I keep seeing the cutest shoes. First in Liberty, then in the Toast catalogue. Chie Mihara is a Brazilian-born Japanese designer who studied in New York before interning at an orthopaedic shoe store. After two years designing shoes and bags for Sam & Libby she spent another two years at Charles Jourdan. Her USP is mixing fashion with comfort, how novel but how cool! I especially like her website, www.chiemihara.com,You can buy online too.
The press days continued this week. Everyone seems to be wearing a press day uniform of grey skinny jeans, Cons and trench – more variety please ladies! So far, here is the best swag:
Filofax
Ghost sunglasses
Strange but-in-a-nice-way Kenzo bow keyring
Les Nereides plastic alien keyring and phone charm
!t Jeans
Not impressed with Chanel’s bottle of Chance perfume. More imagination needed next time.
G Star unveiled its spanking new footwear range G Star Raw this week. I don’t know what I was expecting – maybe some sort of rugged work-boot affair – but I wasn’t expecting this. The main attractions are some gorgeously-made pared-down boots with chunky stack heels, almond toes but understated details. Colours are strictly neutral black, brown or grey and branding is thankfully minimal. The surprise is the pricing. From £40 for a Stan Smith-style trainer to £180 for the knee boots these are pretty affordable. They hit the stores (USC, Office, G Star) in August but I’m getting this preview pair (see above) to try out. Lucky me, I’ll report back.
Oh gosh, Fred Perry really are stepping up their game. A trip to their new showroom in Holborn revealed a huge collection for autumn/winter– big on accessories, shoes and designer collaborations. A cool intern called Lola showed me the range and I have to say, it’s pretty damn exciting.
From the designer collaborations I’m loving the Jessica Ogden chunky boat neck knits in two tone stripes and Peter Jensen’s genius grey pique tennis dress. However, the star attraction was the showroom itself. Kitten out in gorgeous Castle Gibson-esque drapers drawers (but not in a contrived way) with original mod and punk 7-inch sleeve artwork adorning the walls, the environment really sums up the roots of the label without overdoing it.
My Fred Perry wishlist:
Porkpie hat
Dogtooth Harrington jacket
Ruffle placket stripy knit – very Sonia Rykiel
School-girl grey V neck jumper
