Claudia Schiffer in Chanel Spring 2010 RTW Campaign

After such a strong farmyard theme featured heavily in Chanel's Spring 2010 Ready To Wear catwalk show (which also featured a surprise appearance from the outspoken Lily Allen), Karl Lagerfeld clearly wanted to move away from the barnyard bonanza in the fashion houses ad campaign to accompany the collection.

Enter Chanel Muse and acclaimed supermodel Claudia Schiffer in an Argentinian inspired Gaucho hat and a patent reincarnation of the classic Chanel 2.55 bag and the countryside seems miles away.

Now don't get me wrong, I think Lagerfeld made the right choice by stepping away from the haystacks and distressed wood beams for the adverts, but the whole feel of the print campaign seems to be lacking that certain something. Looking at the campaign as a whole black seems to be the predominant colour, making the gorgeous white with red and blue embroidery seen on the collection's runway debut absolute. Those quirky clogs that adorned the feet of Lara Stone and co on the catwalk are hardly seen and whilst Schiffer is one incredible model I think it would have been nice to seen some fresh faces at the helm at one of the most anticipated ad campaigns of 2010.

A bit of a disappointment in my eyes, espically after those gorgeous images of Lily Allen for the Chanel Coco Cocoon print campaign.

DKNY Pre Fall 2010 - Alexa Chung American Style

After a couple of years under the radar in the fashion stakes, Donna Karan's diffusion label DKNY has come up trumps with it's Pre Fall 2010 collection. Continuing the military and nautical trends which are going to be huge in '10, the collection has a strong All American feel, with a strong pallette of navys, whites and reds being juxatposed with hints of smoky grey; which looks stunning on a particular loose cut maxi dress later in the collection.

Personally I also see strong influences from our very own Alexa Chung, with Breton shift dresses and striped blazers looking like they walked just out of the now Pepe Jeans wearing presenter's closet.

Overall a really strong collection that shows this years military/nautical trend perfectly.

Image couresty of style.com

Review: The Teen Vogue Handbook: An Insider's Guide to Careers in Fashion

With Christmas drawing to a close I thought it was only fair that shared a review of one of my Crimbo presents with you all (especially because I'm slightly too in love with it).

The Teen Vogue Handbook (Published by Razorbill Books) is just what Anna Wintour calls it: 'An indespensible resource for anybody who wishes to work anywhere, really, in the fashion industry'. With a vibrant mix of interviews with top fashion designers; including Karl Lagerfeld, Marc Jacobs and Rodarte, alongside top fashion writers and editors, such as THE before mentioned Anna Wintour, and a whole host of photographers, stylists and make up artists, unwrapping this on Decemer 25th made a certain someone very happy.

The book is incredibly well arranged, with each area of fashion (design, journalism, photography, beauty and styling) divided into easy to read, accessible sections. The images alongside the text are beautifully striking, making this book altogether a fashion essential.

I've been a devout reader of Teen Vogue for years, despite the fact it's primarly an American magazine aimed at the American Teen Market, and I'm stuck in my little English town. Add in the fact that a long train journey is also involved in order to reach a newsagents that even sells a copy, you may think why bother? But for me Teen Vogue is everything English teen magazines are not. Instead of being obsessed with boys, sex and everything in between, Amy Astley's publication actually includes a crafted mix of incredibly fashion articles, spreads and features with some really thought provoking articles on health and education issues that have global appeal. It has come to my attention however, through my readership, that many American girls find Teen Vogue too pretentious, however I have to disagree. Price points of the clothes, accessories and beauty products featured seem to have an mix from high end to budget, seemingly in keeping with the eclectic styling featured throughout, and whilst the girls featured in the magazine seem to have some sort of relation involved in the fashion industry (such as Josephine Becker, daughter of Vera Wang, who seems to be constantly referenced and photographed for editorial) their input adds to the underlying concept of Teen Vogue: to be a fashion magazine for fashion concious, intellegent teenagers who want to be challanged and excited by fashion and culture rather than bombarded.

An excellent and intriguing read.

Whilst the book appears only to be sold exclusively in the US (for example the book does come with a one year free subscription to Teen Vogue only available in America) The Teen Vogue Handbook is available on Amazon UK.