Revisiting the photographs we took during London Fashion Week has been so satisfying. Putting together these retrospective blog posts has been pretty heart warming too.
On my last day in London for Fashion Week (I had to return to York later that day, but #LFW would continue for a further two days) we headed over to Somerset House.
I was informed that in previous years #LFW had been hosted in the beautiful Stuart architecture of Somerset House – which is definitely a Fashion Bloggers aesthetic dream! Of course, a majority of my experience of Fashion Week had been situated in London’s Soho area, so it was nice to have an excuse to visit the historic 17th Century building.
We had come to Somerset House to visit the famed International Fashion Showcase, that this year was themed ‘Fashion Utopias’.
A rather extraordinary exhibition that had a very different take on fashion and its presentation to the catwalks and presentations we had seen elsewhere. Sadly the exhibition only lasted as long as Fashion Week itself.
If you’re interested in a little more information, you can check out a small summary and a few details I wrote up for The 405, here!
After strolling around the International Fashion Showcase, we decided to take a pause and snap a few pictures of our last-day-of-London-Fashion-Week-together outfits.
Cause that’s what besties do, right?
From hair braids to silver skirts, we had decided to go all out on our last day as Fashion Week press! They say ‘the devil is in the details’, and this applied pretty heavily to both of our ensembles.
One of us had donned black, shiny, pointed, patent leather booties. While the other was in cheetah print, hairy, heeled booties.
One was sporting a long, black skinny scarf. And the other wore a neatly tied, navy bandana neckerchief.
On Sophia:
Shirt – New Look
Fur coat – Noisy May
Jeans – H&M
Boots – Hobbs
Bag – Zara
Sunglasses – Ebay
Skinny scarf – repurposed Calvin Klein
On Kasimiira:
Shirt – Asos
Skirt – Asos
Jacket – H&M Trend
Neckerchief – Asos
Bag – Zara
Boots – Asos
We encompassed an array of trends that swirled together and somehow still worked! Our outfits complimented and coordinated in terms of colour palettes and style – and when walking around like a power couple – that’s all that matters!
And that’s the conclusion of the Fashion Week diaries!
We’re out!
I thought I’d throw together just a snippet (and trust me, it’s a big snippet!) of what we saw. This is an opportunity to view hundreds of beautifully crafted garments and have a sneaky peak at the action behind-the-scenes in a collective Designers Showroom.
Every section of the minimal cube-gallery style space was carefully curated to display the A/W16 collection for each designer.
Each station had at least one attentive attendant to help explain inspirations or history behind the collection. 
They were on hand to answer any questions about the line, as well as offer lookbook catalogues and contact cards.
With each designer’s section shoulder-to-shoulder and opposite one another, the space was truly bursting with varieties of style to both compliment and offend every palette!
Other designers tugged at my heartstrings with collections inspired by traditional Scottish weaving and kilts. Certain pieces that experimented with textile combinations were quite a marvel to handle.
Another designers A/W16 collection that stood out to me, was the works of Robert Wun. Interesting forms, exquisitely tailored items and soft pastel colours from every luxurious fabric – this designer exudes the confident craftsmanship of a 21st century Christian Dior.
(In my opinion, this is one to watch.)
From elegant to edgy, Caine London designers were a highlight of my experience in the Showrooms. It’s definitely a personal preference, but I can’t say no to hand-detailed garment, or any large graphics!
Every jacket is hand painted and one-of-a-kind. 
“I saw two shooting stars last night. I wished.”
Once we’d reached the end of the long space, we made a U-turn and began walk back through in order to make our investigations of the accessories designers.
Quite a few pieces caught my eye and coordinated with the jewellery I was already wearing.
One beautiful collection came from V Jewellery. Crafted with quality metals and gems, the A/W16 collection came in wearable styles with traditional Indian influences. Plus, the aim of V Jewellery is to make sure their products are still affordable!
We couldn’t resist lusting after all the shoes. From the reappropriation of commercial images like PEZ on the heels of Camilla Elphick designs…
To whimsical depictions of cats and flowers.
Even bag designers spanned a large section of the Showroom space! And, as we’ve already established, I can’t turn away from a tongue-in-cheek phrase on hand detailed apparel!
We answered questions about our opinions on the shows we’d seen…
And the designers we’d look at during the day.
We also joked about the defining feature of ‘London fashion’…
That being the ability to dress for any weather – especially rain!
That was it – we thought – we’d made it! We’d dressed well enough, and blagged our way around the space to appear like we were sincere members of the Fashion Industry!
From hats to layering our coats on our shoulders, we were the epitome of coordinating Girl Gang partners! 
Kasimiira is wearing:
After sharing enough romantic longing looks into each others eye, we decided we looked so fetching that we just had to swing round the corner to snap some shoots in the Rough Trade East photo booth!
Not only does this place boast a high quality (and affordable) photo booth for the perfect London souvenir you can make yourself, it also houses an extensive music collection worth picking through!
We had arrived on a mission. We heaped up our extra bags and everything bulky on the floor next to the wallpaper of previous customers, and piled into the small square seating space.
