Carey Mulligan - the ultimate English rose, the girl of the moment and envy of every fashion and Gatsby lover alike. Honing in on the fashion greats; Balenciaga, Lanvin, Chloé, Saint Laurent and Vionnet - it’s hard not to want her enviable wardrobe. From tailored chic to beautifully feminine  floor length frocks, Carey is pulling out all the stops on the red carpet and carrying it off with starlet finesse. Throw into the mix that super funky platinum pixie crop and your looking at a faultless example of French Riviera style. Carey Mulligan- dix points! 

As C-Fash’s home town of Liverpool sees Central Library re-open its doors after a makeover on a scale greater than even the best Gok Wan can offer, it only seems fitting to celebrate some literary style icons.  From religious figures that might have inspired many a draped maxi to a modern day girl-about-town who empowered a generation here’s six stylish ladies of literature:

Miranda Priestly: The love-to-hate editor-in-chief of Runway Magazine is The Devil Wears Prada version of Cruella de Ville meets everybody’s one time bitch of a boss. Never seen without a Hermès scarf and a scowl she would break us all in a torrent of well educated fashion put-downs.

Snow White: This saucy little minx was way ahead of her time with colour blocking styled to perfection and of course that staple cape which wouldn’t look out of place on any 2013 red carpet. If only she didn’t soil her reputation by hanging around with 7 men at once.

Carrie Bradshaw: Fictional she may be but she was brought to life worldwide with statement shoes and clashing prints. But what she did for the fashion world she didn’t do for male/female relationships. Cranky doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface.

The Virgin Mary: Hear me out on this one. She was rocking blue and white while the rest of the desert dwellers stuck to earthy tones. Even in tough times she managed to look polished. Well she wasn’t known as immaculate for nothing!

Jane Austen: The brain behind bodice ripping page turners was the 18th century’s version of Jackie Collins.  Her flair for romantic angst hasn’t lost its passion, although it’s unsure how she’d cope now with Facebook relationship updates.

Eve: She rocked a fig leaf. Need I say more!

This week saw the CRICKET store hold an event for its new customers. To introduce the new season we held a SS13 trends master class with hair by Patrick Wilson (Electric) and make-up by Art Deco. Patrick showed us 2 hair styles that are on trend for this season: a textured pony and deep mirrored waves. Art Deco gave us an insight into 2 looks: a pastel colour and products from their Dita Von Teese range which was sexy and sultry. 

Mojito Bar in conjunction with PKPR lavished the customers (and staff) with fabulous long Cosmopolitans which were super scrummy and got the evening started. Trend talks were given by Justine Mills and big trends such as monochrome, neon and prints were highlighted.

In honour of Cannes and all this flapper fabulous, we’re having a Great Gatsby moment. Set in the prosperous Long Island of 1922, The Great Gatsby follows the story of Jay Gatsby, a young and mysterious millionaire (needs me one of them) and his passion for the beautiful (and extremely well dressed) Daisy Buchanan during the Jazz Age. A story of decadence, excess and social upheaval with a smattering of naughtiness and fast living (for good measure), The Great Gatsby is an energetic and glittering adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic novel.

With an A-list cast including Leonardo DiCaprio (Leo to his mates) and the ever gorgeous Carey Mulligan and with costumes by Miuccia Prada and jewellery by Tiffany & Co, The Great Gatsby is set to be the film of 2013. We’re already feeling inspired to pull on our stockings, don our finest layers of pearls and party til dawn. Drooling into your pic ‘n’ mix? You will be! 

Here’s our favourite flapper finery…

Selfies, soft focus and swag. Three crucial points any savvy Instagram user is au fait with.  But as self-indulgent as it is, this social network is becoming the fashion world’s interactive, trend inspiring platform. A place too where we can all share our style triumphs, inspirations and the occasional sepia toned close up.

Careful not to go all out Rihanna by posting pictures of our nearly naked bodies or thinking we’re a budding Nigella with a snap of every calorie we’ve ever cooked, a crucial part of instagraming has to be the indulgent use of the all-powerful hash tag. No longer confined to Twitter, Instagram users have a never ending surplus of #wittycomments and #justifications, the top 5 being:

#YOLO – Oh you only live once? What connection does this have to a picture of your cat?

#NoFilter – Sometimes a filter isn’t a bad thing.

#Wholesentancesonahashtagthatarereallydifficulttoreadandpointless

#Followme – Have some dignity.

#Boom – What does this even mean?

Luckily for us, we can actually select who we interact with and can therefore avoid the annoyance that comes hand in hand with social networking.  For the ultimate window shopping extravaganza a well deserved follow would go to Matthew Williamson, Victoria Beckham, Balenciaga and Lanvin to name just a few.

And of course, CricketFashion is definitely worth following for the latest products, behind the scenes shoots and celebrity favourites. Not an irrelevant hash tag! #bangontrend!

By Matt Welsh 

With the impending arrival of the Royal bambini, fashion’s gone all starry eyed with all things stripes, red, white and blue making a renewed appearance. We’re not suggesting that you wrap yourself in a Union Jack flag and sport a K-Middy mask for one iota but we will be getting our nitty gritty British groove on this season and joining in the celebrations in the most stylish way possible.  All together now- “Rule Britannia!”

