Some grown-up glamour has just arrived in the CwG store, courtesy of Mannhattan-based designer Deibe Rondon:
Venezuelan-born Deibe is a graduate of both the Fashion Institute of Technology and Central Saint Martin's. His collection includes sophisticated cocktail dresses, feminine separates and sleek knits.
Based in Ibiza and no doubt influenced by their surroundings, wearing their designs must feel like taking a year-round summer vacation. Ancient Greece mixes with modern romantics in their delicate floating layers - the result is as flirty as a surf instructor. Don't pretend you don't know what I'm talking about.
Continuing the signature geometric prints, but with a growing sophistication and elegance, the collection represents a logical and delightful evolution for the acclaimed label.
The designers, shown above, are both called Nikki, which must make things easy in the office secret Santa draw.
Their first collection is named 'Jules' after the author of 'Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea', Jules Verne. As such, you can expect some pleasingly aquatic pieces such as these:
If you're in London on a Saturday from the one coming up until the 17th October, pop round and say hello to the ladies at Portobello market. For the rest of us, you can shop the line here.
Fresh from her acclaimed London Fashion Week show, Georgie W Couture now has a new Autumn/Winter range available on Catwalk Genius.
The range includes some fabulous faux-leather pieces, as well as these gorgeous elegant evening gowns:
You can shop the range, or buy a share in her next collection. Leading the funding charts and with rave reviews from fashion week, it looks like Georgie W Couture has a bright future ahead.
Win a pair of front row tickets for the Georgie W Couture London Fashion Week show!
Our highest-funded designer, Georgie W Couture, is known for her sassy and sophisticated collections.
Now, she's offering one lucky winner the chance to win two front row seats at the London Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2010 catwalk show "The Girl Can't Help It", taking place on Friday 18th September 2009.
You will be amongst fashion editors, buyers, celebrities, and top fashionistas in the industry having VIP treatment all the way. The winner will also be giving a VIP goody bag, a chance to meet the designer herself and a Limited Edition Georgie W Couture special gift.
To enter simply answer the following question:
Name one of Georgie W Couture's stockists.
Email your answer to info@freshstrawberry.co.uk with 'GWC COMPETITION' as the subject heading. Include the following information in your email:
Recent additions to Catwalk Genius, Ayuk & Adoara tick a lot of the boxes you need to fall in love with a fashion label.
They manufacture in local London, their clothes are detailed and finished by hand and they select models who represent a healthy brand of beauty.
Secondary to all of that loveliness though, is the fact that the pieces in their current 'Black and White' and 'Puppet Bones' collections are simply gorgeous.
In their repertoire you'll find elegant dresses, exquisite tailoring and some covetable casuals. With this kind of quality, Ayuk & Adoara are definintely ones to watch.
You can buy a share in their next collection from their profile page, or pick up one of their creations in their shop.
For me, it was Flying Saucers. Or Rhubarb and Custards. Of course, these days my diet requires a little more chocolate content than that, but back in the day it was the pastel-coloured sweets that formed the foundation of my 10p mix.
Now, thanks to 20-year-old Josh Wayman's creations under his label Kandee, I think I'm about to revert to my high-sugar childhood.
His collection, Created in Candyland, features shoes that are all inspired by various sweetie delights.
Ooh. Have you seen what has recently arrived at CG? Some very cool new pieces from Jewellery designer Stolen Thunder.
Stolen Thunder offer a fresh direction in boutique jewellery. Each piece is handmade by the independent designer and offers an alternative to mass production.
'Look' magazine loved the 'Babushka' chain and 'Freedom' Lariat. See...
You can now buy these necklaces and and view the rest of the collection right here. But be quick. These pieces are hugely popular and very affordable, so won't be around for long!
It's great when you know the story behind the clothes that you wear; where they were made, whether they were a labour of love or just plain hard labour and of course, who designed them.
Modern technology means that these days, you can get to know the personality behind the collections as more and more designers are taking their thoughts to Wordpress.
Some of the Catwalk Genius designers who regularly pop up in my RSS reader are:
Fred Butler - as well as charting her meteoric rise on the London fashion scene, the colourful accessories designer always has interesting news and interviews with some very cool friends, employees and idols. See Fred's exclusive design for Catwalk Genius.
Tour de Force - Camille, the designer behind the brilliant hair accessories label, has a great eye for the beautiful and unusual. The blog asks some interesting questions about fashion and art, while entertaining at the same time. View the Tour de Force Catwalk Genius shop.
Kelly Love - the talented designer of sumptuous eveningwear and lingerie has a brand spanking new blog that has already seen activity at Australian Fashion Week, as well as giving a behind-the-scenes peek at her design work. Shop Kelly's collection on Catwalk Genius.
Stansfield - the uber-cool menswear designers who have created some unisex pieces for Catwalk Genius discuss the inspiration behind their work and give fans sneak previews of what's to come on their blog.
We can heartily recommend subscribing - and if you know of any other great designer blogs or Twitter accounts, let us know. If we like them too, we'll give them a shout on here!
