Never Love You More Honours List

So its New Year's Eve, which means that all papers are looking back to the highlights of the past year, so what better time to share some of mine?

Picture the scene, its pre Winter Pimms time in the NLYM abode and I am yet to get my gladrags on, however, I do have a tasty chocolate cake cooling in the kitchen AM I 40 YEARS OLD???? Anywayyyyyy, here goes....

Best Catwalk show of 2008
Its a tricky one of course and all fashion fans will have a different opinion but the Topshop Unique SS2009 show really grabbed me. It was exciting, young and really fun, I can't wait to get hold of the heart blazer or don some of their 80s head bands. The prints were bold and the colours decidedly pastel, just brilliant.


London shop of the year

Shop at Maison B - I am distraught by the fact that Shop At Maison B has now closed down, it was the best shop in London selling A.P.C, Sonia Rykiel, Vivienne Westwood jewellery, Eley Kishimoto and many more. So goodbye Shop at Maison B and thanks for the good times! p.s. here is to making My Sugarland THE shop of 2009

Best fashion blog
Apart from NLYM of course, well it has to be our old faithful Style Bubble Susie Bubble remains the best of the best, recently cited in The Observer Magazine's Top 50 Most Influential Blogs SB's latest fantastic addition is the Style Bubble Google Map which details all of Susie's favourite shops in London including some charity shop gems, a genius idea, excellently executed.


Best sample sale
Well it has to be Luella, where else can you get yourself a full length military coat for £85? I managed to spend A LOT at the two sample sales in 2008 and cannot wait to go again next year.


Nail varnish of the year
Miss Behavin Midnight Blue by Leighton Denny, I first got my mitts on this in February and have been obsessed with it ever since, the colour is rich and dark but it stains your nails like no ones business so make sure you have a base coat on to avoid looking a bit grubby.


Beauty innovation of the year
Wode perfume by Boudicca, Boudicca, the London based design house created by Zowie Broach and Brian Koakby launced Wode, their first fragrance, this year. Here's the blurb
Wode, the revolutionary Art Fragrance from BOUDICCA, explores further the myth around Queen Boudicca (aka Boadicea). Legend has it she and her tribe wore a cobalt blue war “paint” on their skin that gave them a ferocious and mythical look when advancing into battle. When finally defeated by the Romans, Queen Boadicea killed herself by swallowing hemlock, an extract of which is included in Wode.


See what happened when Grazia tested out the perfume in their Westfield office


Forward thinking fashion magazine award
....this goes to Grazia magazine, this year saw Grazia launch their brand new website graziadaily.co.uk, relocate to Westfield for the opening of London's most exciting retail development, create an iPhone app and regularly update their YouTube channel with behind the scenes footage from shoots and interviews.


Here's looking forward to next year, thank you so much for reading Never Love You More and do keep coming back as plans for a bigger and better next year are already in the pipeline.

Big love and big blue Wode grafitti kisses xx

Beyonce rocking more Pugh

Image from PopSugar

You may remember my post about Beyonce wearing two Gareth Pugh dresses at the MTV Europe Music awards in Liverpool, well she's only gone and cemented her love for the designer by wearing lots of Pugh garms in her new video for DIVA.

You can check the video out here yeah it sounds a bit like Rihanna and presumably is from the Sasha Fierce side of the album - she's got the bloody glove on again - but its pretty good. I do still love Single Ladies though

Get thee to the Topshop website

Its a difficult time for shops right now and everyone is feeling the pinch after Xmas so get yourself some investment pieces in the sale (maybe not the feather bolero - who knows??) Topshop have some fab stuff online, if you, like me, cannot be bothered to sharpen your elbows for a trip to the shops.

Fluffy Cardigan by Emma Cook - was £95 now £45


Cardigan by Simone Shailes was £250 now £150


Cardigan by Simone Shailes was £250 now £150, this is one of the heaviest cardigans I have ever held and super hot but gorgeous all the same


Woo hoooo, the feather capes have gone down in price, thank goodness


Preen boots are now down to £45 but not the blue ones, darn, maybe these are different because I don't remember the metal heel??


