TOP PICKS FROM THE BIG WARDROBE

Posted by Fashion Junior at Large

It's Day Three at the Westfield Big Wardrobe, and I decided to have a snoop around each individual wardrobe and pick out the cream of the crop. If you are heading down this weekend, be sure to check out these beauties...

Ted Baker

Lovely summer brogues....

A stunning shift dress featuring the print of the season

Chelsea Girl

Enjoyable retro displays and fun shoes...

...along with this perfect lace summer dress with angel sleeves. Very Florence-ish. 

Pauls Boutique

If you are brave enough, green denim hotpants for when the weather decides to warm up! 

Firetrap

You can enter a draw at the Firetrap wardrobe to win £500 worth of their delectable denim

Or you could opt for the leather jacket of dreams!

Delicious!

DKNY

Super hot pink skinnies - must have item of the moment! 

French Connection

There are a lot of giggles to be had at the French Connection wardrobe - not only a lovely selection of clothes, but the opportunity to win the entire wardrobe just by entering a draw. 

Not forgetting the infamous 'cat's cradle game' as mentioned yesterday, where you have to complete an Eiffel Tower in less than a minute in order to win a beach bag. I tried it out....

And promptly failed. Maybe you can do better? Let us know if you succeed!!

There are loads of great things to see, do and shop - not forgetting the fashion show on Saturday, which will feature looks from Ted Baker, DKNY, Kurt Geiger, Coach, Accessorize, Oasis, Warehouse, Mango, Next and New Look. There will be all kinds of trends on show, including Seventies, Festival and colour pop styles, so come down for your summer inspiration! The first show is at 1.30pm on Saturday and if you scan the front row, you might just spot the Fashion Editor at Large...

FASH JUNIOR GETS A MAKEOVER @ THE BIG WARDROBE

Posted by Fashion Junior at Large

Working in fashion land generally means no two days are the same, which is great, but it also means that sometimes your job description can be a little...flexible.

Fashion Junior at Large: Blogger, assistant, part time model?!

I do love it when the Fash Ed comes up with one of her 'schemes'. So today I found myself in the Westfield Big Wardrobe, with my fairly distinct personal image entrusted to the hands of hair and make up artistes.

 The Go Style area at Westfield's Big Fashion Wardrobe

Before: do I look a little bit nervous to you?

Now, it's safe to say I'm a little picky when it comes to my look; in particular the hairdo that led Brix Smith Start to christen me 'Kandifloss'. What can I say, I enjoy a bit of backcombing. So I was a little bit afraid at the sight of many a GHD. However, the lovely Haf of the Ginger Group vowed to give me bubbly, voluminous hair that no tail comb could ever achieve, and she dutifully set to work untangling the crispy hairsprayed cobwebs that masquerade as my actual hair.

Work in progress...

It was truly a work of curl-tastic art.

About half way through the curling procedure we decided to go a bit mad and attempt a full on Sandy from Grease look, so the curls got steadily bigger. By this time a small crowd had gathered to watch the tongmaster at work as she produced platinum ringlets. The final look was definitely something I could never hope to achieve without her expert skills!

 The Make Up Store's vibrant eyeshadow selection: which to pick?!

Next up, I popped to the Make Up Store's multi-coloured stand for some seriously vibrant lipstick, an eyeliner touch up and some coral blush. The kind people at Firetrap loaned me a wonderful leather biker jacket (which, to be honest, I didn't really want to give back) and all I needed was a handsome bequiffed fellow to play my Danny...

Did somebody say Katie Waissel? 

 ...unfortunately, that particular fantasy didn't happen, but I did get to try out some Tyra-approved moves and work an imaginary red carpet, which was fun. Check back tomorrow for the finished results!

In the meantime, the photo area will be open until Sunday, so why not have a go yourself? Remember to 'smize!'

Also, if you want to check out the photo-finish of your fashion finds at the Big Wardrobe, don't forget to try out the Tweet Mirror too, which some of you may have seen in action on the Queen Of Shops 'Secret Service'. It's all good fun! 

PS I'm looking forward to meeting new friends from the blogosphere at the Go Blog! tutorials tomorrow. See you there! 

Photos: Mimi Richman

IN THS WEEK'S GRAZIA...