It's Coutts London Jewellery Week and if you're a fan of innovative bling, you can see pieces from over 40 of the most exciting names working in British jewellery at the Treasure exhibition.
'Bulletproof' is the next single from London based electro-pop duo La Roux. These guys clearly have very good taste in fashion, as they featured Fred Butler'sDodecahedron Necklace in their latest video.
Check out their video below or if you fancy treating yourself, purchase the necklace here.
The CWG line up is continuing to grow with some uber cool new designers coming on board. Meet Aimee McWilliams.
Aimee spent her early years at Metropolitan Glasgow before moving to London and graduating from Central St Martins in 2004. She won Designer of the Year at the Scottish Style Awards in 2007 and has recently been commissioned by a London Hotel group to create a capsule collection inspired by 5 hotels.
Now her pieces are available to buy right here at heavily discounted prices. Cool huh?
Catwalk Genius fave le Tour de Force has been given the seal of approval of His Royal Hatness Stephen Jones.
TdF creations have been chosen to feature in the London's New Milliners' section of the Anthology of Hats exhbition at the V&A museum, curated by Stephen himself.
Colin Henderson has arrived at CWG with some very cool exclusive tees for us. Hand drawn, these tees are a must for your Summer wardrobe.
Our friend and photographer extraordinaire Alastair Strong, has recently shot the delectable Jethro Cave in some of Colin's knitwear. Check out Alastair's blog for more shots. Prepare for delight.
Jethro Cave in Colin Henderson Knitwear. Image courtesy of Alastair Strong Photography.
Marshall & Vox extend their cheeky fashion insider tees with these awesome tribute tees, both available in the Boutique.
If you like these, you might also want to pick up a share in the label - it's only £11 to invest. Visit Marshall & Vox's page and click on the 'Become a Supporter' link to get started.
Catwalk Genius has teamed up with fashion designer Laura
Lees for a short film screening and drinks reception at London Fashion
Week. We have 2 VIP all access tickets to give away to one lucky reader.
You must be available this Friday 20th February
2009 and be able to get to London W1. The event will take place from 3pm
to 9pm.
To be in with a chance of winning simply drop us a line to talktous@catwalkgenius.com with
your name, age, daytime contact number and where you’re from. Please note
you must be over 18 to enter this competition.
So there you go - visit Tour de Force's shop to make a stylish statement with a simple outfit, or when you want to be the most fashion-forward guest over 2009's wedding season.
We are thrilled to welcome Markus Lupfer and his fabulous knits to Catwalk Genius.
Markus graduated with first class honours from the University of Westminster and immediately sold his graduate collection to Koh Samui. Markus' own label was born in 1998.
Since then, Markus has become renowned for his use of stunning prints and bold colours and his knitwear has been worn by many a starlet, such as Gwen Stefani.
We recommend you check out the Markus Lupfer collection asap. It won't be around for long!
With Lily's background at LCF and Richard Nicoll and Lily's extensive industry experience the label has an impeccable pedigree and that translates into beautifully cut and finished pieces.
The collection is inspired by vintage detailing, including Vogue spreads from the 70s. As Ben told WWD: "There are no full-length dresses in the collection. We wanted the clothes to be more about kicking up your heels and dancing."
For ladies who're forward thinking enough to look beyond the wintry nights towards a fashionable Spring, you can now pre-order the key pieces from Catwalk Genius.
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:
You may think you deserve a fashion award just for
standing up in your 5inch Louboutins for 4 hours on a Saturday night, and I
would tend to agree with you.But
someone who has done much, much more for the world of fashion is Louise Wilson,
Course Director of the Central St Martins M.A programme.Ms Wilson was honoured with an O.B.E last week
from Queen Lizzy herself and sparkled in Lanvin
jewels as she graciously accepted.
Central St Martins has been the starting point for many
great designers of our generation such as Peter Jensen and Christopher Kane not
to mention our very own Sinha-Stanic.
We at CWG would like to say congratulations Louise, an award thoroughly
deserved!
I’ll leave you with this: "My students know I love
them. I'm the only one who cares enough to hate them."
Unless you’ve been living in a bubble for the last 6
months, you’ll know that we’re right smack bang in the middle of some tricky
credit-crunching times.Today Jens
Laugesen sadly announced that his label has folded after 6 outstanding years.The Danish born designer has won just about
every award out there and received sponsorship from the BFC’s New Gen programme.Unfortunately in this day and age that just
isn’t enough if you don’t have the funding to back it up.
We at CWG believe that fashion designers sometimes need a
bit of help.We care about the fashion
industry and that’s why we’ve launched our ‘Back a Designer’ scheme.Here you and I can purchase shares to fund a designer’s next
collection.Once the funding target is
reached, the funds are used towards the production of a new collection or
diffusion range.Once that collection is
sold, the profits are split between you, CWG and the designer.
We like to think we’re doing our bit. If you fancy doing your bit, check out the
designers we have who are available for backing and why not
purchase a share or 2?