Rare Fashion Press Day

When I received an invitation to the Rare Fashion press day, I was a little skeptical. The dresses are nice enough, I've actually got one, but the collaboration with The Saturdays made me think 'cheap' to be honest. But I decided to go anyway, I try not to rely on preconceptions and it seemed like a good opportunity to find out more about the brand.


I invited fellow bloggers Kristabel, Ozzy and Fiona too. In my usual fashion I was running late and met up with them there. Slightly flustered, I sat myself down with a glass of wine to get my nails done and peruse the Spring Summer 2010 collection. There were some pretty dresses which caught my eye, but also some more casual clothes surprisingly. The collection was very light and pretty, lots of pastel colours, prints and lace. The fabrics felt lovely.



The highlights were two dresses with lace detailing and a gorgeous green cropped jumper with amazing shoulders.


I also love this all over sequin dress and military cardigan from the current collection. I was so tempted to tuck the sequin dress into my goodie bag, it's perfect for my Christmas party!


Huge thanks to Almina and all the lovely folk at Think Publicity for such a lovely evening! x

Rihanna Global Album Preview

Last Monday was the best night I've had in a long time. The effortlessly stylish Marian has a wee competition to win one of four tickets to the super exclusive Rihanna album preview concert, hosted by Nokia. I was smiling all day thinking 'I'm off to see Rihanna tonight!!', and she really didn't disappoint.

Brixton Academy was buzzing with people, all excited for the show. Carina and I arrived early enough to have a couple of drinks and marvel at the lack of clothing on some girls, we came in coats and scarves!! Rihanna soon hit the stage in what can only be described as an out of this world one arm leotard. The magpie in me went crazy for the embellishment. She performed a couple of songs from her new album, Russian Roulette and Hard, as well as some old favourites like Umbrella. She was briefly joined on stage by Young Jeezy and Jay Z, which completely made my night!

I have to admit, I wasn't really her biggest fan before, but now...I'm sold! The actual concept of the night was amazing, as most of you will know it was streamed live on the internet and even started up a trending topic on Twitter! I've already downloaded Russian Roulette, Hard, G4L, Photographs and Te Amo. You can find more pictures and videos on the Nokia site - nokia.com/rihanna.

What a Month....

It's been a 5 weeks and 3 days since my last post...wowsers! I kinda left it on a depressing note, but thankfully things are a little brighter now. I have missed blogging terribly, I am so glad to be back, I have so many backdated posts which need putting up so excuse my tardiness! On the upside, I have a lot of outfit posts which have been missing from Fashion Daydreams for months. Here's just a little bit of what's happened in the last month:

The Boy - Despite all the rumours, love does not conquer all. All that pro-love propaganda that Disney has been churning out is lies! I know I sound very cynical, but I'm just realistic to my situation. If someone just continues to hurt you, intentionally or unintentionally, the only logical thing to do is walk away. It might hurt, but staying with them and being let down time and time again hurts a lot more. Love doesn't fix the situation, it just blinds you and makes you paper over the cracks. I loved him very much and planned a life with him but I feel so much stronger without him now. I still have days where I miss him and want to call him, but not that often anymore. I smile a lot more now, being happy is more important to me than struggling to cope in a relationship that doesn't work.

Work - Still stressful, 9-10 hour days are still the norm. I've been working on Christmas since September and cannot wait for it to be over, in a work sense. 34 days people...!I hope a little glimmer of my love for Christmas remains.

Home - Still trying to find a new abode. It's not as easy as it sounds, the property market is picking up and it seems that 2 bedroom flats around London are selling like hotcakes! I'm more than ready to move, which makes me scared that I will just snap up the first place which is vaguely decent. But finding that is like finding a needle in a haystack. But rest assured, once I do find a place, my lovely blogger friends are more than welcome to sample my cooking....Kristabel I'm planning on cooking you pad thai!

The rest - Needless to say my immune system took a battering due to all this stress and I had a horrible 2 week flu...which I took with me on holiday! Egypt was beyond amazing, it was just what I needed and helped me sort a lot of things out in my head. I did everything - swam with dolphins, snorkeling, scuba diving, climbed Moses mountain (epic), quad biking, bet in a casino, camel rides, saw the pyramids...! Here are a couple of holiday snaps, showing a happier and more together me.

