If you’re at a loose end this weekend (or any time between now and 27th May), get yourself down to 6 Burlington Gardens for the delight that is Hermes’ free Leather Forever exhibition. Created to give the public a closer look at the artisanal craft behind the luxury bags and leathergoods and to ‘show the depth and breadth of the brand’, it’s an hour of unadulterated sensory heaven. Continue reading
Beyond ecstatic for the launch of Paul Gorman’s book on Mr Freedom. Mandi Lennard has written a great piece here that sums up Tommy Roberts and Mr Freedom but if you don’t know your 60s pop culture, suffice to say that without Tommy Roberts there would probably be no Fiorucci, Hysteric Glamour or Marc by Marc Jacobs. The book is avaiable from June and you can preorder here.
The new H&M magazine is out and as usual it’s a cracking good read. Each issue has three 1000+ word features and this issue includes one of mine on the magic of fashion shows. That’s not the only reason it’s a good read though. Continue reading
The Independent published a story this week about the growth of online trunk shows – Moda Operandi, Net-a-Porter et al giving customers the chance to shop ahead of the season by pre-ordering almost straight from the runway. The analogue version of this is the physical trunk show, more popular in America, but also being used in the UK by smaller retailers and designers to offer their customers a more intimate experience and learn from the feedback. I wrote about this a while ago for Glass magazine and noticed that trunk shows seem to be particularly popular with jewellers. Especially with more expensive pieces, it seems the live shopping experience can add to the emotional value of the piece. This month, contemporary multi-brand jeweller Kabiri is holding weekly trunk shows with a different designer every Thursday where customers can meet the makers and also try out special pieces from their collections.
Owner Nathalie Kabiri says, “although we have a successful online store, you can’t replicate the interaction of meeting the brands personally. We pride ourselves on our close working relationships with designers and decided to hold the series of trunk shows so that our designers can give advice to customers, to help them achieve the perfect jewellery purchase.” One of those designers is Hannah Warner whose darkly gothic aesthetic has earned her commissions from Mugler and Jean-Paul Gauliter. Tomorrow at Kabiri in Marylebone Road, Warner will be launching her gold nail jewellery; thorn-like nail attachments that are applied by a manicurist. These have been much buzzed about since being seen on the Mugler AW12 runway. The following Thursday, British jewellers, Cabinet will hold a trunk show at Kabiri in King’s Road. Although the trunk shows are open to the public, you have to book a place. Find all the details are here.
More on the street style/self-style phenomenon that only seems to be growing. Last week saw the launch of Jimmy Choo’s 24:7 Stylemakers which follows on from what Burberry did with Art Of The Trench and Armani did with Frames Of Your Life. Users of the 24:7 Stylemakers site upload pictures of themselves wearing Jimmy Choo either via the site itself or with Facebook/Instagram (using the #choo247 hashtag). Continue reading
“This is the moment. It’s up to you to make it the most fabulous moment that you can have.”
Can’t get enough of Princess Julia and her fantastic soundbites on StylelikeU
What’s the best thing about Milli Millu‘s new Belgravia handbag shop? Is it that it’s hidden up a flight of stairs off Hyde Park Corner with no chance of passing trade? Is it the expansive windows allowing for floods of afternoon light, all the better to show off the arm candy? Or is it designer Mireia Llusia-Lindh’s pefectly-proportioned handbags themselves? Continue reading
There has been quite the brouhaha over River Island showing a ‘blogger-inspired’ range to the press at its AW12 press day. Consisting of statement accessories and clothes (think texture clashing, fearless colourplay, bold prints, embellished everything) a few style bloggers have taken umbrage at being thought of as people who just throw on gaudy mis-matchy outfits to get attention from streetstyle photographers or other bloggers. To this I say, lighten up! Keep calm, keep your head down and carry on. River Island (and H&M with its forthcoming Anna Dello Russo collab) are just thinking commercially with this idea. Because to achieve this look (which I’d say is a particular experimental-eclectic blogger look than a general blogger look) you do need to buy things in multiples. So River Island, H&M et al will maximise on sales of say, a top, a bag and three necklaces, rather than just one piece. It’s smart business thinking innit!
Having missed the press day and the chance to appraise the AW12 collection myself, I asked River Island’s press office for their thoughts. Senior press officer Melissa Collins says, “the blogger story is representative of a look that’s interesting, exciting, not afraid to experiment, not afraid to try looks that break boundaries and to push limits and fashion forward. Bloggers are ambassadors of street style which has become such a key element of the fashion industry today. As a brand, we are defining what real people are wearing and we feel that bloggers are the voice of the real people.”
I think the debate is quite an interesting one as it does beg the question, where does style blogging go next? I’m sure this one will run and run and I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see the debate discussed further in Grazia next week…
Image: River Island Instagram
H&M Magazine’s Summer 2012 issue is out on Tuesday and the feature I wrote on the magic of fashion shows has made a coverline. I’ll be hunting out a copy next week, in the meantime, watch Clare Richardson styling Edita Vilkeviciute’s cover shoot here
Who doesn’t love COS? The Swedish brand may be the high street sister company of H&M but it has all the hallmarks of a higher end designer brand. It has its own aesthetic signature, an arty, design-conscious customer base and an intelligent point of view. It feels kind of secretive though, so here’s a wee peek into the brand as it launches a pop-up shop in Milan (designed by Gary Card).
