Top Knot-ch

Sorry about the rubbish pun, but I do write a lot about fashion and news so I thought today was a good hair day, I've been in a lecture this morning full of fashion students, so I looked around to see what cool hairstyles I could see because naturally if you're looking for street style then fashion students are the people to look at, and what I saw was a lot of tight knot buns, I've seen these a lot recently in replace of the huge messy buns.
I have thin hair so a messy bun required a lot of backcombing and these top knots seem to be the solution. 

Rocked recently by the young style queen Demi Lovato and sexy Kim Kardashian this look has trickled up from street style to celebs in the fastest time possible.

This is my interpretation of a slightly messier top knot that I have been sporting today.

Party Season!

I am a complete sucker for christmas, I literally love it! And it's mainly because it's party season and I love a bit of sparkle. And Topshop have certainly not disappointed this year with their Limited Edition collection of dresses.

I think this panelled print dress is my favourite from the select dresses, I always love the prints that Topshop create, I was chatting with one of the sales assistants about their galaxy print collection and she agreed that no high street brand does prints quite like Topshop, it's so hard nowadays to find prints that are not designer but don't look cheap just like this dress, the shape is beautiful and the big shoulders are very 'in' right now and I love the colours.

I also love this one because it's a bit more me and it's very festive for this time of year! Neither of these pieces of cheap baring in mind, but perfect if you are going to a Christmas party where you want to dress to impress in front of that guy you like, and this one is perfect for showing a bit of skin! cheeky.

Weekly Fashion News

Harvey Nichols to Create Own-Brand

Drapers published a report on the 21st of November that Harvey Nichols were in the early stages of creating a brand specifically for them “I am talking about creating a brand that might have a certain name or be a certain line but that has been created exclusively for us.” Joseph Wan explains when interviewed. 

This idea is all part of the companies strive for growth over the next 5 years, including increasing its space in store to include more luxury brands including Chanel, to attract more tourists, this will be happening in their knightsbridge store. 

Harvey Nichols isn't as big as it's giant competitors such as Selfridges and Harrods, so with the companies growth plan they are trying to attract more customers to choose them for their luxury goods, they claim that "[maximising] space is very important. It is all about editing" which is so true for luxury brands, it's all about the visual merchandising, proper display of popular brands is which department stores become successful.

Manchester Museum of Costume

As part of my course they have advised us to go and look around museums and fashion exhibits to enhance our fashion knowledge, so last week I went to look around the second largest costume gallery in the country which is situated in Manchester next to Platt fields park. The museum was in a small stately home kind of building and all the decor was fairly simple, the paper dresses downstairs were displayed on a beautifully classic baby blue and white backdrop to intensify the elegance of the pieces. As you walked upstairs you were taken through the 20th century in glass cabinets and each one contained costumes from a different era, this was interesting to see different interpretations of these influential periods. They also had feature cabinets which showed different fashions such as embellishment and oriental. They also had a feature tribute on McQueen (shown at the bottom)

Website: http://www.manchestergalleries.org/our-other-venues/platt-hall-gallery-of-costume/

Weekly Fashion News

Mulberry Issues Profit Warning

Mulberry has recently issued a profit warning after the designer handbag giant sees a fall in wholesale revenue, in the 6 months leading up to September 30th wholesale shipments to third party was down 4% to £30m they believe the cause of this is due to a changing environment in Asia.

In a statement, Mulberry said "it had made the decision to rationalise some international wholesale accounts in order to improve the distribution network." 

Mulberry has stated that they now expect revenue growth for the year until March 31st

Mulberry is also seeing a slight change in strategy due to this decline, they have looked at sales and in the UK retail sales have risen by 10% and Mulberry's full priced items have performed "in line with expectations" but again the off-price sales have remained weak, so they have decided to stop making products specifically for the off-price range. 

Mulberry also plans to open a further 15-20 stores globally during 2012/13 and has stated that their current international stores have been performing "satisfactorily".

He added: “We continue to focus on creativity, craftsmanship and quality and in this context will start the construction of our second UK factory within the next few weeks.”

All sources:http://www.drapersonline.com/news/mulberry-issues-profit-warning/5042085.article