THE WEEK IN FASHION: US ELECTION SPECIAL

Posted by Bethan Holt, Fashion Junior at Large

I'm back from NYC, full of election obsession. Every TV channel and bill board stateside is plastered with promises, agendas and jibes but the race is so monumental that news stories have spilt beyond the political. In fact, the Obama/ Romney run-off has so many facets that I have managed to compile almost an entire news post with fashion-related election news. Of course, other stuff did happen this week so there's a round-up of the best of the rest at the end.

FIRST LADY FASH-OFF

Image from nymag.com

Michelle Obama has done a lot for "first lady fashion" with her championing of younger, non- establishment designers and often daring choices. That means, of course, that us fashion pundits have a keen eye on how Ann Romney- until recently her style could be summed up as "country club Mom"- deals with the situation. The wives have been most prominent at the TV debates, the last of which took place on Monday night. It looks like Ann has gone down a copy cat route. Mrs Obama wore a neat-waisted, full skirted knee length Thom Browne dress which she's been seen in previously, at the Democrat conference. Meanwhile, Ann Romney chose an identical silhouette which featured a cute, girlish floral print skirt which contrasted which MObama's dark flocked detail. The Cut have helpfully awarded points to the respective outfits chosen by the contender's wives.

Notably, Ann Romney's dress came from Oscar de la Renta who has a track record for dressing the political elite- Hilary Clinton is a big fan. De la Renta's political ties are in fact so strong that a retrospective of his work is set to go on show at William J Clinton library in Arkansas. There are plans for the exhibition to travel to the George W Bush library in Texas and the Reagan Library in California.  It's a sign that the designer, who hails from the Dominican Republic, has built huge cross party trust and respect.

Many observers have noted that while Thom Browne was excited to tell Twitter that the First Lady was wearing their dress, Oscar de la Renta's camp (@OscarPRgirl) remained tight lipped about Ann Romney's choice.

Thom Browne ‏@ThomBrowneNY

Honored to see First Lady Michelle Obama wearing our Spring 2013 dress at the final presidential debate #debate2012pic.twitter.com/zFc8lGsK

Why? Rumour has it that Anna Wintour is yielding her considerable influence to ensure that Mrs Romney doesn't get any support from designers. Wintour is one of Obama's biggest fundraisers and supporters. American press have noted that while they receive plenty of information and cooperation from designers chosen by Michelle Obama, no brand has yet come forward to admit to dressing Romney. Furthermore, Diane Von Furstensberg went so far as to disclose that they did not know where the Republican candidate's wife had got hold of one of their dresses (the shop, maybe?).

What could next week bring in the first-lady fashion race? Will Michelle find a sartorial response to Ann's floral bathing suit?

Image from dailymail.co.uk

KATY PERRY'S BALLOT DRESS

Can you guess who Katy Perry plans to vote for? She wore her choice on a rubber dress when she performed at an Obama rally in Vegas. I'd love to see Anna Wintour or SJP- both big Obama fans- show their support in this number.

Katy Perry chooses Obama (via www.getitwrighthere.com)

ELECTION BARBIE

One of my big NY finds was in mahoosive toy store F.A.O Schwartz. The perfect way to commemorate the 2012 Presidential race is , of course, Election Barbie. Get yours here.

YOU DON'T OWN ME

Fashion favourites including Alexa Chung and Tavi Gevinson star in an anti-Romney version of Lesley Gore's 1964 classic "You Don't Own Me" aimed at condemning the Republican's views on women's issues. It's pretty awesome.



THE BEST OF THE REST...

You knew Chanel was coming to Scotland for its upcoming metier d'arts show on December 4th but a little birdie tells us that the exact location will be Linlithgow Palace, the birthplace of Mary I, Queen of Scots. A very British, fabulously wintry alternative to Versailles, where the Resort collection was showcased. Speaking of Chanel, Business of Fashion's interview with Bruno Pavlovsky, the company's CEO is well worth a read for its insight into the mechanics of one of the world's recognisable brands.

Edinburgh's Linlithgow Palace, location of Chanel's upcoming show (image from flickr)

Grunge was a key trend at the SS13 shows, with Phillip Lim and Dries Van Noten both showing 90s influenced collection. So it's perhaps the perfect moment- if there ever was one- for Courtney Love to launch her fashion range. She posted several pictures of the pieces from a photo shoot on her twitter (@courtney) earlier this week. It's called "Never The Bride" and Love told Huffinton Post that "In the hem of all the dresses there’s a ruby and it says c***...This is the stuff that I would wear if I was young enough to not look like Bette Davis in 'Whatever Happened After Baby Jane?'." The clothes will land "soon" at Net-a-Porter.

Never The Bride by Courtney Love (via @courtney twitter)

Courtney says "poiret piece going going drooling i dont want to let this gooooo"

Following her somewhat controversial exit from T magazine in August, Sally Singer is heading back to American Vogue on Monday as Digital Creative Director. Despite praise from Jill Abramson, editor at NY Times of which T is a part, rumours abounded that that Singer had failed to pull in sufficient ad revenue. Whatever the truth, it looks like Singer has ladned herself a plum new role.

