AW11 TRENDS: BEING BORING (with boring fashion on the side)

Posted by Melanie Rickey, Fashion Editor at Large

I'm going to tell you something you might not like. You are fricking boring. Booorrring. You make me want to cry tears of sheer and utter head-banging against a table-top frustration. It's not just you, I'm boring too. Well, actually, it's not quite like that. But it has been firmly established that Being Boring is a powerful trend infecting music, TV and culture in general. The Guardian last Thursday summed it up succinctly, citing our love of Adele, Kirstie Allsop, baking and Downton Abbey as key signifiers of the movement christened The New Boring by the excoriatingly smart popjustice.com editor Peter Robinson. All together now "We coudda had it aaaa- aa alll, rollin in the deee eee eep." Even now, as I write this, me and the Fashion Junior are listening to "Don't Your Remember" with a tear threatening to trash our carefully applied eye makeup.

Nice, boring jumper from L'Agence on Net-a-Porter.com just what the doctor ordered!

Well, I'm here to do my bit for boring fashion. Hopefully you're already in your pyjamas? Sales of those have gone through the roof recently, and you'll find the trendiest online and real world stores are heaving with sensible cable knit jumpers, lace up shoes, dull mannish coats, pared-back shopper bags, satchels, polo necks and novelty reindeer and snowflake jumpers. Alexa Chung's successful collection for Madewell is the height of Being Boring, what with its Bin Man Coat, and cosy cardigans. 

So dull, even the bin men stopped wearing them. Alexa Chung loves her Bin Man Coat though. 

It sounds wrong on paper that we should aspire to -  nay even enjoy - boringness, but in fact we are all rather partial to it right now. I know I am. I draw the line at X-Factor and Coldplay's new album, but Frozen Planet is currently the highlight of my week, I can't listen enough to Arcade Fire's The Suburbs and my favourite new fashion item is a Isabel Marant Navajo inspired sweater. It certainly seems that we have an affection for boring things and find them amusing. How did this happen? Recession obviously. Dire straits cause us to contract into a smaller world of familiarity and safety. This directly correlates to our penchant for novelty Christmas jumpers.


The Pet Shop Boys brilliant ode to how not to be boring: "Being Boring." (1993)

When the Killing II hit BBC4 this weekend, all everyone could talk about in print and on Twitter was Sarah Lunds jumper. A fricking JUMPER. Boring! Yesterday aftertoon while Hugh Grant gave evidence to the Leveson Enquiry, inane and amusing Tweets about the #womanontheleft began trending on Twitter.

Grenson for girls at My-Wardrobe.com

At the weekend a young codger named James Ward hosted the world's first Boring Conference in London. Here's how yesterdays The Sun newspaper reported on it. "IT was billed as a dreary look at life's dullest things — the world's only Boring Conference.  Speakers were lined up to talk on topics so mundane that delegates would be forced to poke themselves in the eyeballs with sharp objects just to stay awake.  After the cancellation of the "Interesting" conference last year due to lack of interest, Ward tweeted that there should be an alternative event called Boring.  The response from his Twitter followers was so huge he had to follow it through and stage an event. James said: "Last year we held a much smaller gathering but this is the first ever conference. I can't believe the number [400] attending.  Subjects included polite small talk, electric hand dryers and the first ten years of Which? magazine 1957-67. But once the conference started it all went horribly wrong — it failed to bore the audience rigid." Oh how I laughed. 

 Nostalgia with a hefty dose of boring: a Cambridge Satchel Co. satchel, 

Borring! From the New York Post's The Cut blog that boringly follows every outfit K-Mid wears

Protest against Being Boring here: Snow Bored by Ashish from TopShop

GRAZIA: SHOPPER BAG MAD

Posted by Fashion Junior at Large

Shoppers, Shoppers EVERYWHERE (IMAGE streetpeeper.com)

In this week's Grazia, we take a look at the Shopper bag madness gripping the nation- we can barely walk ten paces without seeing another take on the super-practical bag of the moment, even if it's name is rather ironic given the current economic panic gripping Europe. After we went to press, we saw a tonne more we would have loved to include. As you can see, there is one for pretty much every mood, style and budget....

Marc by Marc Jacobs £60

A.P.C £335

Denham £170

 The ultimate purveyor of the shopper (and the one who began the whole thing) is Celine. While the first Celine version may have been super sleek and black, now they are branching out with bright colours and, dare we say this in association with anything Phoebe Philo, FUN textures, as demonstrated in the brown carpet-y version below.

The Celine Cabas £1,880

The Celine Cabas £1,880

Topshop can always be relied upon to bring us many a version of a trend; in the past week they have had a big drop of all kinds of shopper styles which are a little more justifiable than a Celine blow-out. I love the autumnal colourways of the two below,perfect for merrily swinging as you crunch your way through the leaves underfoot. 

