luxury

Smythson stories: how the Mara diary is made*



Making of a Smythson diary Mara midnight

“Our Featherweight paper is the same paper that’s used for bank notes. It’s extremely thin but durable enough to be written on without the ink showing through.”

I’m being taken on a personal tour of Smythson’s Hertfordshire bookbinding workshops, where its famous diaries are produced, from printed page to hand-finished leather covers. My guide is pointing out each artisanal technique while I take in the familiar sky blue paper hue that serves as a permanent presence throughout the premises. (more…)

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Ask Alison: Do you speak Hermès?



Hermes launches Hermesistible microsite

Here’s the latest ‘Ask Alison’ post from DRG retail editor, ALISON BISHOP, on how Hermès is using playful storytelling to launch an accessories e-commerce microsite

Hermès has a playful answer to the emotive question of why we shop for luxury: irresistible whimsy.

Via its engaging and fun new website, Hermèsistible, the French luxury brand says ‘just give in to life’s temptations’ and, ‘go with your irrepressible desire’ to buy to that enamel silver bracelet or buckled leather cuff. (more…)

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THE DRG STYLE INDEX: GUCCI, NARS, JO MALONE LONDON, GOSHA RUBCHINSKIY



Here’s the latest weekly DRG STYLE INDEX ranking, a round-up of the brands currently buzzing on my radar…

1. GUCCI’S GUCCIGRAM IS GENIUS

“#GucciGram is a starting point to tell different stories, which are all united by great freedom. Today creativity is often born and finds its voice in digital media, a vital source of visual culture.” Alessandro Michele With its #GGBlooms and #GGCaleido prints, which layer a dazzling floral bouquet as well as an ever-shifting geometric pattern inspired by the eponymous kaleidoscope over classic double-G print fabric, Gucci underlines our new cultural reality. Namely, we’re all on the Internet, all the time. The way we consume visual art has changed. We don’t need to wait to go to a museum anymore. We just open Instagram on our smartphones and have immediate, intimate access to brilliant photographers and artists around the world who post their work as soon as they create it. Inspiration is drawn as easily from 19th-century Florence as it is from 21st-century technology. Everything is a remix. #GucciGram takes place in this cultural collision. The artists #AlessandroMichele has chosen all take different approaches to Instagram, but what they have in common is their ability to use the Internet to disseminate new forms of imagery. At the forefront of cultural innovation, these artists have chosen to create work on their own terms and present it directly to their audiences in a subversion of the old indirect relationship of artists, curators, and viewers. Gucci on Instagram shows us that we can seek out our own creative voices online and approach culture voraciously. Text by @kchayka

A photo posted by Gucci (@gucci) on


Gucci’s dreamy maximalism was made for Instagram, so whoever came up with its current #GucciGram campaign deserves a gold medal. (more…)

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Perfumer H – what Lyn Harris did next



Lyn Harris Perfumer H 106a Crawford Street London W1

Just what has Lyn Harris been doing with her time for the past two years? Since stepping aside from Miller Harris, the brand she founded in 2000, she has been reacquainting herself with her deepest loves – the British seasons, slow craft and creative collaboration – and cooking up a unique personal venture.

The sweet-smelling fruits of her labour have now been unveiled, revealing a reaction to the mass-market business of beauty that has personal resonance to her and hopefully to her customers. Perfumer H, a shop and working laboratory is a retail concept that puts creation and craft at the heart of the perfume-buying experience. (more…)

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