When Harvey Nichols announced its rejigging of the fourth floor in January, I was full of hope. Its press blurb promised a ‘concept store feel’ with exhibitions, installations and constantly evolving product lines. Well so far it’s nice enough but I wouldn’t call it constantly evolving. (more…)
They say that recessions feed creativity and going by this one, I’d say that point has definitely been proven. Just look at all the clever cut-out-the-middle-man fashion retail sites that have recently sprung up, giving emerging designers a platform to sell their wares directly to the public – Catwalk Genius and Beta Fashion to name two.
Another example is that of Mrs Jones Emporium, a by-appointment shopping experience that totally trounces the oft-dull high street option. Firstly, let me introduce ‘Mrs Jones’. Fee Doran is a designer whose work speaks for itself. She has worked with Giles Deacon (Doran Deacon was the springboard that set Giles on his ascent to stardom), Scissor Sisters, The Killers, Florence Welch and Kylie – remember the white hooded catsuit? Last year she created Oxfam DIY, a range of upcycled clothing for the charity chain. She doesn’t really do fashion-fashion but her years of designing costumes for bands and special projects have culminated in the emporium, her latest baby.
Why do I love Supermarket Sarah so? Is it because it’s like a giant, lifesize collage? Is it Sarah’s DIY punk spirit (why the hell not make your living room into a shop?)? Is it the crazy-creative curators she teams up with? Wait, why am I overthinking things? I love it cos it’s wicked, duh!
The latest Supermarket Sarah is curated by textile designer Donna Wilson (above left). Alongside Sarah Bagner’s vintage wares (this bag is very Celine, no?) you can buy Donna’s knitted cloud, illustrated face plate, natty knitted fox scarf and much more!
Last Wednesday I was very lucky to be invited to a super-special event organised by Arcadia. The company that owns Burton, Topman, Topshop, Dorothy Perkins, Evans, Miss Sefridge and Wallis hosted a dinner to bring together fashion bloggers, online fashion press and print media to show that all are equally important when it comes to working with its brands.
What an inspired initiative and I think everyone got something out of it, whether it was just putting faces to names of fellow bloggers (hello 00o00), engaging with press and Arcadia PRs, or understanding each other’s media. I also loved that we were gifted with Flip cameras, a great way of highlighting the fact that with blogging and social media, video (I’m sorry, I refuse to say ‘vlogging’) is the next stage in the journey. And there were tech support peeps from Flip on hand to show us how to edit and upload the videos. (Yes, it may be simple but it’s still helpful to have a demo.) Other PRs please note, bloggers love having tech experts at blog events!
Aside from hearing some top-secret Arcadia plans involving hi-tech consumer interaction, I also learnt that the UK menswear blog sector is booming. We all know Style Salvage but there are lots of other good menswear blogs and male bloggers emerging. Just in time for the menswear retail (he-tail?) revolution – welcome MrPorter.com, from the Netaporter stable…
