Fashion’s Night Out pt.I : Manolo Blahnik comes to Liberty

It was Manolos, mojitos and mayhem at Liberty on Wednesday evening when the sole king himself came to launch his emporium within the London store. Manolo Blahnik has collaborated with Liberty to create a range of exclusive shoes, silk scarves, fabric, notebooks, candles and other accessories (it is the first time his legendary shoes have ever been sold outside his own boutiques).

The endless queue outside: nothing came between these women and their shoes

With the chance meet Mr. Blahnik one of the highlights of London’s Fashion Night Out, every girl and her Manolos turned up to meet the iconic designer. I can honestly say this was the longest queue I have ever seen in London – what must have been thousands of women snaked for blocks around the Regent St store!

I was lucky enough to beat the masses and popped into the emporium to meet the man himself. And I can attest that such manners and charm could rarely be found elsewhere these days. Manolo is the very model of a gentlemen, and was utterly dapper in his mulberry-coloured suit, bright purple suede loafers, horn-rimmed spectacles and buttonhole rose.

Manolo and his beautiful daughter

Among the guests and their fabulous footwear was Manolo muse Yasmin le Bon who wore the most spectacular blue Richard Nicholl gown (I tried not to stand too near…), and Manolo’s sister, Evangeline. While chatting about shoes and life, she shared with me her favourite pearls of wisdom, such as: “only do what you love in life, otherwise it’s a waste of precious years. As soon as you stop being passionate, it shows” and “ignore fashion trends. Just do what you like and be fabulous!”. Isn’t she brilliant? And I loved her red leather gloves (while she herself was camera-shy, her hands were only too happy to pose).

If you find yourself in London in the near future, do pop in and have a look at the Manolo Emporium – it is quirky and beautiful and a veritable shoe treasure trove (and shoes aside, the other accessories are lovely and affordable). While Manolo’s shoes for Liberty don’t come cheap, every girl should own one pair of his in their lifetime – they are eternally classic and as soon as they are slipped on, the wearer holds themself in an entirely different way.

What do you think of Manolo and his shoes? Which designer would you most love to meet?

Love, Miss B xx

* First image from Liberty.co.uk

Fashion Night Out 2010

Unless you’ve been hiding from the fashion world, you will, I’m sure, have heard of Fashion Night Out. After the enormous success of last year’s inaugural globe-spanning fashionable festivities, the event will again be taking place this year.

On September 8th in the fashion capitals across the globe, serious sartorial celebration will be taking place in the form of all kinds of events. In London the event is hosted by Vogue and promises to be simply fabulous, sweetie.

Last year I met Kate Moss at the Burberry party, wore bunny ears with model Rosie Huntington-Whiteley at Louis Vuitton (see profile photo, right), stood front row for a live Vogue fashion shoot in Chanel (Daisy Lowe and her endless legs making me feel decidedly short), and met Vivienne Westwood in her store. On what other occasion can one do all of that?

There is so much happening that it is impossible to do it all, so I suggest choosing one or two locations and sticking to the stores around there. Most things are free and open to all – just don’t gawk at the celebrities, feel too horrid beside the models or throw oneself in front of the paparazzi/waiters doing the rounds with the free cocktails.

As for me? I’ll be hitting the beauty counters in Selfridges for free pedicures and makeovers in the afternoon, before heading to Liberty and the big names around Bond St for the evening when things kick off.

So without further ado, here is my list (in alphabetical order) of what’s happening in London. To make your life easier I’ve cut out the mediocre (ie. the things you could do anytime) to bring you my roundup of the highlights only. Apologies in advance for the length, but I aim to keep you fully informed, dear readers. Enjoy!

Agent Provocateur (6 Broadwick St) – Expect gorgeous Provocateur-clad models, DJs, goodie bags and champagne.

Alexander McQueen (4 Old Bond St) – Guests can buy a bracelet exclusive to FNO and be in the chance to win a Britannia clutch.

Anya Hindmarch (118 New Bond St, 6-9pm) – Guests are invited to pose for a photo with their favourite Anya Hidmarch bag, where Anya herself will choose one winner to take that bag home.

