events

Introducing Selfridges Beauty Project (and a can’t-miss special offer)



Wow, what a month May is looking to be for retail! Last week, Harrods opened its Pradasphere exhibition-café-shop-windows takeover, Fendi unveiled its 3-floor Bond Street flagship, Jigsaw’s Duke Street Emporium arrived in Mayfair and Selfridges just launched its summer ‘Beauty Project’.

An epic nationwide store concept (online and offline), The Beauty Project is a look at beauty, not just from a product point of view but in a wider sense, giving us experiential retail and discussions around how we see beauty. (more…)



Introducing Chanel No. 5 Eau Première in a new bottle (plus Chanel’s beyond fab ceramic blotter charms)



Chanel-ceramic-fragrance-blotter

Chanel No. 5 Eau Première, the lighter, fresher version of Chanel No. 5 has just been upgraded to join its big sister in the classic Place Vendôme-shaped spray bottle. (See this is what I love about Chanel. It has always utilised its house codes in clever, original ways, Place Vendome being the address of The Ritz where Coco Chanel lived for 30 years.)

And talking of house codes, at the tea party launch last Thursday, the scent was sprayed on teeny flat ceramic camellia and bottle charms. (more…)



You’ve been Vogued



1 vogue-festival-2014-photo-by-disneyrollergirl

Having seen the evolution of fashion blogs over the last seven years (this blog started in 2007), I’m interested in the shift from blogs to brands. Many of the fashion blog pioneers have extended their remit, transforming their blogs into successful creative businesses.

And this approach has spread beyond the bloggersphere to the wider world, hence these days, far from simply aspiring to ‘be a celebrity’ (how 2010!), everyone wants to ‘be a brand’. This thought was crystalised last weekend at the third Vogue Festival (in association with Harrods) at the Southbank Centre’s Queen Elizabeth Hall. Vogue, one of the biggest publishing brands is not content with being a print publication. It wants to be a multi platform destination, an event, a lifestyle brand. And as such it has created a means to engage with its future customers, who themselves have become pretty well versed in the stepping stones of brand-building. (more…)



Vogue time



4 Nigel Shafran Paris Avenue Montaigne

What a surprise to see a Nigel Shafran shoot in Vogue. And styled by Joe McKenna too. Shafran’s last Vogue shoot was 21 years ago and he has brought his quiet observational style to the the UK title with this ode to consumerism (beating Karl to the punch), shot in the temples of Vuitton, Chanel and Celine on Avenue Montaigne… (more…)