Zara Goes Animalistic - Rawwwr!

After all the glossy monthlys have released their Autumn/Winter 2011 catwalk trend reports, there is nothing I love more than to start seeing the fall pieces hitting the high street stores. The earlier the better in my eyes, with some of the top brands getting 'first dibs' on the hottest designer inspired items; and Zara never ceases to disapoint.

The Spanish brand's Autumn collection is clearly heavily influenced in all things animalistic. Remember the bright furs at Prada? Zara has some of those pieces. And the animal prints at Marc Jacobs? Yes those too. And no one can forget the hair and fur at Giles - Zara certainly didn't:

This luxurious fur coat, £239.00, is a fab investment this Winter. Fur was everywhere on the designer catwalks, most notably at Prada. The bigger and more grizzly bear-esque the better! This one from Zara does not fail within this area!

 Snakeskin is turning in to a trade mark print for Zara, we have seen it in both their Spring and Summer 2011 collections and now in their transitional Autumn pieces too. With this silk shirt, £29.99, Again think Prada and why not clash it with a bright acidic colour to take you through from Summer to Fall?

 Feather prints take a new turn for the upcoming season - forget the bright neon colours that we saw this Summer and turn to more warm, autumnal colours like this shift dress, £29.99. Throw in some maroon coloured tights and you have Autumn down to a T.

 Remember the Giles show? Feathers and fur, fur and feathers; whichever way round you remember them they were heavily featured in his catwalk  collection. The hairier looking the better! Check out this fantastic feathery skirt, £79.99, in citrus orange; taking the vivdness of Prada and the hairy furry from Giles. I am lusting after this one!

 Zara's classic snake print as I briefly touched upon earlier features throughout their upcoming collections. You will start to see printed macs, skirts and shirts amongst the shoes and, of course, the 'it' bags. This shopper, £69.99, is perfect to fit in all your Winter essentials from your brolly to your waterproof jacket - yes I'm predicting rain already!

 How Marc Jacobs is this fascinator?! Leopard print, check. Cute bow details, check. Feminine with an added edge, check. Its the perfect catwalk inspired piece, £19.99.

 And for all the shoe lovers out there, here is a classy coltskin pair, £69.99. With a nod to the oh-so-glamorous 50's the print on this is wild enough to be clashed with other animalistic tendencies, yet subtle enough to be a gentle nod to the trend for the more conservative ladies. Bravo Zara!

 

Making a Bold Statement

The bigger, the bolder, the chunkier, the more embellished the better! Right now I am lusting after over the top statement necklaces to complete an outfit. I've collected quiet a few over the years but I'm struggling to find any new designs on the high street! If anyone has any ideas where I can look it would be greatly appreciated!

Here are some of my favourites from my collection:

 This piece is my all time fave - a bejewelled leather collar necklace with silk ribbon tie from Warehouse. It gets so much attention and compliments when I wear it.

 Another Warehouse piece in gold, silver and pewter chains. This is quiet a heavy piece to wear, but adds a rock-glamour edge to any dress or plain tee and jeans!

 This was also from Warehouse! (Very on trend they are as usual!) It reminds me of an illusional pop art piece with the different sized circles.

 I wear this tribal inspired beaded necklace with maxi dresses all the time. I wish I had invested in another one though to make it look more elaborate when I wear it.

I found this one in Primark early last year! Another favourite of mine, it is lightweight yet does the job; ticking the oversized statement box successfully!

What do you think of my necklaces? Have you seen any on the high street or online that are similar? I would love to hear your thoughts and ideas!

How Does H&M do it?

So H&M have done it again, announcing another celeb collaboration earlier this week. Brand Beckham is in full swing as David follows in the kitten heel steps of his wife Victoria and branches out into the fashion world.

But what is it that makes H&M so appealing to the A-list? We have seen the high street chain collaborate with the likes of Karl Lagerfeld who was the first high end designer to work with the brand and then quickly following suit were Stella McCartney, Jimmy Choo and most recently Lanvin.

Press releases this week also confirmed the brand will be working creative director Donatella Versace with the range featuring inspiration from her iconic luxurious leather pieces.

But why H&M? The brand has been developed intricately, with television advertisements, city centre billboard posters, press releases and a consistent amount of products featuring in the top fashion magazines.

However, in my opinion, the store itself still needs alot of work with its messy product merchandising, boring window displays often miserable staff in my experience. Touching on the staffing issues, H&M hit the news again this week and not for the right reasons.
 Staff within the store's New York branches have joined a Labour Union.

Any brand can pull in high end endorsements and collaborations but if the store's themselves aren't shoppable or don't promote a positive atmosphere, they will be without customers and staff. And without those, retail cannot commence forward.

Ethereal Autumn Windows at Harvey Nichols

Everytime I visit Leeds, I make a beeline for Harvey Nichols just to window shop - quiet literally!

Their windows are a work of art and an inspiration to any Visual Merchandiser. The Autumnal windows did not dissapoint with a spooky ethereal feel making for a picturesque fall.

 The green branches are a green vinyl that has been placed on the glass to mirror the use of the black branches inside giving a 3D effect.

