'Style in the City' (article taken from my monthly select magazine column.)

Style in the city

Liverpudlians claim to live in one of the most stylish cities in the country, an attitude often acquired from having been in the global spotlight of the Beatles and its overwhelming appreciation of its Wags, but does it live up to the reputation?

  

Liverpool has a uniqueness and confidence that leaves other cities in the shade. “Less is more.’’ I beg your pardon? Heels, hair, makeup and dress length (or lack of) are all in excess in our city and its not about to change but this doesn’t always constitute style.

Not that long ago Liverpool was famous for its unnaturally orange ladies, and it was well known in the fashion industry that we were the biggest buyer of Lacoste track suits in the world. All this made me lose hope.

Now with the arrival of Liverpool One which gave the city an 18% increase in shoppers over the last year with its retail space due to be at 98% capacity for Christmas, a super sized new Topshop claiming its position on Church Street plus home grown designers like Lola Loves, Kirsty Doyle and Claudia Pink all opening boutiques in coveted retail spaces. Now we are able to make wise and confident style choices plus we’ve some very talented creatives to guide us through it.

Dare we forget the more demure, unsung female professionals, with a slick ability to mix a luxury Zara tux, with a tailored pair of D&G trousers. This style tribe has helped us acquire shops including a second Flannels and GIVe by George Davies, amongst others. So now Liverpool is even more able to cater for high end fashion shoppers as well as feeding younger thrifty shoppers, always hungry for the next trend.

Colleen’s “pure scouse” style appeal helped to contribute to the constant media obsession with other scouse wags, such as Abbey Clancy and Alex Curran for their lavish style and now in its 4^th year, we also command national press attention with coverage of Liverpool Fashion Week. Of course we’re not going to get column space like London Fashion Week, but can we now be justified in our outlandish claim? I certainly think were back on the map.

Liverpool’s thirst for being stylish and its financially proven addiction to shopping has made us one of the few, if not the best, success stories during the credit crunch.

The future is bright and thank god it’s not orange.

Matt Ford. 

To visit the select Magazine website Click here.  


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