The Glamour Of Bellville Sassoon

The high end British fashion salon Bellville Sassoon is having a retrospective at the Fashion and Textiles Museum this September. Running from the 20th to January 11th 2014, you have plenty of time to see it between now and Christmas.

Sassoon has been synonymous with the british high street for over 50 years. Founder Belinda Bellville and designer David Sassoon, who I was lucky enough to have a talk from at my Uni last year, have dressed the worlds most stylish women, such as Princess Diana.

Maternity wear for Princess Diana by Sassoon

Tickets are available on the day and cost £8 adult and £5.50 student so be sure to get down there between now and January, I know I will be.

It Would Be An Honor

New York label Honor has come to the UK! It will be available via the designer online store Matches and is available as I type.

The brand is said to be similar to that of Miu Miu, but more affordalble. With the cheapest item being a silk blouse at £575, I wouldn't exactly call that affordable but compared to a similar tee from Miu Miu which is around a similar price, it could be seen as that to people who buy designer on a regular basis.

Taking a sneaky peak at their runway collection from last years New York Fashion Week, it's a brand packed full of colour, and fun colour at that. Giovanna Randall, who founded the brand back in 2010, has used a range of pink hues, pretty prints and girly trims.

I can definitely see a resemblance to Miu Miu, specially with the use of embellishments and I have my eye on a really fun twin heart blouse with matching trousers. But at $950 each, its slightly out of a students price range. What are your thoughts on the brand?

WANT WANT WANT

The Making Of Liberty

Channel 4 are in the mists of making a fly on the wall documentary about Liberty of London on London's famous Regent St.

When it comes to Liberty, I think it's much over looked because of how big Selfridges is, which or course is not far from it. As well as Harrods which will forever be iconic to me.

To be aired this Autumn, 'Making Liberty' seems to be reminiscent of a similar documentary about Claridges (Inside Claridges) which was on around the same time this is meant to be aired last year. Did Liberty spot a beacon here? It could be that it saw the success Claridges received from the documentary and wanting to bring life back into the store (especially on the run up to Christmas, a crucial shopping time) since it's so overlooked.

The documentary follows the managing director Ed Burstell and head of marketing communications Kate Brindley around in the lead up to Christmas. He said 'the show will follow us through fashion week and in all the buying meetings; there's a real focus on the business of fashion.' They hope to bring a 'new customer' in with the documentary - well let's wait and see!

I'm personally quite intrigued to watch the three-part series as soon as it airs. Let me know your thoughts on the upcoming programme.

Has Tom Ford Lost His Fashion Crown?

According to Colin McDowell in a recent talk head at my university, Tom Ford is no longer relevant in the fashion world. However since then, he's opened up a store on Sloane St - of course an expensive retail space so does this beg to differ? I think so. Along with the store launch came an exclusive new fragrance, Private Blend London which is described as being 'rich' and 'spiced.'

It seems to me that if he is was dying out to the fashion world, he's trying to claw his way back with this store and a perfume named after the location it's being set up in. We're all a sucker for a gimmick so I think it will do well.

In the new store is also a unique section allocated for make up and fragrances, but not just fr women but for men also! Is she taking it too far by having make up for men? The amount of products on the market these days for men would probably beg to differ but the average man I believe would have to draw a line at make up. It's right for a certain market, maybe one that can afford Tom Ford, but the majority in this economic climate cannot so I don't think it will be a smash hit. Nice try though eh Tom.

Tom has admitted in an interview that he gets countless compliments on his skin and puts it all down to his shameless bronzer wearing. He's also said he knows countless men who steal their partners concealer to hide the odd blemish here and there which is understandable but I think when it comes down to actually going into a shop and buying it themselves, men have too much pride to do it. Definitely a no no in my eyes but I will watch and see if the sales are proficient.

Beat The Fashion Bloggers Competition!

Ever thought you could out-dress a fashion blogger? Well this is the competition for you. Style.co.uk have given you the chance to have a look at 5 fashion bloggers and a trend they have suggested, style it and tweet or email your picture in. The lucky winner would win up to £1000 to spent at Oxygen Boutique, and London Fashion Weekend Tickets - who wouldn't want to win that!?

Here are the themes:
1. Heritage set by Blogger Kristin Knox from The Clothes Whisperer
2. Sixties set by Laetitia Wajnapel from Mademoiselle Robot
3. Winter Florals set by Ella Gregory from Coco's Tea Party
4. Forties set by Kelly Morris from What She Said

When you've styled your outfit, you can tweet it to @StylistMagazine with the hashtag #beatthefashionbloggers OR email your picture to beatthefashionbloggers@stylistmagazine.co.uk with the trend you've styled in the subject bar. For more info, visit http://www.stylist.co.uk/fashion/beat-the-fashion-bloggers-competition

Good luck Fashos!

GFW Take 2

GFW is less than 3 weeks away, and I bet the tension is building in all the unis that are taking part to have their collections ready.

Manchester School of Art is set to host their first show in their brand new building on 23rd May. They're setting the spark of excitement for the rest of us. Tickets have now gone on sale, so you better snap one up before they all sell out! The best day to get is of course Monday 3rd June, as my uni is on that day, har har. We are definitely ones to watch.

Hope to see you all there!

& In Other News

As a lot of you may know, & Other Stories launched its first store in the UK on March 8th on Regent Street. It's a sister brand to the H&M group as well as COS, so I was expecting a kind of inbetweeny kind of brand of the two; quirky designers but not necessarily at COS prices and this is exactly what you get. I like quite boxy shapes in clothes, and I feel they do a lot of this (specifically for SS as thats whats in the shop at the mo) but they also are featuring some cute flowy shorts which are uber cute. I'm currently sitting in my garden on the hottest day of the year so far, in London anyway, so I'm on a summer clothes hype, panicing that I have absolutely nothing Summery. Is black acceptable to wear in Summer? Probably not Grace.

In the shop, they only have 7 of each garment out at a time to make customers think they're getting something quite specialist which is a nice idea, as compared to most high street brands who seem to pile up as many sizes they can so the emphasis is quite obviously on just the selling, which I know is important for any business but you want to create a good feel for customers which I feel this brand is doing by adopting this technique.

I personally really love the graphics, their logo is in the style of someones handwriting which I find to be quite personable, and I think it suits the brand really well. As well as this they quite a slick san serif font they use throughout their website, similar to COS which is effortless and modern.

Some specific products that have caught my are these spiked heeled pumps which reminded me of a barrel of a gun for some reason; oh how RiRi of me. There jewellery is COS down to a tee. It's all very clean looking but very different from anything on the high street which I like. I love they way their use of matte metals aswell, it just makes me think, expensive when really some pieces are a mear 7 squids.

1. // Spike Heeled Pump £79 (also available in black and gold) 2. // Box Chain Bracelet £7

If you can't get down to the store any time soon, check out their website, www.stories.co.uk, it's pretty swanky!