Over before it started?

Tesco and Asda's Flying Jackets

Topshop's Flying Jacket

Burberry's Flying Jacket

Flying jackets are everywhere- from full page pictures in Stylist magazine to the front cover of Vogue’s October supplement. On every single trend report/ must have and high street store’s home page. When Topshop’s first flying jacket drop hit two weeks ago, they sold out in a matter of hours and were trading hands for double the price on EBay the same day. From the moment Burberry sent them down the catwalk in February the seemingly unanimous decision was taken that they were to be A/W 10’s MUST HAVE.

Unfortunately, the temperature has not dipped below 15 degrees and I am already bored, yes that’s right, bored of them. I have reached shearling lined aviator jacket saturation point, and its not even mid September. If I wanted one in February, I don’t now, and you know why? Florence and Fred at Tesco and George at Asda have theirs in store, the vintage stores have rails of the things, and every high street store worth mentioning has a version, and guess what? They are all the same, one for every budget, every women, no matter their income, all-walking round, looking the same. I feel for Burberry, I do- their key piece for A/W has been diluted, what should look new and exciting now looks tired, old and predictable.

The problem is, and I hate to say it, the democratisation of fashion. Before the days of live streamed shows, catwalk pics on Style.com, front row bloggers and endless real time tweets one had to wait until September to know what the trends were for Autumn- this year, by the time the magazines reported them, I knew them. And so did everyone else. Reaction had been monitored, focus groups taken and every buyer came to the same conclusion: Flying Jacket = Commercial Success.

I love that I have the opportunity to watch all the shows and see all the pictures from fashion week, I do- its just, where before I thought the British High Street maintained a safe distance from designer rip offs and trends, now I just see it as watered down, cheaper versions of the same thing, and it makes me sad.

P.S I am buying a grey or navy cape as this years winter coat. Hopefully with gold hardware.

Knickers in a twist

The M and S full brief

The illusive bikini breifs

I recently looked into my underwear drawer and saw, as I always see, a riot of multi coloured/ patterned pants- some of them have a matching bra, but most of them do not. I sigh, knowing that when that bus does mow me down the ambulance people will cut off my clothes and see ill fitting, fairly old and definitely not matching underwear.

I thought “I will bin all these childish coloured non matching underwear and replace it with endless matching underwear.” Now, I believe it a total glossy magazine myth that some, or indeed most, women wear silky matching lingerie sets at all times- its just not practical and it would be very expensive, not to mention time consuming. To combat this I had a genius idea- Only to buy black underwear and black bras- that way I would always match. Nothing fancy- just plain, cotton and sporty, a cross between 90s Calvin Klein and American Apparel- how effortlessly stylish my underwear will look!

Or at least this is what I thought…I set out to buy a basic multi-pack of black cotton briefs in a standard pant shape- I went where any person looking for basic, comfy pants would- the M&S website- I chose my shape (bikni brief) and colour (black) and, “oh the pack is mixed black and white- never mind I’ll go to the store-yes, there they are!” Very pleased I looked for my size (10) “Hmmmm only size 14 or 16, I will order them- ah, I am not able to, its ok the assistant is stock checking other stores-and…they only have them in Scotland” I have been thwarted in my quest.

I will be purchasing the black cotton full breifs- Vogue says full briefs are having a fashion moment and the comments say they don’t leave VPL, this is good enough for me. All I need to do now is buy some basic black bras. Easy…