Hail Style: The Legacy of Mulberry Continues...

Three words spring to mind when Mulberry appears in front of my fashion savvy eyes; heritage, luxury and British. 1971 was the year when a flourishing story began of the soon to be one of the most iconic fashion brands. A certain Roger Saul came up with the name whilst walking around the grounds of his school, to which featured the Mulberry tree. Since then we have been blessed with, the Bayswater, Alexa and the Del Ray leather handbags; Mulberry’s expertise in leather merchandise continues to make an outstanding presence within the UK and on an international scale.

Mulberry’s designs each have their own personality, each creation has their own name and is recognised by their individual shape. Everybody in the fashion business knows when they see an ‘Alexa’ or a ‘Bayswater’, they see the beautifully hand-made creations that suits the practicality of women and defines the wonders of English heritage.  I would like to take you through a journey of Mulberry’s ever-growing history and pull out some of the brand’s most influential moments.

In the brand’s 43-year history, there was one key moment that began the Mulberry frenzy; a wonderful British collaboration with Luella Bartley produced the ‘Gisele’ bag in 2002, this iconic moment would prove to be one of many for the Mulberry franchise. In the same year, the ‘Bayswater’ was made and thankfully this beautiful masterpiece of craftsmanship described by Jess Cartner-Moley at The Guardian as, “a kind of hybrid of a traditional English doctor's bag” still proves to be one of the most popular creations of Somerset’s very own. I am very lucky to be a proud owner of a ‘Bayswater’ in black, (a little trip to Bicester Village in 2013 saw me buy a birthday treat for myself). It is just a beautiful piece of luxury, I only take mine out on special occasions simply because I know I will not be able to afford another one any time soon, so I am making those special moments count. 2008 appeared to be the year where Mulberry began to really make its mark on the fashion hierarchy. Emma Hill was named as the new creative director, who bought a fresh and modern feel to the brand’s traditional heritage, and the company as a whole was becoming increasing successful, nothing was going to stop the overwhelming achievements of Roger Saul’s fashion baby. The ‘Alexa’ bag was born the following year, named after the British model; Alexa Chung, another famous face was added to the “named” bag collection. Up until now, a pattern seemed to be occurring in the Hill enterprise, triumph, success and achievement and that wasn’t going to stop there. Every year a particular fashion awards ceremony held in London, known as British Fashion Awards sees every fashion brand strutting their stuff on the red carpet, hoping to pick up the ‘Designer Brand of the Year Award’. Beating her fellow peers; Victoria Beckham and Co, Emma Hill was the proud and deserved winner after her amazing takeover at Mulberry. In 2011, the figures spoke for themselves, “in the six months to 30 September, the last period for which full figures are available, pre-tax profits at Mulberry jumped by 207%, from £1.5m to £4.7m”, an added bonus was when Mulberry won Best Accessories Designer at 2011's Elle Style Awards. Emma Hill’s takeover at Mulberry has proven to be, one of the best relationships between creative director and brand ever to be seen within the fashion industry.

Mulberry Factory Shop, Shepton Mallet, Somerset.

Sadly in June 2013, the announcement that Emma Hill would be leaving her role as creative director came as a shock to the fashion press. 5 years of breath-taking designs in bags and ready-to-wear clothing, Mulberry has propelled itself to one of the most iconic fashion brands across the world.  But the show must go on as they say; planning of opening a second factory is on the cards, overseas expansion but still mainly concentrating on the UK and the Europe are just some of the ideas for the future of Mulberry. Chief executive Bruno Guillon quoted on the future of the brand, "five years from now the UK will remain our core customer... the 'Made in England' label is absolutely crucial in our strategy for the future".

Mulberry is one of my favourite fashion brands, the fact it is has the true English hallmark is a bonus, but reading articles stating that the future of the company remains with the original customer, is a real delight to read. The UK customer will never be forgotten; I sense a family of British folk is and will continue to being created with the likes of the Del Ray and the next future phenomenon.

Finally….

