Women! Know your (140 character) limits!

Just finished working on a collaborative project with Designers, Panja Gobel and Emma Barratt, for Project 10. Project 10 is Steve Price's philanthropic plan to work on 10 projects/collaborations in the next 10 months with 10 NFP/NGO organisations on projects that are ‘fun’. Bored of sending out generic press releases to promote the work Steve's doing, he's started printing a monthly newspaper stuffed with contributions from the great and good of the design world.



Steve and I forged a very modern friendship over Twitter and I feel very honoured to know him and to be invited to contribute to the up-coming women's only edition of the Project 10 newspaper. Keep an eye on Steve's site for updates.

Smoking is not cool

Unless it's the inspiration for my new spring pumps!

Oh la Le Labo



Took a sunny stroll down Marylebone High Street yesterday and popped into perfumier Le Labo, who has recently set up shop following their concession in Liberty. The new Le Labo store follows in the retail footsteps of other "rough luxe" concepts such as Aesop and All Saints. Exposed birck work and wooden floorboards act as a background to a well-defined selection of scents. What sets Le Labo apart is their belief that perfume begins to degrade as soon as it is made, so they handmake every bottle there, in-store. The receipients name or message can also be added to the bottle. Everything was very beautiful and the staff were lovely, but as L`Artisan Parfumeur closes just up the road and Dyptique barely just opened not 500 yards away, one does begin to ask questions. Firstly, just how many perfume shops does the Marylebone shopper really need at her disposal? It's like an upmarket version of Reading, with perfumiers and Waitrose instead of Morrisons and charity shops. Secondly, as a retail concept it is fantastically executed and incredibly aspirational, but I would need the advice of an insider in order to understand what sets these new kids on the block apart when it comes to their scents. When is a rose not a rose? When it's crushed to order and presented in reclaimed tins.

Living the dream.

Ok pro-brand post coming up. I finally did it. I went and bought a mac book pro. And, sweet lord jesus, it is incredible. Everything about it is incredible.

So it's not every Sunday that one gets up, eats breakfast and moseys into central london to spend nearly a thousand pounds. I needed a bit of a pre-amble, some low-fi spending to get me and my credit card in the mood. And so, it was laden with a week's shopping from Waitrose, that I strolled into Apple on Regent Street ready to do some damage.



As usual, the store was filled with the politically correct mixture of ages, races and gender all gazing aspirationally at screens as chirpy 'Mac Geniuses' circled. And then the branded fun began. The person who served me was chatty and amiable. He helpfully gave me a knapsack style bag, so I could sling my 'pro on my back and still schlep my shopping. How very modern, how very hip.

Back home, and after some pretty judgemental looks on the tube (waitrose and mac, could I be anymore smug?), the de-boxing began. What a ritual! Lovely little tabs and layers which all make the final unveiling feel almost climactic. The installing was a joy. And, with my old G4 slung mercilessly in my wardrobe, I am now penning this post. Smooth, fast, and oh so slick. And that's just the computer.

Is this the best website ever?



YES.

http://www.dukeofuke.co.uk/

Luxury brands learn to chillax

Doing trends for a luxury brand at work right now and, consequently, been getting heavily into luxury's place in the digital world. Given the rules luxury brands break, and the barriers they overcome in the fashion world it is surprising how slow they have been to find their place in the new world of online. Naturally, the democratic, free-for-all that is the Internet is the very culture fashion houses abhor. They no doubt fear the dilution of brand and total lack of control.

Unfortunately for luxury, however, this need to "own" the spaces they exist in is outdated. Up-and-coming wealthy people are no different to up-and-coming regular people - they are on Facebook and read their paper online and send emails and expect their brands to be just as instant and available. Add this to the fact that recession-time spending is best done behind closed doors, away from the judgmental poor, and you have a compelling argument for creating an amazing luxury presence online.



Through the research, I'm seeing some (if surprisingly minimal) luxury successes online. DKNY have an in-house PR who tweets on behalf of the brand. Rather than pretending to be Donna herself, the PR is a well placed voice to make announcements about the company. Gucci has gone all out with an extensive and regularly updated Facebook page. The page now boasts over 500,000 friends and includes product and show news, photos and films. Proving that a luxury brand can "let go" and make thousands of new friends around the world. Best in show is Start, the Shoreditch boutique owned by TV personality Brix, who promotes herself and the store across platforms on Twitter, YouTube, blogs and the transactional website.

As high-end brands wake up to the fact they will gain, rather than lose customers, by claiming their www's, I'm excited to see luxury brands shape the future of online in the same way they approach their clothing lines. If Alexander McQueen can reach an audience of 77 million by allowing Lady Gaga to wear his shoes in her latest video, there's got to be something right about signing up.

Blog love

Kind of obsessed with this photographic blog from Purple Magazine right now. Each photo summons up that wonderful Parisian knack for effortless style, sexiness and decadence. How do they manage it?

Incredible where you can get sartorial advice these days!



Send your queries to the Innocent Rabbit by clicking here.

Snow day

Well, it turns out that splurging in Jack Wills will only see you good for the first two days of a big chill and several inches of snow. Day Three and I'm pining for a selection of Brora longjohns and pretty much anything from the Chanel ski range. Love love love it.

Firstly, Happy New Year Camilla's Store readers!

