The luxury spotlight has been trained on the Brits this week – especially when it comes to accessories. As speculation grows on where Emma Hill will go post-Mulberry, we’re also looking ahead to what magic Katie Hillier and Luella Bartley will sprinkle on Marc By Marc Jacobs in their new official roles (as creative director and design director respectively).

Katie Hillier is one busy lady. Not content with consulting on bags for Victoria Beckham, Loewe and Joseph, plus producing her own playful-luxe jewellery and accessory line, she has helped revamp the bag offer at Asprey. If you’ve ever so much as stepped over the Asprey threshold, you’ll know that this is heritage luxury of the highest order. The shapes of these serious bags follow the structured silhouettes we have come to know Hillier for in recent years, but the real excitement comes from the exotic skins and finishes available. When you buy an Asprey bag, you’re not buying a ‘fashion’ item but a keep-in-the-family heirloom piece in which the quality, craftsmanship and rare materials are all-important. (You can configure the components however you want too, at Asprey everything can be bespoke.)

As rumours abound that Bruni Guillon, the new CEO of Mulberry wants to take it in a more upmarket direction, it makes me wonder if Guillon has been watching Asprey’s strategy with Hillier too. Here’s a taster of what to expect from Asprey’s AW13 collection (on sale in September)…

Asprey market tote in earth python, £4,000

Asprey 1781 zip top in smog crocodile, £25,000

Asprey The Blakes in crocodile, £25,000

Grazia Daily has the scoop on Marc Jacobs’ make-up line that launches at Sephora in August.

The range is extensive and colourful because Jacobs think ‘natural is a little lazy’. There will be foundations, concealers, powders, lip colours, eyeliners, eye shadows, nail polishes and bronzers. And it looks as if they’re going to market some of the products as unisex, including the Lip Lock Moisture Balm, Brow Tamer Grooming Gel, and Remedy Concealer Pen (maybe we’ll see Harry Brant in the ad campaign).

It’s great to hear that Di Kendal has consulted on the line – I was a big fan of her original line for Calvin Klein (don’t even ask me when it was. A long time ago… ) My favourite product I think is going to be the nail polishes simply because I love the shape of these bottles. However, we don’t know the pricing of the range yet and I have a feeling it’s not going to be cheap.

I only recently realised that we don’t have Sephora in the UK any more, but I’m sure some clever department store must be in talks with Sephora to magic up a pop-up for us. Let’s hope.

UPDATE: OK, I’ve done some more digging and discovered there’s a MarcJacobsBeauty.com site and a @MarcBeauty Twitter, and according to the tweets, the campaign girls will be Edie Campbell and Ondria Hardin. Photographer has to be Juergen, right?

The new Chanel London flagship opens in New Bond Street tomorrow and at 12,600 square feet it’s a vast improvement on its Old Bond Street predecessor. In terms of trends, retail and otherwise, it weaves in quite a few. There’s the trend for ‘at home’ styling; featuring grand mantlepieces, ample couches and coffee tables (for the wealthy BRIC customers to consider their purchases I suspect, not for bored husbands and kids).

There’s also an intertwining of fashion and beauty rather than a clear separation as is usually the norm. If anyone has been responsible for the ‘fashionisation’ of beauty it’s gotta be Chanel who were among the first for showcasing seasonal limited edition beauty products (hello nail art crazes and temporary tattoos) on the catwalk.

The most interesting aspect of the store for me though is the big focus on art – most of it specially commissioned. In a recent interview with The Telegraph, Chanel’s architect Peter Marino, explained that the art investment had more than one purpose. Firstly, of course commissioning original art is a great way to create strong impact and a unique identity in a store. It can even entice customers in (I’m a big fan of art in retail environments). But Marino’s thinking went further. He persuaded Chanel to increase its art budget to the power of ten, so that he could commission more than the usual 5 new artworks. For this store, he has commissioned 20 new pieces, the expectation being that the works will appreciate in value with time, thus justifying the initial outlay. It’s an interesting approach and a clever one I think.