The result consisted of a range of faces. Some where we were very obviously unprepared for the quick fire flash…
Next was practically a documentation of every (wannabe) chic pose we could vogue in our short time in front of the camera!
Finally, a group photo of the Fashion Week team! I will honestly tell you it was a struggle to squeeze us all in. And there was definitely only one of us sitting on the tiny stool at any one time.
But if you’re going to take an #ootd at London Fashion Week – make it black and white, in a photobooth, on a rainy day in Brick Lane!
Following a successful morning at London Fashion Week’s Edeline Lee Presentation (view the previous post and plenty of pictures, 
In the same building as the Designer Showrooms, we entered the large space with seating either side and the catwalk down the middle.
The catwalk was lined with large pink, kitsch ‘Chinese New Year-esque’ arches to frame the models as they strutted down the runway. Even with the minimal style of only three arches, the designs still captured the aesthetics of Chinatowns across the globe.
The scene was set for the attendees with the musical accompaniment of the likes of Disney’s Mulan for the ultimate presentation of the Western perception of Asian culture.
Even some of the crowd exuded the more-is-more style.
The finale epitomised the hyper-feminine style of the A/W16 collection.
With the show completed, some people left to attend another fashion event, others roamed around the space. Those in the space inspected the arches and socialised with other members of the fashion industry.
I took just a moment to sit on the Front Row (for probably the only time in my life)!
We exchanged emails about other shows we might attend later that day, as well as the details of the Edeline Lee afterparty we would (definitely) spend our evening at!
After a morning of coffee and cakes, it was time to get professional! We marched ourselves over to Soho, and checked in at the main Press Desk in the London Fashion Week Hub.
On the way to the first show of the day, we couldn’t help but stop and snap a few Street Style photos of this vibrant orange and white ensemble.
It was a pleasure to meet the fashion blogger Marsha from Style of a London Tall Girl. Find her blog 
The line outside of The Vinyl Factory for the Edeline Lee show snaked across the courtyard and spilled out onto the street! This was definitely not a presentation to miss!
Once the eager attendees (us included) made it inside, the large installation-style space was all hustle and bustle.
An artist caught mid-sketch. Sometimes the crowd can be just as interesting as the clothing on display! 
And just before we did, we saw the infamous fashion blogger Pandemonia! 
(The cartoon character ‘drawn’ to life has slotted into numerous, coveted Front Row seats at fashion week for years. Pandemonia is the creation of an anonymous London-based fine artist.)
If you’re interested in the phenomenon that is Pandemonia, there is a pretty great interview with the character herself, 
It wasn’t until arriving at the event, that the sheer size of the event really sunk in. The line of hundreds of people snaked across the centre of the University campus.
And after waiting for our turn in the queue, we were stamped with the Northern Youth logo, and we were ready to enter!
The lighting beamed from every direction, and started to set the mood for the night ahead.
The internal space of the Central Hall was packed with an impressive number of people. With only a few empty spaces still available, we settled halfway up the seating on stage-left.
The plans for the show snowballed quickly from a small event into one of mammoth proportions; resulting in the visiting speakers of the Vogue U.S. Editor-in-Chief, Anna Wintour, and first female Editor-in-Chief of the Guardian, Katharine Viner!
Anna Wintour began her encouraging, and inspiring, speech referring to her connections with the University of York – which were more than you’d expect! She continued by thanking her niece for the invitation to attend the event, before turning her focus to the concepts of creative startups! 
Wintour went on to emphasise that a young persons focus shouldn’t be too strongly on one specialty – one shouldn’t have a narrow way of thinking!
Following the speech, was a Q&A open to the audience! This included Anna Wintour answering questions about the beauty of Yorkshire, politics and economics of the fashion industry; these included many a sassy comment, punctuated by poignant and well calculated opinions.
Fashion has the power to change the world. “It has done fantastic work” in the world – to donate and raise money. It has the power to be “consistently philanthropic”, in truly an “awe inspiring” way! But fashion can also be “frivolous in a good way” – never forget that!
And all too quickly, Wintour and Viner concluded their time on stage and took their seats in the front row.
The show was “produced by BAFTA award-winning director Adam Curtis and the line up of performers included Friendly Fires and Yorkshire talent Billie Marten who was recently tipped for success by the BBC Music Sound of 2016 team.”
And with the twangs of guitar strings, Billie Marten began to play, and the catwalk show began…
A short interlude ensued. This allowed for a change of performers, and a change of vibe; from Billie Marten to the DJ set. 
And that concludes the finale of the captivating, and inspiring event! The show channeled urban youth of the North, and helped draw attention to the talent of designers and creatives from all over!
If you haven’t seen the previous blogpost featuring the extended exhibtion of Yves Saint Laurent: Style is Eternal – check it out 
What better ensemble to throw together than dark colours and denim for a day out at an art gallery?
Cropped sweaters and high waisted jeans are a match made in heaven, and an eye catching belt buckle will peep through perfectly between the two garments!
To keep with the darkly vampy colour palette – I decided to apply a slick coat of rich berry lipstick!
A completely comfortable outfit for a day wandering through beautiful English villages and the famed halls of the French Chateau of The Bowes Museum.
