Pringle of Scotland

The BFC have teamed up with Pringle of Scotland to launch a new design competition.

The designer of the best capsule collection in the judges' opinion will win 6 months' paid work for the prestigious fashion house, as well as a grand to keep you in cosy sweaters.

The deadline for entry is 11th December and all the details are on the BFC site - good luck!

We've been mightily impressed with newcomer Glass Magazine.

A stylish mix of fashion, art, music and design, it's setting cultural hearts a-flutter with its off- and online offering of coverage on the not-so-obvious but interesting.

Images from the graduate collection of 21-year old Belgian, Alexandra Verschueren.

The current Style section includes interviews with British Vogue Art Director Jaime Perlman and Polish designer Gzregorz Matlag of Maldoror, as well as coverage of Prada's new Made to Order service.

You can also stalk Glass on the usual networks. We think they'll be worth a follow.

The Business of Fashion have gathered the best of the video work from fashion weeks and popped them into a handy Top 10 post.

It includes our the film by our own David David - which we wrote about recently.

(via World on a Hanger blog)

Stella McCartney RTW SS10, Courtesy of Style.com

"The tipping point is here." So say the founders of the EVER Manifesto, a project designed to 'showcase and celebrate how ethical principles can underpin luxury lifestyles.'

It's a laudable effort, with the backing of a Princess of Monaco, no less. Launched at Milan fashion week and distributed at Stella McCartney's Paris show, EVER is hoping to make sustainable fashionable.

Get on board at the official site, and see the Business of Fashion's coverage.

We mentioned earlier this year that Chuck D had stepped up as Ambassador for music crowd-funding site, Sellaband.

Today, Techcrunch are reporting that he's gone a step further and now Public Enemy will fund their next album through their fans on Sellaband.

This'll be a great test of our own hypothesis that crowd-funding can work for creative businesses at any level of their career - not just those trying to establish themselves.

In other news, yesterday the New York Times covered the Catwalk Genius Back a Designer scheme - and hinted at some of the changes we have up our sleeves for the next few months.

More love being shown for Ostwald Helgason - this time by Daisy Lowe at the Form launch party on Monday.

Mondays are more about laundry than parties in my house, but I suppose perhaps if I looked a bit more like Daisy that might not be the case.

The Las Vegas jacket is on sale in the Ostwald Helgason shop on Catwalk Genius - and very lovely it is too.

..and so should you. Only hours left. Go, go, go!

Dazed Digital are holding the Raw Blog Awards over at their place.

There are some mighty fine blogs in the list, but of course we must abandon partiality on this occasion so as to look after one of our own:

The delightfully talented Fred Butler is up there for her blog, FredButlerStyle.

So go! Vote for all you're worth! Ends 31st August.

More celebrities are showing some love for Jojo and Malou, this time for their brand new creations featuring some glamorous sparkly bananas.

Legend-in-the-making Shingai Shoniwa from the Noisettes wears the jacket:

Image courtesy of London Clubland

While ubiquitous lady-snogger Katy Perry rocks the dress:

Image from Jojo and Malou Blog

Finally, Ebony strikes a pose in French Vogue:

I have shamelessly stolen this sketch from LOVE's blog, since its delightfulness needs to be shared as far and wide as possible.

Look at the shoulder-tastic treat that Givenchy's Riccardo Tisci has put together for Madonna's Sticky and Sweet tour:

I'm thinking of undergoing a spot of leg-stretching torture so that one day I may fit those magical boots. You'll be pleased to know that I already have the big stick.

Menswear shows came to a close in Paris at the weekend, and Paul Smith managed to make his finale both amusing and a tribute to MJ.

I think they are meant to be doing the scary 'Thriller' dance, but really it's anyone's guess.

Sarah Mower, BFC's new Ambassador of Emerging Talent. Photo: Andrew Crowley.

We were delighted to see that the British Fashion Council have appointed respected fashion journalist Sarah Mower to be the Ambassador of Emerging Talent.

Speaking to Vogue, Sarah said: "In Britain we have a phenomenon on our hands at the moment: a uniquely vibrant, varied and collaborative flowering of talent that is some of the most exciting on the world stage. I'm delighted to put myself at their service to help project that incredible energy and originality at home and internationally."

We couldn't agree more with those sentiments - congrats, Sarah.

