Noughties Nostalgia

What are your favourite Noughties fashion memories??? Whatever they are, I think you will agree that London was a great place to be. We went from being status slaves, to underground rebels. We had a brief fling with boho, and then we new raved our neon socks off!! The high street exploded, with Topshop and Primark becoming tourist destinations in their own right.

Here is a snapshot of some of the fashion moments that defined the last decade for me.

A cheeky Northern chappy by the name of Henry Holland grabbed the attention of the fashion world with his slogan tees in 2006.

Gareth Pugh came along to become the heir apparent to John Galliano's legacy of fashion for show; not for the street.

Christopher Kane showed us all things bright and beautiful in his first show for LFW Spring Summer 2007.

And another Christopher - Bailey - made Burberry cool again.

Boombox was the place to party hard on a Sunday night (until 2008 when it shut its doors for good)!

The recession hit home on planet fashion when in 2009, Luella went into liquidation.

We suffered the loss of Alexander McQueen and Isabella Blow. However they will continue to be remembered by all for their contributions to British fashion and will go down in history for their creative vision.

I have probably not even scratched the surface in this post!! These were just the memories that really stood out in my mind. I think British fashion came into its own again this last decade and I am looking forward to seeing what the next will bring!

From Another Galaxy

Sky captains from the world of tomorrow, take note. For Christopher Kane's Spring Summer '11 Menswear collection, his inspiration came from images of the cosmos, which he transposed onto his menswear collection of luxe-casual t's, hoodies and jackets.

This is the return of the Space Cowboy.

Highland Fling

I was checking out pictures online earlier of the Central St Martins 20:20 party which took place over the weekend. 20:20 is an initiative set up to provide funding and support to CSM fashion students and is an amazing idea given how difficult it can be for emerging designers to finance themselves. We need to foster our home-grown fashion talent! And when you think of some of the CSM alumni: Stella McCartney, Pheobe Philo, Alexander McQueen - well just say the world would be a lot less colourful without them!

I have just completely digressed from the point of this post. Here we go: well, Daisy Lowe (love her) caught my eye resplendent in Versus tartan.....is tartan making a comeback courtesy of Christopher Kane?

Daisy Lowe in Versus 

I know, it is a bit early for Burns night to be thinking of clans, haggis and rugged moors. But it is not only uber-Scot Kane who is championing the return of this heritage fabric. I spotted tartan on the catwalk at dSquared2 (who can forget their tartan 'glamping' picnic blanket dress from Spring Summer 2010) and Marc Jacobs. M.A.C - always quick to jump on a bandwagon - have just created a new collection, entitled 'A Tartan Tale'. Vivienne Westwood has just created a stationary collection including notebooks and diaries in her signature Albion tartan. And even luxe shopping and fashion websites such as farfetch.com have been talking about this trend.

I think of tartan as a bit Marmite: some people really hate it, but there is a lot of fun to be had with this versatile fabric. It can be punk (think Westwood); it can be posh (think old school aristocracy dancing eightsome reels in their kilts); it can be prim and haughty and it can be sexy (see Christopher Kane). Here are some of my favourite pictures from through out the ages.

A young Prince Charles in a traditional kilt and sporran

Agyness Deyn walking the catwalk for Henry Holland, Autumn/Winter 2008

Alexander McQueen Autumn Winter 2006

Alexander McQueen Autumn Winter 2006

Vivienne Westwood

M.A.C Tartan Tale campaign Autumn 2010

The Future's Bright

The inspiration for Christopher Kane's latest collection was Princess Margaret. On acid. Princess Margaret was the ultimate royal rebel and has always been one of my personal style (if not lifestyle) icons, so I love the fact that Kane paid her this homage in his collection, which was made up of simple, elegant skirt suits and pretty summer dresses, re-imagined in the lurid technicolour glory of neon brights!

Princess Margaret 'Kaning' it? Royal Ravings? I think she would have liked this very much!

British Fashion Awards 2010

Last week, the nominees were announced for the 2010 British Fashion Awards. The categories which interested me the most were 'Emerging Talent-Ready to Wear'; and the 'Designer of the Year' Award. Emerging Talent is interesting precisely because it opens our eyes to fresh new aesthetic ideas, shapes and colours; and Designer of the Year is important as undoubtedly the winner has created stand-out designs which will be stored in our memories as having had a significant effect on fashion history.

This year the nominees for 'Emerging Talent' are Mary Katrantzou, Meadham Kirchoff and Michael van der Ham. It's likely that few but fashion insiders will be familiar with these designers but that is one of the greatest things about the British Fashion Awards: supporting home-grown talent and bringing it to people's attention. My money is on Meadham Kirchoff: their Autumn/Winter 2010 was a melange of different textures and fabrics and was inspired by 'gypsies, junkies and blue roses'. It made me feel nostalgic for the days when I used to spend hours rifling through the stalls at Spitalfields market and putting together random concoctions to wear. It is also very London (should I say British?) in its emphasis on the eclectic and the insouciantly thrown together.

The nominees for 'Designer of the Year' are Christopher Kane, Erdem and Pheobe Philo for Celine. It has to be Erdem; he has undeniably had the Midas touch this year and no one can forget his digital floral print cocktail dresses that encapsualte summer 2010.

The winners are set to be announced in December.....watch this space.

(Pictured above: Spring/Summer '10 cocktail dress by Erdem and images from Meadham Kirchofff Autumn/Winter 2010)