We Want Maternity Fashion!

Like a lot of things, maternity fashion has had a bit of a transformation over the years. Things that once were functional or boring or simply a stress purchase necessity - all these things have been made cool by design. Design is the DNA of any manufactured object from an orange juice carton to a spaceship. Designers like Philippe Starck have transformed every day objects like the citrus press or the tin opener and made them almost into works of art.

Clothes are the same - look at any old pic from the 1950s of people in the street, and about 90% of people aren't dressing to look cool, they're just wearing clothes to suit whatever weather it is.

Design changed all that and it's the same with maternity clothes - celebrities like Myleene Klass are often seen in very stylish maternity outfits, and the months of pregnancy are no longer on a lesser fashion level.

Celebrity fashion UK

Celebrity fashion. No, not fashion worn by celebrities but fashion designed by celebrities. Kate Moss did a range a while back that was successful not only in terms of the way it looked, but by choosing to make it widely available on the High Street she managed to eschew the kind of exclusivity vibe that high fashion had latterly become synonymous with.

Then over the past few years Pearl Lowe has started a successful career in clothing design and has produced extremely successful collections for Peacocks clothes. Pearl is probably better known now for her clothes designs than for her Britpop-era music with band Powder. In a genius move, Pearl employs the talents of daughter Daisy Lowe to model the collections. And there's a name to watch: Daisy Lowe. At the start of what is bound to be a successful career.

Other celebrities doing fashion include Fearne Cotton and Liam Gallagher. The success of a clothing line depends not upon the celebrity status of the designer but on the quality of the designs.

Fashion in extreme winter

A lot of snow about lately. A lot of sub zero temperatures. So, easy to feel decidedly cool, but how to look cool?

The first thing to do is forget about anything other than practicality. You might want to go to the army and navy stores and pick up a heavy military coat. Go for boots rather than shoes. And when the snow turns to ice, make sure that whatever footwear you're wearing has a good grip on its soles. Cos it's going to be slippy time soon.

Other than that, heavy wool jumpers are big anyway right now, so stock up on them.

The siberian weather isn't going to disappear any time soon, say the newspapers. So make like you're from Novisibirsk (Russia's third-largest city, located in Siberia) and wrap up well, whatever it takes.