Victoria Magrath - The New Fashion Rules - Inthefrow

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It all started in 1994. Retail went global when an American entrepreneur sold a CD to a friend over an encrypted service. It was the first secure transaction ever to happen online and it opened the floodgates for an online explosion.

(@inthefrow)

I can recall the jealousy I felt when school friends of mine headed to Orlando, Florida, every summer with their parents for yet another year at Disney. But it wasn’t Florida I was jealous of; it was the clothing they brought home from those trips. Piles and piles of Abercrombie & Fitch. It was affordable, cool, preppy and the UK market just didn’t make clothes like that then. (This was before Topshop had risen to the top of its game.) These friends of mine were strutting around in American-based apparel while I was stuck in Tammy Girl and Kappa tracksuits. (First-world problems, I know, but when you’re nine years old, these things seem to matter.)

I also remember the first time I personally bought anything online. It was an Alanis Morissette T-shirt from the US. I bought it on her merch site, paid the extortionate amount and received the crappiest-quality T-shirt, but still, I had ventured into a global marketplace for the first time. If I couldn’t make it to Florida myself, I would bring the goods to me. So thanks again, Dad, for ‘lending’ me that £50 back in 2000. You probably kick-started my shopping habits. I also vividly remember the time when my brother accidentally ordered 10 of the same basketball jersey from America. It was when the dial-up connection was so poor that hitting ‘purchase’ more than once could lead to you owning that item multiple times. My dad was in uproar at first, until a simple email prevented his credit card being charged $1,000.

Shopping the web got easier and easier as the years went on. Online stores became compatible with mobiles, easier to use on your desktop, safer and more secure for transactions. All this, along with discounts and promo codes, incentivised people to try buying online. The more people tried it, the more they realised there were fewer risks to entering their personal information than they’d thought, and of course it lead to some new shopping habits for many. That is definitely what happened to me. Every time I bought online successfully, I became more relaxed about buying, felt a sense of security and was more willing to come back and shop again, because the process was so straightforward. And I wasn’t alone in working out this entirely new selling platform. In 2017, 24 per cent of purchases globally (for everything apart from food) were made online. That’s a quarter of everything bought, purchased from an online website and delivered to somewhere in the world.

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I’m not surprised the population wants to invest in brands from around the globe and dress in apparel from their favourite stores from another continent. Worldwide deliveries, next-day shipments and ubiquitous shopping have opened up a global market for consumers and brands to take advantage of. And I, for one, am all for it.

My Dream Shopping Street

I started thinking about the analogy I mentioned earlier, about this never-ending shopping street with every single brand imaginable lined up along it. What a dream! But, of course, I’m not a fan of every single brand, so I decided to visualise what my ideal shopping street would actually look like. If I had a mile of road available and I could build any stores I wanted on it, this is what my shopping street would consist of. Coming up with this was one of the most fun things I’ve ever had to think up, so feel free to do the same!

It would start with Dior. For the special bag, shoes or couture item you or I might love to own, Dior would definitely be my brand of choice.

Next, there would be a few premium high-street favourites: Joseph, Reiss, All Saints, Whistles, J. Crew, Three Floor, Rixo, Me & Em, Ted Baker and Tommy Hilfiger. These are my go-tos for most of my fashion items.

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There would, of course, be a Selfridges store next to a LuisaViaRoma, Matches and Net-A-Porter pop-ups – I don’t want to go changing any brand’s retail strategy here. These are my favourite luxury online and offline department stores and I can’t get enough of the items they stock.

Next to these, a number of my favourite luxury brands for shoes: Stuart Weitzman, Gianvito Rossi, Valentino, Nicholas Kirkwood, Manolo Blahnik, Vetements, Saint Laurent, Malone Souliers, Sophia Webster and Aquazzura.

Then some of my favourites for accessories: a Strathberry store because they deserve to show off their gorgeous bags in more locations. Dolce & Gabbana, Bulgari, Chanel, Céline, Prada, Chloé, Balenciaga, Louis Vuitton and a Mulberry store, because I tend to visit every one of these stores whenever I’m walking by.

Then we would have Max Mara for coats to die for. Self-Portrait for dresses that make me feel wonderful. Burberry for beautiful outerwear and knits. Balmain for statement items that give you the wow factor. Coach for T-shirts, knitwear and beautiful outerwear. Saint Laurent for awesome branded tees. Gucci for clothing with colour and recognisable pattern. Zimmermann and Jonathan Simkhai for the prettiest pieces and Temperley for the most feminine clothing.

There would be a Revolve store for amazing holiday clothes with an LA vibe, as well as a Levi’s, Paige, Hudson and GRLFRND Denim for the best jeans ever. Plus a Ray Ban for my sunglasses. If ASOS ever decided to create a store with all of their bestsellers, I’d definitely shop in it. A lot.

An Adidas and a Nike for fitness footwear as well as a Gym Shark pop-up, a Sweaty Betty and a Varley for activewear. I’d get my bikinis and swimwear from Melissa Odabash, Seafolly, PilyQ, Zimmermann, Bond-eye and Mara Hoffman, because they are all totally exquisite and uber-flattering.

I’d also add some of my favourite homeware and lifestyle stores: Urban Outfitters, Zara Home, Made, Oliver Bonas, Anthropologie and & Other Stories.

And because no shopping can be done without refreshment, I’d add Veggie Pret, Pizza East, Farmacy (my favourite Vegan restaurant in Notting Hill), the Burberry Thomas’s cafe, Joe & the Juice, Roka for amazing Japanese food and Australasia (my favourite Manchester restaurant), which again cooks up incredible Japanese cuisine.

Throw in the Plaza Athénée hotel and I would never leave this place.

(@inthefrow)

2

June 2000

ASOS changes the online shopping game

Kate Moss is photographed exiting a hotel in a beautiful black leather jacket in the year 2000. She looks amazing, but the jacket she’s wearing is the star of the show. Where can you buy it, and more importantly, where you can buy an affordable alternative that looks just as great? And that cute top that Jennifer Aniston is wearing in the latest episode of Friends , season seven. I want it, but I have no idea where to find it and neither do the other 10,000 women who saw the show and also fell in love with it. So sparks the ingenious idea, by Nick Robertson, to create a portal for items As-Seen-On-Screen, and ASOS is launched for every fashion-conscious person in the land. Here you could find and buy fashion alternatives to dress like your favourite star. A commercial idea for a celebrity-adoring population. It was one of the savviest ideas in the history of fashion.