The Fabergé Egg Hunt is underway...

The Big Fabergé Egg Hunt launched last week perking up London's gloomy winter considerably. 200 eggs have been planted all over the capital each individually created by designers and artists, much like the elephants 2 years ago. The Fabergé eggs will raise funds for both Elephant Family and Action for Children.

Below is my first find - 1 of 4 sheltered in Burlington Arcade

Olympic Countdown

It was exciting to see the Olympic stopwatch clocking the remaining days and hours until the world is unleashed on London. Basketball stadium here I come... 

Backbeat

Before the year was up, our annual ritual to head to a West End theatre en famille had to be fulfilled. This year we saw Backbeat - a musical uncovering stories from the early days of The Beatles in Hamburg, and in particular the story of the 'lost' Beatle and best friend of John Lennon - the smouldering and achingly cool Stuart Sutcliffe. Lennon persuaded Sutcliffe to join his band instead of pursuing a career as an artist, but Sutcliffe toyed with both music and art before ditching both in favour of German photographer Astrid.

What follows is a rocky rollercoaster, detailing both happy and tragic milestones in their lives - I won't spoil it in case you don't know how the story ends, but Backbeat is absolutely worth seeing. It's on at Duke of York theatre until February and I urge you to go xx

Apple Tribute

A Steve Jobs shrine has begun to form outside Apple's flagship store on Regents Street following his untimely death yesterday. Tributes of flowers, cards, candles and apples have been laid in his honour, and with the surge of onlookers it's already attracting tributes only look set to grow...

Selfridges Cellar - The Museum of Everything

Last week I visited The Museum of Everything which has popped up in Selfridges from 2nd September until 25th October. For these two months, the Selfridges basement has morphed into an overcrowded haven of over 400 original artworks by mentally disadvantaged artists, many of whom have employed art as an alternative to language to break down frustrating barriers. Institutions such as HPCA have guided these unsung artists as students, helping them earn a living and redefine themselves. It was brush strokes that encouraged one such artist from Poznan in Poland, Henry Zarski, to utter his first words. 

Ruby Bradford, whose portrait of Prince Charles has acted as the ambassador piece for the entire exhibition, is certainly one to watch. Only twenty-six years old the blurb next to her pieces read:

‘Superman, Prince Charles and Prince Williams star as leading men in the vivid painted canvases of this starry-eyed pop singer-songwriter.’

My personal favourite was Michael Gerdsman, born in 1968, from Hamburg. His work consisted of uniquely knitted and crochet everyday objects such as electrical appliances (a brilliant iPod with one red earphone, one blue, plus microphones and old fashioned telephones) and potted plants.

'Selfridges have invited us for an eight week sleepover', the flyer quips. With only a couple of weeks remaining, now is the time to go and lose yourself in The Museum of Everything.

JAEGER SHOW Saturday 17th September 3pm

Photos of Jaeger's spring/summer 12 collection that I snapped from the front row in Somerset House last Saturday. The sixties/seventies inspired collection was beautifully feminine, with strong themes of decadence and understated old school glamour shining through - show notes left on our seats indicated that this season's Jaeger girl visits Mustique: 'the exclusive playground of British rock stars and royalty'. Models paraded down the catwalk in a combination of wide stripes, breton stripes and block colours with heavy emphasis on girly broderie anglaise and pleats, accessorised with wedges, wide brimmed colonial hats and large vintage sunglasses. In the same way as Daks, Jaeger employed navies and ivories as chief tones, though their colour palette extended further to the likes of mint, apricot and buttermilk.

 

The Face - Corinne Day

Despite the fact that there were less than 20 pieces in Corinne Day's exhibition The Face, I couldn't get enough of it and became totally absorbed by how animated and real, and vulnerable, these photos were.

This photo of Kate carrying coconuts was the only colour image of her Kate Moss selection in the exhibit and I found that I kept coming back to it. Everything about it's so natural, the food, the colouring, Kate herself in a sheer white shirt, and even though it's a stationary pose it seems far from still. It captures movement through her hair, her clothes and her jewellery and really plays into the idea of youth and vulnerability.

My total favourite was Kate wearing a head-dress stading on a log which I need to track down somehow for my bedroom wall. It's amazing. Go and see it at Gimpel Fils before it leaves at the end of September x

DAKS SHOW Saturday 17th September 9am

  Sheila McKain-Waid's debut collection was hard not to like. Models took to the catwalk in feminine, unfussy, well-cut pieces in nautical navy and off-white as well as Fifties inspired mid length full bodied skirts and halter neck dresses, ultra short shorts and, rather sensibly, light weight macs to equip us for the English summer. A uniform hairstyle of gentle waves fixed in low buns and a selction of wedges and flat sandals completed the DAKS spring/summer live look book. Here are photos I took at the show which took place at 9am on Saturday morning at Somerset House.

Fashion's Night Out

Fashion's finest hit the streets of Mayfair last night for the VOGUE Fashion's Night Out. Here are a few of my evening's highlights....

VOGUE.COM bloggers Livia Firth & Laura Bailey
in Stella McCartney's Bruton Street Store



Vogue loves Stella Lollies



With Johnny Borrell who was DJ-ing in
Juicy Couture





Razorlight frontman Johnny Borrell and
Florence & the Machine guitarist Rob Ackroyd -
Juicy Couture 





Matthew Wililamson was in his store 

meeting & greeting.

Britney Spears is wearing one of his creations 

(pictured here) 

on the cover of Glamour's October issue





Manicures in Smythsons...opting for bright orange from the Esse collection



We made a furry friend in Coach before 

Gwyneth Paltrow

 arrived as their star guest for the evening



The Ace of Spades plus Revlon's New Ladies

Kate Spade New York hit the capital with a bang last week as it celebrated the launch of two new flagship stores in Sloane Square and Covent Garden. Deborah Lloyd hosted a star-studded party to celebrate what I'm sure will be a hugely successful move overseas.


Read the low-down from Deborah Lloyd when I spoke to her at the launch party in Sloane Square:
http://www.vogue.co.uk/news/2011/09/06/kate-spade-opens-london-store---interview


Bryce Dallas Howard in the Kate Spade campaign:

Bryce Dallas Howard stars in Katharine Stockett's The Help which is due to be released in November. Co-star Emma Stone has recently been announced as the new face of Revlon - check out my write-up here:  http://www.vogue.co.uk/beauty/news/2011/08/10/revlon-signs-emma-stone-and-olivia-wilde-as-new-brand-ambassdors