Mulberry always throws the best parties in town and they’ve really pulled out the stops for VFNO.  Mulberry promises an evening of manicures, cocktails, fortune-telling, face-painting and prizes.  They are even feeding flagging shoppers with some good old British nosh – Toad in the Hole and pies all round!

Upstairs at Rupert Sanderson becomes a whirlwind of 70s glamour with a pop up roller disco!  Rupert has also designed an exclusive disco platform boot to launch on the evening with 10% of the proceeds going to Kids Company.  What’s not to love?

Tie in your shopping with a bit of culture at SHOWstudio Shop for the opening night of ‘The Cafe’, an exhibition centred around coffee culture and cafe society in fine art, fashion and film.  See the works of Piers Atkinson, Steven Meisel, Terence Koh and Nick Knight and sip espresso in an actual coffee shop.

Liberty will turn into a Hawaiian luau to celebrate the launch of Lulu Kennedy’s Lulu+Co collection in the HonoLULU Lounge.  Fashion East alumni Richard Nicoll, Jonathan Saunders, Simone Rocha and Michael Van der Ham will be on hand to chat about their collections.  There will also be a DJ set by Richard Sloan, a Mahiki rum shack, drinks in coconuts, complimentary mini make-overs by new beauty hall brand Hourglass and a scarf styling and snapping session in the scarf hall.

Swarovski CRYSTALLIZED is hosting the finale of Unsigned Model Search, an open casting to find the new faces of the Spring/Summer 12 campaign, which will be photographed by Helena Christensen.

Harvey Nichols is hosting a typically fabulous evening with complimentary cocktails, fairground stalls and make-overs.  Disneyrollergirl has enlisted a group of her fave fashion creatives to design/print/customise a one-off t-shirt that will be on show during the evening and then auctioned on ebay with all proceeds going to Kids Company.  As if that wasn’t enough, you can even get your VFNO tees customised by the likes of Peter Pilotto, Markus Lupfer, Jonathan Saunders, Louise Gray and more…

H&M could have the edge on the high street stores with complimentary WAH Nails manicures, photobooth and scarf giveaway with spends of £20 or over.

Other store events and promotions include free manicures at The Organic Pharmacy / 25% discount at Aqua / Hakkasan canapes and cocktails at Diane von Furstenberg / Sophy Robson Chanel denim manicures / Yoo Moo frozen yoghurt sundaes at Jaeger / orange ice cream at Folli Follie / a British Tea Party at Boodles.

Find more info and plan your night at http://fashions-night-out.vogue.co.uk

As soon as I saw her debut collection earlier this year, I instantly fell in love with her super feminine, ombre dip-dyed silk dresses with exquisite pleated ruffles and floral-inspired silhouettes.  Her pieces are unapologetically romantic, fresh, beautifully crafted and almost Grecian.

Inspired by the ruffle-adorned Parisian women depicted in the artwork of Henri Toulouse Lautrec, Felicity’s ethereal, painterly pieces are utterly unique and can’t easily be compared to any other contemporary designer.

London-born Felicity studied at the Royal College of Art and went on to design for Alberta Ferretti, Loewe, Mulberry and Lanvin. Her debut collection was shown at Vauxhall Fashion Scout earlier this year and she was awarded the acclaimed NEWGEN sponsorship for Spring Summer 2011.

Felicity recently showed her Spring Summer 2011 collection at Fashion East during London Fashion Week, alongside Heikki Salonen and Simone Rocha.

Already stocked at Liberty, Barneys New York and Corso Como, Felicity Brown’s Autumn Winter 2010 collection is a highly covetable addition to YoungBritishDesigners.com and a future classic – invest now!

Felicity Brown’s Autumn Winter 10-11 collection is available now at www.youngbritishdesigners.com

Natascha is a perfect match with bSTORE, as her wearable, tailored jersey pieces and slouchy silhouettes reflect the brand’s vision of effortless urban style.

Known for her teen grunge aesthetic, Natascha’s bSTORE collection sees her awkward prom girl take a year out in Paris and come back that little bit more chic and worldly.

Well, that was my first interpretation of the collection, as the petroleum, sludgy colours and contrasting textures made me think of Isabel Marant, Vanessa Bruno and Paul & Joe.

In fact, the bSTORE collection takes inspiration from closer to home; an imagined aristocratic family spending the weekend at their country estate in Wyndham – all faded glamour, chaise longue languishing, flushed cheeks and grazed knees.

The period is blurred between the 40s and 70s era, referencing Daphne Du Maurier’s novel, The Parasites and combining masculine and feminine shapes to get that cool ‘Natascha’ look. Luxurious, tactile fabrics like cashmere and draped silk are contrasted with more structured country flannels and tweeds.

But Natascha doesn’t lose that rebellious cool geek spirit, styling fine wool coats with cute bobble hats, ruched knee socks and arm warmers.

