Mila Kunis was dressed like a star this evening, I was hoping she would win the award for Black Swan  but unfortunatly she didn’t. She wears this strapless red-hued Alexander McQueen gown so humbly with her hair looking effortlessly beautiful.

Mom to be Natalie Portman looked amazing  showing off her baby bump in this strapless Azzaro Gown. She is a winner this evening for her well played role in Black Swan. The pearlescent color of the dress along with the beautiful jewels Natalie adorned went perfect with her natural glow.

Winona wore an Alberta Ferretti gown and was nominated for her portrayel of Lois Wilson in the television film When Love is Not Enough.  I loved how she changed things up a bit and wore a cream colored gown rather than the usual black she’s seen wearing. I think no matter what Winona wears I will always love it.

Funny lady Tina Fey donned an amazing Oscar de la Renta Gown to the awards ceremony. I always love to see her without her glasses wearing something glamorous at red carpet events. She proves that smart funny girls are just as pretty as the rest, if not prettier!

Glee star Lea Michele wore an Oscar de la Renta gown down the red carpet. I have to say I’m not a fan of Glee but I thought this dress on her took her to a whole new level. She looks like a movie star in this dress. The low cut deep V and train reminds me of 70’s glam and that’s why I love it.

Photos from people.com and Steve Granitz

Its award season and that only means we get to see the most beautiful gowns worn by our favorite celebrity’s when the time comes. Until then we can either guess, hope, and pray that our faves make the best dressed list. Otherwise we can reflect on their past fashion choices with ooohs and ahhhs and know that they will be wearing something chic! One of my faves this year is Michelle Williams. If you have not seen her in the film Blue Valentine yet with Ryan Gosling, its a must!!  To make you go out at and see it even more, she’s nominated for an Academy Award; Best Actress in a leading role for her performance in the movie. The movie is a heartfelt love story that isn’t glamorized but is rather heartfelt in a sense of reality. Does that make sense? hmm. Aside from Michelle in the movies, I’ve always adored her personal style. Even though people didn’t get her Golden Globes dress this year, I thought it reflected who she is as a person.

At her premiers for her  film Blue Valentine, she looked amazing. She was seen in Spring 2011 Oscar De la Renta as well as Spring 2011 Azzaro among many other designer dresses. I’ve always loved everything she has been seen in especially in some films. Some of the films that I loved seeing her in before Blue Valentine is Me Without You, which is a really cool film about best friends growing up in the Isle of Wight in 1970’s to 1980’s. I also adored her in her small role in the film I’m Not There. Her adoring fans can also look forward to seeing her in this years upcoming film My Week with Marilyn where she will play the legendary Marilyn Monroe!  Along with being a great actress who always looks like a starlet I bet she’s also a great mom to her daughter whom she had with Heath Ledger. Below are some of my favorite looks from this leading lady. Ohh I cant wait to see what she will wear to this years Academy Awards!

Wearing a dress from Suno, Fall 2010 collection

Wearing Oscar De la Renta

In Azzaro Spring 2011

Looking Chic in the film I'm Not There

In Vera Wang at the 2006 Oscars

As Marilyn in the upcoming film My Week with Marilyn

Fashionista Whitney Port is sharing her fashion filled life with the rest of us fashionistas who wish we had opportunities like her. The California native has written a book titled True Whit: Designing a Life of Style, Beauty, and Funwhich will hit stores  February 1, 2011! This book is about Whitney’s famed stardom and fashion career which involves a whole lot.  What might interest you in this page turner is the advice Whitney is giving about the fashion industry. She professes how to dress for interviews and gives lots of design and color inspiration throughout the book. With all that Whitney has done I think its clever to take advice from a girl who worked for: Diane Von Furstenberg, The Peoples Revolution, Teen Vogue, was a star in MTV’s The City and who has her own clothing line called Whitney Eve.

Along with all the wisdom and whit that you’ll find in this  book you will also see some personal and colorful photos. Reading this is more like a girls guide on “how-to-decorate” and “what -not -to- wear” and of course being on your own.  This is a book I will definitely be checking out on February 1st. I loved Whitney when she was on The City and then it got canceled. I loved that it showed what it was like to work for a fashion PR company all while watching Whitney launch her own line. And of course you couldn’t forget the catty comments between Whitney and Elle Magazines Olivia Palermo. It was fashionista cattiness at its best! So if your looking for something inspirational and fun to read check out this book! If she can accomplish so much and still only be in her early 20’s there’s definitely hope for the rest of us!

Fashion Show with Google from Robbin Waldemar on Vimeo.

Bonjour mes amies, how are you all doing? I hope you all have an exciting week ahead full of lots of fun things and there is not just work, work and more work on the horizon. This is my final week at home for a while as I’m getting ready to head back to University in Cambridge this weekend so it’s all a bit hectic (let’s be honest – when is my world never hectic??).

It’s been a non-stop rush of last minute holiday work that should have been done much earlier, eating as much of my wonderful, and extremely talented cook, mother’s food (never underestimate how much you miss home cooked food when you’re away) and squeezing in as much as I possibly can with the remaining time I have left in my beautiful city. Regardless of how crazy busy my life gets however, I’m never too busy to keep an eye on the goings on in the fashion world.

