Pleats Please - Issey Miyake

I could spend all day in Selfridges, it is one of my favourite places to visit when in Central London and I can guarantee that my day will end browsing around the high end/boutique floor! Although the clothes are mega expensive and looking around this area can be very depressing when you are a student, this always gives me extra drive to do well in life because when i'm older, I WILL be owning these clothes!! The brand that i immediately go to look at is "Self Portrait", this has been my favourite brand for a while (as you can see from my profile picture - I am wearing one of their dresses from last season!) but it becoming well known and i like discovering brands or collections that not many people have heard of. 

During my recent visit at Selfridges, my aim was to find something original and unique that I hadn't seen in every mass market shop because to be quite honest, i'm getting bored of the high street stores! Issey Miyake's style has always caught my attention but when I saw the current collection featured in Selfridges, "Pleats Please", I fell in love. This collection includes clothing that is made completely from pleats and although this sounds bit boring, the amount of work that has been put into making each garment is crazy! Each item looks so elegant and the fabrics are so luxurious. Below are a few of my favourite items from the collection:

Photo Credit - selfridges.com

Photo Credit - Chloe Ferdinand
After the discovery of "Pleats Please", I was on a mission to find a cheaper version of something similar to Issey Miyake's style. At first this seemed a difficult task because at the moment, a lot of stores are stocking up for party season so there are lots of beads and sequins around. But, with determination, I found a black pleated dress from the boutique section in Topshop similar to the items above!!

Dress - Topshop, Shoes - Zara

Don't feel like you always have to start with high street brands because thats within your budget, get some inspiration from other places and create your own designer outfit.

Designer clothing is not impossible to own,  just find an alternative... 
until you can afford the real thing!

Selfridges succeed again!

Visual merchandise is always so beautiful at this time of year. Shopping in central London is such a great experience, and it gets everybody in the mood for Christmas. This year, Selfridges have used astrology for their Christmas inspiration, they have named the theme “Journey to the Stars”. When I first heard the name, it made me think that each window would feature a star and it would be the usual display for christmas.. but then I thought, surely Selfridges wouldn't stick to this stereotype. Of course they wouldn't!
Each window facing the street presents all 12 zodiac signs, when first looking at the displays you do not immediately understand the concept but if you look closely, each window shows the most recognisable characteristic for each of the star signs. For example, for Taurus there is a Bull in a China Shop, Pisces shows ladies of the lake with mermaid tails featured next to glass sculpture and for Scorpios, mannequins have been positioned in a passionate and explosive manner to show the main characteristic of that star sign.

When I came across these window displays, I thought this was such a brilliant idea because it isn’t the normal display of stars, Father Christmas and reindeers etc. It is unique and still looks very Christmassy. The windows are full of creativity and have been put in place to distract shoppers during the crazy period this Christmas, they definitely attract attention to the store. The windows “took over 30,000 hours to design and produce” and you can see this as the result looks exquisite. This year, I haven’t been that impressed with the visual merchandise for stores but Selfridges have definitely succeeded in making our shopping experience festive!

Good luck with the Christmas shopping!

Photo Credit - Google Images