Don’t forget peeps, Abercrombie’s cult A&F magalog returns on Saturday for London customers only. And you have to be over 18. And you have to pay for it (I think). Hey, it matters not, don’t forget these are Bruce Weber pics (of hot boys) we’re talking about. And they’re totally collactable (translation: Ebayable) too.
The collaboration to end all collabrations, H&M have hooked up with Rei Kawakubo of Commes des Garcons to create an exclusive collection for autumn 2008. Included in the range are womenswear, menswear, a smattering of childrenswear as well as a unisex fragance and accessories. Talk about a coup, how do you beat that? Short of Marc Jacobs designing for Gap (which he’s hinted he always wanted to do) I don’t think there’s any point in any more of these collaborations after this one.
The range launches in Tokyo at the beginning of November followed by the rest of the world a few days later. What can we expect to see in the range? Well the great thing about Comme is how it combines wacky pieces with updated classics so my money’s on graphic printed tees, school-girl grey knitwear-with-a-twist, a perfect pleat-top trouser (for men and women), surely a rockabilly fifties frock or two in insane colours like neon pink or yellow and some wear-anywear white shirts. Accessory-wise I can imagine something in garish plastic or rubber (a shopper?), some brothel creeper-esque shoes and maybe a take on a Converse or Vans shoe. My man D suggests something in yellow/black tartan (kilts for men? bomber jackets?), and a version of their pop-coloured zip purses in printed vinyl. What does everyone else think?
Those wretched baglifters are still at it, smashing and grabbing from every It-bag peddler from Bond Street to Sloane Street. On Monday evening the bike-mounted bag-burglers targeted the Fendi store but were papped by photographers stalking Rebecca Loos as they drove past Cipriani in Mayfair with as many as thirty bags hanging off each bike. Although it’s not much fun for a bag designer to have their stock plundered only to have the precious loot unceremoniously flogged on Ebay, it must be a bit of a comfort to know they’ve been targeted. In a way, these robberies are serving as quite the accidental barometer of what’s hot and what’s not in arm candy. So far, Luella, Anya Hindmarch, Mulberry, Louis Vuitton, Jimmy Choo and Salvatore Ferragamo have all been victims, imagine the shame if you were the only bag shop that wasn’t being raided, you’d almost have to stage a robbery yourself, just to save face.
The latest round of autumn-winter press days has just begun and amongst the booty we can look forward to in our goody bags are vouchers to spend at the high street department stores. A while ago, certain stores decided (correctly) that we’d far rather be given gift vouchers to spend on items of our own choosing than the usual scarf, bag or necklace. (Actually, we’d rather have the cash but that would be a bit too greedy.) Alas, an unfortunate turn of events has taken place that may put an end to the gift voucher tradition.
Four press officers for a well-known department store have been sacked following an investigation into a gift voucher scam. It seems these hapless PRs were ordering rather too many gift vouchers for phantom ‘competitions’ and then spending them themselves. So did they go to an off-radar branch of their store to spend said vouchers? No, they spent them in the Oxford Street store, mere yards from their press office and were caught on camera committing the offence. Doh! Still, it’s not as bad as the PR for another high street chain (clue: it’s the one that has sales hat start at 5’oclock in the morning) who was sacked for selling press samples on a market stall. Euww, how common!
