Fashion Voyeur

People will stare, make it worth their while.

Categories: The Archives, The Fashion Closet

Joshua Kane Presents Fantasy for SS18 at London Fashion Week

If there’s one designer who doesn’t conform to the standards set out in fashion, it’s Joshua Kane.  Daring to be different in a sea of over familiar runway shows, Kane stands out by shunning the norm and producing his own show in its entirety, away from the on and off schedule venues packed out during London Fashion Week.  Known as “The People’s Designer”, Oxford born Joshua Kane has brought fashion to the masses by opening up his epic runway shows to the public.  In an unprecedented move by the designer, members of the public have been given the chance to rub shoulders with the glitterati of the fashion industry and a few devoted celebrities and fans of the British born tailor.

That one broken light has upset me greatly…

Kane favours The London Palladium as his showcase venue and when you see his branding and the associated collection, it’s plain to see that the two are a perfect match.  With his eclectic look and uber tailored style, Kane sets the standard for what is forthcoming in his show.  Like Barney Stinson, Kane is never pictured without his suit and a wide brimmed hat, and his insanely beautiful girlfriend and sidekick Francesca is never far from his side.

For Spring Summer 2018 Kane teased us with his self directed three part short film titled Fantasy, to accompany and tell the unfolding story of the collection starring Asa Butterfield.  Kane’s second outing at The London Palladium is where fashion meets romance with strong undercurrents of regal glamour.  Models walked out on to an elaborate stage set, through gates out into the audience giving a close up look at the craftsmanship as they strode through the aisles.

Rich heritage tweeds and silks in a colour palette mostly bade up of black, red and cornflower blue dominated the collection, which also announced Kane’s foray into the accessories market.  Models carried handbags from Kane’s debut accessory line and a range of pocket squares and ties were showcased with strong tailored looks.  The brand is filled with drama, from the unexpected sharp lines in feminine tailoring, to the trousers that stop at that perfect 8/8 line making them wearable with any shoe or boot.

Casting for the show couldn’t have been more on point; models with mullets and chiselled features stormed the makeshift runway, posing a contrast between the sharp cuts and feminine fabrics and patterns.

Kane’s use of leather in both structured biker jackets in black and vibrant pink, as well as in the looser trench variety, was new for SS18 and a welcome addition for the season showcasing Kane’s talent and ability to tailor harsher fabrics.  A whole variety of shapes and finishes for SS18 unveiled a new side to “The People’s Designer” and his rich portfolio continues to expand.  Starting with a solid menswear foundation Kane moved to introduce women’s tailoring, swiftly followed with this range of accessories, handbags and even skateboard decks.

I’m really looking forward to seeing how Joshua Kane develops his career, whatever comes next from “The People’s Designer”, I can’t help but think it’s going to be worth the wait.

Pixie xo

Categories: The Fashion Closet

John Herrera SS18 at London Fashion Week

London Fashion Week‘s SS18 season is already weighing in as a heavyweight against New York Fashion Week’s decreasing flyweight.  NYFW was once the matriarch of Fashion Month, a beacon held aloft for the lesser three to aspire to.  Well those days are long gone, since the division of Fashion Month and The Big Four as a whole, New York Fashion Week has become the diluted and less aspirational sister to the European Three, and Vancouver Fashion Week is hot on its heels.

Back to London and we’re on day 2 with John Herrera’s Amanda collection for SS18.  Herrera launched his brand just two years ago when he was chosen to participate in the British Council and British Fashion Council’s International Fashion Showcase, keen fashionistas will remember that he went on to win at the London Emerging Designer Awards at Somerset House, showcasing his Agila collection at MBFW in Tokyo.  That’s a whirlwind career for a designer who set up his namesake label just two short years ago.

Last season Herrera put together a presentation of looks on the runway for Fashion Scout, his first runway show.  This season he’s back and he’s upped the ante with Armada; a 30 piece collection of digitally printed haute couture fashion, designed to turn heads.  Building on Agila for FW17, Herrera was inspired by the accidental discovery of the Philippine Islands by the Spanish; Diogo Ribiero’s World Map from 1529 set the pace for Spring Summer 2018’s prints and the linear fabric manipulation techniques.  All pretty spectacular when you see it in real life.

