Anything that makes taking risks - arguably the only way to fight your way out - harder is a serious problem’The Creative Cut
60’s mod-diva meets drunken soul sailor…
The world was rocked by the death of Amy Winehouse, so tragic and perhaps not so surprising given her well documented struggle with addictions. The desperately skinny and tattoed body, was the unlikely home of a huge and undeniable talent. Amy was a original and I’m truly sorry we will never get to hear her voice again.
The Middleton Midas Touch
The stores in the Kings Road were delighted this week when Kate Middleton and her sister decided to go shopping. What was particularly interesting to note, was how the retailers that she shopped at responded at their unexpected stroke of luck.
Wardrobe Maths
We are living in an age of extremes:- extreme weather, extreme disasters, extreme political opinion and extreme shopping behaviour. Today CNN reported that the American shopper will spend on designer and cut-price brands – but nothing in-between. High-end luxury and low-end bargain retailers are performing well but the USA middle market is getting squeezed, just like the middle classes are in the UK.
Bath...city of fashion?
When I think of Bath, the following springs to mind: Roman Spa, Georgian buildings, quaint streets, rugby loving Daily Mail readers even.… but not fashion? A recent visit to look at the new Banana Republic store location, allowed me to explore the town to understand where fashion sits on the radar… and to my surprise, it is bang in the middle.
All work and all play
With a new Banana Republic store launch in Milan looming and keeping the rest of the portfolio ticking over, of late, it has been very difficult to find the time to network. Last week I carved out two evenings to do just that and cut loose a little.
Can Fur be Friendly?
It was reported in the Independent today that ironically, the rise in popularity of faux fur has boosted the genuine fur industry. The days of pain- throwing PETA protests and supermodel campaigns seem quite distant now. It would appear that wearing fur has become socially acceptable once more.
Day 2 in the Big Somerset Hoose
London Fashion Week isn’t just about the big names, it is also a vital for younger smaller designers to network and get noticed by the industry. This year I popped down to check out the stands in Somerset House. As I wandered around, there were a few names that caught my eye.
Update my look? I've nailed it!
Most people think someone in my position would find it easy to shop…. I wish it were true. I spend so much of my time in shops, thinking about shops, looking at competitor’s shops, that when it comes to my free time, the last thing I want to do is go shopping. Update my winter wardrobe on the weekend? I’d rather eat last year’s coat! So a quick fire way to update my look at lunchtime and for less than a tenner, is more than welcome.
Mad Woman?
The news that the coalition government wish to pressure the fashion industry to use realistic sized models and to kitemark images where airbrushing has taken place, has taken the industry by the scruff of its very skinny neck.
University Outfitters meets Urban Outfitters
Teenagers are obsessed with it, adults are bemused by it, just what is so special about Jack Wills?
Don Fisher's Artistic Legacy
When companies decide to give something back to the community, it can come in many guises, but not often as aesthetically and some might say, soulfully uplifting as the Doris and the late Don Fisher, founders of Gap.
Who's Schmizing Now?
My name is Sushma and I’m an America’s next top Model-aholic. Not content with getting my fix in other people’s houses, I have subscribed to SKY and can now overdose in the privacy of my own home.
All Saints, The fashion retail Tesco of our times
Last week a breakthrough occurred in the fight against All Saints by the Friends of Portobello Market.
Only the Brave
Diesel’s original tag line ‘Only the Brave’ has never been more true, as it takes a lot of guts to remove product entirely from your above-the-line advertising and replace it with a cryptic slogan, ‘Be Stupid.’
Happy Birthday Carnaby!
2010 is an exciting year for Carnaby as it marks the 50th anniversary since its famous heyday in the swinging 60’s. This iconic time, though documented and reminisced about extensively, only lasted 10 years and noone has really investigated the previous history of the area… until now.
The Comeback 'Crystal Queen'
The life of a Marketing Manager/Drapers blogger is never dull - one minute I’m in Liverpool examining dodgy fixtures and the other I’m sat next to renowned, fashion jewellery designer J Maskrey , as a fellow judge in the prestigious P&G Grooming Awards.
Who is Dai Jobu?
