When I grow up I want to be Carine Roitfeld

When I grow up I want to be Carine Roitfeld.

Along with Julia Sarr-Jamois, Taylor Tomasi Hill and Jenna Lyons she is way up there with people I aspire to dress like, and ACTUALLY WANT TO BE IN REAL LIFE.

Carine Roitfeld is a global fashion icon - model, muse, writer, stylist, magazine editor, visionary. Having spent 10 years at the helm of Vogue Paris, in the much coveted Editor-in-Chief post, she moved on from her impressive tenure to create her very own magazine, CR Fashion Book. Her fashion tome 'Carine Roitfeld - Irreverent' is an opulent visual history and is desperate to be seen on my coffee table (hint hint, anyone who is reading). Karl Lagerfeld once said that 'If you close your eyes and imagine the ideal French woman, it would be Carine Roitfeld' and I concur with Karl.

For me personally, Carine made it perfectly, unapologetically acceptable to wear a faux leather pencil skirt with stilettos in broad daylight - but mon dieu, does she do it with class. She knows the art of balancing sexpot with cult fashion figure is to pair the leather with a cashmere jumper, a snug fitted t-shirt, or mannish tailoring - rather than a deep V which, let's face it, can take the look to whole different level.

CR is back on my radar because she has turned her talented hand to collaborating. It may seem an unlikely association but the 40-piece Carine Roitfeld for Uniqlo collection is unleashed at the end of October 2015 and je suis trés excité.  This is her first collaboration with a brand, and the Japanese giant with its affordable prices, smart casual wear and advanced approach to fabric technology creates a befitting partnership.

The ad campaign, shot by Steven Meisel, provides delicious insight into what we can expect from the range. It mirrors Carine's impeccable elegance perfectly. Simplicity, sleek lines, super chic proportions - all interweaved with CR's magic. She explained in a recent Grazia article - 'I'm very picky. I want my skirt this length, my sweaters are this neckline, the coat is to be a bit shorter than the skirt... My skirts have pockets... I have these little tricks'. Oh to be in the know with these little tricks.

The pieces are to be worn TIGHT FIGHT. The collection is predominantly black (natch), features bountiful punky studs and eyelets and includes the requisite Faux Leather Skirt (£39.90). The fit of the rock'n'roll Carine Faux Fur Coat in leopard (£129.90) is stunning. May I have it now please? My other favourite pieces are the saucy Carine Flocky Printed Long Sleeve Blouse (£39.90) and the snuggly fitting Carine Wool Blended Tight Skirt (£29.90).

I really, really want the Carine Graphic Short Sleeve T-shirt which features a striking illustration of CR's face, but fear it will become a cult piece and at £14.90, will go in a flash.

The accessories are a sure-fire way to add a touch of Parisian insouciance. The Carine Tights are monogrammed with CR at the ankle and the Carine Eyelet Belt - depending on whether wide or skinny is your belt-style of choice (for me, it's wide) - have chunky eyelets as the name would suggest and come in at £14.90. I am all over the Carine Silk Tie - presented in polkadot, leopard print or Cami also at £14.90 and will be nonchalantly sweeping one around my neck.

I have fallen for this collection in a big way. I am awaiting 29 October 2015 with nervous, bated breath. Carine Roitfeld for Uniqlo offers people who are not CR the chance to be a bit CR; to waft down the road in something alluring and pretend to display some fabulous French equanimity. It is liberating, chic and on-point.

It will sell out, and I'll be left with the tights, I know, but a girl can dream. See you in the queue.

Carine Roitfeld for Uniqlo is available from the Regent Street store, London and online at uniqlo.com from Thursday 29 October 2015.

WEBSITE

Benjamin Clementine

The future sound of London” – Evening Standard

“Sombre piano balladry that goes straight for the gut” – DIY Magazine

“yearning vocals and trembling piano” – Q

Many fine things have emerged from Crystal Palace, South East London, my childhood urban playground and local town to my family home.

