Cara Delevingne’s New Mulberry Campaign is Quirky Perfection
2014 January 3. | Szerző: shannon
Behold an ad that’ll make you wish you were in spring. 2013’s most-searched model knows how to quirk for the camera, and Miss Cara Delevigne’s latest Spring Summer 2014 collaboration with Mulberry is no exception. After achieving success with Delevingne in its Fall 2013 campaign rife with allusions to Tippi Hedron in Hitchcock’s The Birds, Mulberry signed Delevingne for another season with a wildlife motif. The concept? A topsy turvy tea party occupied by an array of farm animals.
Delevingne’s Spring ad campaign for Mulberry is twee with a twist, featuring a grazing pony, a pelican, cockatoo, tortoise, and a host of disobedient dogs. Mulberry’s eccentric concept behind the shoot is not a stretch for the model, whose signature kooky expressions and outlandish campaigns define her career as much as her sought-after eyebrows. Delevingne’s previous idiosyncratic projects include a punk Marie Antoinette-themed Chanel campaign, a neon sportif shoot for DKNY, and a shimmering Disco throwback campaign for Blumarine.
Photographed by Tim Walker, the shoot took place at an 18th century Oxfordshire home where climbing vines of vibrant blooms and a messy table of treats set the stage for Mulberry’s sleek bags and streamlined floral ensembles. Mulberry’s handbag collection took shape in a number of reinterpreted classics, such as the Bayswater tote, in a range of neutral shades, punctuated by pops of crimson and persimmon. The clothing took a subtly feminine route, an interplay of muted brocade and neutral stripes with punchy patterns.
Isabel Marant’s designer collection is coming to H&M
2013 November 7. | Szerző: shannon
And in just over a week’s time it is landing on our doorstep.
The Isabel Marant for H&M collection arrives in Glasgow’s flagship Buchanan Street store next Thursday.
So expect overnight queuing as one of the catwalk’s most celebrated names takes her signature style to the wider public – and for a fraction of the price.
The collection oozes French laidback style, mixing some of the Parisian’s best-loved details, including fringing and chunky knits. Designer Isabel, who launched her fashion house nearly a decade ago, has combined wearable pieces with bohemian accessories to channel a chic but quirky vibe.
From navy peacoats to keep out the cold to silk scarves that are bound to be on a few Christmas lists, it is no wonder the designer has such a wide following.
As well as the line for women and young people, Isabel has created pieces for men for the first time.
The designer follows in the footsteps of Versace, Marni, Lanvin and Stella McCartney in collaborating with the high-street store.
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She added: “I aim at creating something real, that women want to wear in their everyday lives, with a certain carelessness, which I think is very Parisian.You dress up, but do not pay too much attention and still look sexy. The collection is infused with this kind of easiness and attitude.
“Everything can be mixed following one’s own instincts: my take on fashion is all about personality.”
The line launches in H&M Buchanan Street at 9am next Thursday, November 14.
A POP-UP shop is launching in a Glasgow shopping centre.
Parma Vintage (PV) will set up in Princes Square, on the lower ground floor, on Friday, and will be in the mall until Sunday.
Set up in 2009 by Gillian McGilp and named after her favourite retro sweets, Parma Violets, Gillian created a business from the vintage finds she picked up during her time as an air hostess.
PV became a one-stop shop in Gourock, Inverclyde, for vintage, modern brands, accessories, gifts and homewares.
The store mixes vintage with new on-trend fashion, and they stock an eclectic mix of both to suit all styles.
Gillian said: “Our customers range from people who live across the street to fashion lovers on the other side of the world.
“We want to bring the fun shopping experience of PV to you – and what better place to start than the style hub of Glasgow?”
The Olsens on Scents, Fashion and Branding
2013 November 1. | Szerző: shannon
Perfectionists? They freely admit it. That explains the deep dives for knowledge they make on any product category they consider entering.
But that’s part of the reason that Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen are at the helm of a megamultimillion-dollar licensing and manufacturing company, Dualstar Entertainment Group — which they’re now adding to with fragrances and next year with a first Los Angeles flagship for their The Row brand. They’re also juggling their Elizabeth and James contemporary brand, their Olsenboye line for J.C. Penney and a T-shirt line called StyleMint, among other projects.