My invitation to the store preview must have got lost in the post so I’ve scoured Google, Twitter and Instagram for whatever art pictures I can find. Artists include Richard Deacon, Y.Z Kami, Peter Dayton, Robert Greene and Idris Khan. Most dramatic is Jean-Michel Othoniel’s 11-metre ‘necklace’ of giant handblown Murano glass ‘pearls’ that cascades down a three-floor atrium. (Marino designed the staircase around the artwork.) Another stunner is Marc Swanson’s lifesize deer, covered in 200,000 Swarovski crystals. All the artworks are in neutral creams, greys and golds to reflect the Chanel house colours and overall colour scheme for the store.  Liza Lou’s sculpture of gold-plated wheat sheaves represent Coco Chanel’s superstition – she kept wheat in each room of her apartment as it was considered lucky. But my favourite piece from those I’ve seen is the ‘CHIC’ crude oil sculpture by Russian artist Andrei Molodkin. You can see this and all the other works in the flesh from tomorrow at Chanel, 158-159 New Bond Street, W1.

Jean-Michel Othoniel’s Murano ‘necklace’ installation

Marc Swanson Swarovski deer

Andrei Molodkin ‘Chic’ sculpture

Liza Lou gold-plated wheat sculpture

[IMAGE CREDITS: Top to bottom:
Chanel x 2/Another Magazine/Alex Loves x 2/Grazia Daily/Alex Loves]

Charlotte Olympia just out-kitsched herself with this immaculately realised Perspex bag for Resort 2014. Available for shipping from November, you can pre-order it now from Moda Operandi. Too quirky (surely not)? Then consider the matching heels instead. In red and black suede with fetching leaf green heels, there’s more than a hint of Guy Bourdin about them. The only catch is that this ‘trunk show’ ends on Thursday so if you want them, get in fast…

Perspex bag, Charlotte Olympia at Moda Operandi


Suede heels, Charlotte Olympia at Moda Operandi

Warehouse is ticking multiple trend boxes for AW13 and I don’t just mean fashion ones. Building on the success of its website relaunch last year, its AW13 campaign ‘Style Me If You Can’ joins the dots between social styling, gamification and fashion film.

So what’s the deal? Log onto Style Me If You Can, choose a lifestyle location, then drag and drop your location-appropriate outfit components from the suggested options into the ‘style gallery’. (If you like Polyvore, you might find this bit equally addictive.) You can then share your outfit on a number of platforms and enter it to be featured in the Style Me If You Can film and print campaign. If you’re one of the nine chosen winners, you’ll win a trip to Paris, Milan or New York, and your outfit will be featured in the campaign credited to you. To promote the campaign, Warehouse will release the film in nine chapters at 90 minute intervals on a single day, across its web, social and mobile platforms. Winners will be revealed on that day.

Interest piqued? Click below to play…

And here’s one I made earlier…

SPONSORED POST IN ASSOCIATION WITH WAREHOUSE

Now here’s a most excellent Facebook campaign for people of a certain age. To commemorate its 60th anniversary, Laura Ashley has created the Laura Ashley Memories Facebook Campaign, inviting fans to share pictures and memories of their favourite Laura Ashley smock/curtains/wedding dress/tea cosy/whatever. This is such a simple, sweet idea from a heritage brand with a truly connected fan base – people really do have a fondness for their Laura Ashley.

Those who share their photos and memories can potentially win a £1000 gift card and a tour of the London archive (now that’s a fabulous prize, no?). Here’s a couple of submissions already – the 80s is the most popular decade by far…

I’m not sure if I’ve every bought anything from Laura Ashley though. Actually, that’s a lie, I did once buy a spriggy cup and saucer while going through a chintzy phase as a teenager. But I mostly remember Laura Ashley as the go-to for end of year balls … I guess that was the nearest equivalent to today’s proms. So I don’t really have any proper Laura Ashley memories to add to the Facebook page. All I have is another relic from my scrapbook, this 1994 press pic of Rosemary Ferguson (below) – I think Laura Ashley must have gone through a grunge phase as this looks like it was shot by one of those gritty Brit photographers of the time. Any ideas who?

