LFW: DAY FIVE

DAY FIVE: Wine and navy oversized sweater, Brave Soul at Own The Runway

The temperature dropped for day five so it was back to the chunky knits and I finally got the chance to wear my new Zara coat that I bought in Poland in July (yes, July). While I thought I would be too hot in this outfit when I left the house, I actually regretted not taking my scarf as there was a chilly wind whipping around Somerset House today. My fashion flu abated enough to allow me to swap trousers for my navy silk dress which paired pretty well with this jumper that the lovely ladies at Own The Runway kindly sent me. It looks like it's knitted from tiny ribbons rather than wool, ergo its super soft and snuggly - perfect for the cooler climes of today!

While I'm sad to say goodbye to London Fashion Week for another season, I'm really quite looking forward to getting back to normal - eating lunch at a reasonable hour rather than 4pm, not spending inordinate amounts of time queuing and sitting on chairs with backs to mention just a few things!

Don't forget, you can see all of the photos that I took for Rimmel London Australia over on their Instagram - RimmelLondonAU and hopefully in a future issue of Grazia Australia! If you're reading this over in Oz, I'm actually in this week's issue so keep an eye out...

Goodbye London Fashion Week!

Worn with: black boucle coat, Zara; silk dress, Topshop Boutique; boots, Topshop; clutch, Christopher Kane; sunglasses, Kurt Geiger; necklace, Nocturne; rucksack, Ruxx Bags.

CONSCIOUS CLOTH

I'm back. Already. Has too much time passed to carry on with Brights? I don't know, you tell me in the comments box. Should I carry on? In all honesty, with the wash out summer that we've had in London, it's got me firmly wired into thinking about my Autumn/Winter wardrobe.

As part of my job, I'm always doing the rounds at press days, seeing what each brand will be producing for the following seasons. It can mess with your head a little bit, especially Christmas press days in July - there is something intrinsically wrong about eating mince pies in the sun.

Anyway, sometimes a brand does personal orders - where you can order pieces at the press day and then receive them at the beginning of the season. This is dangerous for several reasons:

1. Lost on a giddy cloud of stroking next season's finest, you can't possibly live without that coat/skirt/pair of shoes. YOU MUST ORDER THEM NOW.

2. Said giddy cloud means that you end up ordering everything when really you should be ordering one or two pieces. Max.

3. Not having to pay when you place the order means that you feel like you're not really shopping. The bill that comes later seems like a distant spike in your giddy cloud of happiness. But trust me, when it hits you in the face (and the pocket), it hurts.

Having learnt my lesson and despite being surrounded by the most gorgeous cashmeres and cottons at the Chinti & Parker AW12 press day a few months ago, I had to reign it in. Part of my New Year's Resolution package was to buy less but buy better so I would rather spend more money on one item that's well made and will stand the test of time than three cheap versions that fall apart after one wash. And Chinti & Parker certainly fit this bill, with each of the garments that they produce they aspire to fulfill three of the following criteria:

* Organic Fabric
* Carbon Neutral Company
* Made in the EU
* Handfinished
* Natural Trims

Anyway, back to what I bought. As sucked in as I was by virtually EVERYTHING, I decided that I would only choose one piece, so drumroll please...

I went for the boatneck striped sweater in Italian cashmere [here]. I mean, come on, it has three things I love: stripes, elbow patches and GREY. There was no way I could resist the soft, cashmere-y goodness of this sweater. 

And when my boyfriend asks, I'll tell him it's an investment piece. Right?

Worn with: floral dress, Reformed at Urban Outfitters; watch, Michael Kors; aviators, Ray-Ban; plimsolls, Converse.

Photos: Caroline Leeming

AT THE RACES

I'm interrupting this usually scheduled Brights blog with a bit of an off-piste post. What with the outdoor events calendar firmly under way and several of my friends asking what I'd recommend for a day at the races or the polo, I thought I'd do a little post about what I wore to the Investec Epsom Derby Ladies Day last week.

I was there helping to pick stylish race-goers for WhatBestToWear.com's competition and of course, we had to adhere as much as possible to the dress code - smart dresses and hats, etc.