During an exclusive interview at TriBeCa’s Locanda Verde, the Olsens discussed their new brand of two women’s fragrances, Nirvana, which is built off of Elizabeth and James and will be exclusive to Sephora. Black is a sensual woody scent, while White is a musky floral fragrance. The duo will be launched in late January, after a quick in-store holiday preview from Dec. 13 to 25.
Given that they’ve been working since they were nine months old — their age when they began the shared role of Michelle Tanner on the ABC sitcom “Full House” — spending much time relaxing isn’t usually comfortable for Ashley or Mary-Kate.
“We were always hard workers as kids,” said Mary-Kate. “It’s just the way we are, the way we were raised. Our work ethic was everything, and that never left us. We like to work hard, and we like to try to do everything 100 percent. In fact, it’s actually almost impossible for us not to. Sometimes you succeed and sometimes not so much, but it’s learning.”
“I always looked at myself, even as a kid, as a businesswoman,” said Ashley.
Added Mary-Kate: “With what we were doing in business when we were younger, I don’t think it ever felt like we were actresses — because we spent so much more of our time not in front of the cameras, building a brand.”
In fact, the Olsens founded Dualstar in 1993 at the tender age of six — “We couldn’t see over the top of the table,” Ashley joked — and their marketing savvy and the support of a strong team of adults reportedly made them millionaires by their 10th birthday. In 2004, on their 18th birthday, the sisters took over as copresidents (they are now co-chief executive officers) of the privately held firm, which has produced movies, TV shows, magazines and video games. While in their tweens, their business efforts included not only movies and videos, but clothes, shoes, purses, hats, books, CDs and cassette tapes, fragrances and makeup, magazines, video and board games, dolls, posters, calendars, telephones and CD players — with a market share made up mostly of the tween demographic. Mattel produced various sets of Mary-Kate and Ashley fashion dolls from 2000 to 2005.
“We’ve been exposed to so much,” said Ashley. “We were very fortunate to have parents and people around us who wanted us to be part of the creative meetings and the business meetings, and we would just sit and listen and be sponges. At that time in your life, you really are a sponge. And we’ve learned so much from people we’ve been exposed to in our lives — interesting people from different walks of life, different ceo’s. The list goes on and on. Mary-Kate and I have always taken advantage of our time with those people and walked away learning a thing or two.”
Best business lesson they’ve learned? Both Mary-Kate and Ashley prize one above all others: trusting their guts. “We have really good instincts, and it’s better when we listen to them,” said Ashley. “That’s both personal and in work.”
“And [growing up] we also were learning about branding and staying true to ourselves as well,” said Mary-Kate. “What always worked was that we were speaking directly to our customers, who were our age. Even down to writing a script, they would want us and our input on what the script should look like or how it would sound — because a 50-year-old man is not going to know the way a 10-year-old is speaking. It was very collaborative, and we were able to learn a lot about branding and marketing and product.”
After moving to Manhattan as 18-year-olds, the sisters took a break from entertainment — and developed a true passion for fashion. “Mary-Kate and I moved to New York to go to NYU, and we put everything else kind of on hold because we wanted to just go to school and experience education without working at the same time,” said Ashley. “While doing that, we started conceptualizing The Row. We started one item at a time, and took it to L.A. because the machines we wanted to use [to create the pieces] weren’t available in New York.”
“We sold it at first with no label,” said Mary-Kate. “Only certain people knew it was us behind it. We didn’t do any press. Our idea — because we had been in the branding industry for a very long time — was ‘If the product’s good, it will sell.’” While Ashley and Mary-Kate were building The Row, the opportunity came for them to do the Elizabeth and James line with a partner. “It was when the contemporary category was very small, and now we have several partners who help us with Elizabeth and James,” said Ashley. “We still do everything with The Row ourselves.”
