Vivienne Westwood’s official arrival in China

This week is the official launch of the Independent British brand Vivienne Westwood in China. Vivienne Westwood will host four major events, including opening Shanghai fashion week, to mark the brands prestigious arrival in one of the Worlds most important markets, China.

The beginning of this week saw the official opening of the Vivienne Westwood Grand Gateway Shanghai store. The new shop was toasted in style by Chinese VIP’s and press. To celebrate the brands arrival the official opening of Vivienne Westwood Shoes An Exhibition: 1973 – 2011 also took place this week. This is a unique exhibition which showcases over 40 years of design and is touring internationally. So far it has travelled from the UK to Russia then on to Beirut and Lebanon and is now at the Grand Gateway in Shanghai, China. The exhibition will showcase around 80 shoe designs and traces the exceptional success of Dame Westwood’s career to date. The exhibition is open to the public form the 19th – 23rd October 2011.

The grand arrival continued yesterday evening when Vivienne Westwood was the main guest at ‘Fashion Shanghai’, the official opening of Shanghai’s Fashion Week, at Shanghai Fashion Center. Vivienne Westwood showcased a selection of her designs from her Autumn- Winter 2011/12 and Spring-Summer 2012 collections.

As part of the launch Vivienne Westwood is also set to be a guest of honour at the ‘Can China Survive the World Green Economy?’ conference hosted in the prestigious University of Shanghai and will be voicing her environmental campaigns to reach an International audience. Also attending the conference will be journalists from Chinese publications, and members of international organizations based in China.

London Fashion Week | Vivienne Westwood Red Label Spring- Summer 2012

On 18th September 2011 Vivienne Westwood’s Red Label Spring- Summer 2012 catwalk show took place at the historical Smithfields Market, London.

The collection was inspired by a Degas Painting of young girls watching Spartans exercising and the ancient games- with classic cuts and tailoring all taken from the Vivienne Westwood archive collections. The chalk patterns from the painting influenced the strong silver palate through the collection with the ancient look somehow transforming into a space age Barbarella which was also reflected in the hair and make-up. Tropical wool from our classics and Price of Wales checks in cotton created sharp smart suiting looks.

The show also introduced the Rainforest charity, Cool Earth, and a campaign that is very close to Vivienne’s heart- a plan to save the most vulnerable Rainforest areas by 2020.

“Cool Earth has a plan to save the Rainforest.

If we don’t save the Rainforest- Forget it!

First we saved the Rainforest.

Will they ever know we saved the planet?”

Vivienne Westwood

The Spring/Summer 2012 Red Label Fashion Show also marked the launch of an ongoing partnership between Vivienne Westwood and Sony music, enabled with the support of the British Fashion Councils- Bazaar Fashion Arts Foundation. Communicating an important message about our world’s rainforests, a limited number of Vivienne Westwood designed MP3 players, a badge that plays music, were distributed to guests at the show containing a short recording from Vivienne herself and an excerpt from Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro supplied by Sony Music. This limited edition Playbutton acts as a teaser for a more extensive commercial collection to be launched in stores November/December 2011. The Playbutton is an innovative mix-tape of music that doubles up as a fun accessory. With all the typical functionality of a mini MP3 player, the Playbutton pairs the concept of a great album with the classic button for the perfect wearable way to listen to music. The Playbutton is coming soon to Vivienne Westwood stores worldwide and a select number of boutiques.

Sitting front row alongside the fashion royalty were celebrities Kelis, Pamela Anderson, Erin O’Conner, Tracey Emin, Jaquetta Wheeler, Portia Freeman, Zara Martin, Eliza Doolittle, Paloma Faith, and Sunday Girl.

Kelis (fresh from her fuax pas of accusing London of being a ‘racist’ city when she was actually insulted in Spain) chose to wear a silver blouse with a printed pencil skirt from the Autumn-Winter 2011 Gold Label collection.

Erin O’Connor chose to wear a blue wool suit with a light blue cotton shirt from the Red Label Autumn-Winter 2011 collection with silver sequin wedge shoes from the Autumn-Winter 2011 Gold Label collection.

Paloma Faith wore a Gerent sienna skirt with a Holes vest and Hunter arm warmers with sequin silver knee-high boots from the Autumn-Winter 2011 Gold Label collection.

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.

Tennis Players and Celebrities celebrate the start of the 125th Wimbledon Championship

Tennis Players and Celebrities celebrate the start of the 125th Wimbledon Championship at the WTA Pre Wimbledon party in association with Range Rover

Last night saw the best of women’s tennis come out to celebrate the start of Wimbledon Championships for 2011.

Celebrities including Eliza Doolittle, Holly Branson, Kimberly Wyatt, Naomi Harris, Holly Valance, Patsy Kensit, Lord Sugar and Tinie Tempah joined the players at the exclusive bash held at The Roof Gardens in Kensington. The venue was decorated with a Turkish theme to acknowledge Istanbul as the host of this year’s Championship.

The event, sponsored by Range Rover, in conjunction with the launch of the all new Evoque, saw fashion take centre stage with a historical collaboration between the British Fashion Council and the Women’s Tennis Association. To celebrate the rise of fashion within the sport, top designers including Vivienne Westwood and Stella McCartney created dresses for some of the top female players.

Rising British stars Heather Watson and Laura Robson were also dressed to impress ahead of their run in the tournament, wearing stunning dresses by Mulberry and Temperley respectively.

Elen Rivas graced the red carpet and showed no signs of upset over this week’s announcement of Lampard’s engagement. She did however manage to avoid answering any questions on the subject and instead was telling everyone about her plans to become a fashion stylist.