Posted by Fashion Junior at Large

...read all about this season's high street hit, the Whistles Carrie Skirt. The most tweeted/blogged about item of the moment, apparently. And the frenzy surrounding this skirt looks set to get even more ferocious when two more colour variations are soon to hit shop floors!

WESTFIELD'S VERY BIG WARDROBE ADVENTURE

Posted by Fashion Editor at Large

I have a lot of a soft spot for Westfield London. My other half  Mary Portas helped launch it, and during my time as fashion news and features editor at Grazia I came up with the idea the we move the office in there for a week to make an issue of the magazine. It was a mad idea - and we had a total ball doing it. It took popping to the shops during the lunch break to a whole new dimension. We also won a Campaign award for doing it!  As a result of all the Westfield involvement ( I was on site in a hard hat before launch, and live locally) I've spent more time than is seemly inside this wonderful behemouth of a shopping centre. And yes, I like it.

So I was happy to say yes to working on a project with the Westfield gang this week. The project, as evidenced by the above photograph, is called "Big Fashion Wardrobe". The location is the same spot Grazia built our very real working office, and it is there for fashionistas to have a deeper experience of shopping at Westfield. It is also rather good on the feet as it is all in one space.

Chelsea Girl is there at Big Fashion Wardrobe - flashback to the Eighties! I'm sure I had a phone like that when I was a kid and dreaming of being able to shop at Chelsea Girl

The idea of the Big Fashion Wardrobe is to get fashion conscious girls and women to come in and engage with some of the brands who have stores at Westfield - the bonus is the stores have exclusive product and special offers it would be unseemly to ignore. Reiss, French Connection, River Island (who are in the midst of reviving Chelsea Girl - what River Island used to be called back in the day) Jaeger, DKNY Jeans and LK Bennett to name a few have Wardrobes in the space.  There is also this attractive shoe wall.

I do like a multi-brand shoe wall.

A view across the catwalk to some of the wardrobes.

The view from above - you can see the various brand wardrobes and runway to the left and centre. On the right in the bottom corner of the picture is the photo studio and make-up area where you can get a makeover and have your 'cover photo' taken - George Langford my fabulous Fashion Junior at Large is doing this tomorrrow and reporting back for  us. Along from the photo area is the bloggers lounge where we will be later this week.  

There is plenty of fun to be had in the midst of all that retail therapy - we particularly love Daisy Lowe's lomography exhibition, all in aid of the British Heart Foundation, and the chance to win a bag at the French Connection wardrobe simply by achieving the perfect cat's cradle 'Eiffel Tower' in less than a minute. Now that's something we haven't tried in a while.  To finish the whole event with a bang, on Saturday 2nd and Sunday 3rd April there will be live catwalk shows all through the day. 

Find out all the details by following @westfieldlondon on Twitter. Or click here. 

More from Big Fashion Wardrobe tomorrow when Fashion Junior at Large gets a makeover - I am looking forward to that!

Happy bday Rosemary,have a blast..much love

Me n My young Sis Patty at NEOS Bar in Dubai

My Best Dressed at Kili Music award 2011

STREET STYLE TREND ALERT: SEVENTIES BOHEMIA

Posted by Fashion Junior at Large

Here at FEAL HQ, each season we devote ourselves to analysing catwalk trends until we know them inside out. However, every now and then a certain style will become the look of the season, and have very little to do with the catwalk at all.

It has become clear that Summer 2011 will be the season of the Seventies, but not the colour-popping, grown up glamour of the Studio 54 styles that swished down the runway. Instead, there is a huge movement towards the scruffy, rocky, fringy, Stevie Nicks-y and maybe even bohemian-y look of the Seventies Woodstock chick. Yes, you did just see the word 'boho', but fear, we are not stuck in a 'Sienna Miller circa 2006' timewarp (a scary thought indeed). 

 

 The original queen of rock chick bohemia: Stevie Nicks

This is a decidedly darker, more mysterious take on hippy-trippy chic; we might be wearing flowers in our hair, but we'll also have thickly smudged black eyes and layers of leather, velvet and at least one item with serious fringing. Navajo details - turquoise, suede, beading - all play a key role.

Personally, I knew something was up when I had an uncontrollable urge to bid for this beaded, fringed kimono on eBay...

Now, you could blame this street style trend on our perennial love affair with free spirited music festivals and a desire to rebel against a frankly depressing state of affairs this year. However there is a more obvious culprit, who goes by the name of Topshop. Yep, the high street dictators have once again come up with the most covetable collections. What's more, they have seemingly gone against the catwalk grain - and it's working incredibly well. 

