KATE MOSS X TOPSHOP LAUNCH

If I knew when I woke up 10 minutes before leaving for uni that I would later be standing 3m away from Kate Moss, I probably wouldn't of worn dungarees complete with my trusty Kanken and no make up. It's days like this you wished you always looked good but thats part of London, anything can happen.

Forgetting the Kate Moss launch at the Topshop Flagship store we ventured to Oxford Street for other various university projects, only when we spotted a few people queueing did we realise.

So after all was done, at 3:30pm we joined the queue (with a two hour wait) to be the first to see the collection and join the launch party.

None of us were real fans of Kate Moss, to be honest I think we had all failed as fashion students already by forgetting about the most anticipated event of the month, so joining the event made us seem like better students.
Should I mention we got free goody bags and food?? Including Byron Burgers and Chips, PopChips Crisps, Liberation Nuts, Lola Cupcakes and other various weird food. I put in a previous post about celebrity collaborations that I thought queueing up for hours wasn't the best idea and that Topshop should hand out bottle of water. Well... One thing I learnt students will do anything for free food and goodies. Second, yes Topshop do hand out bottles of water and with the amount of food we got I can say they treated us very well.

A lovely lady handing out Cupcakes to us, not bad cupcakes.

Soon the media came and started interviewing us about our hardcore ambitions to be the first to see Kate Moss's collection, I didn't have the heart to tell them we were only here for the free food however after the first couple of interviewers we were honest with them.

5:00pm: Security tightened and all shoppers were directed to the adjacent side of the road, inevitably crowds started to gather and soon it was packed.

6:00pm: After a brief introduction from Grimmy (Nick Grimshaw) himself and a live set from Duke Dumont, we were allowed in. The lucky 50 who joined the queue first.

The woman above we had seen earlier that day hobbling around on her crouches looking in pain and here she is carrying both crouches running around collecting clothes. It did make me laugh.

A small shot of the left over goodies that we didn't eat.

I'm not sure I would do this again but it was quite an experience, a very funny day in all.

Today is Fashion Revolution Day.

Don't worry I didn't know this either until I was handed a leaflet about it earlier.

I met a group of students on Oxford Street today campaigning "Who Made Your Clothes", changing factory conditions because of the tragedy that occurred in Bangladesh last year.

I spoke to a student from UAL, London College of Fashion who was on the street campaigning and handing out leaflets. She explained today was Fashion Revolution Day and they had arranged a walk at 4:30pm to highlight the Bangladesh incident. However our conversation fell short at that because although she was campaigning she didn't have much to say on this subject. It seemed more like a university assignment than a passionate cause to her.

I was expecting there walk to be dramatic, as dramatic as art students can be however it seemed me and my friends once started more of a "fash mob" on a Prague Pub Crawl by singing Yaya/Kolo Toure to the beat of No Limit by 2 Unlimited.  Resulting in nearly getting kicked off the crawl.

However looking on social media this campaign #InsideOut is brilliant, it's unfortunate the campaigners aren't wearing there clothes inside out on the streets, but it is really having an effect on twitter with 15,000 tweets in 24 hours. Soon it will really but the spotlight on retailers. Lets make sure no tragedies like Bangladesh happen again; we can prevent them.

Some of us go crazy at the thought of a celebrity clothing hitting high street stores across the country. The nation joins together in inevitable queues so we can be the first to purchase the collection in an attempt to look exactly like them, but only to find out when we get home that all hope is lost. Resulting in a second attempt to build our self esteem by becoming another celebrity, Alan Sugar; selling it for double the price on eBay. Starting the cycle of fashion.

Can't think of any collaborations? Well here is a few:

Kardashian's for Dorothy Perkins
Madonna for Aldo
Katy Perry for Eylure
Rihanna for River Island
Beyonce for H&M
Kate Moss for Topshop
Lily Allen for New Look
Kelly Brook for New Look
Rosie Huntington-Whiteley for M&S

Myths:

1 - Celebrities are not broke when they decide to endorse high street brands.

2 - Madonna is too old.

3 - The celebrities design the clothes themselves.

4 - They give out free water bottles in the queues for Topshop.

5 - No one brought Beyonce's bikini range because no one can ever look as good as B in a bikini.