Topshop £46

Topshop £32

GRAZIA IS OUT NOW!

HELLO TOPSHOP SS12!

Posted by Fashion Editor at Large

A panoramic of TopShop's silky scarf print bombers and lingerie looks for next season

The amazing prototype of Mary Katrantzou's first TopShop dress collection. How alike is this to her runway version?? It will retail for £350.

Pretty pastel and leather sporty mesh for TopShop SS12 shoes

Its been a long day attending press days all over London and meeting deadlines. I've got two Grazia stories running next week, so the proofs had to be triple checked, and we're also brainstorming for the next issue of POP. So here I am at 8.19pm still at my desk eating rubbery cashew nuts because I am starving.

The TopShop press day today was held at the Rebecca Hossack gallery just off Fitzroy Square in London. It was the first time ever the brand has broken away from showing with the rest of Arcadia Group with a solo presentation. Their way of asserting their fashion brand status, I guess. Topshop was, afterall, the most tweeted about label during London Fashion Week after Burberry.  It was a street-chic showing - all very Versace and 90s Sportwear, and the first of ex Vogue Senior Fashion Editor Kate Phelan in her new role as Creative Direector.

I expected Salt n Pepa "Push It" to bust out of the speakers while I mosied my way through the silky bomber jackets, pastel pink jeans and silver Y-back tanks but got Neneh Cherry "Manchild" instead. British fashion is having a major 90s moment at street level. I'm not sure who to blame for this, though I'm beginning to suspect Ayishat and Louize (Cher Lloyd's stylists) will be all over this range like a rash. What I saw available at TopShop was so very 90s took me back to my schooldays of wearing hoodies, high-tops and pastel yellow jeans.  #Nostalgia

Oh and one more thing: last week I raised the issue of whether we could/should wear hi-top wedge trainers, and suggested the high-street got on the job because the Isabel Marant Bekket has sold out gllobally, and lookie here at what Toppers has in store for us...Great minds, hey?

from my Twitter feed @fashedatlarge

All photos: Fashion Editor at Large

LFW LUST OF THE DAY

Posted by Fashion Junior at Large

The Fash Ed is crazy for jumpers at the moment- there are some AMAZING ones about, especially Givenchy, Isabel Marant and Balenciaga (spotted on Sarah Mower today). I haven't fixated on one of my own yet. Well, not until this afternoon's Topshop Unique show which can be neatly summed up as Cleopatra the Gangsta. Now I cannot get the Liz Taylor jumper out of my head. Looks like I might have to wait til Spring for my perfect jumper, darnit.

Topshop Unique SS12 (Image from fashionologie.com)

GLITTER SHOES: OUTDAZZLE THE NUDE

Posted by Fashion Junior at Large

Miu Miu FW11. Note the glitter shoes sparkling as they walk away on the left (Image from catwalking.com)

On the shoe front, Summer 2011 has been rather dull. Duchess Kate brought nude heel 'fever' upon the nation, egged on by early enthusiastic ramblings about the leg-lengthening magic such a shoe might offer. Nobody ever thought that though one's leg might look longer, the effect of no feet or shoes might be so disturbing as to detract from any initial benefit. ANYWAY, September is here and the fashion press are keen to move on from Summer's yawn-inducing blip. Lisa Armstrong at The Telegraph and Karen Dacre at the Evening Standard have both plumped for the red shoe as the New Nude. I would like to introduce you to the real fashion choice: the glitter shoe.

I understand that the red shoe is probably a more likely contender for what Kate wears next but the for the rest - break free! Abandon the nude boredom (by the time of Zara Philips wedding, the entire Royal clan had nude feet) and have a glitter party a la Miu Miu and Dolce Gabbana. The great news is that although these styles are particularly fabulous in heel form, the brogue and trainer versions will also bring glitterball brightness to an autumnal morning. The ultimate members of the glitter heel club are the Miu Miu varieties, some of which have already sold-out. Thankfully, there are still plenty to chose from but here are our favourites.

Miu Miu at My-Theresa £555

 Marc Jacobs at My-Theresa £525

Love the glitter/calf texture clash on these Miu Miu at Net-a-Porter £400

Glitter slippers- Pedro Garcia at Net-a-Porter £225

ASOS £40





Sparkly brogues at Dolce and Gabbana FW11 (Image from catwalking.com)

 These are boys shoes but they would be rather wonderful for emulating a Dolce and Gabbana catwalk look if your feet are anything over a size 6. I would love to spot a boy with beglittered feet, do you know any who might dare?


Glitter for Boys: Ask the Missus at Office £71.99

 If your glitter fixation knows no bounds then you could spend the whole of the next few months swinging between a Miu Miu heel and a Miu Miu trainer. We are very seriously considering that option.