Topshop's 'Snake Valley' is exactly where we wanna be.

Smart people, those Topshoppers; they took the grains of Seventies catwalk inspiration, and have transformed it into what we all want to wear. Their behind the scenes film from the SS11 shoot sums up the Stevie Nicks feeling perfectly.

So it seems the scene has been set. Time to dig out those fringed kimonos, kohl pencils and snakeskin hotpants (maybe). No matter how you look at it, it seems bohemia is back.

Images: Stevie Nicks, Huffington Post, George Langford, Topshop

FAREWELL and R.I.P, ELIZABETH TAYLOR.

Posted by Fashion Editor at Large

Surely she is the most beautiful and sensual woman who ever lived? Those eyebrows! "The most violet eyes I've ever seen," thats what people said, though they just look intensely blue to me. If you've never seen the woman act, wait until you get to the bottom of this post, and see her in action as a drunken, bitter professors wife in Who's Afraid of Virgina Woolf, her finest hour.

She can lasso me, anytime

The eyes have it

By Richard Avedon, photographed 1964 when she was 32

In 1940 - an adorable 8-year-old

Here she is in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, in my opinion, her finest hour as an actor.

She won the Best Actress Oscar for this in 1967.

Goodbye Liz and Rest In Peace.

You will never be forgotton.

xx

DIAMONDS ARE A GIRL'S BEST FRIEND

Posted by Fashion Junior at Large

Put it this way, I don't normally spend my lunchbreak lurking around the 'sparkling' end of Bond Street, where all the luxury jewellers display their wares in gilt-lined salons. However when De Beers extended an invitation for me to play with an one-of-a-kind diamond artefact, I thought I should probably check it out.

Walking into the store, you are faced with an array of glass cabinets, each containing the kind of jewels you see in those adverts, where a woman looks ecstatic as a man casually passes a necklace over a restaurant table. But the most glittering piece in the shop is kept behind extra thick glass.

A small group of bloggers gathered round, each of us giggling with the weird excitement diamonds provoke in the female of the species. The De Beers Talisman was brought out from behind it's glass shield, practically blinding us with it's sparkle factor!

This incredible artwork has been created by De Beers in order to celebrate the true beauty of rough diamonds. Most of us never think about diamonds before they reach us in their finely faceted, dazzling state, but as raw, uncut stones, they also hold a kind of ethereal wonder.

We had a look at rough diamonds, which was definitely a first for me! I liked the way there seems to be an inherant light in these stones, even when they have not been cut.

This huge medallion-style piece contains 691 diamonds, totalling 271 carats.

Just to reiterate that: 271 carats.

Some are rough, some are cut, and there are an array of beautiful colours. Each stone was individually selected and hand set in the white gold background - the whole project took 10 years to complete, including sourcing the central 17 carat rough diamond.

(From the 'Making Of' pictures. There are no claws holding the stones, each hole was uniquely cut to fit an individual stone. These De Beers folks clearly enjoy attention to detail.)

Next up, the staff decided it would be an excellent idea to pass this object d'art around for us to touch. The below picture captures the moment where I'm thinking 'I know that this could probably do more harm to me than I could to it, but my clumsiness really knows no bounds. Please don't drop it, please don't drop it....' I had frightening visions of a Mr Bean style scenario taking place.

It really is an incredible thing. And by incredible, I mean it is actually hard for me to process it as a real thing - it is basically priceless, and something created purely for the sake of beauty. The Talisman shape and unusual stones did lend an air of mystical, spiritual properties - you could imagine it round the neck of an Aztec king - but that may have just been the aforementioned diamond euphoria taking hold. 

After the Talisman had been safely ensconsed back in it's glass cage, the bloggers ran amok trying on other De Beers pieces - including this 10 carat engament ring. If you want to give your boyfriend a mild heart attack, just text him this picture. Funny times.

Emily from FashionFoieGras was a braver woman than I, and opted to try on the De Beers 'Princess Leia' necklace, worth the tidy sum of £2million+. Apparently, Sharon Stone wore it to the Oscars a few years back, and if it's good enough for Sharon...

All in all, this was an unbelievable experience. Jewellery and diamonds in particular are perenially fascinating, but this was truly something else.