Wow wee, Burberry to show in London to celebrate 25 years of London Fashion Week. This is brilliant news for the UK fashion industry. Whether it’s a cost-cutting exercise or a genuine supportive gesture to LFW, all I know is I’ve got to get a ticket to this show!
Great commentary by Vanessa Friedman in the FT on the trend for fashion short films. At Cannes we have the Oliver Dahan (director of La Vie En Rose) six-minute Dior movie starring Marion Cotillard. The online-only short has a thin plot, looks suitably lush and of-course features lots and lots of lovely product. It follows on the heels of the Chanel No 5 internet film starring Audrey Tautou – another big budget ad dressed up as a film. There’s no doubting the films are beautiful but are the punters fooled that they are art rather than commerce? Read the article here for Friedman’s verdict.
Really pleased I made it to the last day of the PYMCA Unordinary People photography exhibition at the Royal Albert Hall, documenting British youth culture from 1960-2009. The picture above is my favourite but there were lots of other excellent snapshots of blink-of-an-eye fashion moments. PYMCA (Photographic Youth Music Culture Archive) was started by Steve Lazarides back in the days before he was Banksy’s agent and was merely the picture editor of Sleaze Nation magazine. These days it’s run by Jon Swinstead and is being developed to include a youth culture video archive from the BBC Motion Gallery (this I’d love to see) as well as streamed music from each decade. Unfortunately, it will be subscriber-based which I assume means not-free.
Major excitement at the Reiss press day where the first autumn/winter collection from new brand director Andy Rogers was unveiled. Rogers arrived at Reiss from Stella McCartney almost a year ago and he has really sharpened the focus of the brand. Not only has he fine-tuned the main range but he has also introduced a new label called 1971 for the Reiss girl to wear at the weekend. Comprising jeans (made in the same factory as Acne jeans) as well as to-go-with pieces, shoes and accessories, it has a lower price point but the same attention to design and detail as the mainline collection. I was mightily impressed.
First lady chic – Nancy-Reagan-meets-MObama
Class, elegance, sophistication – tick, tick, tick
The piece the press went mad over
Oops, how did this Karen Millen rail get in here?
Foot candy
Breton stripes
Tasteful trinkets
Suede is the new leather
Love!
First drop lands in-store end of July…
