Who'd've known: Lily's in town for Paris Fashion Week

IS SHE BACK or is it never gonna happen? 

Former princess of pop, Lily Allen {Cooper} graced Paris Fashion Week with her own 60s inspired style {and no not to walk the show} plus wicked West London voice yesterday at the Etam Lingerie fashion show on day #1 of PFW! Singing her old skool 2006 début single Smile whilst Etam models walked the girls only show, Miss Lily Rose cheekily eyed up the new sexy {wannabe Victoria Secrets- shhh!} range. 

Photo: Vogue.co.uk

Having packed up her records and announced her retirement from the music industry in just 2010 to start up a vintage clothing shop with her half-sister, endured a some difficult and emotional years that thankfully resulted in two gorgeous children, rumours have it that Lily is going back to the start and will be back better than ever with new material that she has said is "different from anything she has released before".

When I heard about her "retirement" just a few years ago, I was totally gutted that I hadn't seen her live, thankfully I got tickets to one of her final festival performances! And sung my heart out to her as I forced my way to the front of the stage {don't judge!}, so I'm super excited for her comeback and hope she lives up to her crazy London girl style.

From Lily's day #1 performance to the runway, here are a few snaps of my favourite pieces from PFW as it stands.

Photos: Vogue.co.uk

Photos: Vogue.co.uk

Photos: Vogue.co.uk

So far so good... above shots from the Julien David and Guy Laroche shows. It looks like black is (back?) or here to stay for yet another season with a monochromatic palette sticking around too, injecting some navy blue into the mix! I especially love the subtle glam in each outfit, from ruffles to velvet, sequins and beads, these outfits are all fairly simple yet very pleasing.

NEWS STRAIGHT FROM THE CATWALK!

{Currently watching as I type/just watched as I post the H&M live stream catwalk - eeep!}
Looks like my opinions of H&M are on the rise guys!? Although it's yet another pretty much monochrome trend...and yes we saw Cara Delevinge on the catwalk again!! H&M were displaying some amazing powder pink dresses, over sized fluffy coats, subtle additions of  glitter and sequins, hints of red, over the knee boots, military style hats, tassels and what's more...smiles! The girls were smiling and had a cheeky attitude as they kissed and waved to the camera's chicly of course! The only thing that would have been better? Being there! The interior of the Musée Rodin looked spectacular, comfy sofa seats for the lucky ones and an original catwalk style...you go H&M!

What's next for Paris Fashion Week? Check back soon!

E x

Day #1 PFW: Paris Fashion Week

TAKE #4 and it's Paris Fashion Week! 

As Fashion Week reaches it's final city on its tour of the top homes to fashion, over the last few weeks we've been subjected to next season's looks from London, New York and Milan and it's time to find out what's hitting Paris for AW13. The romantic city known as the city of love and the city of lights but also the city of all things fashionable is also home to some of the greatest labels and designers in fashion history. From Gaultier and Rykiel to Dior and Chanel and there is no doubt that the city will once again impress during Paris Fashion Week attracting some of the top names in fashion, press and buying. 

Alongside major fashion houses, high street's H&M is set to walk its first catwalk in eight years on Wednesday at the Musée Rodin which will be interesting having recently pondered the question: are H&M's standard of clothing lowering? (Yet I continue to buy from there..)

Having not so long ago attended a Chanel Little Black Jacket exhibition arranged by Karine Roitfeld and Karl Lagerfeld which I though was simply divine, I'm so excited to see what Lagerfeld will reveal on the Chanel catwalk next week. 

Follow the shows yourself and keep up to date with the schedule from Mode à Paris, follow my retweets on Twitter @ElleCassandraa and like my Facebook page as I follow the show and I'll bring you my highlights of the week as and when I scout them.

Photo: Mode à Paris

E x

Last night at the Oscars...

LAST NIGHT brought yet another year of amazing results for British {and of course other} actors at the 85^th Academy Awards ceremony all the way from it’s home at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, L.A!

