THE WEEK IN FASHION: DECEMBER 12th-16th

Posted by Bethan Holt, Fashion Junior at Large

Welcome to the final fashion news round-up of 2011. It's been quite a year; the 'Who will go to Dior?' question has filled a spot most weeks since we began this feature back in June. We thought that the saga might be neatly tied up in time for Christmas when rumours began to circulate again earlier in the week...

Raf Simons, in stark white, couldn't be more different from Galliano (from anothermag.com)

 On Tuesday, British fashion woke up to Dior and Raf Simons trending on Twitter- a sure sign that something was afoot. It turns out that WWD were reporting that the Jil Sander designer was near to closing a deal to move to Dior. As with Marc Jacobs before, it seems that the final details of the contract are still being fine tuned and we've heard nothing since Tuesday. Basically, we're not holding our breath. There's no doubt that if Simons is Galliano's successor then Dior will have a very different look about it to the old days of romance and excess. Watch this space.

(image from Huffington Post)

I think we all agree that Meryl Streep is awesome and talented and generally a top lady. This week, her amazingness reached new levels as she became the oldest woman to grace the cover of American Vogue.The cover shoot coincides with the release of  The Iron Lady in which Streep stars as Margaret Thatcher. From what I have read so far, Streep's performance is quite outstanding. She has already been nominated for a Golden Globe and the consensus seems to be that Streep will dominate the awards season. And if not, Vogue has already named her 'America's Greatest Actress'.

This week, the shortlist for this year's Vogue Fashion Fund was announced. I find this a fascinating award because it is one of the only ways for designers to bridge the gap once they've left the likes of NewGen but before they become big businesses. It is a sad fact that due to keeping up with production demands, many designers do not then have the funds to grow again.   The Vogue Fashion Fund has provided investment in the past for Christopher Kane and Erdem. They can use the fund to recruit new members of staff and move to better premises. Basically, it's the missing rung on the ladder. The only problem is that there can only be one winner so when the nominees include Peter Pilotto, Jonathan Saunders, Mary Katrantzou and Roksanda Illinic the job of the panel is unenviable. We'll find out who wins in February when the March edition of Vogue is out.

Jonathan Saunders SS12 (Image from www.lloyd-evans.com)

Roksanda Illincic with models at her SS12 show (image from www.lloyd-evans.com)

 Today, Phoebe English was announced as the winner of the Vauxhall Fashion Scout Merit Award. She will get her own full show at the Fashion Scout venue during fashion week in February. Phoebe makes beautiful clothes with an element of deconstruction. I've had my eye on her for her while now. Phoebe was previously a VFS 'One to Watch'. Big congratulations!

As the FashEd told you earlier, today is Christmas Jumper Day in our office. I feel like we are part of an obsession this year with making Christmas as anti-fashion (the more anti-fashion the more fashionable) as possible. Hence the Christmas jumper which was regarded as unbelievably naff and embarrassing gaining fashion points. Marc Jacobs has got in on all this naffness by asking his fans to send him their awkward family portraits, quite possibly inspired by all those 70s pictures of big families all in matching jumpers and scarves knitted by Grandma. Due to the relative coolness of his fans. most of the pictures posted so far are quite nice. So, I took it upon myself to find some truly awkward examples of the genre...

More gems can be found here

Two significant pieces of fashion business related news to report in brief now: firstly, Hermes, which is one of the very few luxury houses not to have been taken over by big investors, has secured a future free from takeover by creating a holding company which now owns 50.2% of the business. Yesterday, Michael Kors went public on the New York stock exchange. By the end of the day, the company's stock price had risen from the initial listing of $20 to $24.20 which is really very impressive.

If you thought models spent so much time travelling around the world that they would not get much time to attend to such things as home decoration then think again. Agyness Deyn's New York apartment is up for sale for $2.5 million. The pictures show an eclectic space which reminds me of a modern version of Diana Vreeland's apartment. We are particularly loving her Under the Sea bedroom...

A couple of sales to alert you to now...

Rainbowwave will be having a sample sale today (from 6 til 9) and tomorrow (from 12 til 3). Highly covetable brands like J.Brand, Husam El Odeh, J.W Anderson and Peter Pilotto will be on offer. It takes place at 146 Royal College Steeet, NW1 OTA (in London, sorry to any of you further afield)...you know you want to!

Circus 11 is on right now (until Sunday)  at The Tramshed, 32, Rivington Street, EC2A 3LX. This is a unique kind of shopping experience. Shopping theatre. You can pick up all kinds of wonderful things from fashion to homeware to, er taxidermy. Tomorrow, Susie from StyleBubble will also be selling her wares.

One of the loveliest sustainable fashion companies about, Goodone, have also begun their seasonal sale with some brilliant discounts available. My favourites are the silk shirts and the blanket coat.

Finally, fashion film of the week award goes to L.Ady Dior. It's the fourth film which Marion Cotillard has starred in for the brand. Good fun and sunshine and satire of the L.A film star stereotype.