Peter Jenson Red brogues going for £50

Tights please!

I'm back! Ooh I have had some horrid stomach flu over Xmas - good timing I know! Anyway, I am off to the shops tomorrow to pick up some albums in the sales (poor Zavvi, hope the stock is cheap!) but I am also on a mission to get some snazzy tights from Dorothy Perkins.

It may surprise you to hear that their tights are pretty hot this season, Dottie P's does good quality tights for not very much (the below are a mere £8)







You can also buy these online if you are abroad

Oh the albums I'm buying?? Ones I really should have from last year including Late of the Pier - Fantasy Black Channel, Foals and Friendly Fires. Got the Grace Jones album for Xmas, its ace!

I am a blogger and I make predictions, yeah

I am featured in this week's Record of the Day magazine making my prediction for the music act most likely to get massive next year, my prediction was La Roux

Story from Nylon's site

ooh i love twitter already, I just found out from Nylon's twitter about Lady Obama lipstick - its shimmery bronze fyi.

Its $20 and also a massive PR stunt but pretty clever huh

Twitter / RSS - I am a massive geek

Ok so you can now track my every movement on Twitter by going to www.twitter.com/hollyferguson I would love it if you joined me there.

Plus, my RSS feed seems to be broken are you having problems with it? Holla if so and I'll endeavour to fix it

Lust

I love this, its from Reiss and is in the 25% off sale online but still crawls in at £103, hmm

...because everyone loves an end of year list

I'm sitting at home watching Christmas cookery shows - it doesnt get much better! When flicking through my iPod on the tube ride home I thought it was high time I made my end of year singles / albums / music videos of 2009 so here goes....

Best singles

Lykke Li - Dance Dance Dance

Last Shadow Puppets - Standing Next To Me

Mystery Jets - Two Doors Down

Cocknbullkid - On My Own

CSS - Rat Is Dead

Elbow - Grounds for Divorce

Florence & The Machine - Kiss With A Fist

Friendly Fires - Paris

Hot Chip - Ready for the Floor

Kings of Leon - Sex On Fire

Ladyhawke - My Delirium

Metronomy - Heartbreaker

Rihanna - Disturbia

Stricken City - Lost Art

Vampire Weekend - Oxford Comma

The NLYM video for best use of high fashion in a Music Video goes to.......

Roisin Murphy - You Know Me Better - directed by Jaron Albertin with biggest props going to stylist Claire Edmondson



NLYM award for most fashion statement squished into one video goes to....

Lykke Li 'Breaking It Up' directed by Sarah Chatham...that hair, those boots, the polka dots and deconstructed jacket - swoon and did I mention her dancing?



Best fan generated video goes to....
Lykke Li 'Dance Dance Dance' by Olivia L and Mary C - I could go on to make some social commentary about YouTube making it possible for amateur film makers to upload videos to a potentially huge audience but you know all of that.

This wins because the fancy footwork at the beginning is beautiful plus the styling and camera work is far from amateur



Finally, albums of the year...

Mystery Jets - Twenty One
CSS - Donkey
Friendly Fires - Friendly Fires
Hot Chip - Made In The Dark
A.Human - Third Hand Prophecy
The Kills - Midnight Boom
Kings of Leon - Only By The Night
The Last Shadow Puppets - The Age of the Understatement
Metronomy - Nights Out
Santogold - Santogold
Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend
Yacht - I Believe In You, Your Magic Is Real
Elbow - The Seldom Seen Kid

Party outfits

I love Christmas, who doesn't? I love the fact that you can go out and dress up like no other time of the year, on Saturday night the best party in East London took place at my friend Helen's house, here is a selection of outfits from the night...

Let's start with Katie, totally on trend in her lace dress with fitted bodice



Then the lovely Jenna with her beautiful Reiss skirt



Then me rocking the explosion in the sequin factory look

Its nearly Christmas and I'm very excited

I do wish work would slow down, but at least I'm not bored. Needless to say I didnt make it to the Kirkwood sale for fear of the bank manager coming round and taking my cards away, I'm a bit gutted but it is totally sensible.

