On the back of her recent Brit award for Best Female Artist, which she accepted whilst wearing an orange afro wig, Lily Allen has revealed that she is quitting music for the foreseeable future (two years is quite seeable but we’ll let her away with that one) in order to pursue the different pathways life has to offer.

As face of the Spring/Summer ’10 Chanel campaign, Lily joined a long list of singers and actresses who have gone before her in the hop from one business to the other, such as Emma Watson for Burberry, Chloe Sevingy for Chloe and indeed her own collection for Opening Ceremony. But what better way to hone your love for shopping by turning that talent into a business venture. Lily will channel the creative juices that were once used for gold-chained melodies to a more down to earth job, such as running a shop.

The boutique Lucy in Disguise which will be co-run with her sister, will offer customers items which they can hire rather than splurge on. She insists her ideals are politically flavoured, stating that “It’s about making fashion democratic”. Surely it’s not just a way to keep the money flowing whilst her music career is on hiatus and a way of finding use for her abundance of designer gear that has be thrown at her in recent years. “It’s about getting really nice clothes but letting people rent them for affordable prices so they can go out and feel like a million dollars and it won’t cost them a million dollars.” Let’s hope it won’t end up looking like the costume shop where that dreadful luminous wig was found.

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Nude Notes…

The Irish females shone the fashion flag last night at the IFTAS… taking inspiration from our US counterparts, the best dressed of the night were those that stuck with the top trend of Spring/Summer 2010 in nude and neutral colours. Notoriously hard for Irish skin-tones to pull off, but subtle glows of tan made this trend more wearable, and even those that stayed natural managed to find a tone that complimented their paler skin.

Call me a sucker for the Grecian trend… but it is one of those evening dress styles that will just never go out of fashion. Xpose’s Karen Koster wore a stunning gold-blush dress that was cut at the empire line, and allowed the material to drape down beautifully. She co-ordinated her cute headband with the detailing on the dress straps but kept accessories to a minimum and allowed the dress to do all the talking.

Karen’s co-star Lisa Cannon also kept it neutral on the night, but it was far from boring in a curve-hugging, sparkly number with chiffon off–the-shoulder detail, and a small train down the back. With a matching sparkly box clutch, show-stopping earrings and a smile to match, she too was one of the most talked about red-carpet dresses on the night.

Also keeping with the Grecian trend was ‘No Frontiers’ presenter Kathryn Thomas, she looked effortlessly ethereal in a one-shouldered empire line dress. The chandelier earrings balanced the look perfectly, although if I were she I would have lost the skinny gold headband, as it was slightly overkill on an already gorgeous look.

Best actress nominee Charlene McKenna from hit Irish show ‘RAW’, looked sweet as pie in another one-shouldered number. The colour was absolutely stunning against her skin, however the dodgy flower strap and granny curtain print left much to be desired. Another star to keep accessories to a minimum with dainty pearl-drop earrings. If rumors are true we may be losing one of our best actresses to LA soon, and with her old Hollywood red carpet looks and the dash of red lippy she is sure to be a hit.

Grainne Seoige went strapless in this subtle tiered dress, a vast improvement from the dowdy ‘debutante’ dress she wore to last years show. It is young, fresh and elegant… showing us that a simple dress can be made more interesting with statement cuff bracelet and dazzling drop earrings.

Next up is the VIP style awards soon (see my comments here on last years)… fingers crossed the socialites and fashion darlings of Ireland take note from our Celtic Stars and do the red-carpet proud.

See our post on last years IFTAS here.

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