PFW: Super femme

From flouncy florals at Nina Ricci and Cacherel, to pale pastels at Roland Mouret, Dior and Alexander McQueen, there were some cute feminine pieces at Paris Fashion Week – much less about the punchy digital floral prints of London and more focused on some Parisian romance, with references to yester-years from almost puritanical cuts to 1940s and 1950s lady-like silhouettes.

Soft pleats at Dior

Futuristic but frothy at Alexander McQueen

Love the colour and cut of this Roland Mouret ensemble

Romantic florals at Cacherel

VERY demure at Valentino

Such a pretty, simple dress! Nina Ricci

Pics: Elle + Telegraph.

Hawaii 5.0: Top 5 Stella McCartney inspired buys

Despite plenty of exciting new arrivals in stores, it’s hard to shop for sugary pastels and summer dresses at the moment in icy London. I expected to be equally (temporarily) unexcited by summery floral prints but have unexpectedly fallen for Hawaiian prints, inspired by Stella McCartney’s designs.

Warehouse has a cracking black shift dress, which, paired with black tights and ankle boots will be as handy in the cold as in the springtime. The t-shirt style tops are also incredibly versatile with a contrasting simple knit and, well the Zara skirt is just for summer but I fell in love with it.

The real deal! Top £570 and skirt £610 by Stella McCartney

Perfect for me- florals meets a surf landscape. I will live in this skirt all summer. £25.99 from Zara

Handy for the office: Palm mirage shift dress £48 from Warehouse

Super chic floral crepe blouse £29.99 from Zara

Versatile palm mirage t-shirt £35 from Warehouse

LFW day 4: winter florals with Erdem and Christopher Kane

It was a matter of time. When has there ever been a winter without flowers in the fashion world? However, we’re focusing on the moody purple flowers at Erdem and Christopher Kane. Yummy.

We’ve already waxed lyrical about Mr Kane (no encouragement needed) and I am crossing my fingers that the high street takes notes and produces lots of pretty purple florals for tough girls this coming winter. I also loved the Japanese-look flowers on the beaded black dress. Behold the wonder…

Flowers Kane style

The one I want for every party next season

At Erdem lace gowns met cocoon coats Peggy Guggenheim style (apparently). As expected there were plenty of sexy florals with lace prints that were not in the least bit sugary, mainly thanks to the structured shapes.

Check out our take on the LFW trends here!

Structured and sexy with a feminine print

Love this floral, lace, spatter mash-up

Flavour of the show (a.k.a. tasty)

LFW day 3: Tangerine dream

2012 is the year of ‘Tangerine Tango’ and we spotted a lot of orange on the catwalk in London.

I am lusting after a punchy orange coat from Acne. Soft peachy hues contrasted with the strict minimalist aesthetic of the SW12/13 collection, which featured constricting wide belts and stiff leathers next to soft and sporty tailored separates. Pistachios, sky blue and neutrals made up the bulk of the collection. We particularly liked the zip detailing and trousers made of joined panels.

Acne coat - juicy!

Just peachy

Over at Jonathan Saunders there was an abundance of tangerine/vermillion with check and graphic floral patterns, structured belts and sexy sheer panels incorporated into traditionally-shaped a-line skirts and dresses. The biggest USP though was Saunders’ clever and subtle use of different textures. Some editors have pointed out equestrian details and shapes but it was so far from stuffy.

Sporty check

Love this cute floral dress

Minimalism at its best

Super cute!

Thomas Tait opted for buttery tangerine leather and we saw plenty of 2012’s favourite colour on the catwalk yesterday at Mulberry and Bora Aksu.

Buttery tangerine trousers by Tait

JW Anderson drew on padded cells and madness for his collection, where the structured jackets had a bit of a strait-jacket feeling about them, especially in clinical white. However, it wasn’t clichéd and we liked the circle skirts and the shiny vinyl details.

A teeny bit similar at J.W. Anderson

Great skirt and more houndstooth!

Artist paints Mary Katrantzou’s collection

You know we love a fashion meets art scenario as well as our love of loud prints? Well we stumbled across these incredible hyper-realistic paintings by Erik Madigan Heck of Mary Katrantzou’s collection. He has also painted the work of Kenzo, Comme, Dries van Noten, Rodarte, and plenty of couture. Can you believe these aren’t photographs?!

WOW!

Looks like a work of art

Pretty classical composition

Flower power

Images: From Erik Madigan Heck’s website.

P.S. How excited are you about the Katrantzou x Topshop collaboration?!

10 Fashion New Year’s resolutions

It’s that time of year again when we all primes to be better and look forward to the New Year. So instead of the usual giving up bad habits/being on time/losing weight etc we thought we’d share our fashion resolutions.

1-Wear more colour

Whether it is rich jewel tones as seen at Burberry and Cadbury’s purples at Bottega Veneta or pretty pastels like, Philip Lim, Jaeger and Mulberry, we aim to wear more colour in 2012 and not just to colour pop!

2- Watch Grease and take notes

1950s Americana is in big-time thanks to Prada’s Grease-inspired collection complete with Cadillac print full-skirts. Mid century silhouettes were also seen at Louis Vuitton and Jil Sander – perfect for pear-shaped girls!

One of my favourite SS12 looks

3-Moan less in heels.

‘nuff said.

4-Be brave with futuristic fabrics

Keep hold of all your metallic clobber and style it up like Christopher Kane, Richard Nicholl and Paco Rabanne. The more futuristic the fabric and the more intriguing the construction, the better.

