THE DRG STYLE INDEX: HERMES LE BAIN; RAF SIMONS; LYST; FENWICK; MR HARE
Here’s the latest weekly DRG STYLE INDEX ranking, a round-up of the brands currently buzzing on my radar…
1. HERMES LAUNCHES LE BAIN
So here you have the ultimate bathtime experience. Can you think of anything posher than Hermes hand wash or shampoo? Exactly, me neither. The just-launched Hermes Le Bain line consists of foaming hand and body gel, body and hair shampoo (yay, two for one!), body lotion and a gift set of soaps to deliver what it’s calling ‘a new art of living through perfume’. Of course they all come in a number of fragrances and needless to say, the packaging is also beyond beautiful. And it’s all available to buy online.
2. RAF SIMONS / STERLING RUBY POP-UP SHOP
This blog is slightly obsessed with Raf Simons at the moment. This week’s Raf news is that the epic, one-time-only menswear collection with Sterling Ruby is getting its own pop-up e-com site, launching on Tuesday at Inthenameof.be. Shipping worldwide, each week will offer different product for a limited time. And there’s more. Come September 4th, there will be a physical pop-up shop in Antwerp (16 Lange Gasthuisstraat) with different DJs and merchandise. The physical store will be open at weekends only until 13th October. Eurostar ticket duly booked…
3. LYST GETS AN UPGRADE
The Lyst iPhone app has had an upgrade allowing you to get sale and back-in-stock alerts straight to your phone from the shopping app. I love Lyst. It’s one of the best aggregators of its kind, especially now with its universal shopping cart. It doubles as a sort of fantasy shopping social network too – you can follow my Lyst here. Get the app free on iTunes HERE (please can we have the Android version soon…).
4. FENWICK OPENS LUXURY SHOE CORNER
I think we can safely say the Brits have the biggest appetite for shoes in the world. How else to explain all the relentless shoe retail activity going on? While Harrods reconfigures its fifth floor to house its Shoe Heaven in September, this month all the action is happening at Fenwick. The Bond Street flagship just opened its Shoe Corner, a plush 3-room affair inspired by a 1920s Mayfair townhouse. As with practically every department store in town, Kurt Geiger is in charge of the buy, so has brought in top-tier brands including Lanvin, Valentino, Nicholas Kirkwood and Chloe (above) to step up the Fenwick offer. While these are likely to be similar brands to those available at other Kurt Geiger departments (Selfridges, Liberty…), I expect we’ll see plenty of exclusive designs and colourways to keep things fresh.
5. MR HARE OPENS STORE NUMBER TWO
Happily, it’s not just girls who can enjoy new footwear shopping destinations. Big congratulations to Marc Hare who has opened his second London store. Mr Hare no 2 is now open on Westbourne Grove, W11, a place where “husbands abandoned outside Ottolenghi and Matches will find a chic sartorial clubhouse with good tunes in which to take refuge“. Sounds good, no? For some reason Marc Hare doesn’t get gushed over nearly as much as our women’s shoe designers do but maybe he prefers in that way, being a low key, laid back kinda dude. Anyway, do check out the shop, he is one of my favourite men’s shoe designers (and I hope it’s true that women’s shoes are coming). Do also check out this very lovely video of Mr Hare made by Wetransfer as part of its Creative Class site…
[IMAGES: Garance Dore; Raf Simons; Lyst; Fenwick; Linzi Elliott/Instagram]
14 July, 2014 @ 9:25 pm
I need Le Bain. I am staying up for Tuesday launch of Raf Simons / Sterling Ruby. I am broke.