FASHION // LFW // Burberry Prorsum AW14

My highlight of every London Fashion Week is always the Burberry Prorsum show.

Burberry for me, is quintessentially British and proud. Aside from the clothes, the brand promotes all things Brit, whether it's the catwalk/campaign models [Cara Delevingne, Suki Waterhouse, Jamie Campbell-Bower] or upcoming music artists [Burberry Acoustic], it's like a massive team effort. There's definitely something timeless about Burberry, with classic trench coats or their nude make-up collections, it's perfect for all ages and different backgrounds. I could talk about how brilliant Burberry is all day long, what a testament Christopher Bailey is to British fashion and lots more, but here's my thoughts on the Burberry Prorsum Womenswear Autumn/Winter 2014 collection.

Photos: VOGUE.co.uk

The show began with a water-coloured London skyline in A/W shades, burgundies, camel tan, purples etc. 

The collection was extremely feminine with lace and loose chiffon. Scarfs are clearly a focal point for this Burberry collection and I thought it was really unique having them tucked under the belt, the belt definitely added shape to the flowing layers. Layering that incorporates both colour and texture, as we've seen in the rest of Fashion Week is going to be huge this winter. 

I loved the use of strong colour, such as the deep burgundy on the lace dress above and the royal blue hem of the scarf in the third look. The line began with very fresh, light pastels and darkened, with thicker fabric and stronger colours as the show continued [as shown in the pictures above]. I loved the shoes with the peep-toe and the addition of the hand painted leather bags. 

The fact sheepskin coats are in the AW collection made me a very happy chappy. Obviously, there needed to be the traditional tan sheepskin coat, but I loved the black coat on the right with the turned up sleeves, I also liked that one coat was cropped and the other a little longer, similar to the lengths of the trench-coats. These coats are quite heavy and bulky in contrast to the light-as-air scarfs and dresses, with quite cluttered prints, but that only makes each element more wearable together as well as separately. 

I'm not usually a pink kind of gal, but the pastel, dusky pinks used in this collection really caught my attention. Teamed with black and a little hint of blue, I thought it didn't look as 'girly' as I often perceive it to be. I noticed that midi-dresses seem to be making a come back this autumn/winter, but with a rather daring neckline which I'm all for, the thin, light-weight look of the dresses added to the ethereal feminine vibe, with shapeless 'boyfriend' style coats to add a bit of masculinity back into the line. The scarfs/shawls whatever you want to call them are all gorgeous and I particularly liked the print on the one in the first picture. 

Capes are always a Burberry favourite and are something the brand is very comfortable with, I liked the light beige shade of the one on the right. Matilda Lowther looked absolutely gorgeous and I thought she did the thigh-high split justice. Despite the main element to the looks being drapy and shapeless, Burberry have done a great job of adding in elements that change it from frumpy to eye-catching, eg: sheer lace, thigh high splits, belting, daring necklines. 

I love that blue is going to be bang on trend this Autumn/Winter as it's probably my favourite colour. The first picture is my favourite look of the entire show, I love the floaty dress, with the dropped neckline and split towards the front, the shoes add a subtle bit of detail, as well as the hand painted bag and the shawl/scarf just makes the look. I adore the deep turquoise shade in contrast to the dusky pastel blue, pastels and royal shades are definitely something Burberry played with this collection. 

Of course, Cara closed the show, wearing her personally initialed scarf/shawl 'CJD' [all of the models received their own]. Her finale look brings all the trends for AW14 together, layering, clashing prints, different textures and deep royal shades. 

In my opinion, Burberry have delivered another flawless collection and I can't wait to have a better look at the AW14 make-up and nail varnishes. Christopher Bailey, you did it again. 

FASHION // LFW // Topshop Unique AW14

As far as fashion weeks go, I always love the Autumn/Winter collections a lot more than Spring/Summer. Today saw the Topshop Unique AW14 collection at the Tate Modern. 

Regardless of Fashion Week, I'm having a bit of a 'not that interested' phase with Topshop. I feel that there's nothing original and it's often overpriced, but it might just be because my style is changing and I'm looking to places like Zara and River Island. Either way, there's no denying that Topshop is ridiculously popular and I think that there's potential for it to end up becoming a high-end brand. 

