The 2010 Pride Of Britain Awards took place in London last night with a whole host of gorgeous UK stars in attendance.
Only 4 of stars of Girls Aloud took to the red carpet.
I guess Nadine “I think I’m better than Cheryl Cole, yet only sold 117 units of my song” Coyle was too red faced to show up.
Cheryl Cole continues to be in mourning wearing a black Helmut Lang crepe cutout maxi dress with a thigh-high split and Jimmy Choo heels.
Her bandmate Nicola Robert proved why she’s the UK’s ‘Fashionista of the Year’ arriving wearing a William Tempest Spring 2011 dress.
The nude ‘siren devore’ dress with sleeves was paired with clear glitter ankle strap heels and a black clutch.
Dannii Minogue was also the other star who stood out on this red carpet wearing a self designed strapless pleated dress from her Project D collection.
The dress is gorgeous, but that Mawi statement necklace is divine.
A Stephen Webster ring and Tabitha clutch complete her look.
Kelly Brook maybe wearing a gorgeous pink dress, but she’s totally lost her mojo. She no longer wows me like she used to.
Where’s the glamour Kell?
Coleen Rooney left her ‘two-timing Shrek faced’ husband at home to shine on the red carpet wearing a simple LBD from Littlewoods.
She punched up her look with Christian Louboutin Madame Butterfly leopard print pumps and a matching Louboutin clutch.
Kimberly Walsh looked stunning in a coral Issa strapless silk-crepe gown.
I don’t really care for Sarah Harding nor her nude lace dress.
I could’ve got on-board with Emma Bunton’s cape look had she ditched the gloves.
Patsy Kensit got my glamour memo by wearing a sexy strapless Dolce & Gabbana mermaid gown.
Credit: Vogue.UK & Bauer Griffin
Throughout the Europe shows, brilliant shades of yellow, ranging from mustard all the way to chartreuse, have been turning up everywhere. In particular, we have noticed a host of street-style stars sporting vibrant yellow accessories. Here, we’ve called out a few Style.com favorites, snapped by Tommy Ton, including the Bottega Veneta python clutch that Anna Dello Russo can’t get enough of these days (pictured, top left).—Kristin Studeman
The CFDA is the latest group rallying its ranks to benefit Japan. Beginning today, its Fashion & Friends for Japan online auction goes live on CharityBuzz.com, where the offerings are one of a kind—to say the least.Diane von Furstenberg has offered up a week’s stay at her private home in the Bahamas. More of an urban traveler? Take Paris at Ralph’s: two business-class tickets to the City of Light, two nights at the Bristol, dinner for two at Ralph’s, and a €1,000 shopping spree at Lauren’s Saint-Germain flagship (left). Domestic flyer? Try Elton John’s impenetrable Oscar party—with a friend.Fashion designers being fashion designers, of course, there are plenty of opportunities to shop and style, too. Proenza Schouler’s Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez will help you personalize your own PS1. Rachel Zoe will take you to lunch for a style consultation. And if plastic best becomes you, good news: Mattel will create a Barbie doll in your own likeness. Doll, you could be big!The auction runs today through April 28 at CharityBuzz.com.
