Assisting Nicole Freeman- Day 2

My favourite item from the shoot by Ashish

Day 2 meant the day of the photo shoot for Surface magazine. My alarm went off bright and early at 7am, the earliest I had woken up in a long time. I managed to nab a lift to Chance Street in East London off my Dad who's a black cab driver. Once I arrived at Chance Street Studio, I unloaded Nicole's suitcases from her taxi up to the dressing room and started unpacking and hanging up the clothes. 

An array of clothes fit for the sport luxe theme of the photo shoot filled the rails. Mary Katrantzou, Meadham Kirchhoff, Prada, and Ashish to name a few, were amongst the designer labels. Shortly after, two tall leggy models arrived at the studios, one blonde one brunette, who I had the privilege of dressing all day - because of course they can't dress themselves. My short 5'3 self, meant my eyes were at the models nipple level I had to stand on tip toes in order to zip up dresses to the top. 

Apart from dressing the models, my day was spent on the set of the shoot, watching the photographer at work, steaming clothes, packing the clothes back up and generally assisting Nicole on the styling decisions. At lunch time delicious take away pizza's were delivered to the studio, one of the days perks.

10 outfit changes later and the shoot was over. The atmosphere was much more laid back than I imagined and I got a real taste of what being a stylist was like. Nicole was lovely to assist for and I loved the whole experience of being on a fashion shoot. My week's work of assisting Nicole Freeman is nearly over, all that's left is the dreaded returns...

Ashish AW12

The AW12 collection by Ashish included some of my favourite things: raindows, sequins and smiley faces. Ashish blended together an overload of sequins with a laid back, slouchy silhouettes added a sporty vibe to the array of looks that paraded down the catwalk. The 'Cloud 9' and 'Heaven 7' tops are my favourite items from the collection, both of which I would love to own and would wear day after day. Oversized tie-dye tops, slogan jumpers and football socks peeking out the top of lace up boots were also personal perks to the collection. As always with Ashish, there was lots of clashing colours and prints that work oh so well together. The layering of all the outfits added a wearable creditability to the collection, not something that can be said for all designers. There is a consistent vibe of 'street style' throughout the collection, and I can imagine the clothes to be worn by London's cool kids (if they could afford it). Another strong collection that reminds me why London Fashion Week is the best fashion week out there. Long live Ashish, the King of Sequins.

GET THE LOOK: The trick to re-create any Ashish look is sequins. Nab an old rugby shirt from your brother or boyfriend and hand stitch sequins onto the collar and cuffs, or if your feeling extra some extra sparkle, sew them on to create a slogan, like '7 Heaven'. Knee high football socks can be bought in American Apparel for only £8.00, which you can wear with any pair of boots. The tie-dye dresses are the easiest look to re-create.. grab an over-sized white tee-shirt, dye in your favourite colours and some elastic bands and get creative tie-dying. Another tip is layering, so jumpers, jackets, tops, dresses over the top of each other will work nicely. For Ashish bling, nose to ear stud earrings are now available in Topshop. To complete the look, pull back your hair into a high pony tail on the top of your head, neatness isn't necessary.