WHAT A WEEK FOR BRITISH DESIGN!

Posted by Fashion Junior at Large

Earlier in the week, we noticed two of our London based designers had been making an impact on the red carpets of international celebrity soirées, but little did we know that that was just a precursor to a brilliant week for British designers!
When Mr and Mrs Obama touched down on British soil on Tuesday, they kicked off a celebration of some of the our brightest and best fashion talent. Indeed, from the second Michelle O stepped off Air Force One in this dazzling (next season) Preen number, we knew this was the start of something big. (Have we mentioned how much we love her? Whether shaking her thang in a school hall to get kids dancing, or being the coolest First Lady in the history of time, Michelle Obama officially rocks our world.)

Michelle Obama in Preen AW11, looking sensational.

The original catwalk look Preen AW11

 Next up, SamCam continued to wave the flag for British fashion as she welcomed the Obamas to Number 10 in a beautiful - and borrowed - Peter Pilotto SS11 number (some of you will remember Paula Reed carrying out her royal fashion correspondent duty for the Beeb in this very same style). It's a fabulous dress, managing to be unusual and elegant at the same time.

Samantha Cameron in Peter Pilotto SS11

Peter Pilotto SS11

Of course, it wouldn't be a British fashion parade without the now uber-tanned K-Mid, freshly returned from her royal honeymoon and creating yet another high street mania in the 'Shola' dress from Reiss. No doubt the £175 number has already sold out, it looked great on her, with her waist still waspish post-wedding and the neutral colour set off her tan wonderfully.

K-Mid - Sorry, the Duchess of Cambridge, in the Reiss 'Shola' bandage dress. She's creating her own trend bubble. 

Back at Number 10, SamCam showed that you can accessorise Jonathan Saunders with salad tongs as she served up potato salad at a barbecue for servicemen. The dress was the perfect choice for an almost-summer sunny afternoon.

That's one garden party we would have liked to have been at. Pass the ketchup!

Jonathan Saunders SS11

Finally, it was only a matter of time before one of the First Ladies busted out some McQueen, and Michelle Obama chose the suitably dramatic setting of Oxford University to wear her Sarah Burton-designed outfit. 
















All in all, British designers did us proud this week, and it was fantastic to see their incredible designs being worn by suitably inspiring people.
Images: Daily Mail, Catwalking, Style.com, Getty

THE LATEST, GREATEST WEBSITE FOR NEW DESIGN TALENT

Posted by Fashion Junior at Large

 Eudon Choi at YoungBritishDesigners.com

After being inspired by all the amazing new talent on show at London Fashion Week, we were greeted with some great news this morning. Many of the up-and-coming designers who we met at LFW (including Charlotte Taylor, Eudon Choi and JW Anderson) are working with a new online retail project called, appropriately, www.youngbritishdesigners.co.uk.

Having been launched just over two weeks ago, the project aims to 'create the first dedicated retail environment purely focusing upon young talent working in this country' and to celebrate the risks that British designers take in order to create the world's most exciting fashion. Edited selections from the 36 designers' collections are available to purchase from the site, often in limited runs - these are future collectibles, after all.

We spoke to Julian Whitehead, one of the founders of the website, along with his partners Debra Hepburn, Adrianna Wheatley and Stuart Jackson (the latter two hit on the original concept after being inspired at LFW AW10, back in February.) They turned to Debra and Julian for some practical advice on how to get the project started, and the team's combination of experience in advertising, marketing and fashion, along with a healthy dose of youth and enthusiasm has contributed to its success. According to Julian, the YBD staff are committed to "producing something new and exciting, as well as giving something back to the UK fashion industry. We want to set people off on their chosen paths, and hope that the site will help them along the way."

This is a great platform for making contemporary fashion talent accessible to the public, at a much earlier than normal stage in a young designer's career. They  were possibly the first people to spot and stock Felicity Brown, who most recently designed for Lanvin as well as selling her collection through the youngbritishdesigners site.

 Felicity Brown at www.youngbritishdesigners.com

The roster of designers is an evolving process and the buying team hope to add new collections to the site as and they discover them. By next season, there will be a host of new names added to the website's line up. YBD should help these future fashion legends to begin building their own design legacy, and enable savvy shoppers to buy a little piece of creative history.

www.youngbritishdesigners.com