Neil Barrett: Vacuum the red carpet – the British success story is back

Neil Barrett is one of the most influential British fashion designers working today and yet he's overlooked in Britain. Partly, that's because this expatriate Devonian was poached by Gucci straight out of Central Saint Martins, to be its senior menswear designer. Then, in the mid-1990s, Barrett designed Prada's first menswear collections - marked by their austere, high-notch narrow revere suiting. Twenty years later, the pre-millennial school of minimalist menswear pioneered by designers such as Raf Simons, Helmut Lang and Barrett has become the last word in women's fashion - just look at the tailoring at Céline.

Barrett has a studio in London, but the company he founded after leaving Prada in 1999 (just as the latter bought Helmut Lang) continues to be based in Milan. As we go through the rails of his autumn/winter 2014 womenswear collection last week, Barrett explains: "I just think you go where you can do your work best and express yourself the best. And the knowledge of the fabric mills in Italy is second to none. Because I happened to fall into working for Gucci and Prada, that gave me a grounding of knowledge to open my company easily, and gave me a base of clients, too."
Now, though, Barrett is plotting a return to his roots. "I am looking forward to coming back and showing in London in the next year or so. It would be great to show my women's there."
The British Fashion Council should vacuum its red carpet prontissimo. Barrett's yen for cutting-edge fabrics and painstakingly wrought but easy-to-admire silhouettes would give the London show schedule a new name of real substance.
Next autumn's collection, for instance, features traditional ideas such as the twinset or Fair Isle pattern that touch on Barrett's third-generation roots in a tailoring family. That twinset, though, is turned into a leather cropped sweatshirt underneath a jersey biker. The Fair Isle print morphs into hand-applied polka dots.
The collection is a particularly youthful one thanks to its muse, a Barrett-loving American model named Binx, who if there's any justice in fashion will soon emerge as the next great supermodel. "I met her at a party last September," says Barrett. "I saw her across the room and just thought wow - her attitude was incredible. Then I saw she was wearing Neil Barrett - normally I see the clothes long before the girl - and thought it was a match made in heaven."
Barrett is still a designer, like Paul Smith, whose women's clothes begin with men's. "It's become so normal now for the two to crossover," he says: "I believe in taking garments from the menswear wardrobe but making them essentially feminine." Hence the extended linings and irregular pleatings at the hems of new-season bikers and tuxedo jackets, for the sake of a comely swish at the waistline. Or the classic bouncer's jacket - the orange-lined MA65 - made fitted and sharply delicate. London should be chuffed that this excellent and successful designer is plotting a return to his roots. If only Stella McCartney and Victoria Beckham

September's Cover Set

COVER SET: The all-important September issues will close business in a few days, but the covers, at least for most of the magazines, have been in the bag for some time. For fall, fashiontitles are banking on reliable bestsellers with all-American sex appeal and relatability, and TVstarlets — and almost everyone is playing catch-up with those celebrities who have already done the other cover rounds.

Those starlets who failed to generate excitement at the newsstand in the past seem to have fallen out of favor — Taylor Swift, for one.

Jennifer Lawrence, most recently seen in October in W, November in Vogue U.K. and February in Vanity Fair, scored her first cover of Vogue, shot by Mario Testino. And all it took was winning an Academy Award.
Kate Upton, twice a Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue cover girl, has finally become a fashion glossy staple. After appearing on GQ in July and Cosmopolitan in November, Vogue at last deemed her worthy of its June cover, and now Carter Smith has shot the full-figured model for the cover of Elle.

Jennifer Aniston is on the cover of Glamour shot by newcomer Alexei Hay. Aniston is a regular presence at the checkout line, but there’s a reason for that — she sells. Last year, she was InStyle’s bestseller.

Two young actresses who are starting to land more magazine covers are Rooney Mara of “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” and Lily Collins, most recently of Julia Roberts’ flop “Mirror, Mirror.” Mara, Vogue’s February cover girl, was shot by David Sims for T: The New York Times Style Magazine, while Collins, recently on Glamour’s July cover, will be looking out from Seventeen’s September one.
Television stars, hugely successful at the newsstand last year, are again everywhere. Marie Claire is returning to an old standby, Zooey Deschanel of “New Girl,” who was its second-best seller of 2012. The piece promises a monumental meeting between the ditzy starlet and George Gurley, the former New York Observer nightlife columnist.

Cosmopolitan is still hot for vampires — the magazine cast Nina Dobrev of the television show “Vampire Diaries.” The young cast of “Twilight,” the other popular vampire series, was unmissable on the newsstand last year.

Lucky is counting on Blake Lively to work some magic on its newsstand sales — the former “Gossip Girl” actress was one of Elle’s third-biggest sellers last year, and Kristen Bell of Showtime’s “House of Lies” was styled by reality TV personality Brad Goreski for Redbook.


Two magazines with unexpected cover girls are Allure and Town & Country. Allure cast Jennifer Garner, who’s been missing from the newsstands for a little more than a year, and Town & Country put on the cover a couple of heiresses, Lauren Bush Lauren and Claire Courtin-Clarins, for an issue focused on philanthropy.

Victoria Beckham Hits Bejing In Style

We can always count on Victoria Beckham to keep us entertained via Twitter, and this weekend we've been glued to her Bejing updates. Visiting the Chinese city to promote her fashion line and support husband David on his football ambassador duties, the style icon let us in on everything she got up to, from hitting the designer boutiuques to fooling around with her hairdresser Ken Paves.

Looking chic as ever all weekend, Victoria donned a black jumpsuit, nude toe-cap courts and a matching clutch for a shopping trip to Shin Kong Place, home to the likes of Chanel and Salvatore Ferragamo, before showing her fun side by having a fash-off with BFF Ken. We've got to say, he's giving you a run for your money rocking that white coat VB! Speaking of fun sides, David coudn't resist getting in on the Twitter action either, uploading a shot of a grinning Victoria with the caption "See, I told you she smiles". How cute!

It wasn't all shopping and shenanigans though, with Victoria making a TV appearance in her 'favourite Victoria Beckham icon dress' and meeting with Chinese Vogue fashion ed Angelica Cheung, all while toting her new VB 'Seven' bag around town. With Victoria tweeting, "China loves the new Victoria Beckham 'seven' bag, super chic x vb", we've no doubt it's set for serious 'It' status.

Keep the updates coming Vic, living vicariously through you is our new guilty pleasure!