COMPETITION: Win my goody bag from the Fearne Cotton catwalk show

Hi guys,
Last Thursday I went to the catwalk show for the unveiling of Fearne Cotton's SS13 collection for Very.co.uk. You can find out more about what I thought of the show here.  All the attendees at the show were given a goody bag: and I'm giving YOU the chance to win mine:


So what's the prize? Well, the prize is a natural cotton Fearne Cotton tote bag, a Fearne Cotton iphone cover, and a black chiffon blouse with silver stud details, as modelled by Fearne herself in the picture above. (The top is a size 8 but its slouchy style means it would look fine on a size 10 figure too).

To Enter: Simply follow the blog (using the follow box to your right) then click here to drop me an email. All you need to do is let me know your full name, and the subject of your email should be "Fearne Cotton comp". I know I usually run competitions by entering in the comments but sometimes that makes it hard to contact the winner: that's why I'm trying it this way, so that I know I have all the potential winners email addresses!

For an extra entry: If you want to be entered into this competition twice, you can also follow Fabfrocks  on Facebook! Mention that you have done this in your email, and I will enter you into the competition twice!

The competition closes at midday on Sunday 30th September. Good luck!!

Love Tor xx

ThePrizeFinder - UK Competitions

Fearne Cotton's SS13 Collection for Very.co.uk

Hi guys,
Well London Fashion Week has officially started. And last night I went to my first show- Fearne Cotton's latest SS13 offering for Very.co.uk. The show was held in the ballroom at Claridges (a very impressive venue) and there was an equally impressive guest list.

I'm a terrible celeb spotter, but I saw Jo Wood (Fearne's soon to be mother-in-law) Milly Mackintosh and Professor Green, Keith Lemon, Bo Bruce (from The Voice) Reggie Yates, Davina McCall, and Mischa B of X Factor fame. No doubt someone with a better eye than we would have doubled this celeb spot count. Fearne's soon to be sister-in-law Leah Wood also walked the catwalk, and afterwards Fearne described her as her 'muse'. If only this were a celeb blog, eh?! Instead, let's talk about the fashion show.

The theme was English country garden, and the catwalk was covered in quintessentially English trees. Naturally this was reflected in the clothes: the opening pieces were bedecked in floral. There was also lace, bright coloured leopard inspired prints, and a lovely traditional mac which had been given a vintage 1960s twist. As has become Fearne's signature, sheer and chiffon cut outs also featured on several of the dresses.


There were a couple of dubious items (I'm thinking of the capri-length jeans with the fluoro pink go-faster stripe down the sides and the green heart print tee) but there was also a couple of pieces I loved- I can't wait to get my hands on one particular maroon jumpsuit! Truthfully, the collection wasn't really to my personal taste, but the pieces I liked most were the simple minimalistic ones, which really focused on good clean lines: something you don't often find on the highstreet. And for the finale piece.....


The lady herself looked lovely, wearing a floor length fitted black dress with sheer sleeves, also from her own collection, and with her hair piled high in a retro beehive. Are you a fan of Fearne's previous Very.co.uk ranges? Do you own any pieces from her collections, and what's the quality like? I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Love Tor xx

PS - I am aware it's not OK to hate celebs for being prettier than you. But am I allowed to hate Fearne just a little for looking so glowing and fresh faced whilst sporting her tidy pregnancy bump? It just seems terribly unfair that she can still look so beautiful. I meanwhile look like a whale!

LFW SS12: Fearne Cotton for very.co.uk

Hi guys,
Last night saw the unveiling of Fearne Cotton's SS collection for very.co.uk, and I toddled along to check it out, along with lots of other lovely bloggers.

There were also plenty of celebrity guests in attendance, including Holly Wiiloughby, Whitney Port (adding fuel to the rumours that she'll be doing her own collection with Very next year) Myleene Klass, and the boys from McFly; including my mega girlhood crush, Dougie!

After a couple of cocktails we found out seats and the show began:




Am I the only one slightly creeped out by how all the models look slightly like Fearne?! Anyway, I digress! The collection was heavily seventies-inspired with pussy bow blouses and spray-on denim (both jeans and shorts). Feminine, but still with the tough, rock chick edge you'd expect from a Fearne collection. Key pieces were kept deliberately minimal: soft jersey cotton dresses and tops in simple block colours, often layered with chiffon panels. Great for layering, but a little too flimsy for wearing alone? The one piece I really liked was the mustard covered mini dress with the slightly bell-shaped skirt.

