Rock.The.Trend.

I don’t know if PETA is going to target this but that controversial rat coat from Gareth Pugh’s Spring Summer 08′ collection is being featured in the December issue of W Magazine.

                   
That’s a show of ’supporting new talents’ right? With supermodel Raquel Zimmermann wearing that coat for W mag, Gareth Pugh can’t be more fortunate. But at the end of the day, I still have doubts on whether who would ever wear those furry white rats.

The KatieBob or the ParisBob?

                                  Anna Sui, Badgley Mischka
For this season, the edgy leather jacket and the maxi coats are the ‘in’ trends but I don’t mind trying something chic and stylish. I was looking for a jacket that can bring me to anywhere from office to street and easy to match clothes with.

I got my inspiration from Rachel Bilson who totally rocked this cute-jacket-plus-boots look. Rachel is petite but she does have a really good style.

You can get that Hanii lantern sleeve jacket from net-a-porter.com at £300 or shopbop.com at $467.00

In the end, I got mine from a singapore label called m)phosis for S$49.30 ( around USD$30?). I would prefer to wear it without buttoning up or with long sleeves. I also like the fact that I can actually wear it to a lot of different occasions!

‘Outstanding Achievement in Fashion Design’ recipient Vivienne Westwood and ‘Best Designer of the year’, Stella McCartney.
Maybe they might consider showing one of their collections in London this time round? Words have it that Vivienne Westwood has already agreed to do so. Well, it’s just a rumour.

Agyness Deyn beat Lily Cole and Irina Lazareanu to the ‘Model of the Year’ crown. Maybe it’s because she’s the only one out of the three who showed up. She said her thank-you speech while speaking to her over-excited mum on the phone. Aggy knows best when it comes grabbing attention.

As the heir to Versace, Christopher Kane keeps up with the expectation and won ‘New Designer of the Year’. I was hoping for Marios Schwab to win…

Check out the full list of winners and coverage at vogue.co.uk

Three signs that show why a sequin or beaded dress is a must have for the upcoming partying season:

1. Most major makeup brands’ holiday collections are literally going for gold.
2. Alice+Olivia’s dresses are labelled ‘best-selling’.
3. Loads of celebs have been donning these dresses for performance & premieres.

             Eva Longoria at the Emmys and Fergie performing at the AMAs

Dresses that sparkle under the festive lights can make you look really glamourous and sexy without trying too hard on the hair, makeup, shoes or accessories. With so much ‘bling-blings’, the dress is the star of the whole look.
Although the Spring/Summer 08 collections aren’t too big on this trend (I can’t find many pictures of them) but when you talk about sequins, Peter Dundas for Emanuel Ungaro’s Fall 07′ collection is what I can best remember:

Peter had since left the label and Emanuel Ungaro’s managment team decided to skip the spring/summer 08′ collection due to ‘contract problems’. If not, we might get to see more designs from the ultra talented Peter Dundas.

Shopping:

From Hayden to Jessica, whenever you see a sequin dress on the red carpet,you would have most probably guessed it that it’s by Alice+Olivia. The dresses are not really affordable to me (US$450-$700) but they are more for those who like to copy celebs’ looks. I find nothing special about their designs but people would get them because celebs love wearing them.
Available at shopbop.com

French Connection is another celebs’ fave. I have seen Kate Hudson wearing a black striped sequin dress before and she looked gorgeous. I would prefer FCUK to Alice+Olivia mostly because they have better designs and the price is a lot more affordable (US$178-$228).
(fcusbuymail.com)

Topshop’s pieces, £75.

And of course, if you don’t care about quality and copyright, there are loads of sequin dresses at Forever 21 too.

I can’t wait for next month’s US Vogue to hit the newsstands because by then, the latest spring/summer 08′ ads would have been out and we can discuss the hits & misses.
In fact, the full list of bookings has been out, here’s a preview of the modelling actions.

Clauda Schiffer for Chanel Cruise

I have been seeing a lot of Claudia Schiffer on the magazine pages lately and I’m loving her comeback! She looks really fresh and gorgeous for a 37 year-old with two kids. After Salvatore Ferragamo last season, she’s been booked for Chanel, Louis Vuitton and repeats for Ferragamo again.

Kate Moss for Donna Karan

Then why is Kate Moss not taking a break? Everytime she fronts an ad campaign, I keep thinking that ”Come on, give the new girls a chance!”. She is indeed in a dangerous position of being overrated because she’s been around for like 15 years but she’s still shooting at least three major campaigns each season? For SS08, she’s doing Roberto Cavalli, Donna Karan, Louis Vuitton and Yves Saint Laurent…
I like how Shalom Harlow and Linda Evangelista are managing their careers right now , appearing in rare high profile ads once in a while and they usually cause loads of hype when they do that!

                             Catherine Mcneil and Anja Rubik

Maybe chopping off her long blonde locks worked for her, Anja Rubik is officially the ad queen this season with Oscar de la Renta, Valentino, GAP, H&M, Neiman Marcus, Chanel Eyewear and Chloe fragrance all under her belt. Apparently, Agyness Deyn’s short crop doesn’t show much significance anymore.
Last season’s break out star Catherine McNeil continues her climb to model stardom with three major ad campaigns namely Versace, Jean Paul Gaultier and Hermes. She’s definitely not a one-hit-wonder.

After four years in a Catholic all-girls school, I feel like I’m finally DONE with studying.
What a way to celebrate the end of this torture with a blown-out school prom.

The theme is ‘Hollywood‘. All of us didn’t really dress like Paris Hilton or Jessica Simpson but it’s really interesting to see how one another look like when we’re all done up and not nerdy-school-girls-in-uniform.

(Sorry for the blur picture) I designed and made my friends’s dress (the one in blue) and my own dress. I’m still very proud of my anti size zero saga. Other than the blog, I wish to be able to make clothes for women of all sizes and colours when I become a designer. 

Talking about becoming a designer, I’m looking forward to finally being able to go full throttle on pursuing this dream. When I was still in school and studying for the big ‘O’ levels, I was all tied up with homework, tests & exams. These are seriously annoying. I’ll be starting my fashion magazine internship in January next year so maybe that is a stepping stone? I can’t wait!

I thought Marc Jacob’s misplaced heels are one of the quirkiest around but Balenciaga’s shoes impress me even harder. I would say Nicolas Ghesquiere’s shoe creations are always bizarre but interesting. They are not glamourous like the Jimmy Choos & Louboutins but celebrities love wearing them, especially the Olsens. It seems like for every new collection, someone will surely wear them.

Beyonce famously wore a pair of the golden metallic leggings from the spring/summer 07 collection to perform earlier this year. Showing her love for the label again, she donned a pair of those lego heels while performing during the AMAs recently. It’s quite rare to see a glamour girl like Beyonce wearing something so kiddy… but she rocked it! The jacket totally matched the heels.

After all that I’ve said, I do wonder who is going to wear the woven boots from the SS08 collection.