Pretend you know all about: High street designer ranges
Ooh, we love, love, love a fashion rumour. Of course, a good proportion of them turn out to be little more than tabloid transfer tittle-tattle, but they are fun anyway. Let's start with the week's most unlikely, not to say slightly surreal, rumour, which has tongues wagging from Oxford Street to the Avenue Montaigne.
Karl Lagerfeld, designer for Chanel, Fendi and his own Lagerfeld Gallery label - and a man who dismissed Stella McCartney, in her Chloe days, as a T-shirt designer - is allegedly about to design a range for the Swedish high-street giant H&M. It is even suggested that he will make an appearance in the ad campaigns. If this is true (and the H&M press office is responding only with a tight-lipped "we can't comment on rumours") it would be a major coup for the store. But even if this turns out to be a fairy story, there are some fabulous collaborations in the pipeline.
The high street over the past few years has swooped on the credibility a designer name can give, and you can already find Matthew Williamson's designs at Debenhams, Sophia Kokosalaki's at Topshop and Eley Kishimoto's on the New Look rails. The latest designers to (definitely) join in the fun are Clements Ribeiro, whose collection for the department store chain Allders was launched this week: it includes a floral/butterfly print dress, cashmere knits (a Clements classic, but hitherto one with a prohibitive price tag) and polka-dot bits and pieces. Meanwhile, New Look has bagged New Zealander Karen Walker to whip up a selection of cute printed pieces, to be launched in June.
