One of many freelance contracts over London Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2013 included my role as a Backstage correspondent for Vauxhall Fashion Scout. This means I was very fortunate to have an all-access pass to the beauty and beauties before every show and get a little snap happy in between words.

Because a lot of photos were taken I have split all backstage photos for Fashion Scout into two parts. This is Part Two (Part One is here), featuring Leutton Postle, Myrza de Muynuck, and Sabina Bryntesson with all hair done by the Toni and Guyteam and make-up done by The Body Shop ladies. Enjoy!

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“You believed in the Tooth Fairy once…and Santa. You believed that your parents weren’t people, they were parents, and regular-person rules didn’t apply to them. You believed your heart was shattered for good and you’d never love again. But you learned, you grew, you changed, and your beliefs changed with you.

It’s time to outgrow the belief that we are somehow inferior because we don’t look a certain way, wear certain things, live certain lives. It’s time to laugh it off when a magazine tells us we need to firm up and slim down, no matter how firm or slim we might already be. It’s time to focus on ourselves, as we are, instead of the selves that somebody else thinks we should be.

Because the secret is out: There is nothing wrong with us. Not a single, solitary thing.”
- Sally McGraw, Already Pretty

As fun as it would be to get all Anna Dello Russo on the street style photographers of Fashion Month, covering shows for three different outlets and styling in between means all of my London Fashion Week ensembles had to err on the side of practical. Louboutins out, comfy heels and platform sneakers in. Regardless, I seem to have found a little way to sparkle each day. See the full roundup, below!
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For Spring/Summer 2013, Louise Gray turned out an extraordinary collection that put me on a high for days. Under the slogan ‘NOW WHAT‘, Gray delivered her synonymous level of unabashed fun in a manner that was brilliantly advanced from Autumn/Winter 2012. With quilted devore, newsprint, doodles, and a well-executed juxtaposition of geometric and text-based prints, there was a lot to see and a lot to love.

There is no question about it, Louise Gray has a method to her madness; a mad hatter-esque madness that chose to mix images of cheeseburgers with bold-printed images reading “GOOD TIMES” and then surprise us all with chiffon-on-chiffon embroidery and jigsaws of lace. Each piece was eye-catching in its own way – Gray said “if you buy just one thing, it’ll feel like you’re getting something special” – and often had the feel of an optical illusion.

From Tatty Devine jewellery (exclamation mark earrings!) to sponsorship by Barbie (a 21st Century version of Barbie’s first ever dress!), ‘NOW WHAT’ is the perfect solution for your inner East London street princess. Charmed, I’m sure.

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Taking my weekly stumble through the LIFE archives, I was immediately drawn to this “Beach Fashions” shoot photographed by Nina Leen in the April of 1950. While I fully understand that these women weren’t living in a time of intense media body scrutiny and micro bikinis, the fact that these un-Photoshopped beauties look flawless and happy with hairs out of place (and hairs visible on their legs – quel horreur!) truly adds to the vintage appeal of the snaps. Time to pull out the one-piece.

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