Fash Mob »

• H&M’s A/W 2012 lookbook

  May 15, 2012 @ 10:30 am | by Rosemary Mac Cabe

  

  The H&M A/W 2012 lookbook has arrived online, and it is a serious corker. I’ve had a feeling that, between designer collaborations, H&M had kind of lost its own aesthetic along the way, but this selection of A/W duds places it firmly back in the running. It can’t help, of course, that Zara has been cornering the high fashion-inspired segment of the high-street market for the past six seasons or so – but the folks at Inditex should be worried if these pics are indicative of what is coming down H&M’s line.

  

  Of course, we’ll have to wait and see if Ireland will get these designs – and then, which stores will get them. You can guarantee that not all stores will, and that Dundrum or South King Street may be the only stores to stock the higher end items. This wouldn’t be a new departure for H&M – their designer collaborations rarely reach outside the city limits, and the red carpet collection as part of its Conscious line didn’t even make it to the Republic. I wonder if coming to Ireland was even worthwhile for H&M? I feel like it hasn’t done quite as well as perhaps the Swedish bigwigs thought it would.

  

  I really hope this is a new direction H&M is heading in – pared-back separates in slick fabrics with sleek silhouettes and a lot of attention to detail, without overwhelming us with said detail. More pics after the jump. (more…)

• Oh Buoy – Brown Thomas’s summer promotion, complete with €250,000 beauty giveaway

  May 12, 2012 @ 4:07 pm | by Rosemary Mac Cabe

  

  Have you heard about Brown Thomas‘s big summer giveaway event, Oh Buoy? Until May 20th, the department store is running a promotion that includes complimentary Murphy’s ice-cream, photobooths, live music and DJs and demonstrations from top international make-up artists. Plus – and here’s the sweet part – Brown Thomas is giving away €250,000 of gift card credits!

  To enter, all customers have to do is to spend €60 on beauty in a single transaction, after which they bring their receipt to the competition desk on the ground floor, complete a skills test (basically, a quiz question or two!) and then pick a piece of paper from a tombola, on which will be written the value of your prize (if any!). Some lucky customers have already walked away with €1,000 to spend in-store!

  I love free money, but even more than that, I love Daniella Moyles in the photocall for the event – so, in honour of her happy, smiley, bikini-clad self, more pics after the jump!  (more…)

• Mango A/W 2012

  May 8, 2012 @ 1:30 pm | by Rosemary Mac Cabe

  

  Mango has produced its A/W 2012 lookbook, starring Anna Selezneva and looking really quite brilliant – I’d have pegged this for an editorial in Glamour or Elle if I hadn’t seen it headlined as a Mango lookbook. My only problem with it – and yes, I’m being picky – is that I feel like the items are a little too current. Will I still want beige flared jeans in autumn? Who knows; my heart is as fickle as the fashion calendar.

  

  

  

  

  

  I find myself, of late, with several questions playing on my mind. (I was going to say “conundrums” because I really like the word “conundrum” but then I thought: is it “conundrums” or “conundra?” Answers on a postcard.) Reproducing fashion shoots has become almost moot; with Pinterest, I can merely pin the photographs I like and direct other people to explore them more fully via the link created by the pin (I know, head spinning …). So I find myself pinning far more often than I save images – whereas, in the past, I used to frequently save images and reproduce entire shoots.

  But what do you, my loyal readers, want? Do you want shoots? Do you want news? Do you want lookbooks, such as this one? (Although it will surely have been forgotten by the time autumn/winter rolls around and I will have to do a Mango refresher course.) Are you on Pinterest? Or Twitter? Or Facebook? Would you rather have one place for everything (I’m hoping that, if you say yes, you mean this blog)?

• Warehouse – an A/W preview

  May 6, 2012 @ 7:30 am | by Rosemary Mac Cabe

  

  Warehouse held its A/W 2012 preview recently and, although I missed it, I caught up on its press site and I am really excited about this upcoming collection. Along with Oasis, Warehouse is one of my favourite high-street stores for the simple reason that it seems to suit my shape (apple-ish) and it produces consistently good, trend-led designs that don’t fall apart at the drop of a hat (take some tips, Zara and, to a lesser extent, Topshop).

