Lifestyle & Fashion

Can High end translate to High Street?

By Vicki Imrie
Published: 08/11/2009

It seems everyone wants a piece of the high street these days with designers and celebrities alike taking it upon themselves to bring their high end fashion to us mere mortals.

Let’s take Christopher Kane and his capsule collection for Topshop. Inspiring? Sadly not.

As the original creator of the now legendary body-con dress I expected a couple of modernised variations on this favourite along with a few quirky day pieces but instead we get baggy black cotton and an abundance of silver studs.

Luckily the accessories are a lot more inspiring, especially the leather and mesh platform boots and boxy eyelet clutch, both of which would look great with this season’s embellished shoulders and an oversized blazer.

Accessories from Henry Holland and Mytights.com are also more fashion forward.

The opaque alphabet and house print tights are infused with House of Holland’s eccentric charm.

This range works because it’s so Henry Holland; it’s a little morsel of his quirky charm as opposed to Kane’s slightly tacky reincarnation of a catwalk theme.

Again looking beyond the high street to the web, Peaches PPQ for very.co.uk is a very savvy collaboration. Designed by Miss Geldof and inspired by her own vintage wardrobe the range includes velvet body con florals, high waisted shorts and cute mini dresses with oversized collars and buttons.

At the tougher end of the style spectrum is New Look’s new range ‘Idol’; a collaboration with Donovan Pascal of Religion and modelled by Alison Mosshart of The Kills.

But with designer names comes a frenzy of frantic women.

Some couldn’t even get a look in at the Viktor&Rolf range for H&M, not to mention Matthew Williamson’s collection which sold out in just one hour.

Some men among you will share in this shopping based frustration after the recent and rapid disappearance of the Matthew Williamson for men range went hot off the shelves of this same high street favourite.

To ease their disappointment and cash in on the new found male phenomenon of designer-envy, New Look has launched a brand new Giles Deacon range featuring brightly checked shirts and dark straight leg jeans.

And of course I can’t discuss designer ranges on the high street without mentioning Topman which has always been on the ball in this department; currently showcasing Dexter Wong and Carolyn Massey, perhaps not household names yet but definitely exciting new talents as far as menswear is concerned.

So, famous names brought to the masses.

Currently a tad hit and miss but definitely worth some attention.

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