In fact, the Olsens are about to become vertically integrated. Next year, they will launch their first store for The Row, in Los Angeles. Eventually, they’d like to do a fragrance for that brand, noted Ashley.
“Retail is really our next step,” Ashley added. “We’re building the store right now for The Row in Los Angeles.”
Following the sisters’ affinity for perfectionism, they’ll build the empire “one store at a time,” said Ashley. “And eventually, Elizabeth and James would love a home as well.” Other categories are likely for The Row down the road. “We pretty much have all categories with Elizabeth and James right now, but for The Row it’s just apparel and handbags,” said Ashley. Shoes are on the wish list, “but that’s a very different type of business,” said Ashley. “We’ve done a ton of research, and it can be a really big expense, depending on how you want to do it. We like having success with one thing before we move on to the next. We don’t like to spread ourselves too thin.”
But they do appreciate what each of them comes to the table with. “We feel so fortunate to have each other, to have a dialogue,” said Ashley. “Communication is key; it’s the most important thing in life. And Mary-Kate and I get to communicate all day long, on all sorts of subjects. It gets us to a more educated, thoughtful place, because we often come to things from different directions — although we want to get to the same space and have the same goal and vision. But that conversation is what gets us there.”
Ashley and Mary-Kate were inducted into the Council of Fashion Designers of America in 2009, and confess they get overly excited when they spot someone wearing one of their pieces. And while you’d think taking surreptitious shots would be the work of their fans, Ashley and Mary-Kate both confess to snapping shots when they see someone on the street in one of their creations. “Anytime we’ve started a brand and we see people wearing it — and we haven’t given it to them — we try and take pictures of them,” said Mary-Kate. “The first time we saw a Row T-shirt, an Elizabeth and James piece, a handbag — we got giddy.” Added Ashley: “It’s such a nice feeling that somebody appreciates your work.”
Roughly two years ago, Sephora’s Kendo division — the development arm that handles strategic partnerships — approached Mary-Kate and Ashley after a fashion market research survey commissioned by the beauty retailer continually referenced the Olsens’ Elizabeth and James brand. “We always knew we wanted to have a fragrance for this brand, because it’s very lifestyle,” said Ashley. “There are many components to the brand. We felt that between the brand Elizabeth and James and Sephora that we were really speaking together directly to our customer. We felt that was a really good place to start exploring the world of fragrance and beauty.”
After deciding the venture felt right, Ashley and Mary-Kate began working with fragrance veteran Robin Burns, cofounder of brand developer Batallure, and Michael McGeever, senior vice president of Sephora and general manager of Kendo.
Mary-Kate and Ashley spent close to two years developing the scents. “We’re not perfectionists at all,” deadpanned Mary-Kate. In fact, the Olsens’ attention to detail included flying in out-of-season peonies from New Zealand and lily of the valley from Holland for the interview because they are key ingredients in the scents.
Nirvana Black, developed first, took a year and a half, with around 50 different concoctions before hitting on the winner — “and that’s 50 versions not including the various tweaks we made to individual notes,” said Ashley. Nirvana White took just a few months.
Originally, the concept was to do just one fragrance to start, but during the development process the Olsens decided against trying to cram too many notes into one bottle. “We wanted to keep things as pure as we could,” said Mary-Kate. During one tweaking session, Ashley suggested doing two fragrances, an idea that immediately took root. “They also layer very nicely,” Ashley pointed out. “It’s not necessarily meant to be either/or, but both [fragrances].”
Before heading into the fragrance labs at Firmenich, where they spent a lot of time, Ashley and Mary-Kate studied the existing fragrance market and determined how they could differentiate their offering. “We looked at how people are speaking to this consumer and how we could speak differently,” said Ashley. “It was very interesting to focus on what’s working and what’s not working and why.”
Added Mary-Kate: “We didn’t want to do another very average commercial fragrance where it could be anybody’s name on the bottle and a visual, which would be a model with a bottle. We wanted to offer more than that and we wanted to offer a choice. I don’t want the fragrances to wear [the customer]. Ashley and I are really into oils, and those were the notes we were really attracted to. It was fascinating to see how many different variations of ingredients there were, how many different types of sandalwood, for instance. That was one of the things I found most interesting, the quality issues of these ingredients, and also balancing all of the notes so that they would sit well together in the juice.”
