Louis Vuitton – the bespoke haute handbag service

This is the stuff that dreams are made of! We got really excited about personalised and monogrammed bags but now you can completely customise your own Louis Vuitton haute handbag and with 80,000 combinations available, you are very unlikely to see someone toting the same tote.

Armed with a wad of cash no doubt (bespoke beauty doesn’t come cheap!) you can design your own bag at The Haute Maroquinerie, a private salon at LV’s Bond Street store, helped by experts who can offer opinions on the style, colour, type of leather and finish of your next best (bag) friend.

The design will then be whizzed off to the labels’ Parisian workshops, where all its luggage luminaries are made and wing its way back to you about six months to a year later…well, you can’t rush a masterpiece.

There are no prices mentioned by Vogue, which broke the exciting news, but we’re guessing that if you have to ask, you (probably) can’t afford it. We’ll stick one of these on our ‘if we win the lottery’ list.

Soooo haute!

London 2012 Festival: the fashion edit

Hello London 2012 aka the Olympics  and Paralympics– you have almost arrived! And there are lots of events going on as well as a little sport and some of them start early. Here are a few fashion-related highlights. On your marks…

The Louis Vuitton store in Bond Street is showing off the Olympic artwork by British artists until 11 September (the real McCoys are in the Tate) and our favourite is by Howard Hodgekin.

Poster by Rob and Roberta Smith

Kurt Hentschlager’s CORE art project is a giant projection showing a world of weightlessness populated with humanoid figures, which looks really cool. It’s in Ironbridge, Telford until 20 September.

Seeing Stella McCartney’s designs worn by the UK’s finest athletes has to be a fashion highlight!

Shezad Dawood’s film, Piercing Darkness, is a film of vintage textile painting and is on show in Penzance, Cornwall until 15 September.

‘We Face Forward: Art from West Africa’ looks pretty exciting and includes some fashion action, in various locations in Manchester.

If you want to see some sporting bling, head to the British Museum in London to see the official Olympic medals of the London Games. (Until 9 September)

We’d all like one of these necklaces, right?!

The Rio London Carnival kicks off on the 26 and 27 of August and we can’t wait to see some daring and spangle costumes.

‘Secrets: Hidden London – Like a Fish out of Water’ is a fusion of dance, water and fashion at a couple of London’s lidos, featuring the English National Ballet.

And last but not least, the V&A museum is hosting ‘Britain Creates 2012: Fashion Art Collusion’ until 29 July, which features work by:

Hussein Chalayan + Gavin Turk
Giles Deacon + Jeremy Deller
Mary Katrantzou + Mark Titchner
Nicholas Kirkwood + Simon Periton
Peter Pilotto + Francis Upritchard
Jonathan Saunders + Jess Flood-Paddock
Paul Smith + Charming Baker
Stephen Jones + Cerith Wyn Evans
Matthew Williamson + Mat Collishaw … we are soooo excited!

Peter Pilotto and Francis Upritchard

Louis Vuitton x Yayoi Kusama

This has to be one of my favourite collaborations ever. Having showed her work at the Tate Modern, London, artist and style icon Yayoi Kusama has now collaborated with Louis Vuitton to come up with one sumptuously spotty collection. I am totally in love with the patent heels, cute cuffs, scarfs and cropped trousers- which would be perfect for next season (as this season seeing as summer is a wash-out in London!)

Part of the collection comes out this week with more to follow on 24 August, when the collection has a huge promo at Selfridges…we’ll be there if only to lust after everything and take pics of the window displays!

LOVE! Scarf £490, sandals £635, bangle £265+ but you can afford to paint big dots on yourself?

We’re hoping for a highstreet homage! Awesome scarves £490 each

The artist herself

Sooooo good!

If it’s good enough for Giselle…

Sunglasses £360, strategically places wallets £595 each, pumps of my dreams £710, impossibly perfectly glossy hair £priceless

What I would do for these perfect spotty pumps!

Pics: Louis Vuitton via Coco’s Tea Party (who did an amazing round-up) and The Telegraph, which has sooo much info about Yayoi’s amazing career.

And the latest face of Louis Vuitton is…Muhammad Ali

I am always intrigued by Louis Vuitton’s Core Values travel line cover stars. Of course Louis Vuitton is known for its stylish trunks and hold-alls and perhaps luggage does tell a story of someone’s life – if they keep the bag for a long time that is.

So Muhammad Ali, boxer-extraordinaire, campaigner and all-round good bloke is the latest face of Louis Vuitton’s Core Values campaign and he is pictured with his grandson at his Arizona home by photographer Annie Leibovitz. Thanks for the deats Vogue- the photo caption reads: “Some stars show you the way. Muhammad Ali and a rising star.”

Past campaign headliners include: U2’s Bono, Angelina Jolie and my favourite – Rolling Stone Keith Richards – that man can rock a scarf.

