A fine example of high street glamour

Gorgeous girls, glamourous performance, high street dresses.
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Lily Cole for Marks and Spencers

Our own gorgeous Lily Cole has been unveiled as the new face of Marks and Spencer's SS2008 campaign.

Known for her flame coloured hair and amazing elegance on the catwalk, Lily's bound to get hearts racing by bringing a bit of youth and a lot more glamour to M&S's television ads, already starring a host of celebrities such as Twiggy, Erin O'Connor and Noemie Lenoir.

The stunning 19-year-old posed for cameras today with the high street chain’s chief executive, Stuart Rose, at the launch of the spring-summer 2008 collection. She will be the exclusive face of the new high-end Limited Collection, on sale from January, featuring ankle-length maxi suits, fitted macs and tailored casualwear.

Marketing director Steve Sharp said: “We are thrilled that Lily has joined us as the face of Limited Collection. Her striking beauty goes without saying and her commitment to environmental issues makes for a great partnership with M&S.”

Lily supports WaterAid, who provide safe water to the world’s poorest people, the UK based NGO Environmental Justice Foundation and is an ambassador for Global Angels Children’s Charity. And she recently wrote the foreword for Tamsin Blanchard’s ethical fashion book Green Is The New Black.

...I love Lily, I think she's fab. I just hope she's not permanently hopping from catwalk to catalogue, and that this won't affect her runway bookings for SS08 [she was hardly anywhere to be seen AW07.]

Harper's Bazaar - Best Dressed list 2007

There's news out this week that Kate Moss may be 'losing her style icon status' after just scraping the list for Harper's Bazaar's best dressed list 2007.

The British supermodel, who topped the list in 2004 and came 2nd and 3rd the following two years, only made it in at #10 this year, being overshadowed by the likes of Lily Allen, Dame Helen Mirren, and... J.K.Rowling.

Not the most flattering position for Ms Moss to be in, is it?

Harper's Bazaar's best dressed list 2007:
1. Natalia Vodianova
2. Thandie Newton
3. Agyness Deyn
4. Dame Helen Mirren
5. Lily Allen
6. Emily Blunt
7. JK Rowling
8. Anouck Lepere
9. Irina Lazareanu
10. Kate Moss



We have to admit, the top two on the list consist of the most beautiful women of our time, and Agyness Deyn is, well, she's just Agyness. She's one of the biggest supermodels right now and with her peroxide crop and quirky fashion sense she has definitely earned the right to be in third place.

But Kate Moss has to be up there too, surely?

I do think that Dame Helen Mirren and J.K.Rowling are beautifully dressed, elegant women, but Kate Moss has had a brilliant year; she's fought to get her campaigns and contracts back, she launched one of the most successful high street fashion clothing lines of all time, and, let's face it, she dumped the crack head. All year she has been pictured looking nothing but glamourous, and I think the media's intrusion of her life [and their dodgy-lighted pictures] has maybe contributed to her being placed further down.

As for the others; I love Emily Blunt and Lily Allen. They are both beautiful British girls who have their own sense of style and they deserve to be high up on the list.

Irina Lazareanu wouldn't have been so well known for her modelling if Kate Moss hadn't had asked her to front her Topshop campaign........ and the world wouldn't have batted an eyelid that she was dating Pete Doherty if Kate hadn't have got to him first.

Vogue's "most glamourous"

She is never seen in public in anything less than her top attire, her fashion sense is admired by millions, and she had just been voted one of the top 50 glamourous women in the world by fashion bible Vogue.

No, we’re not talking about Kate Moss. We’re talking about the one and only Her Majesty the Queen.

It may come as a surprise, but the 81 year-old Queen of England features in Vogue’s “definitive list” of the most influential and glamourous women on our planet today.

When it comes to thinking of glamour, you wouldn’t usually put the Queen up with the best supermodels, actresses and fashion designers the industry has ever produced.

So what exactly makes her formal suits and sensible shoes glamourous?

We all have to admit, she does have colour-coding down to a tee and her crown jewels create more bling than the rest of the 49 women’s jewellery put together.
But does she really deserve a place in one of the most exclusive lists in the fashion world?

According to Vogue, it’s “not what you wear but how you wear it,” and that the Queen looks “as glamourous in her brogues and headscarves at Balmoral as she is wearing the crown jewels.”
“Everything the Queen wears is worn with confidence and style, setting her apart in the fashion stakes.”

The Queen favours conservative but often brightly coloured assembles for her public appearances, and always accessorises them with sensible shoes and handbags. And when it comes to her days of relaxation, brogue shoes, waxed jackets and headscarves knotted firmly under the chin are clearly no passing fad for Her Majesty.

When compared at first to the likes of Claudia Schiffer, who also made the list, the Queen seems a lot less fashionable and much more reserved. Yet as we take a closer look we see that she has grown more elegant with age and she always stays true to her own personal style.

