LFW Begins: All You Need To Know

London Fashion Week kicks off today - and we wouldn't be taking proper care of you if we didn't tell you where your attention should be as the action unfolds.

Those with an eye trained on the catwalk this week will see NY based Brit brand Marchesa showcase it´s latest offering at LFW - in lieu of its usual Big Apple showcase - as a nod to its tenth anniversary, while Topshop Unique's new ´social catwalk´ approach will ensure that Facebook fans of the brand will see selected looks even before the buyers and editors do.

London Fashion Week

What those editors will not see no matter how faithfully they concentrate is Julian Assange, who was tipped to make his modelling debut on the catwalk for Ben Westwood. The show - which was set to be held at the Ecuadorian Embassy where the Wikileaks founder is exiled - was intended to draw attention to his "plight" - but will now not feature him due to his "ill health".

Stella McCartney is hosting a thus far top secret Green Carpet event on Sunday night - but if the dazzling model array at her last evening wear show in London is anything to go by, count us in. Mulberry, meanwhile, will present rather than show as it continues the search for a creative director - could this be the perfect forum to reveal his or her identity? Stay tuned.

Between the newsworthy moments, the new establishment - from Christopher Kane and Jonathan Saunders to JW Anderson and Mary Katrantzou - and the old guard (led ably by Burberry) will be keeping us more than diverted.

SEE THE LATEST SHOWS AS THEY HAPPEN, HERE

Hacked Nude Picture Exhibition Cancelled

An art show using stolen naked pictures of celebrities, which were leaked on the internet last week, has been cancelled. Conceived by artist XVALA, and set to be held at the Cory Allen Contemporary Art gallery in St Petersburg, Florida, the exhibition has been shelved following several online petitions.

"It wasn't just about being 'hacked' images any more, but now presented in the media as stolen property," XVALA said. "People were identifying with Jennifer Lawrence's and Kate Upton's victimisation much more than I had anticipated, which is powerfully persuasive. This concept was always about self-examination in our current culture. Why we feel the need to know and cross the lines of other individuals' privacy."

The exhibition - entitled No Delete - will now feature the artist's own life-sized nude images.

Exhibition

"It was inspiring to see people take action through a petition, signing their name and not just commenting on a thread," gallery owner Allen said in a statement, Page Six reports. "The public's response to cancel the event wasn't just about invasion of privacy, but becoming more of an issue of the exploitation of women; specifically the two celebrities. Empathising with these real concerns, the artist decided to turn the cameras around on him; wanting the focus to be about an individual's privacy and not just the exploitation of women."

Lulu On Being The Godmother Of Novelty Bags

Lulu Guinness has spent 25 years making her name with amusing and surprising hand-held bags - a tiny cage that holds a singing bird; oversized red lips; a basket of bright red roses; or even Rapunzel's castle - so how does she feel to see every department store teaming with the very same "novelty" bags, by brands as diverse as Chanel, Charlotte Olympia, Anya Hindmarch, Moschino, Kate Spade, Ashley Williams and Sophia Webster?

"There's room for us all," Guinness smiled. "This season in particular, there are more novelty bags around than ever. I'm really flattered that I'm asked about it - but as soon as everyone starts doing something, I just want to do something else! It makes me think, 'How can I move things on?' so this season we're doing a disco ball. And when Apple bought Beats, the headphone brand, it made me think how we could do something as a nod to that, so we have a bag this season that looks like headphones. It's about being of the moment in our own way. We're also having talks about collaborations for wearable technology - it's important to react to what's happening."

Starting with a clever ladylike briefcase, containing convenient pockets for just about everything, Guinness was encouraged by buyers to create some bags that more closely resembled her own style: vintage-inspired and ladylike, with a tongue-in-cheek twist. Her first foray - a basket of red roses, inspired by the notion that when she bought a beautiful bunch of flowers she thought it a shame to leave them at home when she went out, wishing she could accessorise with them instead - was a sell-out success, emboldening her to the possibilities of novelty bags.

Lulu Guinness

"At first I looked at things you could make a bag out of: a house, a shop, a castle," she explained. "Before mobile phones, there was very little that you needed to carry! A lipstick, some money maybe. I liked the idea of creating a bag that made you do a double take - that's what I love - and the narrative behind a piece is very important to me. I wanted to create surprising pieces, like the evening dress bag that when you peek under the skirt it says 'Caught You!' Just something that makes you smile. I've been influenced latterly by the art world - from Elsa Schiaparelli to Jeff Koons - and by objects themselves. When I thought of our lipstick clutch I was almost annoyed I hadn't thought of it sooner; it seems so obvious now!"

Having pioneered a now ubiquitous genre for the past quarter century, Guinness is in a perfect position to tell us where we should be investing over the coming seasons - and it seems we'll find ourselves in one of two main fashion camps.

"Turning 25 has really made me go back to my roots," she revealed. "A landmark anniversary makes you ask, 'What am I best at? Why do I do what I do?' I think customers now either want something very high-end - a real collector's piece - or something very new. We're continuing to do both: pieces that are made in England, hand-embroidered, using jewels and precious metals; as well as pieces that are high-tech, exciting and push the boundaries. My favourite bag is always the next one we do."

Inside Chanel's Apartment

When Sam Taylor-Johnson first stepped into Coco Chanel´s Rue Cambon apartment five years ago to photograph the legendary space, it was never with the exhibition that opens this week at the Saatchi Gallery in mind.

