Kinvara Balfour

Kinvara Balfour is a "culture hawk", fashion trend hunter and one of Europe's leading style experts. She advises culture-conscious brands on what is happening in the world of fashion, beauty and style, both physically (on the catwalk) and virtually (on the web).

Kinvara has worked in almost every area of the fashion industry. Having won the Lloyd's Bank Fashion Challenge out of 29,000 entries at 16, she began her career assisting the competition's judge, Vivienne Westwood, in her design studio. Several years at Tomasz Starzewski followed, alongside a spell as a fashion model.

After university, Kinvara worked as Fashion Assistant and then Features Writer at Tatler. Her appointment as Style Editor at the Saturday Telegraph Magazine followed, where she gained a reputation as one of London's most instinctive style writers.

In 2004 Kinvara was appointed London Editor for daily email phenomenon DailyCandy.com (with 2.8 million subscribers worldwide). A cult hit in USA, this was DailyCandy's first international edition, and Kinvara launched it to mass acclaim. In this role she has become a renowned web expert and an authority on everything from fashion and beauty to food and culture. Daily Candy was sold in 2009 to Comcast for a reported US$125 million.

In addition, Kinvara has contributed to The Daily Telegraph, The Guardian, Vogue, Sunday Times Style, The Observer, ES and Quintessentially magazines. She has sat on the British Fashion Council's prestigious London Fashion Week selection committee and, for several seasons, compiled much of their official literature.

Today she hosts trend presentations and consultations around the world. Her clients include Pantene, Max Factor, Wella, Clairol, Gillette, Coutts, UBS, Value Retail, Citigroup, Beyman and Canon. Kinvara has also spoken to corporate audiences in countries as diverse as Romania, Lebanon, Turkey, Egypt, USA, Israel and Russia. Her groundbreaking seasonal Global Catwalk Trend Report is a favourite with corporations who need to know what's emerging on the runway.

Kinvara trained as an actress at Central and has written two plays. Her first, Dazed & Abused was staged in Edinburgh, London and New York. Her second, After Invisible will premier in London in 2010.