If you'd like to join in the unique crowdfunding project and 'Back a Designer', here's a screencast to show you how to buy shares. Click the image to play (you'll leave this site):

Fashions glitterati turned up last night to the much talked about Fashion Oscars.  The 2008 British Fashion Awards never fail to disappoint, with many a well dressed celeb gliding down the red carpet.

Now, at CWG we don't like to pick (too many) faves, but we were delighted to see that Nicholas Kirkwood was honoured with the Swarovski Emerging Talent Award for Accessories.  Well done Nick, our feet salute you!

Other winners were:

DESIGNER OF THE YEAR: Luella Bartley

OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN FASHION DESIGN: Stephen Jones

ACCESSORY DESIGNER: Rupert Sanderson

MENSWEAR DESIGNER: Christopher Bailey for Burberry

MODEL OF THE YEAR: Jourdan Dunn

RED CARPET DESIGNER: Matthew Williamson

SPECIAL AWARD FOR BESPOKE: Richard James

ISABELLA BLOW AWARD FOR FASHION CREATOR: Tim Walker

DESIGNER BRAND: Jimmy Choo

SWAROVSKI EMERGING TALENT AWARD ACCESSORIES: Nicholas Kirkwood

SWAROVSKI EMERGING TALENT AWARD READY TO WEAR: Louise Goldin

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.

Look out for some gorgeous pieces from Jojo&Malou in both our Boutique and Sample Sale sections.

For those of you lucky enough to stay close to the fashion capital, the Fashion Expo opens it's doors tomorrow at London's Business Design Centre.

The event, hosted by Laura Bailey, provides a platform for over 80 London-based designers and manufacturers to promote their collections and production skills to retailers.  A glamorous gala evening will conclude the event with a catwalk production show and awards ceremony.

For more info visit the Fashion Expo site.

Just a reminder to the Londonites among you that those fashion awards of which Lynsey speaks are in Shoreditch Town Hall, EC1.

Tomorrow sees the launch of the first RE:Fashion Awards.  The only awards show of it's kind to concentrate solely on ethical fashion.  There are 12 award categories covering key areas of the fashion industry, with points for innovation, cutting edge design and driving positive social and environmental progress within the industry.

The highlight of the evening might just be the magnificent catwalk show, where one-off designs created especially for RE:Fashion will be unveiled. They will be modelled by ethical celebs including Daisy Lowe, Pixie Geldof, Leah Wood, Leah Weller and Portia Freeman.

Designers creating for the RE:Fashion catwalk include Vivienne Westwood, Zandra Rhodes, Preen, Bora Aksu, Allegra Hicks, Todd Lynn, Aimee McWilliams, Jonathan Saunders.

If you fancy heading along to the awards, check out the RE:Fashion website to get your hands on a ticket.

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:

The 2008 MTV Awards were held in Liverpool last night and as always, we were studying the red carpet to see what our fave stars were wearing.  Beyonce Knowles, known for her love of all things Armani, decided that this year was the year to go British.  Beyonce arrived at the MTV awards looking fabulous in a creation by Gareth Pugh.  But one Pugh was not enough for Beyonce, as she performed later in one of his cyber-chic creations, the very same that was modelled by Agyness Deyn at February's LFW.

Gareth Pugh will be featuring at this years Clothes Show Live event at the Birmingham NEC in December.

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."                                     

Louise Wilson.

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?

     

Hello again,

After a summer off, we've decided it's about time we got back to work.

A lot of people have been very busy on our behalf and if you were a registered designer before the break, here are the changes you'll notice when you log back in:



Got more questions? Drop us a line at talktous[at]catwalkgenius[dot]com, or leave a comment.

The shop will open to the public in just a short while, so watch this space for more info and special offers.

On Saturday Mal and I finally made it along to a Dublin Fashion Bloggers' Brunch after being I'd been distraught at missing the first two, goody-bag laden events.   more »

You may have noticed that our homepage has gone a little coy recently - it's because behind the screen, we're getting changed. Check out the new logo, for a start.

Over the next few weeks, the team will be working on adding some gorgeous new sections that'll include some new exciting designer additions and a lot of beautiful fashion for this Autumn/Winter.

If you're a designer and you'd like to put forward your new collection for a professional photo shoot to be held in London at the end of August, please email us some images and information using talktous[at]catwalkgenius[dot]com.

If you've adopted a designer - don't worry, your elements remain unchanged. All registered members may still log in and maintain their account as before.

If you have any questions, just drop us a line and we'll do our best to answer them.

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 »

Back in April, we sponsored the first ever Galway Fashion Week and I was there to see Claire O'Connor launch her Lil'c couture line there.

I asked Claire a few questions about the line and premiering at Galway. Here's what she had to say...   more »

Here is the latest progress update on our designer adoptions:   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 »

Well hello all - it's that time again where we see how the adoptions have been going.   more »

Just... wow. You must go and see the detail.    more »

If you're born of that rare ilk who think the pain/reward ratio of appearing on Project Runway is a doddle, then now's your opportunity to throw your hat in the ring.

The TV-viewing world appreciates your sacrifice, you big hunk of fierceness.   more »

Update: all gone now, sorry!   more »

Daughter Earth sells eco-conscious products inspired by the natural world. Part of the proceeds from each product are donated to organizations working to conserve endangered species and their habitats.

I interviewed Katy to find out - you know, how they roll. Here's what she had to say:   more »

We're conducting a survey to improve our site and to give our designers some tips on what buyers want.

If you'd like the chance to win a voucher worth £50/€75 for the online shop of your choice, just take a look around Catwalkgenius.com, then complete the survey. Do it before the 4th of July and we'll enter you into the prize draw.   more »

Time to settle back with a nice cuppa and a chocolate Hobnob while I take you on another tour of some of the loveliest interactive bits of the fashion world.    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 »

It's time for another check-up on the charts, dear adopters.

Biggest gains were for Kelly Love and Georgie W, with elements sold for quite a number of the others. Delighted to report that Saia Ikavalko got off the mark, because Funky Homo Sapiens is an inspired name for a label!   more »

Via the delicious Catwalk Queen and Vogue.co.uk, it's that time of year when the British Fashion Council announce their New Generation sponsorship.   more »

It looks like quite a lot of lovely new clothes and accessories turned up on Catwalkgenius.com while I was hurtling around Staffordshire at 3.5Gs.

Here's my pick of the new crop:    more »

New challenge: My hat is taller than your hat.
The designers are gagged, bound, blindfolded and driven to a remote forest. After they're deposited in a clearing, Denise Richards takes time out from being all 'complicated' to explain today's challenge.   more »

Things will be a little quiet around here for the next wee while, as I'll be lying in a wet field under a flimsy canvas in the name of 'leisure' and 'fun'.
Still, the internet never sleeps, so why not use the following code to get a nice 10% discount on your next purchase from our little shop?   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 »

If you were trying to adopt a designer earlier today and got a pesky error message when submitting your registration, a thousand apologies to you.
We have found the errant code and given it a stern talking-to, so all should be well again now.   more »