Kensington Palace is one of London’s most famous landmarks, not least because it was once to home to Princess Diana. Every room has a story - it truly is a place of fairytales and secrets. There are so many hidden doors, secret stairwells and tiny rooms.
This year the palace has been transfored by the UK theatre company Wildworks and some of UK’s most talented designers:Vivienne Westwood, William Tempest, Stephen Jones, Aminaka Wilmont, Boudicca and illustrator and set designer Echo Morgan.
Naturally the room that I’m most exciting about is Queen Victoria’s bedroom with an installation by William Tempest! This is the room in which Victoria was sleeping when her uncle King William IV died at Windsor Castle in the middle of the night, and where she awoke to the news that she was to become Queen. The installation in this room will represent Victoria’s life changing overnight transformation from young princess to Queen of the United Kingdom. Inspired by Victoria’s new-found freedom and independence as a result of her accession, William Tempest will create an avant-garde interpretation of a period dress that uses origami and produce a trompe l’oeil effect whereby the dress will appear to vanish and merge into its surroundings.
The Enchanted Palace opens 26 March – June 2010 at Kensington Palace.
Information on opening hours and ticket prices, visit www.hrp.org.uk/kensingtonpalace. Supported by the Members of Historic Royal Palaces.
Vivienne Westwood’s Red Label show at London Fashion Week was a huge event and it took place at Earls Court’s Brompton Hall. It must have had a capacity for over a thousand people, so of course it was a star studded crowd with Pamela Anderson, Kate Moss, Erin O’Conner, Dita Von Teese, Emma Watson and Jamie Winstone just to name a few!
The collection was everything you’d expect from fringing, sequins, bright colours, PVC and the most stunning hats by Prudence Millinery. The hat’s were my favourite part; there were oversized hats & sun visors in gold, dresses with hoods and cloches type hats. You can see all the looks on Vogue.com
Of course the message is just as important as the clothes. We were given the Active Resistance to Propaganda - Manifesto Vivienne Westwood. On the credit list we are reminded that "Leonard Peltier has been in prison for 31 years for a crime he did not commit.."
Before the show I met up with the gorgeous Jessica Bumpus, one of the fashion writers for Vogue.com. She’s one of those girls who is effortlessly cool with her strawberry blond hair and red lips.
So many people!!!
Alexia of Luxure Magazine looking fabulous!
I’m not a fan of fake tans - it seem kind of cheap to me, I know it’s a look, a style that so many people love and some people do look better with a tan - just not an orange fake tan… Anyway a red head should have beautiful porcelain skin like Girls Aloud’s Nicola Roberts. I spotted her at the show and asked if I could take her photo - I just love her red hair! Nicola’s recently started her own make up line - Dainty Doll. I love the packaging and it’s in every goody bag this London Fashion Week!
Doing a photo shoot with Olympic athletes can be great, they already have such a strong presence and are comfortable with lots of people running around; which they can just ignore and focus on the task at hand. All the athletes are sponsored by Team Visa. When you have young athletes doing there first fashion photo shoot you need a strong team behind the camera: photographer Joe Lacey and art director Simon Costin! The energy was great and you just know it’s going to be a fun shoot day!
Tom Daley is a diver and wore Vivienne Westwood.
Mo Farah does track and field and looked dashing in a Richard James.
Natasha Baker is an equestrian and wore an iconic Giles Deacon dress. Beth Tweddle is a gymnast wearing a bespoke Marchesa gown.
I’ve always loved platform shoes. Being only 5′2″ high shoes make me feel powerful (and taller) but it’s the platform or wedge that really works for me. I think if I had a high arch I would have loved the stiletto heel.
Marni patent leather wedges
Platforms have been around forever and I mean centuries. The Greeks first wore them in theatre plays - the more important the character the higher the platform. In the 15th & 16th century high-born prostitutes or courtesans in Venice wore platform shoes.
You could even be divorced for wearing high shoes. Charles ll passed the 1670 Act of Parliament - The Marriage Act, which said that women who “betray into matrimony” an Englishman by use of “scents, paints, artificial teeth, false hair … high-heeled shoes” risked having their marriages declared null, and they were subject to the same punishment as witches.
Platform shoes became immensely popular in the 1970s and in the early 1990s Vivienne Westwood re-introduced the high heeled 5″ & 9″ platform shoe.
I think platforms look great in the summer - they look great with jeans and the open toe platform can look great with a dress. Since I’m usually spending most of my day running around London - the platform will be the perfect alternative to my flats!
Check out this book Shoes by Colin McDowell (1989)
