Hide and seek

As a blogger, there is nothing worse than discovering that a company you like and want to write about does not have a website. Such is the case with linen-company to the stars, D. Portault. A few months ago I wanted to feature their insanely decadent white and blue tiger-print sheets from the Sex in the City Movie. Then I read a piece in Vanity Fair announcing D. Portault are reviving the wedding trousseau. And now, their towels have cropped up in the first episode of the new season of Gossip Girl. I'm all for exclusivity, but it seems crazy for a label to be so obviously courting publicity to not then have an all-singing-all-dancing website to match.



Indeed, I often find that some of the best designers are guilty of some of the worst web presences. Unless you can find decent pictures on Net-a-Porter, or are happy to use runway images, the likes of DKNY and Marc Jacobs simply do not stretch their brands as far as the web. They may be leading edge when it comes to their clothes, but are tech-shy in their marketing methods.

Back in the early Summer of this year, when Sex and the City mayhem was in full swing, I posted something along the lines of M&S being a little late off the mark to announce they were doing a collaboration with Patricia Field for AW08. Typical M&S - always last to the party.

Anyway, this coming week sees the new collection hitting the shelves and, if the editorial in today's Guardian magazine is anything to go by, it is typically underwhelming. As similar piece on Jane Shephardson for Whistles literally had us all dashing down off to the highstreet but this... not so much. You can't shove a bit of leopard lining on a trench coat and call it Sex and the City. I'm thinking more Fumble in the Suburbs.



http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2008/oct/04/fashion.marksspencer

Sex and The City Movie just an excuse for female binge drinking

What is it with the British? Literally, any excuse and we're cracking open a bottle. This week Boris imposed his drinking ban on the London Underground. Unlike the French, who would have started torching things and gone on strike, the British viewed it as an excuse for a massive knees-up and began celebrating the joys of being paralytic on a cramped tube with abandon. Monday's papers showed delirious toffs in full evening dress brandishing bottles of champers, while everyone felt very pleased with themselves for giving the old liberty a jolly good send off.



Last night a friend and I went to see Sex and The City Movie at the Hampstead Everyman. I anticipated the place to be filled with smart north Londoners, explaining how they were there purely for the post-modern irony of it. Quite the contrary - it was like a scene from a Lambrini commercial. Everywhere, groups of women in Carrie-esque corsages and sparkly berets were clapping, squeaking and knocking back the white wine. As the film began you could literally hear the gush of oestrogen filling the air combined with the congratulatory chink of wine glasses.

We may not be as fun-loving as the Spanish, or as laid back as the Dutch, but Britain really stands out in Europe as a nation of people hell bent on pulling together, staying positive and making the best of the given situation. Four of you, one of me, I make that Pimms O'clock!

It's all very well going on about Carrie's closet, but have we ever really got over Cher's computerised one in Clueless? As if!

Typical Marks & Spencer - the concept of 'on-trend' is yet again lost on the brand directors of Marks and Sparks. You can practically see their under-oiled thinking behind their latest venture - namely to allow Patricia Field (the stylist for Sex and the City) to design a range for them. 'Excellent!' you think, 'Where can I buy it??' But then you pause and remember it's M&S we're talking about here! Of course, the range will not actually be in store until OCTOBER - a full 5 months after Sex and the City movie mania has subsided.

Is that slow hand-clapping I hear???

My addiction to Mad Men has turned me back onto Ella Fitzgerald and this song has had me gliding around the newly sun-drenched London. And let's not forget it's Sex and the City season!