Lost in fashion....

(Shot from Charlie Le Mindu which was one of my FAVE shows of LFW)

Yes, I've gone awol again! The schedule's been all kinds of mental this and last week - so please bare with me. I have lots of exciting LFW related things to tell you, and will do so very soon, but in the meantime I'd love you to have a squiz at my PPQ, John Rocha, Betty Jackson, Basso & Brooke, Matthew Williamson and Ashish catwalk reports of MSN and Christopher Kane report for Notion magazine (also brownie points for anyone who finds the totally hid picture of me looking rather unimpressed and VERY glittery on their site)! Also, if you're not already, you can follow my daily ups and downs on twitter - I'm MissSisiG!

Thanks for all your ongoing support - it's very much appreciated, and I'll reward you with lots of LFW snaps, gossip and opinion mucho soon my fashwan amigos!

xxx

Hilary for Fashion Queen!

When it comes to British fashion legends Hilary Alexander is up there for me. Everywhere you go, there she is tirelessly scribbling away on her notepad. Yesterday she made it to the Bora Aksu show just in the nick of time, and instead of pulling rank and creating a fuss just popped herself down on the floor and quietly got down to business – now you don't get more down to earth than that! 3 cheers for Hilary I say - if only everyone in the industry was so modest!

Bora Aksu – Ants & Corsets

The show notes provide a charming story of how Bora discovered and became fascinated with a colony of ants one day, and although I think he has translated this brilliantly into the collection, his show yesterday morning all felt a bit A/W for me.

Apart from a smattering of red it was a very neutral and really quite wintry palette, and partnered with the opaque tights, Bora doesn’t seem too optimistic about the chances of good weather next summer!

The collection was (short) dress heavy, with a couple pairs of trousers to break it up. The dresses were all very pretty - feminine but with a certain hard edge. I particularly liked the padded structured ones. Ruffles worked alongside masculine tailoring and references such as braces, and all in all the collection felt cohesive and very wearable.

Padded dresses - I'm sure these will make lots of celeb and editorial appearances.

Chic casual tailoring

Very easy to wear dresses with slightly gothy detailing

Masculine references alongside feminine shapes and fabrics

Those cheeky ant hair pieces - fabulous fashion fun!

Anty marbled tights, and those fugly shoes! Think the tights are quite cool actually, but I'd team with something a lot plainer - they're a show on their own!

Would swap my mother for: One of the hair bugs

Would wear if gifted: The red ruffle front skirt or one of the structural dresses

Couldn’t stomach: The shoes (not sure who they were by, but they were vile)

Ashley Isham SS11 - Behind the scenes!

Yesterday I was lucky enough to get backstage at the Ashley Isham show. Tamara was styling, and I was meant to be assisting - although with all the excitement and (organised) chaos, I ended up falling into journo mode and snapping shots and getting quotes!

You've all probably seen images from the catwalks, but get ready to see where the magic happens!

The show took place in the On/Off show space. Here is a list of our look numbers and models, which was sadly little use to me as I could only put one face to a name, and there were about 20 of them!

The clothes arrived all bagged-up and not looking very glamorous at all. We also had a board of pictures of each model in her looks, but again, once the action started there wasn't much time for triple checking!

The team (L - R) - Malcom Edwards, hair stylist extraordinaire; Tamara, who was styling the show; Jess, one of her assistants; and last but by no means least, the man himself - Ashley Isham (who was looking rather dashing in a choir boy kinda way I thought)!

Me getting a mani backstage...yes, it's a hard life! What's more it's not just any mani, as it was done by Sarah Bacchus - Celebrity nail technician. I was actually providing a service don't ya know, as Sarah needed to do a colour trial-run, and there were no models there yet....talk about right place right time! Stupidly I forgot to take down a ref of the colour, but it's a gorgeous nude...yummy!

My fave picture of the day! Malcom and team working away on a girl while she reads - love it!

Models in waiting. The post hair and make-up, pre dress rehearsal lull...

Gorgeous green eyes, by Pro-MAC make-up artist (and all round lovely lady) Sharon Dowsett.

The set. How beautiful! I thought they were very magical rain-forest.

Head-wear genius Kiko (with the blue hair) and his team working like maniacs to finish his 4 incredible head pieces backstage. I don't think I saw any of the look-up for about 3 hours...didn't envy them at all. The hard-work definitely paid off though!

One of my fave looks from the collection. I love the graphic print, burnt orange and shape of the dress, and the headdress (literally) topped it off perfectly!