And as a life long Chanel addict who believes that Karl Lagerfeld is second only to God, can verbatim quote Coco Chanel and lists her as one of her ultimate style icons, has considered taking courses in metal sculpting just so I can attach little ‘c’s’ on my handbags, and lives, breathes and dreams in chic Parisian monochrome it certainly has not failed to escape my attention that Blake “Serena Van Der Woodsen” Lively has been named the new face of Chanel Handbags. I nearly fainted with equal amounts of grief and jealousy.

Some girls want it all. Not content with being drop dead gorgeous, having never ending legs to die for, being told you have the best hair in the world in opinion polls, a part on one of the hottest shows on television complete with an amazing wardrobe and super hot co stars (Ed Westwick, Chace Crawford, Penn Badgeley anyone?) , a blossoming Hollywood career, becoming the new darling of the fashion world and having everyone from magazine editors to designers clamoring to work with you, having a huge appetite but maintaining a smoking hot body; she has to go and become the ambassador for one of the biggest and best design houses in the entire world. Yuk. If I’m looking a little green and sound ever so slightly jealous darlings, it’s only because I am horribly, fantastically, jealous.

Plus in every interview I’ve seen or read about the 22 year old starlet, she has come across as so lovely, kind and funny so I can’t even hate her for that. Young, beautiful, rich, talented, successful, stylish, nice, funny, and now the face of Chanel and BFF’s with Karl Lagerfeld. How rude. How very dare she darlings?

Blake’s rise to style icon and media favourite has been exceptionally quick – blink and you may have missed it. Only two years ago she was flying under the radar, the attractive but relatively unknown, star of a new CW  TV show. And she had some real fashion misses and disasters along the way, but then out of nowhere she managed to spectacularly pull it together. Presumably she got a new stylist and took a real interest in fashion and whate worked for her. And oh did it work for her. See darlings? Fashion does a girl good.

“Kaiser” Karl Lagerfeld himself said of Blake to ‘Women’s Wear Daily’, “she’s sort of the American girl’s dream,” whilst Blake has said that her appointment was “a dream comes true. I can say that I feel like the happiest and most fortunate girl in the world.” She has just finished filming in Paris for the new handbag collection and has been photographed at the Maison de Chanel. *Sigh*

Industry insiders and shrewd fashion observers would have felt that this was a long time coming. Blake was photographed in July in the front row at the  haute couture Chanel fashion show. Plus she’s been wearing Chanel faithfully for several months now (maybe she already knew something we didn’t? Or was not so subtly hinting at Karl Lagerfeld?)  In September, she dazzled in a red Chanel couture number for the premeire of her film “The Town” whilst she wore a beautiful beaded gown from, where else but Chanel at the reopening of their New York SoHo store. Some girls have all the luck.

And the worse part about the new job she’s going to have? Think of ALL the free swag mes amies. By the time her contract is up she will be lost in a tsunami of amazing Chanel handbags and fabulous merchandise every time she opens the door to her (humongous I’m sure) closet. Life is SO unfair.

So what do you guys think of Blake’s appointment? Are you a fan of Mademoiselle Lively (see what I did there??!) or would you have preferred someone else to get the gig (and no, you can’t say yourselves), I would be really interested to know what you all think. Personally I can’t wait to see the photographs, I think she’ll look gorgeous.

Hope you all have a truly brilliant week and try very hard not to die of jealousy okay?

Stay safe and chic mes chéries,

English Rose x

Images source: www.google.com

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All good fashionistas know that the holiday period is simultaneously one of the best, and most stressful, times for fashion and dressing up as whilst it gives you an opportunity to get all glammed up and put on your best party frock, if you’re anything like me then you don’t really want to wear the same dress to every party, especially if some of the same people are going to be there. If you don’t have the finances to splash out on a new dress for every event, and let’s be honest, who does, then the holiday party season can offer the perfect opportunity for creativity as you are forced to present that perfect LBD (Little Black Dress) in many different ways with the help of loads of accessories. Your mission over the holidays is to make one dress look like a brand new dress everytime you wear it. I hope you were successful in your mission lovelies.

Speaking dressing up for parties and New Years Eve, that leads me nicely on to my inspiration for this post. It started with a hat. In the amazing (and totally bankrupting) January sales, I laid my eager bargain hunter eyes on a bowler hat. And just like that, it was love. It goes with literally everything. When I fall in love, fashion or otherwise, I fall hard and this hat just happens to be my new obsession. I wear it all the time and when I put it on I feel like I become another person (not as extreme as a Beyoncé/Sasha Fierce situation but almost). I feel confident, exuberant, bubbly. I am the girl that doesn’t take no for an answer, who sparkles when she walks into the room and who is so overflowing with love for life that it is infectious. This hat is my ring, my Kryptonite, my sartorial drug. I am in short, addicted.

