It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas…said Harrods

One of my earliest memories of Christmas shopping probably goes back to when I was about 7(ish), with my parents taking my brother, sister and I to London on a cold December Saturday, wrapped up to our eyeballs in wooly scarves and hats and ambling us round the streets of Knightsbridge, Leicester Square, Oxford Street and all the major shopping haunts of Ye Olde London town. Back then I was probably more interested in Hamleys then Harvey Nicks, but the common factor that provided so much appeal has always been the Christmas window displays. Every year without fail gazing into shop windows at the gorgeous Christmas displays always leaves me feeling so festive. And who does it better then London’s most luxurious department store Harrods. This year I loved how they really embraced what I would consider a traditional Christmas, but of course with a glamouous Harrods twist. From the little mice having their own festive celebrations to Santa and his reindeer, I thought it was an extremely cute way of showcasing products and enticing passers by to come have a closer look, after all who can resist those sort of classic holiday scenes. It was almost like projecting a Christmas jumper into a rather huge shop window, and that would be a jumper I  would want to wear!

Scenes from the Mouse household

A Christmas Ballerina

Mr and Mrs Mouse

Eerily beautiful

Wouldn't mind one of those on my tree!

Patchwork rocking horse

Harrods: The land of make believe

I don't know about anyone else, but looking at these is definitely getting me in the Christmas spirit. Not long now!

#MrQuiffy

To accompany their new collection launch that feature Mr Men and Little Miss characters, the House of Holland lot have created a social media campaign in which they have cartoonised Creative Director Henry Holland as a character from Mr Men, calling him Mr Quiffy after Holland’s signature hairstyle. They then have spent the month of October uploading photos from Mr Quiffy's world travels...

To me House of Holland and this campaign in particular is an example of promotion being done right. They're connecting with their consumers, and really embracing social media as a platform for marketing the brand. The Mr Quiffy campaign is a true reflection of the brands aesthetic: playful, tongue and cheek and oh so  fun! When it comes to brands I admire I am genuinely a huge fan of House of Holland and its Creative Director Henry Holland. Not just for the clothes, but for the brands whole image and attitude: it's all about youth and youth culture. Music, fashion, art, fiction, this brands doing it all, and doing it right. 

Fashion on Film: The September Issue

Cover for 2007 September Issue
 featuring Sienna Miller

Fashion is demanding, daring and oh so desirable, and nothing epitomises this quite like the fashion bible itself Vogue. In 2007, the September Issue of Vogue weighed over 5 pounds, was 840 pages long and contained 727 ads. Undoubtably something with that kind of magnitude within the print industry requires a huge amount of hard work and dedication, as well as blood, sweat and tears that stain each page. 

The September Issue is a documentary following the creation and production of this most ambitious issue ever, as well as the “life” of Editor and Chief, Anna Wintour. I say “life” in inverted commas, because I think that was the most lacking element of the entire film, despite it being the area I was most intrigued to see, really it seemed like a bit of a lost opportunity. There was not attempt at exposing the myth of Anna Wintour as “nuclear Wintour” a nickname earned from her renowned frosty exterior and Ice Queen like demeanor. Ultimately the reason for this could just be that it is not a myth at all. Wintour herself does little to discourage the judgements about her with at one point responding the accusations of her being an Ice Woman with “Well it has been very cold this week.” 

