Couture has arrived!!

Well the new Lanvin for H&M online store has officially launched, with the stock having already been tantalisingly displayed in H&M store windows across the country and now finally available to the public today, this is the icing on the top of a perfectly formed couture cake!

This latest designer/ high street collaboration looks to be as succesfull or maybe more so than its predecessors which exciting prints, couture shapes to die for and hysteria mounting by the day about when fashionista's can get their hands on it...

If you are excited as I am about this mouth watering display of new designs at 'reasonable' prices then I would try your luck on the online store as my sources tell me that most new stock will be sold out by lunchtime; with potential customers having been camped out outside stores since 4am!!

Such dedication is a luxury I cannot afford due to my final year university workload.... so I will have to make do with the resources I have to hand: internet shopping and complete denial about my current bank balance situation.

Love,
Sarah@Have2haveStyle xXx

Getting comfy

Well winter is basically upon us again and I still can't believe another year has passed.... Where does the time go?? What have I been doing for the past year for it to have whizzed by??

More to the point, the arctic cold weather has set in and the gloves and wooley hats are being worn with aggression on the streets. I however, refuse to believe christmas is once again looming and have defiantly fashioned my summer trilby hat today, in the misguided hope that the sun will re-appear briefly before its sets at 2 in the afternoon (no such luck so far)...

A new trend has arrived on my radar. Having been around for a while but only recently becoming the 'next big thing' - I am of course talking about the 'Onesie' (or One-Z as my friends inform me it is referred to as).

These 'babygro-type' outfits come at a time where comfort seems to take priority over high fashion, and where in fact comfortable, cosy clothing has become the height of fashion!

The catwalks, obviously having influenced this trend, display the designer version of comfortable couture in this Anne Valerie Hash design for RTW SS/11:

..........or there's always the Primark version which at £8 proves to be one of the most popular buys in the high street at the moment (and yes, I am including myself as a consumer of this product)

Happy shopping ;-)
Love
Sarah@Have2haveStyle xXx

The Golden Age of Technology

How much are you loving 'The Social Network'?? It really does blow my mind that one person (or maybe a few people as is disputed in the film) can connect so many people together in such a simple way.

This might sound a bit silly coming from a fashion blogger as obviously technology that connects to the rest of the world is the reason you can even read what I'm writing right now! Techonology is streaming through our lives and controlling our actions, advancing our progress as humans every day, much like fashion. It makes sense to combine the two together really?
That is exactly what I discovered an up and coming designer called Amy Winters has done this season. With her debut SS/11 collection being shown at LABB magazine's Emerge showcase at the Hoxton Factory in London in Septembe, she has provided a ready-to-wear capsule collection of garments displaying colour changing methods such as Photochromic and Hydrochromic technology. This means that when the garment is exposed to water or UV rays of sunlight, it will change colour, mostly going from white to a vivid colour, and then back again when the water/sunlight has disappeared.

 Having graduated from Central Saint Martins in 2006, and this being her debut R-T-W collection, she has obviously spent a lot of time and effort into getting this powerful collection just right... and it has certainly paid off! She has taken something that sounds ridiculous and made it functional and fun!

Staying at the forefront of fashion, she makes even the couture designers look a bit behind the times!

Love

Sarah@Have2haveStyle xXx

Layer up.

Layers seem to be a key trend from the Spring/Summer 11 catwalks, with the Acne SS 11 show sporting a lot of outfits portraying this look

Whereas the likes of Anne Valerie Hash and Phoebe Philo for Celine have embraced the minimalist version of layering up; layers without actually having layers.

Anne Valerine Hash SS/11

Celine SS/11

The panels of fabric fused together with rough and raw edges on the Anne Valerie Hash runway give the appearance of several layers, which captures the feeling of a traveller’s capsule wardrobe that would be filled with layers of different combinations of clothes. This is very in keeping with the sudden trend for taking gap years mid way through life and leaving 9-5 jobs to go travelling as shown in the popular series ‘My Family Gap Year’ that follows the aftermath of the economic recession.

This minimalistic variation of layers along with the sleek draping and raw edges seen at Celine give off a very ‘fuss-free’, simple, clean vibe that can be seen splattered through the catwalk SS 11 shows.

Minimalism is back, and the over theatrical designs of designers such as John Galliano are perhaps not what is popping up on everyone’s fashion radar at the minute...