My favourite headdress. They were made from silk flowers, crystal and laser-cut brass - just incredible! In case you hadn't already guessed Kiko is the man behind many of La Gaga's head pieces. I'm thinking I'd like one instead of a veil when I get married...

Trio of blue dresses...

Beautiful black gowns...

Raphael Young shoes, which I'm totally in love with! He's a new designer, and I think the next Nicholas Kirkwood....deffers one to watch!

Tamara jubilant at the end of the show, clapping away to our fantastic closing song - Rock the boat The Hues Corporation - TUNE!

My favourite songworm

As regular readers will know I've been working with Charlotte Church quite a bit recently, as Tamara's styling her for her re-launch. A couple of weeks ago we did her re-launch single - Back To Scratch - which was released on Friday. Yay! So, as promised here it is. Hope you like, and agree that she's looking super-hot right now! Due to the fancy camera work we were quite limited in what Charlotte could wear, so she ended up in a Tamara-customised Uniqlo men's tee and Toppers belt (which I think she's working hard)!

Mark (the dummer/ glock player) lucked out though. He's wearing a beautifully cut silk-lined suit jacket, made by a fantastic new company called MyTailoredSuit. I may be a teensy bit biased (as it's the brainchild of 4 great friends of mine), but if you're looking for a stunning bespoke tailored suit (without the Saville Row price tag) then look no further....and if you mention me you might even get a special Sisi G dissie!!

My Fashion Night Out by One Party Si

I know I know, Vogue Fashion Night Out was like a lifetime ago! What with fashion week prep, and Charlotte prep, and there only being 24 hours in the day I really haven't had time to post this though, sorry!

Anyway, as is fast becoming my motto - Better late than never!

Now, all you lovely regular readers will know that on Wednesday I hit a grand total of one party at FNO, causing me to finally admit that I'm crap at party hopping (for those who missed it and are sad, dry those tears - here's the link).

The one party I made it to was Louis Vuitton's, held in their stunning new Maison.

On arrival we were greeted by trays of mouth-watering cocktails....or mocktails as they turned out to be (much to my friend Laura's annoyance). I think her reaction went something like, 'No alcohol?! Huh? But it's a party. I've NEVER been to a party without alcohol before....(rant, grumble, confused acceptance)'. I was driving though, so was secretly most delighted that I wouldn't be the only sober one. Yay!

My partners in (sober) crime. My friend Laura (who I went to college with) who's now an INCREDIBLE make-up artist, and friend of shoe guru Jonathan Kelsey - who's boots she's wearing here. Jealous. And Nik - uber pr/ blogger/ general font of all fashion/ industry knowledge.

Apart from all the gorgeous lust-worthy, tantrum-inducing bags, shoes, wallets, belts, scarves etc etc, the main attraction were the two Louis Vuitton photo booths (the 2nd party in recent months to feature a photo booth - the other being the My-Wardrobe denim bar launch - a party trend I'm loving). This booth was ingeniously accompanied by a Louis Vuitton origami accessories case. How much do I want this (the actual perspex case AND the origami accessories inside)! If I ever win the lottery, or marry rich this is going top of my 'Ridiculous luxuries' list.

Accessory options were as follows: Massive bow headband, bunny ears, Riding hat with bobble ponytail, moustache on a stick, and two strange bulges attached with ribbon. Laura immediately wanted the moustache (and is annoyingly one of those people gorgeous enough to carry it off!). I immediately wanted the bow, but then realised that everyone else was going for it, so ended up choosing the bulges, which I wore as shoulder pads (although I'm now wishing I'd have worn them as a Madonna stylee conical bra). Sigh.

Yum. I know it's a bit obvious, but I simply can't help desperately wanting this studded belt. Can't help it, won't help it....and most importantly can't really afford it. Sigh x2.

Forget window shopping, trying on sunglasses and taking snaps is the way forward. Much fashion hilarity, with none of the 'does my bum look big in this' hang-ups.

I then had the pleasure of being introduced to Nik's friend, and Esquires 2nd best dressed real man 2010, Matthew Zorpas. Charming, good-looking and well dressed - just being near Matthew makes you want to go home, take a shower and re-think your entire look. And just look at his pose. What a natural! Chic, chic, chic.

Found directly outside The Maison. Despite a total lack of evidence, I strongly believe these banana skins were planted on the pavement by either, fashion haters, Louis Vuitton competitors or some new Channel 4 hidden camera comedy show. What they didn't know that was due to the total lack of alcohol we all the left the party uncharacteristically lucid. So there!

