Lady G

I went home a few weekends ago for my best friend’s engagement party, big congrats to  Natalie & James!, and what a partaaay it was! But that’s another blog entry....

However, also on the same weekend it was Father’s day! So, I did what any dutiful daughter would do to celebrate Father’s day and I took my dad on his first ever visit to.......Topshop!

Now, my pops knows a thing or two about style - although I’m sure my mum would disagree - so I took him on the hunt for the perfect outfit for my DJ debut! I think he was slightly over whelmed by how much ‘stuff’ this one shop had but he did very well helping me select accessories that complimented the green metallic sports luxe heels (these heels are seriously #totesamaze!) that I had chosen to accompany my matt silver sequin dress.

One style tip my dad always gave me was just be myself, to wear what I felt comfortable in, and more importantly what expressed who I was. Now, admittedly, this ethos often led me down the route of fashion faux pas – but that’s actually not a bad thing, because just like in life, we can learn from our fashion mistakes and evolve into the fabulous style queens that we are today!

The beauty of fashion is that it’s all about self expression, so don’t feel the pressure to follow trends, just be yourself and you’re confidence in your own self expression will be the coolest accessory you could ever rock.

And don’t forget to nurture you’re your father/daughter relationship, whilst doing good for the economy, and take your dad to Topshop!

Express Yourself,

Lady G & Papa G xxx

So, as my blog is about all things stylish, this week I am talking Olympic style - and there’s no mention of Stella McCartney. I’m talking about inner style and I’m talking about two people in particular, Usain Bolt & Yohan Blake.

As we all know, it doesn’t matter what kind of attire you’re wearing, if you don’t accessorise your style with a bit of swagger then your look can fall flat, and these boys certainly know how to bring it! With their immense confidence, cheeky banter with the crowds and innate sense of cool these boys would look good in anything.

They definitely get a gold medal on the Lady G Style Olympics chart!

Energy + Humility + Hard Work = Success

Christopher Bailey’s talk with Alexandra Shulman at the Vogue Festival was truly inspirational. His humble Yorkshire beginnings resonated throughout his interview which was extremely refreshing considering his current influential positioning in the fashion industry.

Prior to Burberry, Bailey worked at Donna Karen and Gucci. When he was appointed Creative Director of Burberry he wanted to take the company from being something that sold products to a living, breathing brand. He went back to Burberry’s grass roots and tried to understand the philosophy of what Burberry was built upon. He then began unlocking and de-layering all the elements and key components of the brand and then re-built upon this, adding his own modern edge to create the Burberry that we see today.

His collections are inspired by a mood or a feeling rather than a theme, however he did state that this is sometimes hard to articulate to his team because this vision all begins in his head because you have to marry creative vision with practicality:

‘A designer has to connect emotionally but a designer has to connect emotionally and functionally.’

Burberry is one of the leading world brands that allows for imagination and pushing the boundaries of fashion whilst still producing wearable pieces which I think is the key to their success.

Something that came out of all the talks was that the majority of the major players within the heart of the fashion industry have got there through hard work and dedication – not because they rocked the latest trend on the day of their interviews; although a valid interest in your field is obviously required. I truly believe that remaining grounded, focussed and believing in yourself is the key to success.

After listening to Lucinda Chambers, Fashion Director at Vogue, talk at the Vogue Festival, she is now officially on my list of coolest people I aspire to be more like.

I’ll admit that I did not know who she was when she first got up to speak but as images of her work flashed up on the screen behind her I realised that some of her images and cover shoots are stored in my very own ‘love’ images on my computer – in particular a shoot she did with Kate Moss from 2007.

With her soft tones, articulated speech and demure stance you wouldn’t be wrong for confusing her as an art teacher if you didn’t know who she was - but through her words, and clearly remarkable creative vision, you see that there is a very strong willed woman behind this tiny frame – and that made me love her all the more. She isn’t typically what you would envision or even how you would envision a Creative Fashion Director to be.

She began her working life at Vogue as PA to Vogue's then editor, Beatrix Miller. 'I couldn't type or anything,' she says, but she enjoyed dressing up for work, and eventually got to assist the fashion director, Grace Coddington. Apart from a few years when she worked with Sally Brampton on the launch of British Elle, she has worked most of her life for Vogue . She spends about 22 weeks of the year away, shooting on location with photographers including Mario Testino, with whom she works a lot.

Some of the most inspiring and influential people in the fashion industry are those that are not necessarily seen at all the parties or splashed across the front cover of a magazine – case and point; the amazing Grace Coddington - how many people knew who she was before they watched ‘The September Issue’. And it’s not to say that there is any shame in not knowing who these people are, in fact discovering them through an organic process, like I did with Lucinda Chambers, makes it all the more delightful when you see/hear from the person who has created something that you have wondered over, and even inspired you to do something wonderful.

The ironic note I took away from this was: Never judge a book by it’s cover……unless, of course, it’s their front cover of Vogue.