Heritage Trend Autumn/Winter 2011

I recently bought Company Magazine for the first time, and absolutely loved all the fashion pages. They were young, fresh, and on-trend. I was especially excited to see that you can apply to be a guest editor. Here's my entry to guest edit their fashion pages. If you like it, go tell Company over at their message boards!


Heritage is a beautifully aumtumnal look which is a key trend for this winter. Rich red, brown, and mustard hues work perfectly with tweeds, chunky knits, suedes, and waxed jackets. Add a foxy faux-fur collar and a sturdy riding boot, and you’re ready to go hunting with the Lady of the Manor (or rather, down to the shops on a Saturday afternoon). Many textural layers are the best way to make up this look. Accessories include short leather gloves, a top-handle bag (a Mulberry of course is the ultimate), and a Queen Elizabeth style knotted neckscarf.

Inspired by the 1940s country attire, this look evokes images of Princess Anne (an unlikely style icon if there ever was one) wearing her State Visit best.



Designers who showed the trend for Autumn/Winter 2011 were (L-R) Paul Smith, Mulberry, and Burberry.



I styled the look using items from my own wardrobe.

H&M waxed jacket, Dorothy Perkins chunky knit, Oasis suede skirt & belt, Liberty scarf, Primark boots & bag

Zara dress, H&M jacket, Primark tights, Office brogues, Topshop bowler, & vintage bag

A kitten is an optional accessory, but is obviously purr-ferred.

The best places on the high street to visit for this look are Oasis, Primark, Miss Selfridge, Hobbs, Phase Eight and Jigsaw – a real mixture of price points, so there’s no excuse for not getting your tweed on!

Oasis tweed skirt & cable sweater, Miss Selfridge fur collar, NW3 tartan skirt & belt, Mulberry bag, APC tweed jacket, Sandro silk scarf, Gucci leather gloves.

Collar Me Surprised!

Statements collars have been on the radar since the jewelled & printed lovelies at Miu Miu spring/summer 2010 (seems so long ago now, doesn't it?). Since then, a collar has been much more than just an extra bit of fabric that's a nuisance to iron: see Eleven Objects, a brand created because the designers wanted a new, interesting accessory to wear, and also the Great British High Street - Warehouse and Oasis have some interesting options at the moment, including dresses and tops with bejewelled Peter Pan collars.

Right now, I'm really into updating my wardrobe for autumn/winter for very little money. My first step was to create my own collar to wear underneath pre-owned clothes to update them.

This took around five minutes, and cost me zero pence!

Take an old white shirt, maybe stolen off your boyfriend or dad, or bought from a charity shop. You could cut the collar off completely, or make it into a "bib"; I chose to cut it like this so it wouldn't move around so much under what I was wearing (you might want to iron it before you take pictures, but I threw caution to the wind. And as hinted previously, I hate ironing).

Take a couple of stud earrings (these were given to my mum by a friend, then donated to me). They don't even have to be pairs, the more you mix it up, the better. I used a heavy gauge sewing machine needle to "pierce" the fabric - it's not as easy as it may seem to push the studs into the collar, and may result in breaking the backing off. 

Then just have a play around with different studs in different places. I chose to just have a stud at either corner of the collar, but if you have enough studs (and patience), you could cover the collar with them. Also, once you've made the holes, you can move the studs around whenever it takes your fancy.

For now, I'm going to use these matching pink flower studs.

Worn with an old Warehouse printed dress, and a bow brooch from the same lot as the earrings.

A perennial winter favourite, the chunky knit from Dorothy Perkins, gets an update with the collar.

My personal favourite: worn with a Prabal Gurung cashmere sweater and a pearl tie I bought from an antique market a long time ago, but have never found the occasion to wear. This could be its season! 

Just have fun with it! I've got an eye on some of my boyfriend's other shirts, waiting for them to "accidentally" go through at the elbows. There's a nice purple one which would be hit the jewel-tone trend on the nail...

Have you made yourself a collar, or seen any interesting ones on your travels? Comment or tweet me @sarahharradine.

Lanvin a/w 2011 video

Breaking my silence to feature the gorgeous new Lanvin a/w 2011 video. I love the long-limbed clumsiness of Raquel and Karen, the faded glamour of their surroundings; and, of course, Alber stealing the show at the very end.

Enjoy!

Polyvore burgundy & mustard

Waiting in for a delivery is so very boring. Sod's law today has been relatively pleasant, and at 3pm the package still hasn't arrived. Argh! I'm climbing the walls.

To amuse myself I've been playing around with Polyvore. This toy is a fashion bloggers' dream, and has been used since its launch in 2007 to create outfits, moodboards, and pretty collages. I've used it today to justify the purchase of these H&M suede boots: very Prada, and very 1960s, whilst maintaining modernity. I think I was sold on the idea before even making this collage, but now these items are all I want to wear over the coming months!

This is less an outfit, more "what I would wear if I bought the Prada-esque H&M boots". Which I probably will do. Burgundy & mustard is my favourite colour combination of autumn/winter 2011, but the mustard could easily be worn with red, just as the burgundy could be worn with emerald green.


The collage includes a Miss Selfridge bag (real leather, and a fraction of the price of the Proenza Schouler PS1 and the Victoria Beckham satchel, both of which come in burgundy, and are at plus-£1000 price points), the slouchy Topshop blazer, which has been doing the rounds in the fashion weeklies, and some cute Chloe checked cigarette pants. For details of each item, hop on over to the Polyvore page where all items are handily detailed along the right hand side of the page.