(See what we did there? Like the love child of ‘Got milk’ and ‘You’ve been tangoed’)
Laura Reynolds looks at the hype surrounding the collaboration.
Just a week to go until the man in red arrives...
Depending on whether you sat through hours of BBC Children In Need coverage this year, you may or may not have heard about the “Celebrity Style Challenge 2011”. Guided by fashion designer Ben de Lisi, five celebrities stuck their fingers in the fashion pie and each created five outfits under a certain category.
Alexandra Burke took partywear, Kevin Pietersen grappled with a modern shirt and tie combo, Patsy Kensit designed tailored jackets, Chipmunk created streetwear, and Tamara Ecclestone had a go at occasionwear (which I didn’t even realise was a word – how ignorant!)
The celebrities created moodbooks, talked to people in the fashion industry about their particular area of clothing, and were then helped out by the Debenhams style team as they designed and made their outfits. After a catwalk showing of each ensemble, the head buyer of Debenhams selected one outfit from each category to be sold in stores and online. A short documentary was made about the process, which can be seen here.
It’s neither a ground-breaking story nor a particularly gripping documentary; who hasn’t watched endless replays of Project Catwalk, or something similar? It is, however, a shame that more wasn’t done to publicise this. Of course I may have had my head stuck in a hole, or the pages of Elle (I’m sure that if I read enough copies they’ll one day give me a job), and everyone else might know all about this, but the first time I was aware that the style challenge was happening was when I WATCHED Children In Need. Surely, for such a good cause, a little more hype could have been made about it?
We’ve all seen, and maybe bought, the Comic Relief t-shirts that have been sold in recent years, but this is an occasion for something a little bit more special, more personal to the celebrities themselves. With that in mind, I find the majority of the clothes disappointing: Tamara Ecclestone’s dress looks too much like a tacky nightie with its spaghetti straps and ruffles;Chipmunk’s gilet looks like something my brother bought from Primark a few years ago; Alexandra Burke’s dress tries to do too much – someone should have told her that all-over sequins and jewelled embellishment rarely work well together; Pietersen’s shirt and tie, whilst ticking the modern box with all those stripes, are boring, and are already on sale. The only piece I like is Patsy Kensit’s jacket. The sharp cut ensures that it will be a wardrobe staple for anyone who buys it, the classic tailoring evoking glamorous images from the past, the visible zip keeping it modern. And whilst a black jacket is a black jacket, it would be a little embarrassing turning up to a party to find yourself wearing the same dress as three other people – the line has too few items to be so widely available.
It’s a shame – the project had so much potential. Perhaps they should have stuck to t-shirts.
You must log in to submit a comment.