Click for more photos Paris Fashion 2011
Kate Middleton wed Prince William this morning in what you’d have to describe as a fairy-tale wedding—and wearing what you’d have to describe as a fairy-tale dress. (More on the dress here.) In that, industry insiders say, she did a notch better than her predecessor at the last royal wedding of this size, Princess Diana. “The idea behind Diana’s was kind of fairy-tale, but the reality was more nightmare,” said Vanity Fair’s Michael Roberts, reached by phone in Paris, “because when that dress emerged from the coach it was completely crumpled, there was just too much fabric. Whereas this was not too much fabric and manageable.”The white and ivory dress, in satin gazar, was designed by Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen, reportedly in consultation with Middleton herself. Roberts, like all the experts we surveyed, was complimentary—”I thought she looked great,” he said. “Karl Lagerfeld was commentating [on French TV], and he’s a very severe critic normally, but he was taken by it,” Roberts added. “Very elegant. He was impressed by the amount of work behind it—and on the behind.”Was the dress very McQueen? Opinions differed. “I think it had much more to do with traditional royal dressing than with McQueen, frankly. I think it had not very much of him, at all,” Roberts said. But Barneys creative ambassador at large Simon Doonan, a fellow Brit, caught a glimpse of the late designer in it. “McQueen had a great interest in history,” he said. “This is a dress that’s created through the lens of history rather than through the lens of Hollywood. It somehow resonates a bit with Elizabeth I, because of the tight bodice. It was heavenly.” And English stylist Annabel Tollman conceded that while it wasn’t the most McQueen-ish creation in the world, nor could it be. “It’s McQueen doing royal wedding,” she said. “It’s not runway. But can you imagine if it had [been]? It would not have been a great start. The fashion industry would love it, but…this is not the Grand Palais. It’s Royalty. You don’t really want her turning up in look 12.”Whether or not the dress screams Lee McQueen’s own name, all were glad with the bride’s choice. “I met Sarah Burton at a reception at 10 Downing Street, during the last fashion week,” Doonan remembered. “She told me all about the process of taking over, and how reticent she was, and how scary it was for her to step into Alexander’s shoes…it’s wonderful to see her put center stage like this. It’s like when Isabel Toledo did the inauguration outfit, seeing somebody really great who had a certain humility but was very creative put center stage.”(Would McQueen himself have been pleased? “He’d find it kind of amusing that he’s been accepted by the establishment,” Roberts thought. “This plus the Met—I think that he’s kind of laughing at them down there, or wherever he is.”)Much has been made of Middleton as a fashion icon in the making. Does the princess’ canny choice signal another step in that direction? Maybe—and then again, maybe not. Roberts was skeptical. “I think she can be made into a fashion icon by being talked up as such by the press, but if you are in London at all and have any idea what London girls look like, she pretty much conforms to a whole chunk of Sloane-y girls who look almost identical to her,” he said. Doonan, for his part, noted one area where Middleton might be influential. “Her natural bosom looks so fabulous in that dress, I think she’s going to become such an instant style icon,” he said. “I’m wondering if she’s going to depopularize the trend for fake boobs, because her natural bosom looks so perfect in this dress. I think maybe a lot of girls might reconsider that boob job.”Tollman picked a less likely candidate for her style icon: her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. “I love the Queen,” she said. “Head-to-toe one color, basically been wearing the same thing for the past 70 years. That’s her. Who else can pull off head-to-toe single shade?”
It may be edging into winter in Australia, but with Memorial Day just around the corner in the U.S., Nicky Zimmermann figured the time was right to open up shop in Los Angeles. “We are always trying to get that feeling of the memory of an idyllic summer’s day, and how that made you feel. Summer is very much our season,” the designer of the eponymous swimwear collection told Style.com from her home base in Sydney’s Tamarama, right off of Bondi Beach. She may be far from California, but the West Coast, she said, always makes her feel right at home. “Every time I’m in L.A., I’m very comfortable there. It’ s very much like Sydney. The line is different from what’s already available there, but it definitely still fits in,” she said of the airy Robertson Boulevard boutique.The new store (the first stateside) features a mix of Zimmermann’s signature swimwear, accompanying resort-wear, and ready-to-wear collections. “So many people start just doing swimsuits,” Zimmerman said, referring to the competitive and seasonal marketplace. “But we started as a ready-to-wear company, and the swim has always come from our ready-to-wear and what we do. That gives it something different.” That design ethos has informed swimwear with a certain focus on fashion—more than just skin-baring sex appeal. “We definitely touch on a very fashion end of swim, and [our customers] know to come to us for that.” Though the bikini may always be their best seller, a new focus may be taking hold. “In Australia, we sell one-pieces really well. It’s something we’ve focused on in the last few seasons. They’re very corset-looking, very sexy, with lace-enriched detailing. We definitely have a market for that.” The swimwear is balanced with the line’s ode to day dressing. The new collection, called Halcyon Days, was just shown at Australia’s Rosemont fashion week in Sydney (left, models preparing backstage for the runway). The new offerings feature textured natural fibers, light linens, and silk slub materials that are ideal for day with a light, summery feeling. “I design for the girl that’s right outside my front door in Tamarama and on Bondi. She’s not only beautiful, but she’s really stylish and cool. That’s the girl that I think about when I’m designing and choosing the prints and thinking about colors. And it’s now the same girl I see when I come to L.A.”Zimmermann is open now at 110 S. Robertson Blvd., L.A., (310) 285-9680, www.zimmermannwear.com.
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Paula Joye is Life & Style’s new fashion and style columnist
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