If Women are Gatherers, Men are Hunters

While women have the habit of collecting possessions, men tend to hunt down what suits them and often stick with it no matter where the trends lead.  That is, men often don't just shop around for what tickle their fancy, but when they've found something they like, they'll go back for the same time and again.  Here in London, Savile Row is where men go to hunt for dependable British tailoring, especially those with deep pockets.  As they say, once you have tried bespoke and custom-made suits, that's what you'll always go for. 
British brand Gieves & Hawkes, housed on the corner of the Row , also boost an extensive ready-to-wear collection in addition to its bespoke sector.  At their recent press preview , Frederik Willems, Head of Design, said inspiration for their Autumn/winter 2010 collection was found in Gilbert and George’s art, which reflects the mood of that particular era through strong visuals, rich colours and bold statements. Turning to the tradition of sartorial dressing, Gieves & Hawkes have emphasised the importance of the silhouette. The ambiance of the collection is reflected in the dark colour palette, and rich, textured fabrics which makes the collection ‘radically’ sophisticated.


Gieves & Hawkes' new Autumn Winter 2010 city wear has been reinvented to present a modern city look. Double breasted suits and coats are presented with modern four button, low rise, unlined jackets in exclusively developed cloths from Yorkshire. City pinstripes have been reversed to create a more subtle, tonal palette, teaming blues and greys in simple stripes and checks. Emphasis is made on the internal garment structure to ensure the perfect fit, and the fabric compositions ensuring the traditional tailoring feels more urban and luxurious.  The focus is also on the quality of the fabrics used across the collection and they have experimented with new and exciting textures in both tailoring and outerwear.  “The silhouette of the jackets and suits has a strong shoulder, balanced by an elegant waist line and a slightly longer body length to reflect the mood of the early Eighties; Britain’s golden age for the creation of new music, fresh art…and new traditionalism,” according to Frederik Willems.


Savile Row is also enjoying favour in the film world as stars of the silver screen often make their way to the Row to hunt down the special style that suit their new status. Tailors at the Row report that a new generation of stars are wearing Savile Row, both as a personal choice and in film costumes.  But when stars are not be able to make it to the Row, they would turn to their other favourite, the Italian design supremo Giorgio Armani.  Recently on the first anniversary of the opening of Armani / Fifth Avenue, Giorgio Armani celebrated the New York premiere of Martin Scorsese’s new film, Shutter Island and also his close friendships with Scorsese and leading actor Leonardo DiCaprio.  I am not related to DiCaprio of course, although on a number of occasions when I present my name card to a new acquaintance, I'm often asked if I'm related to the star (my maiden name is Carpio, you see).  To confuse them, I tell them my dad's name is Leonardo.  And that is the truth.

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Motor a la Mode! Va Va Vroom!

Fast cars and good style often go hand in hand. 
I have now become a racing enthusiast especially since Britain has got two champions in Formula 1 this year - namely Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button who are both much sought after for promoting brand name merchandise.  This season's Formula 1 is extra exciting because Michael Schumacher of Germany  has returned to the tracks joining Mercedes GP Petronas alongside fellow German Nico Rosberg. This season, their official technical clothing are provided by British premium lifestyle brand Henri Lloyd.  Its new Merchandise Collection comprises around 40 items, including team and driver caps, plus technical jackets, clothing and accessories.  Graham Allen, Henri Lloyd Commercial Director states: “We are delighted to be partnering with MERCEDES GP PETRONAS for the 2010 Formula One season and have been working closely to ensure we provide clothing at the highest levels of fabric technology that provide the ultimate comfort and durability needed in all conditions.”  Henri Lloyd has been applying their knowledge and experience from their successful partnership last season with Brawn GP, winners of the 2009 Formula One Constructors’ and Drivers’ Championships.  Previously I mainly associated Henri Lloyd with marine sports.  Founded in Manchester in 1963, Henri Lloyd began as a manufacturer of foul weather clothing for sailing and outdoor activities and in 1984 Henri Lloyd moved into the fashion arena, after the Henri Lloyd sailing jacket, the Consort Original, was adopted by The Milan Scooter Society, the Panninari, as their ‘uniform’.   Henri Lloyd went on to win the FHM Menswear Fashion Brand of the Year Award in 1997 and it also launched the Henri Lloyd Ladieswear collection in 1998.  Henri Lloyd now exports to 41 countries and works with eminent figures such as Ben Ainslie CBE, triple Olympic Gold Medalist as well as Team Origin the British Challenge for The America’s Cup.



