Lana Del Rey - New Face of H&M

The rumours were true, Lana Del Rey IS the new face of H&M.

The H&M Autumn/Winter’12 campaign, photographed by Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin, will feature the sultry songstress in her signature retro style, with her trademark black eyeliner and pale pout, wearing key pieces from the collection.

Donald Schneider, H&M's Creative Director revealed, "the mood is very LA noir… It’s inspired by our fall collection."   An advert has also been filmed where Lana Del Rey sings 
‘Blue Velvet,’ a 1950’s Bobby Vinton classic.

Also confirmed this week by H&M is its latest designer collaboration for autumn/winter 2012: French fashion house Maison Martin Margiela.
The statement released promised to “bring together the contrasting universes of the two houses in ways that will surprise all.”

Available from November 15th 2012.

Trend: Olive Green

If there is one person’s wardrobe I covet, it would be Olivia Palermo's. The ex-Hills star and renowned fashionista always looks enviably glossy, elegantly accessorized and perfectly put together.

Recently Olivia has been wearing a lot of olive green – recycling her olive green jeans and olive green parka in numerous ways.  Last week she was seen (left) in New York looking like an olive green dream, from top to bottom.

Olive green combines really well with most colours, but Olivia prefers to wear her jeans/parka with white or black, accessorized with ballet flats or heels (usually leopard print - girl after my own heart!) and whopper sunglasses.

I think olive green is the perfect multi-seasonal neutral and a great way to ease your way into the London 'sunshine' (... a gal can dream!)

Luckily for us, Olivia's Olive Green look is really accessible on our highstreets:

I would recommend Topshop for their Moto Leigh Jeans (RRP. £38.00) and their Army Shirt Jacket (RRP. £48.00) or the skinny jeans by Victoria Beckham for a super flattering fit.

Debit Buy: ASOS Earrings

I do not have pierced ears (which has probably saved me a small fortune over the years given my magpie tendancies!) but if I did I would almost certainly be adorning my earlobes with these sparkly bug pendant earrings (left) and these colourful, Prada inspired floral gemstone beauties (below) from ASOS.  I would dress them down with jeans and a t'shirt. These really are too adorable.

Left: ASOS Premium Darling Bug Drop Earrings

RRP. £20.00

 

Below Left: ASOS Flower & Jewel Drop Earrings

RRP. £15.00

 

Below Right: ASOS Flower & Jewel Drop Earrings

RRP. £15.00

Debit Buy: Carvela Kute Sandals

I have seen these oh-so-cute  Carvela shoes being worn by one of my favourite fashion bloggers, the very romantic Parisian Alix Bancourt (of ‘The Cherry Blossom Girl’) and think they are the perfect summer footwear.  Worn with jeans/a dress, in the city/on the beach, they are pretty versatile regardless of which colour you choose. As Alix shows, pink nailpolish looks great with them.

Above:  Pink Kute by Carvela RRP. £55.00, Gold Kute by Carvela RRP. £55.00, 
Light Blue by Carvela (now in the sale) £55.00 £39.00

Available at Kurt Geiger

My Marie Claire Trend Shoot: Cropped Tops

Each month Marie Claire magazine chooses a trend for one girl to model in six different ways.

I was approached by suuuper glamorous Tanya Semikoz, Marie Claire’s Executive Fashion Editor, a couple of months ago to model an upcoming seasonal trend… She didn’t mention however, that the upcoming seasonal trend was to be cropped tops... EEK! Every girl's worst nightmare, surely?! 

Stomach crunching my way to the The Shop Studio, an awesome North London photographic studio owned by photographer Sam Robinson, I was more than a little nervous about what outfits (or lack of them!) awaited me.  All my fears were put aside after Holly Welch, Marie Claire’s Junior Fashion Editor, waved her brilliant styling wand at me and I was suitably dolled up by the makeup artist extraodinaire,  Pamela Cochrane.

Above and Below:  Behind the scenes of the shoot with make up artist Pamela Cochrane and photographers Sam Robinson and Olly Burn.

