Recession beige...a state of mind or a state of behind?

Could it be the start of the end? or is it just to lift the spirits, but the whites, creams and light colours showcased for SS/10 are set to tempt us back to the shops.

Not only have the designers gone all out this year, re-creating old classics, bringing in new vibes and producing the most fashiony fashion for a long time, but they have also bought in new colour hues and colour palettes. Gone are the standard classics; red, blue, black, green and in are the lights and pastels.

It might be to lift the misery currently hanging over the financial side of the city, but lets face it, the only way designers can tempt women to use their plastic is to totally re-define the current look, from styles to colour. I mean we can hardly be seen in last years threads, if they are no longer anything like this years.

For ages now, there has been a recurring few looks, with the 'anything goes' attitude, perhaps thats why we haven't been spending, because we already had a version of what was out there already.

I feel there is to be a change in the design process...we've all seen the demise of Lacroix, and it bought a tear to the eye.

The problem is those in the forefront of the design world seem to forget the basics...there is a cloudy happy view that fashion is a dream...but its not a dream, its a business!

It has to make money....

W is for white...but not for winter....

White and all those which fall into the white family have been all over fashion week for SS10...

with Osman showing an all white collection, and Eun Jeong's predominantly white with silvers show, white was predominantly present at LFW last week....yet it wasn't just those two, with John Rocha and Jenny Packman showing a great deal of it too...it might be true to say; white is the new black!

Maybe it's the recession...and they can't afford to dye the fabrics anymore? - only kidding, though it might be a result of lifting spirits from the recession and the first signs that the dark days are over?

P is for Plus size....

Plus size models on the catwalks at London Fashion Week...yes i gasped as well, but it was true thanks to Mark Fast.

You would think this would be a good thing, a positive ad for the larger girl and a note to all aspiring skinnies, that it is ok not to be like the supermodels fashion exposes us to on a daily basis.

For me, however and i'm sure many of you, it just confirmed for me that girls of a certain size really shouldn't be wearing knitted body-con, a look which is hard to pull off even by the giraffes of this world. Maybe it was because of the dresses they were wearing? Maybe because Fast chose to use the sterotype skinny models aswell, but the larger girls just didn't look good.

Don't get me wrong...i'm all for plus size models on the catwalk, i think we need to do something to change this idea that to look good you must be thin, before too many of our young girls get distorted body images...but... don't think this was the best attempt at that.

If he had perhaps used all plus size girls it would have been fine, but it was the mix of the two, with the higher ratio leaning to the skinnies, that made the rest stand out like saw saw thumbs!

I think the bigger factor should be not just getting larger role models out there, but showing how you can dress to suit your body shape, whatever size you are.

B is for Burberry Prorsum...B is for Beautiful!

Not only did Christopher Bailey and Burberry produce a beautiful collection complete with the newest re-work of the signature trench for SS/10, but they also managed to land a huge show tent in Westminster and were the hosts of one of fashion weeks biggest parties.

The collection showcased new colours for Burberry of tonally sweet pastels and re-visited an exaggerated take on the tangled chiffon dresses Bailey showed in SS/05.

All in all another very successful show for the Prorsum label, complete with its signature details of fabulous bags and shoes teamed with ankle socks, to match the colours hues of the outfits...and of course short hems and layering was a must, not to mention the supermodel line-up.

C is for making a comeback!

Over the knee boots.....

once a fashion faux-par, seen only on 'working girls' and for that matter 'boys' in back allies across the globe...style note: pretty woman and that oh so awful scene, where she is refused help in the boutique on rodeo drive!

Now....a fashion must, seen all over the catwalks and on fashionista's the world over, (though thigh circumference must be assessed first!)

Possibly a chic grown up note to the last time they were in fashion, and worn by the likes of Abba. Could it be an after effect of the massive success that was mamma mia? After all influences on trends have to come from somewhere....

S is for street chic....

For years, it has been celebs with their thousand dollar dresses and cult forming haircuts from whom we have taken style tips and 'borrowed' looks from....remember the 'jennifer' cut or the kate moss shorts, but now it seems there are a new breed of 'icons'...a less obvious one to copy....the individuals.

It was true with fashion week, and it is true when you go to any fashionable event...that the line of people waiting to go in, is often more of a spectacle then the one they are going to see!

You can pinch style tips and ideas without looking like a clone, and noone will ever know where you have taken it from....Fashion theft....love it!

F is for the future of fabrics...