“And we have expensive tastes,” cracked Ashley, who confessed that she brought her shampoo, conditioner, face lotion, oils and deodorant to the first mixing session. “People would always say I smell good, but it was really a combination of those things rather than a specific fragrance.”
Mary-Kate said she’s always loved sandalwood, musk and amber notes — “darker and more masculine,” she opined. Nirvana White is built around peony, muguet and musk, while Nirvana Black features violet, sandalwood and vanilla notes. “Also, these fragrances are really about what everyone wants, which is intimacy.”
“Not speaking the language, trying to figure out what someone else wants to express, it’s so fascinating, Even if we didn’t use the right words, Pierre [Negrin, who helped develop Black] and Honorine [Blanc, who assisted in the White development process] knew what we were trying to express,” said Mary-Kate. “We all have skin in this game. It’s a team effort. That’s a fresh way to do things.”
Elizabeth and James Nirvana eaux de parfum will each be available in three sizes — 50 ml. for $75, 30 ml. for $55 and a $22 rollerball.
“We wanted the bottles to feel sensual,” said Mary-Kate of the opaque-textured bottles which bear the color of their respective names. “There was a texture on an antique that we really loved — a completely different shape, but the way it felt when you would hold it in your hand. We wanted to play with all senses. Whether it was scent, touch, size, the weight — we wanted it to be curved so when you held it in your hand it didn’t feel strict and harsh.”
“There’s a nice roundness to it,” said Ashley. “We wanted it to be modern, but not too modern. Also, the contrast of black and white in-store will hopefully be very dramatic.”
Branding on the bottle is minimal, with the scent’s name engraved on a gold-toned plate running down the side of the bottle.
The name Nirvana was chosen, said Ashley, “because to us, this was really about a moment — and what’s that one word that’s going to define that one moment where you feel comfortable, sexy and at ease with yourself? For us, we always came back to our beds. That’s where I love to spend my time off. No noise, no people trying to bug you. So it was about capturing that. And about there being no judgment, and how our generation is growing up with that intention. People are much more accepting of things and of people’s choices. That was also part of this process.”
“Getting to the name Nirvana took a lot of time,” said Mary-Kate. “Then we were in a meeting, talking about launch dates, and Robin goes, ‘That date would be nirvana!’ We were just like, ‘What did you just say?’ What’s better than nirvana? That’s the dialogue we want to have with the consumer, giving them a choice, but figuring out where they’re coming from, what is their nirvana, what is their moment.”
“We wanted the feeling to be intimate, and we wanted a regular girl, not a model,” said Ashley of the ad visual, which breaks in the December issue of Allure. Shot by Ryan McGinley, the image features a naked model snoozing face-down in a cocoon of sheets with a black dog sleeping nearby. Originally the plan was to use Mary-Kate’s dog Jack, but “her dog looked totally big next to the model,” said Ashley with a laugh, teasing her sister about her passion for dogs. “She’s never had a better day on set than when she got to play dog trainer,” said Ashley. “She was so excited.”
An interactive marketing platform is being developed for the brand, said McGeever. “In the first part of their careers, they built a brand that was centered around them,” said McGeever. “When they created the second act of their career, it was really more about the celebration of quality and craftsmanship, with them almost invisible in the beginning. That’s what we’re working on [with the promotional plans.] This isn’t about sticking Mary-Kate and Ashley on a billboard. This is about the brand they’ve spent the better part of a decade building.”
How will the sisters define success for the fragrance? “I’d like to walk down the street and smell a note of it,” said Mary-Kate.
Ashley confessed to a frisson of fear about the beauty business. “I have to be honest, I do [fear it] a little,” she said. “I kind of felt it today and I know it’s because I’m relatively new in this category. But I felt it in a good way — it was like, ‘I have so much to learn.’ I know entertainment and apparel and brands; I’ve had schooling and training with that. With these [fragrances], this has been my training so far, and I’m so grateful to Robin and Michael for educating at the same time as developing.”
