Basler Opens at London's Westfield

We are thrilled to announce that this morning Basler opened its fifth store in the UK in London’s Westfield on the Ground Floor of the celebrated shopping mall. Already well established in the international fashion scene, the new store design concept follows their flagship store on the Kurfürstendamm, Berlin which opened last July with a modern and fresh new look.

UK Managing Director Paul Lorraine, Managing Director for Retail Markus Wahl and Michael Krauledat, as well as Creative Director Brian Rennie were recieved at the press breakfast held this morning with great excitment by key titles within the UK including Tatler, Vogue, She, Red and Elle, making it a highly successful event that promises a bright new era for Basler in the fashion industry for seasons to come.


Above (Left to Right): Paul Lorraine, Brian Rennie, Markus Wahl and Michael Krauledat

As part of the future plans, internationally defined growth plans are in place for Basler’s own retail stores. Brian Rennie, became Creative Director of Basler earlier this month with plans to develop the label as a premium brand. A native of Scotland, Rennie worked for luxury brand Escada for 20 years, including twelve years as their head designer, with a significant influence on their positioning and merchandising. He has dressed stars such as Kim Basinger and many others for the Oscars. Rennie then went on to become Head of Design/Fashion Director at the Stockholm-based, casual wear provider Gant.

With the Spring Summer 2011 collection looking brighter better than ever, we are so excited to see what Basler have in store for us in the forthcoming seasons.

We are thrilled to be working with accessory brand MATT & NAT! The echo friendly and vegan collection is already loved by our favourite celebs and stocked in top UK stores such as Urban Outfitters and ASOS.

In 1992, MATT & NAT Founder and Creative Director Inder Bedi was challenged by a Mahatma to become a Vegetarian for 30 days not knowing at the time how much of an impact this challenge would have on his life as well as that of others. It was a few years later whilst he was completing a degree in marketing and corporate law that MATT & NAT was conceived. A brand and movement shaped by the power of duality, the idea of creating beautiful things that have a positive impact.

Over ffteen years later, the MATT & NAT team is continuously working towards this goal, developing beautiful products for people who appreciate a smart, unpretentious, socially conscious brand characterized by minimalist design and utility.

As an example of the spirit and commitment of MATT & NAT, all linings of the handbags and wallets are made of 100% recycled plastic bottles. In fact, on average we recycle 21 water bottles to make the lining of each bag. In 2011 they introduced cork labeling inside all of the bags, an innovative material in the fashion industry that is sustainable to the environment.

Good Results will be revealing their Autumn Winter 2011 collection at our Press Days, taking place 13-14th April.

www.mattandnat.com



Fearne Cotton seen with her Matt & Nat handbag

Birmingham, NEC - The National Wedding Show Continues

Last weekend brides-to-be from across the UK flocked to Birmingham’s NEC for the National Wedding Show’s second exhibition for the season. With increased catwalk shows previewing a selection of this seasons latest style in bridal and groomswear, visitors loved the glamorous showcase of the kind of outfit they would be able to get their hands on for their very own wedding. The newly relocated ‘How to Look Good’ show was also a huge success and oh-so-popular with crowds spilling over into the aisles for each session.

Songstress Beverly Knight appeared for the second time at the show in follow up to her visit to London, Olympia in February gathering ideas and inspiration for her own wedding set to take place next year.

For all that makes a cool, calm and collected bride on the big day, the show also featured bridal coach Michele Paradise presenting her ever popular sessions for brides-to-be on all the essential tips for buying and wearing your wedding shows painlessly, how to stay calm and confident on your big day, how to work the camera and her all new speech making class.

Already looking ahead to next seasons show, we are excited to be back at Birmingham NEC (7th – 9th October) and London Earls Court (30th September – 2nd October) for another beautiful event for future brides and grooms from the UK and around the world to come along and enjoy an event decicated to making their day a perfect one.

The National Wedding Show - A Royal Success

There has been quite a lot of fuss about weddings this season, since the royal engagement between Kate Middleton and Prince William was announced in November 2010, and the National Wedding Show at London’s Olympia has shown that wedding fever has well and truly set in.

It was a star-studded show with celebrity visitors including newly engaged couple Beverly Knight and her fiancé, plus newlyweds Michael Underwood and Angellica Bell who were on the look out for honeymoon inspiration also decided to spend their day at Olympia.

