Wednesday 2 July

Poor old Ed, couldn't organise an afternoon soiree in a brewery and had fixed himself a meeting at 9am this morning. So with a slightly “owwie” head, he managed to drag his sorry derriere to town. Meanwhile, I stayed in bed and slept like an angel.  I eventually rose (like a phoenix from the ashes), made myself beautiful, wrote this lot down and waited for the return of The Ed whereupon we nipped back to Berns for the first show of the day, the great, the fabulous, the marvelous Mini Market!

The show was being held in the main bar of Berns which is quite a big space with a high ceiling, huge chandeliers and balconies - all very elegant. I arrived at the reception for the usual waiting palaver and *oh joy*, I was given a glass of champagne. And then I was photographed by a magazine who also wanted to know where all my clothes come from.  Probably so they could avoid the shop in the future. Sadly, I can't remember the name of the mag so I will never see if I made it to print.  So sad.  Finally we were allowed in and I was shown my seat and continued to wait for all seats to be covered by some derriere or another. This takes between thirty to forty minutes so always take a good book or your Blackberry. Whatever you do, don’t look lost. 

The room was decked out with giant playing cards and some very weird music. Above me, the balconies were packed with overflow crowd including a bunch of models for other shows who had gathered in one corner to watch their friends. The seats were full, the music was turned over and the show began. 

This was a fun show with some great clothes that were inventive and still highly wearable. First out was a sleeveless dark blue shirt dress followed by a green tulip mini skirt and red bowler hat (note, I would not recommend bowler hats for any wear). Key details that ran throughout the show were the ruching and gathering on skirts (all of which were short), shirts and dresses. Collars were either round neck or with a traditional tailored collar. Shoes were Wedge Ankle Boots with zips up the back (quite sexy). Hair was scraped back into a pony tail and then plaited into several strands before being secured at the bottom. Humour was around with a "smile" T shirt - just a picture of a smile which looked like it had been done by a six year old.  There were puff sleeves, pleats and most skirts were tulip cut. Colours were a bright green, red and dark blue. A very enjoyable show to see

The next show was The Local Firm and we’re front row so we get a very good view. The main thing here are jeans, jeans, and hey, let’s have some more jeans! The cut is skinny and there was a cute knee detail where the fabric is gathered and stitched horizontally. Apart from that, there were floaty layered mini skirts, dresses with very long fringes, large V neck jumpers, a black sequin mini skirt, an oversized shift dress, a truly wonderful black sparkly bomber jacket, a short black skirt with half a dozen zips stitched on and some sleeveless shirts. Chaps were sent down the runway in just jeans and no top (my favorite look!) and “TLF” written on their bodies. Colours are grey, beige, black and oyster.

The Ed by now was doing a royal crash and burn so we went home and snoozed. The afternoon snooze is hugely underrated and frankly, I really believe you just can’t beat a good, quality afternoon nap.  I swear by them.  I have actually discovered there’s a bed at work which I fully intend making full use of should I get that ghastly afternoon sleepy-creep (the one when your vision becomes blurry and words turn into cotton wool). Thirty minutes later, I am ready to conquer the universe and I really am Super Woman!  And Jennifer Lopez swears by sleeping saying it improves both health and beauty. 

But enough of Doctor Nicola, let’s move on. Tonight is the end of the Fashion Week here and there is a nice big party to celebrate so The Ed and I make an effort to look very nice. I put on my super sexy D&G dress and he changed his pants and we’re ready to go.

The final show room is Cheap Monday and the room has been decorated to resemble a street (not a very nice one) with some benches so we get the idea this is going to be an urban look and so it was. This show was about jeans and T shirts – lots of them. Jeans were worn with tight lacy tops which were very pretty, over-sized white Ts, vest tops, cream or silver bomber jackets and a huge amount of T shirts. Jeans were pale blue, dark blue, grey, green, white with spots and beige. They were long, cropped or very short. In fact, you name it, they had it. This is a show for a jeans/T shirt loving person and this is not me. But if you are, you would have found your Nirvana! One look I thought was cute was a pair of gray lacy tights. However, you need to be a size “super small for these to look lovely. I’ve frequently seen the typical nice chunky London lass brave it out in these and they just look chunky.

The last show done, it was time to go party which was being held very kindly by Berns and arranged by the uber glamorous and efficient Keri Ingvarsson (she really is a shot of dynamite!) I also met the very pretty Erin who reads my page (I will be building a shrine to her when I return to London). The party was fun and everyone drank copious amounts of champagne. I saw Swedish men dance which frankly is an alarming sight and would pretty much guarantee arrest in the UK. It was like the School for Wedding-Dad-Dancing. The Ed and I finally left around 3am in pretty much broad daylight and fell into a beautiful sleep with Fashion Show dreams.

The Miss Blackwell Round Up

So it seems that skirts and dresses will be exceptionally short next summer as will shorts. The overall line is relaxing as clothes are not so clingy/body conscious eg, the Baby Jane dresses so we can all go and eat that extra muffin.  Colours are black (give me a break), beige and grey but I wouldn’t believe everything you see. Shoes are high and heels are becoming quite chunky – no more of the super spindly ladies heels and it seems that men don’t need to wear any shoes! African prints are starting to come in so keep an eye out for that lot. And check out the return of Rayban sunglasses.

But of course, to finish any look you wear, make sure you have a huge swathe of confidence and love and you’ll be utterly gorgeous. Fact!