HARVEY'S SUPERCOOL

I could quite happily live gazing down onto the views of north Deansgate - especially if I were constantly surrounded by the beautiful pieces showcased at the Manchester Harvey Nichols autumn/winter 2012 press day on Wednesday.

No self-respecting fashionista could hate Givenchy's rottweiler. The brand emblazened it over sweaters, tees, clutches, and, in this instance, a tote. Further bags proffered to the press were Victoria Beckham's Harper bag (which unfortunately posessed an eye-watering price point), Alexander McQueen clutches, and an enormous Givenchy leather backpack, ideal for back-to-school, albeit a £10k-a-year private school.

My future without the Isabel Marant suede fringed jacket is looking rather bleak. Once seen, never forgotten. Marant is a new designer to the Harvey Nichols fold (who are also carrying the Etoile line) and they have a fantastic selection of the best pieces - including the fringed boots and Bobby sneakers.

It's very easy to focus on your favourite designers with an offering like this but I'm glad I also checked out Maison Scotch. The collection's cosy knits appear to be Mexican-inspired with some really cute details.

Another new brand to Harvey Nicks is Delicious. Their fun prints and candy coloured jersey are akin to Wildfox, and are oft-spotted on the trendier members of the TOWIE cast.

And the best of the rest.. Prada sunglasses, Superga x House of Holland sneakers, pretty perfumes, and Arty rings.

On my way out I took a detour through the shoe gallery where there is currently an abundance of Jeffrey Campbells. And not just Litas! The silver cowboy boots have shot straight to the top of my birthday list.

So what do you think of Harvey Nichols' new collection? Personally I'm seriously impressed - they've really updated their designers and got with the times without losing their luxury identity. A new buyer maybe? Or maybe they just got a Tumblr account. I don't care. I love it!

DIESEL A/W POP-UP

What comes to mind when you think of Diesel? As a teen, their jeans were the holy grail of denim, and I was pleased as punch when I got my first pair from the Cheshire Oaks outlet store. I didn't much bother with the brand as I grew up as I simply assumed I'd grown out of it.

Turns out Diesel had grown with me. I visited the Diesel autumn/winter 2012 collection pop-up in Harvey Nichols on Thursday, and was treated to a thorough run-down of the collection and brand by the (very passionate & knowledgable) Northern visual co-ordinator, Helen.

Diesel has split into three much more targeted brands, rather than attempting to cover all markets as the previous one did. 55DSL is the "bread and butter" goods - t-shirts and denim - Black Gold is a luxury brand with Sophia Kokosalaki at the creative helm (though Vogue reports Kokosalaki is leaving after three years in charge), with the eponymous brand covering the notoriously difficult middle market.

Diesel will be no less on-point than its older Black Gold sister however, as its head designer is Fashion East & NEWGEN alumni, Heikki Salonen, who is known for his grungy, minimal aesthetic. As I saw on Thursday the autumn/winter collection covered all wardrobe bases - the perfect leather jacket, the coloured skinny, a dress-up-or-down jumpsuit - in a mainly neutral colour palette; on-trend khaki being the basenote with a pop of sunflower yellow on top. Each piece would work effortlessly with the rest of the collection, along with your best vintage top or high-street blazer.

Look out for the Diesel pop-up in your local Harvey Nichols - it's visiting each store for two weeks at a time - and I guarantee you will be impressed as I with the brand's progression.

MY NEW OBSESSION

Walking home from work on Thursday I accidentally tripped and fell into Harvey Nichols, so seeing as I was there anyway I thought it only polite to check out the sale since I managed to contain myself so well on launch day.

Rails of We Are Handsome swimwear, a huge DKNY section, and a huge rail of clearly very old sale at absolute bargain prices made practising self-restraint extremely difficult. The sale in-store was far superior to the online offering and of course it's much more difficult to say no when you have a physical piece in your hands. I found myself picking up and putting down a Wildfox bikini top numerous times (y'know.. that one); eventually it remained on the rail, but had it been the pink version there would have been big trouble.

I couldn't resist checking out a box full of shiny sale jewellery, and it was in this box that I found my new obsession. The perfect balance of tough and elegant, this BCBG Max Azria ring hasn't left my hand since I bought it at the bargain price of £19. I can't find it online - like much of what I saw in-store - so it's really worth going into your local Harvey Nicks, especially if you're looking for an investment piece at an excellent price.

An online order may have (read: definitely has) been placed, so watch out for some bargain Wildfox pieces featured on the blog very soon..

Contain Yourself

The term "LOL" gets bandied about on this 'ere internet rather a lot but it is rare you will find me genuinely laughing out loud at my computer screen. Tonight I actually did a belly laugh after sitting at my computer and finding an email informing me of the Harvey Nichols sale, beginning Wednesday:  following on from their controversial Christmas Walk of Shame video - which was discussed by everyone from the Mirror to the New Statesman - Harvey Nicks delight and disgust with their new sale imagery, loosely based on Pretty Woman's infamous line "it was so good, I almost peed my pants!"

