I’m not going to plaster pictures of myself all over this blog but I had to share this photo that was taken in Cassie Mercantile‘s garden for Jocks & Nerds magazine by Marcus Ross. Ross was previously a fashion editor for i-D before sidestepping into photography and setting up Jocks & Nerds magazine. He sent out an email searching for Ralph Lauren fans to be photographed and of course I put myself forward. (Jocks & Nerds is aimed at men but he thought in this context it would be good to feature a woman.) (more…)
The last day of LFW is menswear day. Some see this as not worth bothering with but I beg to differ. As much as I appreciate good design and admire the work of our young womenswear designers, most of them are far too polished and feminine to appeal to me as a consumer. Being all about the perfect jean and a well-cut sweater, when I look at the mens shows, I look at them with a female ‘what can I steal for myself?’ eye. Thankfully, some of the menswear designers also show womenswear (thank you J.W. Anderson), while others come up small enough for women to steal (Topman and Mr Hare). Sibling tell me that their imminent womens line for Topshop will still have the boyish flavour of the menswear, but to suit girls.
Another plus point of the mens shows is it’s a generally smaller, friendlier, less stressy affair. The Fashion East hut was like a full-on garden party by lunch time, with scorching sun, booze and a live jazz band in the midst of it all. My favourite bits:
*Sibling designer Sid’s Mr Hare cuban heel boots. Their knitwear wasn’t bad either, with its signature pop-art graphics and a new collab with art stars Tim Noble and Sue Webster. There was also a rather fine accompanying Alasdair McLellan video…
*Katie Eary’s riot of mohair stripes, animal-print, tartan and studs, all wrapped up in a live boxing match with Olympic gold medallist boxer James Degale. Bruce Weber shoot, anyone?
*Marc Hare’s dandyish footwear (which starts at a size five, so with the help of an insole or two I reckon I could just about pull off). SS11 is heavy on ‘replenishable skins’, including ostrich, salmonskin and eelskin
*Boyo fanzine pop-up shop. Pardon me for not being au faitwith Boyo, a fanzine created by Patrick Waugh, the very affable creative director of Pop. His vanity project resulted in a one day pop-up shop showcasing the fanzines, his T-shirt collection and some bandanas. Because, well, why on earth not?
CHECK OUT THE REST OF MY LONDON FASHION WEEK COVERAGE ON THE STYLECOMPARE BLOG
Breaking news! The unstoppable Net-a-Porter is set to launch a standalone mens site in January with Mrporter.com. It’s been years in the planning but the time is clearly considered right to capture the mens online shopping market. Net-a-Porter is on a roll. It recently launched its Denim Boutique and apparently has also bought the domain names Petit-a-Porter and Net-a-Beaute. Ex-site-ing!
So last week rammed the point home that trainers are very much back on the fashion radar. Not only did Gucci launch its shinysupersexy Icon-Temporary pop-up trainer store in Covent Garden, but Jimmy Choo has gone all social media-savvy and used an interactive Foursquare/Twitter/Facebook game to launch its first trainer collection. The idea is to follow @CatchAChoo on Twitter to find out where an elusive pair of Choo trainers will be as it flits on its travels around London. If it tweets a destination and you happen to be there, you simply find the Jimmy Choo bag, present it to the Choo representative and say ‘I’ve been following you’. The trainers then become yours, but I don’t know what they look like and how they know they will be your size. Er, maybe you get a voucher? To join all the social media dots, CatchAChoo is also on Foursquare and Facebook. I think it’s a jolly idea but it launched last Monday and I don’t know how much of a buzz it has created as it only has 275 followers on Twitter. I would have expected more. Perhaps the fact that the game is only being played in London has put a few punters off.
Over at Gucci, Frida Giannini has enlisted pop hottie Mark Ronson to design a capsule range of Gucci trainers. Ronson doesn’t have any design credentials but hey, he’s well-connected and looks good in a Gucci suit, I guess that’s enough these days. The trainers are inoffensive but not nice enough to get me to to part with £395 (for the cheapest pair).
Jimmy Choo trainers:
Gucci trainers:
I think I would prefer them if they looked more like Phillip Lim’s AW10 trainers: Having said that, you’d be hard pushed to find me in any fashiony trainers these days. My Nike Blazers and Vandals have been neglected for years because they just don’t sit right with a skinny jean and well, I think I just generally grew out of the whole competitive trainer mania thing.
Although I did get a wee frisson at the Canoe press day when I was introduced to the AW10 New Balance collection. I have always had a soft spot for New Balance, primarily because their old school 576 running shoe is my trainer style of choice – classic, functional with just a whiff of geography teacher. Also, did you know that many of the 576s are made in the UK? But the real reason I love New Balance is mostly to do with one Wes Anderson. The nerdy-but-stylish one has the very same New Balance 576s as me, complete with reflective logo. Fancy! Now I bet you wouldn’t catch him in a pair of Choos.
