Kate Moss Wedding Fashion Inspiration Blue Velvet

At Leah Wood's wedding in 2008, Kate Moss committed a wedding faux pas - and came perilously close to a second - by turning up late (10 minutes after the bride!) and in a full length light grey Chanel dress. However, though this dress might have skirted a little too close to a bridal gown, it was nothing compared to Rosie Huntington-Whitely's pale pink outfit. Beautiful, but too bridal. For perfect summer wedding guest inspiration, look here.

But I digress.

What I am most interested in is the cover-up Moss wore to the event. Indeed, while the Chanel dress is impressive, it would lose a lot of appeal without that one key accessory. 

Silk velvet.

It tends to get a bad press and is largely associated with batty Art teachers or overweight mystics. But this is a hugely overlooked fabric. Popular in the Edwardian era to the late 1920s, silk velvet encapsulates vintage glamour, which is why it works so well with the vintage-inspired Chanel dress. The range of colours available also ensures you'll find a colour to suit whatever outfit. And it's lightweight. And unashamedly glamorous.

Nonetheless, it can be quite expensive to buy and if you're not sure about it, that can be very off-putting. But, dear, brave reader, I have the solution. 

I have written before about our excursions and explorations. Well, yesterday we decided to leave our little nook in south west London and venture into the north to Hampstead Heath. I'd been there a few times but never via the shops. But yesterday James 'allowed' me 5 minutes. 

Down an old, lumpy, bumpy side street we discovered a lovely old bookshop with books piled right up to the ceiling and opposite, a little boutique called Zana. 

Printed silk dresses and scarves adorned the window as well as silk velvet coats and cover-ups. But the best part was the prices. The scarves were £10(!!) each and the silk velvet cover-ups £30. Oh, and did I mention that this shop just happens to be the very same shop that Kate Moss got her blue velvet wrap from? 

Zana, the woman behind the name, makes the pieces herself in the back room (which is what she's doing when I enter). I tried two versions: one in pink, the other in white. The designs echo vintage opera coats and I can't help but imagine myself swanning around by a poolside in one of them. 

While I was busy dreaming, Zana and her colleague offered frank opinions, and in the end I settled on the white. It has peacocks on it, too. What could be better? I later returned to buy another in blue (below).

Zana is located on Flask Walk, Hampstead.

@spruceorpine

~x~