My Los Angeles holiday, glorious as it was, threw a monkey wrench into NY Fashion Week doings. Poor vacation planning on my part, indeed, but I got to experience some of the excitement when I finally made it back to the city.
Mulberry, a favorite of Laetitia’s, opened a flagship store in New York’s SoHo neighborhood during NY Fashion Week (they already have shops in the West Village and on Madison Avenue). They were also, incidentally, celebrating the brand’s 40th birthday and had a proper fête at Skylight West, a rooftop venue in midtown Manhattan, to mark the simultaneous momentous occasions. The party also served as the first stop on the Mulberry Mix Tape tour, with Kasabian playing a set – dreamy! I was swooning every other minute, what with this band-ful of dashing gents playing lovely music, surrounded by the beautiful people. I count myself very lucky, and I don’t mean to make you jealous, but Alexander Skarsgard was there. Yes, I was in the same breathing space as this man-among-men. Women’s clothes were just falling off left and right! Ok that didn’t really happen, but he is a force of nature.
From top left: Maggie Gyllenhaal (wearing the Tille Wrap Dress in Happy Hedgerow Print from AW11 and the Effie Satchel in Oak from Pre SS12); My future husband, Alexander Skarsgard and Rose Byrne (wearing the Pleat Front Dress in Pale Gold and the Mini Taylor in Marshmallow White from Pre SS12); Harley Viera Newton (wearing the Pleat Front Dress in Pale Gold from AW11); Alexa Chung (wearing the Polly Push Lock Trench in Marshmallow White and the Mini Alexa in Oak from Pre SS12); Solange Knowles (carrying the Fox Lock Bag in Fox Brown from AW11); Imogen Poots (wearing the Kilty Skirt in Winter White, the Feathered Friends Print Tee and the Lily in Hedgehog Bronze from AW11).
I especially enjoy Rose’s and Harley’s gold dresses – fascinating how “pale gold” can look so very different between the two, but I’m not complaining as they both look lovely! Drops of much needed golden sun (it’s been rather overcast in New York these last few days).
I love that Mulberry is doing this Mix Tape thing – the fashion + music mash-up is the best combination since cereal + milk. Mulberry’s got a good track record for having new/awesome bands perform at their events, so I’m looking forward to seeing who else and where else they’ll be going with this tour.
The new store is beautiful (naturally): high, tin ceilings, a skylight allowing natural light to flood in, and my favorite part – decorative structures (“follies” if you want to get technical) made out of books. The space that the store is in had a previous incarnation as a print shop and as book storage; Mulberry wanted to both give a nod to that history, as well as to the English country house library, the English countryside being very much of the essence of the Mulberry brand. Interestingly, the spines of the books are turned inward rather than outward. I would have expected the opposite, but I actually really like it – it keeps the space light, but still with some slices of color.
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