THE DRG STYLE INDEX: H&M BEAUTY, SUPERGA, BROWNS, DIOR, RAF SIMONS

Here’s the latest weekly DRG STYLE INDEX ranking, a round-up of the brands currently buzzing on my radar…

1. H&M’S BIG BEAUTY PUSH

There’s something interesting kicking off in the high street beauty space. I think it’s similar to what happened with jeans and shoes a while ago, when the UK chain stores invested heavily in fashion-forward designs, outdoing the specialists at their own game. Topshop’s make-up is five years old this month and the product quality, design and branding are as good as many of the more premium brands. & Other Stories shook things up with its experiential retail approach, while Urban Outfitters is also jumping into the beauty space in a bigger way, stocking Tonymoly from Korea among others. Next: H&M is launching a 700 piece beauty line in September. Yes, H&M has dabbled in beauty before but not in any serious way. And in keeping with its new eco-conscious focus, this new endeavour will include products that are organic, Ecocert-certified, and sustainable. That’s not all. A higher-end premium beauty line is also pencilled for release, so keep your eyes peeled.

2. SUPERGA X LIBERTY ART FABRICS COLLECTION

I’m kind of over all the Liberty X Nike collabs. They were novel for a while but they don’t excite me much any more. Instead I prefer these, a new collab between Superga and Liberty Art Fabrics. There’s something a little bit 80s Euro exchange student about this collection – I’m thinking Best Company ice cream coloured ankle-crop cords, Invincta rucksack, Agnes B tee and Ray-Ban aviators. Ahhh innocent days…

3. BROWNS GOES OMNI-CHANNEL

It’s all change this week for Browns. One of the first multi-brand luxury boutiques in the UK, the 45-year-old business has been superseded in recent years by younger upstarts, including MatchesFashion and MyTheresa. And Farfetch of course, who made shopping from indie stores a global possibility. Farfetch has now acquired Browns, hoping to reinvent it for the millennial generation of luxury consumers. Owner Jose Neves will run Browns as a separate entity (Net-a-Porter’s Holli Rogers will be its CEO), using it as a testing hub for Farfetch’s ambitious omni-channel retail strategies.

4. FLIP FLOPS FOR DIOR

Can Dior do for the humble flip flop what Isabel Marant did for the slide and Celine did for the Birkenstock? I loathe flip flops, but am oddly drawn to the flip-flop-and-boy-trouser combo seen on the Dior Cruise 2016 runway…

5. RAF IN THE SPOTLIGHT

Is Raf Simons angling to be the new Olivier Rousteing? The ‘camera-shy one’ of fashion was papped dancing at the Dior Cruise party last week and has been giving heaps of interviews to promote the Cruise show in Cannes. An eagle-eyed Youtuber also spotted the Apple Watch adorning his wrist during this Business of Fashion interview. Whatever next – Raf selfies on Snapchat Periscope…?

WORDS: Navaz Batliwalla/Disneyrollergirl
DIOR IMAGE by Antonio de Moraes Barros Filho/WireImage