Your Fashion Fix

High street department store Debenhams has become the first high street retailer to replace some mannequins in their shop windows with ones that resemble the average British woman.

The new mannequins will feature the re-launched Principles collection by designer Ben de Lisi and are currently being trialled at the company’s flagship store on London’s Oxford Street, with a view to a nationwide rollout if it proves to be a hit with customers.

With most retailers using a standard size 10 mannequin, Debenhams have broken from the mould and have made it very clear that its core market is normal sized women – 42% of its clothing sold is in sizes 14-16. Signs next to the new mannequins teasingly ask ‘I’m a size 16, do you want to see more of me?’

Mark Stevens, Debenhams head of creative, said ‘We are proud to offer a broad and varied choice for women of all ages, shapes and sizes in store. So we thought we should reflect this in our window displays. If it’s popular with customers, we would love to roll it out.’

The trial has received support, not just from real women, but from Beat – the charity which campaigns against eating disorders. Chief executive of Beat, Susan Ringwood noted ‘Women often feel it is their fault that clothes don’t look as good on them as they do in the shop window. It’s good to have mannequins that reflect the diversity of female shapes in Britain.’

John Lewis trialled a similar scheme three years ago, using size 14 mannequins as opposed to size 16. But the trial, which took place at their Peterborough store, did not end up going nationwide, so there’s still a risk that the Debenhams trial may not take off. But with news from London Fashion Week that models of size 12, 14 and 16 have been hitting the catwalk to rapturous applause, there may be some hope yet. So it’s a hats off to Debenhams and let’s hope we see more of these mannequins across the country.

Love hit US television show Gossip Girl? Love the fashion just as much? Well, good news! High street favourite Miss Selfridge are to create a collection inspired by the show’s costume designer Eric Daman – one that’ll be based on the four female lead characters – Serena Van der Woodsen, Blair Waldorf, Jenny Humphrey and Vanessa Abrams, which will be hitting the shops at the end of April.

The collection will feature key pieces including a leopard print boho maxi dress in the style of Vanessa, a ruffle front shift dress with a floral skirt in the style of Blair, a black body con bondage dress in the style of Serena and a nude and black lace tutu style skirt in the style of Jenny. Miss Selfridges’ creative director Yasmin Yusuf said ‘We are delighted to be working the Warner Bros television series, Gossip Girl. The dresses we’ve created based on the characters fit perfectly with our spring/summer 2010 range. Our customers love the show and the styles of the girls so the partnership is perfect.’ Consisting of eight pieces in total, the collection will retail online and in store from £39.

Warner Bros general manager of consumer products UK added ‘Fashion is intrinsic to Gossip Girl and a key ingredient in the continued popularity of the series. Miss Selfridge has created a collection that is true to the ideals of the show and one that young women will aspire to own. We’re certain it will be a commercial success, and the beginning of a long-term relationship with the retailer.’

Following from the success of their debut collaboration with Hed Kandi last year, Miss Selfridge are likely to be aiming for exactly the same success second time around. And hopefully this will be another in a long line of successful collaborations between the high street retailer and some of the biggest names in entertainment.

The key to being smart when buying clothes and fashions is to get items that are timeless — or should I say season-less. This way, you wouldn’t have to worry about having to get new clothes whenever a new trend is taking over while still looking chic as ever easily. Check out several timeless fashion pieces you should have in your closet.

T-shirts are definitely timeless. Wear them alone in summer or warmer days and couple them with jackets and blazers for colder season. You wouldn’t have to worry about price and designs at all, since there are literally thousands of t-shirts available in different retailers near you. You can even design your own t-shirt and create a bold fashion statement.

Bootleg cut jeans are also on the timeless list. You can never go wrong with a pair of enhancing jeans that makes you look great. Pair it with almost every fashion tops, and you have a chic look just like that. You can also use shredded jeans to achieve similar gorgeous looks, although shredded jeans do have ins and outs as the season changes.

For parties, a simple black dress can never go wrong. You can literally eliminate the need to purchase other dresses for different occasions by getting a simple black dress. Combine the dress with fashion accessories and other pieces to alter the look accordingly. Wear it on its own and add a black purse or small handbag when you are going to a ball or formal events.

