Trend: The Cold Shoulder

I love how both designers and the high street are all flooding our Spring full of off-the-shoulder tops.  Made popular in the 1960’s by the beautiful Bridget Bardot, and now a sunny staple for TLC style faves Olivia Palermo and Alexa Chung, the iconic, Parisian shoulder-baring look is nonchalantly sexy, yet still demure and sweet. Its popularity has made way for a plethora of cut-away jumpers (my favourite being the Dias jumper by British designer Zoe Jordan), shirts, dresses and jumpsuits, in an array of prints and colour, making this flattering look so versatile and approachable for all body types. 

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TLC TIP:   Invest in a good strapless bra for this particular trend (Marks and Spencer, RRP. £18.00), and make sure to apply a big, healthy, shimmering sweep of bronzer across your décolletage (Tom Ford, RRP. £48.00) to get you perfectly cold shoulder ready for Spring.  Zara and H&M have some affordably chic cut-a-ways, and you can click on the below edit for links through to my current favourite off the shoulder tops... 

Photography:  Ella Sadika

Jewellery:  Missoma  /  Monogrammed Mug:  Anthropologie  /  Amelie Jeans:  River Island

Archive By Alexa Chung

The klaxons for London’s SS’16 Fashion Week were sounded by Alexa Chung, kicking off proceedings at a party hosted by the British Fashion Council to celebrate her latest design collaboration with Marks & Spencer.  The 31-piece collection, inspired by the brand’s past designs from the 1940’s through to the 1980’s, features wide-leg trousers, mini dresses, a trench coat and THAT ruffle-necked shirt (seen in the promo shot above) that will more than likely cause in-store customer casualties upon it’s Spring release. 

With full access granted to the high street store’s vast 70,000 items deep archive, Alexa has reimagined previously popular classic designs with new colourways and modern fabrications. With a distinctive and internationally recognised style, Alexa, “pulled from stored garments, in-house magazines and TV adverts from various points in the history of Marks & Spencer to create the collection that I believe looks every bit as relevant today as it did then."

The range, launching in April, will cost between £19.50 - £89.00, with the most expensive item being the trench coat which Alexa herself wore to the event, and which I have my eye firmly on!

Below:  Featured in the Evening Standard, accessorising my off the shoulder Marks and Spencer shirt, with stacking rings from Gemporia and a yellow gold Boundary Necklace from Georgina Boyce Fine Jewellery.  My fish tail plait was created by the fabulous Tatiana Karelina (33 Holland Street, London, W8).

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L.K. Bennett x Bionda Castana

Usually taking my slippers off in the morning is a real struggle... However, when I have a brand new pair of graphic checkered Bionda Castana for L.K. Bennett heels to tap around in, they were thrown off with wild abandon.  Lloyd meanwhile, had her eyes firmly fixed on the shoe box prize;  a win win all round! 

In what I believe to be the dreamiest of spring collaborations, celebrity-favourite Bionda Castana have created a gorgeous collection of limited edition shoes with high street fave L.K. Bennett, and every pair is just, simply put, lovely.  With three differing heel heights, the twenty-piece line up of shoes designed by the two British brands, featuring gorgeous lace-up and scallop designs, are elegant, yet ultimately playful.  Predicatably, the collection, offering our tootsies a little every day luxury, is flllllying off the shelves.

Everything about the Bionda Castana for L.K. Bennett lunch at Mark’s Club, in celebration of the collaboration, was beautiful; the shoes, the flowers, the David Gandy… 

Above (L-R) Clockwise:  David Gandy and Erin O'Connor, and Bionda Castana designers Jennifer Portman and Natalia Barbieri.  Below: With Laura Jackson, both in L.K. Bennett (hover for links).

TLC LOVES... Bionda Castana for L.K. Bennett

HAWT: Alicia Vikander in Louis Vuitton at the 2016 Oscars

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.

You know it’s been a good day when the only person to upstage your amazing dress is… well, yourself, merely a few hours later!  Not only did Best Supporting actress Alicia Vikander win the biggest red carpet high five of the day in her dusty yellow Louis Vuitton gown, but later that night at the Vanity Fair party, the beauty’s sequinned, black Louis Vuitton dress saw no real competition.  Congratulations Alicia!

Banana Republic's Pants for Every Body

Having recently unveiled their range of new trouser styles for the upcoming sunny season (the Ryan, the Sloan, the Avery and the Logan) Banana Republic feels confident that at least one of these versatile designs will be your perfect fit/NBF.  With the trousers differing in both shape and fabric, once you have decided on your favourite pair, you can stock up on the style in a variety of different colours and prints – Spring sorted!

I quickly decided that the cropped, skinny Sloan was the one for me; a comfortable and uncomplicated design I could easily see myself styling up or down, situation dependent.  I was happy, although unsurprised, to find a pair in my beloved khaki, as historically, Banana Republic love safari inspired separates just as much as me!  This brilliantly adaptable colour works just as well in the city as it does in the African bush, and I decided to pair these Sloans with a variety of less conservative, colour-popping accents and flirty fun pieces which I felt would take my new trews from daytime to nighttime in mere seconds.  The go-to LBD has some serious competition!

Below:  With a quick change of top, shoes and accessories, my Sloans and I are evening ready...

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Photography:  Ella Sadika

Created in collaboration with BANANA REPUBLIC.


Hello There: Rose Rankin

Since becoming the loud and proud owner of the above cool cats (Cheetah Simmy Mid-Top Sneakers RRP. £169.00) I’m obsessing over all Rose Rankin’s trainers.  A veritable high five for your feet, these handmade, colour popping sneaks come in an array of metallics and animal prints, and as I'm all too aware now, one pair is simply not enough for anyone's wardrobe.  Dangerously collectable, and just so much fun, the Velvet Colt Runners (RRP. £169.00) are firmly next on my hit list!