Sinitta turned up looking glamorous and refusing to comment on whether the rumours about her and Steve Jones were true.

Jared from Kings of Leon turned up towards the end of the evening without his fellow band mates to enjoy a much needed night off from their current hectic schedule.

George Lamb was a hit with the ladies, with a swarm following him around all night.

Range Rover added music and colour to the party with an interactive Evoque inspired wireframe art installation named ‘Sounds of the City’. Guests were able to create their own sound and light show by engaging with the installation throughout the evening.

England’s top tennis tournament, set to kick of on Monday 20th June, is celebrating its 125th year

Cheryl Cole wears Vivienne Westwood at the 2011 Fox Upfront event

Singer and American X Factor Judge Cheryl Cole attended the 2011 Fox Upfront event at Wollman Rink in New York’s Central Park yesterday. Cheryl chose to wear an iconic pearl orb chocker from Vivienne Westwood’s jewellery collection.

Style Crush: Helena Bonham Carter

17th January 2011. Helena Bonham Carter attended the 2011 Golden Globe Awards on January 16th in Los Angeles.

The actress wore a blue metallic floral corset dress from the Vivienne Westwood’s Gold Label Autumn-Winter 2010-11 collection.

We at Frost approve. Always an original and never less than stunning.

Musical Style {Style}

With new artists continuously emerging from all walks of life there is constantly something fresh on the music scene however when an artist comes to the forefront of the public eye, it’s not just their music that makes them famous. It is their personality, their style and of course their fashion.

Fashion and music are inexplicably linked.

This idea is of course, is not a new phenomenon, think back to ‘The Beatles’ and their iconic suits, ‘Kiss’ and their unmistakable face paint, as well as Run DMC and their Adidas. In the case of Run DMC, fashion even influenced their music with the song ‘My Adidas’ which was a result of the group “rockin” their “superstars/shelltoes” with the tongue sticking out and no laces, making a huge impact on both hiphop and future generation styles.

More recently, Lilly Allen started the idea of wearing prom style dresses accompanied by trainers and Oasis set an example which Manchunians especially still emulate to a certain extent, with the casual-smart way of dressing.

Even hair styles are copied, this is seen again with the Oasis style; they are more dated now but even back in the 1980’s the long curls on men were copied from artists such as Brian May from Queen, amongst others.

A lot of these music producing fashion trends emerge and continue to appear for years to come. For example, Run DMC’s style; the fashionable street/sports wear, this is still very obviously apparent within the hip-hop music scene, take a look at Jay-Z or Justin Timberlake, but new versions are constantly evolving as well such as the N-Dubz, ‘Dappy-hat’ is a particularly obvious and surprisingly popular one of these.

An infamous trend which emerged some time ago is the Punk Music scene, which although materialized up to thirty five years ago, remnants of it are still constantly surfacing.

Vivienne Westwood is a prime and noted example of this but these characteristics are seen across the board with even high street stores using qualities of the style. For example tartan dresses and ripped jeans.

Fashion will always be influenced by music, the only question is, whose is your favourite artist?

Non-Gender Bending Fashion {Style}

Androgyny has always been a popular and recurring trend seen throughout designers work but a trend which is still seemingly slightly taboo, or at the very least not mainstream is cross dressing. When the term cross dressing comes up, immediately thoughts of Eddie Izzard and Boy George somehow appear in our minds. However, a new take on cross dressing is developing and has been doing so for a while but it is not something which is hugely recognised as yet, but it is a useful revolution which is growing throughout men and women alike.

With most retail outlets now stocking both men’s and women’s wear, perhaps it’s time that we took the hint that both genders are equally important not just in general day to day actions but also in our personal wardrobes.

Guys, next time you go into a shop, don’t rush straight through the womenswear sections, slow down and take a look around. There’s certain items you should probably stay well away from… mini skirts and lace blouses are a no go but have a look in the knit wear section or even the denim department. Have you ever tried on a cardigan and thought it didn’t really fit properly or didn’t really do you any favours? Well here’s a possible solution, try on a women’s one, DKNY do some great ones. They are closer fitted and still go to a size which will not leave you feeling like a starched ear wig. The same goes for jeans, granted plenty of them won’t fit nicely, for obvious reasons, but browse the ‘boyfriend fit’ or ‘worker’ jeans sections and you’ll be sure to find something with enough space, Pepe Jeans have an couple of interesting pairs. Shoes prove more of an issue but depending on the shape of your feet, some women’s pumps might even be more comfortable.

Girls, you have the major advantage in this trend. You are pretty much at a no holds barred situation, there’s not many menswear pieces that are out of limits for you, the shoes again are a little more uncomfortable than casual, but everything else is a ‘game on’ situation. It’s extremely easy to work menswear into your daily wardrobe, for starters most garments are now fairly fitted so flatter the female figure as well as the male. And even if you find a t-shirt you love but isn’t fitting you too well, you can always do some simple customising. The simplest is to tie a knot at the waist to squeeze in your waist, mix with rolled up sleeves and you have a good luck, alternatively you could cut the neck open wider and cut a slit in the centre back and tie up so you have a back feature and a nicely fitting top, one of my favourite t-shirt designers is Vivienne Westwood . Jeans are always a good bet, forget boyfriend fit and just steal your  boyfriends, so long as you have an interesting belt to avoid a knickers-on-show situation your always onto a winner.

So the idea is, if you see something you like, try it for size, it might work even if it was not specifically designed for your gender. But, guys and girls the only rule is don’t do head-to-toe opposite sex otherwise you run the risk of looking like a drag queen or drag king, never a good unintentional look.