All that Glitters is GOLDIE

This fashion week, being as I was, very much on the outside looking in, when a family friend turned designer invited me to see her first show I jumped at the chance. She presented her Spring/Summer 2010 to a party crowd at Jalouse, the blingtastically designed club in Hanover Square. An ideal location given the high fashion associations, steeped in British fashion history and credentials as home to the Voguettes. I thought the venue was well-chosen because while much of the crowd was clearly made up of friends and fashionistas alike, there were a handful of Wednesday night hedonists, merely there for the music and cocktails. This, therefore was a guaranteed way to expand her audience and raise awareness for the brand. The brand in question is Goldie, pioneered by South African designer Michelle Goldie who started off selling customised pieces and costume jewellery on market stalls in Portobello and Spitalfields market. People started to take notice when Mischa Barton was snapped wearing one of her dresses and since then, gained further publicity and enjoyed distribution in Selfridges.

Goldie's designs are always feminine, flirty and very wearable. The classic mold is tunic tops or short dresses in simple colours with a little glitter detail or frills or a fur gilet in winter. I enjoy the rock-romantic ethos of Goldie's designs. They are lovely pieces best paired with a tougher shoe like a black shoe-boot, gladiator sandal or masculine brogue. I best enjoyed the simpler colours, many of the white dresses would be so nice on sun-kissed skin on a holiday evening. I also liked the classy wearability of the grey and slate tunics. The line also featured a few dresses in coral and electric blue stretch cotton overlaid with black lace. Shorter tops were paired with black sequin hotpants, and for me the star of the show were a pair of cropped leggings emblazoned with black sequins, not sewn flat but lovely and textural. Unusually a few floral summer prints were included, but I much preferred the plain whites, greys and brights. Who knows maybe this is because my winter state of mind cannot process flirty summer floral right now. I have been too busy immersing myself in over the knee boots, coloured tights and vintage fur!