Buy why Ali? LV’s CEO and chairman Yves Carcelle told the magazine that the photo captures ‘transmission, which is of great significance to Louis Vuitton.’ And yes, we would love an heirloom trunk to pass on to future generations – after all, it could be seen as a transmission of your adventures.

Ali 4 LV

my hero!

Pics: The WSJ and TheInspirationRoom.com

Kirsten Dunst and pyjama tops

You know how much we love pyjama style trousers and shorts? Well thanks to Kirsten Dunst and her casual Cannes ensemble, we are now equally smitten with cool silky pyjama-style tops and have spotted the perfect budget-conscious buy from ASOS. Enjoy x

Can’t tell you how much I want this Louis Vuitton blazer!

YES! Pyjama jacket with tile print £35 from ASOS

Pic: The Telegraph + ASOS

Best Dressed: NSPCC ball

The stars came out for the NSPCC Pop Art Ball, where Stella McCartney was joined by her fashionable friends – many of whom were wearing her designs, most notably Stella herself in a dress from her 2012 evening collection.

Stella – great look!

MaryCharteris in THE Louis Vuitton dress (I never tire of it)

Poppy Delevingne looking as stunning as ever

Royal Mail’s fashion-conscious stamps

It’s very rare that you can get your hands on ten designer fashion items for under a fiver, but Royal Mail has released a limited edition collection of fashion stamps with ten high-end designs from some of our favourites -and we plan on stocking up.

Amazingly, despite the speed of fashion blogs and the constant evolution of fashion trends, the fashion world loves a letter. Invitations to fashion shows are imaginative and lavish and almost always arrive by post or courier…and we have seen some deliciously fashionable stationary too. In a world of emails and texts (believe us we’re not knocking technology for a second) receiving a letter on pretty stationary can still be awesome, especially if it comes on chic personalised Smythson stationary, for example. Will you be putting a stamp on your stationary with the Royal Mail collection?

Stamp by Vivienne Westwood

A pretty section from Zandra Rhodes

Lanvin stationary set £65 from Net-a-Porter

Stamp by Hardy Amies

Grazia says that Louis Vuitton is rolling out it’s own stationary range *squeal* pic: Grazia

I adore this McQueen stamp

Super cute Liberty notecard set £25

The excellent designs for Jean Muir on a stamp? Yes please.

Pics: The Daily Mail.

Louis Vuitton SS12 high street style

I feel like I’ve been binging on pastels for a while now in magazines (not that I’ve managed to wear any mint or pink in the London drizzle) and woah is anyone else feeling the sugar over-load? It has to be said that the lady-like super pastel trend is one that I had always planned to admire from a distance on other more polished ladies!

But for all those groomed girls out there who don’t look like they’ve permanently been dragged through a hedge backwards (in a nonchalantly chic manner, obviously) Topshop and H&M have some wonderful Louis Vuitton-inspired pieces sooo sweet that they might give you a toothache. Enjoy x

THE collar of the season from Louis Vuitton

Get your collar for £15.00ish in H&M! The minty green dress has a great cut-out back and is only £30

Go matchy-matchy with similar colours and a knit with collar to get the LV look

This dress from Orelia (stocked in Topshop Oxford Circus) is £50 and incorporates embroidered flowers with a transparent layer over the top – v LV

Similar items in the mix from the Louis Vuitton catwalk show

A little more neon for those who like to pack a punch in pink! Topshop’s dress £45 also has the transparent fabric of the season

BIG pop-out flowers

Benetton’s Pin Up pastels

Think pastels and you’ll probably think of Louis Vuitton this season. But Benetton has a rather perfect pastel palette on the high street in super saccharine lilac, mint and sherbet lemon.

The Pin Up collection focuses on plain basics (handy with this season’s pastel skinny jeans and printed cropped trousers). The best bit is that the vest tops, long-sleeved tees and cardis are designed to ‘model and enhance your body shape’. I have yet to try them out but who doesn’t want to ‘emphasise their feminineness’ (um femininity?) this season? Will you be giving these tees a go?

Love the retro styling

Accessorise with rollerskates?

Louis Vuitton pastel perfection

Hot trend alert! Metal-tipped heels

Louis Vuitton’s SS12 collection showcased some stunning pieces including these Merry-Go-Round mules. The problem for us mere mortals? Mules are really hard to walk in without brusing your toes and the last time they were on-trend I spent most of the summer tripping over!

Love the detailing on the Merry-Go-Round mule

Luckily for those of us without a designer budget (or a need not to trip over in the office) the metal toecap detailing is making its way onto the high-street and looks fierce in a pastel kind way! Here are our top 3 picks.

Zara - £69.99 - Court Shoe with Metal Toe Cap

Topshop - £60 - Gilmore Metallic Toecap Points

Topshop - £50 - Gabbi Metal Toecap Points