Fashion designer Ben de Lisi, known for his red carpet creations, has been called upon by the NHS to design a gown of a very different kind – the dreaded hospital gown.

A new project, the ‘Design for Patient Dignity’, was created by the Department of Health and the Design Council to improve the design of hospital gowns in NHS hospitals.

Hospital gowns don’t necessarily need to be stylish or come in different fabrics; however, the one thing that people dread is the lack of privacy offered by current gown designs.

The NHS has admitted that the old hospital gowns were designed to provide convenient access for surgery or to administer injections, can be humiliating for patients to wear – an unnecessary event.

“Why would a designer noted for glamorous evening gowns be capable of designing a hospital gown?” said De Lisi who spoke out about how he convinced the department of health with sketches of an evening dress morphing into a nightshirt.

The final designs by De Lisi, including a gown, pyjama bottoms, and a polar fleece wrap and slippers, will be trialled at London’s King’s College Hospital.

“The gown is unisex” said the designer “It has access points throughout the garment to the body. If someone is waiting on ward for a test or x-ray, their modesty is kept in check.”

The one thing that is confirmed about the new gowns?”It does not open up the back.” He said.
Fashion is everywhere and you too could get to model a Ben de Lisi design, although we’re sure most fashionistas would prefer the red carpet variety, but for the majority the hospital gown will be as close as it gets to a red carpet designed dress.

With London Fashion Week and the Bafta awards both in the same week, you’d be forgiven for wondering why the two had never crossed paths before.

Next week London will be the epicentre of the fashion world as well as the movie industry as countless celebs, designers, models and pretty much anyone in the industry heads for the UK Capital for what promises to be the most stylish awards ceremony the city has ever seen.

The British Fashion Council have now announced that they will be joining forces with Bafta organisers to “create and ¬develop links between London’s fashion and film industries”

There will be actresses looking for that perfect red carpet dress and a wealth of designers – old and new – looking for celebrities to showcase their designs along the red carpet catwalk so it sounds like a perfect partnership.

The collaboration is the brainchild of Lucy Yeomans, the editor of British Harper’s Bazaar magazine and chair of the ¬British Fashion Council’s press ¬committee. She said: “We’ve got this extraordinary -coincidence of timing, with the Baftas happening during London fashion week, so it seems so obvious to use it to everyone’s advantage.”

British beauty Kate Winslet will help host a mixer party where designers can meet celebs and hopefully convince them to showcase their designs on the big awards night. Bafta in return are inviting select celebs to their official nominee’s party, the night before the awards, so potential matches have plenty of opportunities to blossom.

Yeomans added: “If we can put together a young actress with an up-and-coming designer, and they get to know and understand each other, that could be a relationship that lasts 20 years. That’s what’s exciting, to me.”

Yummy mummy Denise Van Outen has teamed up with fashion site Very.co.uk to launch a range of stylish maternity wear.

TV presenter Denise is following the most recent trend of celeb-turned-designer and the DvO collection at Very.co.uk is going to be a collection of casual yet stylish maternity-wear for the modern mum.

The DvO collection will include 16 key pieces including a black jumpsuit, yoga inspired pieces such as jersey cropped harem pants, a stretch tube dress, an empire bow dress and asymmetric hoodies.

Gareth Jones, Brand Director of Shop Direct Group comments “We are very pleased to have Denise on board. Our customers have been asking for an accessible, easy to wear maternity range and we feel that they will be very pleased with Denise’s collection”

The collection will be available from fashion site Very.co.uk from March 2010 where you can also find celebrity designed fashion as well as fashion advice on their interactive forums.

After months of admiring Dannii Minogue’s fantastic wardrobe and ever changing hairstyles on the X-Factor, it’s no surprise that she has announced that she’s trying her hand in the world of fashion design.

Dannii has teamed up with handbag designer Tabitha Somerset Webb and has reportedly designed a fashion collection which will be released in summer 2010 and if her stylish wardrobe is anything to go by, we can’t wait to see the results.

The X-Factor star recently wrote on twitter her about her new dress collection, tweeting: I’m so excited. Having the best day. I’m selling my new collection of dresses – pinching myself that the dream has come true!’
Miss. Minogue has also just become the newest M&S girl. The star will join British modelling legend Twiggy, TV presenter Lisa Snowdon, the Brazilian supermodel Ana Beatiz Barros and also singer VV Brown as the new face of the M&S fashion campaigns.

