WHAT I WORE TO THE BAFTAS

Posted by Fashion Editor at Large

Here are a couple of outfits you will NOT be seeing in the BAFTA fashion round-ups in the red-tops this week. Not enough fake tan and flesh for the tabloids. Which is exactly as it should be.  For my first stumble up a red carpet with Mary the objective was to work a high fashion look while remaining very firmly within my style comfort zone. There was always going to be a trouser-y skew to my look.

I was thinking of a cool skinny Balenciaga trouser suit, but my friend Sarah Mower suggested thinking about a coloured trouser with a white jacket, "to break up the suity-ness of it". I seized on her thought and visited net-a-porter for ideas. White jackets were not a problem. In central London I tried on a brilliant Maison Martin Margiela white tuxedo jacket, and ooh-ed and aaahed over the cut of Balmain's white tuxedo jacket, but at £1650 it was a fantasy too far. In Selfridges I found the perfect white jacket by Dries Van Noten.

Coloured trousers were less easy to source. Jeans were not an option for a black tie event, but when I saw that Maje the classy French label making a splash in London, had red crepe high-waist cigarette leg trousers, I went hunting. It seemed every Maje I called had just sold the last pair in my size. In the South Molten Street store I saw a girl buying them as I walked in. Grrrr. Eventually I tracked down what seemed to be the last size 10 pair in London. Success!

To pull the jacket and trousers together I wore a body with a double deep-v and long sleeves. To garnish, my pieces de resistance  -  totally fabulous and amazing wooden platform sandals with gold peep-toe tips - were put into play. The shoes are the result of a collaboration between Roland Mouret and Christian Louboutin and created for Roland's SS11 show in Paris where they were used to accessorise every single catwalk look. My reasoning for buying the shoes from Matches was that if they could work for every single outfit in a fashion show - from day time trouser looks through to red carpet gowns - they could work for me. I was right. I'm proper delighted with my outfit, and unlike a one-wear dress all of the elements have an afterlife.  And of course I love Mary's outfit too. Her jumpsuit (from by Malene Birger at my-wardrobe.com) is as fashionable as it gets right now. Trust me when I say jumpsuits are set to be the biggest fashion sensation of the latter half of 2011. 

The shoes.....buy them here

Photo: REX FEATURES

WHEN JONATHAN ROSS MET MARY PORTAS...

Posted by Fashion Editor at Large

Oh jeezus. For those fashion blog readers of a nervous disposition you might want to look away now. And not for the shoddy photography and creased clothes demonstrated in these here pictures. No. It is the clothing items featured. Namely the hilariously bad jeans (and more) donated by dear Jonathan Ross to my betrothed Mary Portas last night when she recorded the show which is to air on BBC1 in a few hours time. OK so here is the pair of totally hideous flared Jean-Paul Gaultier jeans Wossy gave to Mary so she could put them up for sale in the Grazia suppported Save The Children "Mary's Living & Giving" charity shop which opens in the morning on Westbourne Grove. Are you ready?

 

Ohhhhhhh myyyyy goodnesss!

"I got it wrong" Jonathan said to Mary of these repulsive flared jeans. What possessed him? Also in the photo is pair of England shorts sized for a toddler donated by Gary Lineker.  

 

Gary Lineker did a bit better than Wossy. He donated these two suits (plus a Gucci one that I didn't spot in another bag). The one on the left is Neil Barrett. The one on the right is by Etro. The size inside says "50". They will be £150 each.

Jonathan also donated the rather nice T-Shirt below to Mary's Living & Giving Shop which opens at 10am. Mary will be there!

Wossy's T-Shirt.

Mary’s Living and Giving Shop, 177 Westbourne Grove, W11 2SB (020 7727 6166 or savethechildren.org.uk).

MEET MY PT

Posted by Fashion Editor at Large

The Fashion Editor at Large (in Falke) with The Wedding Trimmer Suzanne Mallaghan (in Sweaty Betty) 

Being naturally tall and slim is akin to winning a genetic lottery. You can happily stuff your face with food, live an inert existence and nothing visibly bad or ugly happens to your body. The downside is running out of breath when dashing for a bus. Then you pass the 35 years on earth mark and everything changes. For me the upper arm wobbles came first. Years of naturally taut and tiny upper arms (a large wrist bracelet was a snug fit up there) collapsed when, over the long winter, a loose hammock of flesh took residence there. Then my 28waist skinny J Brand jeans wouldn't go further than my hips. I did not recognise my own thighs or rear. These physical events wiped out half of my wardrobe, and with it my identity. In a flash I could understand all those women who favour dresses over trousers and wear long tops with leggings. Which makes me sound like a stupid skinny bitch with no idea about what it is like to have a real woman's body; and I was.  

All this forced me to find a personal trainer. With a personal trainer there is no option but to turn up, especially when said PT is pressing your doorbell and saying "come on!" three mornings a week and if you cancel you pay anyway.

Suzanne demonstrates how to build triceps using a Kettle Bell.

My search for the perfect PT ended when I found Suzanne Mallaghan. Suzanne runs two programs - one is straight personal training, the other targets brides-to-be and is more deadline driven. When I began working with her four months ago I was not planning a Civil Partnership this summer. I was thinking of a December event, but when Mary surprised me by setting the date for next Sunday (heyulp!!!) The Wedding Trimmer side of her business kicked into play. Suzanne is a qualified personal trainer and Pilates instructor as well as a nutrition consultant. Being the daughter of a poet plus a brainy ex-city girl and an ex-national league Basketball player I reasoned she would be perfect for me. And she is! The sessions are varied, and fun, and hard. Mary also gatecrashes a session at least once a week.

