Jennifer Garner strikes a pose

Jennifer Garner doesn't usually strike up images of pure glamour, but in this W magazine shoot she looks AMAZING. I love a bit of new year glamour, don't you?

When fashion does bad/good things for Christmas...

I have seen a lot of pretentious Christmas decorations around this December, too many twinkling white lights and not enough pow factor. For me Christmas has always been about multi-coloured lights and over the top baubles (all very tasteful of course...) John Galliano designed the Claridges Christmas tree and even with Dior couture and all, it still fell flat www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2009/dec/02/christmas-fashion-john-galliano.

Yesterday I braved Bath to check out the festivities and came across what in my opinion is the definitive Christmas window at the fabulous Prey boutique ( www.preyuk.com ) The inspired window had mysterious masked mannequins complete with fairy light chokers, heart-stopping necklaces, whilst swathed in Vionnet-esque white satin. Who said fashion can't do Christmas? A-M-A-Z-I-N-G.

I just couldn't go without posting this...

Net-A-Porter is pure genius. Christian Louboutin does barbie?! Amazing. Perfect for satisfying your inner 9 year old this Christmas. Personally I like the fact this Barbie's a bad-girl burglar, dressed very appropriately in a skin-tight catsuit...Oh and 7 inch spiked Rodarte Louboutins. Clearly a woman after my own heart.

Dress me up Topshop!

Errr is it just me who thinks this is a piece of fashion genius? Topshop have come up with the amazing idea of renting fabulous dresses donated by an array of beautiful fashion types, (ranging from Jourdan Dunn to Katie Grand) to ensure you are the Belle of the ball when it comes to all those christmas parties. Although one complaint, why are the sizes so limited? Plenty of size 6/8's available but lesser of the size 12 and above...I guess thats what you get when supermodels are donating your dresses.

Which dress will you go for if given half a chance? I am seriously loving the S/S10 Burberry yellow grecian mini-dress generously donated by Frieda Pinto. Ahhh to be a size 6....

Imma a DIVA

Winter always calls for a reassessment of one's wardrobe, but be careful not to neglect your face as the days darken. After many months of my beloved bootblack MAC liquid eyeliner gracing my lids with a retro flick, I am finally over my statement eyes and am embracing a glamorous new me for winter. A statement lip couldn't be more fitting.

As i am now completely disillusioned by overexposure of lip-gloss, this winter I am truly a lipstick revivalist (matte no less!) So my new winter lip hue is MAC's Diva, a delicious bold burgundy red, perfect for daytime chic, it reminded me of the girls on the Jean Paul Gaultier Fall Couture catwalk. Once this was identified there was no looking back, now all I need is a JPG leather trench to finish my new look....

The Blair Waldorf Effect

Ironically the Queen B, Blair Waldorf was denied her headband by none other than the clueless Dan Humphery: "No headbands at college." Yeah right and since when was Lonely Boy king of style? Ms Waldorf aside, the world of fashion is most definitely loving headgear. Net-a-porter has even been using head mannequins to display their hottest headwear online. For the hippie chick a feathered headband makes a refreshing evening accessory and for the magpie a glistening tiara never seems inappropriate.

Maybe it's the glamorous mood of winter that makes everyone want to show off in a headwear. Whatever it is you won't get any complaints from me, I'm joining the headband parade!

The Joy of Trompe l'oeil

The season of autumn/winter always evokes an obsession with quirky yet cool hosiery and lucky for us there seems to be a serious abundance of them. Last winter it was all about the death of the fishnet and the rise of the coloured high denier opaque, whether it was in shocking pink or marl grey. In stark contrast this season is sexing up hosiery (thanks to who else but Kaiser Karl?) Who has done a witty take on the stocking/hold-up with a daringly sexy collection of Chanel tights. Who couldn't love these Trompe l'oeil cuties? They are infinitely more flattering and wearable than a true stocking...Don't you think? Style them with a defiantly short, but long sleeved black shift to ensure plenty of double-takes.

Best in Shoe

So it may be the end of fashion month but a mountain of wow-moments are still emerging from under the radar. Valentino left a huge black hole when he retired in 2007 and it seemed whoever replaced him was bound to face some discouraging criticism. For SS10 creative directors Maria Grazia Chiuri and Paolo Piccioli seemed to reverse the curse and really showed their flair for shoes, (to fair they were accessory designers)! The stunning shoe styles were the jewel in the Valentino collection's crown. The collabo between Valentino and milliner Phillip Treacy was a very smart move, even urban-fashionista Alexander Wang was swooning at all the feathers, lace and stiletto heels. Perfect for the avant-garde bride and so much better than a white satin court. Don't you think?