During March 2012, my mum and me travelled to Somerset to visit The Mulberry Factory Shop in Shepton Mallet, which originally was an old school building. Set in the most inaudible of areas, small winding roads and picturesque views from the highest point. As we walked around the shop, all that could be heard was the ever so small whispers from individuals who would discuss of which bag they would choose, or the chip clops of shoes across the beautiful beige wooden floor. It didn’t feel like a shop, it felt like I was walking around a small museum of luxury. At each end of the building there was something old, something new, something different, three or so curtain-covered changing areas, which was all surrounded by beautiful modern décor, nonetheless I could still feel the presence of the traditional structure. I did eventually buy a deep purple tank top (in the sale nevertheless), but I knew that I couldn’t have walked out of the shop without a Mulberry shopping bag.

Check out this blog post on: Hail Style.com

Third Floor Publication - Battle of Technological Countries; Asia vs America

Week 4 of Michelle Newey Editorial features, an interesting look on technology and two of the most powerful countries who have adapted to the ever-changing objects that surround most of the worlds population. Asia or America, Samsung or Apple, Yamamoto or Wang, I talk about the various battles that are currently happening or have happened. From a fashion perspective, I also research into who has become the techno-genius when it comes to technological fashion, and of course looking into how Britain is adapting to the future creations from the first computer.

Battle of Technological Countries - Asia vs America

For many years, humanity has been provided with an enduring source of the latest technological craze. In the 21^st century, the worlds biggest companies compete year in year out to increase their profits but perhaps more importantly, to obtain an increasing amount of consumer adulation to mark their country as the most powerful state in the world. An utmost amount of consumer products most knowingly have the ‘Made in China’ tag imprinted, which perhaps has become slightly obvious to the consumer of where most products are manufactured in today’s industrial society, this explains as to why Asia is one of the few states that have an industrial advantage, but with America closely behind them, there appears to be a rivalry between the most powerful.  The constant competition between Apple and Samsung most recently stated by the BBC News sees, “smartphone rival Samsung is now seen as equally ‘inspiring’ in the US”. This encounter between America and Asia is looking extremely likely to continue to materialise in the future, providing the future human with more options to blend in to the continuing modernisation of technology. Who will surmount the technical industry, but the imperative question stands, who is and who will remain to be the most powerful nation in the future biosphere? But from a fashion perspective, which state has been influenced more by technology?

With the latest figures showing that in today’s society, it is rare for the 21^st century human to not have a mobile phone in their possession; the BBC News state that Samsung have “sold 64.5 million smartphones to Apple’s 43.5 million”, indicating the increasing trend for the latest Asian electronic devices over the former tech leader Apple. It has become apparent that America and Asia are also adjacent opponents in the fashion industry. Asian designers have slowly but surely got their recognition they have deserved, with the likes of Issey Miyake and Yohji Yamamoto exploding onto the fashion scene with their unique interpretation of the wearable fashion garment. Yohji’s creations span a career that has seen the audience witness an incredible vision of avant-garde invention, his famous collaboration with Adidas brought a new aesthetic to fashion, ‘Y-3’ is an enrichment of sportswear that brings “elegant and chic” qualities to the Japanese brand. Y-3 Spring/Summer 2013 combines “Adidas’ sports technology and Yohji Yamamoto’s style aesthetic”. This campaign reveals an element of futuristic flourish with bold and graphic motions that “study the movement, distortion and transformation” of the brands 10 year celebration. Another uprising to the Asia take-over is Japanese designer Issey Miyake, his well-known ‘A-POC’ line in collaboration with Fujiwara introduced to the fashion assembly the meaning of “a piece of clothing” that expresses a technologically-driven line that responded to an abiding permutation; “the delicate balance between high art and a commercial success”. The innovatory collection merges together the production of “computer technology and the creativity of the consumer” that transforms an item of clothing from a single piece of thread, using a knitting machine, Issey Miyake combined traditional methods of dress making with modern programme technology to bring a fresh novelty to the fashion industry. Technology plays a huge role in any industry as we have seen in electronic and the retail sector, which begs the question, what would people have done if technology did not exist? After Issey Miyake declared in an interview, “I do not believe that any discussion of art is possible without bringing technology on-board”. 