These photographs show how cropped tops can be incorporated into your wardrobe easily and more demurely than I initially assumed.  I'm now rather inspired to wear a high waisted skirt with a cropped top this summer, showing only a small amount of my upper midriff.  All the shoes I wore were great and I ran straight off to buy the neon nude heels from Aldo (available here in the sale RRP. £75.00 £34.99) and the green/blue heels from Zara (available here in pink/red RRP. £29.00) which I also bought in black. Oops.

Thank you to Sam Robinson, Olly Burn, Holly Welch, Pamela Cochrane and everyone at The Shop Studio for making this a really fun day!

And a big Thank You to Tanya Semikoz.

Left: The July'12 edition of Marie Claire is available at now.

Queen Elizabeth's Diamond Jubilee Celebrations

Now that our neighbours have been met, our bunting has come down and my tiara has been taken off (admittedly, under duress...) we have time to reflect on how utterly AMAZING the Diamond Jubilee celebrations were.  As thousands of people, up and down the country, celebrated the Queen's 60 years on the throne, I felt so privileged and excited to have been in London to witness this truly remarkable anniversary and to enjoy the excited patriotic revellery I was met with all over town.

Britain really does know how to throw one helluva party!

Below are some of my favourite Diamond Jubilee moments... 

Above: Sunday's Diamond Jubilee River Pageant, which saw the Queen travelling on the Royal barge, the Spirit of Chartwell, in a 1000 boat flotilla on the River Thames.

Above: God Save McQueen! 
(L) Kate's Sunday McQueen worn with a James Lock & Co hat by Sylvia Fletcher
(R) Kate's Monday McQueen worn with Jane Taylor Millinery's Beaded Cocktail Hat
Both accessorised with her faithful L.K.Bennett Sledge heels available here. 

Above:  War Horse's Joey saluting the Queen from the National Theatre's Olivier flytower.
I loved how excited she was to see this. To buy tickets to see War Horse click here.

Above: Pocket Rocket Kylie Minogue in her Pearly Queen outfit on Monday at the Jubilee Concert held at Buckingham Palace.  The musical extravaganza was organised by Take That's Gary Barlow and we saw, amongst others, Sir Paul McCartney, Dame Shirley Bassey, Sir Elton John and Sir Tom Jones all perform for the Queen.

Above: Prince Charles having just thanked the Queen (whom he brilliantly called "Mummy" to great applause) for her services to Great Britain and "for inspiring us with your selfless duty and service and for making us proud to be British."

Above: Monday night's incredible Jubilee Concert fireworks which were followed by the Queen lighting the National Beacon to honour her 60 year reign.

Above and Below: Tuesday's pomp and pageantry.
After a National Service of Thanksgiving at St Paul’s Cathedral and a lunch reception at Mansion House, the Royal Family travelled towards Buckingham Palace.

Below:  Whilst the Royal Family waved to the enormous crowds all dressed in red, white and blue, from the balcony of Buckingham Palace we saw an RAF flypast of nine Red Arrows and rifle salutes marking the end of the celebrations.

Below:  Addressing the country the Queen said, "the events that I have attended to mark my Diamond Jubilee have been a humbling experience... I hope that memories of all this year’s happy events will brighten our lives for many years to come."

Below:  Lastly... HOW completely wonderful is this?!

Emma Bridgewater Celebrating The Jubilee

Looking for a memento of this weekend’s Jubilee celebrations? Emma Bridgewater is offering a 15% discount off her gorgeous and decorative Jubilee range.  Co-owners, Matthew Rice and Emma Bridgewater will be selling an estimated 200,000 Diamond Jubilee items and it is easy to see why.  All handcrafted in Britain, colourful and jolly, these every day items can be treasured for years to come. 

Matthew Rice said: “Emma and I are both fiercely patriotic and have created commemorative ware for every Royal occasion for the past 25 years. However, we have never seen demand such as that which we’re experiencing for our Jubilee range."