Love,

Sarah@Have2haveStyle xXx

Don't Stop me Now!

I'm  having such a good time...

Love,
Sarah@Have2haveStyle xXx

Summer is Just Around the Corner Again! Sort of...

Who said Vintage was just for formal occasions? The thing I love about Vintage is the fact that it can be adapted to any situations, whether it be in attendance at Goodwood festival where going the whole hog with vintage hair, makeup and even undergarments is key to looking the part at this fancy dress event held every summer, or popping down to your local cocktail bar for some sophisticated drinks in style.

Don’t get me wrong, vintage pieces are to be treated with delicate love and care as they are not as strong and resilient as modern day fabrics, but they don’t have to be locked away in a dust cover at the back of your wardrobe and only brought out of hiding for when the Queen comes to visit!

As it happens, opportunity presents itself in the form of music festivals that take over the fields of English countryside every summer, where style and individuality are as important as the music itself.... As all the festivals are now over (as is our lovely summer), we need something to look forward to so that the winter blues don’t take over. What better way to do so than start planning ahead to next summer’s activities!
Glastonbury tickets may have sold out in four hours the other day (an absolute record for ticket sales nearly a year in advance), but the lucky few who have managed to secure tickets might like to start planning their ensembles already...

http://www.thevintageclothingfairy.co.uk/vintage-jackets/1980s-jacket.html

I love this jacket from The Vintage Clothing Fairy! It’s so versatile to wear with other busy printed vintage items...

http://www.thevintageclothingfairy.co.uk/vintage-dresses-1/1960s-vintage-dresses/1960s-vintage-evening-dress-60s-mini-dress.html 

Or keep it contemporary and simple with modern day fashion with a unique twist such as an Urban Outfitters dress:

http://www.urbanoutfitters.co.uk/Kimchi-+amp-Blue-Zip-Front-Ruffle-Dress/invt/5130426861111&bklist=icat,5,shop,womens,womensclothing,wdresses

http://www.urbanoutfitters.co.uk/Pins-+-Needles-Gathered-Panel-Frock/invt/5130466963939&bklist=icat,5,shop,womens,womensclothing,wdresses

Or even a plain H&M shift.

http://shop.hm.com/gb/shoppingwindow?dept=DAM_KLAKJ_KLA&shoptype=S 

There’s not always the need for too many other details when you have such a busy jacket to draw attention to yourself.
Vintage is the perfect way to show off your style and taste in clothes at the same time as showing off your taste in music. After all, what better way to honour some the original music festivals of the 1960’s, 70’s and 80’s than to wear garments that are from those era’s!

Love Sarah@Have2haveStyle xXx

(Have a look at my recent collaboration with The Vintage Fairy boutique website! http://www.thevintageclothingfairy.co.uk/articles/ )



Buckle up!

All Saints is one of those shops that in my opinion has directional and innovative designs of a couture standard but with the price tag of a high street store (good news for poor students like me). Well... some of it is high street prices, it’s very much borderline with some of the prices, kind of like Reiss; is it high street or designer? I think it really depends on your perspective.

After some sneaky snaps of some garment details that really caught my eye while trend researching for a university project I saw an interesting details that has been repeated in a few different stores such as All Saints and Zara:

These hook and eye clasps that are usually hidden on garments are used as a design and practical feature on this cardigan/jumper. I like the roughness of this style and how it draws the attention to the front details of the top, as well as the contrasting fabrics that seem to be big this season?

 Everywhere I go (by everywhere I mean All Saints and Diesel) there seems to be patches of different fabrics making up garments and highlighting random areas of the body like the armpits and hips, not the usual colour blocking tricks used by fashion legends such as Herve Leger for adding curves to a slim figure.

This is my most recent purchase from Zara at the weekend while ‘trend researching’ yet again. Here the clasp detail is in the form of a buckle and in a contrasting leather fabric that really makes it stand out from the rest of the garment!

And yet again, there is the highlighted pocket detail on the sides of the trousers and the seams being used as an embellishment detail to separate compartments of the trousers around the front and back.

Unfortunately unlike most of the population of girls, I am NOT a fan of the harem pants... I don’t see how the baggy crotch that resembles Aladdin is in any way attractive or even fashionable. Anyway, these pants are my baby steps into the world of harem pants, the world that all of my female friends have already entered with full enthusiasm and have suffered my sceptical wrath at this unflattering style.

Love,

Sarah@have2haveStyle xXx