I never thought I would be writing a blog on this, but last week on Wednesday I received the email I had been longing for. An invitation to one of the London Fashion Week Catwalks! I saw the email in my inbox and almost recoiled at the sight of it. All of this fear, lack of self belief and confidence running in waves through me, even being a London Personal Stylist! I left the email to one side for a few hours and carried on with my day, knowing it was there, burning a whole into my heart through my laptop. Dramatic much!
Eventually I plucked up the courage to read the invite and after much too-ing and fro-ing I reached out to a fellow stylist friend. She was going too! Phewwww. Waves of relief ran through me, as I had told myself that I couldn’t possibly go on my own. But luckily now I had a wing woman to get me through it, a season LFW attendee who knows all of the best tips!
One drama over but then my heart sunk at the thought that I just didn’t have the clothes to possibly attend London Fashion Week. I don’t really own designer pieces and as you may know I have been through a radical wardrobe cleanse and I am slowly building my personal style up again to reflect who I am. London Fashion Week does not really care about this though. So, after taking a deep breath, I looked into ways I could use items from my existing wardrobe and maybe add one or two pieces that could complete the look.
London Fashion Week Look
My first pick was this M&S Denim Trench coat. When I saw it I immediately knew it was perfect. I had a trench coat on my capsule wardrobe shopping list and the fact it was denim gave it a slight edge and almost 90’s feel. It’s a piece I know I’ll wear again and again. Just wearing it to another event the other day I was stopped at the station by someone who had to know where it was from, how much it cost, if it was new season! So many questions. So this was a bonus piece, the perfect investment.
I also loved styling denim. You can check out my last blog post here all about picking the perfect denim.
I then toyed with other ways to make the look work. I knew I needed to layer to add shape, interest, texture and pattern. To keep things safe (I wasn’t planning to get papped at my first one) I leant into other capsule pieces including a striped blue and white shirt, a black waistcoat and classic straight leg jeans.The pieces though that really bought the whole look together was the addition of red socks with loafers and my statement gold necklace with black chain. Without these pieces I think it would have felt a little too basic. I felt put together, stylish, but not too out there to cause too many staring eyes. One step at a time and hopefully for my next London Fashion Week I’ll go bigger!
So I just wanted to show you that you can use wardrobe staples when attending special events. They can be from the high street, they can be second hand or whatever you can afford. And you don’t always need to buy something new, but if you do, make sure it is at least of a reasonable quality and has a useful space within your wardrobe, longer than just one event.
So, to go back to the beginning London Fashion Week isn’t easy to get in to. For a newbie like me still establishing herself it involved me reaching out to brands and PR agencies directly. Last year I attempted this and was met with complete silence. So to receive an invite this year was a dream.
London Fashion Week Show
I was invited to the Paul Costelloe ‘Once Upon a Time’ where Limerick Meets Downtown New York show. It was stunning. Before entering the venue in London Victoria I was in awe of all of the amazing outfits of the guests, with some big influencers among the list. Go big or go home as they say. With photographers snapping left and right, if you had the ‘it’ outfit, you were sure to be papped.
The show was filled with the most beautiful silhouettes, structured shoulders, puffed shoulders, lots of tweed and beautiful artistry. It was stunning. And I was so sad it was over so quickly. I wanted to see and experience more! But it was an amazing show and it was great to see the artisans make an appearance on the runway at the end.
I was super lucky to meet Zeena and Sam Preston, 2 fashion influencers I have followed for a while. They are both so different yet so good at what they do. I refer to Zeena as the colour queen as there is honestly no one else that does it better. And Sam is your go to for capsule wardrobes! Black is her thing and she really makes it work. It can often feel intimidating going to an event like this but when you actually speak to people you see online and realise they are just normal human beings too it makes it so much easier!
It may have been my first London Fashion Week but it certainly won’t be my last! Most people spend weeks and months planning their outfits so fingers crossed I get an early invite next time and can level up my style game!
I hope you’ve loved this post and you can see more videos of the day in this IG reel.
