Bill†Mar

Want to look sleek and elegant but still show a hint of the body you’ve worked hard for?

Take inspiration from the Hollywood A-listers and get your self a Cut-Out Maxi just like Carey Mulligan, Rita Ora, Jessica Alba and many more.

The Trend of the red carpet at this weeks Met Ball, we predict this will be a huge look for the rest of 2013.

Carey and Miranda looked stunning in classic BLACK

As did Emily and Emma

Rita and Jessica mixed it up a bit but still kept to a simple and sophisticated palette.

Our SS13 collection features two gorgeous Cut-Out Maxis for you to chose from, classic Black or on trend Cobalt.

Shop the collection now at www.BillandMar.com

We caught up with blogger extraordinaire and creator of outfit sharing site What I Wore Today (www.WIWT.com  Poppy Dinsey this week to talk fashion, blogging and penguins! With her background in business she’s taken her simple concept of uploading daily pictures of what she’s wearing in to a global phenomenon so we asked her a few questions to find out how:

How did your site come about?

I started a daily outfit blog as a New Year’s resolution in January 2010. This was before fashion blogging really existed as it does now and people really liked it. I built in the social network version in September 2011 to allow other people to post pictures of themselves and it’s grown from there.

What’s your favourite outfit you’ve ever worn?

Most recently it was a dress by Melbourne based designer Nicholas. They make great prints and I wore it with my Ted Baker Poppy D heels which I helped design as part of their SS13 collection.

 People obviously love your style, would you ever consider designing a collection?

Definitely! Ted Baker Shoes have already named a shoe after me which was great but I’d love to do more, either with brands or something simple on my own like some screen printed t-shirts to start with.

What’s the most random outfit you’ve ever had uploaded?

Well yesterday a guy uploaded a picture of himself in tiny speedos! I don’t like to censure outfits at all but there was far too much on display so that came off! Halloween is a great time for the site, loads of amazing outfits. We’ve also had engagements announced with ring pictures, scan pictures and a few pregnant women who upload throughout the pregnancy and then show us the baby!

What’s next for you?

I’ve quite recently started blogging again on my personal blog (PoppyD.com) so I’m focusing on that and making sure it’s updated regularly. With WIWT it’s more about doing interesting stuff with brands and having more of an international presence for the future.

If you haven’t already make sure you check out Poppy’s sites. She writes well, dresses well and has a sense of humour that comes across in both.

It was our pleasure to introduce her to Bill+Mar.

How hot does Rihanna look on her Diamonds World Tour??

Get her look in our SALE shop www.billandmarshop.co.uk

The sun has come out and it’s time to think SUMMER. Take a look at any mag/blog and it’s clear the number one trend this season is the CROP TOP.

Festival season officially kicked off at the weekend with Coachella, the cool kids and A-listers festival of choice that sets the standard (and trends) for the summer.

Bohemia still rules the festival scene but it looks like it’s getting a little edgier, think Iggy Azelea meets Nicole Richie…

Its clear the crop top rules this summer.

Whether you’re partying it up in a field or on a Saturday night out in town bare torso’s are everywhere! For the curvier figure this looks amazing a la Kimberley Walsh worn with a high waisted bottom.

The brave (read super toned) should copy Rihanna with a bralet crop top

This one by us is cut a little longer with a flattering sweep up hem to highlight and flatter the stomach.

Whichever style you’ll be choosing this summer one thing’s for sure: start those sit-ups now!

This week we met with the talented Vanessa Ferdinand AKA Purple Ferdinand. If you don’t know the name yet watch her now!! She sits in her armchair so delicately, but glows like a starlet, this girls gonna be big!

 She was recently featured in BBC1Extras ‘Hot 10 for 2013’ list and followed up with a gorgeous Live Lounge session with Trevor Nelson and Sara Cox making everyone listening fall in love with her (check out the vid, she’s wearing BILL+MAR!).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-UeUdja7Zs

Her venture in to the music world was a little bit accidental. “All I can do is arty things” she tells us. She learnt instruments and joined a choir in her early years but then painting and tattooing took over. “A friend of mine bought a kit of eBay and was teaching her self so I did too. I practised on grapefruits and then went along to my Tattoo studio and learnt all the technical stuff and went from there. Soon friends were asking me to do them and I ended up tattooing Ed Sheeran quite soon after!”

At the same time she decided to video herself singing and reluctantly showed a few friends and was shocked by the response.

 Inspired by their enthusiasm a few gigs followed and it wasn’t long before she started recording tracks. From that she was invited to sing at Afro Punk Festival in Brooklyn (again wearing BILL+MAR!) and gained fans in the industry which has ended with her securing a publishing contract with Sony.

In today’s world of X factor wannabes and manufactured POP it’s refreshing to meet people with musical integrity. “All the meeting and selling yourself is quite tiring. There’s nothing creative about it so I like to balance it with my writing and sessions. I think that part of an artist is like a muscle. It needs to be exercised and nurtured so it’s strong”. She seems to have the balance right, clearly going places and making the right impression but doing it on her terms in her own time.

Her sound is quite eclectic; she describes it as “Like nostalgic folk soul. And it sounds weird but soul obviously because of my voice, folk because of my ukulele and nostalgic because of my lyrics”. This makes perfect sense when you have a listen. Her most recent iTunes purchases are Justin Timberlake, The Spice Girls, All Saints, Peggy Lee and Etta James so her taste and influences are as diverse as her sound!