Many a burnt shoulder was sported this weekend with the obligatory spaghetti strap reminiscence leaving no doubt in our minds that the glorious days of British Summer Time are upon us.  As we say goodbye to layers and hello to flashes of skin we also welcome in a plethora of musical delights, none more fitting than Daft Punk’s long-awaited comeback full of disco vibes and visions of carefree summer days. Unsurprising this is already holds the record for most plays in one day on Spotify:

(click image to hear the song)

As the music charts rejoice this long overdue revival, with not a hint of awfulness that is EDM and the dreaded words “Featuring David Guetta” seemingly now behind us it’s only right we too embrace our inner Disco Stomper. As scary as this might seem we’re not talking spray on gold lame and knee high platforms, because we’d hate you to be mistaken for a fancy dress indulger. This time around Disco is all about being bold, colourful and glamorous. Studio 54 meets modern day, less flammable materials. 

Rosie Huntington Whiteley and Nicole Richie both look Dance floor ready in Balmain without resembling an Abba tribute: 

New items online now including these delights from Matthew Williamson, McQ and Saint Laurent are great for creating an eye-catching vision of colourfulness and will compliment your expert moves perfectly:

By Matt Welsh

Some of the biggest names in Hollywood are gearing up for one of the most prestigious annual events of the year, the Costume Institute Ball tonight and we are bracing ourselves for some show stopping gowns and Met Ball blunders. The year’s Punk theme will no doubt put the A-list stylists to the test. We envisage Rachel Zoe will have a total breakdown and be found rocking back and forth amongst a sea of safety pins and empty mini bar bottles.

 Gwyneth Paltrow, Sienna Miller and Jennifer Lawrence are all expected to attend, as is Kim Kardashian who has had her Met Ball ban lifted by the boyf’s bestie- Anna Wintour. We can’t wait to see what you squeezes her burgeoning bump into!

On the subject of attendees we can confirm that Galliano is not going for defo, despite his work being shown in the accompanying exhibition- Punk: From Chaos to Couture! As his publicist said  (and we’d have to agree)“One step at a time, and that’s one huge mother f****** staircase”. By my calculations that’s one spare ticket. Errrrr hellooooooo!

Here’s our pick of previous year’s best and worst Met Ball rigouts….

Karolina Kurkova- Who doesn’t remember THAT dress. Old school glamour and timeless appeal.

Katy Perry- A light up dress is never an option and don’t get us started on health and safety.

Frida Pinto- We love an androgynous injection but the tie is just toooooo literal!

You may have noticed there are a lot of umpa lumpa coloured clothing and accessories everywhere right now. The reason being is this colour takes outfits from boring to zing and is definitely one THE colours for this season! If you’re not brave enough to wear top to toe orange like an L.A convict then spruce up your wardrobe with some orangey accessories or even accents of colour in your clothing. Here’s how to brave the colour without looking like a Satsuma.

The exposure of one’s derriere cheek area has become quite the norm of late. Alarming as this trend for side-bottom exposure might be, the aptly named “bleg” area (not quite leg but, well you get it) has been embraced by the A-List greater good. There’s the usual body show offs like J.Lo and Rihanna giving a side-slash-flash but who’d have expected our wholesome mother of Coldplay sprogs Gwynnie would take to such sheer depths this week:

For most of the population, never mind a forty-something mother of two, this would be considered indecent exposure and would have women the world over dreading the extra upper leg wax and horror at the thought of the skirt being even slightly tugged out of place. So, if you’re more of a traditionalist there’s no harm in a good old fashioned show of the pins. With new items from Balenciaga and Lanvin online now it would be extremely difficult to suffer a wardrobe malfunction in these bottom covering delights.

By Matth Welsh

So it used to be all about flashing a bit of side boob on the red carpet but it’s looking like a cheeky bit of side bum is now stealing the show. Pretty curious about the underwear situation though, it’s looking like going commando is the only answer as there is quite simply, nowhere left to hide. 

This isn’t a look for me, or for any gal who likes to live off carbs, cake and chocolate, or anyone who would rather go food shopping than visit the gym. To even attempt to show a bit of side bum, you would need to live like the famously wholesome Gwynnie or be born blessed with a JLO body. 

Admittedly until recently the very words ‘kitten heel’ made me shudder in my Loubis. SHUDDER! Heels of less than 5 inches are surely reserved for our mothers, grandmothers and teens looking to embark on their first pair of non-sexy high heels in a safe and ladylike manner? That was then! Then God created Givenchy and with it, the most sultry killer heels of all time. What could be sexier than a black suede shoe with a gold-tipped mini stiletto heel and Givenchy’s signature shark tooth fastening? Finally….super sexy heels we can actually walk in!

Here’s a look at what our fabulous Coachella correspondent Natalie (instagram: @natloved) wore and some of her favourite photos from the festival…

Nailing the Isabel Marant girl look…

Isabel Marant Jacket, Isabel Marant vest, Vintage shorts, Isabel Marant boots and Celine Trio bag.

Tie Dye heaven…

BLK DNM Vest, Raquel Allegra Trousers, Celine Sandals and Stella McCartney sunglasses.

My Coachella Photos…