Londoner’s Diary
It’s hard to overstate the significance of Topshop at its peak. The flagship Oxford Street store was a pilgrimage site for teenage girls across London, while the brand’s Joni jeans are still writ large in the cultural imagination. Hell, Kendall Jenner wore Topshop to the Met Gala!
But then things started to tail off and in 2021, Topshop’s parent company went bust. Now, after four years of lurking in obscurity on the ASOS website, the brand is returning to the high street.
Over the weekend Topshop 2.0 took over Trafalgar Square for a fashion show, where the front row was occupied by models Adwoa Aboah and Cara Delevingne and mayor Sadiq Khan. This may be the summer of nostalgia, with everyone from Oasis to Lindsay Lohan making their big comebacks, but will Topshop be able to reach its former dizzying heights?
Critics observed that there were some conspicuous absences from the f’row like Anna Wintour and Kate Moss, whose collections with Topshop in the noughties had people queueing round the block. Their place was taken by influencers and reality TV stars including Frankie Bridge and Olivia Attwood.
And what of the new designs? There have already been grumbles about the quality of the clothes which are mostly made with polyester, like any other fast fashion brand.
The buzziest premiere in town
As co-stars Austin Butler and Zoe Kravitz posed on the red carpet for the premiere of Caught Stealing, an uninvited guest in the form of a bee flew up to them. While Kravitz cowered in fear, Butler smiled beatifically at the insect, even cupping his hand to greet it.
It’s all rather familiar: back in May at the Cannes Film Festival another bee buzzed around Butler – he gave it a friendly wave while his co-stars ducked to the floor. All are now in agreement that the actor is some sort of bee whisperer.
Adding to the buzz at Odeon Leicester Square were the band English Teacher, and singers Rex Orange County and Girli. In the film, Butler plays a bartender who is asked to cat sit by his punk rock neighbour, played by a mohawked Matt Smith. Chaos ensues. Smith opted to skip the red carpet but materialised in time for the afterparty, held at Soho House.
Meanwhile, singers Alesha Dixon and Ella Eyre were at the Hurlingham Club in Fulham for the GRM Gala, which celebrates black excellence in the UK. Guests were fuelled by Hennessy margaritas, Moët champagne and slices from Fireaway Pizza.
