By Maya Peilow and Anita Sheth
Be warned, the beginning of this post will either fill you with festive glee or spark another rant on how Christmas seems to come earlier and earlier every year. With only 48 sleeps left until the big day (yes, really), three major brands have unveiled their Christmas campaigns this week.
On Monday night Burberry launched their first major Christmas campaign which centres around a short film entitled, ‘From London, with Love’. Inspired by the golden age of cinematic musicals, a festive love story comes to life as the star of the show, a breakdancing Romeo Beckham, delivers the ‘gift of love’ to a young couple in the snow covered streets of the capital. Set to an original score written and performed by Ed Harcourt, over 50 dancers twirl their way through the enchanting tale which features all the best of the Burberry brand – think umbrellas, cashmere scarves, the house check and of course, the Burberry trench coat. Christopher Bailey has said, “It continues to be an utter joy working with Romeo – he has charm, style and great energy! I’m delighted that he’s the lead role in our festive campaign.” The film has already racked up over 2 million views on YouTube.
Romeo Beckham in the Burberry Festive Campaign 2014 (via Vogue)
Next up was John Lewis and nothing says Christmas quite like their tear-jerking heart warmers. We are introduced to little boy Sam and his best friend, #MontyThePenguin, the two frolic and play throughout the year, but set against the evocative tones of Tom Odell singing John Lennon’s Real Love, Sam starts to notice Monty’s longing for a penguin pal as the festive season draws closer. The tag line reads ‘Give someone the Christmas they’ve been dreaming of’, three guesses what happens next…
The £1 million advert is part of the £7 million John Lewis Christmas campaign, Craig Inglis, the brand’s Marketing Director has said, “We hope this uplifting tale of Sam’s love for his friend Monty will remind people of the magic of Christmas through a child’s eyes and inspire them to think how they can make the festive season extra special for their friends and loved ones.”. In case you missed it, here’s the advert in full.
Lastly, we have Topshop. “Happy Holidays! … Why was I waving like that, that’s very lame. Sorry.” exclaims Cara Delevingne in her opening gambit for the Christmas video campaign. Topshop offers up a night on the town with their poster girl, a cool, fun and free spirited campaign. Shot in Annabel’s night club with ‘Just What I Needed’ by The Cars as the soundtrack, a hula-hooping, disco ball boxing, karaoke singing Cara parties in Topshop’s Holiday collection, before wrapping herself up in twinkling Christmas lights and playfully writing ‘Happy Holidays love Cara and Topshop’ in the faux snow on the dance floor.
Topshop Christmas Campaign 2014 featuring Cara Delenvigne
And now the rest of the week’s need-to-know stories…
Paul Andrew has won this year’s CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund. Andrew was presented with the $300,000 prize fund to invest in his label along with a mentorship from an industry expert at Monday’s awards ceremony. Jewellery designer Eva Zuckerman and knitwear designer Ryan Roche were each awarded with a runner up prize of $100,000 as well as industry mentorship. Bethan spoke to Andrew last month during Paris Fashion Week as he prepared his final projects to present to the esteemed panel of judges including Anna Wintour, Diane Von Furstenberg and Jenna Lyons, see the full interview here. The British-born, New York-based footwear and accessories designer joins a long list of successful winners including Alexander Wang, Proenza Schouler and Altuzarra.
CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund winner Paul Andrew (via Vogue US)
Naomi Campbell has announced the opening of a pop up shop at Westfield London as part of her charity organisation, Fashion for Relief. The shop will be open from November 28th to December 4th; shoppers will be able to get their hands on some of the chicest hand-me-downs around as stock has been donated by the supermodel and her famous friends, as well as by some of Campbell’s personal favourite designers. All the proceeds will go to raising awareness about the spread of Ebola. Campbell will also be hosting a Fashion for Relief show during February’s New York and London Fashion Weeks to highlight the fight against the disease and gather funds for the cause.
Naomi Campbell at her Fashion For Relief catwalk show in Cannes, 2011 (via Celebuzz)
Attention, Balmain Army. Get ready to march down to Mayfair as it is revealed the brand will be opening their first European flagship store in London next year. Creative Director, Olivier Rousteing told Vogue that London was the natural choice for Balmain’s first store outside of Paris, saying, “London is more about individualism and freedom, it is a very inspiring city that I love to visit, and it’s so close to Paris!” Architect, Joseph Dirand, who also oversaw the Paris flagship transformation back in 2009, has designed the store, telling WWD “This London flagship translates that French refinement into an English vocabulary. I like to think of this new address as the founder’s second home, Pierre Balmain’s London pied-a-terre.” Rousteing told Vogue the store opening party will be “about friends having fun.” Watch this space.
