Founded by Rei Kawakubo of Japanese label Commes des Garcons in 2004, Dover Street Market is more of a designer boutique slash art gallery than an actual market. It’s so-called because individual concessions, or ‘stalls,’ are spread over five floors, occasionally interspersed with art works you can buy. Cooler than Selfridges and edgier than Browns, but just as expensive, DSM is where rich arty types…

There was one celebrity who didn’t quite fit in at the Topman Design spring 2012 show at London fashion week on Wednesday. On a front row crammed with the usual suspects – Nick Grimshaw, Alex Zane, Rick Edwards and Jamie Hince – boxer Amir Khan, not someone known for being a dedicated follower of fashion, was a bit of an anomaly. But then, about half…

Have you heard? The 1920’s will be roaring back into fashion come spring 2012. And apparently it’s all Baz Luhrmann’s fault. The Australian filmmaker is directing a remake of The Great Gatsby, out next year, which means that all and sundry will be jumping on the historical trend train: next stop, flapper town. It all started at New York fashion week, where Ralph Lauren referenced…

I’m no royalist. I’m not even a particularly big fan of Kate Middleton – sorry, the Duchess of Cambridge. But I have to admit that I really enjoyed The Royal Wedding Dress: A story of Great British Design, the exhibition currently on at Buckingham Palace. Last Saturday I went down and joined the hordes of tourists, audio guide headset in place, to meander through the…

Let’s face it, most fashion competitions that implore you to upload a photo of yourself for one reason or another are generally predictable affairs, thinly-veiled attempts to boost social media presence. But Woolmark’s Fashion by Feelings promo is a cut above. With an adorably designed website (where a sheep called Karl Lamberfield gently chastises you if you don’t fill in your details correctly) and a…

‘Forget Mr Berlusconi, we all have our problems,’ joked legendary fashion writer Colin McDowell last week in his speech marking the opening of Masters of Style, the new fashion photography exhibit at London’s Somerset House. Forget the scandal-prone Italian Prime Minister, McDowell insisted, and instead focus on ‘what Italian style is about. It’s about doing it properly, doing it without fuss, doing it chicly.’ Open…

A lot has changed since model Jessica Hart lived in London. Fast forward five years and the native Australian has risen to the top of the international modeling game with a host of high profile international campaigns and catwalk appearances under her belt. This week she returned to the city to unveil her own fashion label, Neon Hart, at the legendary Selfridges department store. Fashionising.com’s…

It’s no secret that the universities of London have been churning out exceptionally talented fashion designers for years, from Alexander McQueen and Hussein Chalayan in the nineties to the more recent crop of ascending stars like Holly Fulton and Gareth Pugh. So it’s no wonder all eyes were trained on the graduate collections on show this week in search of tomorrow’s stars. I went down…

The full look book for Mark Fast‘s collaboration with Canadian leather retailer Danier has been released. The Canadian-born designer previewed looks from the capsule collection during his mainline show at London Fashion Week in February, and now the final seven pieces have been revealed. Steering away from the skimpy, skin-tight knitwear that Fast is famous for, the collection is almost exclusively fashioned in black leather.…

You know you’ve got a hot ticket on your hands at London fashion week when you find yourself schlepping halfway across the city to get to the venue. That’s what those of us who aren’t quite important enough to have a chauffeur driven Mercedes had to do to get to Christopher Kane’s autumn / fall 2011 show on Monday morning. Lesser designers wouldn’t dare to…