My favourite image of the night. I just think it's so symbolic of how everyday shops and people were brought alive by a little touch of something luxurious, fun and special. I honestly didn't know what to expect from FNO, but I have to say what a brilliant idea it is. I've never seen central London so alive, and there was a really wonderful, uplifting vibe - it was kinda like carnival, but without the music, police, people-jams and stabbings. Perfect!

Hug A Pug

It's under a week before the start of LFW, I'm up to my eyeballs with work, and feel like I might need to be carted off the The Priory at any minute. As I sat here at the kitchen table in my pj's frantically bashing away at my laptop all I could think was that I needed a holiday. Then, from out of nowhere this piece of pure joy popped up on my twitter feed, and put a much needed smile on my face.

Start London, you are amazing. This video is GENIUS. These Erdem Pug's are insane...I think I'm in love!

1 day - 4 lessons

Wow - what a day. Today's been one of those days where as I sit here to write about it I really have to think hard to remember anything! This morning seems like a life time ago (having said that, we've actually just crossed over into a new day to be fair)!

Today started out with a bit of a manic prep for another Charlotte Church shoot. Manic because we were only told about the shoot the day before - which didn't really leave much time for the whole calling-in/appointment/edit thing!!! Anyway, Tamara's a total pro, and Charlotte's lovely and v chilled, so the shoot itself was absolutely fantastic and no-drama as ever. Phew.

They always say you learn (or should learn) something new every day. Well, today I've exceeded myself, and learnt not one, but 4 things.

Lesson 1: I'm crap at party-hopping

To be fair I've known this since I was about 16. I don't know why, but I'm just not the party hopping type. Well actually, it's probably just because I'm a bit lazy. Tonight, as I'm sure you all know was Vogue's Fashion Night Out. I didn't go last year (as I was working for a competing title it didn't seem right), however this year I planned to hit at least 3 parties - Harvey Nic's, Louis Vuitton and Agent Provocateur.

I decided to start of at Louis Vuitton. They sent me an invite. I like invites - they make me feel special and important. I went, I mingled, I bumped into a few familiar faces....and before I new it it was home time! Major fail on the party hopping front.

Lesson 2: Do what's in your heart

Now - truth be told I shouldn't have been partying at all tonight. Tonight was Erev Rosh Hashanah (i.e. Jewish New Year's eve). Unlike British NY, Jewish NY is all about spending time with family and spiritual renewal - not getting pissed on a river boat and watching fireworks. I've never not spent Rosh Hashanah at synagogue and with my family, but what with this whole freelancing thing I really felt I should be out there. Dilemma. After much toing and froing I decided to go out and Vogue-it-up. On reflection/ arriving home, I'm not sure that was the right decision. Work's important, but family first always. Lesson learnt.

Lesson 3: Don't not eat all day and then eat a whole roast dinner and cake at 11.30pm

Not eating all day was never in the plan (I'm really not vain enough for all that) - it really was just one of those days when it didn't happen. The roast - well it had to be eaten - it was my Rosh Hashanah dinner after all. I maybe didn't need to mainline the whole thing in 3 minutes though and then polish it off with a slice (and a bit) or apple cake and a cup of tea. Feel sick.

Lesson 4: Stop resisting the technological revolution!

I've been off email all day, and have just discovered 136 new emails. I think this is my cue to get an upgrade to something a bit more technologically advanced than an old small Nokia!

P.S. Check back for pictures and lots more fun and gossip from Vogue fashion night out tomorrow....for now I'm off to bed!

Mummy cool

The best thing about being freelance (and therefore dirt-poor and forced to move back home in my late twenties) is that I'm getting to spend a lot more time with my lovely family (no, not being sarcastic there, honestly). One thing I'm not loving though is that fact that my mum is currently looking and dressing much better than me. This is wrong because a. we're not in an American teen comedy, and b. I'm the single one, she's already bagged....well, my dad, but hey, he was hot in his day!

Here's a picture of my mum on Saturday night. Skinny jeans teamed with trendy knit and army boots, both in camel - i.e. next seasons hottest colour. Huh. Reckon it's time I upped my game!!

Birthday wishes and chilli kisses

Today is my bestestestestestestest (to infinity) friend Stephi's birthday - I've known her since I was 3 (which rather horrifyingly is 24 years now), and we now hold so many secrets we can't ever fall out. This also happens to be her very last Birthday as a Miss. She's back to back with weddings this summer (she says she knows all the couples, but I really fear she's become a crazy wedding crasher in her effort to make her nuptials the best ever), so we celebrated on Friday. Above is the birthday gal herself (a couple of cocktails to the wind) pretending to ride the Harley (I may have encouraged this quite a lot). V jealous about her new McQueen jumpsuit which she picked up in Hong Kong last week (yes, her life is far more glamorous than most)....and don't even get me started on the Chanel....

