My recent blog for Diane Pernet’s ‘A Shaded View on Fashion’, about two of the shows I styled for London Fashion Week

RANI JONES AND ASHLEY ISHAM: DAY ONE OF LONDON FASHION WEEK; TWO SHOWS STYLED BY ME!.. TEXT: TAMARA CINCIK.

We all have sides to our character: I love high heels and am a sucker for a sequin; but I also love all tones of grey, am vegan and grow my own vegetables.  Rarely are those contradictions allowed full-throttle expression in the same day, as they were for me on Friday, when I styled the first ever presentation by Rani Jones a new and luxury, yet sustainably made so super-cool guilt free, brand, designed my two London-based female designers, Lucy Jones and Rani Patel.

Girls wore ultra-modern pieces in a mixture of silks, jersey and denim, cut to work with the body’s curves, while some like the layered navy and dark blue dress create a strong silhouette, hanging from the shoulders, ending just above the knee to make a killer statement: great for those days when we want to look strong, fierce and hot, but also not all on body-show.  Perfectly on-trend with this season’s leggy glamour.

My personal favourite: the denim jacket, worn here with skin as jeans – sexy!

Mel Arter did the coolest make-up: a velvet matte red lip looked hot, combined with cheek contouring and great skin.

The base-line colour palette of acid tangerine, pink, beige, cream and washed denim, combined with navy was as fresh as their guilt-free leather and (even better!) guilt-free consumerist identity.

I wish them every success and hope that this is the start of great things to come for the girls.

To check out more of their work, please go to: www.ranijones.com
Straight from the Rani Jones show, Katie my assistant and I dashed to On-Off at 180 The Strand, heading backstage to prep the Ashley Isham show.  This was my first season working as Ashley’s stylist and was a total delight.  His vision of women is so utterly positive: hot golden goddesses, adorned and adored, what’s not to love!

Working with Malcolm Edwards and Sharon Dowsett on hair and make-up  – what a dream-team: Malcolm wrapped jewellery (some designed by Ashley using diamonds and totally luxe-tastic; others loaned to me by the ever-lovely Vicki at Erickson Beamon) into the hair, which was plaited and tousled into a chignon, or tousled into a sexy insouciance if short.  Meanwhile Sharon created the ultimate in goddess beauty, with golden eyes, worked up and into the brow, which sparkled with promise.

Ashley’s theme for the show was ‘Ottoman’, so we began the show with all the blue dresses, to drive that idea home, as blues and turquoises were very important to the Turkish court.

Two personal favourites of mine were the tulle dresses: one a full length gown with a full-on va-va! glamour hit in nude, with a black arm strap and the other a black tulle over nude cocktail dress, with zips in all the right places, totally hot and goddess-fabulous!..

To see more of Ashley’s work, please click and pop over to:-

http://www.ashleyisham.com/

The uber-stylist Karen Binns (the reason why we are still interested in what Tori Amos, Estelle or Mr. Hudson are wearing), came backstage to see me after the show and in her usual poetic melodic Brooklyn way, told me it straight!   She said: ‘Child you gave them a vision of glamour with an ethnic edge, a sexy woman, who looks expensive, well done.’

A compliment indeed, from someone I totally respect, thank you Karen.

I ended the day seeing the JCDC, which my former assistant Anna Trevelyan styled at Ghost on Farringdon Road. She did an amazing job, giving this Parisian diffusion line a fresh, London playful edge.

Well done Anna, well done Rani Jones, well done Ashley.

From designer chic minimalism, through to more is more fabulosity, ending with graffiti make-up, knickers and boots at JCDC, yes indeed: quite a day!..