Our journey to the Royal Geographical Society, the venue for the second day of the Vogue Fest, was somewhat less than stylish. We sleepily dragged ourselves up and out of bed at the ungodly hour of 5am, to manically rush to the train station, attracting some dubious stares from passers-by on our way as we coated up on layers of lipstick and clumped by in completely unpractical platforms (further confirmation on the unpracticality of platforms coming later...)
We then had an anxious 40 mins of watching announcements of our train getting more and more delayed! We made it to London with 15 minutes to make our way over to South Kensington, so we got our fast-as-we-can-in-huge-heels walk on!
Lauren wore: Coat, ASOS Premium; Collar, Lou Lou Loves You; Jeans, Topshop; Shirt, H&M (ribbon added!); Wedges, ASOS; Socks, Topshop; Satchel, H&M.
Rhi wore: Dress, Christopher Kane for Topshop; Coat, Topshop; Cardigan, Matalan; Shoes, Next; Bag, Primark.
Equilibrium was restored once more as we flounced up Exhibition Road, home to the marvelous Natural History Museum and the V&A, stopping to take a few snaps of the magnificent architecture... until, Lauren stacked it and went head over heels (platform drama)... and came back up with a cut hand and damaged pride, gah. Luckily, there was only one other lovely man in the vicinity that viewed the disaster, and came over with concern and a whole lot of pity in his eyes. C'est la vie!
First up was a talk by the absolutely incredible Diane Von Furstensberg, entitled, 'Turning a passion for life into a penchant for business'. We've all heard about formidable impact that Diane made upon the fashion world, creating the first ever wrap dress, and staying true to the goals she set for herself at an early age. She began her fairytale (literally, she married a Prince!) by recalling how she created her very first collection whilst heavily pregnant, and then continued by leading us through an enchanting labrinyth of her life, career twists and turns, her walk away from fashion, and finally her phenomenal comeback!
She was beautiful, inspirational, funny and unbelievably grounded. What a lady! We think everyone left wishing that DVF would be their fairy godmother, appearing whenever we had a momentary crisis of confidence, or were in desperate need of one her figure loving wrap dresses. We might even allow ourselves to watch all the re-runs of The City to get more glimpses of the DVF HQ! Here's a few of our favourite quotes from DVF,
"Be the woman you want to be."
"I was told to focus on the vintage, after all I am myself, vintage", DVF on bringing back her 70s wrap dresses.
"I had three children, a boy, a girl, and a brand."
"As a young girl, I did not know what I wanted to be, but I knew the woman that I wanted to be... independent, a woman that pays her own bills, can go out with a man without worrying if he'll call."
"As a young girl, I did not know what I wanted to be, but I knew the woman that I wanted to be... independent, a woman that pays her own bills, can go out with a man without worrying if he'll call."
We left the main auditorium as fast we could to try and catch Tim Walker, only to find that that the session was already in progress and the queue for the second was so big it spiralled through 3 rooms. We are sad to say that we sacrificied our position to ensure that we didn't lose a seat for the next few talks back in the main theatre.
However, we did manage to find out that he only uses film rather than digital cameras and natural sunlight, amazing (thanks Emma!). For the hour that we had spare, we had a wander through some of the other rooms, and stumbled across the cover shoot room (where you could dress up in designer and adorn yourself with a Chanel bag and leave with a professionally taken photo of yourself on the front of a mocked up Vogue cover) The other highlight was the red lipstick bar... we died and went to red lipstick heaven!
It was then time, to head back for the next session. Fashion Question Time! We definitely should have got ourselves a quick refreshment from one of the lovely make-shift cafes that Vogue had set up, dehydration is not cool. Anyway, Fashion QT was a panel of fashion's finest talent, including Christopher Kane, Holly Fulton, Henry Holland, Roksanda Ilincic, Mary Katrantzou and Nicholas Kirkwood, interrogated by a selection of questions sent in via twitter and the audience.
To our surprise, they were all incredibly humble and dare we say, quite shy. We were expecting Devil Wears Prada esque attitude from someone, but they all seemed, lovely. They were also all incredibly knowledgeable about the design business as a whole, and most of all realistic about their profession. Recalling moments of excitement as their business began to explode across the fash-o-sphere, divulging secrets about their pre-show nerves, post-show celebrations (they party hard) and offering fascinating insight into their brands and helpful advice to audience member's questions.
It has to be said, Roksanda Ilincic is out.of.this.world. Not only is she one of the most beautiful ladies in the whole universe, with a wardrobe and collection to die for (a collection that has been worn by Michelle Obama & Kate Middleton no less), but she is also blessed with the most enchanting, ethereal manner, it would be difficult not to be captivated by her absolute loveliness!
We have been banging on about our excitement for the David Bailey relentlessly for a week now, we apologise profusely if you follow us on twitter. It goes without saying that he is one of the most iconic photographers of our time. In fact, iconic doesn't even cover it. There's not anything that we can say about his back story that everyone shouldn't already know. Interviewed by Vogue Features Director, Jo Ellison, Bailey was an absolute gem. Completely charming, endearingly brash, charismatic and oh so, cheeky (admitting that he was unsure about the casting of Karen Gillan as the beautiful Jean Shimpton, joking that he'd rather bed Aneurin Barnard than Karen, eek!) In addition to this he spoke about his more recent ventures, namely the photography he's been doing out in Afghanistan. He had the whole auditorium laughing with him and at him, the entire time. Here's a few of our favourite Bailey quotes,
"Everybody has a story, I just have to find it"
"This shirt I'm wearing is, David Lawrence, Ralph Lawrence? what is it? Ralph Lauren!"
"Most people don't like the photos I take of them at first, it takes about 10 years and then they say that it's the best picture of them ever taken... it's probably because the photo is too honest"
"I'd like to photograph everybody in the world"
Uh, us first please, Mr Bailey!
We met Alexa outside, who was also in attendance for the great, DB!
By this time, we were well & truely parched so we took a wander through Knightsbridge for a lunchtime beverage... and ended up in Harrods, lusting after Mulberry's and trying not to purchase every delicious looking thing from the food courts! Mmm. Though, just who buys milk from Harrods?
We did however, allow ourselves to purchase some teeny treats, including a very yummy strawb & champagne preserve for Lauren's mum & the cutest box of Macaroons in all our favourite flavours from the Laduree Cafe! We went for Rose, Violet & Blackberry, Raspberry & Coconut, Lemon and Salted Caramel! Best ever!
All in all, a pretty good day!
Much love,
Lauren xx
PS. To celebrate our first year in Twee Towers on Sunday, we're giving you the chance to win all of our fave twee-treats in a GIVEAWAY! ♥ Remember to check back for your chance to win!
