Brands

Bringing back the backpack




Adorning the shoulders of everyone from Kanye to Style Salvage Steve and Susie Bubble, there’s no doubt the backpack is making a comeback. Well that’s what I decided the minute I happened upon the new Eley Kishimoto x Eastpak range which is jollying up the Eastpak Carnaby Street store and window display right now. After an intensive trying-on sesh and grilling the poor (but extremely accomodating) shop staff for a good ten minutes I gleaned the following. The backpacks are printed in the now-iconic flash print (I have the flash print upholstered chair and am still gutted that I never bought the flash print Globetrotter suitcase) and cost a very reasonable £60. Each product is a limited edition of 1000 (I’m guessing that means 1000 in each colour – red, blue, black?) and comes with a special edition Eley Kishimoto Eastpak enamel pin.

Now what do you do if you don’t like backpacks? Well there’s a whole host of other flash-y stuff. There are messenger bags and small shoulder bags as well as pencil cases and wallets (although they are a bit ‘ouch’ at £50 each). There are also three skateboards retailing at £350.

I’m going back for mine on Saturday and will be rocking it all through fashion week as it will be perfect for my LG laptop and inevitable gathering of press packs, passes and general paraphernalia that tend to mount up throughout the days. Well done Eley Kishimoto and Eastpak, I think this is a perfect partnership.






I want, I want: Hermes apple bag




Who knows where the apple bag trend started? I don’t, nor do I care. I first spotted this Missoni one (above) in Vogue last year – or perhaps it was the year before – but silly me, was too slow off the mark to scoop one up. Then there was the Hermes ‘apple holder‘ outcry. Who on earth would want or use such a frivolous thing? (Um, me?)

Hermes apple bag

Now, Alice Temperley has jumped on the band bagwagon with this tasty twosome in festive red and green. Hopelessly impractical but utterly delicious!

WORDS: Disneyrollergirl / Navaz Batliwalla
IMAGES: Missoni; Hermes apple bag
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Ferragamo Fever




When I was working in India on the launch of a new magazine, Salvatore Ferragamo was one of the international brands that kept pinging up on my radar – their spring-summer shoes were breathtaking and Ferragamo is quite big in India. On my return I proceeded to forget about them, until today. While on my round of appointments calling in for a forthcoming shoot, I came across these purple patent hotties and once home I (naturally) tried them on. Heaven! They have a slightly curved cone heel and a demi platform, yet don’t come under the ‘statement shoe’ umbrella because somehow they retain all their elegance and wearability, maybe because the uppers and ankle straps make them quite delicate. Ferragamo’s Vara bow pumps are already in the thick of a revival, with the baby sister version Varina (the flat one) now a cult hit with New York Gossip Girl wannabes and Japanese O-nee-kei girls alike.

My interest piqued, I decided to have a pootle and see what Ebay has to offer. Sadly, the beauties I’d lusted after on a weekly basis while in India were nowhere to be seen (but you can see a few here), however there were lots of affordable Varas including these AAAA ones (Ferragamos are known for being ultra-comfortable, due to their varied width fittings and going up to a more generous-than-average UK size 9), plus some sweet lace-ups from the quaintly-named Grecia’s Graciously Used Shoes.






Of course, back in the day, Salvatore Ferragamo was as hot a name as Louboutin is now, after all he did invent the wedge…

And in the ’30s and ’40s when the war made it difficult to obtain leather for shoes, he stitched together corks from wine bottles to make cork wedges. An eco early-adopter – who knew! This year is the 80th anniversary of Ferragamo and it’s all change at the house. Cristina Ortiz has taken up the baton as head designer following Graeme Black’s departure so I’m keeping a close eye on proceedings. In the meantime, I’m also keeping a close eye on these lovelies. All in the name of research you understand.



Levi’s: One for the What Took Them So Long file…



I’ve never understood how Levi’s 501s came in different cuts and fits – surely 501 is the style so shouldn’t have variations went my logic. Well, now Levi’s have decided to do a standard cut worldwide which makes perfect sense. The reason cited, according to Levi Strauss CEO John Anderson is that they believe straight-leg jeans are a global fashion trend and now is the right time to establish the 501 as an obvious choice for global consumers. I say, duh, isn’t that a bit obvious? But never mind, at least they’re doing it now. Let’s hope the fit is the same across mens and womens 501s. Please understand Mr Levi’s that some of us girls want what the boys have – a nice lazy-Sunday loose-but-not-falling-down fit.

UPDATE:
To answer my ‘why are there different fits’ question, D has kindly weighed in with the following:
Okay, so the 501 is the model of the brand. The model was then adapted as trends changed, hence the different varieties of 501 over the years, with slight changes in cut: the 1947, ’55, ’63, ’67 etc. It’s similar to the way that Ford have the Fiesta model and give it facelifts to make it more appealing to changing tastes as time passes. The ’47s are quite slim, the ’55s a wider cut, the ’63s have a higher waist and the cut is somewhere between a ’47 and ’55 and the ’67s are very slim, and have a zip fly.

That told me then.