LONDON COLLECTIONS: Men - Day 2

By now you'll know that London Collections: Men is in full swing, after Monday's brilliant turnout it'll be great to see what Day 2 brings. It all kicks off this morning with a special presentation from Burberry. Margaret Howell will be the first runway show of the day at 10.30am. Today's highlights will include collections from emerging talents SIBLING and Christopher Shannon and favourites like Jonathan Saunders and Oliver Spencer. We'll also see a return of the menswear collections from Alexander McQueen and Vivienne Westwood to the London Fashion Week calendar. So there's no doubt that there will be something for everyone today.

BLEU06 will be in the thick of it on Day 2! I managed to nab tickets for YMC, James Long London and Oliver Spencer so look out for live updates and pictures on Twitter @BLEU06ike and Instagram: @BLEU06 

Catch the live stream here and stay tuned for the latest reviews and images from each day.


Here's the full schedule for today:

Image Credits:
Menswear Photography: Sam Hofman 

SurgeryPR SS13 Press Day

Yesterday I went over to Surgery PR's brand new showroom for their SS13 Press Day. I really love the range of designers and brands they represent, from sportswear brands like Freddy and Superga to my personal favourite, Oliver Spencer. From what I saw we're in for a treat next season. Of course I took photos of some of my favourite pieces, check them out below.

Jack French London
I fell in love with this Jack French man bag in black luxury leather. It's the perfect size for everyday use and the fine cross-hatched texture makes it durable and waterproof too. Jack French is known for his gorgeous women's bags and accessories but it was a pleasant surprise to see him branching out and doing something for the lads.

Oliver Spencer
Oliver Spencer's SS13 collection was one of my favourite shows during London Collections so seeing the clothes close-up was a real treat. One thing I love about Oli is that he really understands what men want when it comes to clothing. The textures and attention to detail  in this collection is so refreshing. Stand-out pieces for me were the geometric reverse print shirt (with matching trousers!), the white textured Granddad shirt and those charming suede Monk Strap shoes. See my review of the SS13 show here and head to OliverSpencer.co.uk to shop the AW12 collection.

Superga x Oliver Spencer

Oliver Spencer takes on the classic Superga Men's 2750 in a selection of bold block colours and striped seersucker. I think they will be a great addition for Spring Summer 2013, I've got my eyes on the blue and white seersucker pair personally.

Superga x Giles

Although these are from the womens' line I couldn't imagine not showing you these babies. Superga have joined forces with renowned British designer, Giles Deacon for SS13. On the left we've got printed pony skin creepers and on the right, embellished printed snakeskin sneakers and hi-tops. They will be available early next year at Dover Street Market, with prices starting from £120. If you're gonna start next year on a good footing it better be in one of these sneakers!

The Hitlist #4: Sealed Watch by Boat

Customisation and the search for individual, one-of-a-kind pieces has always been a big factor for me when it comes to fashion, especially with accessories. So discovering Be Optimistic and Thankful (boat) was a real treat! I really admire the way they’ve involved their audience in the creative process from choosing the casing of the watch to selecting their chosen dial and strap. Leo Chiu and Siu Man are the creative brains behind this innovative timepiece. Their design was inspired by the ancient Chinese tradition of using personalised sealed stamps as signatures in official documents and letters.


The unique thing about a boat watch is the face, made of high grade wax which is stamped with specially designed seals. Currently they offer a choice of 7 different wax colours, but with a concept like this the possibilities are truly endless. So how much do you think it would cost for one of these beauties? Probably not as much as you think, each watch is priced at just $85 which I think is quite reasonable considering how much control you have in terms of the final product.


For more info and of course to order your own boat Sealed Watch, check out Be Optimistic and Thankful

Images via:  Be Optimistic and Thankful

Sh*t Guys Should Know About Fashion - #7

From my personal experience, fashion can be pretty hard to follow if you don’t know what people are talking about. So I thought that starting the Sh*t Guys Should Know About Fashion segment would be a great way to unravel most of the jargon you hear or read about fashion. 

If you’ve got any confusing terms to add to the list, just drop them in the comments section and I’ll be happy to help!

