AW11 styling challenge at Westfield London

I was recently invited to my favourite shopping centre, Westfield London, to take part in their AW11 styling challenge so this week I skipped along to W12 for one of the most fun events I’ve ever attended for this blog…but it wasn’t all fun and games, there was work to do too.

There were 5 bloggers taking part: Laetitia from Mademoiselle Robot, Reena from Fashion Daydreams, Kate from Catwalk Queen, Jess from OSOYOU, and of course myself.

Each of us had been allocated an AW11 trend and had to scour some of the 265 shops to find our key piece. The trends were heritage, 1960s mod, faux fur, coats and sequins. If you’re a regular visitor you might have noticed that I’m rather taken with the 60s look (see Sixties chic and Swingin’ sixties) so it won’t surprise you to learn that I had my fingers crossed for the mod trend – meaning I was kind of terrified to be given ‘sequins’. I might have been out of my comfort zone but I was actually also quite excited to challenge myself and try something new. Isn’t fashion about experimenting and having fun?

AW11 sequin-spiration

Every year as we approach the festive season we start to notice sequins popping up all over the place. A Christmas party outfit isn’t complete without a little bit of sparkle after all.

This year our shiny friends are done best at Prada, where they take the form of super-sized paillettes and adorn skirts and dresses to give the models a mermaid-esque look, and also by Ashish who went for a more dressed-down, grungy look that I just love.

Prada AW11 campaign shot by Steven Meisel (via Fashion Editor At Large)

Ashish AW11 collection via Cool Hunting

Everyone’s favourite R&B diva (and soon-to-be baby mama) Beyoncé is a big fan of sequins, sporting a D&G embellished tuxedo for the recent VMAs and a gold spangly jacket with barely there hotpants when she wowed the crowds at Glastonbury.

Via L: briancorpuz / R: Catwalk Queen

Treasure hunt

On arrival at Westfield, after a quick glass of prosecco, I was accompanied round the shops by the lovely Rebecca who was helping me on my quest to find the perfect sequin piece. We had 2 hours and £200 to create a look which we soon realised is easier said than done.

I quickly identified my stand-out piece and whilst it was a substantial chunk of the budget in my opinion nothing else even came close so with less than 30 minutes left I snapped it up.

House of Fraser seemed a good choice for shoes, with it’s large footwear department and lots of sale items that came within budget. There were some gorgeous new offerings but with minimal funds left I managed to put up my blinkers and avoid them, and I was thrilled to be able to find some gorgeous leather shoe boots reduced by more than £100.

The only problem was that the sale assistant was busy and the shoes I’d spied were about 10 feet in the air on the top shelf. With time ticking away Rebecca and I desperately attempted a couple of very unsuccessful jumps to grab them (my favourite thing about this shot is the facial expression on the lady behind me).

All spent up, we sped back to the Style Studio and arrived bang on time ready to reward ourselves with some well-earned nibbles and more prosecco.

Key piece: sequins

I was keen to avoid the sequinned dress, seeing it as the obvious choice and also feeling that 99% of the time they just look a bit, well, tacky. That was until I laid eyes on this beauty from French Connection (£165). The matte sequins and exposed zip give it a little bit more edge so I paired it with some black ankle boots from Kurt Geiger (reduced to just £29 from £140) to give it a more rock’n'roll vibe.

Wearing: Golden Samantha Sequin Dress from French Connection*, Saucy Black Leather Boots from Kurt Geiger at House of Fraser

*Currently offering free P&P off orders over £150, use code ‘OVER150′!

Our shopping adventures were filmed for the new-look Westfield London website, which is launching imminently so look out for my awkward début soon! (As a media graduate I much prefer to be behind the camera, although taking outfit photos for this blog had encouraged me to loosen up slightly even if I’m not 100% comfortable on the other side of the lens!)