Natascha’s boxy jackets and wool coats feature design details such as ‘pockets-come-belts’ and detachable hoods, making them more versatile and allowing you to wear them in a number of ways.  If you’re following this coming season’s style rules of course, that means with hair tuck inside the collar or draped casually over the shoulders.

To see the full AW10 womenswear collection designed by Natascha Stolle, visit bSTORE online or in store.

]]> http://cheriecity.co.uk/2010/08/19/bstore-presents-aw10-womenswear-by-natascha-stolle/feed/ 2 http://cheriecity.co.uk/2010/04/29/its-almost-here-dover-street-market-market/ http://cheriecity.co.uk/2010/04/29/its-almost-here-dover-street-market-market/#comments Thu, 29 Apr 2010 16:10:22 +0000 cheriecity http://cheriecity.co.uk/?p=2350 Continue reading →]]> The bank holiday weekend just got even more fun with the prospect of heavily reduced Comme des Garçons at the Dover Street Market MARKET, held in a warehouse location in N1 for three glorious days.

Throughout the sale, there will be samples from Christopher Kane, Raf Simons, Yves Saint Laurent, Givenchy, Margiela, Lanvin Mens, Sacai, Undercover and many more.  As the deliveries arrive, Dover Street Market will be adding new items to the sale over the three days, so there’s no pressure to get up and queue at 5am on your day off.

Also present will be selected food stallholders from London’s weekend markets providing coffees, juices, bacon sandwiches, pastries, cupcakes, salads and ice creams for some much needed energy and shopping clarity.  I’ve already spotted that cupcake company, Crumbs & Doilies will be there serving up mountains of mini cupcakes and if you were sent a voucher by email, you can grab a dozen box of mini cupcakes for just £7.

Dover Street Market in Mayfair is like a fashion wonderland in which I could quite easily spend the afternoon away (especially over tea and cake at Rose Bakery), and is an exemplary of what the perfect concept store should be.  The samples sales are legendary and are guaranteed to be busy, but it’s well worth a look.

Finally, some wise words on the act of shopping from Fashion East’s Lulu Kennedy – don’t bother carrying a handbag, just bring your credit card and a compact mirror in your back pocket – so simple yet genius.

Dates:

Saturday 1 May – Monday 3 May
10.00am to 7.00pm

Location:

The Old Depot
1-3 Wenlock Road
London N1 7SL

Nearest Tube Stations: Angel and Old Street.

Bloggers, press and designers were invited to get the first peak at a pop-up store full of the hottest British designers, from emerging to the iconic, which was officially opened by British Fashion Council Chairman Harold Tillman and Vice Chair Erin O’Connor.  In true fashion style, the champagne was flowing at just 10.30am and it was so packed that it took a good hour or so to have a good rifle through the rails, appropriately under a flurry of gold umbrellas.

It feels like an extension of London Fashion Week, with most of Somerset House’s roll call of designers all there together, except this time the pieces are for immediate sale, prices have been slashed and you may meet some long lost pieces from your wish list that you missed out on the first time round.

My first spotting was the most incredible white silk blouse embellished with Swarovski irridescent white crystals by Emma Cook, closely followed by an exquisite chiffon, two-tone dress by Felder Felder (Annette and Daniela Felder were present, looking fabulous as always) and a star studded long jumper by Markus Lupfer.

I had elbows at the ready (in reality, a polite ‘excuse me’) to get in and see Erdem’s digital print offerings and was wowed by the amazing reductions – a painterly silk shift dress for just over £200?!

They weren’t the sexiest of Erdem dresses to be fair, and the jacquard coat seriously verges into HRH territory, but many of the dresses were certainly more wearable than the empire line doll dresses from the catwalk, so perhaps more of an investment in the long run.

If Erdem’s florals are not your cuppa, there is plenty of fierce black fabulousness to go round, with goth-luxe offerings from Jean-Pierre Braganza, Hannah Marshall, Todd Lynn, Markus Lupfer and even Julien Macdonald.

Nobody could resist pawing at Hannah Marshall’s black leather and jersey dress that was covered in randomly placed leather ‘Smarties’ and many other designers were all about textures, with an influx of Mongolian wool, feathers and leather.

Accessories wise, I was in awe of MariaFrancescaPepe’s minimal, origami and coil-shaped pieces and also liked Fiona Paxton’s colour bursting, Aztec-inspired hand beaded necklace and bracelets at just over £100 a pop.

There may be a lack of handbags, but the shoe collections are incredibly strong with covetable designs from Georgina Goodman, Atlanta Weller, Behnaz Kanani and House of Holland.  Brash logo tees aren’t really my style, but there’s just something about these soft, foot-hugging suede heels that I love.

The British Designers Collective pop-up shop is sure to bring a lot of exposure for the featured designers and is a great chance to get unique, limited edition pieces for less and invest in the future of new labels.  Over six weeks, more garments and accessories will be added and there may be a few surprises.

Bicester Village has been on my ‘to do list’ since I moved to London two years ago and I was amazed at how easy it was to get there – just a quick 50 minute train ride with the very efficient Chiltern Railways to Bicester North and then five minutes on the free shuttle buses.

