PICKS OF THE WEEK

It's not long now until the new Mansnaps website launches, so be sure to follow us on Facebook to keep up to date with all the latest news and info on the launch!

This weeks picks of the week, come courtesy of All Saints! It's not often that I dedicate all three picks of the week from one retailer but I think this is very deserved. I was pleasantly surprised to discover colour, lots of colour, when I visited their store recently! All Saints is now so well known for being home to grey, beige and black that I was overwhelmed by their current collection. Pastel colours, light wash denims and cool prints are very much the order of the day. Don't get me wrong, All Saints style is still rugged and industrial but it's now available in a summer friendly colour palette.

First up is this colourful tourist print t-shirt. Whilst it isn't the same tourist prints you'll see in Topman or River Island, All Saints have adapted the trend without compromising their brand identity. I think the colours are really fresh and current and the beauty of not having a New York skyscraper print is that this t-shirt will be able to live past the current trend.

If you didn't know already, printed short sleeve shirts are EVERYWHERE. Aztec, Hawaiian, 80's and everything in between can be seen printed onto short sleeve shirts across the high st right now. Again, All Saints have adapted the trend to fit their own style and the end result is something quirky and easy to wear.

I originally featured this jacket in a post about denim jackets a few weeks ago. Now that their spring/summer collection is in full bloom in store, I'm loving this jacket even more. It's a great fit and although the £95 price tag might seem steep compared to some of the alternatives on the high st, the quality is worth every penny!

THE EDIT FEATURING MANSNAPS

Mansnaps has been featured in Republic's blog, The Edit.

I created two looks for Republic's readers featuring their Soul Cal Aztec lined gilet.
The first look incorporates the gilet into the 'Global Traveller' look that I posted about earlier in the week. The second look is called 'Winter Sports Luxe'. This is taking inspiration from the upcoming Olympics and using bold primary colours to create a statement.

You can read the full article here.

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH BURTON

I love Burton. There I said it. Although, those of you who regularly follow Mansnaps will already know this and will also know how great I think their S/S collection is.

Now that my declaration of love is out, you can appreciate just how pleased I was that the Head of Design for Burton, Jonathan Lovett agreed to answer all of my questions about their upcoming collection.

Where does Burton get its inspiration from? Is it all catwalk based?

Many things inspire my design team and myself, we look far and wide from the streets of Leeds and Birmingham, the hot spots of London such as Spitalfields and Broadway Market and get to travel out to research trendy cities such as New York and Tokyo. The men's catwalk collections are a good measure of coming trends, they also help inspire but they are not our main focus. The important thing is to use all this trend information and turn it into clothes our Burton guy wants to buy and wear.

After attending your Press Day for High Summer I was impressed by Burton's take on the Olympics. What's your favourite looks from the summer collection?

Definitely the Festival collection, I really like the sun bleached colours and textures that make up the look.

I think it's fair to say that Topman is Arcadia's young men's fashion brand, although recently Burton seems to be stepping up a gear in terms of fashionability... Is this a sign of the modern, mature mans interest in fashion increasing or just pressure to compete on the high St?

A bit of both to be honest, my opinion is that when I think of someone in their thirties or forties they have been through the modern style revolution, they were probably more in tune with style as a young adult so they simply continue to maintain an interest in their appearance later on. Menswear is really exciting right now, there is a lot of choice in terms of style so we expect our customer to demand that from the Burton brand.

How much input/ do you have over the prints, particularly with things like your Ibiza inspired vests and t-shirts?

Alongside the jersey designer and buyer we all work together to choose what prints are going into the ranges so we all loved the Ibiza print collection.

The response to the James Corden for Trekstock t-shirt has been really positive from Mansnaps readers, have you got any other collaborations lined up?

We will continue to work on new design collaborations under the Trekstock umbrella. We are looking at new ideas constantly, watch this space!

Mansnaps has been featuring Burton since the beginning of the blog, how important do you feel blogs are to the success of the brand?

Very, they are a new kind of exposure and I see them only becoming ever more relevant.


Are there exciting new labels, launches or changes we can expect from Burton this year?

I have been working on a project under our Heritage range, Montegue Burton for this coming AW 2012. I can't say too much yet but I worked with one of the worlds leading fashion schools to come up with the concept, so far the garments are looking really cool.

Finally, what's your favourite piece from your summer collection?

I really want to wear more colour this season, I am already wearing colour chino's and want to extend that into shirts and tee's for the summer. So if I had to choose one piece it would be a bright blue chino or chino short.

Here are some of Mansnaps favourite pieces from the S/S collection.

BURTON HIGH SUMMER PRESS DAY

On Wednesday I went along to Arcadia's High Summer press day to check out what Burton will have to offer this summer! Although the showroom was dominated by the womenswear brands, Burton's offering was a selective but exciting representation of what we can expect from them this summer!

On arrival I was offered a delicious smoothie and greeted by the lovely Tom, Burton's Press Officer who talked me through their summer collection.

Here are my four reasons to get excited about Burton's summer collection!

I LOVED the Hawaiian prints! They appeared on shirts and t-shirts and the colour palette was muted making it easier to wear unlike the prints usually seen on board shorts. Shirts had short sleeves making them a perfect layering piece over a basic vest or t-shirt. I think you can expect to see a lot of these in the festivals over the summer!

Reverse prints are great for the aztec and Hawaiian prints which might be a bit too adventurous for some of you. It's a simple idea, a bright image is printed on to the inside of the t-shirt which appears on the outside more muted. This works great on shirts and t-shirts making the trends easier to wear.

Burton's take on Ibiza day to night wear was a triumph! The short shorts, slub vests and washed out print t-shirts offer an effortlessly cool holiday look which can take you from the beach, straight to the club. The short shorts come in primary colours making them a perfect match for the printed tops and they also come in cool, stop and repeat prints which will work with a plain vest. Slub vests are perfect for summer, the loose fit and slightly longer length mean you don't get too hot and sticky - don't be afraid to go a size larger than you would do normally to ensure that the fit is loose.

The Olympics is going to be a big inspiration on the high st this summer and Burton are ready to compete. Although nothing in their summer collection comes with the word 'Olympic' it's easy to see that it doesn't need to. Using the colours from the Olympic rings as inspiration, striped t-shirts, hoodies, chinos and shorts create a sports luxe feel. Swim shorts were short, finally showing an end to board shorts which have dominated the high st in recent years. Stripes were the big feature on t-shirts for this look, as were cut and sew t-shirts creating a colour block. The primary colour mix, screams of 80's children's TV presenter but in a good way!

S/S12 - VIVIENNE WESTWOOD

Dame Vivienne Westwood is an iconic British designer. She is well known for being influential in bringing punk fashion into the mainstream.


Her S/S12 collection is dedicated to the Olympics! As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, there is a big trend for tourist prints at the moment and this is going to evolve into references to the Olympics come S/S12. 


Every look on the catwalk reflected the Olympics in some way, the prints on the t-shirts (torches, medals etc), the laurel wreaths worn by the models and the sports/formal wear crossover.