Ding ding! I’m starting to feel verrry September. A mindset swivel away from summer and into high culture and busy work pursuits. Going back to school with bells on. For the last couple of years this shift to autumn has meant time with Topshop’s occasionally brilliant, sometimes bonkers Unique catwalk collection with the view to buying a couple of affordable pieces that are several notches above bland high street fodder.
Unique is the show that gets Kate Moss on the front row winking across at Harry Styles. I didn’t mean to start having a thing with it, at first I was a bit horrified with myself, but it soon passed. Its only fashion elitism that says the same brain cannot appreciate a high street product in the same thought process as, say, the new Louis Vuitton collection which I’ll be hanging out with this week at Dover Street Market as it celebrates its tenth birthday.
Unique has been higher on my agenda since Kate Phelan arrived in 2012 from British Vogue and proposed what she calls a “sanity check” to the line, working with design director Emma Farrow to angle it to the fashion girl who wants glossy, almost sober glamour with a high fashion twist. It works for me. My favourite black flasher mac and limited edition graffiti print shirt are Unique pieces I’ve worn and worn and they still have life in them.
The brand new collection which goes on sale today is, says Emma Farrow, “about the coolest girl at school” which is apposite considering no matter how old you are September and back to school vibes are forever entwined, except for me hitting up London Fashion Week in a few days is my version of back to school.
The edit here is pieces that instantly say autumn 2014, and that work in everyday life. It’s about that amazing coat or tailored jacket with a shaft of fake fur, a perfectly proportioned jumper that stops at the upper hip, botanical print anything and the super shiny normcore padded green jacket. Buy just one for these and you will be mainlining a slice of fashion now. Get on it!
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