Guest post from the gorgeous Miss Carla at MessyCarla

I managed to swing a last minute invite to Bernard Chandran’s Private Dinner party at the beginning of London Fashion Week last weekend. I was only supposed to be going to cover The Look Show for New Look, so it was a bit of luck that I was in the big smoke to blog about this for The Sassy Minx!
 
Bernard Chandran is Malaysia’s hottest designer – as well as being a television personality in Asia, being the chief designer on Project Runway Malaysia, he also has a stream of high-profile celebrity clients, such as Lady Gaga, Little Boots, Rhianna, Tori Amos and the royal families of Malaysia and Brunei.
 
So, it’s fair to say it was fairly intimidating meeting a man at the fabulous Awawa restaurant in Chelsea (just down the street from Louis Vuitton and Prada…), which is one of the country’s top restaurants, and co-operating with Malaysia Kitchen to promote Malaysian food in the UK.
 

 
However, he wasn’t intimidating at all – in actual fact, for such a hot designer he was incredibly down to earth and friendly. I write a blog about being a size 16, and he seemed really into this idea. “When I design for women, I do not think of their bodies – I love women’s imaginations and spirit more!” He sparkles, “My assistant for example can’t fit into any of my collection and that’s fine – I hired her for her personality!”

When I asked him about his collection, although his latest collection is the height of couture, with enlarged sleeves and skirts in many of the pieces, he describes his look as wearable. “It’s all about context,” he explained. “You wouldn’t wear one of these pieces to the beach, would you? But I love them all – I call them my babies, and I couldn’t pick a favourite!”

 
Amongst his celebrity friends present were Mr. Hudson, Beverley Knight (who when watching a playback of the show asked me “Couldn’t you just see me on TV in that?” I definitely had to agree – it was a beautiful sparkly purple bodycon dress), Sophie Anderton and Jimmy Choo – who FYI: was very sweet and polite – despite the fact I was wearing £35 heels from Next!
 
It was a wonderful, sparkling event – filled with people in the industry including designers, photographers, journalists and bloggers. I even got talking to Alexandra Burke’s family over a fantastic chicken dish and chocolate mousse. That’s Chelsea for you – you never know who you’re going to run into over dessert!
 

 
Many thanks to Sassy Minx Miss Lisa for letting me go in her place and get to tell you all about this! And be sure to follow my blog at http://messycarla.blogspot.com!