AW08 mid-market

The marketing executive of L.K. Bennett has left a comment in my post on the rise of the mid-market. She has provided a link to some of the pieces coming in for Autumn. Go take a look.

There are some very good tops.

Business Casual

I haven't inhabited the corporate world for a few years now. So, for all I know, thing may have changed. But somehow I doubt it.

How irritating were those invites to conferences or regional meetings that stipulated the dress code as 'business casual'. I mean , they should just have got off the pot and said: ' Chinos and polo shirts compulsory'.

This kind of mid -Atlantic look had become universally adopted in the business world as the uniform of the executive in mufti. Ralph Lauren for the North Americans and Lacoste for the Europeans, and likewise, deck shoes versus loafers.

I don't necessarily have anything against these items or styles of clothing; I do, after all,  wear polo shirts ( but not with a logo above the left breast). I may have been imagining it,  but at these gatherings I would often  pick up a tedious vibe of:  ' Look at me, no suit, what a dashing fascinating person I must be- I'm wearing a pink polo shirt'.

I guess one of the definitions of a tribe is a tendency to conformity. And business conferences are nothing if not tribal gatherings.

And maybe the organising principle behind this was right. After all, if you don't draw the line somewhere people might just turn up in cargo pants and flip -flops.

Which someone once did. What a surprise - he was Australian.

And I suppose it's a distinct possibility that everyone does that now.

Dresing up and down

I was at a wonderful party last night. It was billed as a drinks party, and the venue was a friend's flat in Central London. It was quite a family party: there was an 89-year-old aunt.

I noticed that all the women including that aunt, had dressed up beautifully. (I was in my new Karen Cole dress and my D&K shoes). The delectable handbag designer Lulu Guinness was wearing a sensational vintage Fifties black grosgrain dress with a flared skirt and a red rose at her waist. We talked about our outfits and she said that whatever the occasion now, she just dresses up. The dress gives her confidence.

And, like Carrie Bradshaw, I got to thinking. When did men
stop thinking that a suit was what you wore to dress up? And why oh why do most men look so damned boring? Even in London?

Cue Harry and his long-awaited piece on men and their uniforms . . .