Two new initiatives on my radar in the repair and re-wear space.
Nike’s Re-Creation project upcycles deadstock and used clothing into new, lovingly crafted pieces where stains and holes are creatively transformed or carefully camouflaged (below). It’s not an entirely unique approach – lots of small start-ups have used this method – but the execution is more in line with my taste. (more…)
UPDATED: Some pieces are sold out, others have an extra 20% off…
Let’s face it, January is good for only one thing and that is the sales. I’m a very boring strategic sale shopper and use it to zero in on elevated wardrobe staples that will last. For me right now, that’s knitwear, outerwear and work wear.
Quite a few items I’ve featured on recent shopping posts are now on sale as well as perennial DRG favourites, including the Lemaire trench*, Rue de Verneuil totes* and Gabriela Hearst Merion boots*.
On the work wear front, I’ve heard that people are shopping for tailoring again (more…)
While it’s doom and gloom in the world of retail (Selfridges is letting 450 staff go), I can’t help believing that there’s still life in the physical retail model. And now is the perfect time for some fresh thinking.
Nike has just built its new Paris flagship, a ‘House of Innovation’ (below) serving as a temple for its most loyal worshippers. As it moves away from the wholesale model to focus on selling directly to these loyalists from its own stores, its goal is to focus on full price products that die-hards don’t mind paying for. (more…)
Here’s the latest weekly DRG STYLE INDEX ranking, a round-up of the brands and industry stories currently buzzing on my radar…
WALES BONNER WINS
It’s been a big old week for Grace Wales Bonner. On Wednesday she was named as the winner of the BFC/Vogue Designer Fashion Fund £200k prize, while also collaborating with Dior on its 2020 Resort collection and hosting a ‘devotional meditative sound experience’ in New York with Solange Knowles, as part of Frieze. The prize win is a pretty good accolade, not that it’s the magic bullet people assume it is. Thomas Tait, who won the LVMH Prize in 2014, opened up recently about the reality behind the facade of young designer ‘success’. It’s still tough out there… (more…)
