All the drama and the glamour of the fashion week have now come to an end. The classic American styles of New York, the funkiness of London, the jaw dropping glamour of Milan and the exquisite couture of Paris has left us chomping at the bit for the low down of next seasons hottest trends. Wait no longer my friends, for S/S 09 is here and the top trends for next spring will be:

• Colour - Think soft pastal tones of pinks, peaches and oranges, jazzed up with dashes of jade green and gold - as seen on the catwalks of PPQ, Balmain and Valentino.

• Ruffles - If girly frills arn’t your thing then you may want to stear clear of this trend - however it was everywhere. From the catwalks of Chloe, Basso & Brooke and Bora Aksu, we see swathes of material flowing around the silhoutte, very pretty and very spring time.

• If you like to be a little more daring cut out and see through clothing will be a big trend next season. If you dare to bare, take inspiration from the runways of Henry Holland, Laura Lees and PPQ, with cut out peep holes and sheer fabrics - brave indeed but might be a bit nippy.

• If you loved the 80’s then good for you, because it’s back. To counter-balance the pretty frills of last seasons femininism that refuses to budge, 80’s rock glamour and punky vibe screams fun and fancy free. The catwalks of PPQ, Emma Bell, Ashish, Miss Sixty, Gucci and Moschino all flirted with the 80’s to varying button covered creations. Fun fun fun.

Which trend do you think you will be most likely to wear come spring?

Photography by Nick Stovey.

Well you know what they say? All is fair in love and war, but what about fashion?

With fresh news, it appears that the House of Valentino may not be as luscious and darling as we all first thought. It was reported today, chief designer at Valentino, Alessandra Facchinetti, who took the helm after Valentino retired in sept. 2007,  was sacked after the latest collection (S/S 09) was displayed in Paris. Fair enough you think, people are allowed to hire and fire whom they like, but to do it via the press? That IS pretty shameful.

This news is so fresh that even wikipedia hasn’t been updated yet and apparently the gloves are more than off at Valentino. Facchinetti was scorned by long time Valentino business associate and ex boyfriend, Giancarlo Giammetti after the show stating, “to pretend to transform and revolutionise the Valentino style is a utopia which is a loss from the start.” It appeared that Facchinetti hadn’t done enough to evoke the Valentino feel upon the catwalk with the man himself even stating, with formidable disdain that “there is an existing archive with thousands of dresses where [a designer] can draw and take inspiration from to create a Valentino product that is relevant today. It is a shame that [Facchinetti] didn’t feel this need.”

And with that she was promptly and publicly sacked.

It’s one thing to be annoyed at someones work, but to openly declare that they haven’t supported your legacy maybe a bit much. But then it’s your legacy so I suppose you wanna get that stuff right? Also this isn’t the first time Alessandra has been fired from a major deisgner brand, the young designer left Gucci after just two seasons.

This unconventional and down right rude sacking of this young female designer has led to rumblings of sexism and  discontent within the fashion world, instigating that it’s near on impossible for young females to succeed in this male dominated industry.

Hopefully this is just an ugly isolated incident that will be a warning to others before they jump aboard the Valentino ship, however if the sexist rumours and whispers are true, it is actually a very sad day for fashion design the world over.

Noooooooooo don’t kid yourself, size zero will always be around, why? because it’s controversial and fashion loves the controversy daaaaarling.

But seriously though, over in Milan where Italy’s style capital is currently in the rigors of it’s very own Fashion Week, you wouldn’t expect there to be anything other than size zeros…. but hark… you beith wrong.

Established in the late 1970’s, the Miroglio family created Elena Miro, a Turin based deisgner fashion label, aimed at swathing plus sized women in beautiful stylish clothes. With all the sleek powerhouse status brands of Italy - the Gucci’s, the Prada’s, the Versace’s - it was a surprise that Milan Fashion Week was opened by a fabulously, unconventionally rounded troupe of beautiful women for Elana Miro - proving that beauty is not regulated to a single figured dress size.

Photography by EPA.