Win tickets to Jasper Garvida’s LFW catwalk show

Calling all bloggers! Whether you’re a professional blogger or it’s just a hobby – we’ve a special competition just for you. To enter you must have an up and running blog that you update regularly and be available on the 20th of September. You must also be able to make your way to and from London.

Pictures courtesy of Park and Cube

This is an exciting chance to win a backstage pass to the Jasper Garvida catwalk show at London Fashion Week in partnership with Miele, manufacturers of the ultimate laundry appliances. You will also have the opportunity to see Jasper in action, spend some time back stage with the fabulous Hannah from Push PR and watch the show from front of house. It will be an opportunity to experience fashion week first hand and get a view of what a catwalk show is all about. Great for your blog too!

To enter simply write an 150 word seasonal rundown about the AW10 Jasper Garvida. You can be as creative as you like. Once finished, please email it to the lovely Roxy@foreverbetter.co.uk.

All entries will be reviewed after the closing date, with the winner being  contacted via email. Deadline for entries is the 13th of September 2010 and the winner will be announced on the 15th of September.

Good Luck!

Miele Masterchef Afternoon

On Monday afternoon we invited five fantastic food bloggers down to the Miele London Gallery for an exclusive Masterchef cooking event.

We set them a challenge to cook a two course meal in the fully kitted out Miele kitchens in just one hour.

Of course, no Masterchef event would be complete without the main men John Torode and Gregg Wallace there to taste the dishes and pick a final winner.

We saw some really great dishes on the day including Burmese breakfast noodles from MiMi, a goosegog and meringue pudding from Danny, hazelnut filled macarons from Sarah and Veal in a Mediterranean sauce from Helen.

There could only be one winner after the (noticeably stern) judging from John and Gregg, and that place went to Ireena from Not Another Food Blog for her delicious Indian spiced salmon main and nectarine crumble dessert.

She writes about her experience in her blog post about the day,

“My salmon and rice got some quite nice comments, though Gregg and John weren’t entirely convinced that it all went together with the raita. Gregg did seem rather keen on my incredibly simple nectarine crumble though, and even said he’d like to ‘stick his face in it.’”

You can now see all our photos from the afternoon on our Flickr site here.

BBC Summer Good Food Show with Miele (Part 2)

The first installment from the Forever Better day out at the BBC Good Food Show is here, but we’ve got some further updates on the day’s activities from those who attended.

Activities included, amongst other things, an invention test with Masterchef’s John and Gregg sponsored by Miele taking place in front of a live audience. In the previous post we heard from the excellent Kitchens of Jo and Meemalee, but now it is the turn of Feast with Bron and SimplySplendiferous.

Bron created chicken with crispy garlic and ginger over basmati rice and the dish received some serious love despite pre-match tension,

“Was very surprised to discover the Masterchef experience was first thing. The bloggers collected in the back room got a list of pantry items to check for a few minutes then a peek in the mystery bag with two minutes to decide what to make. It doesn’t get tougher than that! Remarkably difficult to think straight at that hour with a few hundred people sat watching, a man with a movie camera flitting about and lots of questions from Andi Peters.”

Ailbhe of Simplysplendiferous created herby lemon cous cous with peas, chicken (briefly) marinated in harissa and cumin with a zingy sauce.

“Although I didn’t win I was fairly pleased with the dish. It definitely needed more harissa and an extra 10 mins marinating for sure. But I did get good comments which was heartening.”

Also in attendance was James from Eat the Midlands and if you’re interested on finding a little more about the event then the post the BBC Good Food Show – Miele Master Chef Day is a great place to start. It also contains a host of images that give a real flavour (sorry) of the day…

Miele Fashion Prize entry deadline approaching

The deadline for entries to the Miele Fashion Prize 2010 is fast approaching, but if you’re yet to enter, there is still time.

If you believe you can put together a design for a spectacular fashion masterpiece inspired by Miele’s washing machine garment care programs then you have until the 31st July to get your entry in. The winning designer will not only see their creation made a reality by Jasper Garvida, but they’ll also recieve £1000 worth of Miele appliances.

All of the details for the competition can be found in this Forever Better post and on the Miele Fashion Prize page, along with the entry form and template on which to draw your design.

Jenny the Style PA has also posted a reminder on the competition which features the 2009 winning design from Nathan Jones (pictured above),

“To enter this year’s contest, you have to design a dress which reflects one of the special fashion care programs on Miele’s laundry machines just like Nathan’s honeycomb idea. Find out more about wash cycles here.

You don’t need to be a fashion designer to take part, just grab a pen and paper and put your creativity to work. Who knows, you just might have what it takes to win.”

Indeed you might! Enter here.

You and Miele: Lola Re

In our latest installment from ‘You and Miele’, Vivian from Lola Re talks about why garment care is so important to her, and what we should all be wearing this summer. USA football kits anyone?

1. If Lola Re were a book, what would the blurb on the back of it say?
If you asked Lola Re her interests, she’d say ‘Cultural revolution, fashion, forward thinking and my hair – but not neccesarily in that order.’ Her blog reflects that; it’s a unique mix of musical refererences, profiles of emerging young fashion designers, daily style photos, and skin & haircare product reviews. She’d say it’s a work in fashion progress.

2. Aside from fashion and beauty, what other passions / interests do you have?
Dancing, holistic health & independent film. I also love camper vans, tea and my family.

3. How important is garment care to you? Do you have favourite items that require special care?
That’s a great question and one I think should be focused on more by young fashionistas. If you’re going to build up a collection of unique and significant pieces, then you should take proper care of them! Ironing is a good start… Miele makes a Rotary Ironer that is incredible. You sit down at it and feed your clothes through, and it has multiple settings and a little arm that swings out to hold the items you’ve just ironed without creasing them. It’s brilliant!

4. We noticed you’ve been getting involved in the World Cup festivities. So, who’s going to win it?
I am probably the least qualified person to say! I do however wish I could meet whoever designed the USA’s team uniforms. How dashing is the white sash detailing across the front?! It makes the players look like princes.

5. You graced our presence at last year’s Jasper Garvida catwalk show. What kind of events would you like to see us run in the future, for Fashionistas like yourself?
I loved attending the Sparks & Miele charity fashion show last fall. I realised that we fashion bloggers can use our newfound influence to help causes. Let’s get everyone in a room, throw a fashion show, raise some money and maybe even donate some clothing. We could call it Charity Shop 2.0. That would be so much fun!

6. Finally, we at Forever Better could do with some fashion pointers… What sort of clothes and accessories should we be adorning ourselves with this summer?
I am currently infatuated with chunky wooden heels and clog sandals. Now, these can be quite tricky to style into an outfit, so I’d recommend an open toe design and tousled, windswept summer hair to balance out the bulk of the shoe. I like the ones I stole from my sister.

I think one of the bright crocheted dresses from Jasper Garvida’s S/S 10 collection would look incredible with chunky wooden clogs and a brown leather bag on a Saturday afternoon in some London market… Dreamy.

Thanks vivian. Head over to Lola Re to see all of her latest outfits and find out more about Lola Re.