Trend: Boardwalk

High gloss Vanity Fair’s shots for the HBO series Boardwalk Empire have inspired me to cherry pick the best of vintage-look swimsuits for your sojourns beside the seaside.

Splash Out

Above: Diane von Furstenburg 'Zane' bikini top £133 and bottoms £102. Sold separately - sorry! (In fact the whole Resort collection is mouth-watering). High-waisted bottoms flatter the curvy girl and the bikini top is a supportive yet stylish option whether you need it or not.

Modesty Blaze

Above: If you are 'pale and interesting' and are happy slathering yourself in Factor 20 plus, this £125 Miu Miu one piece is ideal - otherwise I shudder to think of the tan lines!
Cheap and Chic

Above: Coming in at just £32 this Topshop swimsuit is a more affordable option that will have you feeling every bit the Boardwalk girl.

Don't overlook the importance of accessories to complete the look. I found some beautiful Roundhouse sunglasses by Sunettes (exclusive for Liberty £85). Team with the go-to for every London fashion girl, bright red, matt MAC lipstick Russian Red £13.50.

Alison Mosshart

I can’t help but get all starry-eyed around Alison Mosshart. She stalks around the stages singing with The Kills and The Dead Weather. She flicks her mane to the beat. Style-wise she splices typical London style with an apache-look that stylists feast on when working with her.

It’s not easy to look stylish alongside friend Kate Moss but sharing Jamie Hince’s time with the supermodel does not leave Alison Mosshart looking the ugly sister. They both share that rock star, car-crash attitude that compounds our Grazia style fascination with these icons. Massive style crush.

Get the look...

The Dreamcatcher Route:

Legs: Black skinny jeans from 7 For All Mankind at Liberty £165

Kitschy T-shirt: Sour Cherie cotton/wool t-shirt Sonia by Sonia Rykiel

Gold chains: Annina Vogel at Liberty or Net a Porter around £2,000

Feather headdress: at Little Doe stocked at Church Boutique, CA. USA

Poncho top: Lotta Stensson’s Nairobi printed silk top £305

Feet: Vanika leopard Ankle boots at KG by Kurt Geiger £140

The Honest Indian Route

Legs: Panelled PU leggings at Topshop £32

Beaten up t-shirt: Lucky dice t-shirt at Beyond Retro £14

Gold chains: short ‘Love’ necklace Accesorize £5 and Tassel chain necklace at Mickey £25

Feather headdress: shop around on Ebay for current auctions or on Urban Outfitters

Feet: Brilliantly ridiculous Blue tassel boots from ASOS £39

The Cover Up

Last week snow was everywhere and all the chat about it was boring. But I am loving girls stalking the streets, eyes barely showing beneath hefty scarves that backbrush their hair as they go.

Fitted jacket. Get one anywhere. Zara is always good. Jockey trousers, if you can pull them off. Skinnies if not. Towering heels or boot wedges for the day. Done.

P.S. First forray into the Drawn element of Hung Drawn. Thank you for your patience.

Archive: Dark Heart

A little scrap of paper passed over the counter when I was but a shop girl appears in a sketchbook I'm using. Helena Horstedt.com is all it says.

I am thrown backwards two years when I pawed over the most beautifully created pieces I have ever seen. All handcrafted. All black. All sumptious. Satin, Velvet, Leather. Pleated, concertinaed.

I can't find anything on where this girl is now but if you have five minutes go to the website and feast your eyes on true artistry. I wish it could go on and on...

Alley Capellino

Stars collide.

I park on Calvert Avenue on the way to Leila, a favourite cafe in Shoreditch and happen across a cool little shop, which happens to be Ally Capellino HQ. Stripey summer holdalls catch my eye. Like every fashion girl I am a sucker for a stripe!

Same week: I get a newsletter from menswear shop Tonic and it features Ally Capellino bags for men.

A month later she has a stand in Liberty.

