Chanel is one of the few top-end luxury brands that still values an in-store experience over the convenience of online shopping. This goes for beauty as well as fashion, so much so that is has invested in standalone beauty destinations – the Covent Garden store is beauty heaven and the Heathrow pop-up was a crowd puller. (more…)
On this week’s DRG STYLE INDEX, these are the brands that caught my attention…
1. BARRIE TO LAUNCH READY TO WEAR (AND A STORE IS IMMINENT TOO)
The Made in Scotland ethos is gaining momentum with the launch of a new Barrie RTW collection next month. Designed by Chanel’s Odile Massuger using premium cashmere fibre, we’re promised twenty silhouettes merging clean lines with adventurous motifs and colours – I’m particularly intrigued by the description of handpainted porcelain buttons! (more…)
There’s just no stopping Nike. Or Liberty. And as for the Nike X Liberty collaboration, it’s now in its 9th season and going stronger than ever. At a special presentation in the Liberty store, I was told that managing the demand is quite a feat, a fine balance between creating interest for the product and over hyping it. (I guess they need to try harder, the collection was almost sold out within three days of hitting the shop floor.) (more…)
Having seen the evolution of fashion blogs over the last seven years (this blog started in 2007), I’m interested in the shift from blogs to brands. Many of the fashion blog pioneers have extended their remit, transforming their blogs into successful creative businesses.
And this approach has spread beyond the bloggersphere to the wider world, hence these days, far from simply aspiring to ‘be a celebrity’ (how 2010!), everyone wants to ‘be a brand’. This thought was crystalised last weekend at the third Vogue Festival (in association with Harrods) at the Southbank Centre’s Queen Elizabeth Hall. Vogue, one of the biggest publishing brands is not content with being a print publication. It wants to be a multi platform destination, an event, a lifestyle brand. And as such it has created a means to engage with its future customers, who themselves have become pretty well versed in the stepping stones of brand-building. (more…)