Available at Miu Miu stores and concessions

THE WEEK IN FASHION: AUGUST 29th-SEPTEMBER 2nd

Posted by Fashion Junior at Large

Hello there, fashion lovers and welcome once again to our weekly round-up of all the goings-on this week.

First up, this is practically ancient news now but Beyoncé is pregnant! She chose the VMA awards and a Dolce and Gabbana tuxedo to reveal the news. As her performance ended and she undid her jacket to show off her bump (encased in stretchy waistbanded trousers!), twitter records were broken with 8,900 tweets being posted per second.

Sequins and stretchy waitstband, oh the glamour (image from nymag.com)

While we're in congratulatory mood, we must mention the Venetian wedding of Sofia Coppola and Thomas Mars. The acclaimed director looked a vision of lilac loveliness in her Alaia dress- a lesson in offbeat bridal if ever there were one. 

Sofia Coppola with new husband Thomas Mars (Images from stylefrizz.com)

The cover of Dasha Zhukova's debut issue of Garage magazine (via The Guardian)

When launching a new magazine, one needs to get it talked about. Everyone knows that. However, in my memory no-one has done it quite like this before. The cover is a naked girl with a Damien Hirst butterfly sticker covering her parts.  "Peel slowly and see," reads the cover line. And when you do, there is her labia tattooed with a butterfly, its abdomen formed by her pudendal cleft," reported the Guardian today.

The Guardian continues: "Titled Butterfly Divided, it is one of a series of tattoos by famous artists (all men, sigh), including the Chapman Brothers and Jeff Koons, inked onto volunteers (Hirst's "canvas" is 23-year-old Londoner, Shauna Taylor). The works play on notions of who owns the art and what it's worth, while referencing tattooing's popularity reaching saturation point. Asked why she agreed to the tattoo, Taylor answered: "Not one single person can ever say they gave birth through a Damien Hirst piece of art. I can [if I ever give birth]." !!!!  Its not everyday you read a quote like that.

The real Wallis Simpson in the late 1930s

We tipped you off a little while ago about Wallis Simpson as a key style reference for FW11.Yesterday, Madonna's highly anticipated film exploring the life of the American socialite (played by Andrea Riseborough) had its premiere at the Venice Film Festival. While the film itself has received mixed reviews, the costumes, by Arianne Phillips, have been declared an indubitable success. Another very valid reason for a cinema trip is the appearence of James D'Arcy who cuts quite a dash as Edward. Madonna looked rather fab in her custom Vionnet gown, while Andrea was clearly so fed up of her Wallis look (close to the body, tailored, streamlined) that she decided to go for Princess-y froth in Dior couture. 

Andrea Riseborough in Dior (telegraph.co.uk)

Madonna in custom Vionnet with matchy sunnies. I love these colours (telegraph.co.uk)

As we gear up for the beginning of the Fashion Week season, we are happy to learn that Helmut Lang, purveyors of minimal luxe-grunge, are to show for the first time since 2007. Though we have to say, that just for minute there, we thought that the man himself Mr Helmut Lang, still one of the most influential designers that ever breathed despite the fact he retired to the Hamptons in 2005, was coming back to New York fashion week. That really would be something.

Anyway, the show will take place in New York on 10th September and will also be shown live on HelmutLang.com. In other New York Fashion Week related news, due to Hurricane Irene, Marc Jacobs has pushed back his show to 8.30pm on 15th September which is just hours before London kicks off. Not good for London Fashion Week at all. There are going to be some very jet-lagged fashion people zombie-ing about the first few days of London.

Helmut Lang Resort 2012 (Style.com)

Do you love Valentino? Do you love musicals? If the answer was yes to either of those then you will be happy to hear that there are plans for 'Valentino- The Musical', we kid you not! We thoroughly enjoyed the documentary, 'The Last Emperor' which followed the Italian design veteran in the lead-up to his retirement, but a musical? We are reserving judgement.

Valentino in publicity shots for The Last Emperor (Image from www.cbc.ca)

It's Friday and not so long since pay day, therefore there is no excuse not to pop into Topshop Oxford Circus to peruse Susie Lau's Edited selection which launches today. Her choices represent her personal highlights of Topshop's current offering and will be available for two weeks in the special Edited area of the store; a bit of a haven from the mad rush of frenzied shoppers. Topshop's Manchester store also has an Edited space so you can see Susie's picks if you're near there too. For an insight into her favourite books, music and some of the looks she has put together, take a look at Topshop's very own blog.

