Gimme the facts...

Fashion magician Luella Bartley (see left) has multiple tricks up her designer sleeve.  After studying Fashion Journalism at Central St Martins (roommates were MIA and Justine Frischmann of Brit pop band Elastica) she started penning for London\'s Evening Standard, Vogue, and The Face before trading her pen for a needle and thread in 1999 (according to Katie Grand, Love magazine editor and stylist extraordinaire, the idea to start designing came to Bartley one night when they were out on the lash).  Since her first show in London, entitled "Daddy, I want a pony" she has shown in Milan and New York until returning to British soil in 2007.

Left: Luella Bartley after her a/w09 collection

What\'s all the fuss about?

Her chameleon abilities as journalist turned successful fashion designer are admirable alone but this multi-tasker has gone on to do much more. 

She\'s collaborated with Linda Farrow to make glasses and sunglasses (see left), designed a range for New Look way before all those snoring high street collabs and did a surf range for O\'neill. At the peak of the It bag craze Luella designed the iconic Giselle bag in conjunction with the then-flagging brand Mulberry and it was through the best selling Luella bag that Mulberry secured its cool again.

She won Designer of the Year at the equivalent of the Fashion Oscars, the British Fashion Awards, in 2008.

Left:  Backstage at the Luella s/s 09 show a model is pictured wearing a pair of glasses from the Linda Farrow collaboration

Who wears it?

As Luella puts, hers are ‘the kind of clothes you can go out, get drunk and fall over in\', which is perhaps why so many of the young brat pack are (getting drunk and) falling over themselves to get into her designs.  From Alexa (see left) to Pixie to Lily to Daisy, there\'s a whole archive of adoring fans.

Left: Alexa Chung wearing Luella