Style Bubble

Pointy Pickers

Oxfords, brogues, jazz shoes, whatever you want to call them are literally all over the place.  I did have a bit of a crush on these Luella Bartley ones when I saw the spring summer 2007 collection pics only because they're pointy in a nice almond way but are still flat.  Then I found out that all the Luella S/S07 winklepickers were made in conjunction with British 'musiculture' shoe brand Underground.  Essentially, you can already buy their original winklepickers but the Luella range will be hitting the Underground shoe stores in Camden Town in a few weeks time at a price that is just about the most affordable bit of Luella (not AS price-friendly as her Tar-Jay stuff but the shoes are worth it!) - £79.99.  I'm after the flowered print ones.  To be worn with clashing print dresses also in monochrome.  . 

Run, Fashion, Run

A new year means another female magazine launch.  Come Tuesday, IPC's new womens weekly magazine Look, goes on sale and they really turned on the promotional push this week with free sample copies being handed out.   I'm not sure how it works in the rest of the world but the UK is very much into its weekly magazines and in recent years, those weeklies have shifted the focus onto fashion with titles like Grazia (it's supposed to be the weekly Vogue) successfully launched and buoyant.  But Look doesn't have such lofty aspirations - it's 'unapologetically mainstream', targeted at the 18-30 cash-rich, no-ties female and will focus on supposedly the two obsessions of women these days; fasihon and celebrity.   It will report all the up-to-date offerings from the high street. 

However, I'm afraid that though the magazine is seemingly giving the public what they want, it's also contributing to a bit of a problem in the UK, which is that fashion becomes more disposable.  Promoting 'must-have' items of the week makes Vogue's 'hot' lists look tame in comparisom.   You might flick through this Look rag every week and think to yourself, 'I have to buy THAT, THAT and THAT!'.  As it is, I think London goes through trends faster than any city I've encountered and somehow weekly fashion magazines that have to come up with fresh content combined with the fast turnovers in stock on the high street all contributes that.  I'm all for trying new things but I'm also for trying to establish a sense of style and self.  Does fashion really need to be this rapid-moving?  Moreover, I'm also wary of the burgeoning celeb-connected-to-fashion pattern and a magazine that purposefully exploits that and encourages it is in my eyes something to be suspicious of. 

Voulez vous acheter le Tar-jay?

It is perhaps a bit of a heehee joke that Target, the much loved Stateside cheapie store and nicknamed 'Tar-Jay' to give it a bit of French gravitas is going to be stocked at Colette, THE oft-quoted, essential concept store in Paris.  Not just any old 'Tar-Jay of course but 30 items from the very hotly antcipated Go International collection from Proenza Schouler that goes on sale in US on the 4th Feb (eek... 4 more days, are you State-siders doing any prepwork for the launch?).  It follows the success of collections from Luella Bartley, Paul & Joe, Tara Jarmon and Behnaz Sarafpour but having not bought any of it and judging only from pictures, the Proenza Schouler stuff seems to be right on Target (hardy-ha funny, non?).   30 items from the collection will go on sale at Colette, the exclusive point of sale outside USA, on the 19th Feb until the 5th of March and prices range from EUR10 - EUR108...... I haven't fully checked out the pricepoints in USD but lets hope there is no massive mark-up going on as that would indeed defeat the object of Tar-Jay.  So in a slightly surreal high-low mix, the Target PS collection will be nestled amongst Alexander McQueen, Prada and of course Proenza Schouler, all in perfect harmony.   I will be in Paris during this 15 day period of sale, so this will be my first physical experience of Tar-Jay/Target.  Await the verdict.