unique: topshop @ the tate modern

We were so excited, Jessi and I, to be seeing the Topshop Unique show yesterday at the Tate, that I made a decision not to even try to shoot the show. I wanted to be present, to watch it like a regular person, and I'm glad I did. It was gorgeous: perhaps the best of all the Unique shows yet.

Watch it here.

Got it? Good. Don't you love that pale blue cropped chunky jumper 3:42 in? (this is much better: I can type and see it again, in real time). Some amazing wide legged trousers that you had to see from where we sat - a kind of shaggy cashmere, at 4:29. Amazing.

LOVED the patent poodle skirt in a kind of mustard, at 4:55, paired with a cropped chunky jumper - this one a kind of variation of giant leopard. The pale dusty pinks - for fall!! - at around 5:56, especially another fifties poodle skirt in pink, with a white bomber jacket - very Sarah Jessica Parka, S&tC season 2.. the show felt like the love child of the fifties and the eighties. A hybrid I'd never considered possible, and yet I can't stop thinking about it.

And Jourdan Dunn in that gravity-defying Merlot coloured sparkling gown, at 7:55.. I can't see, frankly, anyone else wearing it that well.

So we loved the before party, and when I saw Olivia we greeted like old friends, and I didn't even feel like doing the obligatory smile shoot (that's her, walking to her seat in the pink pants). I did, later, at the Matthew Williams show - when she'd changed outfits.

Trends I'm noting so far on the crowd: black and white bold prints, (as on Victoria Pendleton, second down), and putting the colour and pattern on the trousers rather than the tops. Fun shoes: the crazy bovine platforms that caught my attention at my first fashion week - 2009 - are gone. Instead, what's cool is flats - like what Pixie wore with that big purple pattern dress - or ladylike  kitten heels, like what Kate Bosworth was wearing across from us on the front row, with clear stockings, a pretty skirt, and fluffy jumper. Another plus to not shooting during the show, but rather letting the big boys do the work: you get to see the dynamic of the girlfriends, clutching their men's arms while watching them watch the girls on the catwalk.

And of course, it gave me a little frisson of pride, to see my little friend Cara, all grown up and leading the show. BOTH shows. Click here to see her do the Harlem Shake backstage with her friend Jourdan Dunn.

Off to Burberry soon, sun's out, life is good.