Emerging Fervour

In November, we gave details on the British Fashion Council / Vogue Designer Fashion Fund and how to apply…Well, the time has come and we now have the shortlist, announced by the BFC yesterday…

The following designers are shortlisted: Angel Jackson, Christopher Kane, Clements Ribeiro, E.Tautz, Erdem, Marios Schwab, Nicholas Kirkwood and Richard Nicoll. Well done to all these fabulous designers!

The Fund was launched by BFC Chairman Harold Tillman in September 2008 as a legacy project for the BFC’s 25th anniversary celebrations. £200,000 will be offered to the chosen designer along with some high level mentoring support too…how amazing for the lucky one who ends up being chosen; we wish there was more than one menswear designer up though, representing alongside the fabulous E. Tautz. The ultimate objective of all of this is to assist talented British designers with the potential for commercial growth like all the big names today and to start making the transition from a developing creative business to a global fashion brand.

My favourite to get this Fund would have to be Richard Nicoll. I love the soft colour schemes for his Spring/Summer 2010 collection; classy with a playful edge…I really, really like this and will definitely introduce this style into my summer wardrobe this year!

For more information on what this is all about, then visit the British Fashion Council’s site here

I’ve just come back from Somerset House and 180 The Strand, which after a week of the London Fashion Week is now kicking off the London Fashion Weekend in association with Elle where over 120 designers are offering fabulous discounts for their autumn/winter 09 collection. The event started yesterday and will be going on until the 27th September.

For me the highlight was certainly the catwalk which was hosted by Louise Row, who not only looked beautiful but was brilliant.

And check out the shoes!!

Sadly my camera by then was dying and I only managed to grab a few shots.

Shoulder pad trend

Prints trends

Manish Arora, I loved his animal inspired collection, nicely quirky

Jaeger London

After the catwalk, with the goodie bag over my shoulder and a glass of champagne consumed, the shopping continued. Did I find anything? I did, but not for myself, a wicked leather jacket for my friend for £49!!

You can feel that September’s London Fashion Week is around the corner and the industry is all excited. So are we!!!

If you’re not one of the lucky ones officially invited to the events you can get a taster by attending the forthcoming London Fashion Weekend. You can browse and purchase (uh dangerous) the collections from hundreds of Fashion Week designer stands, most of which are manned by the designers themselves and best of all take a seat in the official British Fashion Council catwalk venue and watch a 40 minute professional catwalk show featuring directional designer trends.

With over 120 designers offering fabulous discounts, fashion and beauty tips from the experts and catwalk shows in the official London Fashion Week venue. Last season’s exhibitors included Luella, Ben de Lisi, Richard Nicoll, Lulu Guinness, Sass & Bide, Emma Cook, Beatrix Ong, Belle & Bunty, Eley Kishimoto, Kors by Michael Kors and Philip Treacy.

You can guarantee, with Autumn/Winter 2009 being described as the city’s most dazzling performance in years, the event will not disappoint.