Fashion In Wonderland … NINA NAUSTDAL COUTURE LONDON – A Siren-Inspired Collection

Nina Naustdal is celebrating a strong, sexy silhouette with the hourglass shape as a starting point.

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The Nina Naustdal London Fashion Week Couture Collection was brought to the catwalk of  Le Peep Boutique, One Hundred & Forty One, Park Lane, on Tuesday 24th February 2015

showcasing her Couture Spring/Summer 2015 collection and RTW Gold and Black Autumn/Winter 2015 collections.

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Show-stopping demure-length gowns with elegant embellishment held the VIP audience in its thrall, enriching wardrobes both day and night, running the gamut from barely-there glimmer to sumptuous sparkle, offering up a rich feast for the eyes.

Floor-length gowns injecting eveningwear with a sultry, film-noir glamour, heavily embellished pieces taking on a new aptness for the day, casting off their traditional after-hours associations.

Revitalising kicks of block colour, Nina offers an antidote to winter’s darkest hour with top-to-toe primaries offering an edgy take on statement dressing.

She creates a new dimension to black – fashion’s default colour – thanks to some crafty textural trickery.

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Artful detailing added a touch of classical grace, dresses drenched in embroidery, taking the traditional notions of opulence to brilliant extremes.

Equestrian-style jackets heightened with luxe glamour, architectural structuring, doubling the impact with lace-on-lace layering.

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This glorious collection offered a wonderful juxtapositioning of colour, bold and painterly with will-ó-the-wisp fabrics in beautifully billowing layers,

taking shimmer into darker territory, lending a dangerous glamour to couture spring/summer and ready-to-wear autumn/winter.

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Emphasis shifted to the waist, as a curvaceous, sexy new shape dominated, flashes of acid colour and the most desirable sharp and sour tones.

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It doesn’t get more fashion-forward than this…Nina offered a show-stopping celebration of the female form.

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Electric violinist, Linzi Stoppard, pleased the VIP audience with a dazzling performance… intoxicating classical rhythms from her Swarovski-laden bridge violin.
Internationally-renowed dancers, Diana & Florent, paced their way into the hearts of the audience with their passionate Paso Doble.
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About Nina Naustdal…

Nina Naustdal was born in Oslo and fell in love with fashion and design from an early age when she was inspired by her Grandma’s work as a seamstress. She represented Norway at athletics in Track and Field until the age of 18 before studying fashion design at Esmod.

Having moved to the UK and become a mother to three children, as well as seven Chihuahuas, Nina launched her own eponymous brand in May 2011, opened her first Boutique on Walton Street, and now works by appointment only from her new showroom in Chelsea, SW3.

Nina is passionate about Couture and loves creating dresses that are feminine, special and unique. Her life philosophy is based around the premise that is ‘Normal is Boring’ and that is reflected in her designs as she takes inspiration from precious stones to create collections that feature glamorous cocktail dresses and gowns in fluid, jewel-toned Italian silks glittering with hundreds of individually hand-applied Swarovski crystals as well as hand picked exclusive fabrics sourced from all over the world.

Nina’s new Ready-To-Wear collection includes colourful prints in feminine shapes for everyday wear and her new range of bridal wear is elegant, distinctive and very far from boring!

All Nina’s pieces are made in her London atelier so that she can personally oversee every stage of production and ensure that each piece is finished to the highest quality and that the dresses are perfectly cut to compliment her clients.

About Le Peep Boutique…

Le Peep Boutique, a members club, restaurant, cocktail bar and night club, inspired by the glamour and theatre of 1920s Paris, located on Park Lane Mayfair.

www.lepeepboutique.com

Images © Shane Finn at www.visual-devotion.co.uk

Déjà Vu Boutique (Ipswich) – Been Here Before? Certainly Worth A Return Visit!

It’s widely understood that fashion is fickle but this little gem in the heart of Ipswich bucks the trend.  Mandy Errington is the creative force behind Déjà Vu, a ‘chic and unique’ shopping experience renowned for being Suffolk’s ‘top-to-toe unique boutique’.

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Déjà Vu attracts the right kind of attention, with one-off pre-loved, vintage, exclusive designer and brand new fashion, inspiring every budget and taste.  Offering a bespoke, personal service along with fashion tips and advice, you can treat yourself to a makeover which will guarantee that you leave the boutique looking good and feeling great.

