The British Style Awards 2012

Being possibly one of the biggest dates marked on the calenders of anybody remotely interested in fashion, The British Fashion Awards caused a flood of style icons to descend on The Savoy Hotel yesterday evening. It was one of those events that make me jealous beyond belief at not being there, due to the collection of simply amazing fashion names either wandering, or being worn on, the red carpet. Guests including Alexa Chung, Alice Dellal, and of course Stella McCartney who went home with a stylish two awards - Designer of the Year and Designer Brand. Imagine having the opportunity to whiteness such huge fashion influences, and watch as style history is made.

 

Unfortunately for me, and probably most of you, going to The British Fashion Awards is out of the question. At least, it's out of the question for now! As a result I settled for what I see as second best- gazing in awe at the huge amount of style contained in one Hotel through press photography, and reading the list of winners. I also decided to share with you all some of my favourite outfits from the evening, and my high street interpretations of them. After all, the possibility of being able to afford any Burberry dresses is out of the question for now too!

 

 



Alice Dellal:



 

V neck pencil dress - Topshop £46, Contrast heel shoes - Topshop £55, Lulu Guiness bag small black eyelet bag - £265

 

Eddie Campbell in Christopher Kane:

 

 

Metallic Maxi Skirt by Rare - Topshop £35, Textured Peplum Top - River Island for ASOS £25.00, Skinny clean Metal belt £18, Truth or Dare by Madonna Emylyna Platform Court Shoes - ASOS £110

 

Salma Hayek in Stella McCartney:

 



Fringe body - Topshop £45, Black pencil skirt - Topshop £30, black shoes - Miss selfridge £39

Lily Collins in Mulberry:

Phoebe Dress by Motel - Topshop £55, ear cuff - Topshop £7.50

Alexa Chung in Simone Rocha:

Black embroidered dress- Topshop £65, Heart me lace shoes - Miss Selfridge £59, Ted baker satchel - £99

Cara Delevingne in Burberry. My favourite outfit of the evening:

Metallic seam shift dress- Topshop £55, Plasma premium pointed heels - £95, French connection box clutch - £42

Which of the outfits is your favourite?

Thanks for reading,
Bethany Paige x

Winter wrapping

One of my favourite parts of winter is heading out and just walking, with no real purpose. I love the look of frost on windows, the white mist that appears as you breathe, and especially admiring the Christmas decorations as December approaches. One thing I’m not such a big fan of however, is cold fingers and toes. That means wrapping up warm before going for a winter wander. Of course I’m not complaining, why would the prospect of layering up in fabulous clothes be a bad one?

Winter opens up a whole host of fashion opportunities, from woolly accessories to leather cover ups. So, I think everybody should take advantage of the cold, and treat the snow clad streets like a catwalk in some of this season's best warmers.

Monster furs:

 

 

Funnel neck in Burgundy - Topshop £85, Ombre faux Mongolian fur coat - Topshop £89, Oversized stripe fur - ASOS £85, Faux fur coat in brown and white - ASOS £56

Leather ankle boots:

Alexy Platform chelsea boots - Topshop £75, Biker boots by CJG - Topshop £165, Modern vintage carina leather boots - ASOS £75, Cowboy ankle boot -Zara £99

 

Androgynous blazer coats:

 

 

 

Mid length check coat - Topshop £110, Wool contrast boyfriend coat - Topshop £98, Dark grey oversized boyfriend blazer - River Islan £70, Short military jacket - Zara £119

 

Lady like gloves:

 

Pin stud leather gloves - Topshop £24, Dent keyhole driving gloves - ASOS £31.50

 

Geometric jumpers

 

Handknit cross jumper - Topshop £295, Clean check jumper - Topshop £42, Zig zag fairisle jumper - River Island £35, Minkpink domino tex jumper - Urban Outfitters £85

 



 What's your favourite winter warmer?

 

Thanks for reading,

Bethany Paige X

Male influences

Everybody’s heard of the classic “boyfriend blazer”, but not many ladies can pull off actual men’s wear. However, Rihanna is clearly an exception. The style icon proved just why she got such a title this week whilst turning on the Christmas lights at Westfield Shopping Centre in London. Of all the designers in the world that are begging for Rihanna to wear them, she chose Raf Simmons (jacket and shirt) and Acne menswear s/s 2013 (suit).

