By Janine Kelso

Calling all fashion lovers! If your wardrobe is in need of an autumn update, there’s no better place to rev it up than with a trip to Westfield London in Shepherd’s Bush, with more than 300 shops. I visited the mall last week and was wowed by the hot buys for autumn 2012.

Label lovers can find the latest trends in Westfield’s The Village where you’ll find all manner of luxury lines, from Burberry to Versace, but I made a beeline for the more wallet-friendly shops.

Those in the know are saying that black is back and that it’s time to show your rebellious side by going gothic with studs and crucifix details – or keep it feminine by sticking to velvets, feathers and silk. My top picks included a sumptuous black faux fur coat by Biba at House of Fraser and a rock chick-style studded black bag at Karen Millen.

Also making fashion waves right now are digital prints, with geometric and precision patterns leading the way. I popped into River Island where I found lashings of leopard print and tartan, with stand-out pieces including tartan trousers with black leather-look side panels and black boots with a zebra print heel. Fierce! “Leopard print has been popular for a while and everyone’s wearing lace and black at the moment,” River Island Shop Assistant Loren-Jai told me.

I swung by super-cool bimba & lola where I found a whirl of gorgeous brocades and embroidery, inspired by different cultures. Famed for its edgy designs, this Spanish fashion brand had some particularly gorgeous animal print fur coats and embroidered jackets, as well as scores of lovely leopard print loafers and ballet slippers, making it my favourite shop of the day.

When it comes to footwear, opulence is the order of the day with bejewelled shoes in fashion favour right now: think pointy studs and plenty of bling that will give any outfit instant wow-factor. I sneaked a peek at Dune’s footwear offering and was dazzled by polka dot court shoes embellished with sequins,  heels covered in metal studs, and crystal beaded court shoes for a truly bling-tastic look. There was even a spiked studded toe cap court shoe, which I wouldn’t like to encounter down an alleyway on a dark night!

Preferring to wrap up my tootsies in something cosier in the upcoming chilly months, I checked out UGG Australia, home to what is probably the world’s most famous comfy boot which I was told is like “wearing a teddy bear on your foot” by shop assistant Rudy. My fave shoes were fluffy flip-flops and bejewelled fluffy boots that Rudy said were “inspired by the Queen’s Jubilee and the Royal Wedding”.

And as for men, Reiss appear to have nailed the English gentleman look this season with its stylish suits and range of pocket squares – a handkerchief folded in a special way that’s placed in the breast pocket of a suit. “Old school stuff is coming back and our suits are very James Bond-style,” shop assistant Dewayne told me, working the accessory du jour himself with a fetching pink pocket hankie dashingly peeping out of the breast pocket of his dark blue suit jacket.

So if your wardrobe needs a refresh, head to Westfield London – or Westfield Stratford City if you’re based nearer East London – and you’ll be hot to trot!

Janine was a guest of Westfield

Our post about Syria in London for the World in London series comes from journalist Dania Akkad.

If you want to go to the official Syrian embassy in London, you’ll find yourself in well-heeled Belgravia Square surrounded by the gigantic mansions and high-flying flags one might expect for a diplomatic neighbourhood.

You might even get lucky and meet Syrian Ambassador Sami Khiyami, an effusive diplomat who’s served in London since 2000 and has been known to make a room of expats belly laugh.

Of course, if it’s the unofficial Syrian embassy that you want, you will have to head to Shepherd’s Bush. Here, on busy Uxbridge Road where you can hear all sorts of languages just walking down the street, you will find Damas Gate.

What looks like an unremarkable green grocery from the outside is often the first port-of-call for Syrians who have just arrived in London. Consider Samer al-Lamadani, 44, the unofficial ambassador.

Since he arrived from Damascus in 2000 to work as the store’s accountant, al-Lamadani said he regularly connects newly arrived Syrians with other Syrians who can help them with jobs and lodging, no resume or references needed.

“People who come,” he said, “they are easy to trust because you will know their family.”

Today, according to Ambassador Khiyami, there are an estimated 25,000 Syrians living in the United Kingdom of whom 70 to 80% live in London. It wasn’t always this way: the earliest recording of Syrians coming to the UK was in Cornwall in the 5th century BC. They had come to trade tin with the Romans.

More recently, starting in the middle of the 19th century, Syrians could be found mostly in Manchester where they came to establish trading houses to export cloth and other products of industrial England to the Middle East and to other Syrian expatriate communities in Africa and South America.

Where once it was possible for a Syrian to arrive in the UK and set up shop with a modest amount of money, many Syrians say it now takes millions of dollars to start one’s own business, a fact that has drawn many expats to London for professional careers in finance, education and medicine.

Still, in London, it is rare to find a distinctly Syrian neighbourhood because, as many expats say, Syrians tend to blend in.

“Syrians,” says Father Nadim Nassar, the only Syrian priest in the Anglican Church and co-founder of the London-based, peace-building nonprofit, The Awareness Foundation, “are the people in the Arab world who are most able to integrate because we do not see integration as assimilation . . . I don’t know why – we have an ability to integrate without losing our identity.”

In fact, many expats say that at least half of the Lebanese restaurants in London are likely offering Syrian dishes by Syrian staff, but keep up the image of being Lebanese because it’s a “brand” that is better known.

That is not the case at Damas Gate where Syrian products stand out – from foul, a bean dish which is traditionally eaten for breakfast, to olives to sweets like dried apricot and nougat, a chewy, pistachio delight.. And where Syrians, newly arrived or longtime British residents, can connect with home, an island of Syriana in a cosmopolitan capital.

Damas Gate is open every day of the year, from 9am to 10 pm, except on the Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha holidays. It’s located at 81 Uxbridge Road, W12 8NR. Photos by Nicholas Adams. For more see: http://guerillaphotography.photoshelter.com/portfolio

Do you know where else you can find Syrian culture in London? Let us know in the comments below.

I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from Twisted Cabaret, a variety show focusing on the dark side of cabaret, at Bush Hall. Wasn’t cabaret dark enough already? Well, no, it turns out there was plenty I hadn’t seen before.

So I sat down to two and a half hours of the weird and wonderful. From a light bulb-crunching burlesque dancer to a fire-eating fishman.

I winced as Vivid Angel hammered nails into her nose, chuckled at Spencer Maybe‘s boy burlesque (Dracula doing a striptease), was wowed by headliner Empress Stah‘s aerial acrobatics and silently prayed not to be chosen to go on stage for Ophelia Bitz‘s rather fruity song!

Host Dusty Limits was on fine form as always (though I noticed even he watched some of the acts through his hands!) The lovely old Bush Hall with its chandeliers and Victorian fittings was the perfect venue for this show (apart from when the roof started to leak but it was pouring outside).

Twisted Cabaret was a good start to the spooky month of October – it would be even better if they put this on over Halloween weekend.

Twisted Cabaret was on for two nights at the Bush Hall but you can find lots more cabaret and burlesque listings on our main site.