Meanwhile, Lifestyle label Thomas Sabo (mostly known for its sterling silver accessories in the form of bold motifs such as a skull) is also teaming up with Formula 1 Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg.   On the collaboration, company founder Thomas Sabo said in a press conference in Nuremberg : “Nico is young, dynamic and also a true rebel behind the wheel. For this reason, he perfectly reflects the ‘drive’ of our brand. We are therefore particularly thrilled to line up with him at the start of the season.”  Nico Rosberg will be wearing the Thomas Sabo name on his racing suit, cap and helmet.
The other day, I also heard that Jaguar Cars will be the official sponsor and Luxury Transport Partner of London Jewellery Week, set to take place from 7-13 June in various venues. Jaguar, currently celebrating 75 years, will provide a fleet of all-new Jaguar XJs transport for VIPs at the event, including jewellery designers, television personalities, actors, musicians, Bollywood stars to launch parties and events.   In addition Jaguar will co-host bespoke events and a jewellery exhibition at the Jaguar Boutique in the Berkeley Hotel, in London's Knightsbridge, to launch the Green Street Jewellers’ Association’s Discover Jewellery magazine. Through its commitment to London Jewellery Week and London's jewellery industry, Jaguar supports the GSJA's efforts to raise the profile of Green Street as a lively jewellery quarter in the capital.   Located in Newham, Green Street has been a traditional centre for the trade and is becoming a shopping destination for fine jewellery and wedding jewellery.   A group of jewellery events will form the basis of the London Jewellery Week activities, encouraging visitors to experience London’s jewellery quarters and celebrate its design diversity. Following successful events in 2008 and 2009, the industry has come together to take up the reins of London Jewellery Week having secured funding from the London Development Agency via the Fashion Sector Investment Plan.

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Can the style of a man's shirt say a great deal about the man himself?

According to a recent psychology report prepared by a leading psychotherapist, Jane Firbank, a man can show if he is "more macho than he perhaps appears" or "secretly hankers back to those halcyon days of youth’, or whether he ‘loves his work’, ’wants to bring the weekend forward’….and a host of other things, by his choice of shirt.
Judging from shirts I've seen on http://www.eccentricshirts.com/, the brainchild of South West London entrepreneur, Peter Barnett, the shirts say the wearer is bold and possibly eccentric.


Barnett, who also manufactures top quality clothing for some of the UK’s leading specialist shirt retailers, many of whom are by Royal Appointment, recently launched his Spring ken's shirt collection that caught the imagination of Ms. Firbank.
The collection spans a wide spectrum, ranging from the more conventional plain (but outrageous) pink, through to the ‘extreme’ eccentric.  Each shirt design is also given a "female" name.   The ‘extreme’ collection consists of flamboyant floral prints of enormous roses (Rosie); tropical palms (Tikki); the ‘Help for Heroes’ Union Jack shirt (Lulu) of which £10 is being donated to the charity for every shirt sold. For the more discerning individual, there are shirts with split-windscreen ‘60s VW camper vans (Becky); with surfboards (Shruti); topping off with retro ‘60s drinks’ bottle tops (Topsy). All of the latest shirts are made in Twickenham. All the shirts are finished to high specifications and produced from fine quality two fold cotton poplin fabric and lawns.
Ms. Firbank says, “If you thought you knew the wearer of one of these shirts, there could in fact be a completely different side of them to discover. Their choice of shirt can well reveal a wilder, deeper side – it allows them to dress ‘outside the box’ offering some men the perfect opportunity for personal reinvention.
“A shirt can make a very strong statement: it shows the wearer’s personality; their hidden talents and their buried interests. It can revive their lost dreams of youth, or ones which have been put on hold for a while.”

