Wednesday, April 14, 2010

MEET MY FASHION BROTHER

I was lucky enough to have some "family time" with my self-confessed fashion brother yesterday, Erdem Moralioglu. He anointed me his fashion sister a short while ago, in lieu of his own twin sister being away in Siberia filming a documentary. Granted, we were at Browns of South Molton Street where there was an air of quiet solicitude due to the death of Mr B, the co-founder, last week. The divine Mrs B was not present.

Erdem could cheer up any room, however, and as soon as he saw me he started trying to sell me an Alexander Wang dress from Browns 40th Anniversary collection of special edition designer "Future Collectables". What is it with little brothers??? Guess he was just trying to fulfill his role of host and chief sales assistant at Browns on the occasion of this collection going on sale for the first time. I was more in the mood for the Margiela T-shirt (scroll down for it) I'm having a boyish fashion phase this month... Next month when I get hitched to M though will be another story.

After that he showed me the below from left: Phillip Lim, Christopher Kane (first collection for SS07, reissue) and David Koma (M.A graduation collection 2009, reissue)

Once I had declined the Wang, Erdem moved me onto his dress, "I wanted something black with a paint spatter effect," he told me, before graciously double-kissing a very rich looking client who came over looking for love. "It has a light shoulder pad, and the bottom is cut on the bias to accommodate....this will look good on any age. We've sold two today already.." Showoff.

Well, he deserves to be. Later yesterday he attended a cocktail at the Ivy Club hosted in his honour by Vogue and the BFC to celebrate him winning the very first BFC Vogue Fashion Fund. He has won £200K beating off Kane, Kirkwood and Nicoll and though he hadn't received the cheque yet, he is looking for a new member of staff, and new premises. These, of course, are the real prize.

All of the rather lovely pieces, including this Dries van Noten shirt, have special tags telling you they are "Future Collectables." Personally, I love it when designers date their clothes by season.

So why is Browns doing this? Over to Zoe, head of press for Browns. "People want what they can't find anywhere else," she told me. "Limited edition is the key to that, so Mrs B thought about what we would love to see again that has a unique Browns fashion spin. One of the pieces is the red Christopher Kane dress which, when it first came into Browns, sold out before hitting the shop floor. Another piece is the classic Balenciaga blazer. We never buy enough of them; they always sell out. We have managed to get the cost down to just over £1K." Normally these jackets are around £2K.