The Industry’s Frances Card interviewed Harvey Nichols’ Fashion Director Paula Reed to an enthusiastic crowd. Listening to Paula Reed is like having coffee with a good friend. She’s very open and honest about her experiences and what it’s really like to work in the fashion industry. Paula grew up Derry, Northern Ireland, where her mother owned a hair salon in Limavady. Hair salons in small towns are the epicentre of fashion and Paula’s mum’s salon was no different. Even during a bomb scare there was a lock in at the salon and women were still requesting manicures. It was…

I love receiving presents so when I received some Molton Brown I was quite excited – I think everyone loves Molton Brown. Then I realized the scent was Pink Pepperpod? What? Really did I want to smell like the sauce that goes with my steak? To my surprise the scent was refreshing, stimulating with hints of ginger but I can’t help but think of steak every time I have a shower…

Today I was at the Spitalfields Record Fair – it’s good to know that people still buy records. I have several friends who are always buying records but they work in the music industry, so does that still count? Anyway, somehow it seems that people still want to buy records and it’s nice to see the occasional artist still distributing their album on vinyl. The argument for print magazines is similar and there are still new magazines are being launched all the time even though many thought digital magazines would take over. I went to a magazine launch just…

I have loved Tata Naka for years, I fell in love with a ‘clock dress’ they did a few years back, it  might have been in 2009 but I can’t seem to find a picture of the dress. Since then their collections have grown more quirky and humorous. This is their Autumn Winter 2013 Collection and it’s bright and colourful. I generally wear black dresses but I’m slowly becoming addicted to colour and this collection just makes me so happy.

I’ve always been a little awestruck by VV Brown. I did a shoot with her when she first appeared on the music scene in 2008 and he was so beautiful and friendly, it’s not surprising that she been in Vogue, ID and was featured in fashion ads by Marks & Spencer as well. She also started her own business, VV Vintage, and modelled and performed for Ashish at his London Fashion Week show in February 2009. Her first album Travelling Like the Light was released in the UK in 2009. She is the most synced artist in…

I love walking around East London and seeing all the graffiti. It inspires so many people, I saw lots of tourists taking pictures and a singer was using one of the wall as the backdrop for her music video.

For the most part my job is quite fun and last summer I went to LA with Kate Nash and shot 3 videos in just a couple of days! One of the video we shot was for the song OMYGOD! and it was shot on Malibu Beach and in a large house in Pasadena where we had a group of synchronized swimmers! OMYGOD! is from Kate Nash’s 3rd album, Girl Talk.

Kate is presently touring the US!

Kate with director Aram Rappaport

Rising literary star Abigail Tarttelin launched her second novel Golden Boy in London last week. It’s one of those books that you’ll just want to stay up all night and read.

It’s a coming of age story about Max Walker – the Golden Boy, the perfect son, the best friend. The girls at school like him and he’s so nice to his little brother but Max has a secret and is betrayed in the worst possible way by his best friend. Max was born with forty-six XX chromosomes and forty-six XY chromosomes, which makes him intersex. He…

This shoot was quite a huge production as we shot in Switzerland with photographer Damien Krisl with set design by Sylvain CabouatI. We shot in a film studio as we had so many different set ups and we needed a swimming pool for one of the shots. It was quite a big production and it took weeks to plan the concept and execution, which was great as it gave me lots of time to get the exact looks I wanted. We also had seven models for the shoot so we had lots to prep!

Photographer Damien Krisl and set…

À La Disposition is the husband and wife team of Daniel and Lynda Kinne. They are quite a romantic couple having met as students when they were in their second semester at Parsons in NYC. They launched their first fragrance this season, called {intangible}. It’s quite unique as it’s unisex, and it’s comprised of two perfumes that can be worn separately or together. The 1st perfume has top notes of citrus and the other is more musky – they work well on their own but are very complimentary together creating a 3rd scent. The bottle is very representative of…

I love wearing pyjamas so I was quite delighted when William Tempest told me he was doing a collaboration with the W London to design a limited edition, reversible pyjama set. The British-produced pyjamas are meant to express the duality of the British personality – buttoned up by day and let loose by night. To celebrate the launch of the pyjamas there was a pyjama party at the W London’s Extreme WOW suite with William DJing!

