>> I've had to physically sit on my hands to stop myself from uploading pictures from the ASOS S/S 12 press day. As per the unspoken laws of high street press days, nobody's really allowed to put up pictures before the pieces hit the stores for fear of competitors copying their designs. Except they're err...also err... copying other designers. No matter, rules are rules and I'm not slaving away on a forty pic plus post only for someone to slap my wrist in an email. Instead, we have ASOS-sanctioned posts that show no real detail and give you mini glimpses of what's to come...
ASOS Revive
ASOS Salon S/S 12
Me trying to zoom into some Mexican-inspired embroidery...
... not terribly insightful are they? I did learn that I look like a misshapen potato head when I'm taking pictures with my camera... GREAT...
Let's rely on the power of WORDS instead of scanning quickly across a page. Across their convoluted strands of lines - ASOS Black, ASOS White, ASOS Salon, ASOS Revive, ASOS Africa AND their ASOS Mainline, buying of other labels, collaborations with designers and creatives, they've got a spectrum of product sewn up in the bag and have nailed S/S 12 with a flourish - off the top of my head, there were primary hued nubbly tweed brogues, pastel lurex t-shirts, Balenciaga-esque techy fabric mixes in ASOS White, nineties sportswear redux in ASOS Revive with a brilliant Made in England lilac creeper shoe, a spitting image of Christopher Kane's S/S 12 cut-out dresses in a metallic floral lame in the ASOS Salon range (less retro and more modern this time round), a riot of scribble prints in ASOS Black, leather-fronted gym shorts with mesh sides, gradiated colourful knitwear, trips to Mexico and Puerto Rico manifesting in pyjama jackets and trousers, a brilliant collaboration with Piers Atkinson and a host of rucksacks and flatform shoes to match. In short, spring/summer product drops on the site can't come soon enough for me.
The good thing is that 99.9% of everything I saw at the press day will be going into production and aren't just phantom pieces doomed to be seen in magazine shoots and not much else. ASOS Black's latest A/W 11-12 offerings, which just landed on the website is testament to that, with much of the neoprene laser cut-outs, plastic embellishment and geometric sequin work that I saw at last season's press day, present and ready to go on site...
This slope shouldered neoprene shift w/ pleasingly shiny Fisher Price toy beading from ASOS Black's current A/W 11-12 collection will imminently be coming to the site and certainly surpasses the expectations of its originator. ASOS Black has been slowly changing up its remit of 'ooomph-giving' statement pieces and will take a wildly different turn next season but for now, if you're wading through the deluge of party frocks for the Christmas season, know that they needn't be shackled with the conventional tinsel, glitter and glitz... why sweat in crushed velvet when neoprene is an infinitely more interesting sweaty fabric choice instead?!
(Worn with Slobe Ieana navy tulle skirt, Beau Coops scuba wedges)
