Vogue Fashion's Night Out

On Thursday 8 September, all the big name retailers on Oxford Street brought out their big guns for Vogue Fashion's Night Out; hosting fashion shows, offering meet-and-greet sessions with designers and celebrity collaborators and handing out hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of champagne and goodie bags.

I was with John Lewis for the evening, helping to create a short film about those all-important autumn/winter trends, featuring interviews with fashion bloggers, designers Mischa Barton, Osman Yousefzada, Amanda Seabourne and Nina Godfrey from Vogue.



I took a few sneaky shots I took of Mischa, who was sporting a one-shoulder black drape dress, statement necklace and the most magical white glitter and black velvet Mui Mui shoe boots.



Before everything kicked off, I popped next door to see what House of Fraser were up to and bumped into Mary Portas, who was promoting her standalone shop in the very glittery department store (I felt like I was in a nightclub at times, but then I don't get out much).


As well as an army of red-headed mannequins, Mary's shop boasts collaboration collections galore - Mary Portas for Clarks, Mary Portas for Radley - as well as her own range of sharp, smart and sleek clothing and hand-picked items, from home and fashion accessories to foodstuffs, by independent designers and companies. There's even a cafe!



Whilst there, Mary was cornered by a woman who wanted to see her range in larger sizes. "Well, we go upto a size 18", she replied. "No Mary, bigger, we want bigger" - you heard it from the shop floor Mary, and you of all people know the importance of pleasing the customer.

Click on images to enlarge

She's Always a Woman - thank you TV advertising

As a general rule I don’t dislike ad music because it has appeared in an advert, but because it has been chosen for a particular type of advert in the first place. Adverts for mobile phones and small cars usually go for the twee lo-fi alt-folk that I like to call ‘dancing squirrel’ music and which knaws away irritatingly inside your head. No better are the vacuous dreamscapes used to compliment the ridiculous melodrama of perfume films.

When covers are used, it’s often an indication that the film-makers couldn’t afford copyright of the original; a new young thing putting a cool gloss on a song that wasn’t so much of a classic in the first place or a new young thing ruining a perfectly good song.

But there are always happy exceptions to the rules, and John Lewis’ choice of Fyfe Dangerfield’s ‘She’s Always a Woman’ to accompany their film of a young girl’s life in full is one of those. I’d never heard the song before, but the advert struck me immediately as one with sincerity – or at least well-executed simulated sincerity – and the song as one with bittersweet depth.

I couldn’t get it out of my head, but after finding out that it was a cover of a Billy Joel song didn’t hold high hopes for the original. It’s pleasingly refreshing when my cynicism is proved unfounded.

Both versions of the song are beautiful, Fyfe’s more knowing but no less heart-felt – it could be his song – and Billy’s a charming discovery; innocent and folky, with a lovely flute accompaniment and of the 1970's singer/songwriter genre I’m so fond of.

It hasn’t made me want to shop at John Lewis - but I’m talking about it so that must be a win in itself - but it has made me add both songs to my current playlist.

Image: Fyfe Dangerfield