On the opposite side of the globe, the American state has already grasped similar territory with their Asian competitors. In 2010, Ralph Lauren expanded their approach to modern day technology that is sweeping the fashion brands off of their designer heels; the launch of ‘Ralph Lauren 4-D’ saw an emergence of video mapping, so consumers have an insight into online fashion shows and a creative story into the brand of Ralph Lauren, as well as various applications that include ‘Ralph Lauren collection iPhone’, and QR codes. David Lauren, Senior Vice President of Advertising at Ralph Lauren stated, “While celebrating 10 years at Ralph Lauren.com in the US and the launch of e-commerce in the UK, we look forward to exploring new ways to tell our brand’s story through innovation and technology”. It appears that the Asian market has become a huge influence on the America consumer, Tai-Wan born designer Jason Wu designed for America’s First Lady Michelle Obama in January 2013. The garments have included a “ruby-coloured chiffon velvet” dress and a white ball gown, wore by Michelle Obama in 2009 and 2013; a great supporter of Asian fashion designers then? These functions represent how 21^st century technology has taken over the way consumers shop and the way clothing is made and how there appears to be constant competition in who can create the better and more technically advanced breakthrough. It appears that these two competitive countries use technology to represent different revolutions within the fashion industry, Asian designers are using technology to create the future garment and America is changing the way consumers shop.

It is fair to say that there has been a continuous battle between Asia and America within the technology industry, but it appears that both have made a stamp in each other states within the fashion industry. What with Jason Wu that appears to be Michelle Obama’s favourite designer of the moment and American-born Chinese fashion designer Alexander Wang who has taken over as Creative Director at Balenciaga, there is a surrounding question of whether the Asian state will take over the American state in fashion, as well its current take over in the technology realm. In a recent article from CNN.com, Lara Farrar stated, “China’s once almost non-existent fashion industry is on the verge of exploding. New domestic brands pop up seemingly everyday. Chinese models, like Liu Wen, who has shot campaigns for Calvin Klein, Dolce and Gabbana and Estee Lauder, are increasingly becoming a hot commodity on foreign runways, while domestic designers, such as Richard Wu who debuted mainstream VLOV menswear brand at the Mercedes Benz Fashion Week in New York, are piquing the interest of the international fashion elite.” The blending of these two most powerful countries, has created a new dimension within fashion, Suzy Menkes from the New York Times stated “the current Asian designers are the definition of America’s famous ‘melting pot’ the blending of American-Asian designers recently”, Alexander Wang is the clear example of this collaboration that puts forward a confusing argument in debating which state is more influenced by technology, how can individuals justify whether one is more powerful than the other when designers come from either background?

From these resources listed, it appears that European and American brands are heavily relying on Asian groups such as China to help increase profits for their company. China has ultimately become a new space for fashion companies to invest in; the change in society has transformed individuals’ fashion norms. The rest of the world has noticed this and has since wanted to become apart of the revolution. China has quickly proved that they are the ones to watch for the future in both designer and consumer activity, in most recent fashion weeks it appears that Chinese spectators are in full force more than ever, after it was announced that they account “for more than a quarter of the global luxury market”. Today, most European and American brands have acknowledged this ever-growing dominance of the Asian market and have industrialised their brands by venturing into this powerful market of fashion-friendly consumers to gain more brand recognition. After British brand Burberry produced a recent fashion show that presented a seam of holographic models and then going onto launch a flagship store in Beijing, there was an unfortunate surprise in 2013, where Burberry’s stock price dropped as a result of China’s ban of advertising luxury possessions, it brings attention to the scale of reliability a brand has on the Asian market to improve their leading success. Chinese designers appear to be raising their profile to break into the fashion capitals; their fashion hungry minds want to deliver to the fashion audience, a future provocation of excitement. Latest up and coming fashion futurist Haizhen Wang graduated from Central Saint Martins in 2005, his first collection in London boutique Browns sold out within one month of release and has said “we are really trying to learn and show people what are capable of”. Haizhen is just one of many exciting prospects of the future of fashion. China has shown to all fashion eyes that they have the potential to one of the leading international countries and with Europe and America already venturing into this new state of fashion opportunity, the thought of Asia being emperor of the fashion realm in the near future is looking ever more likely.

My First Article as a Fashion Contributor for Hail Style.com

LCM: Another Handsome Week for Menswear

Season 4 of London Collections Men went in with a bang and came out with one, sounds like the reaction when watching a DVD box set of Homeland. The garments spoke wonders of the new and existing talent that graced the white surfaces inside the three London venues including Victoria House. A thrilling feeling of emotion when on a shopping trip links together well with the venue layout, jumping from one venue to the next and seeing some spectacular collections and wanting to buy them now there and then.

