Paris part une

 Lavish Alice culottes* | Reiss Knit | Damart coat* | New Look bag* | River Island shoes

Seems I have fallen head over heels for the city of love. What an amazing 24 hours it's been in Paris. Lizzy and I got to Hotel Residence Imperial at around 11 last night (Paris time), unpacked and immediately got dressed up and went out in Champs Elysees for drinks excited to see what Paris had to offer us. A bottle of Rosé down we wandered back to our hotel and got some sleep ahead of todays jam-packed itinerary.
First up was visiting the Eiffel Tower, I haven't been to Paris since I was really young but can always remember this being my favourite part. Even though I'm the one that's grown it seemed so much bigger, truly a beautiful bit of architecture. We went the nearby café le Dome for breakfast (check out those naughty panakes) then headed off to the Tuileries for photos and to see what was happening at PFW. As you can see from my photos the gardens are just stunning, something about the vast open space in the middle of a city is so inviting to me.
We then headed off to the Esme Vie presentation in Hotel Raphael, it was held in the suite that was Grace Kelly's Paris home so we knew we were in for a treat. I'll be doing a full post on the collection, but in a nutshell it was full of romantic hues and luxe fabrics inspired by the 50's classic woman, simply a dream.
Afterwards was the Alexandre Birman shoe collection preview in Hotel le Bristol, which again I'll be doing a more in-depth post on, inspired by architectural shapes and made from exotic materials. The python and fur pair of black mules were my favourites, shoe porn at its best.
To finish off the days activities we strolled along the bottom end of Champs Elysees and took pictures by the Concorde and fountains before heading back to the hotel to catch up on editing (and sleep).
I've just got in from a wonderful dinner from La Villa Corse, a beautiful restaurant a few doors down from our hotel, and had the most amazing seafood pasta! Calamarata with octopus, mussels and scallops garnished with parsley, lemon and mascarpone. Bon appetit indeed.

Photos above by Lizzy & below by us both

www.elisabethkirkman.com/

 

LFW AW14 Day 1

Damart coat* | Misguided jeans & top* | River Island bag | Topshop shoes

London Fashion Week got off to an incredible start for me this season. I had so many surprise invites come through this past week, which is amazing but also means I’m super super busy- hence why this is post is a day late. As soon as I hit the cobbles at Somerset House I got street styled by Elle magazine- I’ve just seen it on their website here, pretty surreal and happy moment for me!

I wore my camel coat over ripped jeans and PU top form Missguided, the weather was horrible so I had to keep my heels on for most of the day (ouch) as I only brought my Asos sandals. I also took my Miu Miu shades out for their first spin, people laugh at you for wearing sunglasses in the rain but honestly it’s the best thing for keeping your makeup in tact!

I started off with the first show of LFW, J. JS Lee, which was also probably my favuorite.  I had a great seat so was able to get a proper look at it all and some good photos. I won’t be doing full show reviews on the day as I did last season as I have too many this year but will give each show post each shortly after. Jackie Lee explored themes of an ‘Off-Road Lifestyle’ and the collection focused on comfort and warmth and featured pleated waists and mermaid hemlines giving a nod to the 50’s shape. Key pieces for me were the cobalt and cream contrast knit and pastel blue check coat, if only I could get my hands on one right now.

Afterwards I headed on to the Savoy, a 5 minute walk from Somerset House (my feet were thankful) for a Valentines breakfast with New Look. As you can see our table was beautifully adorable, easily the best breakfast I’ve ever had. I went for French Toast with bacon and pears (in addition to the croissants and muffins on the cake tiers) and it was gorgeous, teamed with fresh orange juice and an unlimited supply of English breakfast tea it set me up for the day. And good job too as I didn’t physically have time for anything else! Thanks so much to New Look for a wonderful morning.

With my exceedingly full belly I waddled back to the BFC courtyard for Jean Pierre Braganza and Bora Aksu. Both were great shows, I could talk about the renaissance-y skirt form Jean Pierre for days and there were some so perfectly pink and pretty pieces from Bora Asku that made me weak at the knees.

For the rest of the day I was at Fashion Scout for the Nap Sugar presentation and Ones to Watch & Ong Oaj Pairam shows. It was so good to have priority for these, life is definitely better on the front row! I’ll do a full post on the Ones to Watch but my favuorite form the emerging designers had to be George Styler- the embellishments and detailing were incredible. My final show was Ong Oaj Pairam, I was sat directly opposite Louise, Binky and Mark Francis from MIC whilst they were filing for the show, really hoping my head wasn’t in shot as I was probably looking fairly haggard by this point! The collection was full of gorgeous prints and feminine silhouettes and it was great to see some menswear on the catwalk also. A+ for use of colour in this collection, it was so refreshing to see some for Autumn Winter.

I hope you enjoyed my highlights from Day 1, it’s currently the end of Day 2 for me (well its 2am so technically day 3) and I am so shattered (do not try and attempt 11 shows in one day guys). Stay tuned for more tomorrow!