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Pitti Uomo hits 91 not out

Sunday, January 29th, 2017

By a long way, my favourite menswear show is Pitti Immagine Uomo, which is held in Florence in January and June each year. The most recent four-day gathering was, incredibly enough, the 91st edition of this trade event that kicks off the buying season.

Pitti Uomo (to use its short form) is a unique forum for menswear folk from all over the world to come together to see some of the best premium brands.

The event, which involved 1,220 brands (540 of them non-Italian) this January, pulls in 24,00-plus buyers from more than 100 countries. It is a brilliant show. Even the odd dog turns up (although silly little “handbag” pooches are more usual than this fine-looking sheepdog outside the Woolrich stand).

For regular visitors like me, as well as seeing new collections, Pitti is a chance to catch up with friends like the ever-dapper Derek Rose, the king of pyjamas, who I spotted making a guest appearance on the stand even though the business is run by his son Sacha these days.

I was having a bit of a Drake’s day (the company always has a mobbed stand at Pitti) with a Drake’s shirt, tie and slipover on show, together with my old and cherished Polo Ralph Lauren cashmere overcoat, which was made in Italy a while back by Corneliani.

As well as older veterans like Derek, it is great to see younger veterans developing UK-based businesses, such James Eden, who champions British manufacturing with his Private White VC collection, made mainly in Manchester.

I am already looking forward to the next Pitti Uomo on 13-16 June.

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Discussing the fashion design function in good company

Tuesday, December 13th, 2016

Friends old and new came together recently for the inaugural gathering of my latest venture, Eric Musgrave Events. My idea is to bring together in a convivial surroundings like-minded senior professionals from the fashion business – especially the ones who are usually overlooked by other networking events. Look out for more events in 2017.

For this debut, we were talking about the role of the design function in an age of fast fashion and obsessive discounting. My impressive panel of UK fashion experts comprised Kate Bostock, Shailina Parti and Fiona Lambert, who are brilliant are blending creativity with commerciality. Selling clothes at full price is, after all, the idea of fashion retailing (although a lot of companies appear to have forgotten this).

 

Companies represented at the discussion at the Churchill Hotel on Portman Square, just north of Oxford Street, London, ranged from Anya Hindmarch to Mothercare, from Joy to Debenhams, from John Smedley to Seraphine. The discussion was opinionated, informed and passionate. We had great interaction with the audience. The only criticism afterwards was that 90 minutes was not long enough to do the subject justice. Point taken for the future.

Caroline Blanchard, Jill Butterworth

The heavy lifting for the event organisation was done by Leon Bailey-Green of Upper Clash, so a big thanks goes to him. I am very grateful also for the enthusiastic support from Rob Feldman at Brand Alley, Paul Pällin, founder of FitsMe, who joined the panel discussion, and Charles and Ben Keisner of Freight Brokers (with whom I do a lot of new business development separately to these events). Their belief in what I am doing made the event possible.

Eric Musgrave Events are invitation-only gatherings. If you would like to be on our contact list for 2017, please email me on eric@ericmusgrave.co.uk, outlining what you do and why you’d bring something to the party. Potential supporters can contact me the same way

SPONSORS

 

 

With support from TRP Recruitment

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Made in the UK feature in BA’s Business Life

Wednesday, November 9th, 2016

The BA magazine Business Life did a great job on my feature about the revived interest in making in the UK. I love the custom-knitted cover created by textile artist Jessica Dance. Well done to editor Tim Hulse and his team for getting behind the topic so enthusiastically. Thanks too to all those who contributed to the piece. UK manufacturing: use it or lose it.

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Fashion in Leeds on film

Wednesday, November 9th, 2016

Anyone who has been raised in Leeds or has lived there should be interested in a film looking at the role of fashion in my home city across the decades to the present day. You can watch it here.

I was pleased to be asked by Lee Hicken and the production team at Hebe Works in Leeds to contribute to the proceedings. I pop up a few times, especially in the first 20 minutes of the 82-minute documentary.

Extracts of the film have also been presented in the Hebe-produced Leeds lifestyle mag The City Talking, which features on the cover my old pal Everton Campbell of The Hip Store, which is 30 years old next year.

This was an ambitious project, but the guys have produced an interesting take on Leeds, where “fashion is an expression of history”.

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Jigsaw’s St. James’s Emporium

Tuesday, November 8th, 2016

The new Jigsaw Emporium is located right behind Lillywhites at Piccadilly Circus in St. James’s Market, a 210,000sq ft development on Lower Regent Street. I like it.