This shows that having the latest fashion fad doesn’t make you worthy of glamour, as the most famous quote from Coco Chanel states: “Fashion fades, only style remains the same.” This woman ruled Parisian haute fashion couture for almost six decades, so she certainly knows what she is talking about.

“It’s a great compliment,” A Buckingham Palace spokesperson told the media. “She has a very practical approach to fashion and a great sense of occasion."

And she also seems to have a hold on the fashion industry, as when Dame Helen Mirren appeared as the British monarch in the Oscar-winning movie “The Queen”, sales of Barbour waxed jackets were given a major boost in the US.

The older generation certainly holds its own in Vogue’s list, out in its December issue, with 70 year-old Vanessa Redgrave and 62 year-old Charlotte Rampling up there with the teenage supermodels of today.

And the advice from Vogue for all of us out there who can’t quite buy the pearls around the Queen’s neck or use her status to get into the definitive list? “Beauty is within everyone’s grasp.”

Gisele Bündchen

"I won't get out of bed for dollars."

It has been reported in the press recently that supermodel Gisele Bündchen will no longer get out of bed for a day's work... unless she is paid in Euros.

With the dollar hitting an all-time low against the Euro and Pound, is seems Gisele is determined to get her money's worth. According to a Brazilian newspaper, the 27 year-old demanded that the owners for her new campaigns with Pantene hair products and Dolce & Gabbana both paid her in Euros.

It may be a wise move as the Euro is the strongest currency at the moment but is this just greed gone too far? I absolutely love Gisele, she's an amazing supermodel and does work really hard.

But having this amount of money in her pocket surely means that she has enough to make sure she and her whole family live comfortable for the rest of their lives. Does it really matter what currency she is paid in? I'm sure losing a hundred pounds or so every few months shouldn't really matter all that much.

She is the higest-paid supermodel in the world having earned £14MILLION in the first six months to 2007, adding to her reported $150MILLION fortune from exclusive modelling contracts over the years.

She is currently the face of 20 brands worldwide and has represented the following fashion houses during her career:

Christian Dior, Balenciaga, Dolce & Gabbana, Missoni, Versace, Celine, Givenchy, Bvlgari, Lanvin, Guerlain, Valentino, Ralph Lauren, Earl Jeans, Zara, Chloe, Michael Kors, Louis Vuitton, and Victoria's Secret.

This reinstates the fact that she is one of the best supermodels in the world, and I think at this time in her highly successful career things such as currency shouldn't matter.

Holly Willoughby for Oli

TV presenter Holly Willoughby has been chosen to front the AW campaign for brand new fashion brand Oli.

The gorgeous Pretty Polly model was scouted by Storm Models at the age of 15 and is signed up to one of Hollywood's hottest acting agencies.

And now she's been scouted for Oli, who have been entertaining us all summer with their fabulously quirky ad campaigns [above].

I think Holly is absolutely gorgeous and her success comes down to being a great presenter, a fab fashion sense and a real girl-next-door personality. She's destined for ever bigger success than she's already achieved and I can't wait until the campaign goes live.

'Tis the season to be at a party

I'm really, really excited about the party season - the next two months are my favourite of the whole year... it's a chance to have that rare get together with your closest friends, show off your [chocolate filled, in my case, but now it's time to diet] gorgeous body, wear some fabulous heels, and make the man in your life melt with your sexiness.

I have 6 dinners/parties to go to during November, and only around £120 to spend. So, it's got to be glamourous but it's also got to be cheap. Here are a selection of the best party dresses on the high street:


1. All-over sequin dress, £30, F&F at Tesco
2. Silver bubble mesh dress, £35, Miss Selfridge
3. Teal dress with bead detail, £40, Miss Selfridge
4. Rosette lurex shift dress, £39.99, River Island
5. Gold silk fuji dress, £50, Lipsy
6. Square neck bubblehem dress, £25, New Look
7. Silver sequin t-shirt dress, £35, Red Herring at Debenhams
8. Plait silver dress, £30, Miss Selfridge

As you can see, I absolutely love the metallic/silver/sequin/gold look this winter. I love all the sparkle and all the glamour, and love the fact that most of the dresses can be teamed with black tights and shiny shoes for a more wintery fashionable look.

My favourite has to be #7, from Red Herring. It can be dressed up or down, and I've always wanted to own a sequin dress. It looks great plain but the problem with my big hips is that shift-style dresses seem to go in at the bottom instead of out, and so I might need to add a belt to make it look better.

I also love #6, it's soo adorable and great value. It's bound to be easily affordable coming from New Look and it's a really cute, girly dress that looks fab on everybody.

#2 might be a little low-cut for me but #5 is a great dress that stands out from the crowd.

I love them all, and all of them are under £50. They can also be teamed up with jumpers and/or tights, which means you can wear them to more than one occasion. Perfect!