We spent last weekend living it up, Chicago style! Over three days we took our Topshop Truck all over the city, handing out 13,000 Union Jack scarves to lots of very happy girls, who tracked us down through Twitter. We loved seeing how you guys styled them up as belts, bandanas cute little headscarves.

We also got to hit up the Rolling Stone party Studio Paris, where Two Door Cinema Club were playing.

Our highlight, naturally, was our awesome after party. Co-hosted by the inimitable Tinie Tempah and packed to the rafters with style insiders and city stars, it really was a night to remember. Tinie rocked the crowd with his set, and we all went wild for the DJ Moneypenny girls and DJ Kid Colour – they kept us dancing until the wee small hours!

Check out our video of the celebrations and catch up with Tinie Tempah about his top style tips.

 

We caught Cults at the Gilt City Pool Party and had an absolute blast at Lollapalooza.  The whole experience was like a dream come true and has made us all the more excited for our grand store opening. 8th September, here we come!

We can’t tell you how excited we are about Topshop Chicago! We’ll be opening our doors on Michigan Avenue on 8th September, and have already nipped over to the windy city to join in the fun at local festival, Lollapalooza. As a special treat to all you Chicagoans we’ll be whizzing about in our Topshop Truck from 5th - 7th August, giving out exclusive Topshop scarves and oodles of other goodies. Join our Facebook event and stay up-to-date with what’s going on, and keep checking our Facebook and Twitter pages to track the truck and find out where we are!
We’re also hosting a star-studded Lollapalooza afterparty, with performances from Tinie Tempah, DJ Kid Colour, and DJ Moneypenny. Check back here soon for snaps, interviews and the whole party low-down!

Over the weekend, we headed down to Cornwall to join in the fashionable fun at Port Eliot where our first stop was The Wardrobe Department. Dedicated to the creative arts, fashion has always played an impressive part at the festival with legendary icons such as Barbara Hulanicki and Stephen Jones running workshops since Port Eliot began eight years ago.

Lucky for all those fashion-loving festival goers, for its ninth year, Countess Cathy St Germans who resides in the breathtakingly beautiful estate where the festivities take place asked Sarah Mower to be Port Eliot’s first fashion curator. A renowned fashion journalist and The British Fashion Council Ambassador for Emerging Talent, we knew this was the perfect festival for us to play a part in. 

Long-time lovers of Louise Gray and her off-the-wall designs which never fail to make the style set smile; we adored the idea of Louise doing face and body painting using our very own make-up! 

Drawing inspiration from the polka dots which adorned Louise's models’ faces at her AW11 show, as well as the glittery and neon make-up she often wears front row at London Fashion Week, we knew there would be queues outside her tipi all day long. It was amazing to watch this extremely talented and personable designer work her rainbow magic on girls of all ages and we weren’t surprised to see that her tipi was everyone’s favourite! She was booked up from start to finish and we loved seeing so many girls sporting Louise's fantastical eye make-up.

Another three of London’s brightest stars were also on hand, creating headwear like you’ve never seen before at any festival, anywhere! Benjamin and Edward of Meadham Kirchhoff fame, as well as their close friend and milliner to the stars Nasir Mazhar had transformed their tent with foliage, flowers, and all kinds of curious objects that were then used to assemble the most amazing flowering headpieces. As you can see, these were real works of art and it was so great to see three of London's most imaginative designers working together.

There were so many other fashionable happenings going on inside the walls of the garden transformed into The Wardrobe Department that we could have stayed there the whole four days! From fashion puppet shows by the ever-inventive team at  Rubbish magazine to clothes customizing with dreamteam Luella, Anna Sui and Barbara Hulanicki, as well as print making with The London Print Club, it was a truly inspiring part of the Port Eliot festival.

Check back tomorrow to find out what else we got up to during our time over this truly amazing weekend. There were other fashion highlights such as Mary Katrantzou’s triptych of Port Eliot printed dresses, as well as many non-style related enchantments such as watching the Red Shoes under the stars, to poetry on demand, and dancing in The Boogie Round tent!

Despite the vibrant beauty of his drawings, Eugene Andolsek never considered himself to be an artist. Nor, did he ever live to know that his kaleidoscopic artworks would one day be featured in an exhibition at the American Folk Art Museum. 

You see, Eugene (a stenographer for the Rock Island Railroad), created these drawings in secret on his kitchen table every evening after work in order to escape the dreariness of his everyday life.

Created on graph paper using a compass, coloured inks and eye-droppers, once they were finished, he put away his dazzling artworks in a trunk. It was only when Eugene got older and needed help at home that these dazzling pieces were discovered and brought to the attention of the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh. As you’d imagine, once on display, they amazed viewers who continue to tell this bittersweet story! 

Last week was pretty exciting! A few of our Personal Shoppers flew out to Toronto for the MMVA awards for which we were dressing a few of the presenters. Here’s our very own VIP dressing suite over at the Thompson Hotel. How lovely do all of our pieces look?

To no one's surprise, we had a great night at the Vice Magazine party where we saw the likes of Robert Pattinson looking very demure and not wanting any photos - sorry girls!

Our pop-up shop was in a prime position in town. This was taken just before the mayhem started! After no time at all, there were tonnes of girls going crazy about finally being able to get their hands on Topshop.

On the day of the red carpet event, we were ridiculously excited...

 

We were lucky enough to get to watch the one and only Lady Gaga rehearse which was totally surreal and rather amazing! Just look at her blue hair...

Forget the crowds on the street - we got to watch the awards in style!

Lady Gaga wore a Versace archive outfit - wow! Her performance was as crazy as you'd imagine and it was great to see her get an award.

Seeing Justin Bieber in the flesh was the other highlight of our stay!

Yes, and for all you Topshop fans over in Canada, Topshop is coming to The Bay very soon. To stay in the loop, start following Topshop_Canada on Twitter!