London Fashion Week Feb 2012

That time of year became upon us again last week as London Fashion Week hit the fashion world, with the weekend filled with names such as Vivienne Westwood, Stella McCartney and Alexander McQueen seen on the Catwalk and the show was not to disappoint rivaling New Yorks show the week before.

The weekend began with Antoni & Alison, following Corrie Nielsen and Fyodor Golan, ending in the Central St Martins show in the evening. Each day in turn sporting some of the biggest names in fashion, boasted the extent in which London truly is the fashion capital. Moschino Cheap and Chic chosen theme showed girlish make-up prints on each peice for the collection. Sweet, fresh and girly described the show perfectly and what's cheap and chic if not British....and Meadham Kirchhoff with their seventies psychedic show, slips over orange leggings and huge fur coats with bold prints starred in the collection. The theme was followed through perfectly to the end, true to entertainment.

Some of my favourties from the week showed recurring trends from the last few decades, brought forward with a modern edge. I'm sure in the coming months we will see just what the High Street has in store for us.

Corrie Nielsen

Spijkers en Spijkers



PPQ

The Rodnik Band

Vivienne Westwood Red Label

Unfortunately, The Rodnik Band and Spijkers en Spijkers were only available in their Vogue.com original size image, you can see better images at http://www.vogue.co.uk/fashion/autumn-winter-2012

One other feature LFW is famous for are the citys most stylish after party after, after parties and celebrity fans. Rhianna, Tinie Tempah, Salma Hayek, Kate Moss and husband Jamie Hince, Shalom Harlow and Michelle Williams were a few among other celebrties attending the shows and after parties. Whilst Nicola Roberts, Pixie Geldof and Alexa Chung sit front row for the Topshop Unique show. Kate Moss and Yasmin Le Bon wear the same dress to one LFW dinner - embarrassing.



Kate Moss, David Walliams

Ronnie Wood and son Jesse

Kelly Brook and Pixie Geldof

Kate Moss

Jamie Hince and Kate Moss

Nicola Roberts

Paloma Faith

Pixie Geldof

Rhianna

Salma Hayek

The Greens

Tinie Tempah

 

If not the clothes, London Fashion week is also an opportunity for up and coming models to raise their status. Ones to watch out for are Izzy Good, only been modelling for 4 months and scouted in Cornwall, Adoah Abhoa, 17, also not been modelling long, but has shot for Vogue Italia, British Teen vogue and Love Magazine and Elite's Emily Smith, who hit the catwalk for the first time this year at LFW.

Emily Smith

Izzy Good

Reported that some were able to get a sneaky look at what models backstage were actually eating.....!!! Apparently the food was 'plentiful and healthy' at the Mark Fast show plates of raw vegetables, jugs of smoothie and herbal tea was found and models were found eating edamame beans whilst having their hair styled.

So that's it for 6 months, but hopefully we will see some of this fashion weeks peices cropping up on the High Street soon, until then, anticipation.

Kinderwhore

Purple Hearts Vintage will be introducing a new branch of clothing to it's collection, vintage 90's kinderwhore dresses. A collection of girly babydoll and grunge dresses sporting frills and buttons, customised for the right concoction of childlike innocence and.....well, street walker if you like.
This may be something that excites many of you as such items are not readily available online (from what I can find) and any information on the trend just advises you to buy ripped and ruined babydoll dresses from "thrift stores", this isn't pre 96 Seattle, such items are not so simple to find these days.
So we will be doing it for you. Searching out peices, fixing them up good a proper for you with no effort on your part (unless you feel like tearing the skirt up a bit).

For those of you who are not so familier with the trend, Kinderwhore was an image used by mostly females in grunge and punk bands in the early to mid 90s.
The look has many influences and contrasts two female archetypes: the girl-doll and the street prostitute.
Kinderwhore consisted of torn, ripped tight or low-cut babydoll dresses or nighties, heavy makeup, and Mary-Jane shoes or big boots such as Doc Martins. Courtney Love and Kat Bjelland (of Babes in Toyland) popularised the look and have said since that each invented it.


Some ladies to look out for as examples or for tips on the style are; Courtney Love, Kat Bjelland, Katie Jane Garside of Queen Adreena/Daisy Chainsaw/Ruby Throat, Kim Shattuck of The Muffs, Christina Amphlett of The Divynals, Shirley Manson of Garbage (early Garbage though) and Susan Wallace and Tina Root of Switchblade Symphony. Other bands to look out of are; 7 Year Bitch, Hole, Jack off Jill, Bikini Kill and Lolita Storm.