Like I said it’s only the fourth season of LCM, and it seems that every season that comes and goes, women appear to wear more of the masculine trends; matching suits, brogues and top button shirts, I personally love that as well as probably 50% of the fashion population do too. At some point in our lives, I’m sure we all have raided our brother’s/boyfriend’s wardrobe and worn a sweater, it’s all part of the fun with fashion right? Androgyny has been noticed in the press as a huge storyline and sometimes a shock, but now I think it has gradually become accepted in a ‘normal’ way for women to dress in menswear and the other way around. Some men love the floral statement recently! Whether women are wearing Nike high tops, rucksacks or a luxury tux jacket, we can’t help but steal ideas when wearing garments from the opposite sex everybody loves experimentation!

Some played it safe so to speak and opted for the straight lines and structured silhouettes, but others took the bull by the horns and created some fun and fabulous outfits (Bobby Abley with his pink Disney inspired outfit, Mickey Mouse eared cap included), sadly which I personally don’t think will feature much on the high street, but hey someone could prove me wrong? New talent is one of the extraordinary aspects of fashion, but when it comes to the familiar faces each season, on the 8th January 2014 at 2pm Christopher Bailey was THE designer that every celebrity and folk put down in there diary’s as one of the must see shows of the fashion week calendar. Burberry’s FROW is always a pleasant sight for all; David Gandy, enough said I think. Giant totes, oversize knitted shawls and the cityscape prints were the key feature of Mr C. Bailey’s A/W 14 extravaganza.

LCM has proved that in each of its seasons, it is here to stay and evolve in the coming years. Which makes us wonder why this wasn’t discovered before, but we can only be grateful that it is here now and we look forward to seeing more beautiful lines and shapes of the men’s silhouette. Here’s to wearing more of the men’s wardrobe, (even without permission of the boyfriend!).

Check out this blog post on: Hail Style.com

Third Floor Publication - Fusion of Genders: X vs Y

Fusion of Genders looks into the uprising trend of androgyny in fashion, the catwalk and street style. It is becoming increasing popular for women to wear men's clothing, but I also discovered Andrej Pejic; the transgender model who has built up an amazing portfolio of working with the biggest brands in the world. I write about how we are becoming more acceptable to the thought of using transgender models for catwalk presentations and what are the possible future aspects for gender in fashion. 

Fusion of Genders: X vs Y

In recent seasons, we have started to see the emerging appearance of the sharp masculine shapes of the male silhouette and the slipping withdrawal of the female day dresses. In your own experiences as a fashion bystander have you seen women taking the ‘gender-bending’ plunge more than we have seen in the 21^st century? More and more women such as Visual Merchandiser Elpida Magkoura are ditching the feminine guise and peaking through the wardrobes of their male friends/partners and choosing their inventive style of jacket, trouser or suit, “I personally as well as other girlfriends of mine have several men’s items in our wardrobe, as well as for ever been borrowing our partner’s clothes”. Designers have noticed the modern take of the androgyny trend that entails a rule-break between the male and female outlines, across the streets of the biggest fashion capitals and have bombarded us with the latest creative invention to continue the melding of men and women styles.

Masculine couture has graced our viewing sources of the latest fashion arsenals since the trend originated from the 1950’s, traditional values of the working class male returned in business suits and ties, articulating the amount of power men had in the employment sector. The masculinity returned in the 1980’s with a new modernism, the trouser became straighter and colours more submissive, embodying the 1950’s relics of the male and female gender roles in society but with a more powerful alternative. Androgyny has continued to be the prominent look in today’s market; garments that were once designed for a gender specific are now combined to define both masculinity and femininity. 2010 foresaw the future of the ‘gender-bend’ when Bottega Veneta’s A/W 2010-11 collection presented mannish blazers and suits in black leathers with sharp shoulders, combining this with feminine chiffon fabric and bursts of bright pink and red, whilst creating discord with free flowing silk dresses that vision hints of leather. Paris Fashion Week 2013 likewise reinstated this invigorating vogue, Stella McCartney’s A/W 2013-14 collection saw the use of her superior fashion logic to create the latest twist on ‘gender-bending’. The classic pin-strip outline was the prominent attribute for the audience to feast their fashion-hungry eyes upon. Oversized jackets with prodigious lapels, easy-moving jumpsuits and voluminous dresses screamed a new invention of masculine-feminine assortments. Today’s fashion creators have re-emerge androgyny as a key style within the industry, pioneering fashions of the mini skirt, power suits and colour blocking patterns have been renovated to represent the current political state of society, with women becoming more acknowledged in the business environment, these 21^st century designs are an exciting approach to define their new powerful status.

