Can you forecast next season’s trends based on three days in one city? A little. Two stood out for me at London Collections: Men this week – neither very surprising. Menswear trends are a bit more predictable than womenswear because (as a rule) men like to shop for the familiar rather than the new. So we saw a ton of youth subculture references, plus many nods to Great British heritage and manufacturing. (more…)
In the main, I like my menswear shows colourful, casual and youthful. So thank you Topman Design for your intrepid traveller theme, incorporating hi-vis berry and citrus-hued outerwear (above), including many variations of furry hooded parka (is the cropped parka the new cropped puffer?) and some clever backpacks dripping with tech-cessory hooks and holders. (more…)
If the blouse-n-trouser-jean is 2013’s new day-to-night uniform (and I reckon it will be), then that’s good news for Donna Ida Thornton. Because this month Ms Thornton launches her eponymous jeans line, IDA, and it pivots around that very look. Having nailed the denim-centric retail sector with her Donna Ida jeans chain, Thornton has gathered her customer feedback and poured it into a tightly focused own brand. Key to which is a ‘true’ high waist – no butt-crack flashing here – a response to many a request from her dedicated customers.
All the jeans in the debut collection are fairly snug on the thighs, with varying widths below the knee from the ankle-gripping, zip-hemmed ‘Audrey’, to the flared ‘Martha’. (I hear a boyfriend jean is in the works too.) My favourite (by sight – I’ve not tried them yet) is ‘Jeanie’, a sophisticated cigarette jean named after Thornton’s most loyal customer, “who’d come in asking for high-waisted jeans. She’s clear about what she wants, and if we didn’t have it, she’d say ‘Well, why not?” says Thornton. “I’ve named the cigarette leg after her because that’s what she wants to wear.”
And about those blouses. They fit in with Thornton’s ‘quintessentially British’ vision for the brand, so for a little elegance, there’s the neat-shouldered ‘Out of Africa’ silk shirt with patch pockets and deep cuffs, or for the full power-bow effect, there are bell-sleeved ‘Mrs Thatcher’ blouses in soft cream, pale pink or a rather apt Tory blue. The collection launches this month and can be pre-ordered now at Donnaida.com.
Chanel, Scotland, tartan, kilts, twinsets… what’s not to love in the latest Chanel Métiers d’Art show at Linlithgow Palace in Edinburgh? I’ll admit I have a love-hate relationship with Chanel RTW but this ticked most of my ‘love’ boxes. In particular, Stella Tennant in the ultimate luxe twinset and Edie Campbell in argyle-patterned tights and plaid tam-o-shanter, not to mention Sam Mcknight’s phenomenal Elizabethan hair dos. (more…)
