You've Got The Look

Last Wednesday, Topman launched its newest line, The Look Presents, at London's swanky Tramp club, one of London's longest-running celeb hangouts where Peter Sellers, Joan Collins and Liza Minnelli held wedding receptions. And while Amanda Lear's Fashion Pack might have always smiled in limousines, I arrived with designer/filmmaker/DJ Pam Hogg via the 38 bus. (I've spied Kate Moss' latest fling and The Kills' guitarist Jamie Hince on that particular route, so no apologies.) Maybe people were staring at Pam's peach hair or perhaps they remember her from her early '90's semi-household name, appearing on prime-time talk shows, but they were definitely staring.

The Look Presents was inspired by Paul Gorman's gripping book The Look, a chronological record of each of London's key stores since the '50s and their respective links to the music business and wider undergound culture of that period—so good it should be required reading in schools. For anyone seriously interested in fashion, youth culture and/or music, the book is impossible to put down. For its The Look Presents series, Topman will collaborate with Antony Price's Priceless on a capsule collection of suits, coats and ties, as well as Wonder Workshop on tattoo and animal-printed T-shirts and Nigel Waymouth, of '60's cult store Granny Takes A Trip. Price, who hails from the theater business, found fame designing for the likes of David Bowie, Steve Strange and Duran Duran, as well as styling Roxy Music's record sleeves and Lou Reed's Transformer.

The dinner launch was filled with those who feature in the book, including social columnist and BFF-to-the-stars Nicky Haslam, seminal style commentator Peter York, former Playboy bunny Pippa Brooks, Michael Kostiff (whose store World has been revived at Dover Street Market) and Steven Philip of Rellik, every London fashion editor's favorite vintage store. Press included Style.com's braniac Tim Blanks (talking about the apocalypse, 2012, India and China), The Telegraph's Claire Richardson, Arena's Andrew Davis, Arena Homme Plus' Luke Day and Man About Town's Way Perry. Also present were amazing old-school drag queen Lady Bunny and Kevin Rowland of '80's music group Dexy's Midnight Runners, who penned an essay for The Look on suedeheads, as well as Kylie Minogue's best friend and B*boy underwear designer William Baker. Meanwhile, Topshop's billionaire owner Philip Green sat at the head table with Price, whose most famous customer, Bryan Ferry, hung off his every word.


Peter York and friend, Andrew Davis and Tim Blanks


Antony Price and Bryan Ferry


Lady Bunny and Steven Philip

MAN Hour

Daryoush Haj-Najafi...

MAN, the Topman-backed group show and one of few genuine must-sees at London Fashion Week, is launching a range of tees and bags designed by those appearing in MAN's forthcoming show in September: Hans Madsen, leather specialist James Long and hotly tipped sportswear tailor Christopher Shannon. MAN has even gained a French contingent with fashion and art collective Andrea Crews, chosen by Colette proprietress Sarah.

The launch party, Brit Disco, took place during Paris men's week at Rive Gauche club, a massive improvement over the usual Le Baron, where I once witnessed Gareth Pugh get booted for making out in the toilet. London DJs Disco Bloodbath provided the tunes, disco being the musical micro-trend of the summer, especially of the Italo and Cosmic varieties. The air was hot with impossibly twink-like fashion editors and talk of new appointments, such as Dazed & Confused's Nicola Formichetti's new title of fashion director of Vogue Hommes Japan. He sat with Arena Homme Plus' Jo-Ann Furniss and V newbie Jay Massacret, while on the dance floor, throwing mad shapes, was Charlie Porter, new deputy editor of Fantastic Man and now i-D. His boss at Fan Man, Gert Jonkers, said of Romain Kremer's men's show earlier that evening: "Helmet Lang, new rave." While it wasn't meant enthusiastically, it should have been, as it cleverly summed up the Clockwork Orange-referencing, codpiece-featuring collection. Meanwhile, in queue for a smoke, rumors of an upcoming Teen V bounced around.

Also in the house was Seven New York's Joseph Quartana and former Lindberg designer and model-cum-DJ David Lindwall, who managed to bag a Seven order for his conspiracy-theory tees earlier that day, joining Dover Street Market. At the end of the night, Cassette Playa's Carri Mundane—yet another Seven favorite—introduced me to Kanye West's ever-present front-row pals and Paris Fashion Week sensations Don C and Taz Arnold whose style was described by the New York Times' Cathy Horyn as "fascinating" and "cubist." His TI$A solo project's infectious, Ice Cube sampling, new release Vote Obama. Don C declared my Justice tee, "Fresh to Death," making my night. They then left to go to a strip club with Carri, who told them they should definitely check out Bernhard Willhelm's show come Sunday. They did, with Kanye in tow, so if he's sporting medieval tights in his next video, you'll know why.


Fantastic Man's Jop van Bennekom & Gert Jonkers, Carri Mundane of Cassette Playa
photos by Debbie Bragg