Babes In Toyland

Kat Bjelland

Courtney Love



Courtney Love

Daisy Chainsaw



Katie Jane Garside

Katie Jane Garside

Katie Jane Garside

The Muffs

The Divynals



Jack Off Jill

Jessicka Fodera (Jack Off Jill)

Switchblade Symphony

Look out for the gorgeous peices in the next couple of weeks, there will be plenty there. Each one will be unique and supplied for all sizes. Please note, I will not be ripping garments, if you wish to wear your dress this authentic, you may rip yourself....I don't want any items sent back for being damaged!

Beautiful Afghan Bargain

So we went shopping today to pick up some more vintage peices for Purple Hearts Vintage, went with a budget and ended up spending half of it on er, well, me?
First it was difficult to choose, first we found 2, not one but 2 (the complete pair) of pristine, unchipped cat vases...well I wanted them, they were big ones too and £28. They were the first thing I felt a pang of guilt about wanting to take home for myself, until we turned a corner. There it was, the coat of my dreams, the long leather afghan coat with sheep wool around the arm cuffs, around the bottom and YES, not a collar, no...an actual hood! Beatiful genuine suede, leather Vintage 70's coat. You have that moment where you think "I'll just try it on, see how it looks, I won't buy it, probably won't even fit"...so tried the coat of dreams on and unfortunately, it fitted like an absolute glove and looked even better than it did on the hanger. "How much is it?" "Um £££? Well actually that's a bargain, I've seen coats like this go for £200? Just a button missing, easily fixed...oh god, I'm never going to see this coat again, buy it, buy it, BUY IT!!!"

So, I bought it, had to get more money out to actually pay for what we were supposed to be buying. It won't be a regret buy, I can tell you that for nothing.

Was it worth it? I think it was. Anyway, we have more treats for you on ebay, under PurpleHeartsVintage, or follow this link http://myworld.ebay.co.uk/purpleheartsvintage/?_trksid=p4340.l2559

There are about 20 items at the moment, ranging from size 6 to 16 for women and we also have some mens wear as well, including shirts, cravats, scarves. Everything we sell is hand picked and quality, we don't sell anything we wouldn't want to wear ourselves....unfortunately not the coat this time though!

What's a Vintage clothing blog without some Vintage direction tips?

Joan Baez and Bob Dylan 1963

Beatnik is the 50's/60's stereotype to label aspects of the Beat Generation, sprouting from the words of Kerouac in 1948 when the words 'Beat Genration' were first used. The Beat philosophy was of antimaterialism and soul searching. At the time that the terms were coined, there was a trend amongst young college students to adopt 'Beatnik'.
Fashions for women included black leotards, black turtle necks, breton shirts and wearing their hair long, straight in a rebellion against the middle class culture of beauty salons. Naturally Beatnik evolved and hippies emerged in the mid 60's right through to the 70's. One of my favourtie female icons from this time is Grace Slick who sang with Jefferson Airplane and The Great Society in the mid 60's. If you're not familier with Grace, you can hear her haunting vocals on songs by Jefferson Airplane such as 'White Rabbit', 'Somebody to Love', High Flying Bird'.

The Acid Queen had Beatnik/Hippie/Bohemian style down to a tee. As discussed in my blog on Gaultiers Autumn/Winter collection, lets look at some new and old peices to create the Grace Slick look.

The main peice for this outfit would either be smock , 70's style maxi dress or a tunic. This stunning psychedelic vintage 70's dress is from the Rokit website.

Next, 100 denier black tighs, especially if the dress or smock is short like this one, you don't want everything on show so get the darkest tights you can find

These gorgeous peep toe, brogue wedges are by Abacus and can be found through Topshop. Brogues with a heel and knee high boots would also go with this outfit

A floppy Bohemian hat or Trilby tops the outfit off, this is my own hat, found in TK Max for £3.50

For jackets, stick to smart, velvet overcoats or military jackets. Avoid tye-dye, anything too hippie will just make you look like you live in the woods. We want chic, not new age.
This Jacket is also from Topshop, however you will probably find one in a Charity shop, as they have been on trend off and on for the past 8 years.

As for Jewellery, go for something chunky, rings look fabulous, earrings should be quite large amd with necklaces, go for a long chain and pendant.
Here are some I found, the ring is Ted Baker, earrings are Love Rock and the necklace is by Peices Felia.

Last of all, here's a bag I found again on Rokit, it has a Mayan Calender design on it, leather and fits perfectly in with the Summer of Love look. Vintage, you can pick something simialr to this up in charity shops or any Vinatge shop. A Satchel style bag would also go very well

Hopefully this will give you some ideas in how to re-create a look used by an icon or from a period of time. Although some peices I have used as an example here are a little pricey, you don't need to spend a fortune. Combining new and old works brilliantly and makes your outfit unique. Sometimes, past times are the best to take ideas from and make them your own.