HOW SWEET IS HARVEY NICHOLS?

Posted by Melanie Rickey, Fashion Editor at Large

Just back from the Harvey Nichols press day. Like all great department stores this one is a global institution, and a national treasure with branches across Britain. Therefore their press day is an opportunity to see what fashion lovers in Edinburgh, Birmingham, Manchester and London will gain access to next Spring. One of my discoveries is so fabulous I'm saving her until tomorrow for an in-depth look at her work, but the best of the rest is here for your pleasure...

Below is a truly spectacular print from young New York based Parisian Jospeh Altuzarra who won American fashion's most prestigious new talent award, the $300,000 CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund, last night. The pocket diva is going to be huge! Trust. One thing is for sure, his sexy tropicana chic will be a welcome lift when it hits the store next spring. Just how awesome is this print?

The print above came from a dress v similar to this one. (via catwalking.com)

Hello Joseph!  Lookin hawt in one of your dresses, yes? (from W Magazine via holymoly.com)

Joseph Altuzarra was not present at Harvey Nichols' press day. He was probably nursing a celebratory hangover in NYC but other designers of note were in attendance at the store. Ed Meadham and Ben Kirchhoff, the designers behind Meadham Kirchhoff, turned up to see how Harvey Nichols, which had taken as inspiration for its press day their saccharine sweet Spring/Summer 2012 show. had handled it. Cue several arches of pastel coloured balloons, candy-floss, a balloon lady (see below) and lots of Meadham Kirchhoff's sickly-sweet Spring/Summer 2012 collection. Ben + Ed were on typical form. They informed me thay have a new PR, Black Frame in London and they are the only client of the London office. Black Frame reps Rodarte in New York. Things are definitely looking on the up and up for these two.

 Sweetie-pie chic by Meadham Kirchhoff at Harvey Nichols

Meadham Kirchhoff inspired Harvey Nichols to hire Twistina the Amazing Balloon Lady. She was ace!

Lastly, my third (but not final) inspirational Harvey Nicks  moment of the day was the young model and illustrator Naomi Preizler who created the little take-away sum-up of the press day below. She uses herself as a model in this illustration, but is also known to sketch fellow models backstage at the shows. She doesn't have a website for her illustration work, but hopefully this is only a matter of time. 

Naomi Preizler (Image from Marie Maud)

HARVEY NICHOLS LOVES LULA

Guest Post by Fashion Junior at Large (George Langford)

The beautiful setting for the party

Last night Harvey Nichols hosted a dinner for Lula, to celebrate the magazine turning 5 years old and their collaboration with editor Leith Clark to produce a Lula pop-up boutique on the 4th Floor.

World famous set designer Fiona Leahy created a stunning room for the dinner, complete with gorgeous peony arrangements, kitsch statuettes and walls lined with silver heart shaped balloons.

Leith had invited all of Lula's favourite friends, including the truly elegant actress Clemence Poesy, our new favourite singer Coco Sumner, and designer Erdem.

Clemence Poesy

Coco Sumner

Leith Clark (wearing the specially designed Rodarte for Lula dress) with Erdem

Other fashionable faces included model Liberty Ross, Charlotte Dellal and Daisy de Villeneuve.

The meal was completely chic, with delicious food created by the Harvey Nichols in-house team, including this adorable dessert which caused a ripple of 'ooh's as they were served!

The entire evening was a celebration of all things 'Lula', and was complimented by a great performance by Coco, who serenaded us with a few songs from her debut release. 

 I Blame Coco at work

Leith, along with the Lula staff and the team at Harvey Nichols have been feverishly preparing the 'Pop Up' boutique, which features a choice selection of exclusive, limited edition pieces created especially for the event. Rodarte designed the beautiful green dress Leith was wearing for the evening (which she said made her feel like a beautiful cake, which is hard to disagree with!) It is also available to buy from the boutique, along with a brilliant 'Radarte' t-shirt and pieces from Miu Miu, Erdem, Lover and Rachel Antonoff. The Pop Up is only open for a short while, so if you are in London make a beeline for the fourth floor of Harvey Nichols, otherwise you can purchase pieces online. 

http://shop.harveynichols.com/fcp/categorylist/dept/lulaloves?resetFilters=truel

It was a lovely evening, executed with all the attention to detail you would expect from a magazine that makes every page a work of art. Leith was obviously overjoyed with the event and the collaboration itself, perhaps because Harvey Nichols is her favourite shop in London. The only downside to the Harvey Nicks/Lula love in is that it is around for a limited time only - this is the kind of retail 'happening' that should 'happen' more often, as far as we are concerned!

To discover what it is like to attend an event like this as a fashion newbie, have a read of today's Glitterbird post.

(Images Fashion Junior, Rex Features)

HAKAAN TAKES ANDAM!

Posted by Fashion Editor at Large

Back in February I wrote a piece for this blog on Hakaan, solving the mystery of who this unfamiliar name was that had cropped up on the London Fashion Week schedule. (Click the link, there are some great pictures!)

Writing "I made a couple of calls and discovered that he is a 39 year old Istanbul based designer, who won a major Turkish fashion competition. This earned him the attention of Mert Alas, one half of Matt & Marcus the photographic duo who shoot half of the worlds fashion campaigns."

The show was a success, attracting Kate Moss and Carine Roitfeld to the front row, and models included Natasha Vodianova, Anje Rubik, Lara Stone and Natasha Poly. Next Harvey Nichols signed Hakaan on an exclusive one-season deal, and to top off the designer's brilliant year today it has been announced that he has won ANDAM. For a young designer this is like winning the lottery !!

With a purse of E200,000, the ANDAM fashion grant is one of the biggest in the world. Chaired by Pierre Bergé, directed by Nathalie Dufour and backed by the Ministry of Culture and the DEFI, ANDAM has been identifying and promoting the most promising talents in contemporary fashion, in the process contributing to the vitality and international prestige of the Paris fashion scene for over 20 years.

It means we will lose Hakaan to the Paris schedule, which is a shame for us, but great for him, and also puts Istanbul on the fashion map. The iconic 90s designer Rifat Ozbek lives there full time, and now he has a fashion buddy. Go Hakaan!

Now I REALLY hope I run into him this weekend in Istanbul at the Istancool event organised by the amazing Liberatum organisation. It promises to be mindblowing, and I will be reporting direct from the event Friday through Sunday, and cannot wait! The program is totally inspiring.

The five designers who lost out are
Alexandre Vauthier, Francesco Scognamiglio, Bouchra Jarrar, Calla Haynes and Mark Fast

For more on the Andam Award 2010 finalists see Fashion Windows

Photo: Cuneyt Akeroglu/Grazia Daily