The Fashion Editor at Large using theTRX resistance contraption

My training has been difficult. I was weak as a kitten at the beginning, Suzanne had to build me up slowly. It took ages to get the feeling I was fit, but at the beginning of April when she announced "You now have a basic level of fitness, next step is to pump out workouts three times a week until D-Day" I nearly cried with happiness. 

The biggest change is in how I hold myself; my posture is improved, I feel more together and confident, and I can get my arms out again. They don't look like SJP's, but rather appear just like how they used to. I can run for 30 minutes no problem, and also be able to conduct a conversation while running after 30 minutes and sound normal, not remotely out of breath. My strength is now considerable, and I can booty dance and bogle to Beyonce and Dizzy like the best 22 years olds, but obviously only do this home alone. 

The Pilates work is the most difficult, and where I need to focus my energies. My stomach is not wash-board by any stretch, but come next Sunday, I'm ready for my close up.  

 

WHAT I DO WITH SUZANNE:

We do three sessions a week incorporating cardiovascular, resistance,  flexibility components and she splits sessions according to muscle groups

Day 1: Cardio = boxing, Resistance training = chest, triceps, shoulders

Day 2: Cardio = interval training (walk, jog, run), Resistance. Training = back, biceps

Day 3: Cardio = hardcore kettlebell training mixed with ladderwork, stepwork etc. Resistance training = legs, core, abs

What I like about the sessions is that while they are working set muscle groups, the work itself is extremely varied. She says it is to keep me distracted while I work hard. So we might be using TRX suspension training, weights, kettlebells and resistance bands one day, and medicine balls, dumbells, a bench press, skipping rope or ladder the next time. Suzanne loves to go shopping for new equipment; she gets as excited about a new contraption - eg. TRX I am using above - as I do about a new Celine handbag. So it is all good.

The Wedding Trimmer

So there you have it. The best kept secret PT in London is no longer a secret.

http://www.suzannemallaghanpt.com/

http://weddingtrimmer.co.uk/

Photographed on location in Paddington Recreation Ground by Fashion Editor at Large

WHAT WE ARE NOT WEARING FOR OUR WEDDING DAY

Posted by Fashion Editor at Large

This image is the copyright of Melanie Rickey and The Fashion Editor at Large blog. Not to be used without permission.

From a purely fashion/clothing/style based perspective, it is a most fascinating thing to be getting married to another woman in a Civil Partnership Ceremony, as the proper jargon dictates we call it. As two women with long-standing fashion-related careers it is a given that we are expected to pull something totes fabulous out of the bag. But what?

From the off I knew the consideration for how our two looks would work together had to be paramount. None of that "keeping it secret" from your partner business. What we wear has to work together. The outfits have to complement without being too similar, bring out the best in each individual, and pull us together visually as a couple too. And they MUST BE UTTERLY FABULOUS. Must must must...

Another thing that we keep being asked is "which one of you will wear the trouser suit."  I'm not stupid, I do know there is an element of humour to this question. However, I think the hint of mirth added to the timbre of the voice of the questioner is there because they want it to SOUND like they are joking, but meanwhile they are serious. They think that in girl-girl couples there is always one who wears the trousers. Well FYI: we are both partial to a jazzy new-look Balenciaga bootcut, but not on our wedding day, thanks.

The precedence of Ellen Degeneres in a white trouser suit and Portia di Rossi in a beautiful meringue wedding dress on their big day has been set, more's the pity. I'm convinced the union of Ellen and Portia gave rise to the above snapshot of us which was taken by the wonderful Caroline Burstein of Browns Bride on our first day of "what are we going to wear to get married" shopping.

Full of naive hope that the whole process would be easy, I booked us an appointment for an hour long trying on session at Browns Bride, thinking we would find roomfuls of cocktail wedding dresses that would look amazing on us. What planet was I on? Wedding dresses are SOOO not us. When we got there and saw the wonderful weddingy drama of the exquisite but very trad frocks the reality that we needed a whole other approach to to this thing clunked on our heads like a barrier in a car-park.

Don't get me wrong. If I was a bride in the traditional sense and marrying a man, I would have fallen at the feet of Caroline B and let her guide me to the nearest Oscar de la Renta, Marchesa, Akira or Galliano for Christian Dior masterpiece. However, we are about as untrad as it is possible to be on the wedding front. So it was with unbridled camp glee that we slung on the beautiful bias cut bridal sheaths suggested by Caroline, "just so you have a memory of the visit". I am eternally grateful for that. Everytime I see the snapshot, I laugh at how wrongheaded we were on the start of our wedding dress journey.

Things are looking much better now. I STILL have not totally got my dress sorted, but lets say I have a world class designer on the case and Yasmin Sewell on hand to keep me sane.

Now that I've broken the ice on discussing my CPC with you, I feel so much better. Might as well let you in on a few other secrets as I go along.

I will introduce you to my personal trainer this week. She is hardcore.  

With thanks to Browns Bride. http://www.brownsbride.com/ 

The Browns Bride dresses are by Elizabeth Fillmore.

Thanks to http://www.tengossip.com/ for the Ellen and Portia shot.