Global sporting success bring global fashion coverage

Well – didn’t Paul Costelloe make the right move attaching his name to arguably the most successful sports team curently representing our nation?

The England Women’s Cricket team return from Sydney today with a World Cup trophy in hand (yes World cup, making them the best on the planet at what they do). Naturally, the press have gone a little crazy with the column inches since the girls’ victory over New Zealand in the early hours of Sunday morning, and the result is that those blazers are everywhere.

© Associated Newspapers 2009

Of course, I’m loving it too as it all helps sow the seeds of preppy tailored fashions for Spring. Good job girls - on trend as well as on top of the world.

Gossip Girl: sooo LAST season!

LOVED the Yale episode that aired two weeks ago (for UK viewers), but not as much as Serena’s choice of outfit when she went to meet the Dean:

How great is that blazer? The crest, the pin-stripe, the frilled fluted back… Thus followed a frantic internet search to find the source. I was ready to part with some serious cash to get hold of that piece, so imagine my shock and disappointment when I discovered that it was the Ralph Lauren ‘Filmore’  blazer from the 2008 S/S collection?

Since when did GG become a back-catalogue of last season’s knock-offs? Even considering the time at which these episodes would have been filmed (given the trans-Atlantic broadcast schedule delay, and the production schedule of a drama series), I found this massively surprising. Given the now well-established status of the show amongst aspiring fashionistas, and the proven effect of GG on retail trends, you can’t seriously tell me that wardrobe were unable to obtain anything more recent than that?

I guess in the meantime we’ll have to make do with a couple of replicas from Old Navy and Crew. Sigh.

For more GG fashion trends, check out the Gossip Girl Closet blog, which I just discovered. Though be warned: you might be a year too late.

More Gossip Girl fashions hit the runway!

Ok so I know that I am slightly obsessed with this show, and the Season 1 DVD box set currently on permanent loop in my room may give me a pre-disposition to actively search for the Gossip Girl-esque in the realms of reality. But that said, when I opened today’s copy of Shortlist magazine, the main men’s fashion page blatantly screamed just two words: Chuck Bass.

Hurrah! Preppie Hamptons style hits the runways in time for the Spring previews. As the piece shows, male versions of Abigail Lorick-style designs will soon be ten-a-penny, found everywhere from Ralph Lauren Purple Label (£1,295) and Tom Ford (£3,420) to River Island‘s slightly more mass-affordable version (£59.99).

Let’s hope the same goes for female Spring trends too. A girl could do a lot worse than aspire to Blair Waldorf’s closet hoard.