Chelsea Girl

River Island goes back to it’s Chelsea Girl roots with it’s A/W’11 ad campaign

Chelsea Girl

Now, I’m no fashion snob – far from it. In fact, dear Le Blow reader (hi mum), I sit typing this very post in a dress from Primark. From last year. So I have no qualms about cheap ‘n’ cheerful shopping – especially a) on my salary and b) with a drinking habit to rival George Best (sorry mum).

But, if you say the words ‘River’ and ‘Island’ to me in a sartorial sense, I immediately conjure up images of their old colonial shop fittings (do you remember? Back in the, say, late ’90s when it was all wooden floorboards and log-cabin decor) and sequins. Lots and lots of fucking sequins.

I reckon River Island have a policy of ‘more is more’ when it comes to adorning their garms with snazzy embellishment. A plain T-Shirt in the River Island production line undergoes rapid-fire sequin action, administered by what I imagine to be a pink, camp Howitzer gun.

So, with the above in mind, I was pleasantly surprised to see River island’s first ad campaign in approx ten trillion years (well, five years, atch). Shot by cooler-than-a-snowman’s-undercrackers-photographer-of-the-moment, Ellen von Unwerth (she shot the recent and RIDIC cool Guess campaign), it manages to not only give a respectful doff of the Baker Boy hat to their Chelsea Girl past but manages to look thoroughly modern at the same time. By looking Mod – and the A/W’11 catwalks were a-heavin’ with supah ’60s styles.

River Island AW11

River Island AW11

You may have mistaken these shots for images of the Le Blow gals gallivanting around town, but you’d definitely be forgiven. And come the start of autumn,  I will certainly be sat writing a post clad in clobber from River Island – and there won’t be a bastard sequin in sight.

Natalie Wall

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