Fake It Till You Make It with Weekday

Image1.jpg

With summer on its merry way (we hope), we are now slowly beginning to see more sunny digital and printed campaigns released, all enticing us to make our new season purchases, so we too can be as happy and tanned as the models and celebrities featured.  The majority of these alluring Spring/Summer campaigns are obviously shot long ahead of time, during the British Winter, and shot at great expense in faraway, infinitely more exotic locations.

Founded in 2002, Weekday, a Swedish denim and fashion brand influenced by youth culture and street style, have decided to be humorously transparent when it comes to communicating their own sunglasses campaign this year.  Instead of flying to the other side of the world to capture the essence of summer, the Weekday marketing team decided to shoot their models under some bright lights, in front of some beachy backdrops. Just as the viewer is lured into the inauthentic summer vibe, the camera is pulled back to reveal the ‘truth in advertising;’ our Expectation vs. Reality.

Aside from Brexit, another hot topic which has caused in-depth discussion over the last year, is centred around the authenticity of the advertising we consume on a daily basis, especially via social media. The actuality, and the ‘behind the scenes,’ of pretty much every heavily filtered, perfectly poised picture we absorb on Instagram in particular, are far removed from what we are presented with, and as such, I found creating my own Expectation vs. Reality imagery in support of this Weekday campaign, really refreshing and relevant.

Amidst great friends in Los Angeles, surrounded by palm trees and booming music, I enjoying cocktails in the hottest sunshine, wearing slim lilac Weekday Cateye Sunglasses and some complimentary lilac Weekday cords and blouse – Such a smiley, memorable day…

Whereas, actually, I was standing outside a London pub, on a typically chilly day, alone.  At least I had my mixture of two fruit juices (Pina NOlada?!) and cheese and onion crisps… All the glamour, clearly, and not quite the summer-vibes I had led initially encouraged you to believe.

Image5-2.jpg
Image8-2.jpg
Image6-2.jpg

Similarly, here I am in Cuba, enjoying some much-needed shade at an exotic fruit-stall, wearing my favourite Weekday Sail Cateye Sunglasses and Weekday swimsuit

Image10.jpg
Image9.jpg

Which of course, then reveals me actually standing by a Ladbroke Grove London market stall, feeling wildly underdressed, and beyond nippy on yet another grey day… Well, you gotta’fake it, till you make it!

Image13-2.jpg
Image11-2.jpg
Image12-2.jpg

Shop TLC’s Look…

Image7-001.jpg

In Partnership with Weekday and ShopStyle

Photography: Joseph Galvin

Hair: Taylor Taylor London

HAWT: Céline Dion for Vogue

Hawt = A late 1940's and early 1950's acronym for "Having A Wonderful Time."
Now the word is used on the internet as slang for something reeeeally hot.

New Life Motto:  Live every day like you are Céline Dion at a Vogue shoot... Incroyable!

After a 35-year career and a mere 250 milllllion album sales, Celine is back in the spotlight wearing some of the most exquisite couture pieces of the season in Vogue’s latest video.  

Modelling looks from all the big boys, such as Christian Dior, Valentino and Chanel, Ms. Dion (who at one point bites a nose off a mannequin whilst at the Ritz Paris… et pourquoi pas?!) has set the fashion world on FIRE and is just so hawt/haute right now. 

HAWT: Blake Lively at Cannes 2014

Hawt = A late 1940's and early 1950's acronym for "Having A Wonderful Time."
Now the word is used on the internet as slang for something reeeeally hot.

Look, I’m not sure what Blake Lively was doing at Cannes either, but what I am sure of, is that I’m mighty glad she was - in all her blonde bombshell glory.  Blake does good Cannes.  From the minute Mrs. Reynolds stepped her long legs and ‘nudist heels’ (these are now ‘a thing’ apparently) off her boat wearing a Giambattista Valli SS’14 Couture white textured mini dress with pink embroidery and crystal detailing (right) I knew we were in for some serious fashaaan moments from the actress over the two day festival.  I was quadruple right...
 Right:  Blake next transformed into my childhood dream Barbie, wearing a stunning, 3D, iridescent Chanel SS’14 Couture dress with Sophia Webster (one of TLC's faves) heels at the ‘Mr. Turner’ premiere.  The dress made her already teeny tiny waist look teenier and tinier and I adore the pocket detailing. 

blog_451570_2458110_1401287767.jpg

Below:  Blake's two-toned bordeau Gucci Premiere gown, with it’s bold slit worn and halter-neck, worn with the actress' favoruite style of bed-head fish plaits to the ‘Grace of Monaco’ premiere, won red-carpet high fives all round.  Well played Blake, well played. 

blog_451570_2458108_1401287768.jpg

Below:  Blake’s final look was a fifties-inspired, dramatic, white and black stapless Gucci Premiere gown, which she wore accompanying her utterly infatuated and beaming husband (who could blame him?!) to the premiere of his latest film, ‘Captives.’ 

