I don’t usually comment on peoples religion but Natalie Portman is a proud Jewish, Israeli born woman who happens to be both beautiful and talented having just won best actress at the Oscars last night. Ms Portman talks often about her religion and what it means to her and how she will give her child a traditional Jewish upbringing. John Galliano on the other hand has no problem talking about religion, especially when drunk, as he clearly was whilst in a Paris bar, around the same time as Ms Portman was receiving her statue. Galliano was doing a ‘Mel,’ which in effect means the alcohol had dis- inhibited his horrible hate filled mind and allowed a stream of vile consciousness to gush forth. Some may argue that it was just a rant from a drunk and dismiss it as unimportant, but hateful words have a habit of inciting violence. Mr Galliano deserves to lose his job at Dior though no doubt he will launch his own clothing collection which will be on the catwalks within months. I expect, however that Ms Portman won’t be wearing one of John Galliano’s gowns anytime in the future.
To read and see a video clip about the Galliano episode check out the Sun here.
The election is over and almost as if in celebration town was busy, the streets were full and women were shopping. It was all oohs, aahs and red bags being filled today in the new Christian Louboutin shoe Boutique in Dublin’s Brown Thomas Grafton Street store. It’s wonderful to see such an iconic world leading designer having faith and opening a boutique in Ireland. I brought my assistant Selina Fairbairn with me who wore one of her favorite pairs of Louboutin high heeled Mary Jane’s and who walked quite a distance to get there in them. She tells me they are the most comfortable shoes she owns which is more than vital when it comes to shoes. If you can’t walk in comfort the pain shows on your face and I have had more than one occasion when the contorted shapes my face twisted into due to excruciating foot pain resulted in me walking barefoot (once in London’s west end!). The lovely sales assistant I talked to, Erica, wasn’t exaggerating when I caught up with her as she served yet another customer and told me that the boutique has been incredibly busy since it opened quietly a couple of weeks ago.
I will go back when it is less busy and try some on, I have my eye on at least two pairs, one of which is a flat studded shoe and the other a beautifully crafted basic round toed court. I had my camera with me and managed to take just a few pictures, between sips of champagne which was being handed around to all.
Spring has started to make an appearance. I have been told this by some of the customers who have come in to place orders for one or more of the collections in the showroom. This week has been a busy one which has been both tiring and satisfying. Electronic Sheep arrived back from a successful London Fashion Week and we have been selling it like hot cakes. Socks in the Falke collection have been particularly strong since they all sold out this winter as they are the most comfortable socks ever made. You would really be surprised if I told you how many pairs of socks we sell on a yearly basis. Unfortunately all the samples are in ones which means that there aren’t any pairs at the end of the season for me. We do mis-match them and my girls have no problem wearing odd socks which is our way of recycling them.
I can’t wait to go to the new Christian Louboutin boutique opening tomorrow in Dublin’s Brown Thomas. I met with the lovely Rachel who works in the company for coffee during the week and she told me that Mr Louboutin would pay a visit in a few weeks. I’m hoping to get to meet with him and shake the hand of the man who has brought us the most beautiful heels in the world and made women the world over feel wonderful by dressing their feet.
When I go into BT tomorrow I will stop by the Chanel cosmetics counter to see if the Cruise collection polish ‘Riva’ is in. If it isn’t I will get my name on a waiting list because this is one colour that I will be wearing. It looks just like Summer which for me can’t come too soon.
I mentioned in an earlier post about quality and statement dressing and how these were on the up as smart thinking women are cleverly buying pieces that will last and give great value per wear. I’m fed up with the race to the bottom with some buyers struggling to pass this key message onto their customers. One boutique owner told me today that once a dress goes over €200 it gets much harder to sell it. How can we address this sad state of affairs. We know that money is tight and the whole country is overwhelmed by depressing stories of doom and gloom. We know that there is a lot of truth in that and that we could all just stay in bed for a year or two until it all passes. I prefer a more pro active approach where we talk about how important it is to look good, not just for our self esteem (and god knows that’s important enough) but for our whole presentation. The fact of standing up and walking tall in good quality clothes cleverly put together is vital to our recovery as a vibrant successful people. Rant over…
As if to agree with me these images from the Louise Kennedy photo shoot at Dublin Airports T2 arrived into my in- box this afternoon. Louise Kennedy has been doing fabulous statement dressing for yonks. She knows how to cleverly use key pieces and this season is no exception. Colour blocking and more than a passing reference to the 70′s and Louise Kennedy has come up with exactly the sort of clothes that sharpen my appetite.