I was walking down Redchurch Street in Shoreditch last Thursday and stumbled upon a large, fashionable crowd, drinking hot cider outside a tiny gallery. This often happens on Redchurch Street on a Thursday night and the gallery in question was The Maurice Einhardt Neu Gallery.
Time for Tea
February Vogue declared that ‘the tache is back’ thanks front-row fashion show attendees, Hamish Bowles of American Vogue and REM’s Michael Stipe. I don’t think it ever went away in the world of Mr Johnny Vercoutre, proprietor of Time For Tea, a 1940’s tea house on Shoreditch High Street in East London.
The rise of the Hunter welly
I might be the only person who hasn’t yet bought a pair of wellies to wear in the snow, but when I do, it will have to be a pair of Hunters. Like the Havaiana brand of flip flops, it has risen to the top of the rubber style-stakes, having successfully been adopted by every type of fashion-conscious consumer, with virtually no market competition.
A masterclass in cold weather cool
If there was ever a place to research winter fashion trends it is Reykjavik. The Icelandic people have their own brand of cool nailed and I’m not talking Bjork experimental. It is possible to look sexy, hip and stay warm; being Nordic, chiselled and blonde is simply a bonus.
Ah ah ah ah Staying Alive!
Monday night isn’t ideal for going out, but how could I refuse an invitation to the MTV Staying Alive Foundation charity dinner, at the Westbury Hotel, Mayfair.
Changing Times
So it’s all change at Ben Sherman, as the news hit that we are going to have a new CEO next year.
Samantha Cameron and the M&S dress-gate
The topic of heated discussion this weekend, in the press, was that of Samantha Cameron and the M&S dress she wore at the Tory Conference this year. Her humble sartorial tastes turned out to be a lot less humble than previously thought.
Ballet-porn and rock’n’roll
Last week I was reminded of why I love London. This wonderful, cosmopolitan city of cultures and contradictions never allows me to stand still. A couple of highlights from last few days have stayed with me and they couldn’t have been further apart in character.
Mod Night Out
With the promise of free entry and 3 rooms of the ‘finest underground 60’s funk and soul,’ I persuaded a host of colleagues to join me at the The New Untouchables monthly club night at the 229 Club. The Mod scene is close to our hearts and though our heritage lies in the mod of the 60’s our prospects lie in the mod of the future . So we set off last Saturday night in search of ‘Future Mod’ and an insight into the evolution of the scene.
The most famous fashion book of all...
I jumped at the chance to go to a preview screening of The September Issue this week and it didn’t disappoint. What a wonderful peep at the characters in the most famous fashion book of all.
Cathy, Heathcliff and Karl
Last week I was quite shocked to see the weather turn and switch on a seasonal timer. One minute it was all sunny and summery and then bam, rain, cold wind and it was noticeably dark early on. So tucked up at home listening to the wind howl, I watched the recent ITV adaptation of Wuthering Heights.
Come and have a go if you think you're stylish enough!
Next week sees the start of a new campaign that we are launching in Ben Sherman stores, the search for a Brand Ambassador. It’s a popular mechanic; lots of brands run model competitions and the search for a new face is not that new an idea. But here at Ben Sherman mansions we didn’t feel it appropriate to seek out another model-type, we needed something more inclusive.
If Carlsberg made festivals……
I’ve just returned from a tiny French boutique festival. Calvi on the Rocks is situated on a picturesque rock pinnacle in the town of Calvi, Corsica, just off the south coast of France.
Mary Mary where you goin' to?
This week Mary Portas, the retail guru, went to Orpington to makeover Save the Children. Now I’ve always been a bit cynical when it comes to reality TV programmes believing for the most part that the ingredients are for effect and not much else. However after watching the latest episode, I have changed my mind. Could it be that Mary genuinely cares about the case of the underperforming charity shop?
Britain's got retail talent
It was with trepidation that I went up to my CEO’s (Miles Gray) office after being summoned randomly a few weeks ago. I exhaled a sigh of relief as he explained that he had been asked to sit on the judging panel for the World Retail Congress competition alongside a whole host of industry giants such as Sir Philip Green, Sir Stuart Rose and Terry Green from Tesco.
The devil wears a bandana
Hell’s Kitchen, the celebrity cooking competition that has just come to a close, was fantastic television for more reasons that just the food.
