Designer Label Fashion

There’s good news for all well-brought-up fashionistas, as the Giles Deacon correspondence cards are back in stock at Smythson. £37 for a limited edition box of 10 cards.

These gorgeous limited edition Giles Deacon correspondence cards are illustrated with haute couture line drawings of stunning fashion gowns.

There are five designs - each box of correspondence cards includes 10 cards, five of two designs. And each card has a beautiful envelope hand-lined with coloured tissue. The Giles Deacon correspondence cards measure 10 x 16cm / 6.25″ x 4″.

Hurry as these Giles Deacon correspondence cards are likely to sell out soon!

The 2009 famous luxury Smythson diary is now available for half price in the Smythson sale. So you can now get a small pocket Smythson diary from only £13.50.

My favourite is, not surprisingly, the Smythson Fashion Diary in Raspberry - reduced from £190 to £95.

The half price Smythson Fashion Diary is a fashionista’s dream and includes:

• crocodile-finish calf leather
• pale gold and old rose enamel slide closure
• fashion guides to London, Paris, New York and Milan
• silk pocket in the inside back cover
• Raspberry fabric lining
• ribbon marker

Or browse:

• Half price Smythson small pocket 2009 diaries from £13.50.
• Half price Smythson midsize / portable 2009 diaries from £41.50.
• Half price Smythson large / business 2009 diaries from £70.
• The Smythson website

The Smythson sale site will remain open while stocks last, so get them before they go!

Update: Mama La Mode have a range of baby cashmere blankets, hats, and mittens in their baby cashmere sale >>>>

Wrap your baby up in warm, soft, snuggly cashmere.

I must admit, the only time I’ve been near baby cashmere is when I have accidentially shrunk grown-up cashmere in the washing machine. But baby cashmere probably isn’t as impractical as it sounds - it’s said that washing cashmere actually makes soft cashmere even softer, and if you are worried about your perfect baby being sick on its perfect baby cashmere, you could always start with a cute cashmere baby hat (I have yet to see a baby vomit vertically).

The White Company has a range of cute and soft luxury baby cashmere, some of it in the White Company sale - from baby cashmere cardigans to luxurious baby cashmere shawls, an ideal christening gift. And it’s cheaper than shrinking your own.

This luxury cashmere baby shawl is pure cashmere with a scalloped edge. it is available in Oatmeal. This lux cashmere baby shawl is reduced from £117.45 to 93.95. Lux cashmere baby shawl at The White Company.

This soft, pure cashmere cardigan for babies has a fair isle design and is available in Ivory. With a rolled hem and cuffs, it is reduced from £55 to £33. Cashmere fair isle babies cardigan at The White Company.

This soft, pure cashmere lace-knit shawl is available in Ivory, Ivory with a blue edge, and Ivory with a pink edge. This lace knit cashmere shawl is £97.87 at The White Company. Cashmere lace-knit baby shawl at The White Company.

These hand knitted Mary Janes in pure cashmere are an ideal gift for a baby girl. They come in a silver star gift box. These hand knitted baby shoes are available in Ivory and are reduced from £25 to £20. Cashmere hand knitted Mary Janes for babies at The White Company.

Visit the White Company now for more cashmere for all the family - and get 10 percent off non-sale purchases.

Or read more about cashmere in our cashmere feature.

13/01/09 Update: Giles Deacon correspondence cards for Smythson now showing as back in stock >>>>>>

The couture Giles Deacon correspondence note cards from luxury stationery firm Smythson may not be available in the Smythson shop until 6 January 2009. But you can pre-order these gorgeous Giles Deacon for Smythson note cards now, online!

These correspondence cards from Giles Deacon for Smythson feature line drawings of designer gowns, die-stamped onto Smythson’s matt correspondence cards. The cards are available in boxes of 10. There are two designs in each box (Giles Deacon has created five couture designs in total).

But hurry - as these correspondence cards are strictly limited edition. Only 300 Giles Deacon correspondence card boxes will be available.

Each Giles Deacon note cards box costs £37, for 10 correspondence cards. Each correspondence card measures 10cm by 16cm.

Pre-order Giles Deacon correspondence cards for Smythson now.

And don’t forget to send me a thank you note…

13/01/09 Update: Giles Deacon correspondence cards for Smythson now showing as back in stock >>>>>>

Fashion designer Giles Deacon has created a stunning range of pen and ink couture design correspondence cards for the luxury stationery and leather goods retailer Smythson.

The correspondence cards go on sale on 6 January 2009, but you’ll need to be quick off the mark as they are being produced in a limited edition run of only 300 boxes.

There are five pen and ink designs - they feature Giles Deacon’s couture designs, and have been hand engraved using Smythson’s traditional engraving technique. Each box contains 10 cards and 10 tissue-lined envelopes, and will include two different Giles Deacon correspondence card designs.

