THE DRG STYLE INDEX: FRANCES VALENTINE, BOUCHRA JARRAR, BURBERRY, VETEMENTS, MADEWELL, ESTEE LAUDER
Here’s the latest weekly DRG STYLE INDEX ranking, a round-up of the brands currently buzzing on my radar…
1. FROM KATE SPADE TO FRANCES VALENTINE
Handbag sales may be on the slide but that isn’t stopping the original Kate Spade dream team from setting up a whole new accessories brand. Kate ‘Valentine’ has teamed up with Andy Spade again to launch Frances Valentine, an accessory line that will focus on shoes. From what I’ve seen so far I’d say it looks a little bit Manolo, a little bit Prada but what I think will be really exciting is the branding. Kate Spade had one of the first really immersive brand websites if you remember, so I think it’s worth signing up here to see the early incarnations when this all launches in March.
2. BOUCHRA JARRAR IS DOING HIGH JEWELLERY
I’m interested to see what Bouchra Jarrar serves up in her high jewellery collection for Mauboussin. I imagine it along the same architectural lines as Repossi and Dauphin, two other high jewellery houses whose have embraced the new younger and cooler uber-luxe customer who buys jewels for herself. The line launches in July during the couture shows and you can read the whole story here.
3. BURBERRY REINVENTS THE FASHION SYSTEM
Burberry has made a stand as the first major brand to fully buck the ‘broken’ fashion week system. Having already jettisoned the diffusion lines (Burberry London, Burberry Brit) Christopher Bailey is proposing a complete overhaul, including selling direct to consumers from the runway come September, and also showing menswear and womenswear collections together on the same runway. This makes sense to me. Why pay for two lots of shows and make editors schlep around twice, when you can get more for your time and money by focusing everything into one event? Read more on WWD and Business of Fashion.
4. VETEMENTS TRIES CONSUMER-FOCUSED APPROACH
Hot on Burberry’s heels, Vetements is the next brand to buck the fashion system. Demna and Guram Gvasalia are set to disrupt the schedule next year by showing a single collection of mens and womenswear two months in advance, in January, instead of March. The aim is to show the clothes at the same time as they arrive in store and they have chosen the optimum time to show and ship the product to ensure it stays on the shop floor long enough for people to desire and buy it at full price. Read more on Vogue.com.
5. DARYL K FOR MADEWELL
Daryl K is back! She of the perfect 90s-jean-n-boot look has been rather invisible for a couple of decades but it traspires she’s alive and well and doing great things with denim for Madewell. The 18-piece collection goes on sale at Madewell from Monday. Read more here.
6. ESTEE LAUDER INTRODUCES A MILLENNIALS MAKE-UP COLLECTION
There’s no escaping millennials at the moment, especially in the make-up world. Having hit the jackpot with Kendal Jenner, Estee Lauder is continuing the millennials marketing theme with The Estee Edit, an entire collection marketed to young, independent-minded women. Sephora is getting the whole collection in March. Read the story on Fashionista.
WORDS: Navaz Batliwalla/Disneyrollergirl
IMAGES: Bouchra Jarrar by Kacper Kasprzyk; Vetements by Jason Lloyd Evans/i-D
