Shopgirl to stylist



Today sees the launch of Elle UK’s Shopgirl to Stylist talent contest. Billed as the fashion version of X Factor, it’s a six-month long contest in which wannabe stylists working in fashion retail can submit pictures of their styling efforts online to be judged by Elle readers and the Elle team. The prize is an internship at Elle and the chance to style a shoot. The interesting bit is the contest itself whereby finalists will have fashion challenges to complete, mentored by members of the Elle fashion team, as well as a one-to-one grilling by editor Lorraine Candy.

The online aspect of the contest is timely (it was launched at a bloggers’ briefing during LFW). Readers will have the opportunity to ‘love heart’ the stylist’s entries they like, comment and share their profiles via Facebook and Twitter. In this age of street style blogs and check-out-my-style websites like Lookbook.nu, it’s a canny move to get the readers involved via social media. “We’re excited to be involving our readers in our first ever search for the UK’s hottest styling talent and really looking forward to receiving their comments on the entries they love to help us choose the overall winner,” said Marcy Richardson, Elle’s digital marketing manager.

In a similar vein, Benetton has also utilised the online community in It’s My Time, an online model competition. Like Burberry’s Art of the Trench site, there’s something very compelling, even addictive about looking at and commenting on recently-uploaded pictures of fashion-conscious people – it’s all very relatable and who doesn’t love to voice their opinion in public these days?

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The King’s Road just got cool (ish) again…



Following the opening of its first London store in Regent Street, Anthropologie opens its King’s Road store on 19th March.

This is quite important, not only because it’s another Anthropologie store (AKA, the most beautiful-looking chain in the world) but because it will bring footfall to the King’s Road and other stores are sure to follow. What do we have in the King’s Road already? The Shop At Bluebird of course, towards World’s End and Jack Wills in the middle. Even if you’re not the Jack Wills ‘type’, there’s no denying that the stores, styled to the nth degree, are something to behold. The King’s Road branch has a coffee shop on the top floor (but shhh, don’t tell anyone) and hosts gigs in the basement. The fixtures and fittings are the best type of antiquey shabby-chic with a bit of faux-punk rebellious teen thrown in. There have been rumours of A Very Well Known US Designer sniffing around for a store nearby too but I’m not sure how reliable they are.

Back (way back) in the day, there was a clutch of superb shops between Vivienne Westwood’s World’s End shop and where The Shop At Bluebird resides now. As well as American Classics (the best used Levi’s 501s this side of the Atlantic), there was The Emperor of Wyoming (more vintage Americana), Liberated Lady (’80s interpretations of ’50s fashion) and Johnny Moke (the shoe dude). A bit further along was Eat Your Heart Out, another vintage store where I once bought a long black crepe Biba dress. Funnily enough I recently found out that it was run by vintage dealer Graham Cassie who now runs Cassie Mercantile. He probably sold it to me and I recently donated it back to him!

Not far from where Anthropologie is opening – on the former site of Antiquarius Antiques – was Flip, a smaller outpost of the legendary Covent Garden second-hand Americana store. This was the place to find love-worn baseball jackets, sweatshirts, prom dresses and tube socks – absolute bliss…

Of course Anthropologie is a far cry from those vintage dens and characterful hangouts but the point is, it’s a start. Retail needs to get people interested in discovering shops again, whether they’re vintage stores, toy shops, bookshops or funny little cowboy boot shops. Let’s see who else arrives in the King’s Road after Anthro…

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Out of Africa



I have always loved trad African prints, ever since seeing Kenny Scharf posing in a mad-mix trouser outfit in one of his hand-painted cars (of course, can I find the postcard I’m referring to, to scan? No I can not).

You can buy the fabric by the metre in Shepherd’s Bush to magic up all sorts of sartorial delights or you can scroll through Junya Watanabe’s ss09 collection on Style.com and marvel at his interpretations. You can also (as I will) scurry down to the Malick Sidibé exhibition when it opens at Lichfield Studios (133 Oxford Gardens, W10) on 11th March. If that isn’t Afro-chic heaven, I don’t know what is.

ASOS has tapped into the trend but taken it a step further with its new ASOS Africa initiative launched last week. The team went to Africa last year to hunt out artisans and small producer groups to work with. The resulting collection will generate an income and build businesses for those local groups as well as highlighting their craft skills.


Finally, I can’t resist adding this pic from Isabelle O’Carroll’s blog – is it me or do these look like prehistoric rollerskates?

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The beauty pages




I’m having a makeup moment. To look at me you’d never guess – my make-up arsenal consists of cheek-coloured blush, Carmex cherry lipbalm, barely-there lipgloss and a blot of powder but that’s not the point. It’s make-up imagery I’m talking about. When it comes to photography, it’s the fashion imagery that tends to get all the love while beauty is the neglected sister in the attic – ridiculed or ignored. One of my friends who is something high up on a UK glossy openly sneers at the beauty pages. During our regular magazine critiques this contributing editor will skim past with a dismissive hand-wave, ‘Ew, beauty pages – nobody reads those.’ Er, excuse me, I do!

In particular, I adore a product-heavy still life page – smears of eyeshadow, great shiny blobs of lipgloss and scribbles of eyeliner will stop me in my tracks on my way to the horoscope page – especially when supersized to heroic proportions. And sitting in on a beauty editor’s meeting is the best thing ever – all the products are arrayed in front of you while decisions are made on how to shoot lipsticks – ‘shall we do slices or smudges?’.

Harper’s Bazaar are currently doing the best still life beauty pages – they’re like artists’ paint palettes. Actually, the face shots aren’t bad either…

[Pics: Harper’s Bazaar]

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