I have just returned from an exciting shopping trip to Antwerp, Belgium with a fatter wardrobe and a skinnier wallet. Put firmly on the fashion map by the Antwerp Six (Ann Demeulemeester, Dries van Noten et al), Antwerp is a haven of funky urban independents and designer boutiques. One of my many favourites was Belgium originated Sarah Pacini.

I’m having a love affair with grey at the moment (maybe inspired by the weather) and Sarah’s Pacini’s designs have become the new object of my sombre preference. With velvet greys, charcoal , understated mauve and deep inks complementing unique layered silhouettes built from fluid jerseys, chunky knits and beautiful draping, Sara Pacini’s distinct style offers timeless elegance.

Photographs are catwalk and fashion photography from the Autumn/Winter 2008/09 collection and also the current store front in Antwerp.

For more info and stockists visit Sara Pacini

Now I'm not one for religiously following trends normally (why O why can't anyone see its just a way of big business guaranteeing sales of their mass produced stock!?), but as it happens I quite like this purple tartan checked Mac. Apparently it’s very “on trend” this season, but hey fuck it, only wear it if a) you like it and b) its suits your personal style.

Available from yesstyle.com

What we definitely lack in the UK is a dam good hat supplier. Even Kangol, born in Cumbria, hung up its hat and left our shores for the good ol’ USA. Maybe its because we are in Britain decidedly unfriendly to the hat. Try wearing a hat on a night out and you are met with a barrage of “no, you can’t wear that in here” or “take that off”. And I’m pretty positive it has nothing to do with old fashioned manners (who knows what fantastical array of weapons or drugs you are smuggle in that beanie eh?). Anyway I digress.

So, for hats people, look not to the UK but the USA, a country that embraces headwear somewhat more than we do with whole brands dedicated to supplying adornments for your head. I particularly like some of the hats from the Goorin Brothers, my favourite being The Clark, a rather beautiful grey wool fedora (above middle).

For hat heaven visit: www.goorin.com

I had an email via Facebook today from a friend I was at university with doing Fashion Design to let me know she had just launched her new website.  After checking out her new site I just had to give her a plug on Latemag as "the lass done good"!

The last I heard Jenny had just been made redundant from her job in Sri Lanka. Fast forward about a year and Jenny Hardcastle has launched herself on the international fashion stage as a designer in her own right. Her first collection comprising of beautifully draped and sculpted ladies eveningwear was launched in February 2008. Not long after the collection earned her the accolade of “New Designer” in the Midlands PIN fashion competition netting her £10,000 towards her business. Her success steam rolled on from there and in April she won the Talent De Mode international fashion competition in France. Part of the prize was a year’s free rental of her own boutique in Lyon, France, due to open it’s doors 1st September 2008.

The picture directly below shows Jenny’s new boutique and the bottom picture shows Jenny herself (in the middle with the pink tights) surrounded by models wearing her first and uber-successful collection.

To check out the rest of Jenny’s collection and for more information on UK stockists visit her new website www.jennyhardcastle.com

I’ve recently discovered upcoming New York based designer Ardistia Dwiasri and have a lot of love for pieces from her Fall/Winter 2007 and Spring/Summer 2007 collections.

Ardistia is “all about self indulgence and treats, summarising the essence of a women’s inner strength, beauty and desire, drawing on confidence from the whimisical secret detail in every piece of clothing”.

I don’t know about all that but I am definitely a fan of her sharp, unique silhouettes, particularly the garbadine jackets with the extensive metal button detailing.

Having a day job (unfortunately) that requires me to dress like I mean business, I would love to have some of her tailored jackets to add a unique yet still professional element to my ‘workwear’ wardrobe.

Pyuupiru is a 3-D costume maker from Tokyo. His works are derived from delusions and obsessions, created without the use of patterns. Sound strange already? It gets stranger. Once complete, Pyuupiru dons his hand-knitted creations and executes a performance based on the character.
The photographs shown below are Pyuupiru dressed in his ‘Planetaria’ collection. Me, I’m interested to see exactly how one ‘performs’ the character of ‘Mars’ or ‘Jupiter’!
Oddness aside, they really are quite clever aren’t they?!

I first discovered YesStyle.com through sister site YesAsia.com. Having been a frequent customer of YesAsia.com, an online shopping emporium dedicated to all things in Asian entertainment, I was very excited to see them launch YesStyle.com, an equally impressive emporium to all things in Asian fashion. However my excitement was short lived as I soon discovered that my fat arse (by Asian standards anyway) wouldn’t be catered for in their sizing offering, for when YesStyle launched a couple of years back, the biggest size I could find on offer was a Korean 44/UK 6-8. Now considering the site was all in English and prices in American $, I thought this maximum size of theirs a little bit optimistic considering their target market.
Strangely, they had a link (still there) on the site saying “contact our CEO”. So I thought what the hell, I need to let these people know that my UK 10/12 requirements are not actually that unusual over here and if they wanted to sell to us more generously proportioned westerners then a slightly wider size range might help. Anyhoo roll on to the present day and lo and behold they took some notice (and I am entirely certain it was my email that made all the difference, wink). I happened to be passing the other day, saw about 100 different items I wanted and with a glum face clicked onto the product details only to see that most items now come in sizes 55 and 66 (UK 8-10 and 12-14)! Woohoo!!!
So not only do they have some really funky fashion, they now actually offer it in sizes that I can wear! If that wasn’t enough, there’s also the FREE international shipping to get excited about.

So my only complaint now is they are tempting me into spending far too much money on all the goodies!