A weekend of Fashion Frolicks

I have a confession to make; while there was so much I wanted to post about this week, (the amazing london shows, anyone?) I somehow created a mental blogging block and just couldn't write. But finally here is a not at all brief summary of last weekend in London. Without getting all Miss World, I usually sigh when I read about the likes of Rumi and Camille off galivanting at Fashion Week, so it was rather amazing to be able to have some of my own fashion frolicks and the icing on the cake was meeting Chloe Sevigny! Eeh.

thursday: LOVE reading, yvan confusion.
arriving in london feeling a little flustered after an uncomfortable coach journey and a loss of enthusiasm over the outfit I was wearing, I headed straight to beyond retro for my traditional scout and stocking up on vintage finds. I also wanted to see if I could find some alternative outfit options for both the Topshop Unique show on Sunday but also to the Opening Ceremony Party that I would fingers crossed be popping along to on Friday. alas, the £72 sized gap on my debit card signalled a successful trip. To counteract all of that terribly draining work (!) I went across the road to Le Pain de Quotidien, where I indulged (or buried my head financially further into the sand, depending on your stance) in a homemade limeade and a scone while I people watched and flicked through my new copy of Love Magazine.



Now this is where things get bizarrely interesting.. I spot across the road this fantasticly dressed girl prancing along the pavement. She has a high blonde ponytail, is quite curvy and Swedish looking and is wearing a denim shirt in a way that actually looks refreshingly clean and simple. I then notice Yvan the Facehunter spot her and he starts to chase her and I just sit there slurping at my Limeade smiling to myself at witnessing this all unfold until for whatever reason she shakes her head at him when he approaches and he leaves pictureless. Then he starts to walk up the pavement towards me and as he is about to pass I saw to him that it's a shame that he didn't manage to get that picture because her outfit was so well put together. He shrugged in a slightly blunt way and said that she was in a rush which happens slightly and then looked at my notepad where I had been noting down the swedish girl's outfit. He asked in a tone which sounded rather rude "Do you write character studies because you aren't good at sketching, because you are too poor to afford a camera?" I looked at him a little confused, not understanding whether there was some kind of language barrier or whether he was just an eccentric type skirting the line between sarcastic and rude. I told him I couldn't understand whether he was taking the piss and he ignored this and asked what I did, to which I replied I'm a student and blogger, which didn't seem to interest him. Either way, we parted amicably and I stayed sat there for a few minutes trying to mull over in my mind what had just happened and kind of laughing to myself at his apparent high opinion of himself and his quickness to put me down for writing in a diary which was clearly not as worthy as his photography. ay, ay, ay..

I put this strange encounter behind me, resolving to get some "Yvan testimonies" from some fashion folk over the course of the weekend who might be able to enlighten me into his personality.

friday: red lippie and chloe sevigny
after two days of two and froing texts between myself and jeanie resulting in a confirmation that we would indeed be hitting up Chloe Sevigny's Opening Ceremony launch party at the Double Club and I let myself get ridiculously excited; it'd put off any mad jumping up and down action on the off chance that it wouldn't happen. As anyone will know, I worship at the Church of Chloe and after a sunny afternoon spent wandering the streets of Primrose Hill, I headed back to Oxford St to splash out on my first red lippie from Chanel. I didn't want to overthink what to wear to the party as I knew it may induce a panic attack and therefore plumped to go down the Jen Brill route of bold lips. Met Jeanie and her lovely mates Sarah and Fotis at Angel and off to the Double Club we all trudged where we spent the rest of the evening tutting at the expensive wine, feeling smug about the long line of people waiting outside and nudging each other everytime Bay Garnett walked past until finally Chloe made an appearance and we snapped and gasped. Jeanie very kindly obliged to act as photographer when I plucked up my courage to ask Chloe Sevigny for a picture. I knew that if I didn't, I would forever regret it and quite possibly one day turn into one of those ghosts who haunts and scares the bejesus out of people just to make of for their life "losses".

Thankfully she was obliging and kind but rather unthankfully we both look rather moody and not entirely flattered in the picture.

We left early to catch the last tube home and passed Henry Holland on the way out, and sticking to my blogger promise to take plenty of photos, I asked for his only to be greeted with a coiffed and "cooler than thou" exterior. What a charmer.


others spotted at the double club: pat mcgrath, bay garnett, katy england and bobby gillespie, camilla al fayed, alexis taylor, phoebe arnold, henry holland


saturday: i spy kate lanphear at topshop unique
Sticking to my "keep it simple" dressing philosophy, I scraped my hair into a high bun, pulled on a grey rollneck, body con mini, flats and swiped on a faithful flash of red lippie and channelled my inner beatnik at the Topshop Unique show. Along with Disneyrollergirl, the loveley Hayley from the Topshop online team, and Michelle (as well as her Prince Barry) from Kingdom of Style we waited restlessly in line for the show to start as the likes of Daisy Lowe, Pixie Geldof sauntered past to go inside. With an expectation of nebula graphics and a general Peter Pilotto style ode to galaxies, I was a little disappointed by this season's Unique collection which leaned a little too much in the direction of Nu Rave Clubkid with Neons and glowsticks, though some of the big knitted cardigans had the potential to look lovely in a most pared down context. For me, the collection was a little harsh on the senses, though I'm always interested to see which standpoint designers will take during this economic climate; unabashed antidotal denial ala Marc Jacobs or sombre and pared down ala Armand Basi? In this case, the design team settled for the former.







others spotted at the unique show: karlie kloss, alexandra shulman, kate lanphear, pixie geldof, daisy lowe, susie bubble