With elegant suiting and sensual fabric, the boutique gives a flavour of empowerment, cleverly thought out space with walls covered in beautiful designs which exude style, an un-intimidating and relaxed atmosphere showcasing simple shapes to exquisite timeless elegance, clothes that won’t date or dictate a period.  Accessories maketh woman, so Déjà Vu guarantee to coordinate heels, bags and baubles to suit your summer wardrobe with soft, feminine details – a bow or a chain trim… Deja Vu redefines mademoiselle chic.

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The only dilemma is which items to choose – there’s a bewildering array of perennially stylish couture, handbags that epitomise understated chic, desirable heels and the ultimate in décolletage decoration complete the range of covetable trimmings.  Déjà Vu source individually so there’s less chance of seeing the same outfit duplicated.  Mandy is particularly thrilled at becoming a stockist of Covert Cases, a seriously gorgeous range of funky-coloured iPhone and iPad covers with prices starting at £10.

The boutique has an enviable eco-friendly image, with an energy efficiency rating as high as I’ve ever seen associated with a commercial premise through sensible use of lighting and heating.

I was impressed with the spacious changing room and the fact that if you fall in love with something that isn’t quite the right fit, an adjacent alteration service, Star Alterations, is at hand with quality adjustments to make the fit perfect.

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With the help of Mandy at Déjà Vu, you can easily shed 10 years with a wardrobe change but your make-up can easily be a tell-tale giveaway.  Déjà Vu  have recently introduced ‘Zoya’, a vegan-friendly nail polish range, made with no harsh chemicals and available in a choice of luxurious colours and finishes, but was one of the initial ambassadors for a range of make-up by Youngblood Mineral Cosmetics, conceived by a professional aesthetician, Pauline Youngblood–Soli.  The range is all about quality, from light-reflective foundations that give the smoothest, sheerest coverage for all skin types and colours to lipsticks and eye-colour which are adaptable for subtle or strong colour-ways.  The products are pure, contain no fragrances, oils or talcs, ideal for post-treatment application, actively helping to soothe and heal the skin.

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We’d all like our make-up to look as if our skin had been re-touched, but that doesn’t always mean we’re willing to use invasive products to achieve it.  A signature look is all about detail and Youngblood Mineral Cosmetics epitomises this with their 100% chemical-free skin-transforming make-up, packaging with a reassuringly expensive feel and sleek-mirrored compacts for applying your make-up whenever and wherever.

Mandy chose to create the smoky eye, a catwalk favourite from the last few seasons brought bang up to date with a subtle use of colour rather than black, as Mandy showed when she created my summer-inspired smouldering look.

Mandy Errington is a perfectionist, she’s not happy until you are… in the current environment of high street too-big-to-care brands, she has an ethos all independent boutiques should aspire to.

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www.dejavuboutique.co.uk

Facebook: DejaVuBoutiqueIpswich

@DejaVuIpswich

10 Norwich Road

Ipswich

IP1 2NG

Tel: 01473 404592

Images © Shane Finn – Visual Devotion

 

Christina Hendricks at "I Don't Know How She Does It" Premiere, Girl Crush alert!

In the Frost office our girl crush radar went off the charts at the site of the refreshingly voluptuous Christina Hendricks at the premiere of “I Don’t Know How She Does It” in Vivienne Westwood. We only have one word: WOW!

Christina Hendricks wears Vivienne Westwood Couture at the “I Don’t Know How She Does It” premiere in New York

13th September 2011. American actress Christina Hendricks attended the “I Don’t Know How She Does It” premiere in New York last night. Christina chose to wear a salmon silk satin Cocotte dress from the Vivienne Westwood Couture collection.

This Month's Magazines: Pippa Middleton and Gwyneth Paltrow Cover Girls/ Updated

Here is the second in my monthly round-up, for July 2011.

Tatler has joined Pippa Middleton’s fan club and put her on the cover, the article on her inside weighs up her possible future husbands, and has a very good article on her and lots of pictures. It also let’s you know that Pippa does pilates at Pilates on the Go in Parson’s Green, and has a testimonial on their website.