In other news, Urban Junkies (daily London centric mailout) alerted me to a new shop nearish to my humble abode today, which I had never heard of, bonkers! Its called My Sugarland and is situated on St John's Street in Farringdon. I'm allowed not to have heard of it yet as it only opened on 1st November (maybe not, i'm totally slack) by stylist Zoe Lem and stocks PPQ, Belle Sauvage, Mawi, Steve J & Yoni P etc.

Plus its a party and exhibition space

Here's what MS says for itself

Once upon a time, there was a girl who spent her days putting together splendid outfits for equally splendid people. After years spent traveling the globe, she had a dream. In the dream there was a place containing the most exquisite clothes, accessories and objects from around the globe. When she woke up, she set about bringing the dream to life......
The new fashion concept store will combine designer, vintage and new talent. With names including: Armand Basi, PPQ, Terri De Haviland, Stevej & YoniP, Belle Sauvage, Evie Belle, Exterity, Jenny Dyer, Cutler & Gross, Mawi, Comfort Station and many more.
My Sugarland will open 1st November 2008. The first of the ongoing exhibitions will be Little Shilpa a jewellery designer and artist from Mumbai.

My Sugarland, 402-404 St. John Street, London EC1V 4NJ

Cannot wait for Saturday!!!

Upcoming Cocosa sales

I do love Cocosa, after buying a PPQ dress from there I have become a bit addicted, they time their mail outs exactly right and inevitably lead me to taking a peak. My only criticism is the fact that the packaging is not very environmentally friendly, a bag in a box delivered by a courier, no need.

Anyhow, the following sales are coming up and I'm getting a bit over excited, first of all Mawi is back! Named the Alexa Chung Heart Pendant, this is one of my favourite pieces from Mawi, it is a stunning half price on Cocosa now down to £115.


Now, bags aren't really doing it for me at the moment so I ignored the Sonia Rykiel and Luella bags - not the nicest ones from the collections I have to say.

Coming soon are sales from the following:

Eley Kishimoto
Richard Nicholl
Jonathan Saunders

In my head the influx of young cool designers is down to my customer questionnaire suggesting younger designers are featured.

At the moment you still need to be invited to log in to the site, so if you do want an invitation email me as existing members can send out invites

Beth Ditto's new hair

I do like Beth's new hair, she rocked up at the Love magazine Christmas party last night at the Royal Academy looking hot to trot

Purple rain....

After reading Bella Sugar's post about the return of purple nail varnish for 2009, I became a bit obsessed. I went in to my local Boots today and asked for the new Chanel purple nail varnish, of course I couldn't remember the name of it, that would be far too organised. Anyway, turns out its not in the shops until January 2009 and is indeed called Vendetta (£15), apparently the press office can't get enough samples in to send out to press - is the nail varnish the new IT Bag? Maybe we will need to get on a waiting list for it?

If you cannot bare to wait then Rimmel are doing a great purple called Pompous and its a sight cheaper than the Chanel version. Make sure you wear a base coat though because if its anything like the pesky fashionable deep blue then it will definitely stain your nails, I got the Rimmel 3 in 1 because again it was the cheapest in Boots!

Jump on the trend early!

return to an old post

If you are in the habit of reading NLYM then you may remember a post about the Legwork DVD, well, since I wrote about it I have managed to get hold of a copy. My boyfriend thought it was hilarious when this turned up in the post.

I have spent the last few weeks feeling guilty for not hauling ass to the gym and instead eating all of the Christmas treats that keep appearing at Reception at work, so tonight, being a bit bored and taking full advantage of the boy being at work, I thought I'd give the DVD a go.

It's short and sweet at 30 minutes, although I did feel a bit cheated with the brevity of it. The core section took about ten seconds! Probably a good thing seeing as I am so unfit at the moment. So yes, it did make my muscles wobble a bit, lets see how long it takes me to sort my actually wobbly legs out. I think I need to get something that sorts out the rest of my body and not just my legs.