Models walked the runway complete with a strong beauty look of whited out faces with burgundy or black lips topped with bag veils fashioned from voile and tied at the neck adding a gothic opulence to the show.  Shapes were stronger this season, if Herrera carved out his niche in FW17, he’s closer to perfecting it in SS18.  Wing tipped shoulders and cinched in waists were the stalwarts within the collection, with a ruffle frilled Little Red Riding Hood-esque cape that defied these shapes to become the stand out piece in the collection.

The show was fluid and told a story, if you’ve followed Herrera’s career to date you’ll know that he employs women from challenged upbringings and communities and has produced a work ethic that’s unrivalled.  He’s a designer who cares about the origins of his collection and how it makes its way on to the runway as final pieces.  The Armada collection features a nod to the Spanish monarchy with regal ruff necklines and hourglass body shapes with a touch of fetishism brought in.

Herrera’s second mainline runway show at London Fashion Week definitely upped the drama and proved that he’s more than a presentation designer.  With 30 key looks produced in the last six months between seasons, I can’t wait to see what Herrera brings us for FW18 in February.

Pixie xo

Categories: The Archives, The Fashion Closet

What I Wore: To Watch an Epic Sunset

Finally, after three days of running to Sant Tomas Beach, we caught a sunset, and you’ll know by now from my What I Wore: To Attempt To Catch a Sunset post that it’s taken me around five days to catch one of the most famous sunsets in the world.  It’s not my first rodeo, we visit at least once per year and I can vouch for those beautiful pink waters and red skies, they really do make for one killer combo.

So, what did I wear?  Well, my vacation wardrobe is very different than my regular, at home wardrobe.  On vacation I’m a boho, care free rock chick with sand in her toes and salt water in her hair.  I favour sliders by day and cowboy boots by night and I tend to wear a mix of Daisy Dukes, beaded jackets and tunic style dresses.   When it’s super warm late into the evening I like to be more covered up with something loose and leaving the option of layering something like a vintage denim jacket, or a tasselled lightweight jacket.  Basically, something cool looking.

This night time beach mess around called for easy dressing in the form of just that.  An easy dress.  This one is a simple tunic style in black with red flower embroidery inspired by the Sicilian princesses on the Dolce and Gabbana runway, it’s a total steal too at around £18 from Primark.  I teamed it with my old faithful, battered cowboy boots and RayBan Aviators witch mirrored lenses, which Bo says are my best sunglasses, even better than my Dior So Reals, allegedly.  No outfit would be complete without my precious Pixie necklace and I love how it works with simple necklines like this one.

We managed to catch a pretty damn awesome sunset, one with spectacular pink skies over Son Bou and as it was our penultimate night on the island, it made it feel all the running around feel worthwhile.  After a little scrabbling around on the rocks with Plankton and walking back to our house tracing the sea along the shore, we made the trip up to Alaior to eat at one of the best and most well hidden restaurants in the little town on the hill.

After a super late night spending time with Mama Tenenbaum we tucked ourselves up in bed safe in the knowledge that we had absolutely zero chance of catching an awesome sunrise.

Pixie xo

Categories: The Fashion Closet

What I Wore: For Mama T’s 60th Birthday Dinner in Menorca

I’m back with another easy vacation outfit post for y’all!  I love vacation dressing, it’s different than what you might wear in your home country so it gives you a chance to experiment a little, I have two main styles when I’m livin’ it up abroad and those are Boho Festival Unicorn, and US Seventies Rock Chick.  Sure I like to mix it up and throw a little boho 70’s in there, or 90’s raver, but these are the old faithful styles that I come back to over and over again.

Most of what I wear on vacation is pretty easy to recreate on the highstreet, especially if you shop at the end of the Summer, around the beginning of September when you can pick up items in this style pretty cheap.  I like to wear Daisy Dukes in stretch denim when I’m away and my favourites are aptly named Daisy by Topshop, the lycra in the denim means they don’t sag around the butt giving you shape and lift all day long and keeping everything where it should be.  These ones are £36 but be warned, they’re short!  Topshop now do a Kiri short which is cleverly cut to your shape so that it’s higher on the outside thigh, but lower on the butt and very flattering.  Wanna check them out?  You’ll find them here.


I wore this outfit to go out to dinner for Mama Tenenbaum’s 60th birthday in Menorca so looking back at it will always make me smile.  The tee is a tour tee from Beyonce’s Formation world tour in 2016, it’s got a drop sleeve leaving me pretty exposed so underneath I’m wearing a bright orange non-wired bralet from the Victoria’s Secret Pink collection which costs around £14.