Tatler also give the low-down on the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s inner circle, who’s in and who’s out. Athina Onassis also has an article on her and multibillion-pound colossus Glencore has a four page article on them. Nathaniel Rothschild is one of their investors.

Tory Burch talks about what inspires her, Claudia Winklemann writes about her hatred of summer, Orlando had advice for your gap yah, Annabel Rivkin slams Made In Chelsea for making posh people look bad, and for not being posh at all.

One of the best article is their annual 100 most invited; The Middleton’s top the list, Natalie Massenet, Colin Firth, Nat Rothschild, Michael McIntyre, Dasha Zhukova and Liz Murdoch all make the list.

Tatler also has their first ever Hunting, Shooting & Fishing guide. Here at Frost we don’t hunt, but we love clay pigeon shooting.

Vanity Fair: Emma Stone is on the cover and talks about wanting to be a ‘covered up’ actress, but is on the cover in a bikini. Stone comes across well in the interview and states that she doesn’t want to make a career out of mere sex appeal. Ted Danson goes out to lunch, James Wolcott on Dominique Strauss-Kahn, There is a long form article on Groupon, one of the biggest growing business in history which will soon be worth $20 Billion.

There is an article to mark the 10th anniversary of 9/11, there is also a very good article on Prince Andrew and his many troubles, but does let you know that he is The Queen’s favorite child, Elephants – which are sadly being hunted in their tens of thousands per year, and Catch 22 writer Joseph Heller. Jerry Lewis does the Proust Questionnaire.

Vanity Fair Jewellery has a supplement with a naked Gwyneth Paltrow on the cover. It has lots of good articles on the history of Gold, The Windsor’s crown jewels, Daphne Guinness and a calender with Paltrow, Thandie Newton, Natalia Vodianova, Olivia Inge, Olivia Palermo, Uma Thurman and Poppy Delevigne.

Marie Claire has Audrey Tautou on the cover, the shy actress manages to give nothing away in the subsequent interview. George Clooney talks about his activism in South Sudan, there are wedding night confessions, a good article on women who earn money from blogging, a piece on the rise of Posh as Toff mania grips Britain.

There are QR codes abound in Marie Claire, exciting if you have a smart phone,

There is lots of fashion of course, it lets you nail your festival look, there is an article on couples who fight over wardrobe space, an article on love addiction and JK Rowling’s life story. Harry Potter star Bonnie Wright also gives an insight into her world and Megan Fox gives her beauty secrets.

There is a free gift of lip gloss, but not if you are a subscriber. Bad form.

Vogue has Kate Moss AKA Mrs Jamie Hince on the cover and in a forties fashion spread inside, though nothing on her wedding (American Vogue have been given the rights) Emma Stone, Jessica Chastain and Lily Collins.

Jemima Khan writes about conquering her fear of flying to save a long distance relationship. Jemima is a very good writer. Miss V is as brilliant as ever, with lots of parties and pictures,

Of course there is lots of fashion and the forties look is in. Christopher Bailey talks about 10 years at Burberry and Mustique is the holiday destination of the year.

The girls of Downtown Abbey are in vogue and in couture, complete with interviews. There is also a tan special and Christa D’Souza on the quest of a perfect ponytail. Gemma Atterton gives her Style File and talks about how hard it is to find cloths to fit her curvy frame.

There is also a free supplement of the Runaway round-up for Autumn/Winter 2011.

Glamour has Jessie J is on the cover and there is a free Personal Horoscope book.

There is a very good article inside where Jessie talks about her sexuality, her stroke and drugs and alcohol which you can read more about on Frost.

There is articles on cutting calories, getting in shape and being body confident, lessons from online dating, Karl Lagerfield on Lily Allen’s wedding dress, article on sex dreams, how to nail a wedding gift, Katy Perry’s body secrets.

This issue also had Glamour’s Women Of the Year Awards, their prestigious annual event, with news and gossip from the night. A running gag about sleeping with Davina McCall’s husband is funnier than it sounds. There is also 30,000 sex secrets and how to become red carpet glamorous, as well as an interview with the Inbetweener’s boys. Celia Walden interviews Rupert Grint and the stars spill their festival secrets.

A very good, fun edition with lots of fashion, stories, advice and fun.