THIS WEEKEND, why not drop into London College of Fashion's pop up shop in Kingly Court, off Carnaby Street. Open until 1st November.

It's getting chilly outside, but never fear Michael van der Ham for Brora cashmere is here. The collection arrives at Brora.co.uk on October 30th, cards at the ready!

Michael van der Ham x Brora beanie £180 (image from vogue.co.uk)

Michael van der Ham x Brora scarf £275 (image from vogue.co.uk)

You thought handbags were safe as houses? Think again. Mulberry issued a profit warning this week, with forecasters expecting that profits would be £31m (£5m down on last year) rather than the £41m initially expected. Reduced orders from department stores and a decision to reduce the number of smaller stockists were reasons given for the disappointing news.

Grace Coddington by Norman Parkinson (vogue.com)

If you enjoyed The September Issue then you will love the news that American Vogue has made a new documentary to mark the magazine's 120th anniversary. The programme will be called The Editor's Eye and will look at how a big shoot comes together. There's a book of the same name being released this month. Grace Coddington will be among the stars of the show, which airs on December 6th. There's a great excerpt from her memoirs in this month's US Vogue, as well as a rather touching tribute from Anna Wintour in her editor's letter.

Finally, rumour has it that Saint Laurent designer Hedi Slimane will dress The Rolling Stones for their upcoming 50th anniversary tour. It makes perfect sense given Slimane is most famous for his super-skinny rock star aesthetic, doesn't get more Rolling Stones than that, does it?

OLYMPIC OPENING CEREMONY: THE FASHION INSPIRATIONS

Posted by Bethan Holt, Fashion Junior at Large

Wasn't the Olympics opening ceremony on Friday night brilliant? We were madly tweeting throughout the whole extravaganza and were so happy to see that the evening's costume designer Suttirat Anne Larlarb had commissioned NEWGEN designers Nasir Mazhar, Michael Van Der Ham and Christopher Shannon to create costumes for 350 dancers in the section which celebrated British music and culture- their studios are a stone's throw away from the Olympic park so it was a fitting nod to East London talent. 

Dancers at the Olympic Opening Ceremony in costumes by young Lodnon designers (image from vogue.co.uk)

A sketch of one of the dresses Michael Van Der Ham created
for the opening ceremony (image from vogue.co.uk)

The most diverse costumes of the night came from the athletes as they processed, nation by nation, into the Olympic stadium in a pageant which took almost two hours to unfold. There were some absolute howlers (hello Germany and Sweden) while most of the African nations looked completely magnificent. Our beady eyes noticed that a number of countries were wearing outfits not so very dissimilar to catwalk looks from recent seasons, so we've had some fun this morning...

COOK ISLANDS

The Cook Islands' batik prints, floral wreaths and leis were so cheerful but also reminded of a certain Mr Saunders' (who dressed Emeli Sandé for her rendition of Abide with Me) Spring/ Summer collection.

Jonathan Saunders SS12 (image from catwalking.com)

CUBA

The best outfits were those in the brightest colours and Cuba certainly delivered with their lemon blazers. As it happens, yellow has been a dominating hue in the latest Resort collections, with Valentino doing a particularly lovely version. 

Valentino Resort '13 (image from style.com)

GUYANA

The team from Guyana went for top-to-toe tailoring in their country colours. The whole look is coincidentally akin to Marc Jacobs Resort  collection.

Marc Jacobs Resort '13 (image from style.com)

LESOTHO

Ombré is such a massive trend right now that it's even spread to the remote African region of Lesotho, a favourite destination of Prince Harry's. The whole thing began on the Louis Vuitton SS12 catwalk. 

Louis Vuitton SS12 (image from catwalking.com)

MEXICO

The procession of Mexican athletes was a riot of eye popping colours and patterns. We know that Carven's Guillaume Henry took a "round the world" approach to his SS12 collection and this zig zag print is very Mexican. 

Carven SS12 (image from catwalking.com)

ESTONIA

There's a growing trend for plastering the name of your brand across your chest- see Kenzo and ACNE Resort. Estonia decided to do the same of Friday night.

Kenzo Resort '13 (image from style.com)

POLAND

Poland's female athletes went for a graphic floral pencil skirt to pep up their all white outfits. There's a not dissimilar piece in Preen's Resort offering.

Preen Resort '13 (image from style.com)

TEAM GB

Danny Boyle took us through a whole catalogue of very British things in his opening ceremony, from Mr Bean to Queen. He obviously couldn't find anywhere to slot in the national hero that is Jimmy Saville so Next, who were enlisted to design Team GB's outfits for the night, took it upon themselves to reference him in the tracksuits they made. We also noted the gold underarm patches which perhaps alluded to our gold medal ambitions, sweating gold already?

Team GB (image from Team GB's Facebook page)

Jimmy Saville works the high shine shell suit (image from digitalbungalow.co.uk)

Unless otherwise stated, all images of athletes are from USA Today and Zimbio