Im super excited to announce FLASH TRASH GIRL has gone live in River Island’s new Marble Arch and Liverpool Store! My signature city bracelets are available in all exclusive colour ways for the first time ever!! You can pick up neon green Ibiza or Coral Pink Dubai for £10! Rad wrist candy or a super cute gift, which city has your heart? Love Amber xx
‘Some people think luxury is the opposite of poverty. It is not. It is the opposite of vulgarity’ Coco Chanel’s words define a concept of luxury with simplicity at its heart. The market demand for honesty and transparency is echoed in the success of companies like Everlane and Bruno Pieters’, Honest By, both which seek to break down the barriers between the consumer and the production line. The concept has translated well online but the honest approach in brick and mortars seems to stop at minimalist store design. Dover Street Market’s concrete and Bluebird’s white tiles create an appealing urban canvas and gallery for its products, but don’t perhaps view the human element of luxury beyond adornment; time, well being, health.
Yesterday I stumbled upon, Celestine Eleven, a new luxury concept boutique off Shoreditch High Street that offers J.W. Anderson and Marios Schwab alongside raw food and healing crystals. Walking in I was struck by the tranquility of the store, grey concrete is replaced with a rich, earthy interior with warm copper railing, tree stumps and cactuses. With an apothecary bar selling eco skin care, a minimalist library and cabinets full of curiosities, founder Tena Strok is offering a spiritual experience combining the travesties of luxury travel with retail. Indeed acupuncture, massages and reki healing will be available in the basement soon.
The part spa, part new age pharmacy, part library has a profound effect on purchasing power, never so quickly in my life have I bought a lilac pony skin bag. As the owner of an e-commerce company it is rare that an IRL shopping experience leaves me with store envy. Whilst the demise of the high street is clear, will the transparency and honest message digital is able to portray through video and photography, ever compete with a multi-sensory healing experience? The store brings a whole new meaning to retail therapy.
To the Sanderson Hotel on Sunday night, where the lovely Julia Sarr-Jamois, Victoria Young and Fran Burns hosted a tequila fuelled
fashion party. Out on a school night, I DJ’d away in Peter Jensen and MY FLASH TRASH before handing over to Hanna Hanra and diving into a sea of Givenchy and Miu Miu madness. Sunday night parties are my new favourite parties! Read More at Refinery29
Julia Sarr-Jamois, Fran Burns and Victoria Young
You could not pay me to put my school uniform back on – those itchy blue sweaters and heavy long kilts – but when I was invited to a class at Van Cleef and Arpels’ new L’Ecole, I’d have pulled that jumper on faster than you can say detention. Of course that was not required: oh no, the pupils here were in head-to-toe Savile Row, gripping Montblanc pens and ready to take on the challenges of gemology with an enthusiasm unknown to my old chemistry classroom.
Located a short walk from Place Vendôme in Paris, Van Cleef’s grand school was opened in 2010 in an effort to educate customers new and old about the secretive fine jewellery industry. This is the place to learn where and how precious gems are formed and sold, why you should never buy rubies in the afternoon (yellow light distorts the gem’s true clarity) and how those stones, once found, are cut.
Arriving off the Eurostar, I dashed over to class in a new kind of uniform – Escada mesh dress – to join my fellow students: an Arab prince, a Japanese businessman and two very keen Texan women. When I asked them why they were here, the Texans excitedly replied that they wanted to turn their shopping habits into a hobby. “And also just to sound more intelligent when someone compliments my ring or earrings!” they explained.
The inquisitive Arab man was definitely there to learn the trade, but at the end, when I asked our teacher Isobel if opening the school would be USP suicide, giving away their brand secrets and all, she laughed. “No, of course not. We want to grow the fine jewellery market. We are the wise old teacher, we have unique cuts and a history that will never be crushed by competition. ”The Japanese businessman was thrilled that the school will open as a pop-up of sorts in Tokyo this year. An interesting move, I thought – why not China? But with a playful sense of design, characterised by eccentricity and feminine whimsy, it’s easy to see why Japan is one of their biggest markets.
As we broke for afternoon tea in the lavish mini-Versailles sitting room (a far cry from my common-room cereal bars), I pondered over a macaroon what the Americans had said about turning their shopping habits into a hobby. By providing an education and insight into their brand and industry, Van Cleef have created a new, dedicated army of ambassadors. Experiential retail is the key to attracting customers offline and into stores. Embracing honesty and education in the retail experience is the way to acquire and retain loyal customers, and excite a brand passion that mere product alone cannot offer.
That being said, as we put down our magnifying glasses and the diamonds went back into the safe, it was the product I was desperate for. And so without any pressure or expectation from our teachers, I made a beeline for the store. I left not only with my first piece of Van Cleef, but the most memorable retail experience I have ever had.
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