Her designs are charming. They mix a little of the doctor's bag with the school satchel and I'm so thrilled to see her label being championed by people in the know. This label is one of those gems you hope no-one will catch onto but that you can't help but hope does well.

The Twlight Saga

In the twilight of their liaison with Kate Moss, Topshop has launched a Limited Edition collection available only in it's Oxford Street, Brompton Road and NY branches. Beautifully styled outfits on the promo shots belie what I suspect is an overpriced collection akin to the £200 beaded pieces that 'Kate Moss' created for her Topshop stint. But I suppose it is bringing a bit of the magic of vintage to the mainstream whilst limiting, although not eliminating, the chance of finding someone dressed in the same thing as you at the next big party.

I'm not a fan but I think, love it or hate it, the highly commercial 14 Kate Moss collaborations with the high street brand set the bar very high for high profile partnerships. If this is the best they can come up with though, I think they should hold back on the ad spend until the hype of the much-anticipated collection Lanvin/H&M passes. Tough night.

Simply entitled: Drool

Should I?

Helpdesk: Beautiful and the Damned

Say for example, you are going to a party. This month. Theme: Beautiful and The Damned. Here's a mood board and source directory to put your mind at ease if you are struggling with what to wear...

In the book of the same name, F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote about the excesses of life in the Jazz Age. This period conjures up images of casually strewn furs and swaying beads; winking sequins and long silhouettes. Shimmying tassles and feather fans. Kate Moss' thirtieth had the same theme and she was a beauty in blue sequins from vintage specialist Atelier Mayer (below).

First off, don't panic, the high street is glimmering with perfect drop-waist dresses so there's no need to go for the original. Below are some ideas...

Topshop: £120

All Saints: Bex dress £75
Biba (House of Fraser): £195

Biba (House of Fraser): £155

There are also accessories aplenty to accesorize shop around for headbands, beaded bags and marabous. The best I have found were at topshop and Claire's Accessories. See you on the 27th.

Tilda

A recent ‘who-was-wearing-what-at-some-event-or-another’ prompts me to write about how much I am enamoured with Tilda Swinton. The press’ fascination around her unconventional love-life is tedious. Tilda is fascinating; they should just say so.

This is a woman with inimitable alabaster skin and marmalade hair, she is statuesque and angular and at 49, she is a great example of how you can still be extremely stylish as you age. I love the recent shots of her in a campaign for Pringle.

But what comes across so strongly in all images where Tilda Swintons’ steely eyes peer out is that she is open to being portrayed daringly. She can be androgynous easily, she plays the part of redhead and albino fittingly, she is tall and slim. In short, Tilda Swinton looks great fun to style and would be my ideal client.

Want

Want:

Stella McCartney striped top AW10

Bought:

Warehouse AW10

Shameless funding of High Street rip off? Yes

What I'll be wearing it with: Cropped black trousers and a smile

American Retro 2

Here are the aforementioned beauties in all their retro finery. You can see how the 60s looks of AW10's catwalks reference styles like these.

Just a shameless plug of my friend Tiffany who is in the current casting competition for the show. Think she could play the new Peggy Olson? Do follow the link and vote.

http://madmencastingcall.amctv.com/browse/detail/GQZCLT

American Retro

Curvy girls are in luck. AW10 collections from Prada and Luis Vuitton pay homage to the shapes of the 50s and 60s and tap into the popularity of American drama Madmen. Just think of Donald Draper’s wife (played by January Jones), or secretary, Joan Harris, or my favourite, Jewish heiress, Rachel Menken in any of these pieces and you wouldn’t think the styling amiss.

We have already seen cropped trousers and flats filtering through into the mainstream but I just hope the more dramatic elements of these fashions travel the same way so that those of us who can only dream of paying such premiums can afford to wear these trends in time for Christmas parties.

Madmen eye candy to follow...

