THE WEEK IN FASHION: 12th- 16th MARCH

Posted by Bethan Holt, Fashion Junior at Large

The Week in Fashion is back from its fashion month break and ready to bring you, our lovely readers their end of week fashion news round-up. Following the marathon of catwalk shows you'd think people of the fashion world might have spent the week collapsed on the sofa in the recovery position, however I'm pleased to say that there's plenty to tell you about...

Samantha Cameron, in Alessandra Rich, and Michelle Obama, in Marchesa, at Wedesnday's State Dinner (image from dailymail.co.uk)

Just in case you hadn't noticed, Dave and Sam Cam dropped into the White House for a few days this week to visit the Obamas. Instead of your average bunch of flowers or bottle of wine, the Brit contingent came bearing gifts of a ping pong table and a Jonathan Saunders scarf. There was a State Dinner attended by politicians, celebrities and other powerful people like Anna Wintour. The US Vogue editor picked a Chanel couture gown which she had already, shock horror, worn once before back in 2009.

Anna Wintour at the Met Gala in 2009. She wore the same dress to
Wednesday night's state dinner (image from www.nymag.com)

Michelle and Samantha naturally did us all proud on the fashion front. Alessandra Rich dressed the PM's wife in a floor-length, high neck blue lace gown from her Spring/ Summer collection. The style reflects the new covered up fashion mood we're feeling for AW12. It has been said that the dress was Sam Cam's own way of bringing a bit of real-life Downton Abbey to Americans who are going crazy for the series. Meanwhile, Mrs Obama went for her tried and tested State Dinner look- knockout dress and chunky necklace. Her outfit was by Marchesa; luckily Georgina Chapman, the woman behind the label, was at the dinner to see her good work in action. During the visit, Sam Cam also wore a few of her favourite London designers including Emilia Wickstead, Burberry and the gorgeous Roksanda Ilincic.

SamCam in Roksanda Ilincic with Michelle O in Zac Posen (image from in style.co.uk)

Huge congratulations to Lucy Yeomans, currently Editor-in-Chief at Harper's Bazaar, who will be moving to Net-a-Porter to head up their editorial offering from September. The move is another indicator of the way retail and editorial are becoming ever more intertwined. DisneyRoller Girl has written about what this means for the fashion industry. Jenny Dickinson, currently at Elle, will become Acting Editor at Harper's Bazaar. We look forward to seeing Net-a-Porter with the Lucy Yeomans touch.

In more moving-about news, Barney's Ney York Vice President and Fashion Director, Amanda Brooks, resigned this week and announced plans to move to the UK. We wonder if we'll be seeing her take up a big job in London sometime soon?

Nicholas Sarkozy awards Franca Sozzani with France's highest honour (image from fashionologie.com)

Congratulations are also in order for Vogue Italia editor, Franca Sozzani who was awarded France's highest honour, the Knight of the Legion of Honour, in Paris this week. Many of the great and good from Italian and French fashion were there, including Raf Simons, Karl Lagerfeld, Stefano Gabbana and Domenico Dolce, indeed Franca was wearing straight-off-the-catwalk Dolce and Gabbana for the occasion. Franca is the world's most accessible Vogue editor, with over 80,000 Twitter followers and a daily blog on the Vogue Italia site. She posted Conde Nast's Chairman Jonathan Newhouse's speech the day after the ceremony, it's a great read.

Sparks flying: Arizona and Freja for Chloe (image from telegraph.co.uk)

My own personal number one model, Arizona Muse, has this week been announced as the new face of Estee Lauder. The beauty giant's Creative Director, Richard Ferretti, told WWD that "Arizona is warm, engaging and smart. She has an innate graciousness that we believe will translate to whatever advertising we choose to do with her." Apparently, Muse's first Lauder ads will be out "within a year". We can already enjoy Arizona in ads for Fendi, Massimo Dutti and Chloe, in which she appears with Freja Erichsen, her sometime girlfriend. Arizona has said that she is a big fan of Estee Lauder's Re-Nutriv- we're adding that to our shopping list this weekend then.

House of Holland SS12 (from catwalking.com)

If you're planning a spot of shopping this weekend then may we suggest that you head to Harrods where the new House of Holland collection drops today? We've had a sneak peek and love the Miami pastel shades and over blown animal prints. Our favourite piece might just be the pastel panel shirt (above). Harrods have also made the lovely Mr Holland their designer of the month. They've given FEAL this little video in which Henry talks about how he started off working on magazines before moving into design- his big break came when Gareth Pugh and Giles Deacon wore his tees to take their bows in 2006. Check out the full interview below and on the Harrods site

Else Schiaparelli, the Surrealist designers whose label Galliano was said to be in talks to
reinvent this week. 

There is still plenty of designer musical chairs action going on. And it's only increased this week with news that Derek Lam is leaving Tod's after six years designing for the classic Italian label. There have also been rumours that John Galliano is set to make a return. Vogue and WWD reported this week that he may have been set to reinvent Schiaparelli, which is now owned by the Tod's group. However, Galliano's spokesman claimed they were 'rumours and nothing more'.

Alexa Chung in Holly Fulton, one of the designers who'll be up for grabs at the British Designers Collective (image from Vogue via catwalkqueen.tv)

If you're a regular reader, then you'll know that we're getting prepped to visit the British Designers Collective at Bicester Village which launches next Wednesday. So, we were very happy to hear this week that one of Britain's best fashion ambassadors, Alexa Chung, is the spokesperson for the initiative. She'll be there on Wednesday and so will FEAL so look out for updates on what Miss Chung loves about the fact we get to buy pieces from the hottest Brit designers at Bicester Village's reduced prices.

Avenue 32 is a new web shopping site which gives each designer their own space- the aim is to make it a personalised experience, more like popping into a designer's own boutique than scrolling through web pages which group many brands together. Just a few of the designers who have areas on the site include Giles, 3.1 Phillip Lim, Preen and Emilio de la Morena. We like!

Now Avenue 32 have created a film 'What are you gonna wear?' which showcases the new designers landing for SS12. To celebrate, they are also offering anyone savvy enough to enter the chance to win a £4,000 Spring/Summer wardrobe. You can find out more details and enter here- what are you waiting for?

Mary and the team in their knicker factory (image from dailymirror.co.uk)

Finally, we hope you were all enjoyed Mary's new show 'Mary's Bottom Line' on Channel 4 last night. It's a three-part series in which Mary dusts off the sewing machines at an old textile factory in Middleton and employs eight young people from the area to launch her Made in Britain "Kinky Knickers". It's pretty emotional but also a really interesting exploration of how the decline in manufacturing has affected whole towns in the UK. And the knickers, I can personally vouch, are lovely. Get them now at Liberty, in-store and online. Our favourites are the pink and peach.