Scarlett London Fashion Writer’s Kelsey Butler and Rachel Dixon attended a A/W preview for Sugarhill Boutique’s new collection several weeks ago, which was held at the gorgeous Charlotte St Hotel in Central London. A brand that is renowned for dressing many stars including Mollie King and Sam and Billie Faiers, Sugarhill Boutique never fails to impress with its collections – so here’s what happened when both Rachel & Kelsey went along!
Last Tuesday I was invited by Sugarhill Boutique to preview the A/W ‘12 and Christmas collection along with fellow fashion writer Rachel. The event itself was held in the cutest little hotel ever! The Charlotte Street Hotel is just a short walk from Soho Square and full of women in gorgeously expensive shoes and men in sharp suits. The perfect venue to get you in the mood for a fashion preview!
I met with the girls from Sugarhill Boutique and from Fuchsia PR in a beautifully decorated room just off the main hotel reception, which was full of comfy sofas and a table full of pastries and drinks (yum!). The girls were so welcoming, and straight away made us feel at home by offering us pastries, strawberries and drinks and talking about the collection in a very casual way which was lovely, as well as asking me questions about myself and my time at University. This might seem like a strange thing to mention however it is reassuring to know that not everyone in the fashion world is like Miranda Priestly from The Devil Wears Prada!
So after a chat and a drink (and maybe a pastry…) I couldn’t wait to see the collection in the flesh which was split across two rails divided in to Autumn/Winter ‘12 and Christmas ‘12 collection.
The first thing I noticed about the collection was the variety of prints on offer. This is probably due to the large focus on ‘prints’ in my graduate collection and after years on the same thing, it becomes quite hard to shake. Prints for next season include lots of woodland creatures, similar to their previous A/W collection. You may remember seeing Mollie King from The Saturdays wearing their light brown jumper dress emblazoned with a deer last winter, which was perfectly ‘cutesy’ without being childish. This year, Sugarhill have gone even further with their woodland creature winter prints and have included with rabbits, foxes, owls and swallows. They have some lovely soft knit jumpers with the fox on, but the best bit is the back of the jumper features the tail of the fox (not a real one!).
Its not all ‘cutesy’ knits though, ‘Lady Luck’ was clearly a influence for several of the prints which feature cards and dice! The cards feature on a white tea styled dress with a silk neck tie, and the dice are seen a a bright orange blouse with small knife pleats down the middle (which despite initial thoughts, is actually very flattering).
Many of the dresses are very ladylike, with nipped in waists, high necklines, peter pan collars or silk neck ties. But the quirky prints balance out the lady like styles so it all really works together. There is a obvious ‘vintage’ feel around not just the collection but the whole brand. The designers clearly understand that times aren’t brilliant and people don’t have hundreds to spend on clothes, however this doesn’t mean that you should have to compromise on the quality of the clothing! They know their customers, they know what works and what doesn’t, and thats the sign of a great brand.
The small little details on the clothes really made me smile, I love when its clear that care has been taken when designing and making a garment. Instead of plain buttons, small pearls and bronze ovals are used. Many of there dresses feature lace panels. In particularly a black dress with lace sleeves and lace panels around the neckline. Just perfect!
Its not all dresses and shirts though, there are the cutest hotpant shorts with heart shaped pockets on the back! Pyjama styled silk polka dot trousers and at the top of my list is a navy blue silky elasticated waist skirt with white swallows printed on it, I literally didn’t want to put it down! If the room was more crowded i’m sure it might have ‘accidentally’ fell into my Mulberry (Whoops).
We spoke about famous people that have worn Sugarhill Boutique, The Saturdays in particular they said had been brilliant for the brand and for raising the profile, Rochelle, Mollie & Una are regularly spotted in Sugarhill Boutique clothing. The girls say they would like to see Frankie and Vanessa in it too, ‘The whole group would be great’. As well as The Saturdays the TOWIE girls are often seen wearing the brand too, as its stocked in Millie’s Boutique (Sam & Billies Shop in Brentwood) But they say that certain pieces would be perfect for The Chelsea girls, Millie Macintosh in particular! The cute knitted jumpers they think would be perfect for shooting!
After oogling the new collection, I spoke to the Sugarhill girls about what coming up in the future for the brand. They mentioned that they have just started stocking in America with ‘Mod Cloth’ and personally, I think American girls are going to love the British brand. I asked briefly about whats in store for next summer and they told me Summer ’13 collection is very 50’s Grease styled prints (Prada S/S’12 esque) including ladybirds and pineapples! Im excited already!
The person they would love to see their clothes on next is New Girl star (and everyones wannabe best friend) Zooey Deschanel, and how great would she look in their lady like dresses but with quirky fun prints. I think its only a matter of time before we see her wearing Sugarhill.
The Autumn Winter collection drops around August/September and the Christmas collection hits stores around October, Ill race you there…..