 

As is to be expected, this caused quite a split in opinions, but I for one adore this look. Somehow I think that the inmate style stripes, royal blue blazer coat and sharp white collar shirt, not forgetting that they're all from menswear collections, work perfectly together. The femininity of the outfit is somehow all bought through the choice of accessories. Perhaps that's what makes RiRi so special, her ability to take an altogether unexpected outfit and make it seem rather natural for her, purely by adding her usual mish mash of gold jewellery and red nails. To finish the look she added a simple pair of grey pointed heels. Perfect.

 Let me know what you think, hot or not?

Thanks for reading guys,
Bethany Paige X

Bussy Bee

Hi guys, I hope you're all doing well. Unfortunately, today's post is an apology. In a matter of weeks I have my GCSE mock exams, which means a lot of revising! I've been spending the majority of my evenings recently studying and doing homework, which, as sad as it makes me to say it, is likely to affect Paige of Fashion over the next few weeks. I'm going to try my very best to keep up with posting. However, it's inevitable that my current, overwhelmingly busy, schedule will have some impact.

I really do apologise for missing the occasional post during this time, but bear with me and I'll be back soon, I promise!

Thanks for understanding,

Bethany Paige X 

Watch it!

In today’s modern world there seems to be square shaped block in everybody’s pockets. As handy as it is to have constant access to our Blackberries and iPhones, it’s a sad truth that having the time in little numbers at the top of a screen has led to the downfall of watches.  Perhaps to most people this doesn’t seem like too big of a problem, but I see it as a huge waste of a fashion opportunity. After all, it seems absurd to never wear a bracelet right? Even if you don’t require a watch for practical reasons, treat it as your new accessory, with the added bonus of not having to squeeze your phone in to the pocket of your skinny jeans for easy access.

Luckily for those of us trying to save the good old watch, the high street  and designers offer some gorgeous ones. Think: style and practicality twisted together in one stylish band.

 

Here are some of my favourites

 Casio face watch - £40, Double face expander watch - £34, May28th floral watch - £35, Globe leather watch - £26, Glitter strap watch - £20, Rainbow face watch - £22   (All Urban Outfitters)

May28th rabbit watch - £25, Vivenne Westwood Neptune watch - £175, Rotary skeleton watch - £169, Casio rose gold watch - £47.50 (all ASOS)

Will the watch make a comeback? Only time will tell!

Thanks for reading guys,
Bethany Paige X

 

 

Let's not skirt around the subject

Every season fashionistas all over the world have their eyes peeled to spot which style of skirt is going to be massive. Last season it was peplum skirt or perhaps the mullet skirt. This season however there's been a shift in styles. A rather drastic shift at that. Hemlines have lowered and silhouettes have widened with the introduction of the full midi skirt this A/W. Whatever the colour or material, if your skirt flares and finished around the knee you'll be wearing one of the biggest styles of the moment.

As well as more expensive brands, the high-street have given birth to a variety of full midis that are perfect as the weather gets even colder. Unlike summer's peplums, this skirt has so many more opportunities in terms of what you can wear it with. No matter what your style is, you will most likely be able to incorporate an A/W skirt in to your wardrobe.

Here are three of my favourite full midis and how I'd wear them:

Military jacket:

Skirt- Urban Outfitters £45, Military coat-Topshop £250 , Chelsea boots- Topshop £120,
White shirt - £26 Burton, Orange jumper - £40

This skirt's a thick black leather making it perfect as part of this season's military trend. I think the addition of a men's shirt untucked and under this orange jumper would look great on its own, however the Topshop military jacket makes this outfit simply perfect. I decided to keep the shoes tough and slightly androgynous with these heeled Chelsea boots.

Tartan grunge:

Tartan skirt  - ASOS £50, Velvet Dr Martens - Urban Outfitters £110,
 Danielle Scutt Oversized Shirt - ASOS £168, Crew socks - Urban Outfitters £12 , Long cross neckalce - £8.50, Cross link necklace - £12.50 Topshop, Cross stack rings - £10 Topshop

I've mentioned my absolute adoration of this skirt previously and think that it's one of my favourites of the moment. I decided to base this outfit on 90s grunge and went for a double tartan look using this twist tartan shirt. I opted for a pair of classic Dr Martens, since they are so very 90s, but in a velvet to contrast with the wool mix skirt. To finish the look I piled on gold jewelry in the form of necklaces and stackable rings.

