Well, did you get anything? Did you stand in line for hours to grab your part of the celebrity capsule collection of the year, or did you wake up at your usual time and hop online, only to find that everything was already sold out, and that if you wanted one of those dresses, why you’d be paying over £100 for it on eBay, dontchya know?
I did neither. Not living in London, I sadly wasn’t able to join the queues in Oxford Street yesterday for the launch of the Kate Moss for Topshop collection, and being pathologically lazy, I couldn’t be bothered setting my alarm for stupid o’clock to nab something online, either. I am a bad, bad, fashion policewoman, and I’d be sending myself to jail if it wasn’t for the fact that, actually? I feel a little bit relieved not to be a part of the "Kate Moss for Topshop" hoopla. And if you keep on reading after the jump, I’ll tell you for why.
It’s not that I don’t like the clothes, let’s get that out of the way first. Actually, I think this is a pretty nice collection, and very "Kate". Now, I like Kate Moss’ style. I think she manages to look good in pretty much everything she wears (witness Kate on the way to the collection launch, in the picture on the right. She may have dodgy taste in men, and yes, sometimes she looks like she could be doing with a bit of a wash, but there’s no denying, the girl scrubs up good.
So, I like the clothes. Things I particularly like: the pansy print dress, the black skinny jeans (although, given that I practically live in a pair of these from Zara that cost quite a bit less than ol’ Kate’s versions, I think I’d be leaving them on the shelf), the striped waistcoat, the oversized sunglasses… All very nice, and all very Kate, and while none of them make me shriek, "Oh my God, I must have that NOW!", I could be tempted to buy them, if it wasn’t for one very important fact: in just a few days time, these clothes will be EVERYWHERE.
Oh, I know everything’s sold out at the moment, and that as soon as new stock comes in it’ll go straight back out again, but trust me – this is the collection of the season, and the clothes will be as readily identifiable as Kate herself in just a few short weeks. Now, I don’t know much about you, but while I’m certainly no clothes shop (I’ll shop wherever I can find clothes I like, that fit me), I’m not exactly keen on walking into a room and finding five other women already in it wearing exactly the same outfit as I am. And I think this is what will happen with the Kate from Topshop collection.
It’s very clever marketing on Topshop’s part, make no mistake. The problem with all of these celebrity collections, though, and the near-riots they cause when they go on sale, is that they’ve started to encourage a cult of identikit dressing. Some of the originality has gone out of fashion lately, and it’s not the fault of the designers or the celebrities – it’s the fault of those of us who rush out and buy the latest must-have clothing collection the second it becomes available, even if it means we’ll all look like we’re wearing some bizarre kind of school uniform for the next few months at least.
Still, a pretty good job from Kate, all things considered. And, despite everything I’ve just said, I wouldn’t say no to a pansy print dress in a UK size 6, if anyone wants to buy me one. Well, I can always wear it on holiday, can’t I?