Keira Knightley Recycled Wedding Dress

Keira Knightley was the epitome of a bridechiller this weekend, wearing a dress she last wore in 2008  (above right)  when she married Klaxon’s keyboard player James Righton in an intimate, low-key ceremony in the South of France last weekend.  To be fair, Keira's ‘something old’  was a Chanel Couture blush pink bustier tulle gown which I’m sure most brides would also choose to re-wear if one were just idly hanging about in their wardrobes!  Accessorised with wayfarer sunglasses, Chanel pumps and jacket, Keira looked amazingly relaxed, down to earth and ultimately, very cool.  Congratulations!

The London Chatter for ZOS Magazine

I was thrilled to be interviewed about my style in the SS’14 online edition of the recently launched ZOS Magazine, a seasonal online fashion, beauty and lifestyle magazine aimed at 15-25 year old girls, run by two creative high school students in Sydney, Australia. 

Chanel Haute Couture SS'14

There was not one pair of skyscraper heels in sight on the Chanel Haute Couture runway in Paris last week. Instead, Karl Lagerfeld, clearly embracing the current sports luxe and streetwear trends, dressed every single one of his 65 (mighty grateful) models in trainers. Trainers? Chanel? Yup… You heard that right.  Trainers.

These were however, not just any trainers… These were Chanel trainers.  Created byChanel’s shoe-making atelier Massaro, the luxe embroidered, metallic and bejeweled footwear were worn with candy coloured corseted gowns and shimmering, iridescent flapper-style feathered dresses. The result was a cool, yet elegant aesthetic.  I'm game.

Cara Delevingne made the perfect run(a)way bridechiller, complete with her own little page boy, Hudson Kroenig, to hold her train. 

PFW: Chanel SS'14

Karl Lagerfeld’s transformed the stark, white-walled Grand Palais into an art gallery setting for his SS’14 Chanel collection during Paris Fashion Week.  As well as exhibiting several installations and sculptures, such as an awesome Chanel No 5 robot, artists including KandinskyPollockOldenberg and Duchamp also heavily influenced the ninety-odd designs that still managed to remain identifiably Chanel.  

The headphone’esq pearl bauble necklaces really caught my attention, as did the model’s themed, artistic eye make up.  The  monochrome socked patent court shoes(below) were almost certainly chic on the day, but the practicality of this footwear is clearly questionable!  Right... I'm off to buy a peroxide wig. 

Below (L-R) Clockwise:  I do sooo love a Chanel FROW!!  Lou DillonVanessa ParadisPoppy DelevigneLeigh LezarkLaura Bailey and Caroline Sieber

HAWT: Alexa Chung in Chanel

Hawt = A late 1940's and early 1950's acronym for "Having A Wonderful Time."
Now the word is used on the internet as slang for something reeeeally hot.

 Ooh La Lexa… This week Alexa Chung left a muddy Glastonbury for a beautiful Paris to attend the Chanel Haute Couture Autumn/Winter’13 show at the Grand Palais.  The presenter/DJ looked très chic in a midnight blue velvet mini-dress with black lace Victoriana style high neckline and delicate sleeves.   Black and navy is my favourite colour combination, one Alexa regularly wears on the front row, this time completing her stylish look with a small classic Chanelshoulder bag and a pair of triple buckled black Mary-Janes (which would look hideously unflattering and terribly un-HAWT on anyone else aside from Alexa!)

Chanel's 'Once Upon a Time'

To celebrate its 100th anniversary, Chanel has released a Coco Chanel film entitled 'Once Upon A Time.'   Shot by the brand's creative director Karl Lagerfeld, the 18 minute short film stars Keira Knightley as the label's iconic designer and focuses on the opening of her debut store in 1913, situated in the French seaside town of Deauville  which Lagerfeld allegedly went to great lengths to reproduce.  Models Stella Tennant and Lindsey Wixson, actress Amanda Harlech and Chanel muse Tallulah Harlech also make cameos.  
This definitely demands a short coffee break Ladies... with a Kit Kat peut-être...?!

Mother's Day Flowers ... From Chanel

Show your Mum just HOW much you love her by hot-footing it down to Covent Garden this weekend and buying her a beautiful bouquet from the Chanel pop-up flower stall.  From tomorrow the flowers essential to the House’s most loved fragrances (including roses, jasmine, patchouli and irises) will be available to buy until late Sunday afternoon.  Also, if you purchase a 100ml of Chanel perfume, you will be given a complimentary hand-tied posy with a personalized message handwritten by a Chanel calligrapher on a camellia-embossed card... I’m slightly breathless at the very thought.  

These are not just flowers. These are CHANEL flowers!