#BalmainArmy
#RIHjoice, Rihanna is back on Instagram after a six month blackout. The @badgalriri account went quiet in May after Rihanna broke Instagram’s no nudity policy by posting some very NSFW photos from her shoot with French magazine, Lui. The photos were promptly removed but it has remained unclear if Rihanna left the photo sharing site of her own accord or if Instagram decided a timeout would do her some good. On Saturday night, Rihanna made her triumphant return with an upside down selfie captioned ‘Hellurrr #badgalback’, followed by an illustration of her holding hands with the Instagram logo, using the hashtag ‘#RIHunited’. So the wait is over for RiRi’s 12 million followers, let’s hope she and Instagram can play nice this time around…
#RIHunited #badgalback @instagRam
Una foto publicada por badgalriri (@badgalriri) el
Nov 11, 2014 at 10:15 PDT
The fashion rumour mill has been abuzz this week after a source revealed to WWD that Marco Zanini feels Schiaparelli “is not exactly his fit.” And on Friday confirmation came that- after showing just on ecollection- Zanini is to step down. The storied brand is owned by Diego Della Valle, CEO of Tod’s Group and was relaunched three years ago, with Zanini leaving his role at Rochas to join Schiaparelli as Creative Director in September 2013. It seems another spin on the Creative Director merry-go-round has arrived sooner than we might have imagined.
Marco Zanini (via Poison Drops)
Fashion’s focus went straight back to sportswear this week as the long-anticipated Alexander Wang x H&M collection finally hit stores. Selling out in just a few hours, the branded sweatshirts and accessories were obvious big hitters, but hidden beneath piles of WANG slogans were functional-meets-fashion staples, arguably what all Wang fans wanted to see from this collection in the first place. Lou Stoppard has explored fashion’s fascination with athletic attire in a probing new think piece for i.D, saying “it’s Wang we should look at when assessing fashion’s relationship with sport.” Writing off the back of the Nike Women’s Summit in New York City, Stoppard goes on to chart the rise of flat shoes, stylised sneakers and oversized normcore staples, concluding that “These are all clothes built for living not posing and posturing, clothes for women who have stuff to do; ‘Just do it’ – that’s not just Nike’s motto anymore it seems.”
Alexander Wang x H&M Campaign (via E! Online)
Headphones company Urbanears has teamed up with Marc by Marc Jacobs to create three new designs for its Humlan headphones range. The Humlan style offers the world’s first headphones with washable parts, featuring detachable ear cushions and headband which can be thrown in with your laundry. Other functionality includes the Zound plug which allows users to share music, a three button remote for playing music and picking up calls and a built-in microphone for hands free talking. The Marc by Marc Jacobs collaboration is available to shop now at Selfridges, choose from three exclusive colourways; Oil, Berries or Ocean, and get ready to listen in style.
Marc by Marc Jacobs x URBANEARS (via L’Officiel)
Maison Valentino has announced it will be taking couture on tour this December. Head designers Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccoli are in for a busy couple of months as the brand heads to New York City to present a couture collection to celebrate the launch of their new Fifth Avenue store. An entirely new collection will be shown as scheduled in Paris for January’s Couture Fashion Week, before leaving the city and showing their July couture collection in Rome, to coincide with the launch of the flagship store there. Does this mark the beginnings of a new era for couture? Vanessa Friedman seems to think so, writing in the New York Times she says, “Valentino’s willingness to go its own way, even if just for a season, would have to give fellow fashionistas pause.”
Valentino Fall 2014 Couture (via Style)
Fashion legend Diane von Furstenberg has opened her doors to the cameras in fashion’s newest foray into the world of reality TV, House of DVF. Premiering on E! this week, the show follows von Furstenberg and her team as they put a group of 10 “regular” girls through their paces in the hopes of winning a job as Global Brand Ambassador for DVF. Expect all your usual reality TV drama, from tears and tantrums to a visit from the paramedics, and that’s just in episode one. Von Furstenberg is the undisputed star of the show, her warm, hilarious and often candid personality makes this a must watch for all fashion lovers. House of DVF airs on Tuesdays at 9pm on E!