We celebrated with two of my fave things - Margaritas and Mexican food. Here I am playing with my food because a. I was drunk, and b. we ordered far too much!

Check out Stephi's blog here - and please join me in sending her all the Birthday love in the world xxx

Out with the new, In with the old

Deep breath fashion followers, for this could be my most exciting and revealing blog post yet....ok, so maybe not, but today I spent the afternoon at the Antiques Roadshow - too funny!

The one and only Sebulous - A.R fan extraordinaire. His poor lil' face when they told him there had been a problem with the merchandise truck and he wouldn't be able to get his A.R tea towel. Bless.

Just one of the million queues I spent my afternoon in. I was at the British Museum from 2.30 - 5.30....I spent 3.15 hours of that queuing. Fun. Not. Much.

Good old Fi Brucey in an uncharacteristically not totally hid outfit....must have known I was coming! Bless her though; she was accosted by some right munters wanting pics. It really isn't all glamour!

Proving you can't believe everything you see on't telleh, this may look like a fancy wancy piece of plant art, but is actually faux-piary! Yes, it’s plastic - the cheating bastards!!

Sebulous aka. the eagerest A.R beaver listening very intently while the book expert basically told him he didn't really care about his complete collection of James Bond paperbacks including FOUR 1st editions! Cheek of it!

Ta-da! My Nana Golda's dancing ballerina musical clock which I took to be evaluated. I'm proud to announce that the nice expert man confirmed it is genuine original late 1950's - early 1960's plastique! Yay! As they say, you can't put a price on sentimental value though, and this clock really does mean the world to me - so there you Fabergé eggers!

Sadly this is as close as Seb and I got to the filming today, as we weren't picked out the crowd (ruddy useless antiques we took)! Their loss I say - missed out on some first class telly!

The collaboration of my (wet) dreams!

Yes, your eyes do not deceive you - Lanvin have teamed up with H&M for their latest designer collaboration - CAN YOU BELIEVE IT???!!!
I for one am majorly excited. I don't usually go in for all this high-street-high-end collaboration malarky. Good designs, bad fabrics, and queuing from the break of dawn with the hoi polloi whilst breakfast tv cameras swarm around like angry flies. No thank you - not my cup of tea at all. Lanvin though. Hhmmm...well this is a whole different kettle of fish. Frances oldest couture house -the epitome of style and sophistication...I think I've just lost my moral high-ground...see ya in the queue!!

Still not persuaded? Then I leave you with the words of Mr Elbaz himself, “H&M approached us to collaborate, and see if we could translate the dream we created at Lanvin to a wider audience, not just a dress for less. I have said in the past that I would never do a mass-market collection, but what intrigued me was the idea of H&M going luxury rather than Lanvin going public. This has been an exceptional exercise, where two companies at opposite poles can work together because we share the same philosophy of bringing joy and beauty to men and women around the world.” Alber Elbaz, artistic director of Lanvin.

MOOBS

Uk crew – how are ya? Recovered from bank holiday fun yet? I was planning to blog...but birthdays, anniversaries, clubs, pubs and fine dining all took over!

Once again I continued my Carnival ban. I just don't think Carnival and London are working together any more – it’s just turned into one long human traffic jam, and is more like being stuck on a really packed rush-hour train than partying in the street – no fun! I did however go clubbing in Ilford (for a VERY good friends birthday – yes it was as horrific as it sounds), attended a very private festival in some woods, munched some serious Nando’s, arrived late to a rained-off 1st anniversary picnic, and rounded it all off with dinner at The York and Albany (Mr Ramsey’s pub). I also wore a lot of bright pink lipstick, broke my fave tribal bead necklace, and previewed a pair of black polka dot culotte shorts and a black and white zig zag vest, both Hennes (which I initially attempted to wear together, but had to admit looked like a set of fancy pj’s)!

And so to Nico (above), who wins the prize for my fave outfit of the weekend. Just moments before this picture was taken he was dressed as a flying squirrel, but I believe there was an red wine related spillage, so he changed into this. I love the trailer-trashiness of this look, and the way that although it looks (and knowing Nico probably was) randomly thrown together, the red in the shirt picks up the red in the cap, and the yellow and red in the shirt work with the orange in the tee – ya see? Most of all though, I LOVE the fact that Nico’s wearing a hooters t-shirt. I have one, but have never been brave/ stupid enough to wear it; he is though, and for that I salute him!