William has been designing for the past 5 years since he graduated from London College of Fashion. During this time he’s established himself…

I love clothes that make you smile. We wear clothes for practicality but really we wear clothes because they make us feel good. Whenever I look at Holly Fulton’s dresses I just smile. Holly Fulton Autumn Winter 2013 collection is very easy to wear and I love the lipstick prints!

I don’t know why women are reluctant to get a bra fitting but 80% of women in the UK are wearing the wrong bra size. Your breasts – shape and size change throughout your life and Triumph suggests a bra fitting every six months. I love getting a new bra and even thought I have loads of lingerie I trend to wear the same bras – the ones that fit, look good and are comfortable. I think the only reason women don’t get fitted is that it’s an inconvience but most department stores offer free fittings.

We are all…

This sweater coat is from one of my favourite collections, Alice Palmer’s AW 2010 Batman Collection.  I’ve worked with Alice for over 7 years and I’m quite excited about her AW 2013 collection Lady Vengeance – there are so many pieces that I love.

30 Seconds with Alice Palmer

AP – I was influenced by the film ‘Lady Vengeance’, directed by Park Chan-Wook; mainly for the revenge-seeking character Lee Geum-ja. She represented a mix of good and evil and I wanted to convey this through the use of soft…

While in Bath I went to Debenhams to look at H! by Henry Holland while preparing for the Bath In Fashion catwalk show. There are very few London Fashion Week designers that are aimed at the young fashion market, but H! by Henry Holland is: a dress costs about £40 and jeans are £28 so it’s all reasonably priced and very cute!

Things you probably didn’t know about Debenhams in Bath – there is O2 WiFi throughout the store and you can download the Debenhams app and use the…

I was quite delighted when Katie Greenyer, the Creative Director, invited me to visit Red or Dead. Red or Dead is part of the Pentland group and the head office is beautiful. It has everything from in-house shopping to a state of the art gym and swimming pool. Plus there are lots of spaces for creative thinking.

Red or Dead was founded by Wayne Andrew Hemingway Esq and his wife Gerardine in 1982. They had a Saturday market stall in Camden that grew into16 stalls. We mostly know Red or Dead for their shoes but they also do…

I’ve been inspired by the warmer weather to start wearing some colour. I feel like I need a bit of colour just to feel like spring is really here! Also after styling Bath in Fashion – for two shows we had almost 400 looks – and so many beautiful florals and lovely bright spring colours.

This is my favourite coat at the moment. It’s a 70’s leather coat that I bought for £5 in a sale at Rokit, on Bricklane. It might be one of my best purchases for cost per wear. I was recently given this lovely blush…

Meadham Kirchhoff is one of those brands that the fashion industry just loves. The AW 2013 collection is beautiful, well thought-out and whimsical. There are influences of Victoriana and the Twenties but it’s all a bit dark and made me think of what prairie girl princess would look like.

In just four years Bath in Fashion has become a very successful and popular event. The catwalk shows are always sold out. This season I had over 200 looks for one of the fashion shows so we had a very busy backstage but fortunately I had a great team as all my dressers were second year fashion students from Bath Spa. It was quite intense and the models had quite a few changes but we were very well organized as I’d been prepping for weeks in advance. I work with over 50 retailers to prepare the shows. I go…

Bath is famous for it’s architecture but one must not over look the abundance of cafes and place to have tea. Just around the corner from the Abbey Hotel (where I stayed for part of my stay in Bath) I came aross Sally Lunn’s house – the oldest house in Bath – it’s a unique reminder of pre-Georgian Bath dating to 1482. Sally Lunn was a french baker who came to bath in 1680. Sally’s buns became very well known – they are quite fluffy very light buns – they don’t look very special but they are quite delicious…