Drapers Diary
Guest Post: Valentine's New Crush

This Valentine’s Day S/S trend will guarantee a crush that’s hard to brush.
Guest Post: London Fashion Week - the countdown begins...
One of the world’s most exciting fashion shows is merely a month away. London Fashion Week (LFW) kicks off its A/W12 show on February 17th at Somerset House, Central London.
Guest Post: Is shape the new size?

The need to find clothes that look and more importantly fit correctly has always been the purpose of shopping; however it is not necessarily the easiest task at hand. Women spend countless hours in an out of changing rooms across the retail high street trying to find that desired fit, which let’s face it, is hard to find.
IMAGE GALLERY: Button it

A new book, On the Button, examines the cultural history of the button, not just in fashion but also literature and the visual arts.
Image Gallery: New exhibition offers A Front Row Seat

Mere mortals can usually only dream of a front-row ticket or backstage pass to the world’s top fashion shows.
Guest Post: Mixed emotions towards the British fashion industry

There’s a lot of mixed emotions towards the British fashion industry. It’s great for the economy and employment, it can be aesthetically beautiful, it involves creativity, skill and it’s a trade.
Finding the perfect EBD...

Let’s be honest, whether your style icon is Alexa Chung or Audrey Hepburn, the perfect black dress is the one thing a women strives for, comforted by the fact that it will always be there in her hour of need.
Guest Post: Grunge - Fashion or Filthy?

Situated opposite from myself is the fashion team wearing gorgeous jumpsuits and envious dresses every day.
Guest Post: Prom dresses: What the UK can't give me

The phenomenon that is prom has newly grasped teens in the UK, after an influx of high school musical type TV shows from the US.
Guest Post: Festival fashion: get rid of those pac a macs as designers get in on the act

Browsing the fashion magazines on a newsstand, there is one line that you will see time and time again- ‘Festival Fashion.’
Game on for fashion

Recent statistics from the Entertainment Retailers Association (ERA) showed that in 2010, video games outsold music and DVDs.
Guest Post: Too young to drink but old enough to blog about fashion

As I sit here in the posh offices of Drapers, I wonder how confused staff may be as a blonde, 17 year old sixth former looks around bemused in this wonderful world of fashion.
VIDEO: Made in Chelsea

If I had to choose between interviewing the cast of The Only Way is Essex or Made in Chelsea, I think I’d probably – just maybe – go for the latter.
Taking a bite of the apple

Whilst on my travels in the big apple I thought it would be rude not to take a peep at the New York scene and see what events were hot with our friends across the pond in the world of fashion.
Guest Post: Save Our Skills - meeting Dominic Shellard

After all the overwhelming support and feedback from the UKFT meeting I was really excited and pumped up for my meeting with Dominic Shellard.
Guest Post: A calculated risk

Last week I attended the Drapers Next Generation Academy and the watchword of the day was ‘inspiring’. And I think it was from all sides of the spectrum. This was a conference different to any other I have been to. It was focussed on youth, ambition and potential.
Fashion favours the brave

The clocks went forward at the weekend and that can only mean one thing (no, not that we have all been robbed of an hour’s sleep) but that British Summer Time is here and the weather will soon start to reflect that.
Is the only way Essex?

Parties and events are part and parcel of being a fashion journalist, glamorous trips and being entertained are all in a days’ work.
Guest Post: SOS meeting has given me hope

I can’t believe I’m actually writing my first blog for Drapers, me the fashion technology student, it’s mental!
Guest Post: Fakers have been knocking off art, gold and diamonds for centuries but when did the art of forgery become so apparent in fashion?

If I re-wind to a more cringe worthy time - back when England was playing in Italia ‘90 - the must have fashion item was the shell suit.
A Beady Eye for fashion

Liam Gallagher’s new band Beady Eye played their first London gig at Troxy last night and there was much more to watch than just the man himself on stage.
Fit for a queen

Could the future queen of England have chosen a better fashion house to make her wedding dress?
Pretty and Pregnant?!

My life for the last 8 months has been hectic to say the least. Not one to let a thing like being preggers affect the smooth running of things I have continued with business as usual.
Amazing technicoloured fashion

It seems spring really has sprung. We’re not talking daffodils just yet but as the mornings begin to get lighter and the sales racks are cleared the new bulbs of spring 11 have started to appear and the high street is now blooming with colour.
Being inspired

Sipping champagne at the Roof Gardens in Kensington last night, I was reminded about what it is that makes me love the fashion industry: independent retailers.
Lee Alexander McQueen: Gone but not forgotten

If you work in fashion then you probably remember exactly where you were on this day last year when the news broke that Lee Alexander McQueen, one of our greatest British fashion exports, had tragically died.
Pyjama drama

Children and the sick. Until the run of freezing weather at the end of last year, they were the only members of the male population I thought of as pyjama wearers.
Drapers Etail Awards - ‘Who likes Dubstep!?’

‘Who likes Dubstep!?’ shouted our host, Beardyman. A slightly unexpected start to the 3rd annual Drapers Etail Awards on Thursday evening.
In the Parisian shadows

We decided to take a different approach to our coverage of womenswear trade shows Prêt-a-Porter and Who’s Next for autumn 11; instead of a labels-to-watch report, I became Deryane Tadd’s shadow for the day, following her and colleague Charlotte Wheeler around the shows to see how they went about their buying for next season.
Social shooting

Social media is a powerful tool and can increase a business’s audience reach rapidly, but a few recent examples show the perils it can also bring.
Fashion scrum at Valentino for Gap launch
I headed down to the Valentino for Gap launch at Gap’s flagship Oxford Street store on Saturday 27 November at 8am (ouch…early for a Sat), for a pre-launch breakfast and the chance to shop the collection before the store opened at 9.30am.
M&S changes should be more radical

“Our research shows that customers lack clarity on the positioning of our sub-brands in clothing,” read a Marks & Spencer statement today.
Kate Moss fever

Kate Moss fever showed no signs of waning at Topshop’s Oxford Circus store last night for the launch of the supermodel’s final full collection for the young fashion chain.
Gap between the ears?

In an unprecedented move by the omnipresent but often silent US giant Gap, it has done a volte face and apologised for the launch of its new logo and said it will return to its original much-loved and recognisable blue box one.
Quality not quantity
This week, three different retailers in three very different sectors signalled a return to investment buying as customers snap up product which transcends seasons.
Bailing out over cotton

The price of cotton has risen above $1 per pound today, so tell the industry something they weren’t expecting.
Crack open the bubbles for Biba

At a fun-filled (and rather sweaty) House of Fraser party last night at the lovely Home House, the department store revealed that its Biba range took £300,000 in its first week on sale and £500,000 in the first ten days.
Shoe-way to heaven
The opening of Selfridges’ Shoe Galleries was everything I expected it would be, with big heels on.
Brits take bite out of Big Apple

I have taken an enormous bite out of the Big Apple over the last few days and it could be said that in retail terms many things are bigger and better over the pond.
Meet the Hilfigers
It was not a great way to start my interview with Tommy Hilfiger. Breaking it to him that one of his icons (and friend) Roger Federer had been knocked out of the US Open while he had been wading through a day of interviews was one of the moments I wish I had kept schtum.
McQueen: the designer of his generation

The death of Alexander McQueen today, just as the international fashion weeks kick off, has rocked the fashion industry to the core.
Vivienne Westwood's "stop shopping" shocker

This morning I almost choked on my cornflakes when one of our great British designers Vivienne Westwood popped up on the BBC London regional news telling the public to stop shopping for clothes to help save the planet.
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Anything that makes taking risks - arguably the only way to fight your way out - harder is a serious problem’