The black maxi skirt and slouchy trousers were equally covetable, and would be great for teaming with almost anything: wardrobe staples you could wear over and over!

Whilst not always to my taste, I can see this being a big seller for Fearne and Very next summer. What do you think of the new collection?

Love Tor xx

PS - I have uploaded some more photos from the show to the Fabfrocks facebook page (Including some of the celebs in attendence), if you want to check them out.

Very.co.uk: Gorgeous clothes, terrible service

For the first time ever, I ordered something from very.co.uk yesterday. I got two dresses with sleeves, to inject something new into last years A/W wardrobe: they're both from the Fearne Cotton collection, and I got excited, waiting for them to arrive this morning. But arrive they did not!

Buy before 6pm for next day delivery it said all over the site. So I duly bought before 6pm and then logged into my account the next morning to see what my estimated delivery time would be (you can track your order online) Well one of my dresses was due to arrive the following day (making it 48 hours for delivery, not the 24 hours I was promised) and God only knows when I could expect the other dress as they were "waiting for restock". This is my absolute pet hate! If I click to buy something and expect it to arrive the next day, i'd like to be told that what i'm buying is out of stock before you've taken my cash! That way I can decide if i'm prepared to sit around and wait a couple of weeks for it: in this instance I wanted the dress for a party on Friday night, and wouldn't have paid for it if i'd known. But they didn't actually tell me until the next morning, via text message, with no details of when it would come or offer to refund my amount if I didn't want to wait. Very frustrating, and absolutely terrible customer relations! (If you're ever building a ecommerce site, please have the functionality to let people know how many of each item are still in stock: i'd love you forever!)

However the other dress, the "instock" dress also hadn't arrived, and now had a note next to it in my account telling me to call customer services. So I called customer services to see if they could shed some light on the situation. "The driver didn't recognise your address", she said, "there aren't enough letters in your postcode." I explained that W1 was a real postcode: she told me I was wrong and there should be two letter (such as NW1) We wrangled until she accepted that I probably did know the postcode of my office, and that W1 (like E1 and N2 etc) definitely is a real postcode. Call centre girl learnt something new, but I still don't have my dresses. She "estimated" they would arrive by Friday: no guarentee, no apology. This does not help me at all.

I shop online alot; I know that it can and does work better than this (i'm thinking asos, who's guarenteed delivery has never let me down) But I know no matter how lovely these dresses are (and I hope they are lovely) or how well they fit, this whole experience will be marred by the stressful nightmarish hour i've just spent trying to work out where the hell they are!

UPDATE: Their order-tracker system shifted my estimated delivery date forward yet again, so I called customer services to cancel the order and get by money back. Sounds simple, right? Wrong! According to the first woman I spoke to, this process could take up to 2 weeks. Frustrating, but I could cope with that. Two hours later, I looked at my order status, which hadn't changed to show the order had been cancelled. I call again and am told there is no record on my account of my order being cancelled. I cancelled it again, but i'm not holding my breath about ever seeing the dresses or my £120.

How much more do I have to take before i'm allowed to get really really angry!?

Love, Tor xxx

PS - If this hasn't completely put you off ever buying from very, then you may find this info useful! Checking out on the very website is a lengthy process; allow at least 20 minutes. Because it is a "pay as you go" catalogue it isn't immediately clear how you can pay with your debit card without setting up one of their credit accounts; I got half way through signing up for one (which I did not want!) before I realised that's what I was doing, when all I wanted was to pay for the dresses!

Finally (Phew!) the launch and collection review!

