H&M announce Maison Martin Margiela collaboration

Its been announced that French fashion house Maison Martin Margiela is the latest name to collaborate with H&M.

The exclusive partnership is thought to include womenswear, menswear and accessories, and will launch on November 15 across an exclusive 230 H&M stores worldwide as well as online.

“Maison Martin Margiela is one of the most important and influential fashion houses of the past three decades,” says Margareta van den Bosch, creative adviser at H&M.

“I am so excited about this collaboration, which will give fashion lovers around the world the chance to wear special pieces by Maison Martin Margiela,” she continues. “This collaboration will be a great and memorable fashion moment."

Though no pictures have been released yet of the planned collaboration we can probably take a stab in the dark and say it will be very modern, edgy, conceptual and definitely will include a lot (if not all) of white.

Signature pieces by the fashion house push boundaries, reinventing volumes, modifying traditional shapes and change the original uses and movements of garments - quite a departure from the past few designer mash ups for the Swedish retailer which have been loud and print based from Versace and Marni - not to mention Anna Dello Russo's accessory line, set to launch October 4th, which I blogged about here.

What do you think of the announcement - are you excited or underwhelmed?

Great Scots

Scotland’s top fashion, design and textile talent were honoured yesterday evening at the country’s 7^th Annual Scottish Fashion Awards in association with InStyle magazine.

Hosted by Alexa Chung, the event saw many of the biggest names in British fashion scoop top honours including Christopher Kane who deservedly picked up the crown for ‘Scottish Fashion Designer of the Year’.

Meanwhile, supermodel and face of Chanel, Stella Tennant was inducted into the

‘Scottish Fashion Awards Hall of Fame’, with personal video messages broadcast from Karl Lagerfeld and Mario Testino to boot.

Earlier in the week I blogged about the nominees for Scottish Fashion Icon 2012 and I am happy to report my predicted winner Karen Gillan was victorious whilst fellow nominee Tali Lennox took home ‘Scottish Model of the Year’.

A full list of winners is below but first I wanted to take a look at the impressive array of celebs who attended (and more importantly what they wore) including more after the jump.

Model Tali Lennox and presenter Alexa Chung wearing Christopher Kane

Models David Gandy and Stella Tennant in a dress by Christopher Kane

Holly Fulton in her own design and Dionne Bromfield who also wore Holly Fulton

Graduate Fashion Week: Day 2

Today was my second day reporting from Graduate Fashion Week and I am happy to say the show was once again packed to the rafters - not to mention full of celebs.

After a quick whizz around all the stands (meeting some of the designers who didn't have a catwalk show but were no less amazing) I ran along in the afternoon to see the De Montfort University show where I was frow and centre to catch all the action.

Here I was met with intense colour and creative fabric combinations. Sportswear was clearly a huge theme running throughout with mesh and sheer panels, technical fabrics, futuristic metallics and pastel colour blocking all on offer. Designs were teamed with embellished wedges, running shoes, more backpacks than you could shake a stick at and visors galore.

This was by far the most assured collection of graduates I have seen so far an in particular Charlotte Booty caught my eye as one to watch for the future - so watch this space! 

Next I met up with fellow blogger  la fashion folie for a catch up and another catwalk show, this time from Nottingham Trent.

I found this a slightly more toned down affair and a much more commercial take (which is not a bad thing) and the technical skill of the graduates did shine through, especially with the knitwear, print based and men's tailoring collections. By far my favourites were Laura Grant and Florence Bridge who both presented resort ready collections worthy of any Ibiza going A-lister.

After the show we headed to the drinks reception where champagne, canapes and, best of all, Jamie Laing and Francis Boulle from Made In Chelsea awaited us. After some convincing I decided to stop trying to play it cool and ask for a picture. The result is a somewhat blurry image with my huge grin taking up most of the picture. How Embarrassing!

Whilst I mull over my shame see below for all my picks from day 2 of GFW, including more after the jump.

De Montfort University

Alison Woodhouse

E.L. Patten

Charlotte Booty

Charlotte Casey

Elysia Yeoh

Kelli McGuinness

See more from Nottingham Trent Uni after the jump

Graduate Fashion Week: Day 1

I am very fortunate in that my day job allows me to some great events, including Graduate Fashion Week which kicked off today at Earl's Court 2.