ANYWAY - why am I trying to get legs fit for the best high heels in the world?? OH, yes, check below....its only a bloody Nicholas Kirkwood sample sale. This man makes the best shoes ever and the sale is on the same street as my work, um fate much?

A girl in my coat

This is my favourite A.P.C Winter Coat, I wear it everyday, this. however, is not me

Swarovski bring in the slebs

Swarovski Crystallized invited London’s hottest style icons Daisy Lowe, Pixie Geldof and Jaime Winstone to let their imaginations run wild by creating bespoke crystal jewellery.



You may have seen the above video, filmed by Will Cameron and featuring Daisy Lowe, PIxie Geldof and Jaime Winstone. It publicises Swarovski's unique new store on Great Marlborough Street in London where you can create your own jewellery or buy one of the existing designs.

I like the idea behind the video so I might pop into the store as its super close to my office, check the website here

New Lily Allen Video

I like the new Lily Allen song 'The Fear' and think they have taken direction from amazing fashion photographer Tim Walker for the video, especially with the balloons on the house.

Her dress is by PPQ.

Its not got the colour depth of a Tim Walker shot but is a good try!

Hello possums!

Last year Fafi collaborated with MAC, this year Dame Edna has done it, yep thats right.

There is a lot of lilac!! Get involved

Making it in 2009 - La Roux

My biggest hopes for 2009 are pinned on La Roux's sportsluxe sleeves, found by ex Mr Lily Allen Seb Chew and managed by the Klaxons manager, La Roux is going to be massive in 2009. She is releasing her debut 12" only single 'Quicksand" on Kitsune records and I seriously recommend you purchase.

She looks ace and will be a style icon for next year so you heard it here first, check out the video for Quicksand below or go to her MySpace

Gary Card doodles on Stella McCartney

Ok so not strictly true, but amazing set designer Gary Card has been drawing in Stella McCartney's window on Bruton Street in London. He has been drawing in the theme in Alice In Wonderland while people are walking past. Pretty neat huh.



Photos from Dazed Digital

60s-orama

(outfit - shoes KG at Kurt Geiger, tights vintage, coat from A.P.C)

It was mine and my bf's 6 year anniversary last week so we went to the fabulous Bistrotheque in Hackney for a lovely dinner, I thought I'd get dressed up for the occasion. As you can see from the above photo, I went to the Daniel Hersheson Blow Dry Bar at Oxford Circus' branch of Topshop and had a 'Bardot', which, to you and me is a humble beehive.

I was amazed at how quickly a skilled hand can whizz your hair into something ace, the Bardot took literally ten minutes, you start by backcombing - with a comb not a brush, until you look a bit like Edward Scissorhands /Worzel Gummidge with one bit sticking straight up from the crown of your head and the sides sticking out sideways, then you pin it together in a twist at the nape of the neck.

Sounds easy but I certainly couldn't do it without some eyes in the back of my head. Grazia magazine have put some instructional vids about how to do the Bardot up on their YouTube channel so do check that out if i'm being unclear!

Anyway, I am definitely going back to the Blow Dry bar for my work's Xmas party - its only £21 and saves you buying a new dress (ok, maybe not). The philosophy behind the blow dry bar is walk in, no appointment necessary, 30mins and you're done. They do 8 different styles, the hardest thing about going in to the Blow Dry Bar is choosing what style to have.

Franz Ferdinand (not so) secret gig

Get down to Durrr super early to check out Franz tonight, stage times have changed for this Durrr, with Franz taking to the stage at 11.40pm.

Wear your Durrr badge to get into the priority queue

Here's a pic of me and the boy there a couple of week's ago, yes he's trying to eat my head

Getting big in 2009

Dan Black's first single 'Yours' is pretty amazing, he sounds a bit like Thom Yorke messing around with Beck on a drum machine, stick some Prince in there too. Hailing from Paris, Dan used to be the leadsinger in indie band The Servant (me neither). So you know the deal, unsigned DIY, cuts his own hair, probably make his own clothes (last two have no factual grounding). His cover of Notorious BIG track Hypnotize was much hyped across the blogosphere with Perez Hilton going bonkers for Black.