So forgetting double denim... is double leopard too much?! #YouCanTakeTheGirlOuttaAfrica...

TOMS Traveller Sunglasses: #OneForOne

I am so proud to have been chosen as an ambassador for TOMS Traveller Sunglasses.  I have always been totally inspired by this brand’s ‘One for One’ ethos and the incredible impact their ‘Buy To Give’ model has made across the world over the last 10 years.  

Just like their successful shoe model (where each purchase of a pair provides shoes for people in need), each sale of a pair of TOMS stylish sunglasses directly helps the visually impaired in developing countries, providing desperately needed prescription glasses or sight-saving surgery.  Founder and CEO of TOMS Blake Mycoskie has said, "sight is a fundamental need. The loss of sight has a dramatic impact on a person's life -- and on his or her family and community." 

I love these matte nude Traveller By TOMS Sunglasses (RRP. £59.99) and I love them even more knowing how wearing them has given the gift of sight to someone in need.  See the rest of the range HERE. 

Credit Buy: Charlotte Olympia for Agent Provocateur's Cat Nap Leopard Print Set

Charlotte Olympia’s recent, sultry collaboration with Agent Provocateur is nothing short of a match made in heaven.  The ultra feminine and playful collection includes several sexy lingerie sets and three pairs of sky-high, platform shoes, but it’s this wildly chic, Cat Nap Leopard Print Set that I want to get my little claws into…!  

The slippers... The eye mask... The coordinating silk satin pouch... This is what real dreams are made of (or should be!)  RRP. £395.00

See the whole COxAP collection HERE.

 

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HEADS UP:  This purrrrrfect set of three APxCO knickers will be joining the current collection and hitting stores from April. As a loud and proud crazy cat lady, I will almost certainly need these in my life! 

Celebrating Matthew Williamson's Amazonia Collection

Last week I attended a dinner at Matthew Williamson’s Queen’s Park Studio for a dinner to celebrate his new Amazonian-themed collection. Well, I say dinner but it was certainly more of a tropical extravaganza. Hosted by Matthew’s right-hand girls (and party planner extraordinaires) Rosanna Falconer and Georgie Macintyre.  In the company of three parrots (yup, not even kidding) and a flurry of exotically dressed guests, I was served a delicious Balthazar London feast and waaaay too many glasses of NYEtimber bubbles amongst various wild and feathered figurines surrounding my plate! We were then adorably spoiled with mini meringue pies and jelly snakes served alongside our mint drunk from elegant vintage crockery.

The collection, inspired by the Amazon and the spiritual revelations and awakenings reportedly experienced from consuming ayahuasca, the enlightening drug shamans have used for centuries as a window into the soul and cure for illness and depression.  The typically vibrant Matthew Williamson prints contain beetles, monkeys, snakes and a lot of stunning, tropical flowers; mood lifting indeed!

TLC Loves Matthew Williamson's Amazonia Collection...

Above (L-R) Clockwise:  Raspberry Jungle Bloom Silk Chiffon Gathered Gown (RRP. £950.00), Mint Jungle Bloom Embroidered Flare Dress (RRP. £795.00), Raspberry Mother Amazon Silk Slip Dress (RRP. £295.00), Jungle Bloom Embroidered Halter Gown (RRP. £2,295.00), Lemon Jungle Bloom Silk Chiffon Gathered Gown (RRP. £950.00).  See the rest of the Amazonia Collection HERE.

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LK Bennett's SS'16 'Inspiring Woman' Campaign

I was so thrilled when L.K. Bennett asked me back to feature once more as an 'Inspiring Women' for their Instagram campaign (see my previous SS'15 shots HERE.)  I really enjoyed wandering around my local neighbourhood with stylist Alex Meyers and photographer Eva Salvi, being snapped wearing a variety of the brand's latest pieces now available in store and online (click on items below for direct links).  With quite a classically eclectic style, I regularly find many of the L.K. Bennett creations fit effortlessly with my lifestyle, and their more quirky pieces work really well with much of my current wardrobe.

'No pain, no game,' is NOT my vibe!  Jumpsuits and flats are my idea of heaven - especially when said jumpsuit is covered in stars, and said flats are bright pink!  This shot was taken outside Nikki Tibbles Wild At Heart floristry in Westbourne Grove, where I could literally stand just inhaling by for hours... 

I love how Alex styled this particularly Chanel'esq boxy jacket with my never-take-them-off boyfriend jeans. The silver and gold metallic heels were a firm fave of the day... and miiiight have come home with me. #WerkPerk 

I like to call this pose the, 'Where's My UBER?!'  Dressed to impress as L.K. Bennett's New Year's Eve Girl. I particularly liked tucking my hair underneath this chic lil'tuxedo jacket - which is now in the sale FYI!  

Drinking my 'Clean and Lean' hot chocolate (who knew?!) at my new healthy hangout, James adn Christy Duigan's 'Clean and Lean' cafe on Westbourne Grove. BIG into these trousers, and yes, that's my favourite LKB Mariel Bag personalised by Boyarde in the background. 

The food served at the new 'Clean and Lean' cafe is all unprocessed, seasonal and seriously yummy (*as yummy as this cardigan which goes with EVERYTHING.)  

I loved the accessories Alex chose to compliment and bring out the vibrancy of this dress. I love this whole outfit and it's very much on the TLC Wishlist. 

Hair and nails by Neville Hair and Beauty (5 Pont Street, Belgravia, SW1)