  

  These are seriously cool, casual Etoile Isabel Marant inspired looks (I suspect) – and I would honestly wear each and every one of them. In fact, these outfits remind me of those “what our staff were wearing” pages in Elle and Glamour magazines (how do they look so effortlessly cool all the time?!)* – there seems to be a look for everyone!

  

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• Arizona Muse for Next

  April 13, 2012 @ 7:30 am | by Rosemary Mac Cabe

  

  You must have seen these images – of Arizona Muse for Next‘s S/S ad campaign – cropping up in magazines over the past few weeks. More sun-saturated Miami-themed imagery, because God knows we need it. Still, isn’t it a nice balm for the wet, windy afternoons we’ve been having lately? Do summery campaign images make you feel like holidaying or like committing homicide? (I, personally, veer towards the latter, though I do appreciate a good tanned leg.)

  

  

  

  

• Alexa Chung in Vero Moda’s high summer campaign

  April 12, 2012 @ 3:30 pm | by Rosemary Mac Cabe

  

  Is everyone looking to Miami for their high summer shoots this season? It seems as if they are, and I love it – Vero Moda‘s dreamy images are really selling a lifestyle to me, although I am a bit sceptical about how they’ve managed to hide wee Alexa’s limbs.

• Shoes to lust over from Zara

  @ 10:30 am | by Rosemary Mac Cabe

  

  I know, even I’m sick of my wittering on about Zara at this stage, but these shoes just have to be seen to be believed – have you seen as close a nod to Balenciaga’s cut-out boots without directly copying anywhere? No, you have not. And just €79.95! Will somebody please buy them for me? I’m a size 6, and I just maxed out my credit card buying the Lumineers‘ debut album.

  

  These are perhaps ever so slightly more amazing, because they cost €39.95 (approximately five packets of cigarettes – am I ever going to stop doing that?) and are just such gorgeous summer shades. They really remind me of Krystal Bick, who I feel like I know, though, obviously, I do not. Or Cindy, if she wore this much colour.

  Of course, if I was made of money (or if it grew on trees), I’d be buying these babies. Because Michael Jackson on speed is such a good look.

• High summer at Oasis

  March 29, 2012 @ 7:53 pm | by Rosemary Mac Cabe

  

  Today was the Oasis high summer press morning in their Stephen’s Green store, and the guys at Oasis couldn’t have hoped for a better morning – it was just sunny enough to shoot film, which was lucky as Xposé was there doing its thang, and to get great photographs of Rozanna and Sinéad, without them gurning into the glare of the sun!

  

  Roz (top) and Sinéad (above) looked great in a range of duds from Oasis (which, I’ll make no secret of it, is one of my favourite stores – its clothes just fit me, and I love their slightly 1950s aesthetic, plus, there isn’t a season that goes by that they don’t produce a print I really, really want in my life) – and it was such a treat, too, to see the girls in-store dressed up in clothes from the latest selection.

  

  PS I’m adopting a new policy of not writing about press days – I’ve got a bit tired of reading blog posts going, “so we went to a press day for these items you can’t buy for six months and we ate mini croissants and I bumped into this person and that person from this tiny, cliquey media world” – unless they are directly relevant (ie, items available in store now).

• Full Circle’s S/S 2012 flash collection

  March 7, 2012 @ 3:30 pm | by Rosemary Mac Cabe

  For the first time, Full Circle is launching a flash collection online this Thursday, March 8th (the same day as – woot – Marni for H&M debuts!) and the collection has some real gems. I’m feeling a lot of Mary Katrantzou from its Palm Beach inspired prints and watercolour silks, and those shorts plus that sleeveless tee? Stunning.

  

  Prices range from €54 to €108 – and, though the website doesn’t ship to Ireland, Full Circle is stocked in BT2 and on Asos. Items will be in store mid-March.

• Celine A/W 2012

  @ 10:30 am | by Rosemary Mac Cabe

  

  Celine‘s A/W 2012 collection was another resounding success – oversized coats, androgynous accents, tailored trouser, zips and block colours. No wonder it’s the label to own, covet, emulate (oh hai, Zara, we see what you’re doing). The jaunty neck scarves and cropped trousers added playful accents to what was otherwise quite an austere collection, with echoes of the past and hints of the future in the severe, clinical white coats. Can you tell that I loved it? In other, but related, news, I tried to find a Celine Trapeze bag online to buy today – and the only one I could find was €3,000. I still considered it. I think I may be unwell …

  

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