Roving Reporter . . . Fashion Fringe at Covent Garden

I was lucky enough to bag a ticket to the Fashion Fringe at Covent Garden's 'Ladies Night', which saw an amazing panel of guests discuss the fashion industry at length.
On the panel was Averyl Oates (buying director at Harvey Nichols), Lorraine Candy (editor of Elle), Dolly Jones (editor of Vogue.com UK), Claudia Croft (Sunday Times Style) and Sophia Neophitou-Apostolou (editor of 10/10+). Seriously, how can you get more famous fashionista's in one room! To top it off it was chaired by the wonderful Colin McDowell.
As the talk was particularly long and in depth, I will be posting this even in a series of posts, with each one tackling a new topic! Please free to send me your feedback and air your views, did the fashion elite it right? or were they way off the mark?

First Up . . .
Is it a good idea for designers to leave university and start up their label straight away?

Sophia felt that it was essentially the best time to start up. She was all for ‘throwing people in the deep end’ and that new designers are often fearless’ which is what makes them so great.

Lorraine Candy on the other hand, felt that designers should be aware that they need to ‘surround themselves with people who can advise and help you at an early stage’.

Averyl Oates was quick to praise LFW, calling it ‘amazing’ as ‘young designers threw caution to the wind’ and it was these small players that ‘lifted a heavy season’, dogged down overly commercial collections. All the panel agreed it was, ‘the best LFW ever’. An economic crisis often brings out creativity and innovation.

Dolly Jones pointed out that ‘quality must be paired with creativity’, and that she has found that more and more of our young designers are ‘acting like business people, aware that the buyer is looking’; this is a killer combination.

Seen and Overheard: Mr West, Mr West

Your faithful Fash Pack would recognise a certain semi-mulleted 'former' rapper anywhere. And what I'm saying is that Kanye West took his new girl, Amber Rose, and an abbreviated posse to the Peter Jensen and Ann-Sofie Back show tonight. Seems he's serious about that fashion career because he picked one of the week's most buzzed-about shows to (nearly) upstage.


Although Rivkie, Naomi and I were just as pleased to see the short-haired blonde directly in front of us. Kate Lanphear (fashion director of US Elle) showed up to the Topshop venue, and it's seriously the jackpot of the fashion lottery to sit a foot away from the person who can even make High School Musical actors look badass.

PARIS! : Roving Reporter

Well folks, they let me out the country (and into France - no border guards you see!) and I now type to you from my quaint (slightly un-glamorous) Parisian lodgings.

Tomorrow, yours truly will be entering the world of high fashion and Parisian couture, possibly the most exciting thing since actually being able to navigate Paris on non-existant French. I swear I was better at school!

Entering the world of couture, one is floored by the true fashionista's question: what to wear?!

Seeing as this is just a tiptoe into the way the other half live, and my journey truly was fleeting, I decided to go very un-fashion and pack light (though I still had enough stuff for a small army). I've been reading up on fashion cities, and Paris is apparently where evening and day wear are at one (my kind of city), but I'm afraid I was in no mood (well, if truth be told I went for a new net book over a dress - I hear your gasps) to get all dressed up, and when for what I call simple, chic and instantly fashionable, ALL BLACK!

That's right boys and girls, I've noticed in recent years that unless you are uber-famous, at fashion week the important people wear black, and so I have adopted these camouflage tactics in the vain hope that I can convince people I am really and truly part of the 'fashion pack'.

Unfortunately I failed on the shoe front. Not yet of Elle-editor status, I have to Metro it to my shows, so it's flats all the way! I will be rocking my black dress (Burberry rip-off) with gothic-like studs, black long-sleeve top (it is winter, after all), black tights, a vintage gold leaf cuff (to add a bit of glam) and finally black knee-high patent flat boots.

Outerwear-wise, I've ditched the oh-so-London, jewel-bright trench and traded in for a Parisian-chic wool cape. The look would not be complete without suitable makeup, and I have subsequently plumped for (if I can really pluck up the courage) red rouged lips. Watch Out Paris, FASH PACK is about!