Celebrities And The High Street

Kate Moss for Topshop, Fern Cotton for Very, Lily Allen for New Look – the list of celebrities designing lines for the high street is rising annually. But Donatella Versace’s latest foray into the lower realms of H&M got me thinking: do they do it for themselves or for us?

Despite shoppers queuing from the early hours to get their hands on the Versace for H&M collection, the clothes sold out in 30 minutes and the website crashed under an overload of users. Just like you’re unable to get your hands on the real deal Versace, unless you are in possession of enormous amounts of luck or spare time on your hands, this cheaper collection equally remains for the select few. At least you can buy designer if you’ve got the dollar, whilst these one-off lines are given a heck load of publicity and then seem to disappear.

Kate Moss for Topshop

Then there comes the question of branding. After Donatella refused to let H&M’s “real women” model her clothes, it is clear that these high street brands have to compromise their values to accommodate the designers. And what’s the need? H&M does a bloody good job for the average woman, with their appeal lying in their ability to cater for the masses and do so stylishly. Surely the designer is creating a range for their brand, so if any one has to be accommodating it’s them.

And then there’s the sad truth behind the celebrity lines. People don’t necessarily buy the clothes because they love the fashion, but because they see it as a money-making venture, with that dress being bought to be flogged on Ebay the very next day. Indeed, it’s never questioned whether the items are actually nice or wearable – the mere fact of their designer associations are meant to do the trick. And if the H&M shopper could afford designer gear, would they really opt for Versace? Surely they’re far more interesting and edgy than that.

And then there’s the creation of hostility and violence amongst women, who previously were comrades on the high-street, offering each offer advice in the changing rooms as well as pointing out a good catwalk copy, and then turn into shoving monsters to get hold of those trousers which are size 22 when they’re clearly a size 10.

So if like me you waited in the rain outside H&M for a chance to own a sort-of-Versace-but-not item, and then spent hours on the website when that failed – don’t fear. It’s all a con, the high street has plenty of great stuff to choose from, and if you’re really desperate – it’s all being flogged on Ebay now anyway.