The X-Factor judge tweeted her news to the world saying: “I’m so excited to be a Marks and Spencer girl!”
Marks and Spencer launched their new fashion adverts, featuring famous celebrities, as part of a campaign to get rid of their fusty, outdated image.

With Dannii on board we’re sure that budding fashionistas everywhere will be more than willing to venture into their local M&S for a look around and will be hoping for some inspired collections from the high street store.
With her ventures into the fashion world, it looks like 2010 will be a busy year for the mum-to-be who is due to give birth to her first child in July.

Supermodel Kate Moss has revealed that she has been asked to exhibit her designs in an upcoming exhibition taking place at Paris’s Musée des Arts Décoratifs next spring.

The 36 year old has been dabbling in the fashion industry for a while, even launching her Topshop collection back in 2007, bringing fashion icon style to the high street.

Kate is still modelling and will appear on March’s cover of Harper’s Bazaar and is said to be shocked about being asked to exhibit her collection.

People magazine reported Moss as saying: “I just didn’t believe it” adding “I’m not really a fashion designer. I just love clothes. I’ve never been to design school. I can’t sketch. I can’t cut patterns and things. I can shorten things. I can make a dress out of a scarf.”

Good to know that even supermodels have fears about how their work will be received and it goes to show that an eye for design can be far more important than courses or qualifications.

Although Kate doesn’t see herself as a “proper” designer, her designs for Topshop have been extremely popular and no doubt budding fashionistas the world over will be eager to see her designs for the Paris exhibition.

This month, the UK’s biggest fashion shows is here to celebrate its 25th anniversary. That’s right; London Fashion week is back and better than ever. The exhibition starts on the 19th February right through till the 23rd. The essential fashion and shopping event of the year is taking place at Somerset house in London to show off top designers Autumn/Winter collections for 2010. This major event is sponsored by big high street names such as Topshop and Monsoon.

This year also Topshop have come up with a special collaboration for fashion week, also available to buy in stores around the country. Topshop’s Ann-Sofie Black has designed a 7 piece collection of gothic inspired slashed cotton dresses to hit the catwalk and the streets this February. This particular collection ranges from between £45-£60 in price and will be a must-have addition to any girls wardrobe.

This year London fashion week has been described as a digital phenomenon. This year it is now possible for fashion fanatics to get a front row seat to the fashion event of the year from their own home. All catwalk shows this season are been streamed live from the London Fashion week official website, making the show truly un-missable. The website also offers exclusive videos from designers such as Danielle Scutt and Hussein Chalayan.

One fashion icon of last year was the R and B singer Rihanna. So for fashion lovers who want to steal her style, Ashish has designed a Rihanna inspired collection including a biker jacket, embellished with sharp stud decorated shoulders. This talented designer has also provided a track suit inspired collection, which may provide us with a motive to use that gym-membership once in a while.

For the more daring individual on offer is the eclectic eccentricity, courtesy of House of Holland and The fashion East runway show. This particular event promises only the best of the boldest and bravest of this years emerging designers.

For those of us who like to add a bit of glamour into our lives. Sunday is the ultimate chill out day for you with pieces being shown from designers such as Betty Jackson and Vivienne Westwood.

The 3D phenomenon has firmly established itself in the movie world and never one to miss a trend, it was only so long before the fashion industry followed suit.

British fashion giant Burberry has announced that they will be streaming their London Fashion week show in 3D. The 3D presentation will be streamed across the world to fashion enthusiasts in Tokyo, Paris, Dubai and New York.

The Burberry 3D presentation will be the first of its kind and fashionistas across the globe will be able to don 3D specs at special events and watch the show in all its 3D glory.

Burberry’s chief creative officer said: “3D technology will bring our global audience into the London show space allowing them to see the colours and fabrics, to hear the music and to be a part of that moment when it all finally comes together”

It’s the first event of its kind but with Burberry heading into new 3D territory we’re sure that it won’t be long until other fashion brands follow suit and hopefully the future will see more 3D shows being streamed live across the world.

If you’re in one of the major cities mentioned or if you don’t have an invite to the private event then you will be pleased to know that you can still watch the show on the Burberry site, but you’ll have to settle for retro 2D.