More natty he-she hybrids are on the horizon. This time from old-school footwear brand Grenson, who have hooked up with Kurt Geiger to create these Fondant-Fancy coloured brogues. Whether they are for men or women I have no clue but I would certainly wear them. I’m loving the fact that heritage footwear brands are getting more adventurous with their styling. Prada bought Church’s shoes in 1999 and we’ve recently seen a snazzing-up on the design front from them as I mentioned in my post about these fabulously comfortable Church’s silver/black brogues. I don’t mind spending silly money on a pair of shoes if they’re made to last and the good thing about these old English companies is you can bank on the quality. The Grensons will be available from mid-January at Kurtgeiger.com.
There was I feeling all poorly and glum and sorry for myself and certainly not in any kind of festive spirit when bam, a bolt from the blue changed all that. Lovely Helen at LG Blog, a long-time commenter on here decided to gift me a spanking new LG netbook! Now as you know, I am really not computer-savvy at all – my first reaction was ‘what’s a ‘netbook?’ – but all she had to say was ‘it’s a lovely little thing – 9 inch screen, weighs about a kilo, very easy to travel with…’ and I turned my frown upside down faster than you can say ‘done deal’. As much as I love my MacBook, it’s bloody impractical as anything other than a stay-at-home computer. The MacBook weighs in at 2 kilos which is like carrying the September issue of US Vogue around with you. Not fun. The LG Netbook on the other hand is so feather-light it’s like carrying a copy of Grazia!*
When it arrived by special delivery a day later after much gushing and thanking and ‘are you sure?’ I was properly in jolly festive mode and super-excited. Dear D got it charging up while we went into town for the last day of Shop At Maison Bertaux’s closing down sale and when I returned it was all ready to play with. Despite D washing his hands of it proclaiming ‘You’re on your own now, I don’t know anything about PCs’, I got it working in a trice (who knew I had it in me?) and spent the evening blogging and emailing to my heart’s content. I’m really looking forward to putting this to the test properly when I get back into work mode in the new year – it will be perfect for London Fashion Week on-the-spot reporting/blogging.
A press release came my way last week applauding the success of Oasis-Stores.com whose blog has been named Digital Publishing Solution of the Year by the Association of Publishing Agencies (APA).
First, the blurb: Post-advertising agency, Story introduced the blog as part of an overall refresh of the Oasis website. Having designed and built the blog, Story handed control to Oasis’ store workers who contribute regular posts to it. Following its launch, Oasis has found that the sales conversion rate for people reading the blog is 17% higher than for people visiting other areas of the site. Story’s brand strategist, Martin Harrison said, “The success of the Oasis blog is a reminder of how important it is to understand your customers. Our research told us that Oasis shoppers appreciate some hand-holding and they actively seek advice and ideas. By building a blog full of interesting stories and useful fashion tips, we were able to give these customers exactly what they want – and help Oasis to build invaluable brand loyalty in the process.”
My feeling is that it’s certainly better than a lot of corporate blogs. For starters, it’s updated regularly and I like how they use input from Oasis’ own staff – particularly buyers and designers – and agree that this does give the customer added value. It’s clever how they link to items that you can buy on the website and to be honest, I really don’t know why more stores don’t have blogs purely so they can do this.
One criticism is that there is no facility for readers to leave comments. If you look at the ASOS blog, it enables comments and ASOS quite often replies to comments and queries which to me is an absolute essential in a corporate blog. Surely it’s all about engaging with your customers and getting them on side? Maybe I’m nit-picking but what would make the Oasis blog even better is if it was well written. It’s not badly written, just a bit lacking in personality.
Matches has also recently introduced a blog and it has much more of a ‘character’ to it. Is it because Matches is more high end? Does mainstream have to mean bland? I don’t think so. Perhaps it’s because the Matches blog is written by one person so has more consistency. There is a mix of personal observations, how-to-wear-it styling tips and cute behind-the-scenes reporting (check out this post on Georgie and Kessy Edewor-Thorley, the Matches ‘dolls’ who work in the Matches stores and have the most enviable wardrobes). And there are comments. I think it’s time all corporate fashion sites had blogs and I don’t mean token blogs with the odd post here and there. A real blog with decent content, daily updates, feedback from customers and a hefty dose of pizzazz is what would make me keep returning to a blog and possibly even buy something. Don’t you agree?
[Pics – Top to bottom: Oasis Matches Matches Matches]
A while ago I posted a link to Square Old Soul’s ‘How to Wear a White Shirt and Jeans’ post. Her visuals included Erin Wasson in blousy white shirt and cut-off denim shorts, Kate Lanphear in baggy white tee and turn-up jeans, and Valentine Fillol-Cordier in belted paper-bag jeans and tucked-in shirt.
My default option for the look is a loose Levi’s off-white tee, turn-up straight-leg Levi’s and my new obsession, Church’s silver and black brogues – an early Christmas present courtesy of dear D (double click on the pic to enlarge). The finishing touch however is a huge blingy statement necklace bought earlier in the year on my jaunt to India where I was helping to launch a magazine. The necklace was actually borrowed for a fashion shoot but as is usually the way, having tried it on a number of times I decided it couldn’t go back and managed to strike a deal with the shop for a hefty discount (I’m sure it was overpriced anyway). The funny thing is, my co-workers really didn’t ‘get’ why I was wearing this beautiful piece of jewellery with what they saw as a tatty old tee. They totally didn’t appreciate my studied-unstudied aesthetic! However, Miuccia Prada has given it her blessing, her resort 2009 collection showed a very similar glitzy necklace and plain tee combo with the addition of a stonking pair of shoulder-grazing earrings. What I love about this look is it’s so easily achievable. Who doesn’t have a white tee? And big vintagy necklaces can be found anywhere and everywhere or you can experiment and make your own by breaking up old jewels and re-piecing together (although personally, I love the idea but would never have the patience). Teen Vogue takes it a step further with clusters of diamante bracelets as well…
[Pics: Tom Binns at Kabiri Iosselliani Teen Vogue]
PS: I know posting has been slow this month but I’ve been horribly ill with some wretched hormonal ailments. I’m on lots of medication though so hopefully will be back in full time action soon.
