6 March, 2010

Equipment: The ultimate boyfriend shirt part II

Back in November, following a month of press days, I posted this story on Equipment, the classic shirt line originated by Christian ‘partner of Carine’ Roitfeld. I had spotted the relaunched line during my rounds and thought nothing of sharing the few pictures I had taken. Unbeknown to me, my story was linked via a few different blogs including Fashionologie.

A couple of weeks later, the PR emailed me to say that my post had caused her problems as the Equipment relaunch story had been promised as an exclusive to a major international publication in March. I could have been uncooperative but the PR was so nice and apologetic that I was happy to comply and took the post down. Yesterday, I bought March US Vogue and there was the story. Whoops, sorry Anna!

Now the story is ‘out there’ I have been given the green light to put the post back up. The update is that when Carine Roitfeld took the Paris Vogue job, Christian Roitfeld decided to step down from Equipment. But fast forward a few years and his good friend Serge Azria has decided to relaunch it. Serge (brother of Max) also owns Current/Elliot and JOIE so has excellent credentials. Restoin remains connected to the brand which is jolly handy considering he still has all 3,500 original Equipment designs in his archive. According to Vogue, the ‘just shirts’ essence of the brand will stay the same but there are plans for more directional things too.

Disneyrollergirl 7 Comments Brands, Business of fashion, Design, Designers, News, Trends Business of Fashion, Carine Roitfeld, Equipment, magazines, trends

30 November, 2009

Funnest shoes ever

So, now that ‘funnest’ is a proper word, aren’t these the funnest shoes ever? Who needs fright-clogs when you can have candy-stripe Supergas…

Disneyrollergirl 11 Comments Brands, Design, News, Trends press days, shoes, SS10, Superga, trends

12 November, 2009

Equipment: The ultimate boyfriend shirt

There are boyfriend shirts and there are boyfriend shirts. On the one hand, you get the girl who throws on her boyfriend’s old Gap plaid shirt, half-tucked into her Current Elliots, with sleeves rolled up for Sunday afternoon slouching. On the other you have Carine Roitfeld.

The editor of French Vogue brings a whole new meaning to boyfriend shirt as she can literally wear her boyfriend’s shirts. Her boyfriend is Christian Restoin, the original creator of Equipment shirts (trademark style – loose cut, soft fabric, patch pockets) and soon we can wear Carine’s boyfriend’s shirts too as Equipment has now been relaunched for SS10.

Here’s a sneak peak of what to expect…

Equipment sheer blue leopard-print

Equipment workaday cotton stripes

Equipment day-to-night lace

What do we think…is Carine wearing an Equipment shirt here?*

Bringing back the backpack

Adorning the shoulders of everyone from Kanye to Style Salvage Steve and Susie Bubble, there’s no doubt the backpack is making a comeback. Well that’s what I decided the minute I happened upon the new Eley Kishimoto x Eastpak range which is jollying up the Eastpak Carnaby Street store and window display right now. After an intensive trying-on sesh and grilling the poor (but extremely accomodating) shop staff for a good ten minutes I gleaned the following. The backpacks are printed in the now-iconic flash print (I have the flash print upholstered chair and am still gutted that I never bought the flash print Globetrotter suitcase) and cost a very reasonable £60. Each product is a limited edition of 1000 (I’m guessing that means 1000 in each colour – red, blue, black?) and comes with a special edition Eley Kishimoto Eastpak enamel pin.

Now what do you do if you don’t like backpacks? Well there’s a whole host of other flash-y stuff. There are messenger bags and small shoulder bags as well as pencil cases and wallets (although they are a bit ‘ouch’ at £50 each). There are also three skateboards retailing at £350.

I’m going back for mine on Saturday and will be rocking it all through fashion week as it will be perfect for my LG laptop and inevitable gathering of press packs, passes and general paraphernalia that tend to mount up throughout the days. Well done Eley Kishimoto and Eastpak, I think this is a perfect partnership.