River Island Christmas Party & Autumn 2012 Preview

After the Motel launch the other night, I went along to see what the team at River Island will be offering in the upcoming months. Its kinda odd to be invited to a Christmas bash in July, but with summer collections shown in September and winter in February, one should be used to the ever forward-surging nature of the fash pack! 

I was super pleased to run into Lucy of Shiny Thoughts and Wish magazine at Motel, and we went to River Island together. Hadn't seen her in ages, and we had fun swapping tips on graduation day style and snapping up designer at discount. She's launching the mag with Carrie of Wish Wish Wish and I can't wait to see the joint efforts of these talented laydeez on paper. Read all about it on Lucy's blog here. 

I loved the collection, there was a lot of dark colours with gold and a mix of fabulous textures in a baroque versus rock n roll way. Peplums, bombers and flatforms all look set to stay on in the coming months. I loved the knitwear, especially the real chunky stuff, and the jewellery is to die for. 

We nibbled on macaroons and watched as the bar tender mixed up some amazing cocktails straight from the Heston Blumethal school of food-meet-science, like the gin tea pot that poured out smoke, or the whiskey jam jar with orange "air". We got our nails done by the retro-dressed Nicky, always a nice treat although there was also a massage sesh going on that I didn't get round to sampling. Lucy had to go, but I got chatting to some lovely people, including Callum of Maketh the Man blog, a great wee site for jewllery loverz out there, and Ponciano, a super friendly presenter with the Mobo awards. I also spoke to Areita, PR manager at River Island, who was rocking a really fierce look.

Snapped a sneaky pic of Marcus off of X Factor who showed up, although kinda wish I hadda been less of a dork and just asked for a picture! Well, at least we know what Marcus might be wearing soon, he was loving the velvet jacket in menswear......

Motel Autumn Winter 2012 Preview

This week I was kindly invited to take a sneak peek at the Motel Autumn Winter 2012 collection down at their press office in central London. The Bristol-based party dress label have some cool offerings for the months ahead; expect lots of little bra tops, sequins and sheer as well as lashings of print. Assistant Tazmin was telling me their prints are all original, which gives you a lot more for your dollar when the high street giants are pumping out a tonnage of repetitive designs. I was loving the print pants though, definitely got my eye on those bad lads when the collection hits stores in September.

Motel are a nicely priced brand and their dresses are great for going out in. Okay, I live in East London and have an under-cut like all aspirational cool kidz, but there's just sometimes I wanna squeeze into a body-con dress, slather on some fake tan and don some towering heels for a night on the tiles like a proper Northern lass. Motel is definitely the right brand for that, they make a girl feel extra feminine and funky like only British gals know how. Having said that, the print pants and jacket would be a super buy to work some print and a bit of that Motel ethos of more is more into a day time look.