Tablet – Lenovo Yoga. Envelope pouch – Smythson. Heels – Bally. Headphones – Bower Wilkins.

London Fashion Week SS15: A visual diary

Hyundai i20

Hunter SS15

Charlie May SS15 eyewear

Mary Katrantzou final walk

Max Factor Skin Illuminator Foundation & Colour Corrector Stick

Topshop Unique SS15

Topshop Unique SS15

Food on instagram because proper photos on DSLR? Ain’t nobody got time fo that.

Wearing: Top – COS. Trousers – Zara. Bag – Marni. Shoes – Tibi. Watch – Larsson & Jennings. Rings – Monica Vinader. Cross-Ring – Elizabeth & James (via REVOLVE)

What do they say – Give a woman a house, she’ll make a home? Well, give a woman a Hyundai i20 over Fashion Week, and she’ll make a Death Star on four wheels and one 22-year old driver very, very uncomfortable. This, like many things in life – including adding soy sauce to everything – I blame my mother. Growing up, mornings were a battle of which sibling can out-stupid the other one, starting with putting shoes on before trousers, smearing toothpaste all over our faces and pretending to shave… you get the gist. This led to my poor mother having to shovel us into the car every morning along with 2 x cereal bowls, school outfits, homework, toothbrushes… (at one point I believe there was a pillow fort in the car), and she’d drive with one hand while the other ‘conditioned the air’. Fast forward to SS15 LFW, I inhale a plastic container of scrambled eggs in the car while deciding on an outfit, and with each day a new pile of clothing spilling out the passenger door. At the end of Day One I attend a makeup session at the Apartment with Max Factor discovering the new Skin Luminizer Foundation, and from that point on I use the tinted passenger window to accomplish the ‘dewy look’ in the ensuing mornings, just how Caroline Barnes instructed. My 22-year old driver awkwardly avoids using the rear-view mirror (apparently a touch worse than drink-driving) during my changing room sessions, but we somehow manage to make a split-second eye-contact just when my head is halfway through a sweater. Thankfully this Death Star is all about efficiency (close that hatch…) as we slice through morning traffic, and I arrive at the first show of the day with a Aquafresh breath and lotion behind my ears.

Stay tuned for some of my favourite collections so far!

Huge thanks to Hyundai UK for, gee wow, a car with my logo on it (!), and allowing ‘5 more minutes, mum…’ to happen. Please forgive me for any coco puffs found between the seats. 

Shoes – Adidas Energy Boost

A Skinny Latte at monmouth Coffee

27 Monmouth Street, WC2H 9EU

Coffee-connoisseurs the world around swear by Monmouth coffee – witness how proper lattes are done and don’t forget to take home your own bag of coffee beans to sniff when sad.

Trench coat – Burberry. Bag – Saint Laurent ‘Lulu’. Top – ASOS. Jeans – 7 For All Mankind. Shoes – Adidas Energy Boost

oysters at
the delaunay

55 Aldwych, WC2B 4BB

Sure, they’re known for wieners. Lots of different type of wieners. In fact, go for wieners, but the mittel European vibe at the Delaunay is not complete without oysters on ice to start.

Burgers at Shake Shack

24, Market Building, The Piazza, WC2E 8RD

Dress – StyleNanda. Denim Jacket – Pinko (Similar). Bracelet – Monica Vinader. Shoes – Adidas Energy Boost

Your search for the best burger is over. The cheeseburger topped with Niman Ranch all-natural applewood smoked bacon, chopped cherry pepper and ShackSauce goes famously with a side of crinkle-cut fries and a pint of Oreo shake is match made in heaven. And, as one Sheldon Cooper would say, the burgers come with a satisfying meat-to-bun-to-condiment ratio. (Avoid peak hours unless queuing is a hobby)

burberry beauty box

2A THE MARKET BUILDING WC2E 8RF

Burberry’s first stand-alone beauty store, with looks straight off the catwalk. Try the radio-frequency identification-enabled platform that matches your skin tone to a colour, preeeetty fascinating.

go for a run on victoria embankment

victoria embankment, WC2R

One of the best running routes the city has to offer, the riverside embankment. Opt for an early morning jog when the streets are bare from tourists. Up one bank and back the other, follow signage, or not. I usually follow the smell of breakfast. Beats views from any gym treadmill.

All clothing – Adidas

In collaboration with Adidas UK; Photography – KrisAtomic. Layout & Art Direction – Park & Cube

Wearing: Tank – Burberry. Jeans – DIY Slashed Supertrash. Boots – Thakoon. Jacket – Burberry. Ring – Charlotte Valkeniers. Imagse 7 and 14 from Burberry.

