Castaway couture, or wot?

Entrepreneurs, senior executives and trade bodies representing the luxury goods industry will meet in Barcelona tomorrow for the 12th Annual Prestige Brands Meeting.

Europe has always been considered the main producer and market for premium products, with European brands accounting for around 75% (approx. $229 billion) of the global luxury market, according to figures from the Boston Consulting Group.

However, the Financial Times reports serious concern regarding the erosion of specialist skills such as dressmaking, watchmaking and perfume creation in the European luxury goods sector, combined with a shift in production to emerging markets in Asia and eastern Europe.




Guy Salter, deputy chairman of Walpole, the British Luxury alliance claims that “All young people want to be designers and very few, makers." He says, "We want to try and change that by promoting craftsmanship in the luxury sector" adding, by way of example, "only a handful of small manufacturers in the UK are now making bags and leather accessories, compared to over a hundred factories only fifty years ago."



Some brave souls are already taking their own action to help preserve traditional skills and crafts for posterity, amidst a rapidly changing global marketplace. StyleCurious featured Mark H, a personal victim of UK manufacturing's demise, has made it his mission to turn adversity to advantage in a bid to save British craftsmanship from extinction.

Mark says, “There are still people alive, but only just, who remember England as the Workshop of the World, making everything from corsets to a silver condiment train for the Maharaja of Jaipur.” He adds, “We were busy making things: inventing, tweaking, fumbling, making fools of ourselves – the world’s eccentrics – in garages and small workshops all over this green and pleasant land. To achieve a Royal Warrant to supply members of the British royal family was a licence to export products to every part of the globe.”





In order to help prevent the UK’s industrial heritage from being totally “squandered”, Mark decided to establish his own curiously eccentric new luxury brand called OR WOT! to capitalize on ‘the finest components, skills and crafts that England can muster.”







The story behind OR WOT's ‘Castaway Couture’ collection is highly symbolic. Mark imagined the only survivor from a luxury British cruise ship, marooned on a desert island. Key pieces in the collection are inspired by the survivor's luggage, together with flotsam and jetsam from the shipwreck and the animal and reptile life on the island.












An eclectic range of handcrafted luxuries for him and her, plus a selection of beautifully handmade curious gifts and things for the home by OR WOT! is now available exclusively at ShopCurious.







Each product is made in England, has its own tale to tell and is intended to be a family heirloom that will last for generations to come. What’s more, the skill and craft involved in the making of every single item will be passed on to future generations too.

Curiously crazy, curiously clever, OR WOT?

I'm curious to know what you think.


Do you?

Curious trends for 2009

My first blogs of 2009 have already featured two of the curious trends for the coming year:

- dressing up despite the recession ...

It's not just the influence of the forthcoming 'Hats - An Anthology by Stephen Jones' exhibition at the V&A that’s got us all excited about hats. Aside from the decidedly unanticipated (global warming and all that) cold snap and the need to keep our brains from freezing up, hats are going to make rather a comeback.








Hats are an expression of our personality, they’re an art form that adds to our character, and hats are also a symbol for what we've all been missing for quite a long time – namely, rules and formality. However, just as the fffffascinator has become de rigueur at Royal Ascot within the space of a year or so, this is formality as we’ve never known it before … now there's a whole new 'hatiquette'. Take a peek at some of the extraordinary sculpted hats available at ShopCurious if you're looking for inspiration.







- a new way of thinking is emerging:

Amidst all the confusion caused by changing social structures and moral codes, let alone the prospect of a global depression, we might just be beginning to rediscover values that aren’t based purely on fame and fortune (as depicted in the film Slumdog Millionaire – a testament to the power of positive thinking, despite the stronghold of a manipulative, all-encompassing media machine).

Linked to this is one of the other main trends that’s going to hit us hard - the big move from fast forward to...





- slow forward:

We’re all going to spend more time considering our future, reassessing our lives and thinking about what really matters. We’ll appreciate local produce and authentic luxuries - things that are handmade, unusual, unique and vintage artefacts will all have a special value.

True artistic merit is worth much more than money alone and this year many of us are likely to consider fashion and style beyond the context of their celebrity status and material value for the first time ever. Perhaps we don't need to be naked, transformed by faddy diets or plastic surgery (note Armando Iannucci's new satirical operetta Skin Deep) to look good after all? Perhaps there's more to being stylish than size 0 and designer logos on handbags?

I must say that this is what I’m most looking forward to.

Are you?

Cabinet of curiosities

I was so glad I finally found time to visit Jethro Macey's Spyhole Wall at the Design Museum on Sunday. It was also a fabulously sunny day and seeing Tower Bridge, the Gherkin and the colourful boats on the river made me feel so happy be in London - of course, it could also have had something to do with the uplifiting effect of that all too rare sight, a beautiful clear blue sky...






Jethro's installation is in the foyer of the Design Museum. It's described as a showcase for 'private collections that have been gathered from various individuals'. The collections are based on personal intrigue (ie curiosity) and the eclectic mix of exhibits can be observed as single objects within a collection, or as a whole.





Some of the collections on show are objects that have little monetary value, but represent an aspect of daily life that might otherwise go unnoticed. The Spyhole Wall is also inspired by the curiosity cabinet of the Renaissance, in which treasured and intriguing objects are displayed for others to enjoy.

Some of the quirky collections shown here include miniatures of the Statue of Liberty, religious relics, old shopping lists and yoyos. Apparently there's even an unusual collection of wishbones - although someone must have been sitting in front of that spyhole as I couldn't find it.


In any case, collecting wishbones does sound a tad scarily near the place where curious art meets strangely disturbed personality disorder. Did I mention that through one of the peep holes you can spy my mother's collection of old lipsticks? Not sure why she hoards so many half used up cosmetics, but she kindly supplied a rather sticky-bottomed pale blue nylon make-up bag full of them.



They range from a couple of collectable late 1950s lipsticks and '60s Mary Quant to special offer freebies from designer brands. There are also a couple of original Colorsport lipstains - in her favourite colour, Sweet Apricot.



She was introduced to the brand by my late Auntie Gloria, who loved old fashioned movie stars like Doris Day. Gloria's favourite colour was Coral, which is the one that I now wear. By the way, the original 12 hour lipstains by Colorsport are also available at ShopCurious - and I can personally vouch for their staying power!

As far as I recall, my mother's worn lipstick every day. It's interesting that no matter how hard times get, lipstick is one of those little luxuries that few women who take pride in their appearance are prepared to give up. I hope this doesn't just apply to women of a certain age, because I think it's great when girls favour glamour over grunge.

Do you?