THE DRG STYLE INDEX: CHANEL’S COCO CRUSH, BYREDO, REVLON, ESTEE LAUDER, AGNES B
Here’s the latest weekly DRG STYLE INDEX ranking, a round-up of the brands currently buzzing on my radar…
1) COULD CHANEL’S COCO CRUSH E-COMMERCE LAUNCH BE A GAME CHANGER FOR FINE JEWELLERY?
There’s more to last week’s news on Chanel planning to launch e-commerce. The big story this week is of a Net-a-Porter X Chanel digital pop-up that opens on Wednesday selling the new capsule fine jewellery line, Coco Crush. The simple shapes featuring Chanel’s signature quilting pattern in 18 carat gold will start at €1,970 for rings, going up to €19,000 for a cuff. What’s interesting (and clever) is that this lets Chanel dip a toe in the e-commerce waters with the help of the very best in the biz. Naturally, the Net-a-Porter social machine has kicked into gear with an Instagram #CrushonCOCO campaign already fuelling the hype. But another consideration is how this might change the fine jewellery retail landscape. Some think that fine jewellery is something you just don’t buy online, but others say it’s a growth area. We can but watch and wait…
2) BYREDO X OLIVER PEOPLES
I love a synergistic collab and here’s an unexpected one that works really well. Byredo and Oliver Peoples have teamed up to create fragrance and sunglasses inspired by the sights and sounds of Los Angeles. The story goes that a conversation about synesthesia (the condition in which people can smell sounds and colours) led to the idea to create a line of scents and frames which capture the sensations of the city. The result will be stocked at Barneys, Oliver Peoples and Byredo stores (heads up: Byredo NYC opens today!) followed by selected retailers in May.
3) GUCCI WESTMAN IS LEAVING REVLON
The big buzz of the beauty bloggersphere is that Gucci Westman is leaving Revlon after seven years. Who will take over as artistic director and where will she go next?
4) ESTEE LAUDER LAUNCHES THE ESTEE EDIT IN THE UK
Estee Lauder’s editorial site has landed in the UK. The Estee Edit is part of the new Esteelauder.co.uk which promises a personalized, omnichannel user experience. Content-wise, The Estee Edit isn’t necessarily ground breaking (it’s taking the Into The Gloss-style route of profiling lifestyle influencers), but where I think it excels is in taking the how-to element from vlogs and translating that into stylish, aspirational and shoppable content. The videos are also beautifully produced and very watchable.
5) AGNES B X ARMOR LUX
It’s Breton top season so here’s a timely collab to get involved with. Armor Lux and Deauville have invited agnès b to be their guest designer for the 2015 summer collection. The capsule collection includes multi-coloured Breton tees and plain jersey polos, made specially for agnès b in the Armor Lux factories in Brittany. The collection will be sold in Armor Lux points of sale, as well as in a selection of agnès b stores.
WORDS: Navaz Batliwalla/Disneyrollergirl
