Basso and Brooke SS10

I knew already when the time for LFW arrived, I wouldn't have much more than a minute to breathe, let alone catch-up on everything else that was happening in town (all I know about the others came via style.com, twitter, and... London Lite :P). Unfortunately, the show was on the last day, late afternoon, which meant a whole weekend of casting, packing, unpacking, sewing, deciding, panicking, laughing, and everything else that involves a major catwalk show. It's a very intense process, but one that it's ridiculously fun as well. I mean, how can you NOT have fun touching and handling high-fashion - pieces of art in fabric form?

And the clothes, this time, were SEEEEEXY. I'm not gonna start babbling a review here, as a) plenty of people have done it already (Jeff Koons, Herb Ritts, etc etc), and b) I'm, of course, biased. But personally, I must say: the prints were deliciously sinuous and fluid, emphasised by lots of body-con dresses, cleavage, bustiers, body-skimming drapery - clothes for women dressing for men, not other women, as it has been so common these days (I mean, who are WE kidding, right girls? :). Not only the 90s influence was there (think George Michael super-model videos), but definitely there was a Latin, hot-blooded vibe to this collection - all good in my books. Who says women can't be avant-garde and sexy at the same time?

I was lucky to try a few of the pieces before the craziness started, and we had a bit of a laugh - everything had to be pinned and shortened, as of course, I'm tres petite :)

Of course, this is definitely not the way to appreciate the collection, so for a better idea of what I'm talking about, you can see the images of the show here, and I'll leave you with some really fresh and fun backstage images posted by Dazed Digital (the BF also shot some great ones - will post later).

don't even know if I'm actually allowed to post this pictures here, by I figured that since they've turned up on Facebook, I probably should be. A couple of weeks ago, the BF was commissioned by the boys at Basso & Brooke to shoot their collaboration with the NGO Shelter: 52 artists, including Vivienne Westwood, Rankin, Damien Hirst, among others, are to produce a card for a special set of cards which will be sold as part of Shelter's House of Cards campaign. B&B got the Queen of Hearts - and I was lucky enough to try the outfit on for testing. Talk about statement shoulders, people!

The final image - which I don't know exactly what it looks like, but I've seen the final stages - is absolutely amazing. Can't wait to see them out.

By the way, B&B also collaborated with British Elle for the amazing Underground posters celebrating the 25th anniversary of the LFW. Nothing like A LOT of colours to make your tube trip a little more cheerful! :D (i was going to say "trippy", but that would be too obvious) :P

Mrs Obama and fashion = respect

While this blog doesn't really talk about slebs and their papped outfits, we will make an exception today due to, well, exceptional circumstances. Mostly because A) Michelle Obama is not exactly a celebrity, but probably one of the most influential women in this planet, and B) her choice of garments mean so much more than simply setting trends - she is making history whenever she pulls something out of her closet.

And so it is that Mrs Obama this week chose to wear our very own London-based designers Basso & Brooke for the White House evening of poetry and music - if not the first "Brit" designers she wears since stepping to power (apparently she wore Jonathan Saunders and Richard Nicolls earlier this year), certainly the first Brazilian (as half of the duo is).

Why is this important? Not simply because she is so notorious and has great taste, but because it proves once again that she is a woman of her own mind when it comes to fashion, refusing to compromise. Basso & Brooke are well-known for their avant-garde prints and pieces that are feminine but edgy, chic but unconventional - concepts we don't exactly associate with women in politics, specially first ladies, until Obama came into the picture. She knows her position does not immediately obliges her to clad herself in tweed suits, pastel colours, and names associated with classy, safe elegance such as Chanel and Dior. Very much on the contrary: it's because she is in her particular position that she knows she can make a difference - and of all the areas she is working on, fashion is probably the easiest one with the quickest impact.

She also refuses to be manipulated by fashion PR's and does not take freebies (although she does have fashion advisers). She bought that specific top from her "local" Chicago boutique Ikram , one of Basso & Brooke stockists. In fact, this top was actually a dress from the SS09 collection, which was customised into a top. Who would know the first lady is into DIY?

In a world of bland, media-hungry, PR controlled celebrities that use fashion to be in our faces all the time, it's nice to see a woman with this kind of exposure treating fashion the way it should be: an important feature to demonstrate your own unique view of things, but not as crucial as it should take over your whole personality and your other interests in life.

We heart Michelle Obama.

AND: here's an edited video version of the runway show from Elle UK, which has the beginning of the soundtrack (SO emotional), but doesn't show the 2nd and 3rd songs: orchestra-renderings of Guns'n'Roses Sweet Child of Mine and Britney Spears' Toxic (love it). Oh well. (Can't make the bloody video fit into the posts' column either - but I think at least the clothes are pretty visible).

The show

I thought I would've been able to be more active over here the past days - but working for B&B (for Basso & Brooke, not Bed & Breakfast) meant no time for eating/sleeping/scratching-one's-bum or blogging for that matter. But it was absolutely worth it. We worked in a very small but very friendly and passionate team (not in that sense, you silly). The boys are every bit the design wizards they're now so famous for, the clothes were stunning in a very grown-up way, the show was as smooth as it could be (I had seen the looks from so many angles so many times that by the time we were backstage I had memorized every single stitch - some poor dressers looked slightly scared when I came over to their allocated rails).

I'm not sure the boys were worried about it, but I kept thinking that the collection looked so gorgeously bright, so expensive-looking, SO RICH (it channels Louis XIV, for god's sake), that journalists would immediately label it wrong for the moment - surely this is not the most recessionista-chic collection?

Or is it?

The wrong in the picture inevitably was me (as usual). In a interview for Grazia, Chris brilliantly summarized it all: "You've got your jewellery your belt your top your skirt - all included in one dress." - which was interpreted as "Now, if that isn't creative credit crunch dressing, we don't know what is!" Hah!

In sum, I feel it was one of the best experiences I have ever had (hopefully not the last): you don't expect to meet so many nice people in this kind of environment, and I have nothing but compliments and admiration for everyone that got involved (or showed up briefly).

So here is some of the moments (*all pictures by Robinson Barbosa).

the rails
"No, that's not real fur, it's a print, darling"

You become a bloody cobbler, if needed to. Damn big footed models.

Stephen Jones (who made the head pieces... I know, right?!) and Chris Brooke

"Can anyone hand me a ladder, please?"

Bruno Joinha

"So, what's your star sign, Stephen?" Ana & Julia: all my gratitude

And my favourite looks: