Another favourite of ours, Jaeger, which doesn't disappoint. Look out for the wide lapels and clean line, brightly coloured tunic dresses and skirts. Sleeveless jackets are layered over everything, sheepskin is long and swooping and as well as orange we have mustard to mix in with the beautiful teal blue. Looking good.