Rodarte for Opening Ceremony.

I ♥ Rodarte

I also ♥ Opening Ceremony

But I ♥ ♥ this AMAZING new collaboration between the two... 

The collection has just literally gone on sale at Harvey Nichols this week and will be available at Dover Street Market from the beginning of March.

Tomorrow's agenda?
Rob a bank so that I can buy the entire collection...

All in the name of fashion darlings.
♥

Charles Anastase AW11

Inspired by his upbringing in "dark, rainy" France, Charles Anastase could not have picked a better day to showcase his AW collection at LFW this season. With Walker Scott's 'It's Raining Today', playing prior to the show, only to be followed by Brigitte Fontaine's Il Pleut, it all seemed a little too coincidental... Did Mr Anastase tip off the weatherman? We couldn't help but wonder...

Charles' vision had since moved on from Spring/Summer 2011 - the glasses were gone, as were the prim fringes, favoured for brushed out tresses with a severe centre parting. The innocent girl still remained however, but this time there were glimpses of rebellion: impossibly short hemlines were paired with cuissardes - that's français for thigh skimming boots, sickly sweet pinks subverted stereo-type in sheer fabrics and the traditional chelsea boot met a 5 inch platform to reflect the "naughty" evolution of Anastase's Princess.

Colours were autumnal in burgundies, burnt reds, browns and toffee beiges: a favourable palette to match the tweeds, mohairs and velvets that dominated this incredibly wearable collection; while flickers of gold, red and metallic embellishment ticked the boxes for the festive season.

All in all - a triumph.

So let it rain, in fact let it pour for Monsieur Anastase... moi? J'adore.

View the entire collection here.

What I wore...

Click here to see all the Elle team in their glad rags...

Vintage dress, L.K Bennett shoes, vintage Christian Dior bag

ELLE STYLE AWARDS

Just when I thought life couldn't get any more surreal, Monday night happened. 
Greeted by a red-carpet and a mass of paparazzi, myself and fellow ELLE Girl Grace (Little Miss London Snog) hopped out of our car and turned our celebrity on. (Sadly, there was no need to shout 'No photos please', someone had clearly forgotten to brief the Paps about my past as a child star - best notify them for next time). 

Armed with notebooks, our mission for the night was to find out exactly what the celebs were wearing...
A reason to talk to the stars? This was going to be fun.

Fearne Cotton told me she liked my dress (it was vintage darling), Jameela Jamil asked me where the loos were (can I just say she is STUNNING), Lily Cole and I exchanged words about her denying her ginger roots (she assured me they will be back), oh and David Gandy proposed (ok so that might just be a little white lie, but we still conversed about his suit).

Did I mention Blake Lively, Thandie Newton, Coco Rocha (I ♥ her), Alexa (those eyes), Helena Christensen, Jo Whiley, Ellie Goulding, Laura Bailey, Emma Watson, Stephen Dorff, George Lamb, Geri Halliwell, Sophie Ellis Bextor, Eliza Doolittle, Julien Macdonald, Courtney love, Donna Air, Jamie Winston and Pixie Geldof all spared a few stolen moments to speak to me... 
No, surreal doesn’t quite cover it.

We dined, we drank champagne (lots of champagne), we sat in awe as Tom Ford graced the stage, we laughed nervously as Vivienne Westwood confessed to not knowing who Emma Watson was, minutes before presenting Emma with the Style Icon award, and finally we danced our way into the early hours as Boy George manned the decks.

Oh, what a night.

Thank you ELLE. 
Watch the highlights here.

My favourite look of the night, Alexa in YSL.

Blake Lively in Emilio Pucci 

Cheryl in Alexander McQueen

Coco Rocha in Alexander McQueen

Courtney Love in Givenchy

The love of my life in Lawson Walker

Emma Watson in Hakaan

Thandie Newton in Louis Vuitton

Wu me.

Jason Wu - the name doesn't exactly scream cutting edge fashion, more prim, proper austerity. 