While all involved with the fragrance declined to discuss sales projections, industry sources estimated that Nirvana by Elizabeth and James would do about $7 million at retail during calendar year 2014.
This fragrance duo will likely lead to future scents by the sisters. “We’ve learned a lot through Sephora — why things work, why certain things don’t work and what’s new and exciting — and we think there are a lot of logical brand extensions,” said Ashley.
Both sisters attended Sephora’s national employee meeting in August. “It was great to see how they communicate and how much they believe in what they’re doing,” said Mary-Kate. “To me, that was the greatest thing to see. It’s why they’re so successful at what they do. It’s all coming from a positive place. They believe in the product and they trust their management.”
Will they go back to Hollywood? Doubtful. “We have a video catalogue of everything we did when we were younger, so we’re looking at distribution for that now,” said Ashley. “That’s not being in show business, but it’s been fun talking to these people we used to be in business with many, many years ago. But the industries are completely different.”
“We still feel welcome in the [entertainment] industry,” said Mary-Kate. “But it’s not the one we’re in.” Instead, the sisters say they’re still telling stories and entertaining — but through their products.
The fragrance will be sold in the U.S. and Canada for now, and will soon be presented to the other markets. Likely overseas possibilities include the U.K. and Japan, said McGeever. “We need to spend more time in Japan [to further suss out the market], and that’s planned for the first part of next year,” said Ashley.
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Tapper’s Diamonds Reveals New Collection by Monica Rich Kosann
2013 October 23. | Szerző: shannon
Cooler temperatures and brilliant fall foliage paint a beautiful backdrop for metro-area residents who are eager to step out in new and stylish fall fashions. Tapper’s Diamonds & Fine Jewelry in West Bloomfield has introduced a new collection by Monica Rich Kosann, which provides style and on-trend function.
The Monica Rich Kosann collection is designed to offer customers heirlooms for this generation. Kosann’s pieces capture the essence of fashion while maintaining the timeless elegance of design. Her collection strives to help a woman tell her story through her jewelry, while celebrating the memories she creates each day in her life. Also featuring earrings, bangles, and beautiful chains, Kosann’s collection is available in 18k gold and sterling silver.
As a fine-art portrait photographer and jewelry and home accessory designer, Monica Rich Kosann has worked for many years with people to integrate their memories and most cherished possessions into their daily lives.
Kosann works with photography clients to integrate her candid images of children and family into the decor of their homes. She encourages clients to frame her photographs as they would any other piece of art. After she began scouring antique shows and flea markets for vintage lockets, cigarette cases, and powder compacts that could be adapted to hold family photographs, a new passion was discovered. Kosann since developed her own unique collection of jewelry available exclusively at Tapper’s Diamonds & Fine Jewelry in southeastern Michigan.
Tapper’s Diamonds & Fine Jewelry offers an exquisite selection of engagement rings, spectacular designer jewelry, and luxury timepieces. Tapper’s provides a luxury shopping experience with unparalleled customer service at each of its three metro-area locations in Novi, Troy and West Bloomfield. A multi-generation family-owned business, Tapper’s has been helping its customers Mark the Moment for more than 37 years.
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Selfie? I’d rather go old school in sequinned Marc Jacobs
2013 October 15. | Szerző: shannon
As the narrow-eyed stare of my byline photograph suggests, I have a pathological hatred of having my picture taken. I have the utmost respect for models: I can’t think of anything worse than being subjected to a constant barrage of shutter snaps.
In the 19th century, Native American tribes believed that photography could steal the soul. My fear is more concrete, namely that a bad fashion choice, bad hair day or just a badly timed grimace could be immortalised. The advent of Google image search, Facebook tagging and Instagram means that they’re immortalised and accessible. It’s a phobia I know many other share. Hence the proliferation of the “selfie” – the idea being that you can control your own depiction, and decide if it’s worthy of publishing.