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Today is Earth Day!

The search engine Google has transformed its logo today to celebrate Earth Day.  It is an illustration of a forest. The doodle is the latest of Google’s attempts to commemorate people or events on its home page.  Later today I will be meeting a number of designers and brands who consciously work with ethical and eco sources.  The event, timed to coincide with Earth Day 2010, is put together by Estethica, an eco sustainable initiative organised by the British Fashion Council.  Meanwhile you can read about eco-friendly products in my other blog - Eco News. 

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Armani unveils England T-Shirts for FIFA

Italian design suprimo Giorgio Armani has unveiled a specially designed Armani Exchange England T-shirt for the upcoming FIFA World Cup in South Africa. The T-shirts will be available for men and women across all stores in the UK from May 10th 2010 priced at £25.95.
Football fans in the UK who plan to travel to South Africa to give support to England in the FIFA World Cup in June must be worrying about possible travel disruptions that unusual circumstances can cause and affect their plans, as the Icelandic volcano eruptions have done in the past week. One only has to listen to the whole range of stories in news reports these few days of the immense resoursefulness that British people have had to exercise while stranded in foreign lands in order to reach home. Iceland’s president Olafur Grimsson said in a radio interview yesterday that the eruptions may continue for days, weeks, even months. Economists and business analysts must be currently calculating the impact this current crisis has on many UK and European-based businesses, and indeed the British and European economy. Undoubtedly many international event organisers have to make alternative plans. For one, the World Retail Congress 2010 which was originally due to take place from May 21st in Berlin, with over 1000 retailers from around the world expected to attend, has been postponed until October as speakers, partners and delegates had to face huge diffulties to reach Berlin in time for the scheduled event while airspace restrictions are continuing and fresh eruptions have been reported.  I remember back in January, on BBC Newsnight programme, Iceland's president Grimsson said his country will pay its debts to the British and Dutch governments, despite effectively vetoing new repayment laws. The debt of around $5.4bn (£3.4bn) stems from the Icelandic banking crisis in 2008, when the UK and the Netherlands were forced to compensate savers with accounts in Icesave - a subsidiary of the collapsed Landsbanki bank.
In view of ot the current economic crisis caused by Iceland's volcano eruptions, it will be interestng to see who will the international airlines and businesses go to claim compensation.  Will they hold Iceland responsible too?

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Armani unveils England T-Shirts for FIFA

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Six Words Speak Volumes for Diesel's His and Hers Stores

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Six Words Speak Volumes for Diesel's His and Hers Stores

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Facts and Data to Boggle your Mind!

International air travels are still grounded in the UK.  So if you have some spare time now since your flights have been cancelled, here are some facts that may amuse you.
Did you know ....

Worldwide sales of mobile phones and smartphones in 2009 reached approximately 1.15 billion. If the sales were to be taken length to length, they would reach around the world three times.

Italy is the second largest European market for watches in 2009 worth an estimated 1.4 billion euros, behind Germany (1.5bn) and ahead of France (1.2bn). Pro rata the population, the average Italian consumer spends 25% more than all of the other European markets.

Taking the average height and width of a washing machine, 2009 Western European sales (M 12.2 units) would have been enough to build the Berlin Wall 11 times over.  (The whole wall was 155 km long and 3.6m high)

On average almost 12 cents per euro is spent on Technical Consumer Goods in Western Europe today with a mouse click.

96 million mobile computers were sold in 2009 globally; if piled on top of each other the total length would stretch 4000km, covering the entire Route 66.

