A Very Fashionable Weekend

London fashion week has been and gone, and for us lesser mortals, without press badges or socialite status, to only way to grab a slice of the action is through tickets to London Fashion Weekend; and on saturday that is exactly what a very fashionable friend and I did. Held at a specially built site on the grounds of the Natural History Museum in Kensington, LFWeekend is part trade fair, part fashion showcase. With two floors of fashion stalls, selling clothes, but mainly bags and accessories by independent designers, as well as some bigger names, LFWeekend is a great opportunity for style stalker to grab some goodies with a favourable discount.

Impoverished as I am after America, I was a good girl and managed to resist splashing out, and though I was tempted by a pink floral hair clip from Anna Lou of London, and a Lulu Guinness umbrella, (a bargain at £15), I contented myself with my freebies. That's right. Freebies.

Okay, so it wasn't a total freebie, but with my ticket I got a copy of Elle magazine and an Elle goodie bag, which included an Elizabeth Arden eyeliner, perfume sampler, bikini, bag of Lavazza coffee (my coffee of choice and sponsor of the event), a selection of snacks and a twittered about box of luxury tampons ... no, I don't know why either.

Though I appreciated my bag of goodies, a bag of Snack a Jacks proving a useful mid-morning snack, the real highlight of the day was, of course, the fashion show.

Styled by Toni and Guy, and Elizabeth Arden, and held on the same catwalk trod by top designers and globe trotting supermodels earlier in the week, the show featured four mini collections comprised of a variety of pieces by different designers that were styled together to comply to an overall feel or trend.

The four 'scenes' were; American Idol, (think trailer trash, bleached denim and cutoffs), with jeans and shorts by Siwy, tops by Asish and Camilla Starerk and over sized bows by Johnny Loves Rosies. Domestic Goddess (Desperate Housewives with more bright colours and sheer), with shoes by Melissa and Office, and outfits from Osman Yousefzada, Matthew Williamson, Tommy Hilfiger and Ossie Clark. African Queen (tribal prints balanced out with body-con structuring, for which I felt appropriately dressed in an Aztec print body con skirt), with Kurt Geiger shoes, Sam Uni and Malene Birger jewellery, and outfits by Matthew Williamson, Jaeger, Ann-Sofie, American Retro and Aminka Wilmont. Ethereal Nude, (sexy but girly sheer fabrics and nude tones), with nudity expertly de-pornified by Ashley Isham, Areangel, Jasper Conran, Jacob Kimmie and Issa, and balanced out with Swarovski Runway Rocks.

The only downside? There were two queues leading into the catwalks, my friend and I joined the shorter queue early and stood near the front of the line for twenty minutes, only when the doors were opened, everyone in the other queue was let in before us, so people that had only just rocked up managed to grab front row seats while our diligence was rewarded with seats five rows back from the catwalk, and to add insult to injury, I was seated behind the only guy in the audience, a six foot something with spiked up hair. I did manage to get quite good view though, and even grabbed a couple of snaps, though most of them are quite blurry, (considering the shoes they're wearing, models move surprisingly fast), here are a few of my hot picks from the catwalk, in order of appearance.Look out for my favourite outfits of the day, a blue sheer blouse and harem pant set from the 'Domestic Goddess' scene, and a pair of short tribal dresses from the 'African Queen' look:

The show was great, and afterwards we ventured out into a beautiful day, and enjoyed a long lunch at Italian restaurant Zizzi, followed by a stroll along the Southbank that lead us to the Tate Modern. Here we spend the hours between afternoon and evening hanging out on bright blue and yellow metal bunk beds at Dominique Gonzales-Foerster's dystopian installation, discussing art, politics, society, and whether my make up made me look a bit like Julia Robert's prostitute best friend in Pretty Women or not.

A very fashionable day. And a fashionably late write up post.