The mannequins have been dressed and styled in lovely warm autumnal colours such as maroon, camel and grey. The layering of knitwear and mixing of textures on the left is very clever.

 The best dressers always see a mannequin as functional - maybe allowing her to hold her dress in one hand or be pulling back her jacket with another. With the below mannequin I would have put her in some maroon tights and had her holding her skirt to show this.

If you look closely enough, the mannequins have fabulous long lashes and smokey eye shadow on and bits of diamante- a truly magical look!

 My favourite window of the two, its wonderful how these mannequins are more posable by leaning on the branches and even sitting high upon them! Again, a mixture of textures from fur to silk have been used and the vividenss of the orange hair sets them out from the Autumn back drop.

Even the window vinyl of the store directory has a font that fits with the ethereal and mystical setting of the windows - deffinately a favourite of mine from Harvey Nichols so far!

Shopping The High Street

Tuesdays are a great day to go shopping; its the day when most stores get their deliveries of lovely new stock and the day all their sale replenishment has been distributed to the shop floor.

This evening I took to Primark, River Island, New Look and H&M (I've been busy!) and found some gorgeous pieces to take me into Autumn!

First on my shopping trip was River Island were I picked up this silk ethnic print dress. The cut comes off the shoulder. I'll be wearing it now with fringed sandals and beaded jewellery and come Autumn with a faux fur gilet and ankle boots. The price was marked up from £30 To £15 but it scanned in at just £10 - I love it when that happens!

 A close up of the print on the River Island dress.

 hNext I hit Primark - I only try to shop here for basics and the odd staple piece but I couldn't resist this kimono style cotton mix jacket. I'm wearing mine with a pleated maxi skirt. £13.

 At H&M I saw this in the window (ah the power of visual merchandising!) and just loved the pleated skirt and batwing sleeves. £24.99.

Having a good rake around in the New Look shoe sale, I came across these cute leopard print kitten heels! Leopard print continues to be huge in Autumn thanks to Marc Jacobs and I couldn't resist these at just £6 - bargain!

Visual Merchandising Display

I have never posted any of my own visual merchandising projects on my blog before, but this is one that has been a huge money making success in the store where I work. My friend and I developed the concept of a vintage boutique and using props we brought it to life a few weeks ago.

I updated it yesterday with some gorgeous Autumn stock from the Biba range instore. Biba is focussing on gorgeous retro patterns in soft knitwear, pussy bow blouses, ruffled shirt fronts and 70's style flared sleeves on silk dresses.

 We gave the vintage wardrobe a paint treatment in the decadent colours of gold and black and staple gunned a faux fur leopard treatment to the back which is the iconic look and feel for Biba.

 Front dressings promote add on sales and add interest to the display.

 Clashing 70's prints are key to this Autumn's trends, taking inspiration from high designer catwalks such as Missoni.

 Mannequin styling includes mixing textures such as faux fur, suede, silk ruffles and tweed.

 Taking inspiration from vintage boutqiue dress outs to show the customers different ways of wearing the collection's key pieces and displaying accessories such as bags, candles and jewellery to promote add on sales.

I'm a Shop Shopper

Everywhere I look on the high street today, brands are constantly advertising their online stores. "Shop Online Its Easy" "Save More When You Buy Online". With retail seemingly stuck in a rut, I'm wondering if stores are focussing too much on their online content as opposed to their individual stores.

Stereotypically as Brits, there is nothing we all love more than to be stood queuing in a shop on a Saturday afternoon surrounded by the buzz of happy ( and angry) shoppers.

We also love being able to see what we want to buy - we want the experience of it before we actually purchase it. We want to raid River Island's rails and run into the fitting rooms with our friends and have a good old laugh at each others outfit selections. We also want to be able to have a choice. Us girls love seeing something in Topshop but then 'hanging on' and looking around all the other shops just in case we find something even better; but more often than not we end up right back were we started.

But what would be the fun of doing this online? There's no fun in waiting for the web page to load or even freeze just as your putting the payment through. Or even getting all the way to the end of the transaction only to be told the item is no longer in stock (some brands really need to work on their e-retail services!) We want to see it, feel it, have it and wear it NOW!

I think I've shopped online once and wouldn't rush to do it again. I missed the whole shopping experience. The getting dressed up in a morning to go into town, looking at store's window displays, being inspired by the mannequin styling and even being influenced to buy more as you have everything under one roof - you can't view everything on one page (well you can but who really wants to wait for that to upload?!).

When I internet shopped, I think I tricked my mind into thinking that it eliminates the aching feet of trawling around the shops, the nasty suprise of when you no longer fit into your usual size 10 jeans and the having to stand in a long queue to pay. But instead I got a crampy finger from over clicking the mouse pad, waiting a day or two for the item to be delivered and then still getting the nasty shock of not been able to fit my leg into Topshops new denim range! (Well they do have small sizing afterall...)

I think I'll be sticking to good old fashioned retail therapy - the experience is too conversational to miss!



(Image 1 from www.topshop.com
 Image 2 from www.riverisland.com
 Image 3 from www.catalogs.com)