Well, actually, the Harvey Nichols sale is good enough to ruin a perfectly good pair of Ackermann-esque trousers. Or so they would lead us to believe. Nothing a dry clean won't fix, eh? My LOL was almost certainly from sheer shock of seeing a once-stuffy, high-end retailer advertising their sale in a deviant fashion. They are clearly trying to distance themselves from the older market and appeal to those who are happy to drop thousands in one visit on cool, up and coming brands they stock like Carven and The Row.

However you feel about Harvey Nicks's sale campaign, there's no denying it gets people talking, blogging, and ultimately visiting the retailer. As I write I am watching a conversation unfold on Twitter about whether the adverts are tasteful, or whether Harvey Nicks have even taken the theme far enough. Should the models look more pleased with themselves? Or a bit more insolent? Is this just too far? People's opinions will saturate social media over the days preceding the sale, helping to get the hashtag #ContainYourself trending.

Sadly I'll be working when the doors open, so I'll miss the inevitable scuffles over the last Alexander McQueen bag at 70% off. When the dust settles I will pop my head in to see if any scraps have been left over - only then we will see who has really had the last laugh.

Totally Surreal, Man

Surrealism, n. Pure psychic automatism, by which one proposes to express, either verbally, in writing, or by any other manner, the real functioning of thought. Dictation of thought in the absence of all control exercised by reason, outside of all aesthetic and moral preoccupation.

In the 1930s Salvador Dalí created an installation for America's Bonwit Teller department store entitled "Narcissus". It was soon removed due to complaints from the general public; clearly it was far too outrageous for its time. Although no photographic evidence of the window appears to exist it can only be assumed the display was inspired by Dalí's painting, "Metamorphosis of Narcissus" (1937).

One also guesses the new Harvey Nichols Manchester displays was inspired by Dalí's paintings and the works of other surrealists, such as Delvaux, Magritte, and and Kahlo (top to bottom, below). The windows are utter dreamlike perfection, featuring tree people in D&G, skeletons in a Givenchy-clad clinch, and mannequins chillin' in Burberry next to an awesome interpretation of "The False Mirror".

This is by far my favourite window display I've seen - and as a visual geek I've travelled far and wide to see many - and I am so proud to say it is in my home city of Manchester!

Fiona McIntosh: News And Shoes

The past few years have seen an extraordinary change in print media, thanks to the digital revolution. "We were terrified of it", says Fiona McIntosh at the Manchester Fashion Network's "Evening With" event earlier this week. Ever the innovator, McIntosh set about trying to find a way for digital and print to work together.

Originally a newspaper journalist in Australia "a million years ago", McIntosh moved to the UK and quickly became editor of Company magazine. I asked how she stood out to be taken on for this role: she heard the position was coming up, pestered and pestered for an interview, and made an amazing mock-up of the mag. Job in the bag. After that role, and 4 years spent at Elle, McIntosh was approached by Emap for ideas as they found themselves left without a women's glossy. "Why not a fashion weekly?" suggested McIntosh. Emap were delighted with this idea, having been eyeing Italy's Grazia magazine.




Fiona McIntosh in the Grazia days. Image from the Daily Mail

And so in February 2005, Grazia was born. I, along with many, many other fashion-obsessed females, have never looked back; I'm really not sure what I would do without my weekly Grazia fix. McIntosh established the Grazia tone and the distinctive design and layout. This love of bang-on copy is something McIntosh is known for within the industry.

Nowadays McIntosh is dabbling in the world of fashion retail, working recently with my-wardrobe.com with their recent successful re-branding. McIntosh took us through the steps.

1: New photography. McIntosh is as captivated as the rest of us with street style photography, which is reflected in the site. Apparently it's also "cheap to do"!

2: Change the tone. Concise, sophisticated yet friendly copy is key here, with all Americanisms banned.

3: Site redesign, using a very of-the-minute model across the site and promotional materials.

4: Use of style guides, enhancing the online experience with a print style guide.

5: Create media/retail hybrid, working with a junior team and layering on more experienced consultants when necessary - such as commissioning Polly Vernon to write a snappy piece for the site.




my-wardrobe.com screencap, 21st March 2012

Fiona McIntosh believes that the fashion monthlies are "big old monsters" (and she's right - when Vogue featured Fashion's Night Out two months later I skimmed over it. I had already been saturated with online information) with their lieu time being six weeks. Surely there was a way of presenting it faster - at a pace which matched fast fashion? McIntosh believes that the "mashing of media and retail is really interesting at the moment", and although it is difficult to judge the future of fashion media, the way forward may be to use print media to enhance the digital content, and monetising that content with the use of eTail.

I really appreciated Fiona's quiet-but-clear tone, and loved that she spoke in Grazia-isms - lots of "OMG" and "bang-on". Her final words of advice? "Stay on top of what's happening - who's doing what - are there any innovations you could use?"

Fiona stated that she, too, started out as an intern, and she is a fantastic example of how far you can get with talent and a whole load of hard work.