lucia grace: lfw aw14

New Look dress, shoes & bag | Zara coat | Miu Miu Glasses via Sunglasses Shop | Marc Jacobs watch

Monday was a nicely chilled day for me, definitely what I needed after a hectic weekend. I started the day off at Somerset House and caught up with blogger babes Emma and Gemma, thanks Gem for taking my outfit photos for me!

For Day 4 I wore my New Look outfit that the team kindly let me choose from the Oxford Circus store. This green shift is such a gorgeous colour, it doesn’t really look as vibrant in these shots but I can tell it’s going to be one of my key SS14 pieces. I also chose these incredible black ankle boots… a girl can never have too many pairs, right? I love the shape of the heel on these and they’re actually easy to walk in which is always a plus!

First show of the day was Zeynep Tosun, I loved her tribal SS14 collection last season so was looking forward to seeing what she had in store for AW. Drawing inspiration from a 70’s silhouette and modern street-style spirit the “Oxidised” collection presented an androgynous sport luxe approach with tailoring echoing the late 70’s. It featured primarily rusty hues balanced with hazy pastel blues across puffa-style jackets, long line dresses, turtlenecks and bobble hats. I was really impressed with this original collection, with an interesting mix of crafted thick leathers and brocades.

I actually had some free time to visit the Felicities PR media lounge for the first time on Monday with Alex, held at the rooftop bar of the Me London hotel. Walking into the hotel there were manikins dotted around the foyer from different independent designers, then up in the lift we arrived at the rooftop bar which was simply beautiful. A perfect place to refuel and recharge while enjoying some breathtaking views of London and Somerset House itself. As you can see I had no trouble finding the comfiest spot.

After a suitable unwind, Alex and I headed to Mishkins restaurant for the Caslazur presentation. Now a having a presentation in a restaurant does mean limited space for photos, but it also means some pretty delicious grub is provided. Enter milkshakes, mini bowls of chips with hot dogs, kale salads and my personal fave- the tofu beetroot burger, oh my god that was heaven in a bun. The collection itself was equally delicious, with sumptuous silk fabrics featuring digitalized renaissance prints with luxe knits and the coolest bum bags I’ve ever seen, definitely need to get my mitts on one of those for the festival season.

Last of the day was Michael Van Der Ham, I grabbed a taxi to the Tate and headed to the Topshop show space where I was greeted with yet more food. Thankfully they’d provided little Topshop paper lunch bags for you to take what you wanted home with you, goats cheese and sundried tomato salad to go? Dinner sorted. I was in Block A for the show so I got a pretty good seat and view, Topshop have made such good use of the turbine hall, one of my favourite venues to date.

Taking inspiration from 60’s fashion mag Intro, the Michael Van Der Ham AW14 collection comprised of lace dresses, tops and skirts in deep orange, black and coral, layered with velvets and organza. Boxy silhouettes were used across printed cotton jerseys, heavy embossed lace and cashmere intarsia knits provoked by the colourful, collaged and illustrated layouts from the magazine.

And now LFW is over for another season, and what a glorious season it’s been, I’ve had the best time. One more day to blog about, keep your eyes peeled for my coverage of the final day!

SOME SUN. Hallelujah. London is a different place in when the weather’s nice and Somerset House was looking beautiful. Day 3 was thankfully a little less hectic for me. I headed down to the BFC Show space to get some street style images whilst the weather was nice, and spent some time just chilling out and enjoying the atmosphere, the sun seems to make everyone in a better mood too!

For the third day I went for matchy-match blue with my Reiss angora knit and Zara skirt with a camel coat over the top, it was still pretty cold even though the sun was shining! How beautiful are my new Shelly’s London shoes? They’re actually surprisingly okay to walk in; they make me a foot taller so I just have to watch my ankles, tackling the cobbles in these bad boys was a challenge to say the least.

I then headed off to south bank for the Toga and Ryan Lo presentations. Toga was held in the Wapping Project just around the corner form the Topshop show space (good move), so thankfully I didn’t have to teeter about too much in those shoes. Walking into the Toga presentation I was greeted by rockabilly sounds from a live band they had performing whilst the models were placed around the installation. The Japanese label featured a variety of textures, shapes and patterns with intricate pleating details and statement coats.

Across the road I headed into the Tate for Ryan Lo, and missing Unique by just a few minutes- which turned out to be even more gutting when I found out public could watch the show from the bridge above the turbine hall. The show space was incredible, I watched Michael Van Der Ham there today and it was insane. After fueling up on champagne and some artichoke soup from the Topshop café it was time for Ryan Lo, the presentation featured some beautifully dressed cowgirls, complete with gold guns and cacti on set. The models donned tweed-style knitwear, metallic pieces and a variety of interesting textured whilst chatting, dancing and shooting us with said gold guns. It was super refreshing to see such a fun and light-hearted from the Newgen designer.

I then grabbed a cab to Freemasons to catch the Yulia Kondranina show, she wa last year’s merit award winner and I’ve always been impressed with her intricately crafted designs so was looking forward to this show. The collection brought forward rough frayed edges on heavy tweed-like coats, juxtaposed with luxe, soft knits, featuring a fairly monochrome palette with pops of colour here and there. Cut outs and scooped backs added a feminine twist to the androgynous pieces.

Last up was Portugal Fashion featuring back-to-back shows form designers Daniela Barros and Joao Melo Costa. Both very different to one another, bar oversized silhouettes, but each I thought had something quite special. Barros featured geometric elements across a cobalt and otherwise muted palette whilst we saw more androgynous pieces from Joao Melo Costa, I loved the crystal embellishments in this collection.

That’s it for day 3, More on days 4 & 5 tomorrow!