So imagine how excited I was when I discovered she has a wedding ring line in collaboration with Blue Nile, the largest online retailer of certified diamonds and fine jewellery.  I really like it when a designer segues into different aspects of fashion easily, especially when it’s done so well.

The collection is beyond stunning, it is breathtakingly beautiful. She did an engagement ring line and a wedding ring line. Each engagement ring is adorned with a blush pink sapphire “lovemark,” symbolizing a blushing bride. Beautiful.

I selected my best pieces of the collection, my absolute favourite has to be the Princess Double Halo. If you ask me, the prices are pretty reasonable for diamonds set in platinum.

To read more about the collection and see the pieces in detail, check out the Monique Lhullier page on Blue Nile

Images via Blue Nile

In the meantime, I’ve put together my round up of London Fashion Week. Overall, the shows didn’t get rave reviews but you know there will always be beautiful fashion in there somewhere. Roksanda Illincic stood out, it was an explosion of colour combinations and fabric combinations, and there were the designers from the Fashion Fringe competition. Dig in…

Roksanda Illincic

The collection combined so many stare worthy elements. The foundation was ultra feminine cuts and shapes, build on top of that unusual yet stunning color combos and gorgeous fabrics like silk and tweed and you have a delicious confection.

Temperly London

The fifties silhouette will have my heart any day and I got a pleasant surprise from Temperly London. Perhaps we could have a micro trend for the season. The silk wide leg pants and sequin blouse look was absolutely stunning, I dream of myself in outfits like that.

Fashion Fringe Designers - Haizhen Wang & Teija Eilola

The most unexpected place where I got my ultimate fashion high was at the ‘design feet’ of brand new freshers. Two of the three finalists of the Fashion Fringe competition (think London version of Project Runway) absolutely took my breath away.

Haizhen Wang

My first thought on seeing the pieces in this collection was Haider Ackermann! The deconstruction, generous layering/draping, rock solid structure and combination of contrasting fabrics (think leather and silk) was reminiscent of Ackermann. The designer, Haizhen Wang is an alum of Central St Martins and worked at MaxMara, Boudicca, and AllSaints; I definitely see AllSaints in there. He made an excellent showing of himself and I found he won the competition, too well deserved.

Teija Eilola

Teija’s collection got me in the very detailed yet simple and fresh feel. I loved the balloon sleeves on the striped dress and crisp white blouse. All very wearable with a lot of interest.

Photo credit: styledotcom

It grabbed my attention and what I find so so mesmerizing is the detail, the vibrant colours, the accessories, the way it all just comes alive. The collection was inspired by Sicily, where Domenico Dolce is from. I find the collection so fascinating, I can’t help myself. The detail, Oh the detail. Never mind that this is almost to be expected by the design duo, they do florals and detail so well.

Notice the rafia fabric and vibrant colours, the graphic images sketched on dresses and tops and skirts, lol. I love this collection and I could wear some of the pieces. Notice the stripes in this collection too, major trend for S/S ’13 for sure.

The bags were stunning as well, and we’d have to come up with a name for the earrings - Über statement earrings. It made for such great viewing, all 86 pieces in the collection. The art and creativity of it all is what really gets me excited, never mind if some of the pieces are actually not wearable, fashion is art.

Photo credits: styledotcom

I’m concluding my NYFW review with some of my favourites across the board, the designers who showed styles I really love. Sleek chic: check; generous draping: check; ladylike chic: check; impeccable tailoring: check.

Here they are:

Badgley Mischka

The clothes oozed elegance and a sleek chicness. The styles were in simple cuts, nothing overly architectural or out of this world but they were done in fabrics with a lot of gravitas. Brocade, Bouclé, Lurex treated tweed and lace made their way into the collection. Really pretty and very wearable.

Monique Lhuillier

Lhuillier is a designer I find very very appealing because she dresses the woman. Very sleek, very chic, stunning play on fabrics, ranging from leather to shimmering sequin encrusted beauties; everything skimming the female form and rock solid in structure. She also brought back the peplum, giving me the privilege of seeing one of my favourite styles from this summer coming back.

Carolina Herrera

I’ve seen quite a few pant suits but I love the elegant way this one was rendered. The fluid silk fabric, the blouson sleeves of the blouse and the gold floral embroidery is simply stunning.