Mr Wu dresses the Lady, quite literally in fact, given that he remains designer of choice for Michelle Obama. And yet, having just viewed his latest collection in NY for AW11, I must admit I am starting to see this young designer in a new light... 

His designs are extremely polished, safe; there is nothing exactly new or exciting about them - a polar opposite you might say to to Miuccia Prada and her bananas. Instead, Mr Wu is more aligned with the likes of Mademoiselle Chanel who so famously claimed: 

"Fashion ... goes out of fashion. Style never". 

While some may dare to class his creations as boring - I am, on the other hand, completely Wu-ed.

When I win that Oscar...

Lunch with the Queen...

View the entire collection here.

Me and Kate.

Last weekend was the most surreal of my life.

I spent it with Kate Moss.

I can't say much more than that (all will be revealed sooner or later, so stay tuned!) but until then, here is an homage to a woman that need only look at a camera to make it fall in love with her.

Me and Carine.

So... a few weeks back French Vogue called.

Carine was in town to shoot an exclusive Gucci editorial with Mario Sorrenti and required my assistance -  "Ah mais oui, bien sur, pas de souci" I replied. Then they hit me with a bombshell - her main assistant in Paris wouldn't be coming - this time, Madame Roitfeld was strictly in need of MY assistance, i.e. mine and only mine, yes one-on-one, little old me and one of fashion's most powerful figure-heads. Gulp.

The day of the shoot arrived.

All samples were due from Milan and Venice that morning, which meant I was at the mercy of international couriers. Now, if you work in fashion, you will know that this is definitely not an ideal situation to be in, but it is even less ideal when you are assisting the Editor-in-Chief of French Vogue and have not been involved with the initial preparation for the shoot. All I could do was wait, pray that everything would go to plan, and nurse my fears by attacking the free breakfast.

At 9.30am, I was presented with an enormous delivery from Milan. Hallelujah!!! Time to step away from the croissants and get to work. I got down on my hands and knees, armed with scissors and tore my way through mountains of tissue paper and bubble wrap. My heart was pounding with the excitement of seeing Carine's selected pieces... and there they were, waiting patiently underneath: a treasure trove of vintage accessories, spanning from the 1920s to the 1990s.
Pure. Gucci.  Heaven.

I began laying out each piece with tender-loving care, indulging in seeing my reflection holding such coveted and iconic maroquinerie, when an amazonian goddess entered the room.

"Hi, I'm Arizona"...
"Hi, I'm short... I mean Charlene!"

(Wow. There's nothing quite like an impossibly thin model to make you regret having just scoffed a croissant).

Radiating a flawless, ethereal beauty, it's hardly surprising that this girl has been chosen as the face for YSL's SS11 campaigns - mark my words now, she is going to be huge! Besides making me feel extremely inadeqate, Arizona's presence also reminded me of a hugely worrying factor - we had a model, bags, shoes and belts - mais pas de vetements... this girl was going to be seriously naked if the second delivery didn't arrive soon.

The Lord must have heard my prayers, because then, right on cue - the second box was planted at my feet. PHEW. With a silent prayer of thanks, I opened the second box, only to find jewellery... 

I frantically dialed the office in Paris - voicemail. Sweet Jesus, please send me some clothes! It's safe to say my heart was pounding by now, Carine would be here any minute and we had nothing to dress the model in. A few calls later, I was told that the final delivery - les vetements - were stuck in customs and wouldn't be at the studio for another 2 hours at least...
Three letters came to mind at that moment. F.M.L.

And then she arrived. Carine. Wearing a vintage suede Alexander McQueen skirt, her uniform Christian Louboutins and the most SUBLIME camel cape (that's French Vogue speak for amazing). We did the standard double french kiss, she told me how much my hair had grown (did I mention how much I adore this woman?) and then it was time to break the news...

No clothes? No problem. We will shoot her naked.

And that's exactly what we did.

Buy this month's French Vogue to see the real deal.