Automatically assuming the role of a nerd in a classic nerd vs. girl next door relationship, I stole glances at Suki through the mirror reflection for the whole evening. At times I let my hair curtain my eyes which meant I could count her eyelashes without giving off creepy vibes. Creepy vibes: Yes, that should be the title of this post. It was a casual evening out with the Burberry team, who had a couple of tickets to the Temples gig at the Empire and had rounded up a couple gals, myself and Suki Waterhouse included (wat.) Wholesome and unassuming, she turned out to be, and quick to laugh. She drew her eyes dark but kept her lips bare, her nails painted in a sort of black that seemed steely grey at times. Oozing with rockstar confidence yet surprisingly shy at times – a bit like a boy, actually. She smelt of the Burberry Brit Rhythm perfume when she kissed hello (yes I sniffed her), a bit of lavender but weighed down by a woody, musky tang – it suited her so well. The next bit I’m sure you all guessed, I stole a few spritzs on my own wrists before we headed out the door, like a true nerd that I am. So yes, this may or may not be an ode to a new girl crush. My husband approves, as long as he can watch.

Photos by Kris Atomic. Images 7 and 14 courtesy of Burberry.

London Fashion Week AW14

Eudon Choi AW14

Marios Schwab AW14

Whistles AW14

Burberry AW14

Harry Styles in the house, yo

Outfit 1 (Camel coat): Coat – Club Monaco, Muff – Topshop. Bag – Mansur Gavriel (available for pre-order!). Jeans – James Jeans. Shoes – Church’s. Lipstick – Estee Lauder.

Outfit 2 (Houndstooth coat):  Coat – Selected Femme (via ASOS). Trousers – Zara (similar here). Shoes – ASOS. Muff – Topshop. Bag – Kurt Geiger Britton bowler

Well that just whizzed by, didn’t it. Considering how every season in the past I hobbled home like a war hero, full of stories to tell the grandchildren, dangling off crutches constructed of empty Vitamin Water bottles, this season LFW just felt MUCH less eventful. In fact, it felt like I’d gone to war, hid in the bushes and waited till it was over. I suppose technically this was true, as Hyundai had been so generous to sponsor a car and I spent 70% of the time in there with the awesome driver called Arthur, who’d instantly appear with the Santa Fe from around the corner when I shone a thumbs-up emoji signal into the dark clouds. Thumbs up for ‘I’m done here, let’s get stuck in traffic and talk about motorbikes‘. Coincidentally, I got more work done in that car than a week’s worth of working from home as well, which only confirms that I only work efficiently with impending deadlines (e.g GPS announcing we’re approaching destination). I also started a new relationship with a new phone at the beginning of the week – the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 (via Carphone Warehouse) – and spent the five days in honeymoon bliss, poring over improved functionalities (I’m upgrading from the Note 2) and panicked when it took two minutes, not six, to put up an Instagram photo. What does one do with extra four minutes in life?

It was a good season, and for the first time ever I felt like I saw the few shows I really wanted to see (except Mary Katrantzou, that ticket will be my Oscar). Do look out for more updates in the next few weeks. Plus, I didn’t shorten my lifespan by about twenty years by having to haul three camera lenses and a laptop the whole week. I may have grandchildren, after all!

Many thanks to Hyundai UK and Carphone Warehouse again for the extra twenty years, plus four minutes. Also, a cheeky shout-out  to Lulu Guinness and Vita Coco for the survival kits that made the car known as the ‘party car’ by my peers.

Tartan Top  & shirt as half-skirt – Courtesy of Motel rocks, Shoes – Ferragamo, Skirt – C/O YesStyle, Bag –  C/O MCM, Clutch – ASOS, Cardigan – Topshop, Jacket – Vintage Burberry, Sunglasses – Jeepers Peepers from Topshop

If you feel like I’m talking too much feel free to shove a virtual sock in my mouth, unfortunately this is the only way to avoid you having to read about LFW on Christmas eve. Goodness knows what kind of excuses I’ll come up with then, the usual my-dog-ate-my-keyboard kind of spiel I guess. And I just realised how obsessed I seem to be with the silver clutch! Well, in truth it’s the only thing big enough to accommodate the pieces of cardboard I slipped between the few tickets just to look like I have a grand purpose during the week. Dash off with a powerwalk/jog muttering sorry I’m running late for the next show… a show of balancing a box of Krispy Kreme x Glamour doughnuts on my nose behind Somerset House before an impatient tourist audience shouts ‘SIMON SAYS, JUST EAT THE DAMN DOUGHNUTS WOMAN’. I’m sure I sent you all tickets for that, no?

Thank you Jen for helping me with the photos!

Edit: the red tartan piece is just a shirt from Motel Rocks buttoned up to the top and tied around the waist flat