ADVENT: CINDERELLA AND THE FAIRYTALE OF AW12

Posted by Bethan Holt, Fashion Junior at Large

McQ Autumn/ Winter 2012

If Autumn/ Winter 2012 is a season of fashion fairytales then McQ's London show was the fairy dust, the wave of the wand which heralded an escape into sartorial fantasy. In case you don't remember anything about it, I have posted the video below. The pinnacle of proceedings came at the very end as Kristen McMenamy in her perfectly winter tulle gown sunk to the ground, struggled to locate a rope beneath the floor of leaves and promptly embarked on an almost painful pull/ crawl back up the catwalk and into a newly revealed forest, inside which she eventually found the safe haven of a pub within a shed. 

The old fairytale of Cinderella is billed as a story of oppression and triumph, so in many ways the McQ struggle- choreographed by the brilliant Punchdrunk theatre group - was like a modern McQueen version. Although of course, the reward is a strong drink rather than a Prince Charming. 

"A dream is a wish your heart makes when you're fast asleep. In dreams you will lose your heartaches. Whatever you wish for, you keep. Have faith in your dreams, and someday, your rainbow will come smiling through. No matter how your heart is grieving, if you keep on believing, the dream that you wish will come true" Cinderella

Cinderella and Prince Charming do the Waltz (image via fan pop.com)

ADVENT DAY 2: OH ALAIA!

Posted by Melanie Rickey, Fashion Editor at Large

Python and snakeskin heels £885 Alaia at Browns

Azzedine Alaia creates the world's most beautiful shoes. The same way Azzedine's clothes are sinuously body-conscious or angled to create new shapes around the body, so his shoes are languidly serpentine, simultaneously coiling about the foot and placing them on a pedestal. No woman can resist the charms of an Alaia shoe. Even Alaia shoe boxes are works of art. With these under your Christmas tree you will feel like Cinderella.

"Cinderella: [singing] A dream is a wish your heart makes when you're fast asleep. Whatever you wish for, you keep. Have faith in your dreams, and someday, your rainbow will come smiling through."

Check out this so bad its good mash up of Disney's Cinderella with some crazy dude rapping badly about shoes over the Glass Slipper scene.