5-Invest wisely

Few of us have oodles of cash to spare in this near-recession, so it’s really important to invest in key seasonal pieces wisely. We intend to buy less fast-fashion (many just fun bits and bobs to revamp old staples) and snap up a couple of statement keep-forever pieces instead. We say this every year!

6-Get creative + arty

Lots of people refresh their intention to write a book/keep a diary/take up a hobby in January and we intend to embrace the art/fashion connection by wearing arty clothing- think Picasso-style jumpers by Jil Sander or romantic Van Gogh sunflower dresses by Rodarte. Alternatively we might just invest in some fashion-inspired art.

Sunny Rodarte

7-Recycle

We WILL re-oraganize our wardrobes! After giving some items to charity, we’ll be sure to dig out last summer’s candy-coloured denim jeans, patterned and pastel jumpers as well as those metallic pieces from this season.

8-Read more

With The Great Gatsby sure to be big fashion news we also intend to read more 1950s fiction as well as the usual plethora of fashion magazines and favourite blogs.

9-Become a super feminine female

Flowers, floatiness and classic lady-like silhouettes- this summer belongs to super feminine females. Thank you Christopher Kane, Mary Katrantzou, Erdem, and Louis Vuitton!

Flower power

10-Go crazy for collaborations

There’s Versace for H&M, Mary Katrantzou for Topshop and Marni for H&M coming up soon and we’ll be almost first in line for each. Amazing!

What to buy in the sales

It’s that time of year again when the shops are full of sale ‘bargains’. The problem is that it can be easy to be seduced by cheap offers. We reckon it’s easier to make the most of the sales and look forward to sunnier times with a few tactics.

 Make like the staple schemer: She knows that there are certain items in her wardrobe that she will wear to death regardless of changing trends. Stock up on good-quality classics like a tailored white shirt, or items you know you’ll love forever!

Splash some cash on essentials + save in the long-run

The up-scaling up-start: This girl is all about getting great value for money instead of grabbing whatever is cheap in a bargain bin.  She scours websites and shops to buy a couple of designer items that she could normally not afford. So treat yourself to one star item if the price is right?

The researcher-savvy shopper: It’s a well known shopping fact that it is recommended you buy items of clothing that work with your existing wardrobe, are true to your personal style and flatter you body shape…not just because they are cheap! Make sure your sales purchases are 100% useful!

The forward-looking fashionista: She only buys sale items that are sure to be in fashion for the remainder of this winter – bonus points for SS12. It’s surprisingly easy to do. Here are a few pointers…

BUY:

Metallic – For catwalk inspiration check out Christopher Kane, Chanel, Giles Deacon + Antonio Berardi. There are plenty of metallic pieces on the high street already (stick to paler colours where possible) and futuristic fabrics are a huge trend for SS12.

Love this leather metallic sweater from ASOS - now £42

Florals – Granted this one might be a little trickier as most flowery prints are decidedly wintery at the moment. However, if you do see any bright or pastel floral prints a la Mary Katrantzou or Marni, go for it!

Pretty Pastels – Again, colour-blocked pretty pastels might be hard to come by but keep your eyes peeled!

Art Deco + 1950s – Snap up any Art Deco inspired pieces (in time for The Great Gatsby or to channel Gucci SS12) or pick up some full skirts or anything with a touch of 1950s Americana to get in on Prada’s summer vibe.

Citrus Colours – Tangy tones are all the rage for SS12 and Pantone has declared 2012 the year of ‘Tangerine Tango’ so snap up any bold, plain orange items as well as sherbet lemon pieces. Mulberry and Marni showed off some sunny yellow dresses, while tangerine was unmistakably THE colour seen at LFW thanks to Alexander McQueen, Amanda Wakeley and more.

Amazing premium jumper in boiled wool - now £27.50

Closet Collage … love!

We’re on Tumbr (at last) so if you can’t get enough of us you can follow us there too for our personal fashion loves and random pictorial inspiration… http://snapfashion.tumblr.com/

And while we were looking around we discovered ‘closet collage’ which is pretty amazing. We absolutely love the collages of Erdem and Matthew Williamson’s floral inspired SS12 collections.

Erdem flower power

And Matthew Williamson

Prada: The new jewellery collection

Prada is one of the few fashion houses that can simultaneously do romance and quirkiness. The Italian powerhouse gave us broad stripes, coloured brogues and bright wide brimmed hats that defined SS11 and its SS12 collection of 1950s Americana-inspired clothes is bound to do the same next season…we love the flame heels!

So we’re super happy that Prada has unveiled its latest jewellery collection online (and 10% of sales will go to charity as part of Online Fashion Week). There’s a mixture of heady florals with clusters of diamantes, alongside quirky crocodiles and chunky bangles that dare we say it- are pretty Marni-esque.

Do you prefer the flower power or fantastic plastic?

Retro-style bracelet £350 (LOVE it!)

Quirky cat earrings £140

Amazing sixties-style earrings £140

Back to the old school! Prada hairclip £260

Very intricate crustal and pistachio rose necklace £1,100

LFW: Mary Katrantzou creates a Garden of Eden

Queen of print Mary Katrantzou got fashion journos talking even before her clothes hit the runway as the FROW was mesmerised by the carpet of carnations.

The collection was a mixture of heady floral prints and industrial elements. Tropical birds jostled for space with metallic details in the designs of asymmetric dresses, billowing chiffon trains and plasticised fabric.

Katrantzou also had her first go at knitwear with a lose sweater, sure to be in demand for daywear.

Mary hits the florist's...hard!

Plastic fantastic

Prints to die for!

Colour blocking goes flowery

Oh to have a photographic floral train!

Floaty floral perfection

Dramatic puffball skirt - great for parties!

..and a bold finale. Bravo!