When two fash-tribes go to war.

The Parisian shows have been a total dream for SS10. Balenciga did Street Nomad, Viktor and Rolf did Fairytale Romance with hard angular lines and Alber Elbaz just did what he does best, wonderful feminine dressing at Lanvin. Surely the most anticipated show in Paris though had to be the debut catwalk collection from Phoebe Philo for Celine? It definitely was for me.

I have subtly been drawing comparisons between Phoebe and her old sparring partner Ms Stella McCartney and imagining my very own fantasy fashion warfare. Where Pheobe did lots of utilitarian sleek leather, Stella did over the top frou-frou. Where Stella did bold paint box jewel colour, Phoebe did monochromatic nudes with black.With all these polar opposites who won the war? Well lets be honest the winner has to be the consumer. It seems fashion's future is looking very bright next Spring.

Thank you Mr Geiger. Thank you.

A fashion mission is a very difficult business. It usually consists of a manic like panic to retrieve a specific piece, which the person concerned feels they:

a.) Cannot live without

b.) Can justify spending undisclosed amounts of money on

c.) Will happily cry in public if said piece cannot be located

I underwent such a trauma over the last weekend in my crusade to get the perfect pair of open-toe shoeboots, which I am convinced came about thanks to obsessing over many a Ricardo Tisci Givenchy collection. My open-toe shoeboot fixation was satisfied thanks to the wondrous Kurt Geiger in the shape of the "Caden" boot. With my fashion mission now behind me I think my emotional journey was worth it. Check the pic for further proof. Have you ever experienced a fashion mission?

This must be underwater love

First of all apologies for the seriously dubious photos! These were taken in a manic hurry with my dodgwa camera-phone. For some better ones check out: www.vogue.co.uk/fashion/show.aspx/full-length-photos/id,8490 Anyhow during London Fashion Week I attended a lot of Off-Schedule catwalk shows, which were just beautiful. This was my hands down favourite collection from the craziest week ever courtesy of Ramon Gurrilo, a wonderfully talented Spanish designer who specialises in knitwear. I just felt his collection was so appropriate for the coming spring, thanks to all the underwater themes and mermaid references running through many an international collection (check Proenza, Julien MacDonald and Donna Karan for further evidence). There were gold and black shell bracelets clustered around the wrists and some of Gurrilo's knitted eveningwear looked as if the models were tangled up in seaweed or emerging from the ocean for their land debut, Daryl Hannah style in Splash! Mer-chic. Who knew?

Leggings, meggings, treggings, jeggings. Make. It. Stop?

What is it about the legging that makes them so unfathomably appealing? Is it the way they match with absolutely everything? The ease of them in comparison to your skinny jeans, which quite frankly are starting to feel like heavy sandpaper in the absence of your trusty leggings or jeggings or treggings (tick the appropriate option)? But seriously as much as they are loved they may well have to go, as delicious as the Christopher Kane for Topshop mirrored options are...Hmmm.

The real question is what do you replace your leggings with?! Just follow Lady Gaga's example and wear...well nowt. Ok, make that some opaques teamed with delightful statement big pants. Beware, this look is only suitable for the drunk.

Christopher Kane is a blatant Twi-Hard!

What is it about vampires bar Edward Cullen? Ok, be fair I think that's reason enough for the fascination. The Twilight effect is definitely edging its way in to the world of fashion, in fact it was all I could think of when I saw the other-worldly make-up looks at Bottega Veneta SS10...(Bleached eye-brows and purple stained lips. Beautiful.) Although, I think Christopher Kane really upped the Vampire ante with his first dress collection for Versus. The mostly black and red collection (pure horror) had suggestive cut-outs, which looked like the models had just managed to escape from Dracula's clutches....Or perhaps Edward Cullen's if they were really lucky.

You can't be me I'm a a Blogstar...

...Ok I am sooo far from a blogstar! That was my introductory joke. I am in love with fashion and have been ever since the emergence of The Clothes Show with Caryn Franklin and Jeff Banks, ever since I discovered Cher Horowitz and Dionne and named them my aspirational style icons...and I have never looked back. I just want to share my thoughts on fashion, style and Gossip Girl. The three things I love most. So watch this space...