Last year I received three hot tips about where to shop: from Anya Hindmarch, Alexandra Shulman and Hillary Alexander, fashion director of the Telegraph. Jaeger. And I wrote about it here.
Jaeger now has three womenswear lines: Jaeger Collection, the don't-frighten-the-horses clothes we all recognise; Jaeger London, innovative dresses and separates for contemporary working women; and Jaeger Black, its premium range of what it considers investment dressing - the perfect sleeveless black shift dress, the evening coat. Jaeger seems to be aiming itself squarely at women in their 30s and up who know what is on the Paris, London, Milan and New York catwalks, and also know that they are not prepared to buy anything that does not suit them. "Fit and flatter" is the unsurprising message the company received from the focus groups it commissioned.
For decades Jaeger has been in the doldrums, the place where Home Counties matrons buy their expensive navy polyester shirt-waister dresses but under the direction of its new CEO, Belinda Earl, the company has become fashion forward as they say in the trade. The current fashion for star fabrics was sparked last Autumn when Kate Moss wore a star blouse from Jaeger.
My best dress of 2007 was Jaeger and yesterday Belinda Earl, her head of press Iona Hames and I had lunch to discuss the forthcoming AW08 show this Sunday, its first ever at London Fashion Week, and then we went back to the Regent Street flagship shop so they could show me the new SS08 Jaeger London range which had just come in. And there I found my dress.* It fulfills the brief exactly, right length, right shape, sleeves, and the colour is this season's yellow in geometric shapes on a black ground (and no, it doesn't make me look like a wasp). I also bought a mimosa yellow jacket in heavy, lined linen, so I am all set for the Spring.
I think that Jaeger is doing really interesting clothes for grown-up women, and they have something for all shapes. On their sizing, my dress was two sizes smaller than the LaDress dress which was too sizes too small. I concede that they are expensive, but they use quality fabrics (my dress is a mix of silk and cotton) and they should last and last.
* No, it's not the one in the picture, that's AW07.
4 comments:
So perseverance is rewarded! I quite like the shape of the dress above (not so sure about the neck), and I'm looking forward to you giving us a peek at your new dress, should you choose to.
No, that's certainly not the neckline for me,, nor is my dress that shape. But my dress is not online and I lost my camera.
I've owned only one Jaeger ensemble, purchased, ironically, when I was an undergraduate university student.
It was a linen trouser suit in a perfect shade of brown with a linen wrap top in flax underneath. I wore it everywhere--until the linen finally wore through some fifteen years later.
Congratulations on your new Jaeger; I look forward to seeing it!
There used to be a Jaeger boutique on Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills across from Neiman Marcus. Do you think that they will open boutiques in the US again or sell through department stores?
We could use some clothes that "Fit and Flatter" in this town instead of having the entire retail market aimed at 14 year old girls.
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