276 LCD-TVs, 247 DSC cameras, 232 portable media players and 78 satellite navigation systems were sold on average per minute globally in 2009.

Data Source: GfK Retail and Technology
GfK is one of the world's leading market research company for tracking point-of-sale data in consumer technology markets, co-operating with retailers and resellers in more than 70 countries. The GfK data platform, StarTrack, ensures manufacturers and industry leaders receive comparable information at international level. 

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Royal ASCOT June 15-19

I received yesterday an invitation card from Ascot Racecourse in Berkshire, UK, to remind me the dates for this year's Royal Ascot horse racing event.  It's a lovely card showing luminaries and personalities, including the likes of The Duke of Devonshire (seated in the centre in the picture) flanked by Cilla Black on his right and Nigel Havers on his left, all dressed to the nines.  The ladies are dressed in Vivienne Westwood (who has once said, "When in doubt, overdress!")  and the gentlemen are all attired in Gieves & Hawkes tailoring in Savile Row of London.  The ladies are sporting hats by milliner Stephen Jones (who's also in the picture, back row, 4th from left) and the gentlemen's hats are by milliner Lock & Co.  Photography is by Finlay Mackay.  Grandstand admission tickets start from £56 and Silver ring tickets from £17.

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Royal ASCOT June 15-19

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Get into Eco-Chic. It doesn't cost the earth!

There’s a Chinese saying, that no matter how well we make our plans, the heavens have got other plans for us. Well no matter how much we have been saying about saving planet earth, the recent eruption of the Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland has brought home the essence of that Chinese proverb. It is a wake-up call reminding us how vulnerable we are. The cloud of volcanic ash from this eruption has been drifting over the UK and much of north Europe, forcing the closure of air space over a vast region and the cancellation of hundreds of flights and the disruption of the travel plans of thousands of air travellers in the past two days and it is reported to continue into the weekend. As Great Britain stays grounded for the time being, perhaps we should remind ourselves of the ever more importance of defending the environment and protecting people and their basic human rights. 


I was at 57 Carnaby Street in London a couple of days ago to see a new 3 storey Pop Up Shop – ECO CHIC , set up by the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) a charity organisation in aid of the environment and human rights.  As a one-stop-shop for fashion, the retail outlet sells exclusive designer Continental organic cotton T-shirts, men’s and womenswear collections, shoes and hats from ethical fashion brands including Katharine Hamnett, Christopher Raiburn, Ciel, Veja, From Somewhere, Beyond Skin, Lowie, Monkey Genes, Pants to Poverty and others.
The space has been kitted out by Honest Entertainment (who provided the free service, according to Larissa Clark) who are the creative design geniuses behind many events and parties including the British Fashion Awards.   Eco Chic is a retail chilling out zone for shoppers to escape from the bustling streets of central London. Eco Chic is opened 7 days a week until 4th May. I will be reporting more on the designers and brands featured by EJF in Eco News.

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Boutique by Jaeger Responding to the needs of the Modern Woman

Jaeger, the 126-year old British heritage brand, is launching a new sister brand called Boutique by Jaeger, priced at 30-50% less than the main line. The range has been inspired by the iconic 60s Young Jaeger range as reinterpreted by the brand’s in-house design team (including designer Julie Stokes previously of Luella Bartley) under the direction of Stuart Stockdale.
Previewing Boutique at their press event on Wednesday (14th April), I was happy to see the range offering the same stylish and quality kudos one usually associate with the brand. The hemlines may be shorter, the mood more flirtatious, the range is a move towards broadening Jaeger’s contemporary appeal for the 20’s plus age group without annihilating its traditional customers. There are 90 pieces in this first collection for Autumn/Winter 2010 including silk blouses and day dresses, wool jackets and coats, leopard print knits trousers, cropped drummer and bomber jackets, tulle T-shirts, zippered silk dresses, ruffle blouses and coats with elaborate neckline. 