Rihanna was spotted stepping out in a jacket from Ostwald Helgason's current gipsy print line this week:

(via The Fashion Bomb)

You can buy the jacket and other items from the same Ostwald Helgason line from their Catwalk Genius shop, including the gipsy print leggings, shirt and scarf:

Shirt, £256

Leggings, £129

Scarf, £95:

Here at CWG we're all about helping up and coming designers.  Our 'Back a Designer' programme was born from the idea that there is just not enough support out there for new design talent.  So imagine our delight when we heard what Liberty had planned!

The lovely people at Liberty are holding an open day on Saturday 25th April, where budding British designers can bring in pieces they have designed, and in return get some expert opinions and advice.  It's not just about designing clothes, you could design a chair, a cushion, an umbrella - anything at all!

The best designers will get the chance to have their designs sold at Liberty.

For further information or to register your interest, check out the Liberty blog.

If you're a budding designer and fancy selling your designs through Catwalk Genius, here's how.

Music crowd-funding platform Sellaband have just announced that music icon Chuck D (Public Enemy) is joining them as an ambassador while they attempt to gain ground in the US.

Since their launch in August 2006, the German venture has seen fans raise $50,000 in funds for 29 musical artists to release albums. A mighty $2.2 million has been invested in unsigned artists overall. You can read more here and here.

We're delighted to see them going from strength to strength as one of the pioneers of crowdfunding and can't wait to see them break America with a democratic funding model.

We're looking forward to developing a similar track record of success in connecting fashion fans with great designers.

Want to come along for the ride? Find out how the back-a-designer scheme works.

We were delighted to read Angela's post about this lovely project that brings together Giles Deacon and Smythson.

I'm a stationery geek at the best of times, but these gorgeous, hand-engraved illustrated cards and tissue-lined envelopes have me quite giddy.

They're not exactly cheap, but they are limited edition - and what a great way to write those fashion week thank you notes. Is it wrong to post them to yourself? Whatever, I'm doing it.

Ah - my favourite time of the month!

Annmarie of Iblog once again generously sorted us Irish fashion bloggers out with all kinds of loveliness, this time in the tea rooms of U2's Clarence Hotel. If you're ever in Dublin, or indeed the northern hemisphere, go.

The food was veh, veh good. Look!

Obviously, Lyns and I were there for the conversation, not the pink champagne - but we weren't disappointed on either count. Our end of the table featured RTE Sarah, Bluebird Katie, Solo Mag Karina, Offshoot Cat & Lil and Dub Streets Andrea & Matt.

We didn't get to meet the glamorous folks at the other end of the table before the Clarence politely asked us to free up the space for paying (but less well dressed, we can only assume) guests. Next time, folks.

Finally, Clarins showed the love with some generously stocked goody-bags. It's a given that Clarins is stupendous - I need no encouragement to encourage you to try it. 

However, I'm particularly awed by the Instant Gloss. By some wizardry that's quite beyond me, this clear gloss turns your lips a lovely rosy shade that's nice and natural, yet individual to your own face-pillows. Mmmm.

It's lovely to have some good news on this miserable, snow-clogged Monday.

When the news broke that Amanda Wakeley had fallen victim to a corporate takeover, an oddly prescient (or very well-informed) Lynsey predicted that we hadn't seen the last of her.

Image courtesy of Vogue.co.uk

Not even 2 months later, she's back. For good, we hope.

Most museums, I can take or leave. Don't blame me, blame my attention-deficient generation. And MTV.

However, this one's definitely worth the trip - and especially between now and 17th of May:

Image courtesy of Hussein Chalayan.com's blog

An exhibit of works by the award-winning fashion designer Hussein Chalayan from 1994-2009 is on at London's Design Museum.

It's purpose is to look at the creative approach of a man who brought us portable architecture, a dress made of aircraft materials and another made of Swarovski crystals and 15,000 flickering LED lights.

It's the most compresensive presentation of Chalayan's past fifteen years of experimental projects and will include his past and present collections.

It should appeal to anyone who loves fashion, technology, innovation or art. Basically, anyone with eyes and brain.

And I dare you to leave without once contemplating the phrase 'frickin' laser beams'.

1. Take 12 splendid designers:

2. Ask them to provide an image inspired by Light.

3. Using some sort of magic, refract said images through a Swarovski crystal and allow people to meddle with them with a mouse hover.

Images courtesy of SHOWstudio

4. Run an automatic spooky music track on the page that will eventually convince viewers to check that poltergeists aren't coming out of the television.

Et voila! SHOWStudio's 12 days of Christmas. It finished on the 6th, so all 12 are there for you to go and fiddle with now.