Now, I love a good hat but I've never really worn a formal one as up until last week, I was a race day novice if I'm perfectly honest - luckily, I picked up my hat the other week in preparation for Ascot later this month but still had no appropriate dress! Cue a good level of panic, including the standard race around Topshop the night before to see if I could find anything to wear as most of my dresses are either black or casual.

Having panic bought a structured black dress, on the tube home I had a sudden fashion epiphany (fash-iany?) - the perfect dress was hanging in my wardrobe.

This navy structured skater dress with lace overlay and little grosgrain cap sleeves from Warehouse fitted the bill perfectly, matched my navy and black hat and was comfortable to boot. It had been languishing in my wardrobe since Christmas and I figured it that if ever there was an occasion for it to make its debut, Ladies Day was the one.

Unfortunately, the navy version is long gone but a very summery cream version is still available [here]. The best part? It's now on sale, from £80 to £60. I may very well need to get it to wear to Ascot.

Worn with: Cream and navy stripe jacket, Primark; cream and gold pumps, Office; hat, Marks & Spencer; bag, Marni; Wayfarers, Ray-Ban.

BRIGHTS: DAY EIGHT

DAY EIGHT: Navy and red striped jumper, Boutique by Jaeger

Happy Jubilee! Sorry for my absence for the last few days, apart from shooting on Thursday, I was at Epsom on Friday helping to pick contestants for the style competition with WhatBestToWear.com which was great fun - I'd never been to the races before so it was a really fun experience.

So, technically, this jumper may not be classified as bright seeing as the base colour is navy but let's just play along and go with the red stripes as a bright today in honour of the Queen's Jubilee yes? I picked up this jumper a few weeks ago in the Jaeger flagship - while the sale has yet to kick in fully, they had a few items already on sale, including this jumper, down from £99 to £75, you can still get it online [here].

While we haven't been anywhere near the Thames today, we have been toasting the Queen (repeatedly) in the pub. Even Holly the sausage has got in on the act, wearing her Union Jack jumper.

Worn with: khaki skinny jeans, Topshop; Union Jack socks, Marks & Spencer; Black canvas high-tops, Converse.

Holly wears: Union Jack LOVE jumper, Monsoon.

AUTUMN: DAY TWELVE

DAY TWELVE: Navy beaded dress, Miss Selfridge

Smack bang during LFW this year, one of my lovely friends got married. It meant running straight from a day of shows home to quickly change before driving out to Surrey to join the evening party so I needed something that was suitable but that also required no ironing as I would literally have about 15 minutes to turn around my look. As you can see from my daytime look from Day Seven, I didn't even have time to change my hair or makeup!

I bought this dress from Miss Selfridge last year after I fell in love with the vintage style of it and the fact that although it's pretty much completely covered up at the front, it is also virtually backless which definitely adds the sex factor - I'm not sure I could wear it during the day part of the wedding but for the evening party it definitely ticked all of the boxes!

Worn with: 2.55 leather bag, Chanel; Tights, Wolford; Black quilted leather pumps, Office.

AUTUMN: DAY ONE

Okay, double apology owed. I promised I’d be back and it’s been, what, a week since? Sorry. My main reason has been a total swamping in my day-to-day job. As some of you may know, in the real world I work as a stylist for the UK newspaper The Daily Express. For our September 2nd edition, we decided to turn our main fashion on its head and rather than shoot the story on a model, this season our readers got to meet the team behind the pages:

For my trend, I chose Masculine - as you’ve probably gathered over the last year or so, I’m a big fan of the tomboy look. The outfit was pretty much my dream look and as such, I’ve bought pretty much everything since - I’m still in search of the Creepers from Underground. Long story as to why I don’t have them yet but we’ll come to that on another day. I have to say, it’s very weird being on the other side of the camera - it’s one thing when it’s on this blog and quite another when it’s in a national newspaper!

For those of you who can’t read the small print, here’s the full breakdown of my outfit:

Coat with leather sleeves, Topshop; Sheer leopard shirt, New Look; Wingtips, Asos; Trousers, Topshop; Creepers, Underground; Gold watch, Michael Kors