Minding my PPQs: London Fashion Week

First day at London Fashion Week took a typically crazy busy/disorganised stance. I spent the first hour fixing my shoe after it got stuck in the Somerset House cobbles with borrowed super glue, whilst the street style photographers looked on and laughed/snapped. (And reportage photographers in war zones get bad press! Is that a terrible thing to say? Honestly, I’m as bad as Christophe Decarnin with his not-even-ironic war torn chic collection for Balmain this autumn/winter). The problem with spending too much time amongst fashion people is you start taking yourself ever so seriously. I saw a NY fashion blogger actually demanding a press pass for her dog today. Admittedly, said dog was sporting the latest, fluffy cobweb hair style and a Louis Vuitton collar but still.

It seems to be a season for redheads too with Paloma Faith (rocking Minnie Mouse ears front row at PPQ) and Florence Welch mincing around the tents, while my new best friend (and the only girl who can out table dance me) model Olivia Inge was all Titian-haired loveliness and red lipstick as we compared At Least English Girls Know How To Party stories.

But the clothes, Isabel, concentrate on the clothes…I loved Bora Aksu’s glamorous and typically London (ie Out There) take on ants.  He dressed up the girls like giant insects, even apparently roping in his aunt in Turkey to hand-crochet nearly two dozen woollen ants for the models to wear in their hair. Gimmicks aside, there were some surprisingly sexy and feminine twisted coiled, ruffles and piped dresses patchworked in silk, tulle and brocade. The padding had a 1950′s vibe too: Retro pin up meets A Bug’s Life.

Then backstage at PPQ I quizzed hair maestro Duffy on the whole candy floss, fluffy hair trend that’s everywhere this season. After fifteen years of obsessive straightening and more recently Hersheson Brazilian blow dries it seems next summer I might finally go ‘au natural’ and let the frizz free. It’s all a bit Working Girl circa 1988. Or not, apparently. “This is naturally fluffy hair, a little bit Seventies boho, with a focus on lighter ends and darker roots. Basically, how your hair naturally looks in the summer if you don’t fight it with straighteners,” explained the lovely Duffy patiently, even though he was also trying to backcomb the barnets of sixteen models at the same time. The makeup from Rachel Wood for Benefit was “Exotic yet still pretty: Lashes, great brows, good skin.” This is going to be my new daily affirmation. Eat, Pray, Put on Mascara.

There was the most real-looking, gleaming fake tan I’ve ever seen (thanks to James Read’s Fake Bake magic) and the clothes were all jewel colours, splashy bright prints and Eastern inspired shapes, with plenty of peplum skirts and little playsuits to keep PPQ devotees happy (with or without Minnie Mouse ears).

Tags: backstage at London Fashion Week, backstage beauty London Fashion Week, Benefit at PPQ show, Bora Aksu show, Brazilian blow dry, Duffy, Duffy at PPQ, English Girl in Paris, Fake Bake, Florence Welch, Friday 17th September London Fashion Week, front row at London Fashion Week, Hersheson, James Read backstage at PPQ, London Fashion Week, Marie Claire blogs, Marie Claire UK, Olivia Inge, Paloma Faith, PPQ show, Rachel Wood, Rachel Wood at PPQ show, street style photography London Fashion Week