And what better way to launch into 2010 with a slow stroll around the new Jack Wills store in Islington? Maybe I've been in the bosom of my North London "Intelligentsia" family for too long, but I fell upon the JW sale as if my Sloanie little life depended on it. Antiques lovers will no doubt be mourning the loss of the emporium at the end of Camden Passage, but the space does wonderful justice to the Fabulously British brand. JW is expert at working with a location, rather than against it. Like their townhouse in Marlow, which retains the original layout of the house to create a unique retail experience, the new digs in Islington highlight the high ceilings and ornate finishings. Downstairs, beside the roomy changing rooms, a small stage, no doubt for their "Unsigned" to play, has also been created. It's a fun store, perfect for the Yuppie Islington clientele.

Glee: The phenomenon cometh.

Paid for or otherwise, today's Guardian ran a full page spread on upcoming new show to E4, Glee. The teaser, pilot episode, which aired a few weeks ago, was a heady cocktail of High School Musical 1,2, and 3 combined with Mean Girls, American Idol and 30 Rock. Feeling sick yet? Think what you will, but this show has already been a massive hit in the US due, in no small part, to its escapist appeal across all the generations. There's singing and dancing for the kids, hot teenagers for the teenagers, and biting wit for the grown-ups. It really is one for all the family.



Furthermore, there are two trends into which it has brilliantly, if obviously, tapped. Firstly, everyone feels like hell - they've no money, no jobs and they've just had a pretty slim Christmas. The family appeal of Glee allows everyone an hour of Betty Draper-style family time in front of the flat screen. And by Betty Draper I mean perfect, charming and happy not Manhatten-slinging, gun-toting blonde bombshell. That comes later. Watching Glee, Americans can escape to the Disney fantasy they grew up with. But will Brits do the same?

Secondly, Glee follows in the footsteps of shows like X Factor and American Idol in sending old songs straight back into the charts. And the charts mean money. As more and more people watch TV on their computers, the distance between watching and purchasing is narrowing. Like that song? Buy it in seconds on iTunes. Love what they're wearing? It can be delivered the next day. Gossip Girl goes part of the way there, in terms of making the products the characters use integral, if not downright critical, to the plot. But Glee seems to be the first drama which actively ties entertainment to purchasing.

Glee airs over here from 11th January. Watch this space.

Holidays are coming.

So nearly there now, just another few days and we can collectively collapse onto our respective sofas and start drunkenly demanding Ferrero Rocher for breakfast and being thoroughly unreasonable about practically everything. And so, it may be that this little find has come too late for us to send on to our misguided loved ones, but perhaps bookmark it ready for next year, thus avoiding the inevitable Christmas morning tantrums.

Vital Stats Cheat Sheets from Cookie (who, I think, I may have just fallen into deep, graphic design related, love with).

Happy Holidays!

So freakin' Christmas

I've seen the Holidays are Coming coca cola ad, I've started a Spotify xmas playlist, I've punched a tourist on Oxford Street, and I've made mincemeat part of my 5 a day. One could say Christmas '09 has arrived. But it wasn't made properly official until my friend unveiled his Ralph Lauren Xmas Jumper in an unsuspecting pub in Highgate. You could have heard a bauble drop off the tree when he threw open his Aquascutum trench to reveal the wonder that is a £200 xmas sweater. The heavy knit, the square cut, the obligatory reindeer... it ticked all the boxes. Christmas has begun. Now, when does the pre-lunch mulled wine drinking begin?

Loving verbally abusive cotton bags right now. Just because we're being eco-friendly doesn't mean we need to be cheerful about it.





Top: Modern Toss. Bottom: Goodone

*For those reading this today in the Shoreditch area, Goodone are having sample sale til 10pm tonight.

Trend addict, moi?

On a blissful day off work, I nipped down to the Royal Academy to see what all the fuss is about the Anish Kapoor exhibition. A Renaissancist at, I struggled to understand exactly what made it 'art', but the show is certainly entertaining and engaging. Best of all was a egg-timer shaped mirror which reduces your reflection to a single stripe of colour. When surrounded by people, the mirror acts as a perfect chart for "trending" colours. It seems black, dusky blue, dark grey and highlights of teal are all hot amongst art lovers right now. Who knew?

The dark future of social networking

Check out my latest blog post on the Eye Magazine blog
http://bit.ly/Camilla3

And for those of you who just cannot get enough of me, I suggest you also swing by the Moving Brands blog too.

Amazing



Who is this child? Where does he live? And might he sell me his t-shirt?

Mad about Mad Men

Season 3 of cult series Mad Men had its finale on US tv last night, causing my friend, The Austin Blonde, to exclaim "OMG OMG OMG... I cried and was shocked and I felt like my heart was being squeezed the WHOLE episode. I can't bear the thought of having to wait a year to see what happens next!!!! Torture". So, as you can imagine, us Brits are climbing the walls for the latest season to make an appearance in the schedules. Not least in the hope that it will be accompanied by the commercial tie ins our cousins across the pond enjoyed. Banana Republic (below) and Brooks Brothers both payed homage to the show in the States, allowing both Mad Men and Mad Women to get that 50's, Martini-for-breakfast, "Not on my watch", look.



So what can us Brits look forward to in terms of Mad-Menning our wardrobes? TopShop does Mad Men?? Maybe we need to ask ourselves... What would Don Draper do?

WAH Nails pops up at Selfridges



Dammit, now EVERYONE will have leopard print nail do's!

Textures from Anthropologie