Susie Style Bubble modelling her Topshop Edited choices. Gorgeous! (Image courtesy of Topshop)

I'm currently on a bit of a roll with coffee table book buying, even though I don't have a coffee table.Anyway, Carine Roifeld's Irreverant is sure to  be an addition to the pile when it's released on October 18th. In the meantime, some teaser images have been released. It looks to us like this is an amalgamation of all Ms. Roitfeld's souvenirs and highlights from her time as Editor-in-Chief of French Vogue, an absolute treat for the those hungry for insider snippets from the closeted world of high fashion.

Dear Carine (Image from telegraph.co.uk)

Young Carine (Image from telegraph.co.uk)

 'The Great Gatsby' which is described by The Times on the back cover of my copy as 'a timeless evocation of the allure, corruption and carelessness of wealth', is having a bit of a moment. Kate Moss is known to be a great fan; her recent wedding took inspiration from the world depicted by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Next week, Baz Luhrmann will begin filming his version with a stellar cast including Leonardo DiCaprio, Carey Mulligan, Tobey Maguire and, reportedly, Gemma Ward. No doubt it will be a beauty with Kate Moss first in line to watch.

Robert Redford and Mia Farrow in The Great Gatsby film in 1974

And finally, we are still loving the Lanvin film we shared with you earlier in the week. By the looks of Twitter, many of you are a bit addicted too. Well, this film, The Wanderer, shot for Dior Homme by Willy Vandeperre is the antithesis, but just as worthy of a look. It's a bit dark, very atmospheric and very cool.

CURATORS, THE NEW COLLABORATORS?

Posted by Fashion Editor at Large

Towards the end of the Kate Moss for TopShop collaboration, you could almost feel the braincells at the Arcadia Group (which owns TopShop) head office exercising over what to do next.

Designer collaborations are one thing.  A collaboration with a "stylish person" quite another. A "stylish person" is not and will never be a designer (except for Kanye West, showing at Paris Fashion Week in September so I hear), and there is only so much steam to generate before it all peters out.

So, what next?  Curators, of course! Every major fashion boutique has a curator, a custodian who manages and oversees their institution, your Mrs B (Browns), or Carla Sozzani (Corso Como, 10) figure. Strictly speaking the term should apply to someone who manages a library or museum, as has been pointed out to me on Twitter, but fashion has nicked the term for its own ends.

On the world stage of high street retailing TopShop were first past the post with the idea. Earlier this year they set up their "Edited by" space at their flagship Oxford Circus store, a normal room-sized area for the design team to put their selection of what they consider to be the key fashion pieces. That idea was OK, (though I would always just head to the Boutique section of the store for my Top-shopping) but they really hit pay dirt a few weeks ago when "Edited by" got its first curator in the shape of the visionary young stylist Katie Shillingford from Dazed & Confused. (I still sigh with happiness everytime I so much as think about the divine wedding pictures from her August 1st nuptials.)

Katie Shillingford (via Hanneli.com)

Katie Shillingford's Edited By..(from insideout.TopShop.com)

Instead of creating a collaborative collection, just get someone with an amazing, unexpected fashion insider's eye to edit what's already out there, across basics and higher end product, down into an easy to digest package. Eureka! Not only do you get the vision of one unique person wrapped up, it also means you don't have to trawl the entire shop to find something that will jolt you out of your own fashion and style zone into a fresh new area. Katie's edit re-framed micro-mini dresses styled with Quentin Crisp jaunty coloured hats and animal prints, as more high fashion than high tart.

It makes so much sense, you wonder why the high street haven't done it before. “We needed to update the collaborations idea – mostly because everyone from Debenhams to Asda are doing it,” says Andrew Leahy, head of press at TopShop told me. “People are getting bored of collaborations. We even found with our designer collections that people – especially through our .com - are buying into key pieces, the add-on elements that are not signature pieces from the designer don’t sell because they don’t resonate with the customer.” 

The next "Edited by..." curator is Susie Lau who will bring her magpie eye to TopShop from Sept 1. For London Fashion Week, from 16th September, the curator will be my friend and Fashion East impresario Lulu Kennedy. I can't wait for either Lulu or Susie's edits to hit TopShop in both London and Manchester flagship stores and online, definitely a reason to shop.

TopShop are not alone in this though. Second past the post with a curator concept is H&M who have hired MisShapes DJ and all round fashion muse Leigh Lezark to help launch their shop-in-shop at Selfridges next Thursday. The Selfridges store is also an "Edited" concept, and they too have taken on a curator and it's the first time H&M have gone into a store without their name above the door.

Leigh and the Misshapes

Coat: Curated by Leigh

Dress: curated by Leigh

Striped top: curated by Leigh

Jacket: curated by Leigh

If you want, you can even meet Leigh next Thursday, August 25th at Selfridges Oxford Street from 9.30am. Personally I look forward to seeing H&;M's rolling list of curators for this project. Let's hope that between them TopShop and H&M keep this new curatorial chapter interesting.