Heels on wheels
Need some new clothes in a hurry? A new service will bring a range of options to your home for you to try. Katy McAuIay gets her credit card ready and submits herself to a session with Topshop to Go.
‘ ou’re going out on a Saturday night but you can’t be bothered to go
into town. You don’t want to handle the crowds and the traffic. So. what you do is you phone us. maybe by about noon. and you say. “Listen. I need a new outfit. This is my address. this is my size. these are the colours I like — could you bring it?” Style advisor Scott Schiavone pauses to swipe a credit card. ‘We jump in the car and bring clothes out to you. It’s like ordering pizza.’ It’s called Topshop to Go and it‘s available in Glasgow and Edinburgh. Not content with distracting the attention of teens to thirtysomethings during their lunch hour with its constantly revolving. trend-heavy outfits. Topshop is now coming into your living room. And also your office. Because visiting its flagship store on Argyle Street in
the time to browse the entire collection. but having someone bring it all to your doorsth (and tidy it all away again aftem'ards) is much. much better.
The service. previously only offered in London. has been available to anyone within a one and a half hour travelling radius of Argyle Street. With around 25 to 30 out-of-store visits under their fashionable belts. Schiavone, Roanna Katz and senior style advisor Erin Scott are getting pretty good at discovering what their clients are looking for. They tumed up at The List office with two packed clothes rails plus a large
a reasonably clear view of their
: preferences: maybe any celebrities 1 they particularly like the style of ‘ and perhaps want to emulate.’ says
Scott. ‘But everyone says that they end up trying out clothes that they might not have picked out if they visited the store. The thing we try get across is that while some girls think that they don’t need a ‘stylist’. the whole process is so relaxed that it doesn’t feel like that — it’s more that we can just help to select the best items to go together because there is such a big choice.”
After a quick swig of champagne.
i the List guinea pigs are more than ' happy to dive right in. Schiavone.
Scott and Katz have already been in touch to find out the dress and shoe sizes of the group. plus any colour preferences. so each person has their own section on the rail. although rifling through other peoples’ choices is pemiitted. Having three people look over the finished outfits is weird to begin with. but. as it turns out. the To Go team input proves to be necessary. as debates are held over whether one item is a skirt or a top. Plus.
. having Schiavone around means Glasgow is great when you’ve got 3
that it is possible to get an (honest) male opinion about whether that riding boot and military jacket combo really is for you.
The obvious benefits of avoiding the effort of trawling endless shelves. struggling to get out of that
too-small top while retaining a
range of accessories packed into ~
their sparkly. branded Mercedes. ‘We speak to people three or four
times before we actually turn up at
their house so by that stage we have
shred of dignity in a crammed changing room and having to hang all the outfits back up on weirdly
‘EVERYONE SAYS THEY END UP TRYING OUT CLOTHES THEY MIGHT NOT HAVE PICKED OUT IN THE STORE'
shaped hangers make the service. which is free. an attractive one to dedicated and lazy shoppers alike. And yet, the danger of seeing so many new clothes making themselves at home in your bedroom means it could be an expensive experience. So has Erin ever been anywhere where someone hasn’t bought anything?
‘Not as yet.’
You have been warned.
Topshop to Go appointments are free and ideally cater for one to six people. To book, call 07764 471 243.
Spend, spend, spend
I If you like a little soundtrack to your shopping, make the most of a one-off music event happening this Saturday (23 July) when the Lee Sounds Unsigned tour comes to Urban Outfitters in Glasgow. The tour is bringing seven unsigned bands - Delta Mainline, the Side, the Little Kicks, the Zens, Simpson, Suspire and Reograd - to the Buchanan Street outlet to battle it out for the chance to play the
100 THE LIST 21 Jul—4 Aug 2005
Carling Festival in Leeds. Starting at 2pm, the live event is free and, weather permitting, likely to spill out into nearby George Square.
I Retailers hoping to catch the buzz of this year's Festival and provide those suffering
from cultural overload with some retail therapy include contemporary furniture outlet DesignShop UK. From 4 August to 3 September. the Causewayside store takes on a taste of 21 st century Brazil as it showcases a collaboration of Brazilian artistic talent, with pieces by designers Humberto and Fernando Campana and artist Glauce Cerveira. The Campana brothers specialise in combining reclaimed objects from fabric off-cuts to discarded piping to make colourful pieces such as the
Anemone (pictured) a sculpturally woven plastic pipe armchair, available in a range of colours and costing from 921340. For more information. go to www.designshopuk.com.
I Meanwhile, the biggest jewellery and design
exhibition in Europe, Dazzle, will be setting up its stalls at the Traverse Theatre from 5-29 August. A total of 3000 pieces of gold, silver, Perspex, diamond and platinum - to name a few - pieces will be on display and the designers range from the home-grown - Edinburgh lass Joanne Thompson - to the far flung such as Japanese designer Naoko Yoshizawa. See www.dazzle exhibitions.com for more details.