Men do make passes at girls who wear glasses
When I was little I was very short sighted. In those days the only option I was given were NHS frames: standard pink, pale blue or white. I had pink ones. They were pretty horrendous and as soon as I could I graduated to contact lenses. Fast forward to the 90's and I managed to get laser surgery, which left me blissfully without any sight aids for a decade. Sadly however, this year as my eyesight began to wane once more, I was reluctantly left with the task of having to wear glasses ...
How do I know you love me?
This recession is testing the tenacity of marketers. Appeasing key people within any business is tricky at the best of times but some might say this is the worst. With so much at stake and so little to play with, selling ideas internally has suddenly become very challenging.
Waste not want it !
I was in Yauatcha with a companion and had ordered a mind blowingly delicious feast. When we reached our limits, the thought of them throwing it away made me feel queasy.
Copy, the underdog
Agencies give them so much gravitas, that there are whole teams devoted to working on copy, making sure that it is as effective as possible and that it conveys the personality of the brand. So on returning back to the brand-side of fashion, I noticed that in this land of outfits, aspirations and imagery, words often seem to end up last on the priority list. Rarely is a professional copywriter, as skilled in the voice of the brand and the nuances of language as the designers are in the ...
A global brand for local people
It consists of a competition to win the rock’n’roll weekend of a lifetime in the UK, various related store GWP incentives, window displays, POS, e-flyers, 10 different versions of a campaign microsite… some grey hair, bags under eyes and a higher than normal blood pressure.
The London Fashion Week brand wagon
The last few years has seen the middle-end wanting a piece of the action. So how do brands who aren’t showing get a look in?
One for the ladies
Klimt has been one of my favourite artists since childhood and I was in love with his swirling gold canvases and naked ladies well before I understood exactly what sentiments may have inspired them. He idolised women and it’s easy to fall under the spell of this visual adoration.
Who took your online fashion cherry?
I’m not quite as suspicious as my mum and am happy to have a go on Amazon for CDs and gadgets, but when it comes to clothes and shoes, I really need to get up close, touch them and know that the things I’m buying (call me old fashioned) fit. The prospect of returns seems like too much hassle and I guess I just hadn’t met the right site who I trusted enough.
Survival of the Fittest
One course of action I have noted is the two brand shop. It’s an interesting concept, in theory they’ll both benefit from pooling resources and if the brands are similar, each other’s customers. Like two friends having a joint party, their respective friends are bound to mingle happily.
Colonial Vogue
However, now that I’ve had a look at it, I’m even more annoyed. There was not one single Indian model in this issue. So even within ‘black’ where absurdly, ‘black’ means ‘any woman of colour,’ Indian models don’t make the grade either. A little investigation brought to light that there is an Indian supermodel called Ujjwala Raut, the only successful Indian runway model in the US. Why wasn’t she used?
Tour de Fashion
It felt ridiculous, but when it comes to bike attire, that seems to be de rigueur. I don’t go that fast or for that long where I need to change again, so prefer to make my normal outfit cycle friendly. Combining work clothes with bike clothes is a daily dilemma.
Fashion Art Whatever
This is the first exhibition of the Dutch duo’s entire careers’ collections, many loaned and many painstaking recreated to be exhibited on lifesize dolls. The centre piece was an enormous dolls house with miniature dolls in key pieces from every season. In each lifesize area, the actual catwalk show was played behind. It was a lot to take in, a mindboggling display of pure genius.
Making a racket about brand protection
A large part of what I do is ensuring that our wholesale accounts represent us in the way we would like, not the way they might think is alright.
A Fashionable Film
Even before my career in fashion began, the Weber Calvin Klein advertising images from the early 90’s were ingrained on my memory from the insides of the lockers at my all girls’ school. In particular a glistening Marcus Schenkenburg, all blonde and muscley, the antithesis of anything I’d ever seen inBirkenhead!I ...
Being a good retailer does not make you a brand
It has always surprised me how often the word “brand” is bandied around when all people do is sell things.
How do you like your department stores?
They also featured in a recent survey by Allegra Strategies “How Women Shop!” with 23% of the 1000 women interviewed having shopped in Debenhams in the last three months, making it the second most popular store – a tie with Next.
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