Bristol Fashion Week - Live Blogging Catwalk Show - VERY Picture Heavy

Yesterday I attended the Bristol Fashion Week Live Blogging Catwalk Show at the Mall at Cribbs Causeway.  Bristol Fashion Week had provided 200 free tickets for bloggers and fashion students to attend and I was lucky enough to get one of them!  We were encouraged to tweet during the show and were allowed to take photographs - this was great, as at the last fashion show I went to at Bristol Fashion Week, it was strictly prohibited. 

Having arrived slightly late, I picked up my blogger pack, picked up a glass of fizz and was ushered straight into the show.  I noticed that the girl next to me had a blogger pass as well, so I introduced myself and it turned out to be lovely Laura from A Daisy Chain Dream - we'd tweeted about the event earlier, so I was really surprised we ended up next to each other! 

Below I've put together my favourite picks from the fashion show.

Pastels and Pinks from John Lewis

The show started off with dresses from John Lewis in a variety of pastel pink colours.  The models were trussed up in sweetie wrappers with pastel coloured blue and green lipstick.  The dresses shown were mainly knee-length or shorter and were a mixture of work and event-appropriate dresses. 

I know it's a terrible photo, but the dress above is probably my favourite from John Lewis.  Here's a link to it - it's £129 at the moment.  I think seeing it modelled on the catwalk really brought it to life for me, as I don't think I'd give it a second glance from the website model!

Sports Lux from Next

The standout piece from the clothes from Next was definitely these coral coloured jeans.  I desperately want some coloured jeans to liven up my spring wardrobe and I think these might be the ones!  They're very similar to the ones that Kate Middleton has been photographed wearing in the past week, but a lot cheaper.  Kate's jeans are from J Brand and are £200 from Net-a-Porter.  I think I've found the ones on the catwalk from Next here - they are a lot cheaper, at £40, so I'm definitely considering blowing the dust from my wallet for these.

Workwear from Hobbs

Continuing the trend for pinks and pastels, the Hobbs show was one of my favourites.  The clothes are summary and work-appropriate with a nod to the 1950s and are totally my style.  I've never bought anything from Hobbs, but I'm really tempted to go and have a look now.

The outfit above is devine!  I think I need to have this skirt in my life - it's totally my style and I love the colours.  I also like the fact that it's striped and slightly colour-blocky, but the stripes are slightly more abstract than just straight across.  The skirt is the Hobbs Invitation Galindo Skirt and it costs £110.  I think I might be tempted.  The top is the Invitation Jewel Jacket and it costs £199.



I also love this dress from Hobbs, the Invitation Jewel Dress.  It costs £149 and would be perfect for a wedding, but you could definitely wear it to work in the summer.

I didn't manage to take a good photograph of it, but on the very left of the photograph above (purple) is the Invitation Gem Dress, which is also absolutely stunning but a bit of a splurge at £179.  I think the colour and styling is fantastic - I'm seriously impressed by Hobbs and will definitely popping in there.

Occasionwear from BHS

I almost never think of shopping in BHS.  However, whenever I do, I buy something - infact my favourite ever sundress was bought from BHS when I was just passing throught.  Actually, my Egyption cotton bedsheets were bought in there for under £20 for the set, so it's worth going in there more often.  There were some lovely monochrome 1950s inspired prom-dresses at the fashion show from BHS with bold floral prints.

Coming in at £49 each, these beautiful dresses are a total bargain!  I particularly love the purple and pink dress above, also £49.  Having spent some time browsing the BHS website, they have some amazing dresses - how cool are thier going out dresses and look at the prices - bargainous!

Italian Tropical Fashions from Oasis

I love Oasis when it comes to summer dresses - I own many of their floral bright prints myself and I think the photographs below show that they've done it again for 2012.  I love the very Italian look of the dresses - they make me want to pack my bags and go to Rome immediately.

Here's the link to the Tropical Fantasy Collection.  I particularly like the Tropical Jewel Dress (seen on the left above, £70). There are loads of gorgeous pieces and most of the prices aren't too sky-high either, so I might put a few on my wish-list.

Miss Selfridge Nude Tones and Floaty Fabrics

The Miss Selfridge scene showed off an array of beautiful nude-coloured dresses in soft, sheer and floaty fabrics.  It was a very romantic and soft collection.

Miss Selfridge are on to a winner with their Maxi/Mini dresses.  Basically, a mini dress with a sheer maxi-length dress over the top, they give you extra coverage, whilst still showing off your figure.  The nude dress above is a very reasonable £45.

This floral print mini/maxi dress is £50 from Miss Selfrdige.

Channelling Chanel at Jigsaw

One of the standout collections was from Jigsaw.  It was, according to presenter Mark Heyes, the best rip-off of Chanel he'd ever seen - I'll have some of that!  Thinking lady-like fashion, and taking inspiration from First Ladies Michelle and Jackie O, the collection includes work-appropriate tailoring in the pastel spring palette.

The tweed suit (above right) is not cheap with the jacket costing £235 and the skirt £140 ... but it's still A LOT cheaper than Chanel.  The Lemon Merino Cashmir Cardigan on the left costs £135 - pricey, but imagine how it feels!

I love this daffodil trench, and at £185, you can justify it as an investment, not a splurge. I also love this beautiful Easter Print Skirt at £98.

 The beautiful Deco Fan Dress on the left costs £169.