For me, the AW14 collection was a little bit hit & miss, like with a lot of their clothing items at the moment. I found that there were elements to each item that were really nice and stood out, but over all I thought the combinations were a little too mis-matched and over all, I didn't really like the collection. For me, there's been a lot better designs and outfits compiled in the past but I put this down to Topshop attempting to re-create high end looks but being restricted to high-street, if that makes any kind of sense. 

photos: ELLE.co.uk

I'm not usually one for 'brown', but I do like tan/beige and creams. In the first outfit I really like the use of different textures, I love the tan leather zip up, matched with the fur of the coat. It's nice to see the outfit consisting of a mix of warm tones, rather than trying to add in any other colours eg: burgundy or black...[we all know my feelings towards brown and black being mixed.] If Topshop do anything well, it's tailoring and I think mid-walk, these clothes look really flattering on the model and sit well on the body. In the second outfit, I like the embellishment on the top and the layering. I'm not a huge fan of the fur, but I can imagine come winter fur will be back in [as always] and the light purple tones in this coat will be really popular. 

Out of all the collection, I really liked these three outfits. I love the trousers in the first outfit, I think high-wasted jogger/cigarette trousers are always really flattering, managing to look chic but chilled at the same time. I like the sheen of the trousers and how the light catches on them, I can imagine these looking great on a night out with a bold pair of heels and a crop top. The top isn't really my cup of tea, but I really love sheer tops that cover in just the right places. The middle dress, as discussed by me and my friend, would be a really sophisticated prom dress. Compared to the sheer top with the embellishments on the first outfits, I think the white detail is more flattering and looks a lot nicer than the darker my obvious pattern. I think the length of the skirt is really unusual, but on the right person it'd look really pretty. The last outfit is probably my favourite of the entire collection, I'm a huge fan of the skirt/braces/shirt look and the velvet look/leather detailing incorporates both texture and trends, which similarly to last year will no doubt be huge again this autumn/winter. I'm not a huge fan of the puffer coat, I wish I could see the shirt in more detail, but I'm always a huge fan of monochrome and this combination for me, is perfect. Socks and loafers are also a tick from me.

It's also really refreshing to see cobalt, electric and baby blue's getting involved in an Autumn/Winter collection. Blue is one of my favourite colours and in my opinion it's never utilized enough, I love the knitwear and layering, as well as the differentiation between layers and tones. 

Overall, I think the collection had a few really good pieces and a few shockers. It had a really girly, school girl/glitzy feel and for me, there was nothing 'street style' about it. I'd like to have seen for a high-street brand, some jeans, more knitwear and shirts but again, I think Topshop is really fighting the inner urge to be high end but in reality it's just high-street. 

You can watch the show here, let me know what you think below.

the fresh start

This all feels really strange writing on a completely fresh blog under a new URL and what not, but sometimes a fresh start is well and truly needed. 

I've actually been blogging on and off for almost two years, which is crazy. I know a lot of bloggers have been at it for much longer than that, but for me to persist with something and not loose interest is actually quite unique. Don't get me wrong, I loved my old blog [gabididwhat] but it was getting to a point where I was writing blog-posts for the sake of it, they weren't very good quality and because of that, I was starting to lack interest. My theme, old posts and what-not were beginning to really annoy me so I just drifted away.

I really love blogging and I really love fashion, so in a moment of madness I decided to scrap my old blog and start totally fresh. I'm now 18, with a job and once I've finished Sixth Form in a few months I have a whole gap year ahead of me before University, so I have the time and potential to really put a lot of love and effort into my blog. Fashion is something I'm really interested in and that'll be the main focus of this blog, but I'll also throw in lifestyle & beauty posts here and there. I feel that now, I actually know what I'm talking about and I won't just waffle on, so fingers crossed the quality of this blog will be a lot better than 'gabididwhat'.

Speaking of 'gabididwhat', I'm not going to delete it because I've been writing it since I was sixteen so it's quite funny to look back at and cringe...but I won't be using it from now on so there won't be any links to it on my social networking anymore. Oh and if anyone was wondering, GBLNIHN is 'Gabi Lenihan' abbreviated which is my name, obviously. I didn't want to do 'gabriellalenihan' because I felt it was a little bit boring, so yep, it's a bit weird but GBLNIHN it is! 

Other than that, there are plenty of other places to find me on the internet [all links at the top of my blog] so send me a little tweet or message and I'll be more than happy to check out your Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, blog etc. 

I'm really excited and motivated to get blogging again, so hopefully this blog will become something I'm super proud of with content I'd actually read myself. 

So, see you in my first proper blogpost! xo