“I think the whole point of runway-to-retail is that its visible,” Kate Phelan, creative director at Topshop, told us as she talked us through the 32-piece edit – 60 per cent of which makes up autumn/winter 2016 and will be available to purchase immediately, while the remaining 40 per cent is pre spring/summer 2017 and will land in November. While a lot of brands’ concept of runway to retail entails making a small capsule collection available immediately, Topshop is going all the way. “Absolutely everything will go into production. We felt it was very important to follow through our message, that whatever we showed on the catwalk you could buy it and live it.”
This season the look was inspired by the montage artwork of Manchester-born punk pin-up Linda Sterling, which led Phelan and her team down the New Romantic road. “In the Eighties and mid-Nineties, vintage clothes were hugely important in creating your individual style and not many people were buying into whole designer looks. London was peppered with the most amazing vintage markets and you found the most incredible clothes, whether it was from Army Surplus or DMs or party dresses. You would have Punks and New Romantics and everybody all mixed up together so there wasn’t one tribe of fashion at all. That was a really important element of this collection. Then we decided to show at Spitalfields Market, bringing the idea of fashion and markets back to life again.”
Expect to see Eighties leather jackets, printed polyester high-waisted dresses, dropped shoulder knits, pyjama silks, peplum waists (“I’m into bringing back the waist and move on from these sloppy tracksuits we’ve been wearing!”), bandaged tulle dresses and a selection of seriously covetable jumpsuits, all with a pre-loved, rebellious spirit – think Debbie Harry on stage at Camden’s Electric Ballroom and the fans in the front row – and all, of course, available to snap up instantly.
While for some the move heralds unchartered territory, Topshop is realistically the best positioned brand on the schedule to give it a try. Giving the customer what they want immediately is, as Phelan said, Topshop’s DNA – “This is a natural evolution for the Unique line."
One of the biggest questions surrounding the model so far, is how will brands decide exactly what is available immediately? Production on a ready-to-wear collection is usually limited to around 30 per cent, and is based largely on the reaction of the press and the purse strings of the buyers. Adopting it wholeheartedly and making that decision before the world has digested a collection is a confident move, but one that Phelan thinks will restore more individuality back into the industry, putting the customer first again.
“What this proves is that we have to be ahead of the fashion game. We have to dig deep into our understanding of who our customer is, what she wants, when she wants it and park aside what the fashion industry is doing,” she explained. “It also puts to bed some of the assumptions that the high street is following fashion. I think it will breathe more individuality and you will feel that there is a more independent spirit to brands which is a positive thing.”
While for some the move heralds unchartered territory, Topshop is realistically the best positioned brand on the schedule to give it a try. Giving the customer what they want immediately is, as Phelan said, Topshop’s DNA – “This is a natural evolution for the Unique line."
One of the biggest questions surrounding the model so far, is how will brands decide exactly what is available immediately? Production on a ready-to-wear collection is usually limited to around 30 per cent, and is based largely on the reaction of the press and the purse strings of the buyers. Adopting it wholeheartedly and making that decision before the world has digested a collection is a confident move, but one that Phelan thinks will restore more individuality back into the industry, putting the customer first again.
“What this proves is that we have to be ahead of the fashion game. We have to dig deep into our understanding of who our customer is, what she wants, when she wants it and park aside what the fashion industry is doing,” she explained. “It also puts to bed some of the assumptions that the high street is following fashion. I think it will breathe more individuality and you will feel that there is a more independent spirit to brands which is a positive thing.”
Phelan has convincing research that also backs the move up. “72 per cent of our customers are looking at Topshop on their mobile device,” she explained. “The consumption of imagery through a mobile is very important and I don’t think people are any longer wading through catwalk collections endlessly. They’re looking at blogs, Instagram and fashion in a different way. If they see a girl wearing a red dress, they want to go out and buy that red dress and they don’t understand that it’s a season, just that it’s a red dress.” Catwalk to clicks – if you will.
The move does bring into question the role of the show. Why have a show at all? Why not just promote the product through a big Instagram campaign and get that 72 per cent of customers spending straight away?
The move does bring into question the role of the show. Why have a show at all? Why not just promote the product through a big Instagram campaign and get that 72 per cent of customers spending straight away?
“It has always been really important to be a part of the British Fashion Week and as a big band, it’s important to be represented on the catwalk,” said Phelan. “We are that high-low brand that’s almost needed in London so that you’re not just seeing emerging designers and the dominance of big brands, but you’re seeing obtainable fashion.”
As an experienced fashion editor, Phelan not only appreciates the show, but knows the importance of coverage in monthly titles, and answered another big question surrounding the concept. “This collection was shown to the press a couple of months ago, so it was able to be seen to be shot for long-lead mags,” she explained.
On the whole, the common denominator between the brands opting to go 100 per cent see-now, buy now (the concept has picked up a rather more eloquent mantle of “runway to retail” in the last month or so) is that they are big enough to shoulder the risk involved. It’s something Phelan acknowledges, and also understands that the move is not right for everyone.
“It’s a bit of a gamble, but that’s okay. I think Topshop has broad enough shoulders to be able to absorb that gamble,” she said. "We are lucky that we can take those risks and try and experiment but I think there shouldn’t be an expectation that everyone needs to adapt this retail understanding. Big brands can do it, big retailers can do it, but not all designers can do it and shouldn’t be expected to do it. We also shouldn’t underestimate that their relationships with their buyers has been working to the demand of what their buyers are asking for. They’re all carving out successful businesses and we don’t want to put pressure on them to change that. Luxury brands, too, should retain their luxury status by holding some of that secret back, because if luxury continues to stay in that bracket of super expensive, they have to maintain some level of elitism.”
Practically speaking, Topshop is making moves towards seasonless collections, calling the collection shown in September the “September Collection”, like Burberry has opted to do, and the traditional autumn/winter collection the “February” collection, to reflect the current climate – and they might just be in the best place to do it.
Today, as the lights go up at Spitalfields, and the brand’s loyal front row look on, the windows at Topshop’s Oxford Circus flagship and the brand’s online platforms will simultaneously reveal the collection, and swing tags will be swinging. Let the games begin.
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