London Fashion Week & My New Gucci Bag

As crazy as this sounds, I have not yet posted one photo from London Fashion Week! Right after London, we headed to Paris, and when we got back I had to finish up all the coverage for New York Fashion Week. London Fashion Week was so different than New York. I’m happy I took some time to marinate on everything I saw so I could do it justice when I wrote this post.

Shop London Fashion Week:

So many of you have asked me the differences between London and New York Fashion Week, so I thought I would highlight everything here. Having done New York twice, I feel comfortable making the judgment call that London Fashion Week is better. Here’s why…

1. It’s more organized. I went to so many more shows, in a shorter period of time. Because they were all so punctual and organized, it was easier to get around from place to place and not miss any shows. In New York, we got hours behind, and on Monday even skipped the whole day because of the stress of it all.
2. It’s more about FASHION. I am not trying to offend anyone by saying this, but the talent in London was just so much better. The styles were fresh, trendy, and not thrown together. Each collection was cohesive and you could tell they weren’t trying so hard to stand out from one another. Even the venues were more fashionable.
3. Every show served booze — I rarely drink, but this was a nice touch. Each show was sponsored by a different brand, and they had bars at every show. They were also more generous with the gift bags — and put on every seat, not just the front row. The Aspinal presentation had cake and chocolate so that was amazing too! I took a whole bag of chocolates home for my parents.
4. They gave real invitations. For New York, everything is by email — and rarely do you get a real invitation. I think Kanye might be the only person who sends out invites still. When we checked into our hotel, I had a stack of invites waiting for me. And more kept coming to the room each night.
5. The work leading up to it is easier. In this post, we sort of highlighted how to get into the New York shows — but you have to pay to get all the contacts, or spend hours hunting them down online. London just gives them all to you in an alphabetical spreadsheet. I really respected how professionally the British Fashion Council handled the whole week and I will most definitely be going back!

It was fun to see all of the London bloggers, socialites, and of course, the Ladies of London around at the shows. I love the London Fashion scene, and definitely plan on going back again next year!

There are too many shows to cover, so I will just break down what shows I saw each day!

Day 1: Paul Costelloe (this show was GORGEOUS, what a way to kick off the week!), Rocky Star, River Island Fashion Film Premiere party. The party was held at Serpentine Sackler Gallery in Hyde Park — definitely one of the most gorgeous venues I’ve ever seen.

Day 2: Paula Knorr (this was a musical presentation, I loved it), Edeline Lee, Alex S. Yu, Happy Andrada, and Han Wen. Han Wen was my favorite show hands down– see the images here.

Day 3: Malone Soulier shoe presentation. These shoes are STUNNING, and available in the US — click HERE.  Kristian Aadnevik — this show was a close second for number one.

Shop Malone Soulier:

Day 4: Aspinal of London. I wanted every single one of these bags. This show was at Claridge’s and no expense was spared. They had champagne, cake, chocolate, a photo booth, and a lounge to enjoy all of the treats. I loved that it didn’t feel rushed.

Day 5: Jigsaw (the only show I brought my camera to — oops). This show was at St. James Market (where these photos were taken). We were so bummed to discover this place on the last night of our trip because it seemed to be where all of the good restaurants were. Adding St. James Market for first stop on my next trip!