I love GFW because everyone just seems so (to bluntly put it) KEEN!

There is none of the jaded "been there and done that attitude" which you can sometimes see at London Fashion Week and everyone is very optimistic about the new wave of talent coming out of the UK's top Universities.

As a result there is a good buzz about the show and on the first day it was packed as usual.

I started my day off with the first catwalk from the University of East London and was instantly blown away with the maturity of some of the collections. Clearly these designers had thought about the buyers, the press, their end customer and everything in-between.

Two of the graduates showing with University of East London came from Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA) in Singapore where they partner with UEL to offer a BA(Hons) Fashion degree, 2012 seeing the first graduates of this course.

My favourite looks were probably the print based collections including Lulu Ghebre who reminded me a lot of Georgina Hardinge. Others that caught my eye were the architecturally sculptural yet feminine collections of Aimee Ward and Uma Kangai.

I then went on to the University of Central Lancashire show before my camera died (apologies for the blurry images) where i found more of the same. Sculpture and beauty from Samantha Messias, prints from Steph Cunningham, including a baroque jacket I just have to have, and the two were combined by Xiaoping (fiona) Huang to great effect. Accordion trousers anyone?

Below i have highlighted some of my favourites from today's opening shows and I'll be back tomorrow with more looks from the likes of De Montfort and Nottingham Trent. Enjoy!

University of East London

Terri-Leigh Finnegan

Felippe Johan

Tiffany Baron

Lulu Ghebre

Uma Kangai

Aimee Ward

See more from the catwalk after the jump

Spot the difference #4

It's my last spot the difference post today and this time I'm taking a look at one of my favourite young designers - Holly Fulton.

And if you too want your own slice of Holly Fulton's Tribal aesthetic this season there is no better place to look than Karen Millen.

Now I am in no way saying Karen Millen has copied Fulton's vibe this season - the brand has always included a safari trend each summer and animal print is a big staple for their customers - but the similarities are striking. Both are carrying round neck print dresses, zesty yellow dresses with lots of bead work, zebra print accessories and a racy selection of swimwear.

Not only is this a great trend to buy into for now it is also a recurring one each summer - so if you choose your investment pieces wisely you can wear them again and again.

Spot the difference #4

Having been a loyal Karen Millen employee many years ago i know that my khaki pencil skirt, silk safari dress and taupe beaded dress will all be coming out of the wardrobe at one point this summer. Below is a selection of my key pieces you should invest in now.

Left to right: Zebra swimsuit, £65, Giraffe print Dress, £140, Limited edition modern Tribal Dress, £295, Dress, £160, Zebra tote bag, £185. All from Karen Millen.

Friday fashion round up: part 2

The MTV Movie Awards this week provided the stars with another chance to come out and get all dressed up and whilst some fell flat on their faces (cough cough Leighton Meester that means you) others excelled themselves.

Among the best dressed on the night was Emma Stone who got her fashion mojo back after a slightly disappointing Met Gala appearance and Kristen Stewart who just keeps on suprising me (in a pleasant way) this past month.

Also topping the list are actresses Shailene Woodley and Mila Kunis, and doing it for the slightly older set were a very sexy Kate Beckinsale and Charlize Theron.

Emma Watson and Jessica Biel complete the selection, and though I am not overly in love with either look from them, I think they deserve some credit - Emma for going for something much shorter and directional than her usual fare with this printed dress by Brood and Biel for thinking outside the box with a more casual white knit Chanel dress paired with zingy green heels.

Take a look over my edit below and decide for yourself..

From top left to bottom right:

Kristen Stewart in a GUiSHEM metallic dress with Christian Louboutin heels

Emma Stone in Martin Grant strapless dress, accessorised with Brian Atwood nude heels

Shailene Woodley in a menswear inspired two-piece from stella McCartney A/W 12

Mila Kunis in a Fendi pre A/W 12-13 dress and Jimmy Choo sandals

Charlize Theron in a Lanvin A/W 12-13 red strapless dress and Jimmy Choo sandals

Emma watson in printed dress by Brood

Jessica Biel wore a Chanel S/S 2012 white dress

 

Ps. The usual Friday fashion round up will be back next week showing you the good, the bad and the downright ugly offerings from the week ahead.