Here are the latest chart positions for designer funding:

Amount Invested    Shares Sold    Designer

£350                         35                    Georgie W
£280                         28                    Kelly Love
£270                         27                    Love Cole by Samantha Cole London
£160                         16                    Fred Butler
£111                         11                    Daughter Earth
£80                             8                    Tom Florian Atelier
£70                             7                    Plastikowy
£60                             6                    Clash&Refine
£60                             6                    Marshall&Vox
£30                             3                    Tatiana Biktimirova
£30                             3                    Lucy Willis
£20                             2                    PopRina
£20                             2                    Solemare
£10                             1                    Paula Mattoso
£10                             1                    Jennivi Jordan
£10                             1                    Saia Ikavalko
£10                             1                    Sample Remix
£10                             1                    Cristina Schama
£10                             1                    Alisa Benay

Why are some designers not clickable?
Some of the designers haven't got any products on sale at the moment and so their profile is currently inactive.

All shares purchased still stand and you can view them in My Account > Designer Funding.

The 4th Fashion Bloggers Brunch took place last weekend and Audi were nice enough to be our hosts.  We drank and ate probably far too much but hey, it's Christmas! 

In amongst all the food and champers we were surrounded by some uber cool Audi's (my own personal fave being the R8), and art from Irish street artists and illustrators Bren B, Maser, Chris Judge and Hugo.

Thanks again to I Blog Fashion for arranging the brunch and the fab goody bags!

Merry Christmas to all our fashion blogging friends!

We saw an interesting article on Wall Street Journal (via Business of Fashion) recently. In summary, it suggested that some designers will ditch their usual runway show in 2009 because of the expense.

As examples, they pointed to Marni (running a presentation), Marc Bouwer (webcasting a show after a successful attempt in 2008) and Carmen Marc Valvo (another presentation).

On Tuesday, the BFC bring out their dancing boots and host the British Fashion Awards.


We're keeping our collective beady eye on the 'emerging' categories, that include:

• Danielle Scutt
• Louise Goldin
• Felder Felder

..in Ready to Wear - and in accessories:

• Nicholas Kirkwood
• Charlotte Olympia
• Anna Vince

But the star of the show will be Stephen Jones as the winner of Outstanding Achievement in Fashion Design.


And crikey, there's some achievements worth celebrating.

His headwear has perched gloriously on the noggins of most of musical royalty (see: Sir Mick Jagger, her Kylieness, the right honourable Roisin Murphy), actual royalty (the-Lady-Di-Queen-of-Hearts) and acting legends (Cate Blanchett in Elizabeth, Keira Knightly in Atonement and soon, Audrey Tatou in 'Coco Avant Chanel).

So early congratulations to the master milliner from us - and for you, dear reader: some hat-fun from the maestro in John Galliano's Spring 09 RTW collection:

Tomorrow sees several catwalk shows from Roksanda Ilincic at the Victoria and Albert Museum as part of its 'Fashion in Motion' programme.


Tickets are free and therefore almost certainly rare. If you have one, clutch it tightly to your chest and remember the rest of us poor, unfortunate majority who can only look on with searing envy.


In the meantime, we thought you could do with this little reminder of the delectable draping, structure and colour that formed the A/W 08 collection. Mmmmm.

Did you notice the dodecahedron necklace on Style Bubble last week?


We did. It's the work of the delightful Fred Butler and - unless you can persuade Susie B to donate it to you - it's only available on Catwalk Genius. Behold the awesomeness:

I was already very impressed with the BBC's 'Thread' initiative to highlight fashion that's ethical and sustainable, but now they're running a genuinely exciting competition for stylish dressers who share our passion for such things.

Here's the deal:   more »

Now in its third year, the British Fashion Council's Fashion Forward sponsorship scheme is all about getting emerging designers nicely established for a bit of world domination.

Previous winners include the likes of Richard Nicoll and Giles Deacon and as well as gaining the prestige of joining this very exclusive company, the winners receive cash sponsorship for a catwalk show at LFW and business mentoring.

So congratulations go to:   more »

If anyone in your company could learn some more about sustainable fashion, how about a masterclass about that very thing from Futerra? It's on the 17th of July in London.
Here's the blurb:   more »

Verbal Croquis (who has just launched her own line) created an excellent post about the costs that go into creating a dress.
"In order for a dress to get from random idea to you as a finished garment you want, you have to pay a lot of people. You pay:   more »