Futurism:

 

High shine midi - £45 ASOS, Metalic heel sandals - £60 Topshop, Zip coat with quilted sleeves - £89.99 Zara, Roll neck top - £90 Topsho, Silver hair cuff - £2.99 H&M

 

I thought that this skirt was absolutely fabulous and completely different to any other highstreet interpretations of the full midi. The high shine material made it perfect as part of a futuristic look. I stuck with blacks, whites, and greys with silver accents to keep the outfit sleek. I love the simplicity of this Topshop rollneck and it would work perfectly under the zara grey coat with quilted sleeves. The silver hair cuff and heel on these shoes pull the whole look together amazingly.

 

Which of these looks is your favourite?

 

Thanks for reading,

Bethany Paige X

Maison Martin Margiela

Every now and then there comes a high end/high-street collaboration that gets the whole fashion world talking. The Maison Martin Margiela collection for H&M is most definitely one of those situations. The 15th of November is a date I've had highlighted in pink in my diary for a long time now and so, as you can imagine, waking up this morning I was more than a little excited. I was literally counting down the minutes in fact! As annoyed as I made my friends with my constant talking about the collection, my enthusiasm wasn't dampened, even whilst having to repeatedly refresh the website due to the high amount of traffic it was receiving. I suppose that's to be expected with one of the biggest collaborations this year though.

It's almost a given when I say that the collection didn't disappoint. Although I'd previously seen some of the pieces whilst on my musings online and through magazines, the deconstructed shapes and exaggerated silhouettes still remained shocking and absolutely gorgeous. The clothes really do manage to capture the essence of the designer label, with oriental, masculine, and geometric influences throughout. Fabrics included dark leathers, plexi glass heels and even hair, which as crazy as it sounds make the whole collection have a very high end feel.

Here are some of my favourites:

What do you all think of the new Maison Martin Margiela collection for H&M, are you a fan?

Thanks for reading guys,
Bethany Paige X

Dream set

If you read yesterday's post you may remember seeing this piece of beauty on my list of current obsessions:

It's safe to say that this Co-ord quilted sweater and pencil skirt set is number one on my lust list at the moment. I just love it. The simplicity, the oversized shape, the delicate quilting - everything about it is perfect for me. The top costs £45 and the skirt is £40 which, if you ask me, is completely reasonable. Consider for a second how many outfit possibilities this set has. I can count at least 10 just sitting here, and I'm sure there are loads more. When I have a little more money, perhaps after Christmas, I'm definitely going to get my hands on these. Although the idea of waiting that long does dappen my spirits a little.

To pass the time I created a few outfit using the Topshop set.

Sport luxe:

Hiden heel hightops - £40 River Island, Chain and spike cap - £18 River Island, Chunky gold chain - £16 Urban Outfitters.

Futuristic style:

 Silver strap sandals - ££74.99 Mango, Silver necklace - £15 Topshop, Quilted clutch - ASOS £24

Red leather:

Red leather top - ASOS £85, Casio watch - urban outfitters £45, Red Dr Martens - £85.

Laid back tartan:

Leather trousers - Topshop £42, Tartan pumps - £32, Blue satchel - Urban outfitters (Cambridge Satchel Company) - £110

Lilac touch:

Lilac hat - Topshop £10, Chelsea boots - Urban Outfitters £80, Jocasi leather rucksack - £45.

See what I mean? Infinite possibilities!

Thanks for reading guys,
Bethany Paige X

If I was a rich girl

Over the past two months, apart from the occasional charity shop find, I haven't bought any new clothes. For me, that's pretty big deal. Clearly I enjoy torturing myself though because I still spend a lot of my time scrawling through my favourite online shops until I find something that I get completely obsessed with. I don't plan on spending any money on clothes until after Christmas so I'm probably not going to get any of the items I'm lusting over at the moment, or at least not for a long time. Never the less, a girl can still dream and of course post about them on her blog!

Topshop:

Dome sleeve sweat by Boutique in khaki - £30, Co-ord quilted sweater and pencil skirt - £85, Alcatraz Electric heel boots - £78, Digital sweater by illustrated people - £60.

ASOS:

Spiked cap - £18, Maxi skirt in velvet - £45, Checled midi - £50, Short quilted shorts - £20

What's your favourite of these peices?

Thanks for reading guys,
Bethany Paige X