trends

Shop the post: Chalet girls



Slim Aarons après-ski style 1960

This week as I marinate in the damp, wind-battered streets of NW10, I’ve been reading all about the French mountain resort of Megève. In particular, the ‘chaletwear’ store AAllard that specialises in après-ski wear and whose founder Armand Allard actually invented the ‘fuseau’, aka the tapered, tailored stirrup pant that begat the stretchy ski pant as an early garment to tuck into ski boots. (When local ski champ Émile Allais wore them for his triple medal win in the 1937 world skiing championships, a trend was born.) (more…)



Hedi Slimane’s ‘age of indieness’ returns for Celine AW23



Celine AW23

“You can only be lucky enough to have one style, a style of your own that becomes a caricature of you, your own ‘sound. I’m probably synonymous [with] punk rock and indieness in fashion, beside being known for my androgynous models. I have been precisely this in fashion for more than 20 years. This is the caricature I gladly own.”
Hedi Slimane

Proof that if you just stand still and do your thing, fashion eventually catches up with you, Hedi Slimane is once again haute stuff. With revenue doubled since his arrival, Slimane’s recent LA Celine AW23 show (part fashion show, part ‘indie sleaze’ rock concert) unapologetically brought his own greatest hits front and centre. (more…)



A coffee vs commerce conundrum



Jannel Therese Blank Street

“Six pounds for a cup of tea and you don’t even get a china cup!” This complaint was quoted to me some 30 years ago by my friend G; his mum aghast at the price of a cuppa in some National Trust cafe or other. Yet it’s a refrain that auto-plays all too frequently in my head when I pass any number of overpriced chain coffee outlets. Especially in the last two years when the premiumisation of, well, everything has played out in the world’s fashionable metros.

At WatchHouse (below), a new-ish UK coffee chain, you do get a lovely ceramic cup. The chain is notable for its upscale Aesop-esque branding (its design team is headed by a former Aesop designer), superior snacks, well-mannered baristas and several-steps-up-from-Starbucks hospitality area. (more…)



Shop the post: The low-down on party shoes



Julia Nobis by Zoe Ghertner for M Le Monde

Question: do people go for a fully glitzed-up party look these days? Or do they go for more comfort-led with a nod to shine and bedazzle? I’ve seen a lot of extreme glam-rock platform heels* doing the rounds on all the shopping sites, not to mention the Bottega Veneta Mostra heels*. But equally, I’ve noticed that in real life, the gorgeous young things are wearing the opposite. Like, a satin slip with 70s-style Adidas Gazelles (that is, the amped-up 2020s version at 2020s prices – thanks Gucci*).

Somewhere in-between is a middle ground where the New York minimalistas are pitched. (more…)