6 March, 2010

Equipment: The ultimate boyfriend shirt part II

Back in November, following a month of press days, I posted this story on Equipment, the classic shirt line originated by Christian ‘partner of Carine’ Roitfeld. I had spotted the relaunched line during my rounds and thought nothing of sharing the few pictures I had taken. Unbeknown to me, my story was linked via a few different blogs including Fashionologie.

A couple of weeks later, the PR emailed me to say that my post had caused her problems as the Equipment relaunch story had been promised as an exclusive to a major international publication in March. I could have been uncooperative but the PR was so nice and apologetic that I was happy to comply and took the post down. Yesterday, I bought March US Vogue and there was the story. Whoops, sorry Anna!

Now the story is ‘out there’ I have been given the green light to put the post back up. The update is that when Carine Roitfeld took the Paris Vogue job, Christian Roitfeld decided to step down from Equipment. But fast forward a few years and his good friend Serge Azria has decided to relaunch it. Serge (brother of Max) also owns Current/Elliot and JOIE so has excellent credentials. Restoin remains connected to the brand which is jolly handy considering he still has all 3,500 original Equipment designs in his archive. According to Vogue, the ‘just shirts’ essence of the brand will stay the same but there are plans for more directional things too.

Disneyrollergirl 7 Comments Brands, Business of fashion, Design, Designers, News, Trends Business of Fashion, Carine Roitfeld, Equipment, magazines, trends

24 February, 2010

London fashion Week aw10: Day 5

Ashish sequin pyjamas and vintage brogues – God love him >>>
>>>Bally X Central St Martins shoe collab – I liked the ones by William Hendry that reminded me of a Jean Prouve chair >>> Twitter false rumours: no, the Nathan Jenden show wasn’t cancelled >>> TopShop blog workshop – fun times! >>>

>>> Burberry mania – it’s all about aviator jackets for AW10 and rightly so ??? >>>

>>>Who needs Nicola Roberts at justabouteveryshow when you can have Christopher Biggins at Amanda Wakeley? >>> Liberty X 10 Corso Como launch. Fact: Carla Sozzani has the loveliest complexion! >>> Selfridges Alice Temperley party – the entrance was a lifesize rabbit hole >>> Special punch served in teacups >>> New Young Pony Club on the stage >>> filing copy at 2am >>>

Disneyrollergirl 4 Comments Designers

11 February, 2010

Fashion Week Tweeters

People keep asking me which LFW shows I’m excited about and I can’t answer. I’m looking forward to Michael van der Ham as he’s new so I don’t know what to expect from him. I also love the classicists – Margaret Howell, Nicole Farhi and Betty Jackson for their wearable styling. And then Charles Anastase and Eley Kishimoto for their youthful aesthetic. And I love the menswear shows for the ideas I can steal for myself. But I can’t say I’m madly excited about the shows. I get more excited about the atmosphere, catching up with people and taking in the theatre of the front-of-house show. What fashion editors and buyers choose to wear to the shows is as telling as what’s on the runway, especially as now people dress up for the cameras.

Is it sad to be excited about Twitter? I love real-time information and I follow a good mix of tweeters, so as we have had enough lists of ‘the best fashion bloggers’ for now, I share with you my favourite fashion tweeters. These are the tweeters I retweet the most…

Business of Fashion: These guys do a lot of retweeting and linking. If it wasn’t for them I would miss a hell of a lot of useful fashion articles

F.TAPE: Relentless tweeters, the F.TAPE crew are everywhere. Lovely people too…

Volume Group: Ok, not fashion tweeters but essential for up-to-date social media info

IamMademoiselle: A fellow fashion anony-blogger, this one blogs for Elle. She’s funny.

Topshop_tweets: A prolific tweeter who satisfies my appetite for constant updates

Grazia_Live: By-the-minute updates from my fave weekly

TimesFashion: Front row commentary and links to articles

Vogue_London: More front row tweetage from New York, London, Paris and Milan

Lorraine Elle: Editor of UK Elle. Tweet-a-holic

Labishdish: Retail and fashion expert

WGSN: Instant trend reports from the international trend-forecasting agency

Fredbutlerstyle: Chummy with all the emerging Brit designers and goes to the best parties

Robertcduffy: President of Marc Jacobs. Only tweeting for a few more days. Insightful!

Did I miss anyone? You perhaps? Tell me in the comments…

UPDATE:
OK, 1 more, the official LFW Twitter. Can’t not follow them!

Disneyrollergirl 13 Comments Designers, Fashion shows

25 January, 2010

Stealth snaps at Harvey Nichols new 4th floor

So finally, the unveiling of Harvey Nichols’ new 4th floor of contemporary fashion. First impressions were of a minimalist, London version of Colette. The store has pitched the new fashion floor as having a ‘concept store feel’ and it will be constantly evolving with new lines, products, exhibitions and installations. This I like. But I have to say, not much of this was in evidence on the first day. I have to give them props for opening on time however and I always try not to judge too harshly on first impressions as I think with anything, things generally take a while to fall into place.

Aside from the bright modernity of the space, the things that reminded me of Colette were the affordable gifty items – Assouline books, Opening Ceremony tote bags, Ambush lighters, iPods… not much that I haven’t seen before. There is an impressive selection of vintage Chanel bags, which you can also get at D & Me and Matches so nice as they were, I wasn’t knocked out. The promised vintage magazines don’t seem to be on view yet.

The long-awaited trainer wall boasts studded Converse by What Goes Around Comes Around, zebra-print ponyskin Keds by Opening Ceremony and the new Louboutin trainers. And clothing-wise there is representation from a wealth of ‘It Brit’ labels (Mary Katrantzou, Richard Nicoll, Markus Lupfer…) as well as cool hipster brands (Marc by Marc Jacobs, Alexander Wang, Acne, See by Chloe). Alongside these are the label-lover brands – D&G, Anglomania – while the ‘supermarket of luxury’ curated by Alber Elbaz looks to me to be a sweet but limited array of Lanvin knick knacks – Umbrellas! Fans! China figurines! Expensive pencils!

I’m not sure who it’s all aimed at. Earlier reports suggested that Harvey Nichols was hoping to entice a Peaches Geldof demographic but would a Peaches or Cory Kennedy wear D&G? Although there’s a hint of the cool, streety Colette vibe with the books and lighters and gifty things, the fashion still seems to me to be the same Harvey Nicks labels I have been seeing for the last few seasons. Overall, it’s not a bad start but it could do with some of the buzz of the Marc by Marc Jacobs store or the unexpected variety of Anthropologie. I would like to see more surprises round every corner … hopefully that’s to come.

STEALTH SNAPS

Vintage Chanel and Assouline books