I have written about the store in the latest edition of Style + Truth, the Jigsaw seasonal magazine. You can also read it here.

The store was designed by London-based Dalziel & Pow, which has a great record in creating attractive retail spaces. It will be interesting to see how this location – between Jermyn Street and Haymarket – fares as a premium retail destination.

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Jigsaw uses Fox Flannel

Monday, November 7th, 2016

The latest issue – No 5 – of the Style + Truth magazine from Jigsaw includes three pieces from me, including this short celebration of the premium chain’s use of a Fox Brothers flannel cloth for this coat.

Contrary to popular belief, this is not a Prince of Wales check.It is a Glen Check. It is encouraging to see Jigsaw using a cloth woven in Wellington, Somerset, even if the coat is manufactured in Portugal.

My issue in for Jigsaw loyalty card holders and so includes an actual sample of the cloth. I also have one of the mags with a menswear cover; most have a womenswear image. You can also read my feature here.

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Native Shetland from Jigsaw

Sunday, November 6th, 2016

I very much enjoy writing for Jigsaw‘s biannual Style + Truth magazine. The subjects are very much in my area of interest and the title, edited by my former Drapers colleague Ana Santi, has high production values. The current issue, No 5, includes three pieces from me, including this four-pager on a brilliant Made-in-UK initiative using genuine Shetland wool. You can also read about it here.

Called Native Shetland, the mini-range comprises three styles of chunky knitwear for women. The UK-only provenance is explained in the neat swing ticket.

 

The Eunson style (above) is £198, while the Ollason sweater (below) is £249.

 

Well done to all at Jigsaw for supporting UK artisans.

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You Say You Want A Revolution? Records and Rebels 1966-1970 at the V&A

Wednesday, September 7th, 2016

A visit to the latest lavish V&A exhibition is highly recommended.

You Say You Want A Revolution? Records and Rebels 1966-1970 is an extensive overview of just five frantic years, covering music, fashion, social change, politics, science, product design and more besides. I loved it because I lived it, being aged between 10 and 15 years  in the period. I am confident younger punters will enjoy it too because so many influences are still being felt today.

Ah, the disappearing art of the LP sleeve – a sad loss in this era of the digital download. There are dozens of sleeves dotted around the exhibition.

It is fascinating to recall the change in The Beatles from the 1964 appearance with Ed Sullivan to the amazing cover of Sgt Pepper’s. I can remember my sister Sue bringing home a copy on the day of its release, 1 June 1967. The cover is recreated in part at the V&A. The show’s title is, of course, taken from Revolution, a track on the Fab Four’s The White Album from 1968.

There is lots of great fashion on show, including this Mary Quant suit and a paper dress that was given away by the Campbell Soup Company in exchange for two coupons from labels of vegetable soup cans.

This tableau is particularly effective (although the second row is hard to see and even harder to photograph!). The jumpsuit on the far right is by Ossie Clark for Mick Jagger.

As we now expect from the V&A, the exhibition is multi-media. It is interesting to see the ad for Polaroid cameras, which have just been updated by the Impossible Project.

Levi’s is the main sponsor, while the “sound experience” comes courtesy of Sennheiser. The compelling and evocative soundtrack plays automatically as one walks round the show.

The Black Power movement is recalled in a section with images including Huey P Newton, co-founder of the Black Panther Party, Muhammad Ali and Malcolm X.

The US influence on popular culture is celebrated in all manner of exhibits, but for people of my age just a few lines prove to be so evocative. The movie Easy Rider was amazingly exotic to me when I sneaked in, under age, to see it in Leeds in 1970 or thereabouts. Consider also that Janis Joplin died just three days after recording Mercedes Benz on 1 October 1970.

The largest room in the show is devoted to the rock festivals of the period, especially Woodstock (15-18 August 1969). Massive screens show the familiar footage (here Country Joe & The Fish) but so many of the performances are still exhilarating, including that of The Who; half of the band did die before they got old.

As well as Levi’s and Sennheiser, the V&A was supported by the Grow Annenberg Foundation, Fenwick and Sassoon. The exhibition was organised by Geoffrey Marsh, director of the V&A’s Department of Theatre and Performance, and Victoria Broackes, a curator in the V&A’s Department of Theatre and Performance and head of Performance Exhibitions.

You Say You Want A Revolution? Records and Rebels 1966-1970 runs from 10 September 2016 until 26 February 2017.