That photo above is from the Disneyrollergirl archives, AKA a pile of scrapbooks and box files containing years worth of photos, cuttings, and ephemera that I’ve held onto ‘just in case’. Yasmin Cho was a late ’90s shop on a first floor in Poland Street, an out-of-sight destination that you had to want to find in order to visit it. Run by Yasmin Sewell, it stocked a curated mix of under-radar labels like Susan Cianccolo, Carol Christian Poell, and Rick Owens. You had to press a buzzer to get in and the sign on the door was made up of coloured sticky dots. Fast forward 15 years and Yasmin Sewell’s early concept has come full circle with a Shoreditch pop-up space called Beach In the East.

Like its predecessor, this isn’t a typical shop. It’s not on a high street, or a street with any sort of retail footfall. In fact, it’s part of Sewell’s offices for her consultancy Paper Mache Tiger, so you have to press a buzzer to enter. But that all adds to the destination vibe, and once there it’s quite a lovely, chilled experience…

The two-month pop-up is in a specially built Dogtown-esque ‘swimming pool’, designed to envelope you in the overall mood of laid-back, California-style, outdoorsy living. Key to the concept is the buy which is loosely unisex and includes one-off designs from a host of new-ish international brands. From Thomas Tait there are graffiti-print tops and his Crazies sunglasses, from Frederick Maxwell Kingery (a new name for me) there are boyish, natural-dyed denim dungarees and skater shorts, and from Joe Duke, handpainted vintage Levi’s denim jackets, each one a unique piece. Sophia Webster’s sunset and palm tree motif flats sit well on the colourful graffitied trestle table.

Although the skate concept is cool (and current) and the service is informed and friendly, what makes this work is the buy. I got a deja-vu sense of early Browns Focus, where you can’t predict what you’re going to find. there’s a feeling of discovery but at a not-prohibitive price.

There are tees around the £35 mark, sunglasses around the £75 mark and the Frederick Maxwell Kingery denim falls in the £180 bracket. These aren’t brands you buy for the label (no Kenzo or Givenchy here) but for the design. There’s a tendency to think retail buying is easy, but it’s a real skill. The edit here is really strong and clearly presented – it’s not overwhelming or too sparse – and there’s a harmony between all the products.

Another savvy move is the partnership with Farfetch.com, who will sell the product online (there’s an edit below). This is a clever and logical way of sharing the Beach In The East concept beyond bricks and mortar, and of course globally. Yasmin Sewell has done a lot since the original Yasmin Cho. She has worked for Browns, Saba, Liberty,  and now Beach In The East. My hunch is that this pop-up could be a tester for a more permanent retail space under her own name.

Thomas Tait Crazies sunglasses

Thomas Tait graffiti print top

Frederick Maxwell Kingery dungarees

Joe Duke jacket

Peridot London knotted shirt

Sheriff & Cherry patterned sunglasses

Beach In The East is at Paper Mache Tiger, The Lower Ground G, 123 Clifton St, EC2A 4LD. Open until 24th August 2013: Monday – Saturday 10am – 6pm:  (0)20 7729 9620

The art-fashion convergence continues to broker commercial collaborations. I quite like this one between Louis Vuitton and street artist Ben Eine. Eine has reimagined his signature typographic letters for Vuitton, arranging his colourful words on a silk square scarf. Although given the choice between knotting it round my neck and framing it, I think I’d prefer the latter.

I actually can’t find any info on this collab I’m afraid. Instead I found this very sweet video of Eine talking about his work a few months ago…

EINE 2013: EXTORTIONISTS X PROTAGONISTS from Bosh on Vimeo.

Today sees the relaunch of London-Boutiques.com, the London-centric marketplace that does a similar job to Farfetch but on a London-wide scale. You can shop by product, store or designer, plus the editorial has been boosted with insider contributions from London tastemakers and the store owners themselves who recommend their favourite local haunts and finds.

I have kicked off the blog with a piece about biker jackets. Not just your classic black leather biker but all the newer, lightweight permutations too. The West London biker of choice is a creamy wool or khaki cotton biker shrugged over neutral cashmere and denim or a vintage faded-floral dress. You can read the whole piece here…

In line with more and more etail sites, London-Boutiques offers free returns, picked up from your address by DHL. If there’s one thing that puts me off online shopping it’s the faff of returning unsuitable items, so this is a point worth flagging up. Here are some of my favourite biker-style buys from London-Boutiques …

Clockwise from top left:
Helmut Lang jacket/MIH shirt/IRO jacket/360Sweater cashmere jumper