Music: Lana Del Rey

It is no secret about my obsession with Lana Del Rey. This captivating beauty first came to my attention around the time of London Fashion Week in September of this year, where Christopher Kane used her haunting 'Video Games' as the soundtrack to his Spring/Summer 2012 collection. Since then, this song has become the most played on my iTunes and I know every lyric off by heart. Raw talent at it's finest.

Fashion: GraphiChanel

Chanel's Spring/Summer 2012 set design was a marvel in itself; an underwater playground where Chanel's ethereal, pearl encrusted girls swam in the deep to the sounds of Florence and the Machine. Lagerfeld, like others this season, presented a collection inspired by the sea for Spring/Summer but my favourite part of this collection just so happens to be the subtle, graphic accents on classic Chanel boucle jackets, dresses and knitwear; as a lover of all things minimally brilliant in graphic design, my heart skipped a beat when these looks were presented on the catwalk. Now, time to save the pennies to add these wonders to my wardrobe.

© Vogue.com 

Fashion: The Man

I've become increasingly intrigued by super slick menswear and stylish gentleman ever since I first stumbled upon The Sartorialist (many moons ago now...), depicting beautiful men in beautiful clothes out on the street; since the inception of London Fashion Week's day dedicated to 'The Man' and the launch of Net-a-Porter's brother site Mr Porter. My penchant is for classic mens' tailoring made contemporary, so here I give you a smorgasbord of inspiring looks, impeccable style and the subtly eccentric.

1 + 2/ The Sartorialist 3/ Style Salvage 4/ Fashionbeans 5/ The Great Divide 6 + 7/ The Sartorialist 8/ Style Salvage  9/ The Great Divide 10 + 11/ William Yan 12, 13 + 14/ Backyard Bill  15 + 16/ William Yan 

Inspiration: Eleanor Hardwick

Photography is a complete escape mechanism for me: I love the unusual and the dreamy which transport me to another land, so of course I'm slightly obsessed with Eleanor Hardwick's photography. At only 18 years old, she's already shot for clients including Harper's Bazaar, 125 Magazine and Jack Wills. Pure, raw talent.

See more of Eleanor's beautiful photography at http://eleanorhardwick.com

AMB goes on holiday!

I'm off to Cyprus tomorrow to enjoy some much needed sunshine with my boyfriend for a week. My suitcase in jammed full of delights from Jonathan Saunders, Christopher Kane and Alexander Wang so I fully expect to show these off on the blog when I return. Am still feeling slightly panicked about having no internet for a week and therefore no Twitter, seeing now show coverage from Milan or Paris Fashion Weeks (this one is causing me the most grief!) and not being able to check my emails for a whole week! But, I am in a strange way looking forward to a life without the shackles of social media if only for 7 days.

Have a lovely week everyone. I'll mostly be stuffing my face with houmous and olives...

Image source

London Fashion Week: I can be your Ice Cream.

It's hard to ignore the plethora of ice cream and sorbet shades we've seen at London Fashion Week for Spring/Summer 2012.

As a girl who wears mainly neutrals (ok, let's face it - black), I'm excited to inject some softer shades into my wardrobe come Spring. And my favourites? Christopher Kane's Johnston knits teamed with feathery light metallic organzas and sophisticated embellishment, Mulberry's lemon cream shades, Richard Nicoll's ethereal printed pastel dresses and Jonathan Saunders' Miami-Beach prints teamed with graduated colour. I'll be wearing mine with Charlotte Olympia's seaside shoes.

Runway images © Style.com / Charlotte Olympia images © Grazia, 2011.

New York Fashion Week: Razzle Dazzle 'Em

With New York Fashion Week drawing to a close, one of the strongest trends emerging at the beginning of this fashion month, has been the romantic/roaring Twenties inspired look. At Calvin Klein, Francisco Costa's offering was beautifully minimal but more romantic than previous seasons, Ralph Lauren's collection offered a more direct Great Gatsby reference; Alberta Ferretti used subtly embellished pieces at her Philosophy label, and Marc Jacobs' cross referenced Twenties and Sixties for a futuristic look. In fashion, we continue to look back to bygone eras for our inspiration, and the Twenties provides the base for Spring/Summer 2012, nodding to the upcoming film adaptation of The Great Gatsby starring Carey Mulligan; we all want to be a modern day Daisy Buchanan.

All images © Fashiongonerogue.com

Fashion: Topshop Secret Store

The world has gone into floral overload. My last post celebrated the blossom trees of Oxfordshire, and this week we've had the opening of the Chelsea Flower Show and now, the launch of Topshop's Secret Store; a pop-up shop based in the London and New York flagship stores, where fashion is reinvented through the flowers. This Meadham Kirchoff and Wild at Heart collaboration features specially commissioned pieces by designers including Michael Van Der Ham and Unique archive pieces. It's only open for 2 weeks, so get down quick! I'm hoping to catch a glimpse when I'm in London for Graduate Fashion Week, but for now, here are some photos to whet your floral appetite.

Photos from Topshop.com

Fashion: Mulberry Love

I love everything British and can't shout about luxury British/English brands enough, so naturally, I am a lover of Mulberry. Since Emma Hill took over as Creative Director, the brand has flourished and become the hot brand to wear or carry but without losing any of it's quinessential Britishness. So, you can imagine my sheer delight when I heard that Mulberry have released a publication celebrating their 40th Anniversary. I am a huge fan of luxury print publications (I even made my own and won a prestigious award for it!) and think enough can't be said for print over digital. When I heard the release date, I immediately put in my order and on Friday when I arrived home from work, a very special package had been delivered! The imagery is to die for, all taken by photographer Venetia Dearden and the design and attention to detail of the whole publication is just, well, exquisite.

The book came so beautifully wrapped and contained these fantastic little pink slips in between the layers of tissue paper - Wizard is definitely my favourite. It also came with an abundance of badges, stickers and a lovely, very personal, little notecard. 

On another Mulberry note, a few weeks ago I visited the designer outlet, Bicester Village, where I obviously had to pay a trip to the Mulberry store there. I was surprised at how much current season stock they had, and because I've been a good girl with money recently, I decided a treat was in order...

I can't describe how much I adore my oversized Alexa - it is just perfect! It was the last black oversized Alexa they had left in the Mulberry outlet, so I'm lucky to have gotten in there when I did!

All images © Alice Mary Barnes, 2011