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Weaving with The Shetland Tweed Company

Monday, July 11th, 2016

Regular readers of this blog will know that I am always delighted to hear of new fashion and textile producers across the British Isles. The latest on that important list is The Shetland Tweed Company. Set up last year to produce interesting fabrics on Yell, one of the northerly Shetland Islands, this is a two-person operation.

The two persons in question are Andy Ross, who, despite his Scottish-sounding name, was brought up in Zimbabwe, and Kirsty Brabin, who, despite her Scottish first name, hails from The Wirral on Merseyside. Andy has run a charitable concern for the creative industries called GlobalYell on the island for about a decade and Kirsty, a graduate of Chelsea School of Art, was weaver-in-residence with GlobalYell before making a permanent move to this remote British archipelago.

These maps show just how far north the Shetland Islands are. For a long time in the Middle Ages they were more Scandinavian than Scottish. Kirsty weaves using yarn from the native Shetland sheep spun by Jamiesons in Sandness, Shetland – we are talking about a very small carbon footprint here! The aim of The Shetland Tweed Company is to produce cloths that are modern interpretations of classic cloths from the islands. There is no shortage of local inspiration, as these images illustrate.

In the past year Kirsty has produced about seven collections comprising around 80 fabrics. Each collection is named with a Shetland dialect word, such as Lammas (the first of August), Veev (vivid and bright), Aert (direction) and Meid (a landmark used for pinpointing positions in the sea).

The Shetland Tweed Company, which produces 300gms (10.5oz) cloths for menswear and womenswear, is attracting attention for bespoke pieces. As Kirsty uses a hand loom, small runs are possible. Prices start at a competitive £55 per metre. It would be very uplifting to see this creative venture flourish.

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Underwear and dressing gown from British Boxers

Sunday, July 10th, 2016

It is interesting to note that an attractive, relatively new, brand for men’s underwear and nightwear has been devised by a woman. Deb Price set up British Boxers in 2012 with the aim of “bringing a traditional product to a whole new generation”.

That key traditional product is boxers shorts, now augmented by jersey trunks, pyjamas, dressing gowns and socks. Deb Price has good experience in the area, having been head of buying at long-established nightwear producer Bonsoir for several years after a career with high-street retailers. Having studied textiles and fashion in Manchester in the early 1990s, she has been able to blend her training and professional experience to create British Boxers.

Most of her sales is done through the website although she is very pleased to be stocked by Harrods. When Deb contacted me and sent me a selection of her goods, I was impressed by the presentation, packaging and branding. The link with boxing is neatly done and is relevant to Deb, who tells me she is the great, great, great granddaughter of Jem Mace (1831-1910), a celebrated pugilist who spanned the bare knuckle and gloved eras.

I did warn Deb that I was not a fan of boxer shorts, but she sent me two pairs anyway. Having given them a test run, I can confirm hers are in comfy 100% two-fold cotton, nicely made and in attractive colours or stripes. They are £22 a pair, £44 for a two-pack. Of their type, these are fine, but I still do not like the loose-fit, the excess fabric and the relatively lack of support that is the characteristic of the boxer short, but I am sure these would please boxer short fans.

Much more to my personal taste are the trunks, which are in a 95/5 cotton/elastane blend that gives a soft but snug supporting fit. My only criticism is that they (like the boxer shorts) have a relatively low rise – the measurement from crotch to waistband – which does not sit well with my belly. But that, arguably, is my problem! The trunks are £18 each or £34 for a two-pack. I like them, not least because the colour selection has more than just the usual options.

The big surprise in Deb’s box to me was the brilliant striped cotton dressing gown. It is beautifully made, with the matching of the stripes showing the attention to detail. It is a very practical calf length and it is altogether much smarter than it looks in the image from the website I reproduce here (my bold blue stripe version is not on the site at the time of posting). As well as the exterior belt, the robe has two inner ties to create a snug fit. The robe costs £89 and is of a weight that will make it ideal for wear all-year round.

Deb Price, who is based in Leek, Staffordshire, has her boxers made locally to home, while her briefs up to now have been made in the East Midlands near Leicester, as are her socks (£14 a pair). But she has hit frustrating manufacturing problems on the briefs (she has used seven UK factories trying to get the quality at the right price!) and is currently looking towards the Czech Republic for production. Those excellent dressing gowns are already made in Prague.

Sitting in the premium menswear sector, British Boxers is definitely worth a look. Beware, however, that putting on the underwear will not give you a physique like the model in the images! Good look to Deb and her team. This is a job well done.

 

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