5 April, 2014

AW14 press day highlights: art meets fashion

I spent last week doing the AW14 press day rounds and my early highlights include all the art-fashion collections emerging. Each X Other is an interesting collective of artists, musicians, designers and other creatives who translate their work into something wearable, beautiful and often poetic, the idea being that art is always around you. For AW14, they have teamed up with New York artist Maripol to produce these simple pieces printed with her recognisable Polaroids and club flyers…

Maripol-Each-X-Other-Aw14 4 (more…)

Disneyrollergirl 2 Comments Art, Brands, Design, News, Trends art, AW14, Each X Other, Magritte, Maripol, Mother of Pearl, Opening Ceremony, photography, Raf Simons, Richard Saja, Sterling Ruby, trends

4 April, 2014

You’ve been Vogued

1 vogue-festival-2014-photo-by-disneyrollergirl

Having seen the evolution of fashion blogs over the last seven years (this blog started in 2007), I’m interested in the shift from blogs to brands. Many of the fashion blog pioneers have extended their remit, transforming their blogs into successful creative businesses.

And this approach has spread beyond the bloggersphere to the wider world, hence these days, far from simply aspiring to ‘be a celebrity’ (how 2010!), everyone wants to ‘be a brand’. This thought was crystalised last weekend at the third Vogue Festival (in association with Harrods) at the Southbank Centre’s Queen Elizabeth Hall. Vogue, one of the biggest publishing brands is not content with being a print publication. It wants to be a multi platform destination, an event, a lifestyle brand. And as such it has created a means to engage with its future customers, who themselves have become pretty well versed in the stepping stones of brand-building. (more…)

Disneyrollergirl 1 Comment Brands, Events, Magazines, Retail concepts Celine, events, Harrods, Phoebe Philo, Vogue, Vogue Festival

30 March, 2014

Charlotte Olympia’s bags mean business

Charlotte Olympia business handbags

Question: what do sexy-shoe designers do when footwear fashions shift from £600 super-stilettos to £100 trainers? Well I guess they switch focus to bags. Is this the reason for Charlotte Olympia’s forthcoming business-friendly line? The new line of work-appropriate leather handbags launches for AW14, focusing on structured top handles, totes and clutch bags. (I love this ruby red ‘Bogart’ top handle, above.)

But shoes aren’t totally neglected. There’s an accompanying ‘Nine To Five’ line of lower-heeled pumps that nod to Dellal-style whimsy (think leopard print and peekaboo details). Served up in a briefcase-style box, complete with matching stockings, look out for them in June on Charlotteolympia.com and Net-a-Porter.com.

Disneyrollergirl 0 Comments Brands, Design, News, Trends accessories, Charlotte Olympia, fashion news, handbags, shoes

24 March, 2014

Beauty bits: Sephora’s social platform, upcycling Diptyque, Bobbi’s new foundation stick, the best lip balm ever…

SEPHORA’S SHOPPABLE INSPIRATION BOARD

Done well, Sephora’s shopping platform could be a gamechanger. Launched two weeks ago, its new Beauty Board is a Pinterest-esque gallery of user-generated photos, which customers engage with, posting reviews, comments and tips. It’s what beauty forums do best, but this adds an all-important shoppable component and the ability to share widely on other platforms. With mobile’s increasing importance in syncing content with commerce, I imagine we’ll be seeing a lot more brands attempting similar feats. Read more here. (more…)