He's going to be massive in 2009, check his myspace

Photo of the day

Something American for Thanksgiving - Vivian Girls

Coming straight out of nowhere and exploding all over the scene are Vivian Girls, ok, so they come from Brooklyn and they are being massively hyped in the UK right now. They are playing the Windmill on Brixton Hill in London town before heading over to Vice's pub The Old Blue Last on 2nd December and 3rd respectively.

I hate it when people describe music as shoe gazey so I'm just not going to do it, imagine a more lo fi Sleater Kinney with a 60s edge and razor sharp Brooklyn vocals - oh and chuck in a bit of Jesus And Mary Chain. Sound amazing? See you at the Old Blue Last...

Check them out on myspace

Favourite purchase of the last 24hours

A.P.C pyjamas from the fabulous but sadly not around for much longer Shop at Maison Bertaux

Late of the Pier party

Designer of the Year - Luella Bartley

Another NLYM favourite triumphed at the British Fashion Awards - Luella Bartley picked up the Designer of the Year Award. Any regular readers will be aware of how much I love Luella - I popped into the shop on Monday just to cheer myself up - she inspires me with her use of colour and pattern as well as being one of the most influential designers in terms of setting trends on the High Street in the last year.

A former fashion journo for Dazed and Vogue, Luella Bartley launched her first collection in 1999, she opened her UK flagship store last year on Brook Street.

DESIGNER OF THE YEAR: Luella Bartley, presented by Alexandra Shulman

OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN FASHION DESIGN: Stephen Jones, presented by Erin O'Connor

ACCESSORY DESIGNER: Rupert Sanderson, presented by Roisin Murphy
Also nominated: Jonathan Kelsey, Lara Bohinc

MENSWEAR DESIGNER: Christopher Bailey for Burberry, presented by Alex James
Also nominated: Paul Smith, Richard James

MODEL OF THE YEAR: Jourdan Dunn
Also nominated: Agyness Deyn, Lily Donaldson

RED CARPET DESIGNER: Matthew Williamson, presented by Emilia Fox
Also nominated: Giles Deacon, Stella McCartney

SPECIAL AWARD FOR BESPOKE: Richard James, presented by Lord Coe and Jeremy Langmead

ISABELLA BLOW AWARD FOR FASHION CREATOR: Tim Walker, presented by David Furnish
Also nominated: Pat McGrath, Terry Jones

DESIGNER BRAND: Jimmy Choo, presented by Sophie Ellis-Bextor
Also nominated: Agent Provocateur, Paul Smith

SWAROVSKI EMERGING TALENT AWARD ACCESSORIES: Nicholas Kirkwood, presented by Claudia Schiffer and Jefferson Hack
Also nominated: Charlotte Olympia, Anna Vince

SWAROVSKI EMERGING TALENT AWARD READY TO WEAR: Louise Goldin, presented by Claudia Schiffer and Jefferson Hack
Also nominated: Danielle Scutt, Felder Felder

Well done Jourdan

The rather fabulous Jourdan Dunn has been awarded with Model of the Year at the British Fashion Awards. The 19 year old was spotted by a scout for Storm model agency whilst shopping in Primark's Hammersmith branch two years ago. You will recognise Dunn from the Topshop campaign, the cover of last month's British Vogue, covers of Pop / i-D / Italian Vogue.

In a period in which the fashion industry has been criticised for not using black models, Jourdan is a breath of fresh air. She was the first black model to walk down the runway for Prada in 10 years, since Naomi Campbell.

Simone Shailes for Topshop

Having just graduated from the MA Knitwear course at London's St Martin's College, Simone Shailes has already got herself a collaboration with Topshop. The high street chain will be recreating her graduate collection for their stores, according to Shailes the knitwear has the look and feel of fur coats, she accessorises with denim and big boots for a bold brash look. This is the first time Topshop has worked in this way, ie recreating a graduate collection for the high street and its a bold move for the brand who are proving themselves to be as fashion forward as anyone else out there right now.

The collection hit the shops on Thursday and here's a peek at what you can purchase from this upcoming designer







Photos from Dazed Digital