We move on to her style. She’s a big fan of BILL+MAR and that’s the reason why we’ve been lucky enough to meet her today.

She describes her style as “Quite uniform really, lots of polo neck t-shirts, high waisted trousers, pleated skirts and crop tops”.

 She’s heavily tattooed and pierced “My first tattoo was a Chinese dragon on my hip and I’ve kind of lost count of how many I have now. Lots of little ones become one big one so it’s hard to know how to count them! Around 30 I think”.

Her growing fame has taught her to actually be calmer with her fashion choices. “I already stand out a lot with my look so I like to tone it down a bit and stick to plainer colours and clean, sleek lines for an easy look”. Her good friend Ricky (@ricky_briggs) helps with the styling when needed for big events and knows her so well it’s easy to pick things out for her he knows she’ll love and feel comfortable in.

When we talk about what’s coming next she glows with positivity. There’s a lot of stuff she can’t talk about yet but you can tell from the smile it’s very exciting!

She can tell us about her upcoming feature in Hunger Magazine in their new issue ‘Girls, Girls, Girls’ and doing something on Hunger TV along side it. She’ll also be doing some summer festivals.

She’s incredibly grounded “My perfect day would be going down to the seaside! I’d go to Southend and get fish and chips from The Castle”. The 3 things she couldn’t live with out are her iPhone, Tea and music. She still gets the tube everywhere but would like to change that! “I wish I could teleport, I hate the tube as I’m always on it”. She has a close knit group of friends that all sound equally interesting and talented.

When it comes to finishing up our tea we make her promise to let us know next time she’s playing a gig in London. We need to see this exciting talent soon before she massively explodes, and trust us, she will!

It’s a sunny afternoon on Chelsea’s Kings Road when we get a chance to catch up with the lovely Rosie Fortescue.

We meet in the Blue Bird café, an area she knows well and one of her favourite places in London. She is styled impeccably in snug leather trousers (more on those later!), a stunning Fox fur shouldered Burberry trench and a Markus Lupfer signature sequined jumper.

 Although we quickly fall into easy conversation about everything from MIC to her love of Louis Theroux documentaries we’ve come here today to talk about fashion and, possibly more importantly, style.

 Rosie is well known and well respected on the London fashion circuit and runs the incredibly popular style blog www.atfashionforte.com. It’s clear she’s not your stereotypical reality TV girl and you get the sense she would be doing very well at this with or without the show.

 We talk about her style and how it has evolved since the beginning of MIC. She has learnt to dress well for her mood and her body and the spotlight of documenting her outfit most days for all to see keeps her aware of not just wearing her favourite pieces the whole time and pushes her to play around with pieces and try new things.

 You won’t find her on a night out in a standard bandage dress with the hem to short and neckline too low. Instead she likes to take inspiration from icons such as Olivia Palermo by mixing gorgeous prints and simple shapes to create something a little bit different.

And that’s where Bill+Mar comes in.

Our SS13 marble prints have really caught Rosie’s eye and she’s been seen out in a quite a few of our designs to date.

She also loves a good pair of leather skinnies “My all time favourite item of clothing is leather trousers. I’ve got a few different kinds but the best I’ve found are the Topshop pleather leggings. They go with everything and fit me so well I had to buy 3 pairs!” We all nod, we’ve all got them and she’s sooo right, they are that good.

We move on to the show that has launched her as a household name and emerging fashion icon. Made in Chelsea documents the life of affluent 20 something’s living in swish SW3 and is a pretty addictive potion of drama, London nightlife and fashion. Her closest friends from the show are Millie and Louise and they’re real friendships going back a long way. “The person I’d most like to spend an evening with off camera is Mills” she tells us “The funniest person on the show is definitely Francis. He has such a dry humour that a lot of people don’t get him at first but he’s hilarious” again we nod in agreement. Francis skate boarding down Sloane Street was one of the best moments on TV in a long time!

 Next up is her blog. It was actually started before MIC whilst studying at Goldsmiths but obviously her exposure on the show has helped it to become huge.She works with the incredibly talented up and coming photographer Charlotte Summers (www.charlottesummers.co.uk) and the concept is very simple, share her looks and her style and let people know where it’s from. Although it’s not quite as simple as it appears as she tells us “If I’m not filming or at meetings then most of my days are spent answering emails and blogging. Also the look blog takes a lot of effort as I have to create new and interesting looks and then go to events wearing them which can sometimes be the last thing you want to do after a long day” She’s not complaining but it’s clear it’s a full time thing and not just snapping a picture of herself in the mirror every morning and posting it online.

If you look through the posts on her blog her dedication is evident. She takes time to reply to comments and answer questions and she has a lot of practical advice for budding fashionistas and bloggers “You have to believe in yourself and be genuinely passionate about your content. Make sure you start it at the right time too, when you’ve got the time to keep posts regular and relevant”

 With the new series of MIC about to hit our screens this is a busy time for Rosie but there’s lots more to come “I love fashion and want to forge a long career in it. I’ve got some exciting collaborations coming up and at some point I’d love my own collection. For the moment it’s about working hard on the blog and seeing where things go!”

Our tea pots are now empty and we say goodbye in the sunny courtyard. It’s clear we’ll be seeing a lot more of the gorgeous Rosie Fortescue in the future. Fingers crossed she’ll be wearing Bill+Mar when we do!