BAFTA 2008: fashion hits and misses!

It's Monday so it's time for a bit of a celebrity style blog and what better time than to discuss the BAFTAs, which took place last night. It's the first proper big film awards to take place and the stars didn't disappoint, wearing a plethora of beautiful frocks. However, as always in these cases, there are style losers and winners.

Let's talk winners to begin with. Sienna Miller may not have won any awards for her acting, but surely she wins best dressed of the night.

Shunning her usual 'just got dressed in the dark' look, she looked amazing in this backless Dior frock and a million quids worth of jewellery.

Another British beauty was Thandie Newton, one of my style icons. She always manages to combine sexy elegance with quirky Britishness and pulls of this Alexander McQueen dress in her own style.

Other notable mentions go to my current fashion crush Marion Cottilard who looked fabulous in her unusual get-up and Naomie Harris (who I've seen close up and is very skinny but with gorgeous skin) who bought some colour to the carpet in this gorgeous turquoise number.

Onto the losers. There weren't that many really. OK Julie Christie's shiny animal print trousers were a bit yuck, but she still managed to make them look sexy and she's twice the age of most of these starlets.

On the other hand, the usually gorgeous Jessica Biel looked washed out and thoroughly dull in this get-up. I think it's true to say that not blondes don't always have fun - the sooner she gets back to being a brunette, the better.

And finally, onto Keira Knightley. I suppose her frock looks OK, although it does just emphasise her skinniness.

What really riled me about Ms Pout-A-Lot is that she didn't smile once - all the photos I've seen of her today make her look like a spoilt brat who's been forced out for a special family occasion. I know she hates the fame aspect of acting, but she really should appreciate what she's got - sigh!

Posh Spice or should it be Badly Dressed Spice?

Poor ole Victoria Beckham! She has topped Mr Blackwell’s annual worst dressed list. I actually feel kind of sorry for the pouty one. She tries so hard to be a fashionista but unfortunately for her, no amount of designer mates or Hermès handbags will win round the fashion mafia.

It seems you can only be truly cool in the fashion world if you look like you’ve crawled out of bed and just thrown on the first thing you found. That’s just not Victoria’s style and I say there’s nothing wrong with pouring yourself into skin-tight dressed and wearing skyscraper heels. At least she has her own style. It’s not to my taste but she puts in effort and that’s nice.

I struggle every day to try and fit in with these fashion types. Gone are the days when I can simply thrown on my jeans, Converse trainers and a nice top. Every day feels like I’m being thrown to the lions. Get it wrong and instead of being savaged, you’re ignored. Get it right and you may get a slight smile as they pass by you in the corridor.

My problem is, I hate looking messy and un-neat. I wish I had the insouciance of stars such as Alexa Cheung, Mary-Kate Olsen and Sienna Miller, but I don’t. So everyday I struggle to dress my outfit down a bit. And there are a couple of ways to do this:

• Have messy, bed-head hair. A straight, neat bob just does not cut it.
• Accessorise wisely. Put on a battered hat, a long pendant and mess up your dress with biker boots or trainers.
• Make sure your clothes are slightly too big to give that ‘borrowed from the boyfriend’ feel
• Mix and match prints. Stripes with florals, star prints with checks – anything goes in the world of messy fashion I think.

I’m still not quite there – I can do the messy hair but not while my mis-matching my prints – but I’m trying. Perhaps though the best way to deal with the added stress is to just embrace my own style but I’m sure what that actually is… perhaps finding my original style will be my new year’s resolution.

Dressing for winter

OK! I admit it! I think the fashionista thing is rubbing off on me way too much. I’m off to enjoy the Winter Wonderland at Hyde Park tonight and in my pre-fash mag days, my only thought would’ve been how to keep warm tonight. Chunky sweater, jeans, hat – you know the kind of thing.

However, this morning I woke up and felt utterly bemused at what to wear. How does one dress for winter but stylishly? The thing is you never really see celebrities all bundled up and looking toasty. Posh Spice chose this very seasonal outfit of mini-skirt, bare legs and no coat to go Christmas shopping in. She must have really felt the cold, especially being such a skinny thing.

To be fair, you can see why celebs don’t do the winter woollies look. It bulks out the frame (and the camera already adds pounds), plus being warm isn’t very sexy is it? If Heidi Klum can’t look good while she’s skiing, what hope do us mere mortals have?

However, a couple of stars do it really well and I’ve been taking inspiration from these guys:

• Mary Kate Olsen – she plays with a mixture of proportions so avoids the Michelin Man look. Although being so skinny she’d have to wear a lot of jumpers to look that big.
• Jessia Alba manages to combine warmth, comfort and fashion with this cool military-inspired look.
• Sienna Miller - I think she does off duty dressing very well and is a realistic style role-model. Here she’s wearing lots of layers – perfect for when you’re out shopping and going in and out of hot shops

So what did I end up wearing today? I took inspiration from la dinky Olsen and threw on a chunky wrap cardy, black skinny jeans and grey riding boots. Topped with my Zara military coat, I think I’ve got this seasonal style nailed.

What I didn’t count on happening today however was having my photo taken for a feature I’m in – will my winter dressing pile on those pounds? We’ll have to wait until it’s published to find out!