This is what I have been waiting for and I love love love it, simple yet bold statement pieces and easy to wear this hits all the right notes for me. A colour palette which is earthy with accent tones of brick red, teal and mustard. This is a great step forward to what has become one of the UK’s finest heritage collections.
I should be in London this weekend but instead I’m drinking hot toddy’s and going through copious boxes of tissues. Through the great new media I can post some of the shows here for you to take a look at. Paul Costelloe was on the ramp at 3 O’Clock today. I’m loving the colour palette and the shapes. Tweeds and earthy tones make a compelling story.
I was heartened to hear from one of the top ladies fashion store buyers that the better quality collections were selling well. Women are looking for quality and 2011 is destined to become a year in which statement dressing is key and we will be spending less often but on quality pieces. This, if it continues will bode well for stylish, elegant dressing. It’s time to take a look back at the 70′s and whilst we shouldn’t go the whole hog a nod to the era will be enough.
A difficult trend but one which if worn on the right woman (ie the very tall) brings me right back to the 70′s, it’s the wide leg pants, especially the high waisted variety, the floppy hat completes the look.
I’m just back from Pure, the British Fashion fair which is held in Earls Court and Olympia. The Press pass gave me a place to hang my coat and leave my bags, (of which there were many by the end of the show) I was double jobbing, looking out for interesting snippets to blog and manning the Martine Wester Fashion jewellery stand. I haven’t been to Pure for some years. It is one of the traditional stomping ground for the Irish buyers and I must say that while there where some there, all the companies I spoke too noted that this season there were less than usual.
Susannagh Grogan was there for the first time with her beautifully fabulous scarves. The girls from Chica where there with their Ingenue dresses and their stand was heaving. I’m always on the watch out for great Irish designers and am crossing my fingers for Joanne Hynes who is showing at London Fashion Week which kicks off this Friday and Electronic Sheep hats and scarves who are showing in Somerset House at LFW. These of course are just a couple of the brilliant Irish fashion designers who are making waves. I am back in London for the Jaeger show and to give the Electronic Sheep girls some support in a couple of days if I can shake off the chest infection that has just started to take a grip.
The great Zandra Rhodes ( I blame her for my addiction to blue eyeshadow in the 70′s) and actress and Pure Accessories organiser, Vicky Ogden, made a grand entrance as they walked the aisles in a swaithe of colour. Zandra who is well into her **’s had a pair of four inch wedges on I noticed. Who says we have to hang up our heels I shook her hand and asked if I could take a picture of both women and like true professionals who are used to the flash of the camera’s they dutifully obliged.
I was just checking what time my flight to London is tomorrow when I opened an email from the PR team in BT2 flagging the arrival of Paris based fashion house, Maje. A name I’m familiar with but I’ve never taken a huge deal of notice of and so curiosity had me doing a little Internet trawl (something I do several times a day). I will wait to see it myself when I get back to Dublin. It will be in BT2 from next Thursday.
For the next three days I will be working at the Pure Fashion Trade Show at Olympia in London. Pure is one of the shows that lots of the Irish buyers travel to and rumour has it that if it weren’t for the Irish buyers the show wouldn’t be on at all. I expect to be busy on theMartine Wester stand. This is a brilliant UK Jewellery company with one of the best ranges of contemporary and fashion items and all at reasonable prices. I’m hoping to expand the business here in Ireland for this professional company. So far some of the samples have arrived in the office and the evening bags and jewels are getting lots of oohs and aahs as we unwrap them. I am taking my camera and mini flip to Pure so I hope to bring some interesting snippets back to post.
The internet has been a fantastic vehicle for fashion. We have bloggers, fashion websites of all sorts and of course Facebook where every self respecting fashion related business or person has a page and lots and lots of followers. There’s a race for more and more and the next big Internet discovery.. I now have a digital Tag thanks to Deborah Ruddy from ChicUnique who was in my showroom today. I have one because I was shown how to get one and it’s a sort of digital business card which if you have a smart phone you can read my card by just pointing it at the tag .It’s a tool developed by Microsoft which looks like it might be another great internet idea. You can get one by just going to Microsoft Tag.
A word of caution though. Images of clothes can look great and a dress from Penney’s can be made to look good beside one from one of the top fashion houses or designers. I think we are losing our ability to understand quality cuts and fabric and these are skills we can only learn by trying on and feeling the fabrics in our hands. Fast disposable fashion has it’s place and is perfect for the young but there is nothing like good quality clothing made in the traditional way using skilled labour.
This week my showroom is filled with beautifully made clothing from iconic British fashion House Jaeger. Fabrics are wool, silk, and cashmere. I for one would prefer to save for as long as necessary to buy one piece of clothing that with care will last and last and last.
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