Sampling the Style at London Fashion Week

This week sees the end to 2013's London Fashion week. And what a week it's been! With new collections from the likes of Vivienne Westwood, Christopher Kane and Alice Temperley, fashionistas everywhere have been treated to a mixed bag of new styles and selections for the new season. Here are some highlights according to Luxe Models.

Vivienne Westwood put on a stunning show as ever, with an opening dance number from Lily Cole. In conjunction with the launch of Westwood's new Red Label, Cole performed an interpretive version of The Red Shoes, draped in a Grecian-style gown, reminiscent of Kate Bush circa Wuthering Heights. Cole wowed the audience with her performance, proving once again that there's a lot more to her than just a pretty face. Models took to the catwalk caked in thick, white face make-up giving them, to quote Westwood herself, that "animal-in-the-headlights" look.  The Red Label focusses largely on climate change, with many of the t-shirts on show sporting climate-related slogans. Nature themes run throughout the collection and are paired with the classic Westwoodian styles, namely loud floral prints and modernised period cuts. These were very practical, wearable pieces. In the audience, long-time Westwood fan Paloma Faith sat, dressed in a striking tartan trouser suit with her signature bundle of gorgeous, flaming hair perched atop her head. She was joined by upcoming Hollywood favourite, Anna Kendrick, who also paid homage to Viv, sporting a yellow and purple tartan pencil skirt.

On the subject of fashion, Westwood stated that people ought to be more careful when they make their purchasing choices, buying for quality rather than quantity, selecting one very well-made piece instead of six cheaper items, for example.

Favourite of the Middleton sisters, Alice Temperley showcased what she does best with her new collection that fully embraces the theme of romance. Inspired by the essence of Sicily, Temperley offers up some super feminine, knee-length dresses in blacks, whites and striking fushia. There were also some beautifully flowing gowns complete with classic Temperley embellishments.

In terms of celeb favourites, it seems no one can quite pull a crowd like Henry Holland. With Daisy Lowe, Harry Styles and Pixie Geldof in the front row to see what was on offer, this was the perfect place to spot a sleb! They were joined by Alexa Chung, who had, thankfully, ditched the fitted Jonathan Saunders PVC prom dress she chose to wear for a Longchamp party earlier this week.

Don't know about you, but we're certainly looking forward to these styles hitting the high streets so we can get our hands on a piece of the action! But maybe Ms Westwood does have a point and we should make an effort to treat ourselves to just a few really special pieces rather than a huge number of things we probably don't need.

Tattoos; This Season's Trend

So it seems the latest trend amongst celebrities is tattooing your body- with the more tattoos covering your skin the better- a trend that Luxe Models won’t be copying. Three people who are considerably eye-catching due to their tattoos are Cher Lloyd, Harry Styles and Cara Delevingne  unfortunately for them though although the tattoos may be eye-catching, they’re not necessarily nice. 

Cher Lloyd wowed at the recent Teen Choice Awards with her new hair-do, which was a sleek and sophisticated cropped style. However, although her hair-do and natural make-up suited her one thing really let her down, her arm tattoos. It’s sort of a given that once you start inking a large proportion of your body you will no longer be able to pull off the sophisticated look, yet Cher decided to give it a go, but unfortunately she could not pull it off. Furthermore the tattoos looked miss-matched and out of place, with no real pattern or theme going on. The tattoos on her arms include skulls, love hearts, quotes and question marks and although Cher has previously said, “I don’t have a favourite tattoo. I like all of my tattoos. I don’t think I’ll regret any of them” we somehow think she will.

Then there’s Harry Styles, who seems to have treated his body like a piece of paper, doodling on it, writing random words and just in general causing a mess. His tattoos consist of birds, stars and literally scribble. Although he can pull it off slightly more than Cher, (solemnly because he’s a lad) there is still no denying that he looks absolutely hideous.

Cara Delevingne’s tattoos on the other hand are quite interesting and pleasing to look at. She currently has the head of a lion tattooed on one of her fingers, which looks more like art work than a tattoo (we know that tattoos are all essentially art-work but this tattoo is one that people would actually want to look at). However, just as we thought Cara was the sensible one she recently got ‘Made In England’ tattooed to the sole of her foot, (ouch) thankfully with it being on the sole of her foot it is easily covered, we just hope she doesn’t go down the same path as Cher and Harry.

Some tattoos can be beautiful and really meaningful, however, these young stars need to remember that this latest trend isn’t something they can just throw away, but something that takes a lot of money and pain to have removed.