The event spread over three days (18th – 20th February), and attracted hundreds of brides-to-be, their bridal parties and indeed their future grooms to plan everything from cake to tiaras and bow ties to tuxedos for their big day. Wedding and honeymoon inspiration could be found at every turn, with bridal coaching, a designer flower zone and ‘how to look good’ talks throughout the exhibition. We loved the Brides Magazine Raj tent, with Bare Escentuals showcasing their divine original mineral makeup for brides looking for the perfect and flawless made up look.



With a fantastic turnout from press at the exclusive reception hosted in the stunning Chambord & Champagne bar, down to the last piece of confetti not one bit of the action was missed. International and local media attention was focused on the UK based wedding show with BBC ‘Show me the Money’, Daybreak, CNN, Fox News and NBC capturing the exciting atmosphere that the National Wedding Show never fails to serve up.

The catwalk stage, fit for any fashion lover, featured dresses from the likes of bridal-couture royalty Vera Wang (with a sample sale just to sweeten the deal), making this show a well rounded collection of bridalwear that encapsulated all styles and tastes, for we all know that every bride is of a unique breed! 1950s inspired tea length dresses and simple gowns with detailed lace overlays were just a few of the hot favourites, including educated guesses at what Kate Middleton's dress might look like.

We are looking forward to another successful show this weekend at Birmingham NEC (4th-6th March).

Largest Ever Pure London!

Pure London has proven itself the destination event for retail buyers and press year after year, with this February's show no exception to it's consistent success.

At Olympia, Pure London was re-edited with the biggest selection of footwear and premium brands to date while Pure Spirit at Earls Court offered a dedicated young fashion event. This season saw over 1086 brands exhbiting across both shows with over 248 of those new to Pure.



The buyer turn out delivered an impressive list of attendees including our British favourites Fenwick, Harrods, House of Fraser, Debenhams, Net a Porter, Brown Thomas, as well as Liberty and independant retailers such as American Pie, Ark, Republic, Choice, Sunday Best and Psyche. The even also attracted international buyers including El Corte Ingles and Galeries Lafayette.

Pure will continue to look for new brands and create innovative ways to bring new buyers to the show. This season WGSN retail experts presented an in-depth forecast for Autumn Winter 11/12 on the contemporary stage at Pure London while the Next Generation section in Pure Spirit created a new platform for emerging designers to present their cutting-edge collections.

Pure doubled its number of catwalk shows and line up of content across the shows, with insights from leading fashion gurus from the world of TV, online, high street and independent retailing, making it a lively and exciting show from start to finish. WGSN and Drapers ran essential seminars and catwalks on topics such as buying advice and future trends while guest speakers Jeff Banks, Eric Musgrave, Zandra Rhodes and Mark Heyes all offered top advice.



Pure Premium showed the largest selection of high end contemporary brands such as Winter Kate, Issey Miyake Cauliflower, Sara Coleman and Math alongside premium accessory brands Tatty Devine, Bernstock Spiers, antoni & alison, St.Erasmus Miquella and Ally Capellino.
Sonal Patel, Country Manager of Day Birger et Mikkelsen who debuted in Pure Premium commented “We have had a successful show, with a steady flow of new retailers and international buyers just seem to keep arriving”

As always, Pure is an inpiring even to both deigners and buyers, bringing together labels from all over the world under one roof. We can't wait to see what Pure London has in store for us next in August 2011!

Olly Murs in Eleven Paris

Our favourite pop star Olly Murs tweeted a picture of himself in his ultra cool Kate Moss, Eleven Paris t-shirt!

Olly also sent us a picture of himself in the Paris Hilton t-shirt!


Eleven Paris's menswear collection can be found in Selfridges and on ASOS.

Check out www.elevenparis.com

Eleven Paris Spring Summer 2011 collection

Zoe Kravitz joins Ash Stymest for the Spring Summer 2011 campaign and lookbook from Eleven Paris.

The Spring Summer 2011 collection is inspired by the LA skate scene of the 1970s. The brand represents being young, reckless and having fun! A range of chino style turn-up trousers and shorts are teamed with polo shirts and Eleven Paris’s signature hand printed tees. Acid washed styles are teamed with light knits to give a casual yet sporty look. Offering a large colour range, from sun bleached tones such as pastry, azure, light pink and beige to deeper shades of black, brick, ginger and night blue.





The collection will be in Selfridges and ASOS soon.