Personally I was disappointed with the lack of insight into her actual job role. Yes we see her approving or dismissing other people’s work, but I was more interested in finding out more of what being editor and chief of vogue America consisted of: her day to day routine, her presence on shoots, her own creative input into the magazine. It’s all very well watching her purse her lips at other people’s ideas, but I was hoping the film would expose more of her own “talent” as reportedly the most influential woman in fashion. How did she earn that role, and what justified that amount of prestige to be placed on such a high pedestal? Despite this, I couldn’t help but have a certain amount of respect for the First Lady of fashion. Her take no prisoners approach may be brutal, but there’s no denying it gets the job done. At one point in the film, Creative Director herself Grace Coddington is seen advising a young, fresh faced colleague. “Don’t be too nice,” she tells him, “because you’ll lose. You have to beat your way through.” This appears to be the mantra that Wintour has lived her career by. Yes she’s ruthless, but it’s clear to see everything she does is for the magazine, her obsessiveness and possessiveness is to protect the legacy she has built. She’s not particularly exciting though. Failing to demonstrate any real creativity, and throughout most of the film she just appears bored with the whole saga, with the occasional sarcastic role of the eyes and rather pertinent looking pursed lips. When it comes to Anna Wintour, I think the director has played it too safe. The film doesn’t challenge her, and instead just allows her to glide through this apparently very insular world of worshiping minions and handmaiden assistants. 

Now Grace Coddington is one I feel is portrayed as a far more interesting and dimensional personality. Not afraid to say what she’s thinking, we get the impression that she is the only person ballsy enough to confront Wintour, and the only one Anna will in turn listen to. She is clearly respected by all, with Wintour even referring to her as a genius. It’s easy to see why. Despite her prolific status, she will still personally dress her models instead of delegating the slightly mundane job to someone beneath her, showing a personal touch, and that no job is beneath her. Furthermore some of the editorial shoots the documentary follows are absolutely stunning. Her artistic vision is inspired, with concepts executed so beautifully. My personal favourite was the 1920s flapper girls inspired shoot. I think it beautifully highlighted the class and sophistication of fashion at the time, whilst also playing with the slightly darker more mysterious vibe of the speakeasies and prohibition. 

I think the overarching theme of the film is shear amount of work, man hours and money that is poured into the September issue  of Vogue is staggering. I remember during the film being horrified when at one point Grace Coddington refers to how Anna Wintour had just scrapped $50,000 worth of photo shoot; madness! But moments like that are the ones that remind you of the perfection that Vogue is striving for, and that it’s Editor and Chief will not just allow anything merely good or nice within its pages. I guess that’s why people call it the fashion bible. And well Anna Wintour...She’s the high priestess. 

Alexander Wang for H&M

H&M have done it again. Yet another designer collaboration was debuted this week, and while there has been plenty of hype surrounding the Alexander Wang for H&M partnership, I must say I was a little disappointed. While I’ve always quite liked Wang in the past and was eager like everyone else to see what the collection would look like, now I’ve seen it I can probably say I will not be frantically cuing outside H&M stores for hours to be the first to get my hands on it.

 It’s an interesting concept; Wang describes the collection as being designed to be worn ‘on the street, in the gym, at the club.’ And while I think versatility in fashion is brilliant, the actual practicality of this statement seems a bit iffy. Maybe it’s just me, but I thought the gym and a night out are two very different things that require two very different dress codes... It seems the collection is more for those who want to look like they lead an active lifestyle, with actually minimal activity or athleticism. 

And while it’s tapping into the current move towards sportswear and the influence of R&B in fashion, I personally found some of the items to be pretty ugly. 

Like the black crop top with the slogan ‘this is an Alexander Wang crop top’ embedded on the chest which just seemed utterly unnecessary and ruined the piece. It was probably an attempt at being ironic and funny, yet I just found it looked cheap. Likewise with the sweatshirts with ‘Wang’ plastered across the front of them. I mean really, do I need to be parading where my clothes have come from. I’d feel like a walking billboard. Saying that though there were a couple of pieces I did quite like. 

The mesh jumper for example I found to be wearable but still have that signature Wang flair (without being plastered in his name), and the leather
jogger style trousers that I actually love!

I think much of my negative opinion about the collection is probably down to the fact that I’ve never much embraced the sport/chic look, I tend to be a bit more classic in my taste. Now the Isabelle Marrant collab was something I really did enjoy.Mixing up prints and colour, variations of fabrics, cuts and occasions. 

More classic but still fun, that’s more me.