Ok, So after all this build up, it's time to show you my pictures of the Fearne Cotton @ very collection. The event started with a catwalk show of all the outfits, but I was too far back (and far too short) due to arriving slightly late to be able to take any photos of that i'm afraid. However the clever very folks had handily set up the collection all the way around the room so that late comers such as myself could see everything up close and more importantly, check out the quality and the fabrics: The close up is of one of the sketches Fearne created, which became the basis of the collection. They actually look very accurate to the pieces that were finally made; I would like to know how much involvement Fearne had in the rest of the creative process beyond that original drawing.
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There are some pieces that I really liked such as the electric blue puff ball skirt and the leopard print coat (that leopard print coat with the red buttons is even nicer in the flesh, as it were, than it is in photos. And I liked the way it looked in the photos! It's so soft!) I wonder if the styling in some of the photos put me off a lot of the pieces before I had seen them, because a lot of the pieces that looked cheap on the website looked and felt a lot more impressive than I was expecting. There were also some pieces that were fairly non descript; since that white tee from Kate Moss's first collection, I have never understood why these designer diffusion ranges include plain standard tees. They don't take any designing, or look any different from the brands usual line!
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After the serious business of analysing the clothes was over there was a small party where some delicious apple martini's were served, and some of Fearne's celebrity friends were in attendance:

Given the overall atmosphere in the room, I think the collection was fairly well received. But I want to finish this by saying this because it was one of the first things I noticed about the collection on the website, and I dont think it has been written anywhere else; there was a massive focus on the Beth Ditto range because it was the first celebrity-high street collaboration that bigger girls could feel involved in and was made specifically for them. I for one thought this was an important change in direction for highstreet fashion for fuller figured ladies. Well even better is a collection that doesn't exclude anyone because they are "too fat" or "too thin".I think Fearnes collection covers this ground: although Fearne herself is a skinny minnie, her collection is available in sizes 6-20, meaning it is equally accessible to women of all shapes and sizes. And, despite finding some of the pieces in the collection a little flat, i'm all for fashion that can make everyone feel good, whatever their body shape. Definitely worth checking out!

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Love Tor

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PS - Click here to read part one of the Fearne Cotton at Very launch saga, 3 questions with Fearne

3 questions with Fearne Cotton: Very.co.uk launch part 1

Hi Guys,

Last night was the launch of Fearne Cotton's collection for very.co.uk. Whilst at the collection launch party I was lucky enough to have five minutes with Fearne. She seemed really lovely and really pleased with the way the evening, and her collection, had turned out. Here are three my questions about the collection answered by the lady herself:

There's nothing like standing next to a gorgeous celebrity to make you feel like a very ordinary young lady!

What inspired you when you started your sketches for the collection? (OK, so we're starting with an obvious one!)

FC: Well, I think a lot of my inspiration came from the 70s, it all has a very 70s vintage feel. I was inspired by the music, by David Bowie and photos of my mum, of the way my mum looked and dressed in the 70s.

TB: What is your favourite piece from the collection?

FC: I really like this (points to the Leopard print coat) I think it's gorgeous, I almost can't wait for it to get colder so that I can wear it (laughs) I also like the black coat which is being launched in the mid-season collection that went down the catwalk earlier.

I told Fearne that the leopard print coat was my favourite piece from the collection too (and it is!) Great minds think alike!!

TB: Is there any piece that didn't turn out the way you imagined when you created your original sketch?

FC: Ooh contraversial question! No, there isn't actually, I like the way the whole collection turned out. During the creation of the collection the team at very put together some samples that we didn't like or didn't think worked but they didn't make it beyond that stage. I'm very happy with everything that made it to the final selection.

NB: If I had to choose the least successful piece in the collection it would be the silver floral and stripe dress. Although I will admit it looked much nicer when you could see the detailing up close, it's very off putting that it photographed so badly; anything that's going to make Fearne Cotton look bad certainly isn't going to look good on me!

My full review of the collection and the launch event is coming up next.

Love, Tor xxx

Daily wear: Fearne Cotton for Very.co.uk

This afternoon was the official launch of Fearne Cotton's collection for very.co.uk. The event started with a catwalk show (which I was too far back to see properly because I arrived 10 minutes late) followed by a change to view the collections close up and then a chance for mingling and meeting Fearne (!)

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My full review of the event and the collection is coming tomorrow, but this is a sneak peek via a daily wear post. Here is what I wore to the event:

Topshop trophy jacket (also known as the blogger jacket), Topshop union jack T shirt, Max C bag from JoY, titi madam deer necklace, Vera Moda belt, and Peacocks shoe-boots. (these really need replacing!)

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I can't believe that all last week it was freezing cold and I had to drag my coat out for airing, but the day I want to wear my new jacket it's 30oC. I was sweating to death, but at least it looked good!

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Love, Tor xx