Celebrating the Great Gatsby at Marks and Spencer

One of my favourite stories was the Great Gatsby-inspired, 1920s feel of the Marks and Spencer Collection.  Apparently, this is going to be a strong trend through the summer, and with the release of the Great Gatsby film in autumn, it's likely to continue through the winter as well.

I love the wide-leg trousers on the left.  I think these Seam Waistband Wide Leg Trousers are the ones - at £22.50, they're very wallet friendly and have been added to my wish-list.  I couldn't find the dress on the right online, but it's rather lovely as well.

I love the cut of the dress on the left and I really like the outfit in the middle for workwear as well.  Unfortunately, I can't find either online.

In Conclusion

So, the top trends for spring summer 2012 are:

• Pastel colours and soft tailoring
• Coral coloured jeans
• Purples and pinks with deconstructed stripes
• Lady-like fashion, chanelling Jackio O and Michelle O
• Tropical, Italian prints
• Nude floaty fabrics

So, that's my round-up from Bristol Fashion Week Spring 2012.  I thought bringing in the blogging community was a great idea and it generated a lot of excitement about the show.  Unfortunately, I arrived slightly late, so I didn't have a chance to mingle with the other people before the show and I had to dash off afterwards, so I didn't meet anyone other than Laura.  If the organisers are reading this, thanks so much for inviting the bloggers - it was a great idea.  I've got loads of fashion inspiration from the show, so I'll definitely be having a little shopping trip to pick up some of the clothes shown soon.

I do think that there should be a programme for the show with the outfits and prices set out in it, as it would make it so much easier for shopping afterwards.  When I've been to other fashion shows, such as the one at Harvey Nics, the clothes and pricing was all written out on a programme, so you could make notes or ticks as the models went down the runway.  I think that this would help to generate more sales and interest if the Mall did this as well.

By the way, the saga of my laptop keyeboard continues - I've had to bring  my work computer home to type this... I couldn't face doing it with half a broken keyboard!  I might do this more often so I can actually do some blogging for once!

What are your picks for spring summer?  Thanks for reading! xx

Just a little haul...

...or not!  Hi ladies, I’ve had a very busy week, staying away overnight at a roadside Travelodge yesterday, before going to Brighton and back today. Anyway, I had a spare half an hour in Brighton (one of my favourite cities) to pick up a bit of shopping and I managed to stock up on a lot of products.

Beauty addict's paradise... Mac, Bare Escentuals, Aveda, Kiehl's and Shu Uemura

If you’ve never been to Brighton, you will be in for a shopping treat.  I think it’s the best place for shopping in the country outside London, catering for all tastes, including high street, high end and designer, independent and quirky/hippy shops.  In particular, their beauty shops are fantastic. I used to live there when I was a student and I remember a friend coming to stay with me and us spending 3 whole days covering all the shops!  My best friend still lives there, and we always hit the shops when I’m staying with her.

I went to L’Occitane and finally got some Almond Shower Oil which I’ve been meaning to get for ages.  I then popped into Mac to get some concealer and bumped into a former colleague of mine who works there as a MUA – I’ve not seen her for over a decade, so we caught up whilst I also decided to buy Satin Taupe.  Then I went to Bare Escentuals to get some more Mineral Veil.  In Oasis I got a couple of pairs of earrings and Butter London polish in Marrow.  Finally, I went to Superdrug to stock up on bits and bobs.  Some Garnier BB Cream, an Accesorize bronzer, and GOSH cream blush, as well as other stuff.  Phew, that was a lot of shopping in half an hour!

Believe it or not, I’ve not spend much money on beauty products recently, and other than nail polish, I don’t think I’ve bought any makeup all summer!  

A Big Haul Part 1 - Fashion

Well I fell off the wagon on my beauty diet big time.  Not only did I buy beauty products, but I bought lots of new clothes as well, thinking of the festival I'm going to in a few weeks time.  Debenhams had a 20% offer on this weekend, so I took advantage of it, as all the concessions were also on offer.  This post is about the clothes I bought, I'm sorry about the terrible quality photos - I  just can't get good pictures of my clothes!

First of all I got these corduroy Red Herring leggings/jeggings, which cost £14 after discount.  They're definitely leggings which look much better on than on the hanger.  I can see me wearing them all through the winter, as they're warm and snuggly.  And best of all - they're a size 12 and they fit perfectly!!!

I'm not normally one for animal prints, but I saw this Oasis tunic/dress and knew it was for me.  It's a lovely jersey material and not too over the top.  It's also camel, and as you know, I'm loving the camel trend this season.  It's perfect for a winter festival - warm and snuggly, but rock chick as well!  I'm also going to wear this around Christmas - it's just a little bit festive!  It was £40 with the 20% discount.

I loved this dress/tunic from Dorothy Perkins, with an unusual print, and a muted greige/ gruple colour.  I know I've got loads of nail polish that will go with it!  At £32 before the discount, it was a steal, and it will work in the summer as well.  Definitely one of my festival tops.

I spotted this top at Oasis which is basically a standard grey jumper, but with a detachable snood!  It was quite pricy, but I love it!

I've been looking for some new cardies for work, as I'm so bored with the ones I have at the moment.  This jewel green cardie with black lace detailing is lovely and quite unusual.  This was on offer at £25 from Oasis (£10 off), and had another £5 off with the discount.

This printed cardie was £20 from Oasis.  I thought it had a lovely pattern and I'm looking forward to wearing it to work!

If you've not seen it, don't forget to check out my Christmas Party Giveaway here.  I've got together all the essentials for you to shimmer and shine at party time!

Thanks for reading! xx