Best bits of London Fashion Week online

ph: fashion-ocd tumblr

I've been out of the country while LFW raged on at home so I've scoured the web for some of the top resources I've tapped into to keep abreast of the action and would like to share them with you. The tardiness has meant that I am getting behind on Paris Fashion Week, argh

:: The Guardian's summation: What's hot and what's generally a bit rubbish (Simon Chilvers' opinion though!)









:: FT.com's Vanessa Friedman and Carola Long's insightful and rich commentary

::Style.com's visual feast of all of the SS12 looks if you just want to build a brain collage

::Topshop's blog Inside-Out's specific article on David Koma

::The Times Fashion's twitter feed, check out #LFW

Finally! a Forever 21 in London

Some excellent photos of Sandra, blogger responsible for 5 inch and up, and some beautiful shots of what we can find in-store. Looking forward to bagging some bargains in the new Forever 21 flagship on Oxford Street!

(ph: from 5 inch and up)

Cheap smells

(photo: pearled, flickr)

Word of mouth endorsement is such a powerful marketing tool. My friend Jo mentioned the Cheap Smells web site to a group of us last night over supper. We were talking about the best products to take on a long haul flight... then we ended up talking about great places to buy branded lotions and potions at discounted rates. Just like play.com, but sells beauty products instead of cheap DVDs, Cheap Smells is located in the Channel Islands so it receives certain tax breaks which it passes onto us, the consumer, how kind. 

They predominantly push the perfume, fragrance, and aftershave products, stocking some top end brands such as Chloe, Gucci, Calvin Klein, YSL, Vera Wang, mid-range brands such as Sarah Jessica Parker, Tommy Hilfiger, to the very affordable: Kylie, Jennifer Lopez, Britney Spears...etc. 

However, I found their skincare section slightly more exciting. They offer a long list of Clarins products, including some impressive gifts and sets as well as the ever-useful Eight Hour Cream by Elizabeth Arden.

Postage is included in all of their prices, and it's still cheaper than buying from high street department stores.

You can go to the web site here: CheapSmells.com

21 again... Forever 21 hits London town

photo: lovesnic.tumblr.com

Forever 21, the affordable fashion retailer, made its first voyage across the Atlantic back in 2010 to the iconic Bullring shopping centre in Birmingham. Come July 27th, the fashion retailer will become resident in the former HMV space on London's Oxford Street. If you're unfamiliar with the brand and its product, I would describe it as New Look with more edge. 

The retailer has three main sub brands for women: Forever 21, Heritage 1981 and Forever 21 girls, they're all in a similar price bracket, for example, £10.50 for a tee or vest is quite standard. I personally prefer Heritage 1981 as there is more of an Urban Outfitters vibe to it. Check out their web site for a look at some of their LA wares and prices.

Bip Ling, flavour of the month, is fronting the campaign celebrating the London launch. Some good pics of her here.

A Saintly Selection

photo from who-needs-words tumblr

AllSaints Archive is a cleverly branded sale / discount / clever ruse to get rid of the stuff they have lying out back. It seduces us with its promise of 50% off, but I'm more than willing to be drawn in by £100 leather jackets and £30 statement jewellery pieces. (no bags though).

AllSaints are a bit of a law unto themselves in the fact that their designs and main construction materials don't fluctuate much from season to season so AllSaints Archive is definitely worth a browse. It also means you can avoid elbows at sunrise when the AllSaints sales are on in-store.

Check it out here

fashionable ebay tips - selling

(photo: myheartisaddicted's tumblr)

Selling


Having seen a lot of clothes and accessories listed on eBay, I've seen the good, the bad, and the ugly in terms of eBay listings. Here are a few tips which only require an ounce of common sense and a little bit of time.

1. Title
It may seem very obvious, state exactly what you're selling in the title as this will increase the likelihood of your listing coming up in searches by the sort of buyer that you're targeting. I've seen some terrible titles for some pretty decent items. Don't forget to include:
:: The name of the brand/designer
:: The size (if it's a 12 you might also want to include 'Medium' too to get more hits)
:: Whether it's brand new
:: Anything particularly interesting about the item e.g. 'Real leather' or 'This season' are good options to attract attention

2. Photos

(photo: fashiontoast)

Rumi from fashiontoast started her super successful blog as a result of all of the interest she got from her (now defunct) eBay shop, Treasure Chest Vintage. A lot of her success can be attributed to her eye for key pieces but also to her styling and Colin (the bf)'s photography skills. Which brings me to my point about photos on eBay listings: make the item look appealing!

As we're becoming increasingly exposed to and accustomed to slick styling and graphics from the likes of Net-A-Porter, ASOS, The Outnet, Topshop, and popular blogs, a dark photo of a bag laid flat on a stained carpet just doesn't quite cut the mustard.

You don't have to have an amazing camera, just a good amount of light, I prefer shooting my items on a sunny day rather than using the flash which changes the colour of items.

3. Description

Keep it simple. There are so many listings chock full of colour, different fonts, links, pictures, tables, stars you name it. When eBayers are searching/browsing all they want to know is what condition the item is in, whether there are any imperfections, the dimensions and perhaps some inspiration/ideas on how to wear it/style it.

Sometimes I like to insert photo inspiration which includes the item or demonstrates the particular trend. I usually get the images from the internet or magazines. eBay don't charge for uploading photos for clothing listings so whyever not!

A topshop leopard never changes its spots

Bought these Topshop beauts at 25% off thanks to my friend's 'relative of an employee of arcadia' discount. Can't wait for the weather to improve to bust them out. What do you think??

You can find them on the Topshop web site here, and they're in the sale!