• A football team with a cracking little ground and fiercely loyal fans
• A huge, great verdant park with dinosaurs, a National Sports Centre and a maze, oh my
• Domali, a cool café serving white hot chocolate and the legendary hangover slayer that is 'BCM' - Beans, Cheese, Marmite on door stop toast.
• A Festival, a Food Market, and some cracking great pubs.

To name but a few. Crystal Palace is having a moment thanks in part to a wallop of gentrification and a fantastic community, and long may it continue.

So I was very pleased to read Rosamund Urwin's recent feature in the Evening Standard 'The Fourteen for 2014' and see Crystal Palace-born musician Benjamin Clementine take pride of place at No. 10. I was intrigued, I had to find out more - just who was this talented young man and what did his music sound like?

This is what I discovered, and heard.

Benjamin Clementine left Edmonton, North London at the age of 20 years old to move to Paris and his apologue is the stuff that modern dreams are made of. Reports cite that he subsequently fell out with his family, when his money ran out he slept rough and then he began a capella busking inside the Metro at Place de Clichy station.

For the next two years he performed daily to numerous lucky Parisian commuters, and made enough money to seek lodgings in a hostel, followed by a room of his own. Now, at the age of 25 years old, Benjamin is bringing his talents and musical offering back to London; his native home, and if from what we've heard so far is anything to go by; well, lucky us.

His voice is deep and soulful, his lyrics poetic and melancholic. You can only imagine how it must have felt to listen to that voice live as you went about your daily commute, as simply listening on Spotify is impactful enough.

Cornerstone is the title track from Benjamin's debut EP of the same name, available now to buy on iTunes but has an official UK release in January 2014. It contains three beautiful songs - Cornerstone, I Won't Complain and London and all worth a listen.

His live gigs are said to be informal, close up and raw. He delivered a memorable performance on Later… with Jools Holland in October 2013 and impressed host Sir Paul McCartney, before two sold-out debut headline London shows at The Purcell Room, Southbank Centre  in December 2013. 

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJJNl1p-PGA&w=560&h=315]

I wish Benjamin the best of luck and hope 2014 is his year.

https://twitter.com/BenjClementine

https://www.facebook.com/benjaminclementine

http://www.indieshuffle.com/benjamin-clementine-i-wont-complain/

http://pigeonsandplanes.com/2013/10/benjamin-clementine-cornerstone/

ISABEL MARANT POUR H&M

I am plagued with anxiety this week about a looming deadline. THURSDAY 14 NOVEMBER. It has been sitting, waiting patiently for a while now in my diary. Written in huge scrawling letters, in blue pen no less - not pencil, as indicates its significance. It is even double underlined.

It keeps me awake at night, images fluttering around my head and unnerving thoughts of how I can make it possible, how I can achieve this seemingly impossible feat. It is not directly associated with my day job, which itself is jammed full of deadlines and dates and the like, nor thankfully does it have a direct impact on my health or relationship with my husband, family or friends. Debatably.

Yet, it is nearly here and I am nervously perspiring a little more each day as it looms and will finally reach its climactic end.

Isabel Marant's much awaited collaboration with H&M finally hits stores and online this Thursday.

What? Me? Dramatic you say? Your heart was racing for nothing? Pah! You may consider me theatrical, perhaps roll your eyes upwards to heaven, but believe me when I say this is a huge, huge deal. Gargantuan. It has been firmly in my diary since the news first broke back in June and in my eyes all November days lead to Marant.

Isabel Marant is arguably the most influential womenswear designer of our time. She has singlehandedly changed the way we dress. As the fabulous Mimi Spencer recently said, No one has done more to author the look of the decade than Marant. I would bet my entire collection of Vogue that you wear at least one of the following items: Printed trousers, ankle boots, a studded something. Bashed-about leather. Skinny jeans with an ankle-grazing cut. A beautiful embroidered jacket, a grey marl T-shirt and of course the ubiquitous wedge-heeled trainers that have been imitated so widely but never beaten. Yes? Well, you have already been touched by the power of Marant, and its rock n’ roll bohemian edge has snared you in its fabulous trap.