Diane von Furstenberg with the ‘House of DVF’ contestants (via Hollywood Life)
Ever wondered what it’s like to be Karl Lagerfeld’s bodyguard? Well, this week, you can find out. You might mistake the lead in this short film, entitled ‘How to be the Perfect Bodyguard in 10 Steps’, for a model, and you’d kind of be right. We present to you Monsieur Sebastien Jondeau, personal bodyguard to Karl Lagerfeld and the face of his boss’ eponymous collection. From preventing surprises to protecting your face, here’s how to protect Lagerfeld and look incredible doing it…
This week, it was reported that Wes Anderson is working on a theme park. Dazed said that the critically acclaimed director revealed his plans to create a theme park with Devo co-founder and composer Mark Mothersbaugh in the foreword to ‘Mark Mothersbaugh: Myopia.’ “I hope to soon secure the means to commission the construction of an important and sizeable theme park to be conceived and designed entirely by Mark Mothersbaugh,” Anderson writes. “For 40 years he has set about creating a body of work which amounts to his own Magic Kingdom, where the visitor is amused and frightened, often simultaneously.” Well if their previous works are anything to go by, the theme park is set to be a very magical place.
The Grand Budapest Hotel (via Fox Searchlight)
Scene from The Grand Budapest Hotel (via The Telegraph)
The British Fashion Council announced that Anna Wintour will receive the Outstanding Achievement Award at this year’s British Fashion Awards. The ceremony, set to take place on December 1, will honour the Editor-in-Chief of American Vogue and Artistic Director of Condé Nast for her contributions to the fashion industry. Christopher Bailey said “Anna gives an extraordinary amount of her time nurturing and supporting creative talent around the world whether they are emerging or established names…her contribution to all of our global industries is a testament to bother her passion, and her innate generosity.” Christopher Kane also praised Anna for her continued support, “I owe so much to Anna for believing in me since the very beginning; without her loyal support and friendship over the past 10 years I would not be where I am today.” Having just celebrated her 65th birthday, could this be a signal that Wintour is looking to a future beyond fashion?
Anna Wintour (via Huffington Post)
Even Kim Kardashian ‘honoured’ Anna Wintour this week with her Halloween costume…
Karl, Grace, Anna, Andre Une photo publiée par Kim Kardashian West (@kimkardashian) le
Oct. 10, 2014 at 5:40 PDT
A new photo exhibition opened at Somerset House showcasing 50 images from Chris Stein’s new book, ‘Chris Stein/Negative: Me, Blondie and The Advent of Punk.’ The exhibition features candid photographs of Debbie Harry, Blondie, David Bowie and Devo, to name a few. “I think we were very aware of the fact that all the bands that we liked had a real visual statement and we always felt that that was intrinsic,” Harry told The Telegraph. “The Beatles were heavily linked to their images,” says Stein. “The photography of the Beatles hit simultaneously as the music – you see and hear them at the same time.”
The Chris Stein/Negative: Me, Blondie and The Advent of Punk exhibition is now open at Somerset House and will run until 25 January 2015.
Debbie Harry and Clem Burke on 14th Street in New York, 1976 (via The Telegraph/Chris Stein)
Chris Stein photographs Andy Warhol photographing Debbie Harry (via The Telegraph/Chris Stein)
Debbie Harry and David Bowie, photographed backstage on The Idior tour (1977) (via The Telegraph/Chris Stein)
With just one week to go until Children in Need, this year’s t-shirts, designed by Giles Deacon, were unveiled yesterday. Pudsey has had a bit of a makeover and has already gained a host of celebrity fans including Karlie Kloss, Kendall Jenner, Tinie Tempah, Kylie Minogue and Joan Smalls. The t-shirt, available to buy here, costs £10 for adults and £7.50 for children, with the proceeds going to Children in Need.
Kendall Jenner, photographed by Katie Grand, wearing the Giles Deacon t-shirt (via Vogue UK)
Adriana Lima, Natasha Poly and Karlie Kloss, photographed by Katie Grand (via Vogue UK)
The post This Week in Fashion: 3rd-7th November appeared first on Fashion Editor at Large.