In April, Next will open a new ‘store-in-store’ for the Lipsy brand. Next, who have owned the company since October last year, say the 1600 square foot space in the Arndale will have its own entrance and store signage to distinguish the young fashion brand from its mainstream parent. They have also announced plans for two other stores to relinquish own brand space to Lipsy concessions including one in Dublin. Why choose Manchester for this? London would have been ruled out as the capital already has three stand alone stores eating away at it but still… is this a further dig that Manchester is seen by big businesses as the prime market for ‘chav’? Furthermore, do we really need any more Lipsy dresses in this city? Their collections were already available in Topshop Arndale and both of the Selfridges before the slightly desperate purchase by ‘I know what will prove we’re fashionable’ Next. Are both brands heading for a fall by over estimating demand? You know, I thought there was a recession on….
The world of Mancunian fashion has been stereotyped and mercilessly
mocked for many years now, and to some extent this was probably
deserved. The media took Oasis, probably our biggest export of the
90’s and portrayed every young male from Manchester as being a parka
clad oik swearing and spitting their way through town.
The beginnings of what would be called the modern Manchester style
evolved from a number of sources, around the early 80’s the music in
Manchester’s clubs was changing and groups of young men were dressing
differently. This led to a massive stigma being attached to casual
fashion as new found accessibility of the European high end brands
such as Armani, Boss, Lacoste, Paul and Shark, and most ubiquitously
Stone Island flooded the market. As the football scallys all started
looking the same it was time for the mass marketed sportswear to be
replaced. Continuing the casual theme but moving away from the obvious
up stepped Oi Polloi
“Oi Polloi decided that it was time for a change. as a reaction to the
mass of bland, uninspiring men’s fashion stores lining the UK’s high
streets. With sports shops becoming lowest common denominator fashion
shops and shoe shops becoming trainer shops.”
Giving menswear a true alternative to the norm and constantly seeking
out the next brand to almost without fail take the men’s market by
storm, but still carrying the flag for quality products with timeless
classic design. Oi Polloi can be found on Tib Street in the Northern
Quarter or at OiPolloi.com
The credit crunch has taken many victims along its slow and deadly prowl amongst small businesses, but when one of Manchester’s fashion favourites is the latest to fall it’s starting to get a little too personal.
I have to admit I wasn’t really aware of ZuZu Couture until I took a look at their website and recognized a dress worn by a Hollyoak’s girl I’d admired a while ago and I just thought it’s so unfair that a fashion label that had so much promise has just been blown away.
The undeniable attention to detail and unorthodox style was a truly unique stamp that Fatz Kassum had planted on the ZuZu label and I’m sure if you can handle Sky One’s Project Catwalk you can handle just about anything. But when our ever failing government bangs on about lending a helping hand to those small businesses who are struggling under the pressure of our current crumbling climate it has to be asked are they just empty words? Now I don’t know if government was asked for help but the end results have been a distinctive, fresh and fun fashion collection has been crushed under the weight of this unnecessary economical epidemic, thanks to the greed and competiveness of the banks of the big cities. So cheers fella’s, not only is our bank accounts paying the price, but now so is our wardrobe choices.
This isnt me by the way 
I don’t know about all of you but I am getting sick and tired of hearing about the Credit Crunch, ‘see it even deserve capital ‘C’s now!’
I know how bad things are getting because I have no money, I went into Tesco the other day and was met with 98p for a pepper, “NINETY EIGHT PENCE FOR A RED PEPPER”! As you can image I turned around in a huff and went ADLI where I had to buy three for £1.30, it was a moral victory. Anyway back to fashion, some of the greatest style eras have come out of economic crisis, look at the punk generation for example. And even at the boom end we have seen the rise of the power suits in the eighties.
I think it is an exciting time for fashion, with swap shops and makes your own clothes, it’s never been more fun to mix and match. Well that’s what they want you to think! What about those people, like me who have simple taste’s and like good quality fabrics what are we going to do.?
Are Students Destroying Manc Style
One of member’s raised an interesting point today. Do these educational migrants think Manchester style is all about “sitting in Troff, eating tofu” wearing skinny jeans and talking about “crap indie music”??