Marant, born and raised in Paris, started her eponymous label in 1994 after graduating from the acclaimed Studio Bercot and working her way up through the fashion line. The A/W 2010 collection saw the hit python print pattern while S/S and A/W of 2010 brought us leather motocross trousers and fringed cowboy boots. The collection for H&M edit of the key pieces taken from her archive. So in effect you can get your hands on a reinterpreted piece of fashion history.

That effortless, casual insouciance and very Parisian way of dressing has always remained firmly in my head / look book / magazines but devastatingly never ever in my wardrobe due to its significant price tag, despite the diffusion line Etoile being a slightly more affordable option (if I forewent food).

However, an affordable way to channel Marant / Carine Roitfeld / Lou Doillon and those other French hotties is now all but a finger’s grasp/click away. Plus there is a menswear debut for the Parisian brand, which is exciting in itself, and a campaign that features Milla Jovovich, Doillon, Daria Werbowy and Saskia de Brauw, as well as male models Guillaume Macé, Clément Chabernaud, and Niels Schneider. Zut alors!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ci7JMO-YrI&w=420&h=315]

Yet, is it a case of so near yet so far as I fear? To purchase a piece of Marant presents the following dilemmas:

1. Going to my nearest participating H&M store. Gulp. Queuing at dawn, or perhaps camping out and sleeping in a sodden tent, sharpening my elbows, pushing other hungry fashionistas keen for a piece of the Marant magnificence, tussling over a printed sweatshirt or chainmail cuff. Plus, the last time I visited the flagship Oxford Street store to buy something from the Paris Fashion Week Collection, they had an in-store DJ. She was dancing. It was 2.15 pm in the afternoon. Time, energy and age are not on my side - I know only too well what determined twenty-somethings can be like, I used to be one. In addition, I have a very busy day job and thus kicking myself for not booking the day off in advance. There is also The Queuing System in place specifically for the ladieswear collection, which sounds terrifying. There are coloured bracelets, allocated to groups of twenty customers, and the colour determines when it is your time to shop/fight. So I am hoping positively there will be something left post-5pm as opposed to a solitary jacket in a not-my-size size.
2. Being alert and ready online at 09:00 on the dot, and super sharp with my clicking to purchase via the website. After all, I have done my research, I have planned and plotted and prepared for this deadline. I have studied every single one of the fifty-two iconic pieces, deliberated and subsequently selected what I want, saving ferociously. When it comes to fashion I am a certified Grade-A geek and I hope my hard work will reap the rewards. Should be easy, right? No website crashes, no other clever clogs with the same idea? Reasonably (tut) purchases are limited to a maximum of one item per person ‘so that everyone can buy something from Isabel Marant pour H&M' so this makes my head kind of spin. I also have an afore-mentioned day job that I love and do not think shouting PLEASE WAIT I AM BUYING ISABEL MARANT POUR H&M will cut it.
3. Purchasing on eBay, although there is talk that the collection has already found its way on to the online auctioning website thanks to some people buying pieces at a preview sale and sneakily putting them online at hugely exaggerated (example). How business savvy. How impertinent.

So it looks like I am going to have to work hard for my fringing and my tribal prints. I am having dreams (nightmares) about the trophy jacket with beaded embroidery (£199) selling out - but I am going to try my damnedest to get it even if I cause myself an injury, a Marant malaise if you will.

I am not sure my nerves are quite up to this but I'll keep you posted. It will be brutal.

Good luck out there…

Isabel Marant for H&M launches in-store and online from November 14.

http://www.hm.com/gb/isabel-marant#see_all

http://www.graziadaily.co.uk/fashion/news/isabel-marant-h-m

http://www.isabelmarant.com/en/

I consider this collection a gift to my lovers...

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmzRLasJpp0&w=420&h=315]