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 

Weekly Fashion News

Designer Pudsey Bears!

For children in need, some of the most famous designers in the world have created a bear each in the iconic style of each designer, these little mascots are cute and chic!

The beautiful Alexander McQueen Pudsey is made with cherry blossom jacquard 

Burberry's Pudsey. Made from quilted leather and suede, with it's own iconic trench coat

This Louis Vuitton Pudsey is stylish and practical as it doubles as a bag! Naturally.

This smart little Pudsey is a Paul Smith creation that is made from cashmere and wearing a bespoke suit

Prada's little leather bear is wearing the iconic Prada creepers and clothes from their collection

This trademark printed bear is of course by Vivienne Westwood and it definitely has the most character, much like Ms Westwood herself.

For more beautiful Pudsey creations go to:

www.designerpudsey.co.uk 

Which is your favourite? 

Weekly Fashion News

For my degree I have to find and report back weekly fashion news, so I've decided to report my favourites on my blog. 

This week my favourite is the McDonalds VS Prada story, when I first read this title I was quite confused, as you would be. The story is actually about McDonalds being pushed out of it's premium location at Milan's Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II shopping arcade, a position the fast food chain has held for over 20 years. The Prada boutique is the second in this beautiful location.

Now, you can see the reasoning behind the city of Milan wanting this fabulous location to remain exclusive to stores such as Louis Vuitton and Gucci but McDonalds is now seeking a pay out of €24 million from the city of Milan in "damages over unfair public tender allegations" the chain has claimed that there are clauses in their contract that states that the restaurant was "exempt from closure".

"We don't want to fight with the city, but we were kicked out unfairly" Italian McDonalds Chief Executive Robert Masi told the Financial Times. 

Chanel Little Black Jacket Exhibition

The re-making of a classic, Chanel's stunning exhibition featuring the original black jacket has been revisited by the genius that is Karl Lagerfeld and Carine Roitfeld. In the exhibition you can see the jacket styled expertly and worn by 113 different celebrities, it premiered in the fashion forward city of Tokyo and was shot over 6 days in their photo studio in Paris. It was modelled by his "favourite muses" both men and women and featured faces such as Alexa Chung, Georgia May Jagger and the unexpected Kanye West wearing the iconic jacket. 

The exhibition is currently on in London until the 28th october in four huge rooms in the Saatchi Gallery and admission is free.