THE DRG STYLE INDEX: Uniform Wares, Gucci, Rodin, Grace Coddington, Maison Michel, Faustine Steinmetz
Here’s the latest weekly DRG STYLE INDEX ranking, a round-up of the brands currently buzzing on my radar…
1. UNIFORM WARES FOR WOMEN
Coming soon from Uniform Wares – women’s watches. I love the understated analogue style of Uniform Wares watches and the women’s line (available to pre-order now) retains the ‘masculine’ good looks of the originals. See more at Uniformwares.com and look out for them at Liberty, Selfridges and Avenue 32.
2. GUCCI JOINS THE RANKS OF UNIFIED RUNWAY THINKING
There are two lines of thinking with the ‘show men’s and women’s RTW on the same runway’ strategy. One says it makes financial sense to only produce two lots of RTW fashion shows a year, instead of four. Think of the savings in time and money – travel costs, production costs, model fees… But those against insist that in doing so you forego a whole lot of PR coverage – inevitably it’s the menswear brands that will be overshadowed by unified runway collections. No matter, Gucci is going ahead anyway. It announced its plans to show mens and womenswear on the same runway at the New York Times Luxury Conference last week. “Moving to one show each season will significantly help to simplify many aspects of our business,” said Marco Bizzarri, Gucci’s president and CEO. “Maintaining two separate, disconnected calendars has been a result of tradition rather than practicality.”
3. LINDA RODIN LIPSTICKS ARE COMING
Counting down the days till Linda Rodin’s lipsticks arrive at Liberty. In five colours (four brights and a nude), they’re scented with her signature jasmine and neroli fragrance and wear down to a stain, which is exactly how I like my lippies to behave.
4. WANNA SMELL LIKE GRACE CODDINGTON?
Bloggers, fashion editors and influencers are seemingly the new celebs when it comes to fragrance opps. Diane Pernet, Daphne Guinness and GQ’s Jo Levin have all created vanity scents, it can only be a matter of time before we see a Blonde Salad fragrance. (What would it smell of? Cold, hard cash I imagine.) For now we have Grace Coddington and Comme Des Garcons who have teamed up to create Grace, a rose-scented perfume in a cat-stoppered flacon. Launching later in the month, you can sign up for updates at Grace’s very own brand website, Gracecoddington.com.
5. MAISON MICHEL HAT SHOPPING JUST GOT EASIER
Like sunglasses, I find the idea of buying hats online a bit odd. Surely the fun is trying them all on in the shop? Anyhoo, Maison Michel has both, a sexy new e-store and a new Paris boutique (at 22, rue Cambon) for all your head adornment needs.
6. FAUSTINE STEINMETZ X CHEAP MONDAY
Interesting collab from Faustine Steinmetz and Cheap Monday. You’d expect a fast fashion collab that waters down Faustine’s aesthetic into something easily accessible for the masses, but that’s not what this is. There are only 150 pieces available and they’re pretty labour-intensive. Taking her experimental approach and marrying it to Cheap Monday’s denim and music heritage, the result is a line of organic cotton denim-look separates that have been painstakingly unravelled or hand felted (to create a ‘mould’ effect!) in oversized unisex shapes. Prices start at around £120 and go up to £450 at Cheapmonday.com and in stores.
WORDS: Disneyrollergirl/Navaz Batliwalla
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