Me on NYE with my hat

Another reason I love it so much is that it ties in SO perfectly with one of my absolute favourite eras of all time, the 1920s. I’m SO obsessed with the twenties as any one who knows me is well aware.I utterly adore the luxurious glamour of the 1920s and am fascinated by the ‘lost generation’ of bored, over-privelleged post-war Americans that have been so beautifully detailed and documented in the pages of Hemmingway of Fitzgerald novels, as they struggled to find their place in the world. I’m also thinking of doing a 1920s themed photoshoot with all my amazing clothes that fit the brief so ridiculously perfectly and all compliment each other, so watch this space darlings.

But for now, this Friday I’m In Love post is not so much about me as it is about you. My 1920s wardrobe is more or less sorted but I have a real feeling that come Autumn/Winter fashion weeks, the catwalks will be full of amazing outfits inspired by, and downright immersed in, the 1920s. You mark my words darlings. You heard it here first. 2010 was all about the 1950s, 2011 is seeing a Seventies revival but Spring/Summer 2012 will be the year of the 1920s.

Of course our ChicFiles readers are trendmakers not followers so start wearing them now so that by the time they do come in everyone will remember that you wore it first, and better. So without further ado, here’s how to achieve the perfect nineteen twenties insouciance:

Read: The Great Gatbsy – A MUST read for any 1920s or literature fan. The Ultimate American novel. I am in love with this cover by modern Penguin Classics.

Watch: I am so excited for the new show Boardwalk Empire to come to the UK later this month, I’ve been hearing only good things about it from my contacts across the pond. I think it will definitely do for the revival of interest in 1920s fashion what Mad Men famously did for the 1950s style that exploded on the runways and into our closets last year.

Listen: To jazz, Louis Armstrong is of course the Godfather of crooning:

Drink: Prohibition? What prohibition? Invest in some Martini glasses for lounging on the chaise-longue sipping those fabulous mint Juleps. These super stylish ones are from British Department store John Lewis.

Accessorise: Make sure you accessorize to the max. Think long, sparkly jewellery, stylish hats, lace stockings, feather boas, faux fur coats, fascinators, silk purses and ornate hairbands. The bigger and more glitzy, the better:

Forever 21 – Feather Hairband

Asos – Floral Hairband

Accessorize – Bowler Hat

Diane Von Furstenberg – Hairband

Forever 21 – Pearlescent Clutch:

New Look – Beaded Clutch – Was £18, Now £5:

House of Holland for Pretty Polly Stockings:

Any 1920s Look would not be complete with the flapper dress. Here are some of the best out there at the moment, and better yet, many are reduced:

Topshop – Kate Moss Icon Beaded Dress – Was £130, Now £40

Oasis Lace Fringe Flapper Dress

Asos Beaded Flapper Dress – Was £120 , Now £72

New Look Beaded Flapper Dress:

So there you have it, I hope I’ve inspired you to try something new this New Year and that even if all you do is read the Great Gatsby, or buy a feather hair band, you find some small way to pay hommage to the amazing decade that was the nineteen twenties.

Hope you have a fabulous weekend darlings.

Stay safe and chic mes chéries,

English Rose x

Another cool thing you should know about these ladies is that they collaborated with Amy Westcott on costume designs for the film Black Swan. Amy who is known for her costume design on films like: The Wrestler, Squid and the Whale and Black Swan asked the Mulleavy sisters for help in creating the Black Swan outfits which are beautifully crafted. If you havent seen the film its a must! The black feathers and tulle and Natalie’s makeup in the film all mesh together to create an amazing creation.

If you’re in Los Angeles this spring you can stop by the Museum of Contemporary Art better known as MOCA to see the Rodarte exhibit that will be on display for a limited time, for more info on that you can click here. That is an exhibit I look forward to attending and hope I can take photos to share. For now here are my favorites from the Rodarte Spring 2011 Ready to Wear Collection.

Photo Courtesy of Style.com

Photo Courtesy of Style.com

Photo Courtesy of Style.com

The Sisters behind Rodarte

Now, if only the weather would cooperate so I can get to it!

For more of the Winter Kate lookbook, check out the Nylon site. Click Click Click below…

This dress from Modcloth-the Nom de Plume Dress is adorable and I want it!  Light pink and khaki are perfectly paired on this vintage inspired shift dress. 

 The Breezy Bouquet Basket Bag also from Modcloth is springtime fashion at its best. This bag is topped with colorful flowers which makes it easy for matching it with almost everything.

For some spring time sophistication I am loving the Shadow Play Shirt Dress from Nastygal. Sheer light peach with black trimming makes for a classic look. I would love to wear this on a dreamy spring night.

And finally for all that unpredictable weather we have been having you will always need an umbrella. These Rain Parade Mini Umbrellas from Fred Flare  are so cute.  You will always want to be prepared for the rain in the spring because April showers bring May flowers. That never gets old does it? If the winter blues have got you down get your credit card out and start that springtime shopping,  it will make you smile!

image via Fashion Copious

And in true Joanna fashion, I found a just as cute necklace on Etsy that is probably 1/100000th of the price of this one. Click here to check it out.  I may also try to make one