6 - Celebrity women bring out lingerie collections because they want to show off their bodies after a divorce.

7 - You will look like the celebrity when you wear their clothes.

8 - It's ok if you don't know who the celebrity is.

9 - Celebrities wear the clothes in their collections.

10 - The Kardashian's will never stop bringing out collaborations.


I decided to go out and interview a few of you on Oxford Street to find out what people really think of celebrities becoming temporary fashion designers. Here is a short documentary on what you had to say...

Your Opinion: Celebrity Collaborations with the High Street Brands from Harriet Hoare on Vimeo.

All opinions are my own, and all myths are made up. I do not recommend you believe these myths.

I thought it was time I would reply to a question most of you have been asking; unlike my reply to the standard text message where my track record is about 5 hours. 

What Have You Brought in a Charity Shop?... I never find anything.

So here you go, a simple photo diary of most of my charity shop buys. Enjoy!

To answer your question of 'not finding anything', unlucky. I am sorry for the stress caused by the smell of old (and possibly deceased) people, please scroll down for some tips that might help you.

(Not quite Charity Shop but this was a wonderful handy down; same concept just missing out the charity part) (Disclaimer, always keep the charity part. Charities are good) 

As you know I am obsessed with charity shops and I regularly go in them 2 or 3 times a week, this really is my secret to success. When 'Grandma Hoare' goes on a charity tour, it's go hard or go home. A little lesson I've learnt from having mostly guys as best friends (although sometimes this doesn't end well, but I will blog about that later).

Right so here's my advice:

1. Best Charity Shops for buys: 

British Heart Foundation

Cancer Research

1. Worst Charity Shops for buys:

Oxfam (They're a bit too picky with what they sell, and usually overpriced)

1. I usually know what I am looking for, this helps a lot.

1. When scanning rails I look for interesting patterns and fabrics, not the actual clothes.

1. Look in the opposite sex's section too.

Hope this helps!

P.S. I have also found out my Macbook apparently can't count past one, maybe I should revert back to Windows.

Problems of a Drunk Fashion Student:

The Charity Shop Crawl

The typical natural environment for a student is the traditional pub-crawl. The dark, crowded and vibrant atmosphere attracts many of us. Whilst most students are down Angel or Shoreditch going door to door spending their money, I am down Camden saving my money crawling the charity shops of North London.

It seems over the last few years there has been a trend for charity shops buys and I have to admit I’m in on this hype. Much of my wardrobe is made up of these buys gaining me the nickname ‘Grandma Hoare’.

See I live in Tufnell Park, North London; just a 15 minute walk from Camden. I usually get off at Camden Town or Mornington Crescent tube station on the way back from university so I can browse the nine charity shops I pass on my walk home. As much as I want to keep this crawl to myself, often people ask what charity shops I go in as a result I’ve made this crawl.

The Crawl (Mornington Crescent Crawl)

Here we begin:
Take a right out of Mornington Crescent Tube Station and start to walk down Camden High Street towards Camden Town Station.

Half way up the high street you will see the first five charity shops on your left.

British Heart Foundation,

Shelter,

Scope,

Cancer Research,

Oxfam.

Carry on walking until you hit the main junction where Camden Town tube station is situated. This is where the road splits into four, but head towards Kentish Town (It should be clearly sign posted). It is the middle road, situated in-between the Camden Eye and the tube station.

Keep walking on until you hit an array of shops, and this is Kentish Town. You should see another Oxfam on your left, and two other charity shops a little further on the right.

Here you will find:

Age UK,

PSDA,

The last shop is a mere 5-minute walk towards Tufnell Park. All you have to do is keep heading up the road until you reach another junction, this time the road splits into two. Take the road on the right and the charity shop, the London Centre for children with Cerebral Palsy, is on the right hand side (before Sainsbury Local).

Warning:

I would be careful this crawl is not for the weak; as I discovered this walk takes you past two Mcdonalds, two Greggs, a Nandos, a Burger King, a M&S Food, hundreds of Kebab shops and many pubs. I am not surprised Camden Weight Watchers is situated a few streets off the high street. However at the end of the crawl is the Boston Arms; an Irish pub where it is £2.20 a pint, it would be rude not to take the opportunity of a cheap drink.

Happy Crawling.