Today’s fashion term is:

London Fashion Week AW 2012 - Agi&Sam

Agi & Sam’s show yesterday in London was by far one of the most creative and vibrant collections presented during Menswear day. As usual, prints featured prominently in their show in outrageous shades of colour. My favourite looks had to be the white suit with printed birds all over it as well as the blue printed jacket over a blue two-button blazer and a turtle neck sweater. The way they mixed the prints with block colours was really quite inspiring. The off-white overcoat with drawstring detail was brilliant too. I loved the way they experimented with slightly longer shirts under jackets.

I think what they do so well is present crazy prints in a way that makes them ultra wearable and eye-catching at the same time. I’m going to have to put the whole collection on my wishlist!

London Fashion Week AW 2012 - Oliver Spencer

I really enjoyed Oliver Spencer’s AW 2012 collection. Inspired by Art House and the 50s Beatnik movement, he presented a collection that was as broad and diverse as the models who walked in his show. I thought that his collection was fit for a man of any age or social class. This was reflected in the cut and the fit. One of my favourite pieces was the red varsity jacket which reminded me of something similar I saw in Junya Watanabe’s AW 2011 collection. I also loved the brown jacket with red panels, I would have liked to see that in some other colour variations.

TOPMAN DESIGN - AW 2012 - LIVE STREAM

Here’s your invite to the TOPMAN DESIGN AW 2012 show tomorrow at 12.15PM (UK Time). TOPMAN DESIGN will be following in the footsteps of another well-loved British label with their very first Topman Tweetwalk. After seeing Burberry’s fantastic Tweetwalk yesterday, which featured cinemagraphs instead of still images, it’ll be really interesting to see if TOPMAN can raise the bar even further. Make sure you’re following @TopmanUK to get involved, your tweet may be featured on their live tweet feed. The hashtag for tomorrow’s show will be:
#TOPMANLFW
Hit the play button bellow to watch the show

Agi and Sam

Agape Mdumulla and Sam Cotton are the brains behind one of the Britain’s newest menswear labels, Agi & Sam. I came across them a couple weeks ago while browsing some fashion magazines and I was immediately drawn into their mesmerising 3D prints and experimental play with colour. They met while interning at Alexander McQueen in 2008. They’ve also worked with industry heavyweights like Karl Lagerfeld, J.W. Anderson and Carolyn Massey to name a few. They take their inspiration from all over the place previous collections have seen influences from Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Will Smith and Jean-Michel Basquiat.

What I really love about them is that they are one of the menswear labels moving towards a more brave and confident man who isn’t afraid to be a little more daring with his wardrobe. Too often I’m frustrated with the labels that project men’s fashion as overly reserved or refined, personally, I love clothes that are fun and it’s great to see a pair of designers that don’t take themselves too seriously. After a generally positive response to their previous collection and lots of exposure in the media I can’t wait to see what they have to offer at the Fashion East Men’s show in London next week.

Agi & Sam SS12

Agi & Sam SS12

Agi & Sam SS12

Images via Agi&Sam

S**t Guys Should Know About Fashion - #1

From my personal experience, fashion can be pretty hard to follow if you don’t know what people are talking about. So I thought that starting the S**t Guys Should Know About Fashion segment would be a great way to unravel most of the jargon you hear or read about fashion. 

If you’ve got any confusing terms to add to the list, just drop them in the comments section and I’ll be happy to help!

Today’s mystery fashion term is:

Watch The Street - #1

With the weather in the UK not exactly warming up yet I thought I’d kick off this week’s new feature, Watch The Street with warmer looks from the recent fashion weeks in Milan and Paris. Here are some of my favourites, seen through the lens of Tommy Ton.

Spotted: Milan

One of my favourite looks has to be Bruce Pask in this luxe Dries Van Noten navy coat with fur on one side of the lapel from the Fall 2012 collection. It’s such a statement piece and I’d love to see this filter down into some of the department stores this winter. I’m tempted to recreate this look myself, DIY style!

Spotted: Florence

Here’s one of the reasons I love winter, you really get to experiment with texture and pattern in a way that you can’t in warmer weather. I just love how well he complemented his pink houndstooth jacket with that sleeveless grey puffer jacket. It’s one of the best examples I’ve seen of mixing sportswear with formal. If anyone can identify this gentleman or that blazer I will be very pleased!

Images via: Tommy Ton