It was a Red Carpet full of glamour, gorgeous girls AND guys and lots of razzle-dazzle at the Elle Style Awards on Tuesday night.Held at the Westway Studios, and staged in association with H&M, it attracted a true A-list crowd of stars and celebrities.
I was feeling quite swish myself, having been driven right to the edge of the red carpet by a lovely young Italian girl, Beatrice, at the wheel of a sleek black, Ferrari 612 Scaglietti, which purrs like a tiger when the motor’s running, even when it’s just parked. Plus, it reaches a top speed of 199mph, although Mr Livingstone and his army of “spy” cameras will be glad to know we came nowhere near that, although I was thrust back in my seat as we accelerated away from London Fashion Week at 0 to 30 in about 2 seconds!
Kate Hudson shimmered in a long, cream, gown by American designer Derek Lam, with several hundreds of thousands of pounds of Van Cleef & Arpels jewels nestling in her cleavage.
“I wish I could keep them,” she said, as her fingers stroked the diamonds, “but they have to go back, sadly.”
Kylie, her hair in a straight, Anna Wintour-style bob, wore a rich green Dolce & Gabbana. The soprano Kathryn Jenkins displayed an enviable hourglass figure in a beautifully-cut cream Roland Mouret, and Twiggy whipped off her silver Marks & Spencer raincoat to reveal a slinky silver-sequinned Stella McCartney shift underneath.
Her daughter Carly, who is now working as a design assistant for Stella, wore an original Ossie Clark blouse. “I can’t get into any of Mum’s old Ossie’s; they’re incredibly tiny.”
I received a nice kiss from Will Young, resplendent in Burberry and both Henry Holland and his soul-mate the model Agyness Deyn were in a mix of Burberry and printed T-shirts from Henry’s own label, House of Holland.
The actor James McAvoy, was in a mix of grey tweeds by Clement and August, while the boys from The Feeling said all their clothes were vintage, second-hand or from Oxfam. They looked incredibly cool. “This is the way we like to look.”
Keira Knightley was one of the few disappointments. Head down and muffled-up in a dark mac, she fairly sprinted down the red carpet, ignoring all the waiting photographers and tv crews. Why oh why Keira? You may not have won a BAFTA for Atonement, but Elle gave you BEST Actress and you know we love you! Later on, I found out she was wearing Chanel.
I also spotted Donna Air, very prim and proper in Richard Nicoll – he’s showing at London Fashion Week today – Jodie Kidd in BodyA
jodie kidd in Bodyamr
agyness in henry holland
Erin
k in Chanel
kylie in dolcemr, Kelly Brook in a gorgeous turquoise Yves Saint Laurent gown, Louise Redknapp in navy blue satin Lanvin, Sophie Ellis Bextor in Erdem – another LFW favourite, Holly Willoughby in Dolce & Gabbana (she swears she doesn’t understand what all this cleavage fuss is about!), Roison Murphy in Givenchy and Stella McCartney in, naturally, Stella M.
Naomi Campbell was a late, but pretty spectacular arrival. Dressed in a Dolce & Gabbana tulle-veiled drerss with an Azzedine Alaia “Snow Queen” cape, she had dashed straight from the catwalk of the Kisa show, just in time tulle cape, to present the Best British designer awards to Jonathan Saunders.
I thought everyone looked pretty fabulous. The comedian Jimmy Carr, however, disagreed. Taking to the stage to present the Best female TV star to an absent Kelly Osbourne, he described the room as being full of “the weirdest men and the tallest women I’ve ever seen.” Perhaps it was a joke.