Aquascutum (100 Regent St, from 6pm) – Bombay Bicycle Club DJing live, oysters and wine from Bentley’s Bar & Grill and the chance to win an Aquascutum trench coat.

Browns (24 South Molton St) – Designer pieces exclusive to the evening, rhubarb crumbles and talks and lessons from leading personalities on fashion, food, art, music and philosophy.

Burberry (21 New Bond St) – Christopher Bailey will be hosting a cocktail party. Guests can buy a studded bracelet exclusive to the evening and enter to win tickets to the London Fashion Week SS11 show. Last year this was THE party to have an invite to so can be guaranteed to be worth a stop this year.

Chanel (26 Bond St) – Have an express manicure in Chanel’s new season cult nail shades while enjoying champagne, dahling.

Chloe (152 Sloane St) – Guests can be photographed with new season looks and enter a lottery to win an exclusive Fuji/Chloe camera and a pair of iconic Chloe trousers customised by a French actress.

Christian Louboutin – Champagne, treats and NARS makeovers at the Louboutin Mad Tea Party, plus fun photo opportunities, goodie bags, and DJing by London Guns.

Diane von Furstenberg (25 Bruton St) – The store will be transformed into a recreation of Studio 54, where guests can drink cocktails from Claridges and have their hair and makeup done in homage to the iconic 70s venue. Strike a pose for the photographers and have a chance to win an 18k gold DvF necklace.

Emporio Armani (51 New Bond St) – Giorgio Armani and Vogue’s Alexandra Schulman will be hosting a cocktail party (I presume like Burberry last year, this will be invite-only to begin with). I hear that this will be THE party to be at this year.

Harvey Nichols (109 Knightsbridge) – Designers Erdem, Christopher Kane and Martin Grant will be instore to customise shopper’s FNO tees and tote bags.

House of Fraser (318 Oxford St) – Daisy Lowe will be instore to re-launch iconic brand Biba, New Young Pony Club will be DJing, goodie bags with any purchase from Mulberry and makeovers at most of the beauty counters.

Jaeger (200 Regent St) – Cocktails, 20% off the season’s collection and the chance to win a £300 gift card.

Jimmy Choo (27 New Bond St) – Cocktails, photo booth fun and Bungalow 8 DJing.

Liberty (Regent St) – At 6:30 pm, Manolo Blahnik and Yasmin Le Bon will be launching the World of Manolo (his collaboration with Liberty). Guests can buy from shoes from the range and have them personally signed by Manolo himself. Plus meet Richard Nicholl, enjoy cocktails and trapeze tricks from Circus bar, and enter the competition to win everything in the Liberty windows. Oh my!

Manolo Blahnik (49 Old Church St) – Following his appearance at Liberty, Manolo himself will be at his store signing shoes. Plus champagne, chocolate, and the chance to win a pair of shoes.

Matthew Williamson (28 Bruton St) – The store will be transformed into a Moroccan souk for the evening. Guests can meet Matthew, enjoy Maroccan food by Momos and enter to win tickets to the London Fashion Week SS11 show.

Mulberry (41 New Bond St) – Karaoke, DJs and the chance to win tickets to the London Fashion Week SS11 show.

Rupert Sanderson (19 Bruton St) – the store will be transformed into a dance hall extravaganza, where guests can sip Moet and learn to cha cha!

Louis Vuitton (17 New Bond St) – Alice Dellal will be DJing, and guest can have their picture taken as Vogue cover stars.

Selfridges (400 Oxford St) – A talk with designer Peter Pilotto, Lily Allen launching a pop-up shop of her new vintage clothing store, and excellent makeovers and treats at the beauty counters for most of the day.

Smythson (40 New Bond St) – have your product personalised and enjoy mini pedicures from Cowshed, Primrose Bakery cupcakes, and enter to win a Smythson bag full of Cowshed treats. Maybe SamCam will be there and we’ll become BFFs and Downing St dinner buddies.

Topshop (Oxford Circus) – Topshop will be recreating a live pop-up version of the making of an edition of Vogue, if you will. At the beauty desk, have a makeover and tutorial in this season’s beauty looks with the Vogue beauty editors, be snapped in a photobooth for Miss V’s diary (and be in the running to with a $200 shopping spree), and at the fashion desk preview the latest looks and tips from the personal shoppers and Vogue fashion team. Love the sound of this!

