LONDON STREET STYLE.

Hiya! So I for one am a huge fan of admiring people's style , there are many blogs dedicated to photos of street style across the world from London to Paris to Melbourne. The Sartorialist - thesartorialist.blogspot - is my favorite 'streel style' photographer & he's made quite a career out of it. I for one am always silently judging the style of walkers-by (and sometimes not so silently if you ask Ben) and a girl with good style always makes me look twice. The definition of style to me is not necessarily wearing designer clothing head to toe , style cant be bought , however styling a look together combining perhaps designer peices mixed with vintage and high street (topshop, sportsgirl etc...) peicess together to make your own individual look. Saturday was my day off & I decided to tackle central London with Ben's proffesional paparazzi-style camera to snap up some cool style (on days off to come I will tackle other area's around London). First stop was the uber-posh swanky area of Dover Street & Bond Street. Usually occupied by a mixture of wealthy women and many tourists. Here were my top picks from DOVER & BOND STREET.

Dover Street - I spotted Cheryl's green coat from across the road as I was walking & I immediatley crossed the road & approached her. Her coat paired with jeans, cons and a cool beanie was topped off with a oversized MARNI bag made from a cool shaggy-fur material.

It was Cheryl's casual yet cool style that really impressed me as I'm sure in her wardrobe next to her Converse and beanie lay copious pairs of Christian Louboutin heels & Chanel tweeds.Bond Street - It was this woman who really made me gasp for air. Her interesting Coat/Dress really took my breath away. When I approached her cute french accdent & dainty poker face stared at me with oversized SALVATORE FERRAGAMO glasses & long brown hair tucked into a perfectly wrapped black pashmina. When I told her how much I loved her coat/dress she informed me it was vintage AZZEDINE ALAI (amazing) and she swished her perfectly timeless HERMES Kelly bag with gold hardware at my request. I quite liked the unexpected choice of flat suede lace ups as I would've probably styled a black ballet flat or some pumps to go with the lady-like look but these shoes just add another element of interest & complete her look! As I walked towards the Stella McCartney store a posh blonde woman wearing a black parka with a fur lined hood carrying a classic CHANEL 2.55 quilted handbag wearing classic black leather riding boots - caught my attention. She seemed hesitant to stop so I 'papped her' successfully.

I walked further up Bond Street where a very lovely Oriental woman happily posed for me to take a photo. I describe her look as a walking advertisement of designer labels. At first glance her gorgeous black, white & red tweed CHANEL jacket caught my eye , these jackets are master peices in their own right - but I loved how she then teamed it modernly with a pair of TRUE RELIGION jeans , cinched at the waist with a CHANEL belt while an oversized CHANEL bag dangled off her shoulders and CHANEL boots adorned her two feet. Over her arm casually was a camouflage-logo LOUIS VUITTON puffy parka which once the weather chilled down she threw over her Chanel/True Religion ensemble. Here she is smiling graciously with her look. Too cute!I decided that - as much as I love them - I had enough of wealthy women trotting around in their designer duds and wanted to head to some 'cooler' areas of Central London so I headed towards Soho & Carnaby area. While walking past TopShop I noticed a really cool girl standing outside texting away at her Blackberry. Wearing what I'm guessing is a vintage fur coat teamed with a washed-denim shirt/dress and loads of chains her hair was perfectly 'couldnt-care-less' thrown up in a loose bun and her 'casual-glamour' attitude really caught my attention. Her over sized bag , amazing shoes and blackberry were the perfect accessories for this look!

As I walked toward Soho I saw the cutest little japanese-english girl walk towards me and her animal print fur coat grabbed my eye immediatley. When I got chatting to her she told me she was incredibly hungover. I call her look 'fabulously hungover' , her RIVER ISLAND (a high street entry level price-point chainstore) coat was teamed with an oversized grey marle top , black harem style leggings , black & white faux-pearls, cute flats with a chain detail on them together with a simple black clutch purse. Hair in a bun (I think they're onto someting) and specs on I think it may have been the same outfit she wore the night before bless her - however the effect is effortless glamour in a kind of 'Carrie Bradshaw walking home from a boozy party' type look. Super-dooper cute I say and she was really sweet too! Now, Soho is a very gay-district of London , so a combination of trendy cafe's and bars , quirky little stores , a few gay sex shops and a gay bar on every few blocks complete the mix of this bustling area. The following photo I call 'Will & Grace in the 80s walking through the gay village' - these two caught my eye immediatley from over the road. I didnt really want to approach them for fear of boosting their ego's because I dont necesserally think their looks a 'stylish' as much as they are daring. Props to them however for being different. They're look is very rockabilly-glamour-80s esque and they're influences I would say vary from Amy Winehouse, to Dita Von Teese , George Michael & Psuedo Echo. Here they are bless their little cowboy booties!

The next couple put a tear in my eye - quite literally. There I was walking through Soho when I noticed these two boys , now they couldnt have been older than 17 and yet there they were proudly together walking down the street holding hands. They continued to walk down and turn towards Oxford Circus (the busiest area in Central London) and as they continued to walk off they didnt let go of eachothers hands (and instinct tells me they wouldnt have let go once they got to Oxford Circus either). I was so proud of them for being proud of themselves and eachother , there is no way I at 17 could have done that walking through Geelong (my home town) without being cursed at or perhaps even bashed, sure they were walking through a "gay-district" but it still take guts to do that and their self-confidence really inspired me and I got a bit emotional. I see young teenage couples canoodling all the time in public so why shouldnt a gay teen couple be allowed to hold hands - equality for all I say. Back to style they were quite cool in their own right , one wearing a Billionaire Boys Club (Pharrell William's label) hoody and jeans and the other wearing a vintage-retro style knit sweater very Seth Cohen-esque and very in right now across global menswear trends. Their colorful backpacks made me smile! Carnaby Street was my last stop as daylight was ending (at 4.30pm how absurd is that) and I needed to get a couple more snaps in before my afternoon was over. While walking through Carnaby I noticed the following girl - her thrown together , winter-layering look is very much how I like to dress and how I like to see girls dress also. She perfectly combined a tartan shirt-dress with a black throw over , oversized scarf (I DIE) black stockings and lace up brogues. Her blunt fringe sat below her 'no fuss bun' (this really is a hot hair trend i'm loving atm). Loves it.The last girl I snapped up on Carnaby was this gorgeous tall black beauty who just demanded attention - altough I dont think she's aware of it which makes her cooler. The weather really impacts the way people dress around here - and its still something i'm getting my head around - her oversized black puffy parka layred over a cascade collared charcoal coat and a charcoal cowl neck tee - was paired with black leggings which were tucked indo black flat riding boots. Her Chanel inspired chain strap patent leather bag was a cute finishing touch. This girl was cool!

So its people like this who inspire me to think outside the box when getting dressed & express myself creatively. Sidewalk-Glamour is a term I came up with 4 years back in Paris when I noticed the amazing fashions displayed on the sidewalks filled with girls passing by in amazingly styled outfits. Its Sidewalk-Glamour that inspires me when I sit down to design because its them who at the end of the day are going to be wearing the clothes. We see fashion on models who strut clothes down the runway but then its up to all of us girls and guys included to interpret these looks in our everyday wardrobes. Hope you've enjoyed this. There will be more to come. xoxo Deni