Diane von Furstenberg

This is another designer who knows how to clothe the woman. I love the draping, the fluid fabrics and the use of colour.

Photo credit: styledotcom

Marc Jacobs

I particularly like the long dresses and the embellished horizontal striped dress. I find it completely fascinating that the entire collection was made up of stripes, in so many different ways. I mean, how far can you stretch your imagination? Big pat on the back to Mr Marc.

Tommy Hilfiger

And just when you thought you had seen it all, Tommy Hilfiger does it in a whole new way, blazers, leather dresses, the whole gamut – in stripes! Get ready to see in stripes come Spring 2013!

Jenny Packham

If there was one trend I loved this season, it was the peplum. So it was great to see it still in the running for Spring 2013. Love what Jenny Packham did with it! I’ll take that polka dot dress any day.

Photo credit: Styledotcom

There’s an elegant, grown up, classy lady feel to the entire collection. She did what she does so well, impeccable tailoring, easy laid back yet chic looks.

I’ve had a style crush on sequins for a while now, she did it so beautifully well, the off shoulder beautifully draped, floor length sequin dress is stunning.

I love this collection, it’s beautiful. I loved every single item sans plunging necklines of course, what would I give to popularize the more demure pieces.

Ok, look out for more great fashion in part 3!

The lovely Rachel Zoe

Photo credits: styledotcom

So I’ve been taking it all in, my instagram feed has been awash with images, live from the runways, as it happens. There have been tons of street style snaps and behind the scene footage, all the buzz!

We can already see some trends taking shape, the stripes (Marc Jacobs and Tommy Hilfiger went wild on stripes), the sheers (loads of sheer panelling, chiffon and tulle), the embellishments and the peplum trend which has been around for two seasons now – not that I mind, I love peplums! Loads of lace everywhere, I’m a sucker for lace, especially in the opulent rich texture as seen at Oscar de la Renta and Vera Wang. The color yellow seems to be showing up everywhere, color blocking is around yet again and the clashing of prints and patterns are clearly here to stay.

As it is with summer collections, I personally am loving all the bright fête of color going on, it just gives this joie de vivre vibe.

The season is looking so yummy already, and I have quite a few favorites. I will feature my favorites from a cross section of designers in a blog series starting with this one.

I shall start with the collections that had the jaw dropping effect on me.

Vera Wang

The textures, the colours – sparkling white, chartreuse, azure blue, amethyst, cypress green, gold-  the layers and layers of tulle, the decadent lace. This collection was so divine.

Oscar de la Renta

If you’ve been on this blog more than once, you know I love Oscar. He just can’t go wrong. He delivers the ladylike just the way I love it, the use of colour and texture and cut is pristine, can’t be faulted. This time around, he delved into pant suits and skirts suits, we saw a blazer and we saw shorts. There was a diversification in terms of style but definitely not in terms of aesthetic, the collection still personified ‘The Lady’

Alice + Olivia

There was something about this collection that just made me happy. It was airy and bright, young and free, eclectic and fun. The splashes of colour were vibrant and happy. The yellow sequinned dress was stunning, right up my alley. There was life -simply expressed – in the collection, I found that appealing.

It has been a fun ride, great fashion and there’s still plenty more to come. See you in part 2!

Photo credits: styledotcom

These days, I’m getting more attracted to the understatedly elegant, simply graceful yet abundantly feminine wedding dress. In a general fashion sense though, I love silk, in whatever form, if i had my way, i’ll be swathed in silks all day every day. Then, my best clothing detail in the world is draping, generous luxe draping. Combine both and it  makes sense then that I fell in love with this Amanda Wakeley collection at first sight.

Not for your conventional bride but it ticks all the boxes of chic.

It’ll cost you though. An Amanda Wakeley dress retails from £2,000. See more details here

So what do you think? Will you go for the classic ball gown or you’re more along these non fussy lines?

Photo Credits: Amanda Wakeley

It’s perfect because it combines many delightful elements, black and white, floral embroidery and lacy edges. What more can a girly girl ask for?

You can find on Net-a-porter for £590.

Walter Steiger’s signature is the curved sole and stunning is what it is. The shoes are sold at flagship stores around the world.

Check out the website www.waltersteiger.com