I try to take each day as it comes...but sometimes several attack me at once

I saw that quote on a postcard in Camden once and fell in love with it. It's probably the most apt way of describing my life right now, it seems like almost every aspect of my life is caving in and needs propping up at the same time - working 10 hours a day for a job which could be gone tomorrow, being kicked out by my landlord..who is my father, and dealing with issues related to The Boy. It's enough to drive a girl insane, or at least to the nearest high street for some retail therapy! What I really need is a night off, forget all the issues and dramas and just be. So for now, the most difficult decision I'm going to tackle is which dress to order for Friday night!

Asos Dress - £45


All Over Sequin Warehouse Dress - £70

Striped Alice Dress by Motel @ Topshop - £45


Mesh & Satin Panel Lipsy Dress - £60


Strapless Ruched Lipsy Dress - £55

Vogue Paris October 2009

Vogue Paris is all about the supermodels in October 2009. I've got to say, there were some surprising choices and some conspicuous absences. I felt that the cover was a bit bland and safe, but the editorials were, on the whole, sublime. There was much debate on TFS, with a lot of people slating Kate Moss for being boring, safe and old. I've found that Kate has become a bit 'same-y' recently, and certain other models produced some far superior images. What do you think?

Eniko by Cedric Buchet

Eva by Hedi Slimane

Claudia by Alasdir McLellan

Kate Moss by Inez van Lamsveerde and Vinod Matadin

Kristen Mc Menamy by David Sims

Yasmin lebon by Alasdair McLellan

Lara Stone by Steven Klein

* Image Source TFS

Bryce D'anice Aime Spring Summer 2010

Sometimes it's good to know people, and sometimes it's absolutely amazing to know the right people! Daniella is lovely and sweet and just so happens to work for Bryce D'anice Aime, and she is an absolute angel as she sent me a couple of tickets to the show at London Fashion Week. I took along Gemma from Retrochick who was almost as excited as I was. It was a packed show, the queue was huge and I have absolutely no idea how they fit everyone into the room!

This was one of my favourite shows, I looove the super sexy silhouette and the amazing shapes. The inspiration was "50’s Parisian Chic combining classic with futuristic body con structure", it was a very directional collection. The colours were fairly neutral, mostly blacks and golds, but there was the odd flash of red and some shimmer to keep it interesting. Bryce's trademark tailoring combined with strong shoulders and mesh panelling made for some very hot looks. In short, an amazing collection and I would beg/borrow/steal/barter/sell a kidney for some of the dresses!


Photos are courtesy of the lovely Hugh O'Malley, a very talented fashion and beauty photographer.

Kinder Aggugini Spring Summer 2010

One of the least known 'famous' designers in the world, Kinder has ghost designed for Versace, Vivienne Westwood and Calvin Klein among others. He put himself in the limelight last season, showing his own label collection at London Fashion Week in February. I was thrilled to get an invitation to his Spring Summer 2010 show at London Fashion Week, the invite (a slightly bloody Snow White) piqued my interest. The collection was inspired by Alice in Wonderland and Grimm Bothers fairytales, which I grew up with. He explains, "The show is based around that spirit - where everything appears candy-coated and pretty on the outside. Yet, within, lies a constant darkness..I have taken the little pretty children's dresses, opened them up at the seams and inserted juxtaposing fabrics. These are usually darker and more textured".

I loved the theatrical show. Kinder's collection was a cornucopia of print and colour: pinks, blues, purples, metallics, stripes, snakeskin print, tribal patterns, polka dots. Everything was over the top, from the oversized Stephen Jones hats to snakeskin print fabrics and textures ranged from tweed to sheer, floaty chiffon. It sounds like an insane jumble of ideas, but there was an underlying cohesion which bought it all together and somehow it blended into a beautiful and vibrant show, one of my favourites.

