Selfridges presents Britain's BRIGHT young THinGS

London is swinging again with energy. Fabulous shopping  starts on Oxford Street and continues for  miles to eclectic stores like Burberry, Ted Baker and Timberland on nearby on Regent Street. The wide streets are brimming with the famous red double decker buses. The mix of high/low and in-between fashion brings trendy teens, cool 20 somethings and design students from the nearby school together to create a frenetic pace of shoppers in every version of chic.

My favorite  store remains  Selfridges which turned 101 years old this year. It is one of the iconic British brands of department stores. Surprisingly, this icon of British retail was founded by none other than Harry Gordon Selfridge of Wisconsin, USA. 

We were recently in London and  the fantastic Selfridges stole my heart. The retailer is the definition of posh chic which defines London. The store stretches from basement level to six floors. It houses fine wine, scrumptious desserts and fresh cut roses. There are hard to find Brit brands as as well as the ubiquitous Prada,  Gucci and the mix of other global designer brands.

The 2011 Bright Young Things Designers

If you make it to London, you must check out the wonderful store windows that face Oxford street.  Selfridges has selected the 2011 new stars of fashion under an window presentation called "Bright YoungThings" which feature an eclectic mix of designers from from mixed media artists to clothing designers. These designers are the new talents of the UK.  Selfridges is introducing them to the world via their provocative windows  as well as showcasing limited edition pieces in pop-up shopson-line sales.

Mixed media artist Alex Noble

To go with the theme of Bright Young Things, Selfridges also featured  The John Hour, a collective of three artists  to show their visual talents in whimsical installations filled with displays of brass musical instruments to  vintage movie house chairs hanging mid air.

Illustrator Sophie Stephens

The emphasis is on new and fun which is what Spring 2011 should be all about.

Knitwear designer Craig Lawrence

Do what we did, buy an air ticket and escape the New York winter and catch a whiff of spring weather and shopping mania in London and definitely go to Selfrdiges.  And, remember, there is the more affordable and even cooler Miss Selfridges within the store.

The color of the bright  yellow shopping bags will make you forget this is still a damn, long winter and no one needs to know whether you just bought macrons for under $10 or Lanvin for more than a few pretty sterling pounds….

Installation by The John Hour

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Bright Young Things Launch of the LBD

PYTs wear LBD's..

Thursday night, Maryam Nassir Zahed’s boutique on the Lower East Side hosted the launch of Brooklyn designer, Eliza Starbuck’s new line, Bright Young Things. The concept is simple. The Little Black Dress (LBD) designed in a clever way to be all things to many people. This is ‘slow fashion’ as a parallel to the ‘slow food’ movement where clothes are not disposable.

Some of the live models wearing the LBD had their own comments, explaining it “Molds into whatever you want and it’s the perfect dress and sold as a canvas like art.” The pricing is also practical at $185 for a garment made In New York. Production is in the Garment district and Chinatown. Online sales start June 18th. Orders will take 4-6 weeks to be made and is currently offered in three sizes.

I checked out every young model wearing the LBD, it did seem incredible that so many women of different sizes, heights and body types could rock the dress in independently. One model channeled 70’s Janis Joplin with a furry vest and pink tights. The LBDs were worn wrapped to the front, back, open, tied with an obi or worn simply with a slim belt as Eliza did.

The designer was her own best model. Tall and svelte, the LBD looked amazing on her. Eliza spoke to us about her first gig, “The Uniform project” which inspired her Bright Young Things launch. She found it hard to locate “Made in US” anymore. The oil crisis of recent years had affected shipping costs making it expensive to ship goods in from China and India. She was also concerned about why goods were so cheaply made overseas. Ms. Starbuck started questioning how and in what conditions these items were being produced.

“ There was never a comfort level working in the industry. I felt that consumer culture has been blind”. She felt she wanted to “see and meet the people making the clothes” and decided to produce her clothes in US.

The LBD in cotton pique is the first of her Bright Young Things conceptual collection. She will add on to the collection by adding core pieces to build upon versatile items. “People were ready for it.”

Eliza was ready to leave the industry for good after becoming disenchanted by it. This was until 2009 when she met Sheena Matheiken during a charitable drive. Sheena was out to raise funds by wearing a single dress for 365 days of the year. She designed and created the Uniform dress that could work in any setting for the whole year.

Based on the awareness generated from the Uniform Project, Eliza produced a 365 piece limited edition run of the Uniform dress that sold out quickly. The sales from this raised an additional $10,000 for the Akanksha Foundation that funds education in India.

Resist being the fast-fashion victim. Wear the Little Black Dress and make it your own. We wish Eliza great luck and we hope this is only the tip of the thoughtfully-made fashion movement!

Photos and story by Ritika W.

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