British Style Genius
We are experiencing a bit of a rush in fashion TV in Britain (hurrah). The latest of these is British Style Genius, which aired last night on BBC2. The series is well timed with many of us in the mood for fashion on the back of the fashion weeks in New York, London, Milan and Paris.
The British Style Genius promised to be different to programs like Gok’s Fashion Fix, in that its in documentary format and will examine what makes British fashion so distinctly unique.
Here is a quick summary of the series:
Episode 1: High street look, the story of the of British High Street Fashion.
Episode 2: Tailored look will examine the history of British tailoring.
Episode 3: The Rebel look.
Episode 4: Country look examines the essence of classic country clothing.
Episode 5: Street Look explores the styles created on the street, for the street.
The series include contributions from Kate Moss, Sir Philip Green, Vivienne Westwood, Twiggy, Alexander McQueen, Michael Caine, Paul Smith and Suzy Menkes.
Episode 1: High street look
The first episode starts with behind the scene look at the Kate Moss calibration with Top shop and the stampede that followed on Oxford street. I found the scene where Kate pretty much loving all the pieces the design team showed her a little annoying, but in fairness she is not trying to pass herself off as a designer.
It was a 1 hour episode with a lot to fit in, but I still felt it was unbalanced and focused too much on Topshop. Although M&S was featured I was hoping for a wider coverage of the high street. Sir Philip Green heads Arcadia, which owns Topshop, Burton, Dorothy Perkins, Evans, Miss Selfridge, Topman and Wallis (pheww), but what about Debenhams and Next ? to name a few.
It was probably right to have Jane Shepherdson comment on Topshop given her achievements there - Jane left Topshop and the rumour was she fell out with Philip Green over the decision to get Kate Moss, she is now at Whistles.
If you were expecting catwalk after catwalk show of British designers then you would have been disappointed. The episode highlighted snippets of British fashion history and even ‘fast fashion’ only got a quick mention at the end.
Over all I liked the episode and will tune in again next week (BBC2, Tues 9pm). You can catch this episode on BBC’s iplayer for 14 days.
