Surprise, surprise - it's Cilla!

So I went to the Arcadia autumn/winter preview yesterday and it was fab. TopShop have once again come up with the most wonderful clothes, including a mad harlequin dress (very Miu Miu) and some fabulous shoes.

Trend wise, it seems headpieces such as headbands and fascinators will be big, as will brooches - all the ranges featured these.

There were some nice winter colour choices - Miss Selfridge had purple and coral, which look amazing together - and Dorothy Perkins had some lovely coats, including a pink checked fluffy number that wouldn't have looked out of place on a '50s movie star.

After the preview, I was lucky enough to be invited for VIP drinks with Sir Philip Green - head of Arcadia. He seemed pleasant enough but looks a bit like a wheeler dealer, which I suppose he is.

The highlight of the evening though was when Cilla Black appeared. A few years back I had a boogie with her and Duncan James to Kylie at a premiere party and let me tell you, she looks better now than then! She's really glam with very slim legs. Her companion was really dapper. Maybe Cilla's going to bring out her own range of clothes?!

Fooling the fashionistas

Ha, ha! Today I am rubbing my hands with glee as I type (I’m not literally doing that as obviously my typing would be all over the place). Today, I am wearing one of my sale purchases and one of the last items I will buy for four long months. Now, I knew it was a nice dress, but I wasn’t prepared for the coos I would get from the fashion folk. Nor was I prepared for the calls of ‘Is it Manoush? Or is it Paul and Joe?’ as I walked through the office. Of course, I’ve given the ladies my best Princess Diana smile (you know the one – gracious but you know how good you actually look smile) but have kept schtum about origins of my dress. Unfortunately, it’s not designer, but was a mere 15 squid and comes from Miss Selfridge. You see, fashion isn’t about what you wear but how you wear it baby!

Nineties fashion flasback – the boring decade?

Today I was eavesdropping on a conversation the subs were having. Now the subs are possibly the nicest people you can meet. They have ordinary conversations about what they’re going to eat for dinner and what they watched on the box the night before. Needless to say, their conversations are always met with rolling eyes and sighs from the fashionable set who don’t eat and are never in to watch TV.

Anyway, I digress! They were discussing how they’d love to have a 90’s party as they loved the music so much. That was definitely the decade that gave us some iconic acts – Nirvana, Spice Girls, Take That, Blur and Oasis all arrived in the 90s helping to define the music scene. However, what would you wear to such a party?

I’ve been thinking so hard about this as nothing really stands out in my mind and that decade was my uni/early twenties decade so I did plenty of partying. I do remember having my hair cut like Linda Evangalista (or Vagina-blister as my gay mates call her) – you know the short bob/crop that she had. It was a rip roaring success and my pulling rate doubled once I’d had the mythical cut. But what did I wear with it?

There was a mini kilt that I loved. I used to wear it to uni, my work experience, out on the town. It was from the coolest of cool shops – Miss Selfridge. Back in the ‘90s, I do remember that Miss S was hip and TopShop was not. Amazing to think how times have changed, eh?

Waistcoats and leggings also reared their fashionable heads but what’s so daring and new about them? We’re still wearing them now for gawds sake. They were part of the biggest (and only) trend I can really remember – grunge. Created by Marc Jacobs, it was all about layering. I was rubbish at it as I like really simple, minimalist lines but I gave it a go!

In the late ‘90s, a resurgence in sportswear as everyday wear occurred, mostly thanks to bands like All Saints wearing combats and trainers. Being strictly a heel girl, I even remember being made over by a magazine (New Woman) to be a casual, funky girl. Needless to say, I hated it!

So I took a trip down memory lane and googled ‘90s fashion. I was reminded that…

• Jennifer Aniston’s haircut in Friends (the Rachel) became the MUST-HAVE cut
• Big platform shoes were deriguer thanks to the Spice Girls and their ridiculously high shoes
• Horrible fleeces hit the high street
• Everyone owned – or wanted to own – a pashmina
• Versace was the king of the catwalk and his garish prints were ripped off by the high street everywhere. This was also the decade where Gianni Versace was gunned down outside his Miami mansion on 15th July. I remember this vividly as it was the day after my 24th birthday.
  
• Hip hugging flares made a comeback. I wore mine to an INXS concert with a very cropped top and got very excited when I saw Helena Christensen in the audience!