From the Tottenham-born, glamorous singer-songwriter, musician and multi-instrumentalist {already so impressive!} Adele, winning the Best Original Song award for Skyfall, to Bristol Old Vic trained, classical-turned-method actor Daniel Day-Lewis making Oscar history by taking home a record third Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance as America’s 16^th President in Spielberg’s Lincoln, the Oscars never fail to impress. Heavily outnumbered by population-ratio, I was more than contented to see such accreditation towards British actors and their outstanding performances as well as American actors {please don’t take offence – just proud to be British ;)}.

If the evening wasn’t impressive enough as it stood, it was the icing on the cake to see America’s First Lady, Michelle Obama present the Best Picture award to actor-turned-director Ben Affleck for his film Argo.

Yet, the Oscars, like many other global or major events of its kind {BAFTAs, Brits, Golden Globes, Grammys blah blah…} featuring A-list movie stars and the crème-de-la-crème of music not only highlights the best of the best from the music and film industry but is a night for fashionistas all over the world to judge avidly each and every couture dress, painful stiletto and timeless tux that graces the crimson carpet.

As we waited in anticipation of who is going to win the award for Best Actress, Best Costume Design, Best Foreign Language Film etc… days, even weeks before the event, fashion forecasters were predicting who was going turn up in what; who would bring a parade of Prada, amaze us in Armani or be a visionary in Valentino? But most importantly: who would be Red Carpet Royalty and who would make us wince at the telly!

One of my favorite all time actresses {quite possibly for my love of Friends/love of every film she is in}, Jennifer Aniston looked red hot on the carpet in this full length Valentino dress, clutching a matching Salvatore Ferragamo bag teamed with Fred Leighton jewels, complementing her glowing golden hair. {I hope I look that hot at 44!} 

Photo: Vogue.co.uk

From red-hot fashion to Sirius no no… English Actress, Helena Bonham Carter only reminded me of Bellatrix Lestrange from Harry Potter. Wearing a monochrome tiered dress by Jessica McCormack, the layers to me looked like a Halloween costume, quite frankly a bit Lestrange, and the top-of-the-head wispy do just topped off the bizarre look…

Photo: Vogue.co.uk

More of my fashion faux pas included Jane Fonda in a daffodil Versace dress, reminding me that although bold colours are in, surely a head-to-toe look is not entirely necessary. Nevertheless, she seemed to look just as glamorous as ever and maybe psychologically the label adds pleasure to the eye?

Photos: Vogue.co.uk

I was also hugely turned off by Nicole Kidman’s black and gold L’Wren Scott sequinned gown and Catherine Zeta Jones’ gold beaded dress, whilst both were red carpet-worthy glamour, the shape, cut and overall design were simply not my cup of tea.

From Catherine Zeta Jones to George Clooney, whilst he was looking super dapper in his Armani Tuxedo, having recently watched Intolerable Cruelty and commenting on how 'handsome' he is for an older man, I had to take a second look when seeing his picture. Accompanied by his American actress-model girlfriend, Stacy Keibler, the man looked about 70 and old enough to be her grandfather – George have a shave dear!

Photo: Vogue.co.uk

Photos: Vogue.co.uk

Photo: Vogue.co.uk

But it wasn’t all over-the-top sequins and glitzing gold and for me the crème-de-la-crème of dresses at the Oscars 2013 came in a powdery palette. Anne Hathaway looked so elegant in her pale pink satin Prada gown that perfectly complimented her figure and short hair cut {I’ve never been a fan, but I must say she looked beautiful!} teamed with a silver flower Tiffany’s necklace as she received her award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Les Mis. while fellow nominee, Amy Adams, brought Oscar to the Oscars in a De La Renta strapless lavender gown. My favourite gown of the evening however, was a Dior Couture piece worn by Best Actress winner and face of fashion house’s Miss Dior {my love} campaign Jennifer Lawrence.

E x