Marcus Constable Spring Summer 2010

10.30 am...on a Sunday. I'm up, dressed and in central London, albeit in a barely awake zombie state. The occasion is the Marcus Constable show, held in Libertys for London Fashion Week. I wasn't overly familiar with Marcus' background, but he seemed like an intriguing character. Having graduated from Central Saint Martins almost 15 years ago, with his entire collection being snapped up my Libertys, Marcus gained sponsorship by Topshop. He then left London in 2001 for various stints in Paris, returning with his Autumn/Fall 09 collection, which Grazia raved about, naming him one of their 'One to Watch' designers.

Constable's Spring/Summer 2010 collection is simple with clean lines, but with enough subtle fabric-fold origami to stop it from being boring. The beautiful pleating is a continuation from his Autumn 09 collection, and works perfectly with the blue-grey and monochrome palette to create a fresh and delicate look for Spring. The only thing I disliked about the show were the shoes, men's shoes by Beatrix Ong. Shoes aside, I loved the collection. The manipulation of fabric and casual layering are definitely looks I will be trying next year.

The Sartorialist Book Signing - London

Living and working outside of London makes attending events on a 'school night' pretty much no go, but I had to make an exception for The Sartorialist book signing. Arguably one of the most influential style bloggers, it seemed inevitable that he would release a book. The Sartorialist is often described as a 'fashion blog', but I would describe it more as style. More often than not, it's not about Vogue inspired, cutting edge fashion. It's more about how real people wear things and the details, patterns and textures.



When I got to Libertys, the queue was absolutely mental. In fact, there were so many people there that Libertys had run out of books! Apparently someone was running to Waterstones to get more. I was meeting the lovely and hilarious Frankie of Swell Vintage at the signing, so discreetly joined her in the queue. She had got there ages before me and was so close we could see the man himself chatting away. I was panicking slightly about not having a book, but some more arrived just in the nick of time!

Wondering why his champagne glass is empty

Soon it was our turn! As if I wasn't nervous enough, after shaking my hand, Scott Schuman told me I'[m beautiful! Highly doubtful, as I had been up for about 15 hours by then and my make up had slid off my face but it was sweet nonetheless. Frankie and I both thought that he was lovely, very friendly, dapper and a complete gentleman. It was well worth the hour and a half it took to get into London and to get back home. The one upside to the journey; I was able to devour the book from cover to cover on the train home :)



Reena
xx

PS - LFW posts and pictures up soon, need to sift through my hundreds of pictures and find a moment to jot down the madness which occurred.

Fashion Night Out - London

What.A.Night! When I heard about Fashion Night Out, a global initiative by Vogue, I knew it would be an awesome night. As the list of London participants grew, so did my anticipation and it didn't disappoint. As I stepped off the tube at Bond St, I could feel the buzz in the air and couldn't help but covet well, pretty much everything people were wearing! I met up with my friends and headed to Selfridges for a make over by Dior, which was gorgeous.



I had to fight my way into Browns, there was a big crowd and an even bigger cloud of smoke outside. It was more than worth it though, I was served by none other than Marios Schwab!! He was doing his stint at the till. I was so in awe I could barely speak, but I did manage to get two signed tshirts!! Antonio Berardi was deep in conversation most of the time I was in the store, and Roksanda Illincic was giggling away with Jonathon Saunders. It was very surreal!



DSM was a bit dead by the time we got there, but my friend, who has just started her fashion design course, met one of her idols - Hussein Chalayan. I was pretty gobsmacked to have been in the same breathing space, but she could barely talk. Definite high point of the evening! I also stopped by the Anya Hindmarch store to have a which photoshoot with a bag, it was awesome it was a real mini studio and the photographer was hilarious! I'll scan my picture soon :) I also stopped off for some ultra cheesy snaps by a FNO sign...


All in all, it was such a fantastic evening, I was shattered and my feet were killin me but it was more than worth it. The girls and I discussed the night's shenanigans on the train home and we all felt so fortunate to be there and be part of history. It's the first time a global fashion event like this has been held, and I really hope it's not the last.

Reena xx

PS - Totally gorgeous leather thigh high boots at Topshop! Shoe heaven. £275 price tag = shoe hell :(