Style Centre: Cardiff

Peacocks - A/W 10 - Demonstrating a hint of Chanel-diff style
(Image: Peacocks)

In Drapers this week, an advertisement in the jobs section of the magazine caught my eye, with ''fast-fashion'' company Peacocks stating: ''You don't have to be in London to have a great buying career.'' This is a sentiment many of Drapers readers will no doubt concur with. Although Drapers covers all the major sectors of the British fashion industry, from ''luxury'' to ''value'', as the UK's leading ''fashion trade bible'', a large part of its readership is made up of independent (''indie'') boutique owners. While I have been a long-time resident of London, Cardiff is the the capital city of what I consider to be my ''home'' country, Wales. Until quite recently it used to be the case that Wales' greatest export was its people, and that if you wanted to ''succeed'' it was necessary to leave, often permanently. In some areas this has caused a ''brain-drain'', which in some sectors it has never been recovered from. So seeing this advertisement, it was intriguing to note how bold the statement was from this Welsh-based fashion firm: ''forget London, Cardiff is where it's at''. While Cardiff may not be a ''Fashion Capital'', it's not entirely unreasonable to consider it as a potential ''Style Centre'', with it's lively student population, and status as one of South Wales' leading shopping centres, with a mix of ''indies'', such as Pussy Galore, and well-known chains, including Peacocks, not to forget the number of grand venues in which to appear stylish in, such as the Wales Millenium Centre (Opera House) or the bar of the St. David's Hotel and Spa. Indeed, many firms often choose Cardiff to open''pilot'' stores, to test out new shop-formats or VM strategies, such as the first ever John Lewis department store in Wales, anchoring the new St. David's 2 shopping centre.


Catherine Zeta Jones for Elizabeth Arden's ''Mediterranean'' Perfume

Intriguingly, the most recent Sunday Times Style Magazine ran a profile in beauty trends in several leading UK ''Style Centres'', including London, Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool, Newcastle and Bristol. Strangely no Welsh, Scottish or Northern Irish city was included in this line-up, perhaps indicating, yet again, that while the London-centric fashion media has finally realised that the ''style-savvy'' do exist outside the M25 (London's main ring-road), they remain ignorant of any further extension of this amongst England's near neighbours. Yet the same magazine's cover star and lead feature article was on the acclaimed Welsh actress Catherine Zeta Jones. As the article proclaims, as well as being a part of Hollywood royalty through her marriage to Michael Douglas, and a Tony and Oscar winning actress in her own right, Jones is also the ''face'' of the beauty brand Elizabeth Arden. While Jones may have attained a lifestyle that is only in the dreams of many Welsh girls, she is ,in many ways, a typical exemplar of the Welsh style scene. Not least in her apparent love for the high octane glamour of full-make-up and high heels, which can also be seen in the stylish locale of many of the bars and clubs of Cardiff, Swansea or Newport. Other Welsh stars, too, can be seen to exemplify this take on glamour, including Charlotte Church, Katherine Jenkins and Duffy, all of whom, like Jones, still retain close connections to Wales, either through living there, family connections, or working with local organisations or charities. In the case of Jones her ability to transcend her ''Welshness'' through her acting talent and looks has meant that, at several points throughout her career, she has even been cast as ''Latin'' or ''Latino''. This includes her role in the film Zorro with Antonio Banderas (in the days before Hollywood ''discovered'' genuine Latin/Latino-ness in the form of Selma Hayek and Penelope Cruz). In her work for Elizabeth Arden, too, Jones has been cast to epitomise the ''look'' of Latin Europe, as in the campaign for the perfume ''Mediterranean''. Not bad for a girl from Mumbles.

What each of these examples demonstrate, is that the notion or concept of a ''Style Centre'' can emanate from a variety of sources. In turn, they also demonstrate how this can be manifested. With developments in technology, communications and travel, a fashion firm can be based (and succeed) in a ''peripheral'' site (Peacocks). The dissemination of beautiful ideals or so-called ''national looks'' in the form of ''spokes models'' (Jones), reveals how these can be manipulated to challenge ideas about what constitutes a given ''style'' of a specific place. If Cardiff has a style of dressing it can be perhaps summed up thus: during the day it's very much ''dress to work'', advocating practicality and comfort, but when evening comes around, it's very much a case of ''dress to kill''. Those London girl's had better watch out...


Catherine Zeta Jones: Elizabeth Arden's ''Provocative Woman''

Fashion Capitals: London, Paris, Milan...er... Manchester, Rio de Janeiro?

Thinking about the development of new 'Fashion Cities' I came across two intriguing media representations of this phenomenon over the weekend. The first came from Drapers, which this week dedicated its entire edition to Manchester, or 'Brandchester', as it had it on the cover of the magazine. Perhaps surprisingly for many visitors from outside, and in this I might even include Londoners, many UK cities have their own distinct identities that include the way people dress. Londoner's, as a general rule, do not really make much effort to 'dress-up' to go out as such. A pair of jeans worn with a slightly smarter top and a change of jewellery and shoes normally suffices. Yet in many other cities, such as Liverpool or Cardiff, it is 'social suicide' to appear not to care in this way. Merely changing your top just doesn't cut it amongst the style mavens of these cities. What was intriguing about the Drapers profile was the emphasis on the 'indigenous' style culture of Manchester having grown out of specific elements integral to the display of fashion, notably the now fabled, if extinct, Hacienda nightclub. Alongside this, it was the initiatives of local entrepreneurs capitalising on the appeal of this display of fashion that have gone on to achieve success to, in turn, ensure Manchester's status and influence on Northern English style and beyond. Not a little rivalry with neighbouring Liverpool also seems to add to the mix according to some references in Drapers reporting.


Across the Atlantic, FT Weekend reported on Rio de Janerio's establishment of itself as a 'Fashion Capital' in just three short years. Rio de Janerio is famed for its beaches, where its city's residents can flaunt their perfectly sculpted, sun-tanned bodies, in some of the most daring beachwear ever dreamed-up. While Nicola Copping reported that Rio de Janerio's fashion Fashion Week did not disappoint in terms of its range and diversity of bikini's and beach attire, there is a move by fashion designers to branch out and develop their clothing ranges beyond this. The only stumbling block to this seems to be the very 'localised' nature of the collections being made, which, while they may work under the blazing Brazilian sun, still need to be worked upon to appeal those residing in much less blessed climates. As with many designers working in the Southern Hemisphere wanting to sell their collections in the Northern Hemisphere (and vice-versa perhaps), is the problem of adapting collections not only to a different lifestyle, but to a completely opposite weather season altogether. Alongside this, Brazilian designers perhaps have little incentive to sell outside their borders, even to other Latin American markets, when their own domestic market is so huge. In 2009 Brazil's combined textile and fashion sector made $47 billion in turnover (as opposed to the UK's 2008 turnover of $13 billion), of which only $1.85 billion was earned on clothing and textiles made for export. Yet, with so many of us in Europe now able to take cheap, short and mid-haul holidays to catch some sunshine the whole-year round, perhaps Brazilian labels are well-placed to match demand for this. Not least there is the opportunity to educate pale and pasty Brits, Germans and Scandanavians in how to really dress to look our best on the beach. Of course, we will all just have to work on the Brazilian body to go with it...