We all know that if we continue to live the way we are now, that the earth will become inhabitable, but try as we might it seems that no amount of warning signs and campaigns pushing for environmentally friendly living is going to stop the lifestyle we are used to and all that comes with it.

As a society, it would seem that we are all guilty of struggling with 'the enormity of the thought, and so as with war, it becomes something reported to us in our everyday lives, staining our hearts whilst frustrating our minds'. Yet...despite our lack of progression in changing, there is progress being made.

Fashion and fabrics is a new approach through which ideas are being manifested. We are used to hearing about the changes in production and ethically paid workers, co2 emitions and pollution, but not a lot about the fabrics themselves, but there is an emerging generation of products combining the latest developments in advanced and flexible materials.

All of these advances will eventually have a direct impact upon all sorts of consumer textiles and the market which follows; clothing and interiors.

These advances are made possible through advanced thinking, and exploring the power of shared ideas, to create not only new innovative ideas in fashion, but also to use talent and imagination to create a healthier planet.

This collided thinking can become a powerful tool for the next generation of designers.

Take for example; Helen Storey's 'Wonderland' a powerful 'and collaborative project of shared ideas' between 'Storey' and polymer chemist 'Tony Ryan', which sheds light on the wider and much greater issues of sustainability and ethical living.

Using the chemistry behind polymers, they were able to create dissapearing dresses...a metaphor of our dissapearing world. To watch a dress that has taken months to create dissapear in a few days, connects directly to loss and stimulates an emotional connection with something beautiful and familiar.

Although vulnerable to criticism, as could be expected...it suggests; intelligent change through collaboration and the willingness to experiment.

A is for Anish Kapoor.

The whirlwind that was fashion week, has enraptured most of london, but co-insiding with the final day (menswear) was the private view of the start of a imaginative and fascinating exhibition held at The Royal Academy...Anish Kapoor.

Lucky enough to recieve invites to the private view, along i went and what i report back is, that it is one of the most enjoyable and curent exhibitions i have been to in a long time.

From a fashion perspective, the exhibition as a whole really conjured up the imaginative and juxtaposition movements in fashion right now, which are influenced by sculpture and architectural structures.

I strongly recommend you go see it...open from the 26th Sep - 11th Dec.

C is for Christopher Kane but also for Collaboration.

The label on everybodies lips, not only for his consecutively successful seasons, but also for his fantastic collaboration with Topshop, showcasing to the high street a capsule collection influenced from all his previous high end collections.

You can pick up a fabulous neon yellow body con dress integrated with lace for just £50, and unlike many of the designer-shop collaborations, this time it is actually believable. It is more designer and less shop and you would be forgiven for thinking it is the real deal.

Is this where the future lies? Already collaborations are popping up across the board, with;

Yasmin le Bon for Wallis, Henry Holland for Debenhams, Jil Sander for Uniqlo and Jimmy Choo for H&M, to name a few.

It's hard to trace back when these high street collaborations started, but i vaguely remember Roland Mouret for Gap back in 06.

When you think about it, isn't all fashion a collaboration of some kind? With designers moving between labels and the continuing movements, and cultural changes we are exposed to....

O is for Osman

It is barely passed mid-day, on the first day of fashion week, but already talk has turned to what's lined up for tomorrow....and what that is, is 'Osman's' show at 15:15, an all white collection!

"An all white collection is something I have always aspired to do," Osman told VOGUE.COM at his studio last night. "I have wanted to do it for ages but I never thought it would be commercially viable, until now. My last collection was really pale in colour but received really positive reviews - so I wanted to go for it this season."

And all out he has gone, inspired by Eastern shapes and details, the all white spectacle will feature tones of pale chalk and accents of gold.

F is for Fashion week....

Day 1: Friday 18th September

Show schedule:

09:30 Paul Costelloe

10:00 Exhibition at LFW opens

10:30 Headonism

11:30 Caroline Charles

13:45 Eun Jeong

16:30 Emilio de la Morena

18:00 Bora Aksu

19:15 Sass and Bide

20:30 Aminaka Wilmont

back from the office...and yummy din dins!

R.I.P patrick swayze

a sad loss. he will be forever missed.

with noone to stand up for her....baby will forever more stay in the corner.

a standing ticket...

Just been set a new brief...'a standing ticket' at fashion week.

Obviously as per usual, things are never quite as they seem... but about reading outside the box.

Let the excitement begin as we count down the hours to the start of fashion week!

All set for the late nighters, reviews, focuses and the excitement that follows!

Running in heels...an occupational hazard....

its all part of what we love and live...style!