The cowboy boots (which I take everywhere I travel) are from Topshop (you can find similar ones here) and this cute little fur bag is a super bargain from Primark that I picked up for just £7, it has a gold chain handle too so looks pretty cute with anything, it’s in store now in two different colour ways.

My boho tasseled jacket is River Island, it rung in at around £90 from what I remember but I’ve since seen non branded ones on eBay form way cheaper, it’s a velvet burnout with yellow and orange tones in it as well as a tone of heavy beads and I bloody love it, I get tonnes of compliments on it every time I wear it.  You’ll find something similar at a vintage fair, or at Rokit vintage in London and if it’s a little battered it looks even better.

The necklace I’m wearing is a local designer to Newcastle called M.I.A which stands for Mirror Image Accessories, you’ll remember I shot a campaign with them recently and their laser cut jewellery is produced in limited numbers so you’re not getting something that everyone else has.  There’s an Etsy shop where they sell their jewellery and pin badges and they’re over on Instagram too.

Obviously I wore my signature star tattoos, I’m not sure Mama T would have recognised me without them, and loose tousled beach hair which had lost the very last remnants of lilac which had faded up to a sandy blonde.  Wearing no makeup on vacation gave my skin a real break and my LVL Lashes by The Wax Bar gave me enough refined polish to not have to wear mascara.

Man it sucks to be back in the UK, gimme this sunset everyday of the week…

Pixie xo

Categories: The Archives, The Fashion Closet

What I Wore: To Try to Catch a Sunset in Menorca

Now that I’m back in the rainy and wet UK, I thought I’d indulge you in a few outfit posts from my lovely sunny vacation to visit Mama Tenenbaum in Menorca.  Whilst it sucks to be back here in this cold, wet weather, it’s nice to look back at just 48 short hours ago when I was frolicking about on Sant Tomas beach taking in the second best sunsets in the entire world.

I don’t often do outfit posts but judging by some of the Instagram comments I’ve read recently, it looks like something you might want more of, so I’m starting with my vacation outfits and I’m sipping Peppermint Xoriguer direct from the Mahon distillery so if this goes a bit wobbly, you know why…

This outfit was one I wore for our first night in Menorca, I hadn’t been out in the sun so didn’t have a tan and hadn’t quite acclimatised to the temperature so still felt cold on the first night.  We took an early walk out to try to catch one of those famous Sant Tomas sunsets I keep raving about; seriously, Sant Tomas is officially rated as having the second best sunset in the world after Mallory Square in Key West and I can vouch for both, despite having repeatedly missed them this time in Menorca.

This is an outfit for highstreet lovers, it’s cheap, cheerful and a bit of fun.  You know I love a slogan tee and this one was actually bought and shipped to me by Mama Tenenbaum straight from H&M for the grand old price of £12.  It’s a box shaped tee which means that it works best with trousers and jeans and it’s a highstreet take on the Dior led Feminist slogan tee that came straight from Maria Grazia Chiuri’s arsenal.

These sandals are from Primark, unfortunately they’re last season and I really wish I’d stocked up as they’re my favourite and most comfortable and they were only a tenner!  The trousers are also Primark, they’re stretch trousers with a high waist and side zip, you can’t see from this image bit they have a tiny dogtooth check repeat on the fabric and they’re super comfortable.  The best bit, they were £7 and they’re in store now.  Wanna know just how stretchy they are?  Check this out…

This tee is one I’ll wear over and over again, I had compliment after compliment on vacation on the one day I wore it as people flocked to the beach that same evening.  I teamed it with a Topshop choker (£12), Dior So Real sunglasses (£450) which are my absolute favourites, so much so that I have them in four different colour ways and my signature metallic star tattoos.

I love these pictures because I still had lilac in my hair from my last stint with L’Oreal and it had just hit that perfectly faded shade, soon to be completely eliminated by chlorine and sea water.  I also wore no makeup during this vacation and it’s lush to look back and see just how much my skin thanked me for that!

Got any questions about What I Wore?  Feel free to drop me a comment and I’ll be happy to help!

Pixie xo

Pixie Tenenbaum Editor's signature with fashion illustration graphic