So it was with trepidation that I agreed to have my picture taken by the artist Walter Hugo as part of his latest series of portraits. Hugo uses a giant camera obscura to capture his images the good old-fashioned way, fixing them on plate glass with silver nitrate. He’s installed himself in the basement of Paul Smith’s newly expanded shop on Albemarle Street in London for an exhibition opening tomorrow to run during Frieze Art Fair.
Of course, it brings up a whole host of Dickensian issues. Firstly, there’s no retouching on the plate glass. Secondly, there’s no re-shooting. Both anathema to contemporary fashion photography. Hugo recently shot a series of lookbook images for Smith with the same olde-worlde provisos.
The process is nothing I’ve experienced before: the exposure takes 17 seconds, the opposite of an iPhone snap. There’s a clamp to hold your head in position. And it took me a long time to decide on what to wear. It’s sequined Marc Jacobs. Which may be a foolish seasonal choice as, bar the glass plate’s propensity to smash, Hugo asserts that the image can last for 500 years, much longer than a paper counterpart.
It didn’t get me over that photographic phobia, but interestingly I don’t hate the results. Even though it’s about as far away from an arms-length “selfie” as you can possibly get.
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The five factions of men’s fashion
2014 January 9. | Szerző: shannon
Nowhere else do men in challenging tracksuits mingle more freely with men in three-piece suits than at the masculine fashion shows in London.
Today (Wednesday January 8) the male showcase – formally titled London Collections: Men – comes to a close with a schedule that veers from experimental knitwear at Sibling and goth-tinged sportswear at KTZ to luxury ‘heritage’ fashion at Burberry and impeccably made, incredibly priced English shoes at John Lobb. This dizzying spectrum is reportedly worth £10 billion a year to the national economy. It is also tricky to unravel. So here, from the ostentatiously loopy left, via a safely tasteful centre, and through to the creative conservatives, we present a guide to the factions of men’s fashion.
1 THE NEW RADICALS
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Imagine it: you’re male, under 25 (or at least you wish you were), and you want to stand out from sad old squares and suits. Skinny jeans and logo T-shirts are mainstream, and demonstrations are so last century; so to really mark your generational territory, what you need is hard-to-credit conceptual clothing.
If you’re older and wiser, you might splutter, then mutter that things just aren’t what they used to be. You’d be wrong to, though: from punks back to Bowie and beyond, dressing in a way calculated to confuse your elders has become a time-honoured trope of radical teenager-dom.
KEY DESIGNER: Craig Green
This young Londoner became the poster boy for “What are you on about?” radicalism when, last season, he presented a series of wooden sculptures as clothes. This time round, Green tempered his grand gestures a little, mixing monkish silhouettes (above) with a painted rose window pattern and some alarming harnesses.
Bobby Abley (above right), who shows in the Topman-funded MAN show alongside Green, trumped his peer this season by getting his drooling models to wear mouth-retainers (“so McQueen 20 years ago”, sighed an unshockable veteran as he watched). They topped off a collection of mohair and sportswear in which Abley daringly played with Disney-style decoration – very daringly indeed if it was done without permission.
WEAR IT IF: You’re an enfant terrible.
2 THE LADIES MEN
Fifty years after the sexual revolution, fashion is catching up. After all, if traditional gender roles are shifting so fundamentally, why shouldn’t their traditional clothes change too? At the women’s shows, you see plenty of ‘masculine’ looks: minimalist tailoring, ‘boyfriend’ trousers, and even the odd tuft of artificial facial hair. Thus, at the men’s shows there are ever more flashes of lace, jauntily swung handbags and one-shoulder numbers to smoulder in. Are you man enough to slip into one?
KEY DESIGNER: JW Anderson
Ever since this young Northern Irishman started showing in London a few years ago, his agenda was to disregard gender. Later, Anderson showed to the women’s crowd and became an instant darling. He still shows menswear – and yesterday unleashed elegant tabards, carefully proportioned platform heels, backless blouses, and ruffles aplenty (above). It was held in the home of the University of London Officers’ Training Corps, and afterwards the men in uniform looked heartily baffled. Anderson insisted: “I find the idea of looking into what is right for a woman or what is a right for a man really stale. It’s a dated concept. Instead, I work with an idea of a shared wardrobe.”