There's also a realm of accessories: a micro-collection of cutting edge cuffs, belts and scarves.
At the press event, I bumped into BBC News presenter, Riz Lateef. Together we swooned over the sequin jackets, bandeau dresses, and the lame cardigans. We also loved the zip detailing on soft tops and the array of more cutting-edge accessories including belts, cuffs and scarves. Riz has sported Jaeger on-air on many occasions and no doubt I’ll be watching out for new Jaeger additions to her wardrobe.

Jaeger Boutique will be launched at the end of July in 18 stores across the UK including the main Regent Street flagship, as well as department store concessions, and will be available also from Jaeger’s website. I was told there'll be pop up stores as well around the end July and early August.

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Messe Frankfurt to run Ethical Fashion Show

Garment and textiles trade fair organiser Messe Frankfurt’s French subsidiary announced at a press conference last week in Paris that it has taken over the Ethical Fashion Show in the French Capital.
Read full details in EcoNews.

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UKFT announces Finalists for Export Awards

Even in a downturn, creativity and good business sense don't stop.  Recently we have heard encouraging news that the UK economy is doing better than many of the world's established nations.  While the pound is weaker than it has ever been for a long time, it is a good development for UK's exports.  Apparel and textile exports are estimated at £5bn a year and represent one of the most creative sectors within the UK economy.  This week, the UK Fashion and Textile Association (UKFT), the umbrella organisation that represents the fashion and textile sector both domestically and overseas, which also offers practical help to British exporters as well as to overseas buyers, agents and press, has announced the finalists for this year's UK Fashion & Textile Export Awards.  The finalists who have demonstrated excellence in international business range from sellers of vintage to directional British brands; from newcomers to giants with a long-established worldwide reputation for selling overseas. Organised by the UK Fashion & Textile Association (UKFT), the Awards, which attracted a record number of entries, will be presented on 13 May 2010 at The Landmark London by HRH The Princess Royal, alongside host campaigner and actress Joanna Lumley.  "Even during a recession, there are some great export stories, which confirms that those businesses that have a unique product range, great organisational structure and well-executed marketing strategies can deliver increased sales and market share,” confirms Paul Alger , deputy director, UKFT. “The weak pound and strong euro has helped this, so too has a return to quality and a renewed interest in sourcing from the UK . As last year, the judges saw an impressive number of applications from companies that have established themselves as the best in their field and have developed over the past three years to become significant international players.” 
This year’s finalists are listed below:-

Accessories: Alex Monroe, Anna Lou of London, Linda Farrow
Footwear: Esska, LXY Brands, Miss L Fire
Heritage: Alan Paine Knitwear, Baracuta, Johnstons Cashmere
High Octane Glamour:  Alan Hannah, Anna Scholz, Ariella Fashions

Lingerie: Damaris, Lascivious, Pistol Panties
New Exporter: Bolongaro Trevor, Fiona Paxton, Kite Kids
Small Business:  Eribé, Lie Down I Think I Love You , Pistol Panties
Textiles: Begg of Scotland, Marling & Evans, Pittards

Winners of the Contemporary Urban, Designer Business and Gold Awards, the latter sponsored by HSBC Commercial Bank, will be announced on the day. 
The judging panel, chaired by Steve Newbold, managing director, Emap Connect, included Muriel Piaser, representing Prêt à Porter Paris, Nick Cook of ITE Moda, Nicola Copping of the Financial Times, Jessica Brown of Drapers and Dolly Jones of VOGUE.COM UK .

The prize list for this year’s UK Fashion Export Awards includes stands at Moda Menswear in Birmingham , Prêt à Porter Paris, The Train New York, Mode City Paris & Interfilière and Pure Accessories in London . Other prizes include a subscription to WGSN.com and travel vouchers from Textile Forum. Scottish Development International is also supporting the Awards.  Congratulations to all the finalists, and Good Luck!

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