Hi, this was for my feature piece of work for uni, i thought i will post on here.Since the turn of the millennium, a new trend has emerged where high street shops and high fashion designers go hand in hand, a limited collaboration creating a unique one of a kind collection that the ordinary people can buy. Ordinary people can buy that little piece of designer’s heaven.
It is to be celebrated and applauded, once at the opposite end of the spectrum in the fashion world, high expensive fashion couture designed for the rich society while the high street was for the hard working class. Not exactly, rivals but one couldn’t exist without the other one, the high fashion designers showcased the latest trends and then it eventually trickled down to the high street shops.
The rumour mill often goes into overdrive on who will be next in line to do a collaboration range. The rumour mill went into over drive on Boxing Day when pop singer Rihanna was seen dining with Topshop owner Sir Phillip Green – there was rumours that she was interested in collaborating with Topshop. This proved to be false hope for all the young teenagers; it was just purely a social meeting.
Everyday when picking up my news feed on Twitter, I’m being fed with little whispers, more like Chinese whispers than any actual facts but with all the rumour and whispers it’s enough to get the milled into overdrive.
Very often, these Chinese whispers do hint at some certain truth, there was a rumour at the end of last year that 38 year old Geri Hailliwell was to design a swimwear range for the clothes shop Next. This turned out to be true when a photo shoot of the swimwear, modelled by Geri of course, landed in my e-mails. When speaking about the swimwear range, she told the mail online ‘It’s about inspiring confidence with great looking swimwear for all body shapes.’ She has said previously: ‘its for real women of all shapes and sizes. Everything is mix and match, so you can choose the exact shapes and styles that suit you. This is a collection that makes you look good and feel fabulous.’
A spokesman for Geri said that she was ‘hands on’ and ‘it was very much her baby’. Geri Hailliwell is never one to shy away from publicity, still trying to get her 15 minutes of fame.
However she isn’t the first to design a swimwear range for a high street shop, Kylie Minogue designed a bikini range in 2007, while Liz Hurley in May last year launched her ‘Elizabeth Hurley Beach’ store in sunny Spain.
The true success story from the noughties, in term of high street chain collaboration is H&M. The Swedish store proved to have outshone any competitor in the market. It started in 2004 with Karl Largerfield when the collections sold out within minute of release. Jimmy Choo, Matthew Williamson and Stella McCartney have all designed limited editions for the high street chain. The Jimmy Choo collaboration was a first for the high market shoes wear, it was the first time they included any clothing into any collections. You can imagine the stampede of screaming fashion fans, camping out all night just waiting so they could be the first to buy that collection range. There was more frenzy and more hyped up young girls than at a sold out Take That concert. Any passing visitors, outside the bubble must wonder what all the fuss was about.
The more recent H&M collaboration was the Lanvin collection, Quoted from designer Alber Elbaz in the Paper magazine as “”It was an experiment. I wanted to learn something from it. I felt that there is a huge group of people who never could afford Lanvin. I didn’t really want to make Lanvin cheaper, though, but I decided I was going to try to turn H&M into luxury.”
This news sent every fashion blogosphere into overdrive, finally a way for the avenge person to buy that Lanvin sparkle. With Lanvin being one of the most influential labels around at the moment, it is not surprising that the collection was sold out within minutes of being on sale. H&M’s flag street store in Oxford Street started to issue out wristbands to people waiting in the queue with a designated time slot in which the shoppers were allowed a 15 minute time slot to make their purchase, as a way to improve the usual crushing stampede.
20-year-old marketing student Winnie Tang had been one of the early arrivals at the Oxford Street, London, store and she told WGSN: “We were about fourth or fifth in the queue. I bought almost every dress from the collection and spend around £900. It’s definitely worth it as Lanvin is an icon.”
The success story of H&M could not be without the dedicated team who decide which designers they will work with next. The dedicated team of six described themselves as their own fashion scout, talking to the MailOnline “we are our own fashion scouts. We look at women in our stores and people in the street.”
One of the members in the team says “We’re a very democratic society (…) we keep what we do simple and we think its wrong that fashion should be the preserve of the rich”. The team continued stating,
“We are self-critical and always want to improve and look forward.’ Not that she takes any credit: ‘We decide together on the designers we want to work with.’ The H&M team insisted it is very much a team H&M spirit. This team spirit recently announced the next collaboration to follow on the recent success story of Lanvin. Dedicated to their native Swedish hometown, it is time for a Swedish blogger to take center stage in the designer’s chair. Elien King is regarded as the young stylish Swedish fashionista blogger in her native Sweden, her blog is regarded as a bible in term of fashion. It is the first time a blogger has collaborated with a high street chain. This could be the turn of the tide, a new trend setting up in the new decade. King discussed to vogue.com on her thoughts toward the collaboration as “It has been very inspiring to be able to work so closely with the design team at H&M, and I’m incredibly happy with the results. The collection is minimalistic and raw, but with bohemian elements, something that reflects my personal style well.” Off course you can only buy the collection in her native Sweden.
Off course H&M can’t take all the limelight. Other success stories have emerged from other high street collaboration. The super model Kate Moss teamed up with her BFF (that’s best friend forever) Sir Phillip Green to designs a collection for Topshop stores. It was marketed to the Topshop gullible as a way to put that supermodel quality in your wardrobe at high street price, but that high street price turns out to be a bit steep for any wannabe. A fashion student summed up to me her thoughts about the Kate Moss range and the steep price, “If I were to spend £200 on a dress, I would want it to be of a better quality and something more special rather than the over-publicised high street/designer pieces.”
Kate Moss is celebrated as being the iconic supermodel of the past two decades, someone who has survived various scandal and drama in her professional and personal life. The celebrated fashion designer Celia Birthwell who had designed in the past a limited edition range for Topshop remembered in fondness her collection for Topshop. Celia Birthwell now designed a range for the department store John Lewis. Discussing the difference between designing a range for TopShop and John Lewis, she told the daily record “A John Lewis customer is much more classical and demure while Topshop is a brilliant store; it’s like heaven for girls who like clothes. You can pick all sorts of things from vintage to modern, it’s a feast.”
Of course I could spend all day discussing various high street collaborations. Sure it was a very big ‘in’ trend to do in the noughties, and from various case studies, this trend isn’t go away fast and is set to continue into the new decade. As a society it is very much about status objects and the idea of owning something ‘made’ by a high end designer is very alluring. The attachment of a designer or celebrity name to a high street product is a definitive initiative to buy a piece from that collection.
Words 1,426
