DRESSING UP WITH FARFETCH.COM

Posted by Bethan Holt, Fashion Junior at Large

If you're a regular reader then you will know FEAL are good friends of FarFetch.com, the fashion website which lets you shop the edit of 240 designer boutiques from around the world. It's great because it has all the ease of internet shopping but takes away some of that element which can sometimes feel quite clinical of pages and pages of stock rolling before you in a "Buy me, buy me" kind of way, with no real sense of edit. FarFetch.com allows you to enter stores from all over the world and yes, any given label will probably be stocked at at least a few stores but it will be a completely different part of the collection. That's because a buyer working for a French boutique will be catering to very different tastes to one in Latvia or the US. You can behave the usual internet shopper way and scroll through "skirts" or "shoes" OR pretend you're browsing in Miami one minute and Berlin the next. The legendary Browns has recently joined up.

Image from FarFetch.com on Facebook

This week, FarFetch.com showed that they're not just one step ahead of the game when it comes to retail, but also rather forward thinking with their engagement strategy. Enter Tuesday evening's #digitaldressup event which was like a cross between a kids party and a press day. FarFetch.com had gathered samples from the AW12 selections of some of the stores that feature on the site, including shoes and bags, laid on drinks, a photographer and bravely let a load of bloggers loose for a dress up in the pieces.  I suppose it was a little unfortunate that it felt like the hottest night of the year so there was no way that after a long day sweltering in the London heat, anyone can have felt all that fabulous or up for struggling into a whole new outfit, even if it was comprised of uber amazing designer pieces- who dares sweat in Stella? Anyway, some were brave enough and others were provided with a model to dress up rather like a life sized doll in outfits we picked out.

The FarFetch.com team challenged me to dress my model like she was going to work then out for drinks- fairly standard but obviously elevated by the fact that there were Phillip Lim clutches, J.W Anderson skirts and ACNE jumpers among the selection of pieces to choose from   I eventually plumped for a ridiculously cool red sleeved Givenchy blazer (from Concept Store Smets, Berlin), Mary Katrantzou typewriter print dress (from Feathers, London) with a bottle green Calvin Klein satchel bag (not online just yet) and Giuseppe Zanotti heels (from Dante 5 in Bari, Italy)- fashion yumminess. My main thought being the rather predictable one of wear the blazer to work then slink it off for drinks to show off your clingy, sexy yet super edgy dress.

Well done again FarFetch.com for a brilliant event concept. I can't wait to see what you do next.

P.S As we're now into SS13 fashion show season, there'll be no fashion news for a few weeks as usual but I'll be bringing you the latest from the shows and you can click on the new SS13 shows tab to watch live. Happy Weekend!