FASHION AND TEXTILE MUSEUM

Over the years, the Fashion and Textile Museum has held so many incredible and memorable fashion exhibitions, which have always been a great inspiration for my work and looking into greater detail of the history of fashion. This season, it focuses on Knitwear; Chanel to Westwood. The vintage inspired knitwear focuses on the 1920’s jersey, the 1930’s swimwear collection, all the way to Vivienne Westwood and Julien MacDonald’s work. This range of designers and the impact that the whole exhibition has is just incredible, and the art movements over time become so impacting as you enter the world of knitwear. 

When looking around the exhibition, my favourite piece of knitwear would have to be Julien MacDonald’s’ Mixed Synthetic 1900’s sequinned dress. The change between the inner body within the dress and the high neck was just such a different style and added such a power to the piece. Although a neck length, tight, short sleeved garment, there was something very uniquely beautiful about it, and the whole piece was so delicate yet powerful in itself. The panelled body had this incredible, yet simplistic, pattern of silver tones which shaped the figure perfectly. I believe this was one of the most interesting and diverse exhibition that the Fashion and Textile Museum have displayed, and I thought it was just fantastic.

Mayfair to Regent Street

 

Mayfair is now the new fashion area in London, especially down Mount Street, where Balenciaga can now be found, along side Marc Jacobs and Celine. After many articles about Balenciaga in particular, I though it only right to have a little visit inside; not only is the brand very passionate about Luxury, but it has created a very unique changing room – the hexagonal shape was covered in mirrors, with cushions and a very simplistic yet large changing space – which for some reason reminded me of a space ship shape! This unique selling point for the brand increases the awareness as the store has something extra for the customers; which is keys within the competitive market. 

Just off from Mount Street, you can find South Audley St – which is the next sub section of London to be colonised by fashion itself. A shop which I have been to visit on many occasions is Thomas Goode, where you will find the most beautiful and exotic flowers in all of London. The whole shop is split into many different sections, ceramics, books and 2 large elephants in the window, which are now insured for £1 million each! This alone tells you a lot about the price tags of products within Thomas Goode, though each product is so personal and created to the highest standard. Along from here, and heading towards Grosvenor Square you can find Browns – which was who put John Galliano a place within the fashion industry, pushing Dior forward. As well as Issey Miyake and the Mrs Bernstein boutique.

Next, I headed to the home of British Vogue – Hanover Square, which is where the Conde Nast newsagent and Vogue house itself can be found; which is in fact where you can find all of the global titles ever published by Conde Nast. This was one of the main attractions of ‘Vogue’s Night Out’, and is somewhere that I can remember visiting time after time. 

DESIGNER CLUSTERING

Despite the wet and windy weather on Monday, I headed out at 9am to gain a true understanding on where shops are placed within central London; looking and individual brands and their key locations. How fashion brands create a visual presence on the hughstreet and the shopping districts; creating a strong and well developed awareness of the market level clusterings. In particular, I was focusing on Dior and the way the company had presented themselves to the audiences, and how they enticed their target market in competition with other big brands. 

To start the exercise off, I started at Oxford Circus, making my way to Conduit St, which is where a lot of luxury brands are found – Vivienne Westwood, Donna Karan, Moschino, and most importantly Sketch – which is the original show room in London that Dior used to use; a lot of presence of the Dior company still lies there, and the feel of the brand is very much still present. Down this hughstreet is one of many Dior stores; this one predominately selling shoes and bags – which allowed me to explore the new Diorissimo bags for the first time. Then onto Saville Row – the home of tailoring in London, and where Henry Poole & Co and Norton & Sons can be found; all lined up offering something different with their tailoring. Each and every store looked sophisticated and well thought out – which is vital in that particular section of the fashion market. What was also very interesting is that I was able to watch a lot of adjustments and actual tailoring take place, as the lower level of the shop was visible from the street; letting the customers have a more personal experience with the individual store. 

With this close knit shopping sector, there are many different classes of shops; Haute Couture all the way to Economy, which was very interesting to look at the precise grouping and classes and where each shop was placed within the market. Stella McCartney is several doors down from the famous Hartnell Gallery, which sat right next to Matthew Williamson; this close connection between the shops is a clear grouping of the Brand Diffusion market. The hierarchy of fashion is something that is taken very seriously, and walking along Bond Street, Mayfair, Oxford street and even Conduit Street, it is very easy to identify the target audience for that particular street – a very in-depth and personal shopping experience.

Positioning between DIOR and CHANEL

The positioning between Dior and Chanel shops, boutiques, perfume and cosmetic stores in Central London. This is vital to understanding both companies and the competitive market which they face. The placements are to re-enforce the Couture element of both brands; and having them so close can cause a lot of friction, but it also allows both to become the better brand as they’re so close to the competition, they’re able to work side by side to push one another, as well as uniquely improve and challenge not only the other brand, but the customers choice.

Christmas at Dior

When looking at Dior Fragrance, there is one shop which automatically comes to mind in regards to cosmetics and learning more about the company; the Dior Beauty Boutique in Covent Garden. It was the first Boutique of Dior’s to move from Paris, which means that a lot of the products which get sent over appear in the Covent garden store first; which is personal as it had a connection with the company itself; but it also has its unique eye shadow which was made just for the Covent Garden Store. Having elements of individuality and unique selling points within the sales and stores is so important as Covent Garden is now know by some, as the ‘English home of Dior’. It has such a power and hierarchy over the other stores due to this. 

As I am a member of the Special Events and Information side of Dior, I have recently been to see the new Dior Makeup, which is being released at Christmas. Without ruining the surprise, the bottles of nail varnish and the lipsticks come in an incredibly rich gold colour, with a cylindrical theme within the overall style. The colours are so full and wintery, with a day and night wear section. The lip sticks were something else, with two shades for highlighting and a shimmer, it is something that not only I, but so many people will be looking forward for when Christmas arrives. Dior is such a fast moving brand, and not on the products, but the wording, packaging and the overall feel of the products has become so developed over the past few years. In a few weeks I am having a private makeup session with one of the top makeup artists at Dior, to test the new products and the Covent Garden eyeshadow, an incredible and unforgettable experience!