Stella McCartney (30 Bruton St) – Join Gwyneth Paltrow and Vogue’s Alexandra Schulman for cupcakes, cocktails, be photographed in your own Stella ad and enter to win a bag of Stella treats. Repeat above comments re: SamCam at Smythson and relate to Gwyneth.

Urban Outfitters (200 Oxford St) – The Arctic Monkeys playing live instore, DJs and drinks.

Phew, that’s a long list!

Will you be attending anything for Fashion Night Out? If you’re not in London, is anything happening in your city?

Love, Miss B xx

* First image from Jak&Jil, other images author’s own.

Essential Accessories: Part I

After my post on wardrobe essentials, I had a lot of emails asking me what the next steps are once the capsule wardrobe is sorted. So to continue the theme, i’ll be doing a weekly feature over the next few weeks with plenty of tips on building the perfect wardrobe to suit your life.

So over the next two weeks: accessories! While perfectly cut basics lay the foundations of a look, it’s the accessories which make an outfit fun, interesting, and more importantly – you. Accessories are my fashion weakness, and the complete undoing of all my sensibly laid financial plans. When it’s time to cut back, I know I must avoid at all costs the accessory floors of Liberty and Selfridges or the vicinity of a Mimco boutique. I’ll be the first to admit that I usually tend to err on the side of being Over The Top when it comes to adding the acoutrements, but these tips can apply regardless of style. To tone it down, wear only one or two of these at once. If your name is Miss B or Rachel Zoe, wear the whole lot at once and be your own Christmas tree!

JEWELLERY

Statement neckpeices – While the first instinct is to save one’s biggest, sparkliest baubles for parties and special events, I get much more wear out of my most statement making peices dressed down during the day, when they are least expected. Why save all the fun for after dark? I love gorgeous, bold peices worn with a simple tee or layered with a tank top and blazer. My favourites are by Lanvin, Mimco, and Marni’s amaaazing bib collar necklaces.

Cocktail rings - Channel some 60’s era cocktail glamour (is anyone else lobbying to bring back the cocktail hour?) and wear gumball sized costume jewels on your fingers. I love big gold and semi-precious stone designs, Chanel-style rose rings, or something a bit quirky and unexpected. In this case, few people (with the exception of the Olsen twins) can pull off fistfulls of rings at once, so stick to one or two bold rings at a time. Of course, if you have a huge diamond on the ring finger, it would be rude for the other fingers to compete for attention.

Wrist adornment - Bangles, cuffs, bracelets, men’s-style watches… Whatever it is, I love piling up decorations on my wrist. In winter it might be a stack of embellished hard bangles, in summer a small Liberty print scarf tied in a bow. Unless i’m wearing particularly elaborate sleeves (and even then a simple bangle can even the whole thing out), I feel naked without something on my wrist. I love Chanel’s giant cuffs each season and Mimco’s hard acetate bow or chain bangles.

Earrings – While earrings aren’t actually part of my essential jewelry artillery (something to do with my round face and feeling like it’s one thing too many after i’ve piled everything else on – not words I usually utter…), I know that for most women, they’re the first thing they reach for. That said, although I don’t wear them every day, they’re one of my favourite things to buy and I have fond memories of playing with my mother’s enormous collection of magnificent statement pieces that were art for the ears. Like statement necklaces, if you’re going for big statement earrings, try not to wear too much else in the general vicinity (ie. neck, hair) that would otherwise compete.

The smaller pieces - While i’m all for larger-than-is-strictly-necessary adornments, sometimes all that is needed is something delicate and tiny. When wearing a shirt with a ruffled collar, for example, a simple gold charm necklace or a long rope of pearls is all that is needed (anything more would compete for attention). Similarly, when wearing a giant stack of bangles, don’t then wear several statement rings on the same hand. I love small vintage rings, necklaces or earings, or gold charm necklaces by Anina Vogel or Alex Monroe.

What are your essential pieces of jewelry?

Love, Miss B xx