Also flavoured by femininity is the work of Jonathan Saunders (this season: Arts-and-Crafts trousers and satinate tracksuits), and Richard Nicoll (pastel skinny-fit frills, inset) – both known for womenswear.
WEAR IT IF: You don’t mind it being borrowed from your wardrobe.
3 THE STYLISH CENTRISTS
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Not too old and not too young. Not too out there – but not boring either. Defining the centre ground of fashion without becoming dull is the hardest niche to fill in the spectrum of nattiness. A theme can be fun, but these clothes have to be practical, and rugged, too.
KEY DESIGNER: Oliver Spencer
Harrogate-born Oliver Spencer’s show today will feature a flash of tartan, a few veiled references to architecture and plenty of chin-stroking prints (right). But, he said: “The key is that we always try and make clothes that a man will want to wear over and over, time and time again.
“The more you wear it, the more you will appreciate the fit and the material – my favourites in this collection have come from mills in Lancashire and been used in coats made in Bow. We are a label that concentrates more on making clothing that will suit your life, rather than on more extreme show pieces that barely anyone would ever wear.” Other designers who overlap with this stylish centre include Lou Dalton (from the left), Margaret Howell (bang in the middle, pictured below) and Sir Paul Smith (from the suity side).
WEAR IT IF: You’re bothered, but you don’t want to give the appearance of being so.
4 THE EMINENTLY CONVENTIONAL
Lapels may narrow and trousers widen. Collar shapes change constantly while jacket lengths go down as well as up. But a suit is a suit is a suit – however much you mess with it, this garment has longevity because it is both flattering and forgiving. So-called “sartorial” dressing – fashionese for suit and their sundries – is now about lustrous fabrics, restrained pattern (if any), and blue-chip back stories. The suit isn’t nearly the power it once was but it marches on with majesty undiminished.
KEY DESIGNER: Hardy Amies
Hardy Amies may have dined out on his tales of dressing the Queen, but this couturier’s real meat and drink was menswear, specifically suits. From Alberta to Adelaide, Amies licensed his designs across the Commonwealth, making a mint. Its founder is now dead, but this brand has been revived from its old base on Savile Row, and is again pitching Amies-labelled suiting to department stores around the world. Designer Mehmet Ali said that his new season collection (above) of suits, bags and more was partly inspired by Amies’s war work in intelligence. “He was very outspoken, but had that covert existence too. We wanted to balance that aesthetic – elegance and style – with a real functionality.”
Gieves & Hawkes and Ede & Ravenscroft are two suit specialists on the London Collections register. Marks & Spencer presented its Best of British collection here this week, along with Hackett (inset).
WEAR IT IF: You want to play it safe in style.
5 THE DADDISH DANDIES
His jacket has one button undone on the sleeve, half-an-inch of shirt cuff showing at the wrist, and is fitted just so. He is either older in years but younger in outlook, or a youngster who wants to look grown up. Both age groups flirt with pulsating colour in the summer, mismatched old English patterns in the winter, and double-breasted jackets all year. Simultaneously fuddy-duddy and dandified.
KEY DESIGNER: Richard James
“When we set up in a shop the size of a cupboard on Savile Row 20 years ago,” said Richard James before his show yesterday, “it felt very fusty; a street for old people. None of the tailors had windows [whereas] ours was brightly lit, and we sold ready-to-wear [off the peg], which alarmed them.”
Two decades later, James represents the new Establishment in menswear. David Cameron wears his suits, while Mayfair is strewn with well-heeled Peter Pans in eye-catchingly bright jackets, open-necked shirts and pocket squares. So successful has the look become that a conservative clique of 20-somethings now apes it, even if they don’t have the investment portfolios to match. Modern British tailoring, as cut by James, has provided a template for companies like Rake and Kent & Curwen – as well as many European tailoring companies – to combine decadent decorative touches with soberly cut silhouettes. Tom Ford is the king of this particular niche.
WEAR IT IF: You’re a party-loving alpha male (or want to be one).
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