I love the
Scottish Fashion Awards. The country has a population of just over 5 million people, yet it has
national fashion awards.
It's a place so cold, that when I worked there, I lived in a puffer jacket. There's nay style in a puffer, lassie. Outside Edinburgh or Glasgow there's also very few opportunities to dress up.
Yet every year a designer and style icon are chosen by a rather enviable panel of important personages, like Brigitte Stepputtis head of Vivienne Westwood couture and Dolly Jones editor of Vogue.com.
Nominations for the style icon this year include
Annie Lennox, Sharleen Spiteri, Jenni Falconer and Lulu. This list makes it apparent that the panel have a hard time picking genuine style from the handful of well-known Scottish women who dress reasonably well. So I'm nominating Queen Michelle, from style blog Kingdom of Style, pictured below:
Yes, all those ladies nominated are rather well-known, but they haven't got anything on Michelle. Just check her way with textures. Her work with pattern is another thing all together more wondrous. Plus, she's a big fan of our Australian designers - Dion Lee in particular - and that makes her a style queen in my book.
The designers nominated this year are:
Christopher Kane
Jonathan Saunders
Graeme Black
Laura Lees
Laura Lees' is no Christopher Kane (who won last year) but her embroidery is many shades of fun - a bit mental, a bit rock and very pretty. She has a particular way with skulls that is most delightful. Laura did a capsule range for Topshop and stocks in Selfridges and a shed load of little boutiques around the world.
Looking forward to the results on June 21.