If you haven’t already been, you can expect up to 70% off at a number of stores including Mulberry, Luella, Ralph Lauren, Temperley London, Moncler, Dior, Fendi, Gucci, Marni, Anya Hindmarch, The White Store, Molton Brown, Smythson and Phaidon Store.  I gave in to temptation and bought a floral Luella dress that had been reduced from £210 to just £49 and had to curb the old spending until my next birthday excursion in May.

A delicious French lunch of charcuterie, cheeses, bread and pasta salads was arranged for us in the VIP room at The Villandry and judging by the steak frites on rustic wooden slabs that I saw while sauntering through the restaurant, it is definitely a must, especially as the queue for Carluccio’s was constantly heaving.

The British Designers Collective store is open at Bicester Village from now until 7 May and it can be accessed by train from London Marylebone Station.

I had the pleasure of meeting softly spoken Michael at the exhibition and found him as utterly charming as his collections.  Michael told me that the pieces were made using Liberty Art Fabric, vintage material and silks sourced from Italy.

In fact, Michael’s show has been sponsored by Liberty and with the support of Yasmin Sewell, his collection will be stocked there.

Michael’s second show at Fashion East was a flurry of bold pastel dresses created in a palette of fuschia, coral, neon pink navy and grey.  He plays with the idea of decontructing dresses and reworking them with juxtaposing weights and textures, creating a patchwork effect.  One single dress could include a concoction of mohair, silk, sheer jacquards, satin organza and a cluster of Swarovski crystals.

Each garment has a unique feel and has been created using a range of techniques such as curved seams, gathering and draping.  This season, he has also expanded into knitwear, collaborating with CSM classmate and knitwear designer, Morgan Oliver.

The popularity of Michael Van Der Ham’s garments lies in his innate understanding of what women would love to wear.  While the dresses are incredibly pretty, they have a quirky, crafted element and sometimes teeter on the borderline of garish.  But you just have to look at Marc ‘Ugly Betty’ Jacobs’ success to realise that many of us like our fashion with a good dose of granny prints and colour clashing.

Michael Van Der Ham’s jigsaw colour clashing reminds me very much of Erotokritos, whose garmets are usually accentuated with with quilting, knits and sparkly panels.  It also can’t be ignored that Erdem has paved the way for Michael, preparing the fashion world for ‘the new prettiness’ (coined by British Vogue’s Harriet Quick) and helping the revive florals from sartorial siberia.

Even more impressive, Michael Van Der Ham is a one man publicity machine, even handling press enquiries and sample requests on his own.  Michael left The Netherlands to work with avant-garde New York label, As Four, then moved to London to assist Alexander McQueen and Sophia Kokosalaki, before graduating from the Central Saint Martin’s M.A Fashion course.  With the support of Fashion East and Liberty, he is sure to be a ‘one to watch’ in seasons to come.

Handcrafted by rehabstudio, NataschaStolle.com is more than just an online lookbook, it is a reflection of her cool, kooky design philosophy, with a nod to her awkward teen muses.

Natascha Stolle won the inaugural rehabstudio Design Award in collaboration with Fashion East and her prize was to have a bespoke website created by rehabstudio.

The homepage opens with on an Americana-style prom scene, but the smooching couples and sea of meringue ball gowns have been replaced with Natascha’s troupe of unamused geek chic girls.  The scene is dimmed and you can move the spotlight over each of the girls, who then pose, shrug their shoulders or check their watch.  The models were sketched in 2D, dressed in key pieces from Natascha’s past collections10 collection and shot on video.

The black and white sketches were produced by renowned illustrator Charlotte Mann and brought to life by rehabstudio’s digital creatives, bringing animation with the user’s mouse movements.

Natascha said: “By combining the cut and paste approach of Charlotte Mann’s signature black line illustrations of girls wearing my clothes, with the humorous and highly personal environment that rehabstudio have creatively animated for the girls to inhabit, they have engineered a website unlike any I have ever seen before and I can’t wait for everyone else to see it!”

Although the design is really sophisticated, the website is easy to navigate, with everything you could hope to find – past and present collections, press coverage, latest news, international stockists, a bio and contact info.

American designer Natascha Stolle studied English Literature at university before moving to London and gaining a placement with Peter Jensen, with whom she stayed for 10 years.  After graduating from Central St Martin’s Fashion Design M.A course in 2008, she was snapped up by Fashion East founder Lulu Kennedy and in September 2008 her debut SS09 collection was showcased at London Fashion Week.

Natascha has worked with Asos on an exclusive collection of luxe jersey, chiffon wide-leg trousers and bangle detail leather gloves, and has consulted for b Store.  She also exhibited as part of NEWGEN at London Fashion Week, in Somerset House’s East Wing.

Her Autumn/Winter 10-11 grey marl, jersey, twisted chiffon leggings, knotted jersey, slouchy tailoring, rainbow smudge prints, and funnily enough, studded mules – perhap’s they’ll be next season’s clogs!