I think I’d only use them to write notes to myself (why would I send them to anyone else? They’re limited edition Giles Deacon! And they cost £37 for 10!).

But if you have a more charming temperament than me, and you want to post them out, your friends will have to wait until early January to receive their thank-you notes for the fabulous fashionista Christmas gifts they will no doubt have sent you. (Or if they’ve sent you a rubbish novelty gift, you can slyly show you don’t bear grudges by sending them one of your precious Giles cards.)

Click here for the Smythson correspondence section on their website.

Still not sure what to get for your fashion-forward friends? Worried your credit crunch budget won’t stretch to the new non-It It Bag and your trendy friends will ditch you?

Or maybe you’re loaded but stay that way by being, well, a bit mean? (Don’t worry, we don’t judge here. We’ve given far too many fabulous presents in the past, to be delicately unwrapped and greeted with an “eh? Woz that?” to spend too much on anyone else).

Well we’ve found some classy designer gifts for you to wrap up super-glamorously (none of that free Guardian wrapping paper - at least use Vogue). Your friends will love them, and – even better – you get to save your money to treat yourself in the Net-a-Porter and Matches Fashion sales!

Books

Ah, books – so elegant, so timeless, so easy to wrap up.

I have just bought The Little Dictionary of Fashion: A Guide to Dress Sense for Every Woman by Christian Dior for one of my friends – it’s only £6.49 on Amazon and gives straight-talking advice on fashion and dressing well.

Magazines

You can’t go wrong with a subscription to style bible Harper’s Bazaar - a 12 month subscription is only £24.99 for 12 issues. Your fashionista friend will get to enjoy a monthly fashion fix without actually spending any money. (Copies of Harper’s Bazaar are also excellent for weighting down the recycling box if you have to leave it outside on a windy night - and it’s particularly good for hiding those emergency copies of Closer which are also nestling in there. Sadly, Grazia just isn’t hefty enough).

Accessories

For something a bit more special this sweet Mulberry miniature Bayswater bag keyring is just perfect at only £57.74. Personally I’d rather get the £57.74 and put it towards a full size Mulberry Bayswater, but if you have a rather annoying friend who keeps going on about their amazing high end fashion bargains you can at least shut them up by telling them you’ve got them a Mulberry bag for under sixty quid.

For some reason pendant necklaces always look more expensive than they are (unless you get your pendant necklace from Tiffany of course). This gorgeous Vivienne Westwood diamante orb necklace is £64 and it’s unusual enough to last many a season.

Pair it with this equally stunning turquoise Kenneth Jay Lane Dome cocktail ring for £63.62 – just don’t give it in a box or your recipient may think you’re proposing.

For some sexy gothic glamour get the woman (or man) in your life these Falke Rococo lacy tights for only £20. If you’re not sure if whether your pal has gothic tendencies, it isn’t hard to spot. Let’s face it, once a goth always a goth. It doesn’t matter how many designer outfits they have, it still comes out in the styling of a pixie boot, or a long black skirt, or some strange laced up thing. (No offence to any Goths out there – and my heyday was the 80s which also leaves an indelible mark on one’s fashion psyche so feel free to laugh at my secret love of a strapless green taffeta bubble dress).

These beautiful bird correspondence cards are £27 for 10 from Smythson – even I know that’s £2.70 per card but it may be the only way to guarantee yourself a thank you note. They actually have a section of gifts under £100 for those of us who would love but can’t afford the gorgeous Nancy (which stars at £775) or their Maze bag (also from £775) (which looks to me rather like a large chocolate). (Smythson does have great sales - though they tend to sell out online quickly. So get on their mailing list and watch for their emails like a hawk…)

Beauty

The genuine classics tend not to be expensive – Clarins Beauty Flash Balm is only £21.25 at Buy Cosmetics. So it’s cheaper than Botox and less trend-limiting than a wrinkle-hiding fringe. Apparently they sell 21 a minute (20 of those are to me). Your over-30s friend may not thank you when they first unwrap it – but they definitely will that morning when they wake up after only a few hours’ sleep and realise they can’t rely on youthful dewiness to get them through the day without scaring people. I’ve no idea how it works, but it just seems to tighten everything up, a bit like a fright (but at least you won’t look like one).

I realise that mention of Elizabeth Arden Eight Hour Cream may elicit yawns of boredom – it is as well known a beauty classic as Clarins Beauty Flash Balm – but it is a classic because it works. Use it to moisturise lips skin and hands, for minor cuts and grazes… in short, it’s fab and it’s only £15.66 at Boots.

A Chanel lipstick (it has to be bright red) makes anyone feel pampered. In fact your friend will be wishing it didn’t last as long as it does so they have a reason to take it out and reapply once again. There is something about those interlocking Cs… and so much cheaper than a quilted 2.55 Chanel bag.