Right: The Marylebone High Street shop window.
Below:  My favourite pieces from the range...

Above Clockwise: Tea Caddy £10.00, Egg Cup £9.95, Teatowel £10.00, 1/2 Pint Mug £24.95, Bisuit Tin £13.00, Diamond Jubilee Crown Jar £100.00


Below: Some other Jubilee goodies which have caught my eye this week… 

This limited-edition Marmite, Ma’amite, is available at all Sainsbury's supermarkets across the country. 

Love it or hate it? Love it.

World Exclusive Jeroboam 3 litre bottle of Pimms
RRP. £150 at Selfridges.

Pimms o'clock. Bound to get any party started! Only 150 of these commemorative three litre Pimm's bottles have been made. 

Jubilee Corgi Ankle Socks
RRP. £3.50 at Topshop.

Adorable! I bought these. Couldn't resist.

Above:  Prêt-à-Portea – The Royal Collection. A Royal Treat!  Available until June 9th, biscuits, fancies and choux buns have been transformed to resemble the most memorable hats worn by the Royal Family - including Princess Beatrice's, now infamous, Philip Tracey facinator (a delicious praline profiterole!) 

£36.50 pp or £46.50 including a glass of Laurent Perrier Champagne at The Berkeley.

Have a WONDERFUL Jubileeeeee....

Trend: Studs

"Tell me about it, Stud..."  (Sandy, Grease.)

The Highstreet is currently filled with studs… albeit of the appliqué variety.  Inspired by the Versace SS’12 runway collection (above) where every model was adorned with more than just a sprinkling of golden studs lining their slinky silhouettes, the trend for an edgier, more rebellious, look is now easily available without the hefty Donatella price tag. 

I would recommend heading straight to Zara to release your inner fierce… With subtle studded embellishment on many (if not most) of their latest items, this is easily made an accessible and current look for everyone to ROCK.  Here are my Zara favourties:


Left: Shirt with Studded Collar
RRP. £39.99

I would wear this shirt with all the buttons done up, with jeans and a navy jumper - Slightly preppy but with an edge. 


Left: Studded Silk Shirt
£59.99

This pretty, floral silk shirt has studded shoulders - I love this contrast and it would look great tucked into denim shorts this Summer. On the wish list.


Left: Studded Denim Pop Fabric Studio Shorts
RRP. £39.99

Perfect for the Summer and can be dressed up or down, depending on the occasion. 



Left: Studded Ankle Strap Sandles
RRP. £29.99

For those a little more cautious of this trend - literally, dip your toe in and ease your way up!


​
Left: Blouse with Gold Stud Buttons
RRP. £22.99

Also available in pink, green and orange - I think this is perfect to throw over your bikini on holiday - Buy oversized and tuck the front into shorts.

Trend: Isabel Marant Wedge Trainers

Having taken the leap and finally taken off her much adored Isabel Marant Dicker Boots, Kate Bosworth was seen in Beverley Hills last week sporting the designer's coveted wedge trainers. In this laidback and relaxed Spring ensemble, Kate contrasts this season’s love of all things sporty (sweatshirt/trainers) with all things ladylike (pleated, flowy skirt.)

Isabel Marant’s coveted wedge trainers (the shoe that launched a thousand high street copies) is a look, much like our beloved UGG boots, that will no doubt be more popular with the girls wearing them than the boys looking at us in them.  Functional and comfy usually don’t scream sexy, but hey, when he doesn’t have to give you a piggy back home, stiletto’s in hand, he’ll soon be won over...

RRP. £430.00

If you, like me and Beyonce, are happy to embrace the wedge, the velcro and your inner Marty McFly, here are some of my more affordable recommendations:

Above (clockwise):  Ash Bowie Wedge Trainers in clay - £149.00, Ash Coolbis Wedge Trainers in black - £175.00, Topshop Acrobat Trainers - £78.00, Aldo Netz Wedge Trainers -£80.00, Asos Deny Wedge High Top Trainers with Suede detail £45.00