Taylor-Johnson took on the project, which was originally to take a series of images for a Mademoiselle Chanel biography, with trepidation. "I went into it thinking, 'What am I doing? I'm not that interested in photographing inanimate objects'", she told us today during a tour of the exhibit, but then spent days "unearthing things I didn't think would be there".

Chanel Staircase

"The light is so perfect there - it was so majestic and magical," Taylor-Johnson explained. "Sometimes photographing people is like pulling teeth, trying to get some sort of personality, and (Chanel) wasn't even there and there was oodles of personality."

The project evolved and it was Chanel creative director Karl Lagerfeld who saw the images and suggested that they should feature in a tome of their own. The idea of an exhibition was born.

Interior Design

The 34 images on show act as a portrait of the designer through her possessions, whether it's her spirituality, reflected through the crystal balls that adorned her table, or the scattered tarot cards, or the items that would find themselves the inspiration for Chanel collections both past and present. On spotting the stars adorning a row of book spines, you can't help but think of Karl Lagerfeld's pre-autumn/winter 2014 collection.

Oriental Detail

"This is my first exhibition of work for five years - it was quite strange to come out in this way and do something so different from my normal work," Taylor-Johnson told us, stressing how much she had enjoyed the long, "quiet process" of developing the exhibition in comparison to the "madness" of working on films.

Twitter Launches Buy Button

Twitter has launched its first foray into e-commerce by unveiling a new "buy now" button - and Burberry is one of the first big-name brands to sign up.

The tool will allow users to store their bank details on Twitter's secure internal system so that when they come to a tweet that features a product that they like - for example Burberry's new shade of eyeshadow - they simply touch the button and said product wings its way to their billing address.

The new facility has been built in collaboration with tech-development brands including Fancy, Gumroad, Music Today and Stripe, reports WWD with Twitter initially testing the platform retailing limited-edition items from Eminem, Pharrell Williams, Demi Lovato, Soundgarden, Wiz Khalifa and Home Depot, as well as charities including GLAAD, Red and 9/11 Day. Burberry will launch the tool immediately after its London Fashion Week show on September 15 with the nail polish colours used on the catwalk.

"When you're talking about a consumer's payment info and commerce in general, we're going to wade very cautiously into those waters - so that when larger brands jump in they can feel great about the experience," said Nathan Hubbard, head of commerce at Twitter. "We're testing with [Burberry] and I think we'll break some ground with them and set some examples of other ways that brands can follow."

By Now With Twitter

The social-media platform is hoping that its real-time nature will work to its advantage when it comes to selling exclusive items that are only available for a certain period of time, tapping into consumers who impulse buy. It's a move that is also aimed at boosting its revenues, as its total income currently comes from advertising alone.

"This is the next step in that evolution," said Hubbard. "It is a way for our users to get closer to the things that they love and a way for sellers of all types to take the conversations that are already happening between brands, retailers and consumers and turn them into transactional relationships."

Rodarte: Shine A Light

There´s no doubt that a helping hand always comes in useful come collection time and it's a position the Rodarte girls, Laura and Kate Mulleavy, have found themselves in as one of the sparkly fifteen recipients of Swarovski´s fifteenth anniversary collective.

"We are so honoured to be a part of it as Swarovski's commitment to artistic design is unparalleled," said the pair ahead of their New York Fashion Week show today. The collective is a newly extended version of the initiative that sees the designers receive shiny-shaped support for both this, their spring/summer 2015 season as well as next, for autumn/winter 2015.

Rodarte

And while they won't give anything away as such when it comes to what we can expect (they're known for their brilliant surprises and wild-but-they-work combinations), we do know the collaboration is deemed by the designers as something of a perfect fit.

"Swarovski crystal is so innovative - the way that it is cut allows for light to reflect a garment in a way that creates incredible depth. We are very organic in how we approach a collection. We are constantly inspired by Swarovski crystal and its ability to transcend fabrication. By nature, it is so ethereal."

Meanwhile, when it comes to pre-show rituals, their organic approach can be attributed to "coffee and being with our friends".

Fashion Website Sues Lindsay Lohan

Actress Lindsay Lohan is being sued by a former business associate over a fashion e-commerce idea. Lohan, along with her brother Michael, are alleged to have made an agreement with tech entrepreneur Fima Potik to collaborate on his startup, Spotted Friend, before reportedly launching a similar platform without him.

The actress, her younger brother Michael Jr, and business partner Christopher Roth have been hit with a cease-and-desist letter from Potik following the launch of Vigme - which allows users to shop celebrities' virtual closets, while the celebrity takes a cut of the proceeds. Potik asserts that this business model is identical to his company, Spotted Friend, which Lohan tweeted about in 2013.

Lindsay Lohan

"Prior to their involvement in Vigme, [the Lohans and Roth] were members of Spotted Friend LLC, a social commerce start-up that was founded by Fima Potik in 2013," Potik's lawyers told Page Six."It is Mr Potik - not the Lohans - who created and developed the idea for a mobile application that allows users to access celebrities' and friends' 'virtual closets' and to directly purchase fashion items and accessories from these 'virtual closets.' In 2014, after being members of the company for over a year, without any warning, the Lohans and Mr Roth launched a competing company and improperly took proprietary information and intellectual property from Spotted Friend to start the new business."

But Lohan's legal representatives were unmoved: "Allegations of any impropriety in Lindsay Lohan's business relationship concerning this website are inaccurate and clearly designed to capitalise on her worldwide recognition as a fashion icon."