Something of a spectacle

I recently picked up a knock-off pair of Rayban’s Cathy Clubmasters a festival – instantly falling in love with that Annie Hall look that, as a general rule, I can’t stand. With a pair a of full eyebrows I think it is tempting to go for a ‘covering-a-myriad-of-sins’ approach but I like the way that my unruly eyebrows spring up over the top of them giving a kind of the bookish look that Diane Keaton’s character embodies. It reminds me of something that that tomboyish Tennessee William’s character Scout Finch might have worn as a mid-teen.

I also fell in love with this Marios Schwabb pair for the same reasons but at £295 I feel that they were rather frivolously advertised by Vogue over the summer as ‘what to wear to a festival’. Aspirational certainly, but you wouldn’t catch me weeping into the folds of an inflatable mattress bemoaning the fact that someone had just knelt on my beloved lenses.

WANT.

Zara Online

This is really exciting. Much has been written about Zara opening it's online store, and finally it's here! You can now browse and buy affordable and super-fashionable smart wardrobe staples from the comfort of your own. Below are my choiciest bits of the current offering.

Not sure they've got all the gremlins out of the system but it's the first days so I'll cut them some slack.

www.zara.com

In the Nude

Get the right shade of nude and pale can look interesting on brunettes and blondes alike. You can see how the features of Christina Ricci (above) and Drew Barrymore (below), both striking in their own right, really stand out when the tone of their outfits mimic their skin tone. Important here to stress that bold lipstick will stop you from looking too ghostly and that metallic detailing or jewellery will add texture to a nude outfit and prevent it from looking like you forgot to get dressed at all.

But whilst cheap looking nude-coloured clothes are ten-a-penny on the high street it is hard to find pieces that have the same class as the Marc Jacobs and Alberta Ferretti pieces that Christina and Drew wear above. Browsing online I found a Roksanda Ilincic for Whistles dress that ticks all the boxes. This silk blend dress is £295 and is perfect for a formal occasion.

Shop online at Whistles

...something old, something new...

Shopping for an outfit for a wedding can be really tricky. Here are a few of my hot tips for getting it right.

New: just discovered a beautiful boutique called May in Notting Hill. Unique, classic pieces ideal for girl who wants to flatter her curves at a formal, city wedding. These are sharp, tailored pieces that are bold and stylish.www.mayshop.co.uk (see below). They even do shoes and bags so you could get the whole outfit here.

Vintage: Avoid the humiliation of turning up in the same thing as someone else by going vintage. Step away from busy Portobello Road into Still, a quiet oasis of clean, lovingly presented and reasonably priced vintage fashion. Owner Sophie is very knowledgeable about her stock and the history of each piece and is a joy to talk to. She has also developed her own line that combines the best of vintage shapes with really individual stitching and dying. Either line is great for a wedding in the country or where you want to impress the women folk by wearing something enviably unique. Lancaster Road, Notting Hill.

Borrow: If you find yourself in the situation where you have multiple weddings why not borrow something. Clothes swaps are an option but you might also consider hiring something from www.girlmeetsdress.com. Browse by size, by label and even pick up hats and bags. It's really easy. You order, try, return within a day and then, once you are happy, order it for the big occasion. GMD will even let you borrow from 2-7 nights. This is a great way to wear a Lanvin, Chloe or Alexander McQueen but paying a fraction of the price. I love this jade Stella McCartney dress (below) for hire at £299 but there are more pocket friendly pieces like this purple, belted Proenza Schouler dress for £69.

Re-wear: If you buy wisely, you can easily wear an outfit more than once if you style it cleverly. Why not go to Mor Jewelry (12 Ganton Street, London, W1F 7QS) to buy a one off statement piece of jeweler at a reasonable price. Semi-precious stone earrings will cost between £40-£60, gorgeous necklaces reminiscent of Connie Nielsen's jewellry in Gladiator for £80-£140. You'll need to save up for this treat but I speak from experience when I say that I am asked where my jeweler is from every time. 12 Ganton Street,W1F 7QS. Very dramatic pieces.