As fashion week is in full swing, aside from trying to figure out who the next big designer is going to be (William Tempest seems to be edging in front at the moment it seems), you can’t seem to read a LFW report without a mention of the music that was played as well. Whether it be The Noisettes that performed at the PPQ after party at Café de Paris or the mix of classic 80s tunes that were played at the Browns Shoe Store Opening after-party; beats are the new belle-de-jour.

In the knomo office we loved the street-style pictures of the newest IT girl at LFW; VV Brown; looking achingly cool in her blue glitter leggings and hounds tooth jacket, she oozed understated glamour. Her status was then cemented when she played the Ashish show; she is definitely a keeper for 2009.

As well as checking out the fabulous Louise Amstrup show, we have been keeping a beady eye on the oh-so-lovely fashion soirees and events that have been popping up all over London town. For the rest of this week, we’ll be keeping tabs on the modern-day fashion mecca that all international journo’s head to first after landing…Topshop.

As supporters of up-and-coming fashion designers during LFW, Topshop have been busy dreaming up a bundle of creative in-store events open to Joe Bloggs et al. On Thursday, knomo will be heading down to show off their creative skills when Aleksandra Olenska, fashion editor of Exit magazine, will be heading up a fab Customising Workshop. If we’ve still got some spare time, we’ll definitely be hanging about for the Millinery master-class, taught by some of the talented milliners featured in the V and A’s new Stephen Jones exhibition. If that wasn’t enough, Topshop will be playing host to some cool new bands and showing film footage of this year’s best catwalk shows. Who needs to fly to Paris and Milan darling, when you’ve got Topshop?

www.topshop.com

Working for a bag company does have its perks; you get to meet lots of interesting people, fawn over delicious colour swatches and test out gorgeous bags all day long and sometimes, just sometimes, you get an invite to something amazing. Last week, tickets to one of the hottest London Fashion Week shows hit the mat and so last night, we made our way to Vauxhall Fashion Scout to see the amazing Danish designer Louise Amstrup’s A/W 09 collection.

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Juggling Prince lookalikes on unicycles, half-naked men in bath-tubs, colourful dancing puppets, double-jointed Danes and a butt-naked singing comedian…where have we been this week? La Clique at the Hippodrome, Leicester sq. W-O-W. We’d heard the show described as a cabaret/circus/burlesque show/something right out of 1930s Berlin and it was all-of-the-above.

Opening with a big musical number from a 7ft high puppet and ending with a couple of maniacs doing tricks on roller-skates, the weird, but incredible talent on stage had us gob-smacked from start to finish. How did that man fit himself through a tennis racket, without ripping his nipple piercings out?! (Ouch!) Where did that naked woman hide her red handkerchief? Roll up, roll up folks, you gotta see it to believe it…

http://www.lacliquelondon.com/

As we have mentioned before, (and you may have possibly seen it on the news or in a few newspapers?!), the BAFTA film awards were held earlier this month. Here at knomo, we took a special interest in it as for the second year running we were involved with it (you remember now, we wrapped 280 i-Pod covers!) Well after all that excitement we thought we would throw some more your way by stealing an amazing goodie bag from the organisers and plonking it in-store for the world and his wife to view and potentially win. Available to win in Harrods, it is the official goodie bag that all attendees of the BAFTA Film Awards received and it includes some great products such as American Airline flight upgrades, Lancome make-up, a Longchamp bag and lots & lots of other luscious items. If you fancy a chance at winning the bag for yourself all you have to do is run along to Harrods and fill out the form to enter. Unfortunately we can’t enter, so we have to make do with congratulating the winner through gritted teeth!

War. What is it good for? Bruises, apparently. Now we don’t mean real war, but the fun kind: paintball! Yes, a spur of the moment idea from one of our team saw us reaching for the overalls and helmets in a slightly creepy converted warehouse near Canary Wharf. There was some talk of boys vs. girls which was quickly shot down by the more squeamish amongst us, so a fairer team was decided by ‘office floors’ and the fun and games began. And it was fun, painful and sensationally muddy but deep down we all relished in acting like covert agents, not very good ones mind you, don’t think we will be giving Jack Bauer a run for his money any time soon. Be warned, it really does hurt the next day, but then again, war wounds make retelling the stories all that more impressive!

PS-check out our new men’s Brixton bags in the shots – we used them throughout the game and they have since been cleaned to their former glory – easy-cleaning AND very hardwearing indeed!

http://www.london-paintball.com/

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It’s that fluffy, warm, loving time of year again, Valentine’s Day. While many ‘love’ this time of year, there are many that believe it is the work of the devil, making singletons feel bad with vomit-inducing displays of affection…well, whichever side of the camp you fall into, we truly believe that there is a definite excuse to buy something shiny, blingy and new. In fact, whilst we were all partying at Selfridges for our knomo in-store  event last week, we spotted the epitome of bling – Elton John’s multi-coloured Swarovski-covered iPods, created to raise money for the battle against AIDS and HIV. For a good cause AND super-cool looking. With more than 250 crystals embedded into the iPod, this little toy looks bling-tastic.

For the piece de resistance, slot this little pressie into one of our butter-soft leather iPod Nano cases, wrap it up in pink paper and job’s a goodun’. NB Gents may prefer a blue or black over the traditional pink… 

Click link to find out more about Selfridges Swarovski crystal offer for Valentines.

http://www.selfridges.com/index.cfm?page=1310&articleID=12025&artname=Exclusive%20iPod%20Nano&WT.mc_id=F4782880-EFF2-4EF2-9F7B-4BFA80DF5EEE&WT.dcsvid=807A4F3F-AAA6-4289-991D-F51425CF7CB5&WT.mc=click

To buy a knomo iPod Nano cover, click here

http://www.knomobags.com/eshop/knomo_collection.asp?SS=5&C=84

This week, the knomo gals have been celebrating a little bit of retail gossip…Following in the footsteps of Urban Outfitters, Abercrombie and Banana Republic, Anthropologie is on its way to the British Isles. Spotted by the knomo team a few years ago on the high streets of California, we love the pretty dresses and fab furnishings – think of a more refined Urban Outfitters (another knomo favourite) and you’ve nailed the concept on the head. More importantly, the store will be located on Regent Street, just around the corner from the knomo office! We’ll be saving our pennies then…

www.anthropologie.com

To mark the launch of our new Brixton range of men’s bags, we held a little soiree in Selfridges, complete with live graffiti artists, oodles of wine and Russian beer, and a playlist called ‘studio 66’. We wanted to take the opportunity to show off our new range and add a little bit of Brixton cool to a Thursday night in central London, and it all seemed to go down a storm. The artists were given the task of designing a canvas each on the night and also customising a bag for giveaway, and they both did brilliantly. Journalists and buyers alike left raving about the range, and the artists.

If you fancy taking a little peek at their finished work, take a trip to the luggage section of Selfridges where their canvasses are proudly on display – you won’t be disappointed. We, on the other hand, are all slightly worse for wear the morning after the night before, roll on the weekend!

No matter where you look, be it the TV, newspapers, websites, blogs or even out the window, you can’t escape the fact that everyone, everywhere is talking about the snow, and why not? How awesome is this moderately unexpected snow day? Everyone has turned in to a 7 year old again!

Even us at knomo HQ are relishing the almost Dickensian day that has occurred, albeit from our 4 corners of London due to transport chaos, but we have all been out playing, building snowmen and stocking up on supplies in case we get snowed in…

Through all the chaos we musn’t forget that it is actually Groundhog Day today, so you never know, I might be writing to you from my living room again tomorrow if these unbelievable events repeat themselves. Wherever you are, have fun in the snow!