A Girl, A Style | Autumn/Winter 2012

There have been a great number of truly exciting highlights for my blog this year, but being invited to be a face of a Michael Kors campaign is surely to be included at the very top of this list. A few weeks ago I was asked if I would be involved in a new campaign to celebrate the opening of the brand’s new London store, which is how I came to be photographed on the banks of the Thames one beautiful autumn day last week.

Obviously, I am neither a model or a celebrity, so the gravity of being involved in another campaign for a luxury brand (you may remember my Jimmy Choo collaboration from earlier this year) is not lost on me. I find it wonderfully refreshing when major players in the fashion industry choose ‘real women’ as well as supermodels to represent their brands, and to be one of those women myself is a truly a great honour.

And truthfully, these photos from the campaign could not be more ‘real’. Taken one Wednesday when I was working in Parliament, I dashed out of the office on my lunch break (sans professional hair, makeup and primping; Michael Kors got me just as I am in my real life) and spent a fun 15 minutes skipping along the river opposite Parliament as the autumn leaves swirled around us before racing back to my office once again.

Yes, it is a strange double life that I lead (I’m sure there aren’t too many other political advisors slash fashion writers slash Michael Kors models in the world), but I wouldn’t have it any other way!

Wearing: Michael Kors cape (borrowed), Hamilton bag (c/-) and watch, Mimco gloves, Wheels & Dollbaby dress (from this post), Mulberry boots, bow headband (just seen) from Tokyo. Photos by the lovely Michelle Bobb-Parris.

Thank you Michael Kors for inviting me to be a part of your London campaign!

I would love to hear your thoughts on brands using ‘real’ women (and gents) in their campaigns alongside professional models.

Love, Miss B xx

The new Michael Kors store is now open at 28 James Street, Covent Garden, London WC2E 8PA.

Hello lovelies! I’m currently in the throes of London Fashion Week (one of my favourite times of the year), so forgive me if I seem a little aloof for the next few days. I promise it’s not you, it’s me! This is my fifth Fashion Week season, and in that time I’ve seen a lot of shows (I attend nearly every on-schedule show on the calendar). So for a show to really stand out, it must have something very special about it indeed.

Orla Kiely’s charming Autumn/Winter ’12 show yesterday evening was precisely that. Upholding her tradition of eschewing the predictable runway format, she instead entirely transformed a room within Somerset House and invited us to step inside her vision so thoroughly articulated, it was as though we were occupying an entirely different world for that brief period.

As I arrived with Charlotte, my date for the evening, we were instantly whisked back to a high school afternoon tea dance set in a golden era of years past. Gone were the ordinary audience benches, and in their place were little wooden tables laid with lace cloths, candles, champagne, tea and scones.

As a band played big band tunes, the sweetly girlish models were twirled around the room beneath a glittering mirror ball by their dapper dance partners. I’m not sure what was more darling; the darling setting or the adorable clothes. As we sat there and watched the whole scenario unfold before our eyes (we had only intended to pop in for an hour, but were so enchanted we stayed a whole hour), I fell in love with those bow-print dresses and little red shorts and golden beaded peter-pan collars (not to mention the ankle socks worn with their dancing shoes).

It must be a beautiful place inside Orla’s mind, and I love nothing more than being transported into her world each Fashion Week.