I’m getting quite into this whole manicure malarky. Tomorrow is the IPR press day where I’ll be sniffing out the latest news on Wah Nails. Last Friday I was lucky enought to have my ragged cutlicles and dreary nails oomphed up by Sophy Robson at the Chanel press day using next spring’s colours. I chose a peachy-nude shade called Inattendu – apparently Carine Roitfeld likes the same shade (but of course).
Anyway, the real point of this preamble is to swoon over the rainbow sparkle nails in this pic from The Selby. I’m so going to try this look!
So it seems there is some truth in the point made in the FT, that the recession has meant designers lowering their extortionate prices and focussing on smaller (read: cheaper) goods to get their brand message across. The past few days alone have seen announcements of sunglasses launches from The Row, John Galliano, DVF and Alexander Wang. ‘Wow’ I ask myself, ‘are people really going to buy a pair of shades just because they have DVF emblazoned on the arm?’ And then I check myself because I’m the same brand whore girl whose eyes widened when I read the rumour that Burberry might be launching make-up. Wow, are people really going to buy a lipstick just because it has a Burberry logo embossed in the bullet? Er, maybe, if they identify with the brand. (Take that as a yes.)
It’s so nice to see some genuinely creative how-to fashion books being published. I’ve already blogged about Like I Give A Frock by Michi (above and below) which isn’t really a how-to book but is very pretty and an entertaining read.
Natalie Bloom (of the Bloom beauty product empire) has published Beauty in Bloom, a gently-illustrated ode to all thing beautiful and beauty-related to appeal to those (like me) who can’t get enough of foundation splodges and lipstick scribbles. Somehow the latest offering from Gisele Scanlon escaped my attention when it came out so I need to do some catching up. Scanlon’s Goddess Guide was an instant bestseller and the follow-up, The Goddess Experience, offers more illustration and collagy fun alongside her in-the-know tips and discoveries.
More sartorial sketches are to be admired in the form of My Wonderful World of Fashion, a colouring book with a difference from illustrator Nina Chakrabarti. As well as sketches of Vivienne Westwood shoes to be coloured in by all ages of fashionistas, there are also how-to-make-a-sari tutorials and did-you-know fashion history lessons. *Sigh*…who needs Colleen et al when you can have all this?
Exciting news just in this week that my blog buddy Sophy Robson is doing the nails for Jeremy Scott at LFW. There is definitely a nail thing going on in London right now, and no event is complete without its nail artists in situ. Last week I was tempted down to the Diesel Flash for Fun launch (its glow in the dark collection that lands next month), not by free jeans and tees but by a free day-glo manicure courtesy of WAH Nails.
Not only were the nail artists sweet and super-creative (no French manicures here) but something about the whole shebang with the little toy-like plastic fans on the tables (to dry the nails) and general hubub made the event far friendlier than your average hifalutin fash bash. Well, that and the fact it was held at the Dalston Superstore.
In the basement you could see the clothes in action, glow-in-the-dark stitched jeans reminding me of Helmut Lang’s 1990s reflective dresses and trousers – *looks off wistfully into the middle distance* – anyone else remember these? But truly, the most fun was had upstairs where you couldn’t move for fash-bloggers – Isabelle O’Carroll, Fred Butler, Jaiden James and Rasharn Rva included. Honestly, the only fash-blogger missing was Miss Sophynails herself!
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