The idea that clothing is an important characteristic in pinpointing somebody’s chosen identity, puts into perspective how the assortment of male and female styles is changing the way we see the future of gender, fashion and identities. There appears to be a sight emerging of an egalitarian society within fashion, Diana Crane, author of ‘Fashion and Its Social Agendas: Class, Gender and Identity in Clothing’, voices her opinion that clothes are made to define an individual’s gender as a means of outlining their social position and status, “fashion is available to people at all social levels, both for creating styles that express their identities and for adopting styles created by clothing firms”. Fashion has shown a different kind of ‘gender-bending’ through its first compelling exposition of transgender model, Andrej Pejic. The Bosnia-Herzegovina model has been the face of fashion androgyny since his fame engaged with the industry in 2010. Andrej has since modelled for Jean-Paul Gaultier in his men’s S/S 2011 catwalk show and campaign, Marc Jacobs fashion campaign in the same season, as well as being the face across front covers of many fashion magazines, including Style:men and Romeu magazine to name but a few. Another representation of an androgynous model in fashion is Casey Legler; the woman who works as a male model was founded for her distinctive looks to be the face of the All Saints S/S 2013 campaign, arraying both women’s and men’s garments. In a recent video interview with Daily Beast, Casey spoke of how she has always felt more comfortable in a men’s shirt as opposed to wearing a women’s shirt and it’s a matter of personal choice to wear what wardrobe she wishes. This comes from her opinion of there being a limit to which men or women can identify themselves particularly in clothing, how there are specific garments that a man and woman should wear.

Today, most of the high street stores appear to provide a lot more clothing options for women. From girly day dresses to boyish logo t-shirts, flowing skirts and masculine structured jackets and trousers, women can explore a more exciting variety in their wardrobe now. With this in mind, more men are resulting to wear elaborate prints and mirroring the fashionable woman; Kayne West notably wore a printed shirt from Celine’s Spring 2011 collection and women wearing the masculine suit; Kate Moss for Mango A/W 2012 is a prime example, there appears to be a role reversal in society and a blurring of gender boundaries, are men wanting to look more feminine in today’s society, or are they suggesting they would like to have the same opportunity women have today wearing men’s clothing? We know that fashion likes to surprise us with the latest extreme must-haves of the season, but in was no doubt the most prodigious display of 2011, Lady Gaga appeared at the years Video Music Awards dressed as her idol, Jo Calderone. Sporting a casual jacket and white t-shirt, with slick backed John Travolta style hair, she gave a new lease of life to androgyny and what it means in fashion. Speaking for MTV Gaga stated, “I hope people take the fearlessness away [and] the creative notion that we constantly push boundaries, that we're not followers”. There appears to be differing levels of androgyny in today’s society, with men seemingly wanting to look as fashionable as their female counterparts by wearing clothing that represents femininity. If people continue to push the gender boundaries in fashion, what will men and women look like in the future?

Fashion designers appear to be taking more risks in their collections, leading to a suggestion of new social status within fashion, Yves Saint Laurent’s Unisex collection, inspired by his men’s Spring 2009 collection shaped a unique gender-bending innuendo. It seems to be ever more acceptable for individuals to choose garments from the opposite sex, the androgynous trend appears to revive, with its enduring popularity season after season. The launch in the 1950’s has come across as the beginning of its popularity, every decade since saw a contemporary reaffirmation of ‘gender-bending’. The 60’s portrayed a subtle hint of androgyny with a cropped haired, boyish look of ‘Twiggy’, on-going to the explosion in the 80’s with punk-inspired Vivienne Westwood fashion and the 90’s grunge look, finally with the appearance of the skinny jean in the 2000s which carried on the idolisation of fusion of gender. At what point will this gender evolution stop, or will it remain and we all look the same with only our facial features to define whether we are male or female? Modern science has increased chances for humans to enhance their gender appearance, Ivana Milojevic who wrote “Gender Issues: Futures and Implications for Global Humanity” stated, “the rates of plastic surgery in the western world – mostly to enhance one’s desirability and appeal to the other sex – have been continuously on the rise”, so what’s not to suggest that the small percentage of surgery could be to enhance opposite sex features on a human?