Giles Deacon's diary

Having designed Abbey Clancy's wedding dress, I've been following all the big weddings, from Kate Moss's to Lily Allen's, who I thought both looked ace. Both their dresses suited their personalities. Designing a wedding dress is really a process of finding out what the bride doesn't want and working from there. It was easy with Abbey because she had a very clear vision. We had our first meeting about three months ago, just after her baby Sophia Ruby was born. We became friends when she modelled in my show last September. We had a wonderfully diverse casting courtesy of my mate Katie Grand (editor of

I've only just caught up with the photographs from the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's trip to North America but it seems to have been a success. In general, Kate is looking great - so effortless. I wasn't so keen on the maple leaf hat (by Sylvia Fletcher for Lock & Co), too themed for me. She wears clothes very confidenntly but it would be interesting to see more of her character in what she wears. If she asked me to make her something I think we'd do a statement dresses with a strong colour and great print - something that's a conversation piece.

David Furnish knows how to throw a good party. I went to a dinner he hosted at The Club at The Ivy to announce plans for this autumn's Grey Goose Winter Ball in aid of Elton John's AIDS Foundation. He always manages to attract an interesting cross-section of people - the life and soul of the party was Patrick Cox who has an infectious energy, and the lovely Elizabeth Hurley was there with her new beau Shane Warne. They looked very happy. It was the first time I'd met Shane and I found him charming. With that lot, you can easily get carried away drinking too many cocktails - Elizabeth particularly seemed to enjoy my own concoction, the Muscle Mary, which is a very strong Bloody Mary served in a half pint glass. It looks like dark red beer and we created a head on top using celery foam. I managed three after-dinner and headed home at the respectable hour of 1.15am.

Which was just as well as the next day I was on an early flight to Berlin for Fashion Week. I was attending in my role as creative director at Ungaro to launch a collaboration I've done with Mercedes, the American photographer Terry Richardson and the model Jessica Stam. We had great fun shooting in a warehouse in Stuttgart and driving around all day in a plush Mercedes. It's interesting to compare the attitudes to fashion in Berlin and London. Over here people always wants to see new talent and we're very good at nurturing it, whereas in Berlin there doesn't seem to be an awful of it. Two young designers Michael Sontag and Perret Schaad did catch my eye.

Away from London, Asia is a very exciting market and I've been over there three times this year already. I was in Hong Kong at Lane Crawford for the launch of the rug range I've done with The Rug Company and then in Singapore to close the Audi Asian fashion week with the new Emanuel Ungaro collection. When designing for the Asian market the very different climate means that fabrics have to be lighter. The thing that really strikes me after all my Asian trips is the level of sophistication, very high standards and a very eager clientele.

It was an interesting change for me to dress the Chinese tennis star and French Open winner Li Na for the LTA pre-Wimbledon party, as she has a very different shape to models and most celebrities. I was so disappointed that she got knocked out in the second round. I can't complain though, since she's got something like two million followers on her page on Sina, the Chinese equivalent of Facebook, so we got some great coverage when she posted a photo of herself in the chic golden number emblazoned with a Delaroche print. We probably could have opened a T-shirt shop in Tiananmen Square on the back of it. If only I'd though of it sooner.
For tickets information for Grey Goose Winter Ball on 29 October please contact the Elton John AIDS Foundation on 0207 603 9996.