Maia Kalina

         It's not new that high street brands steal ideas from haute couture brands. It is a well known fact that Zara have special allowance in their yearly budget to pay off for plagiarism lawsuits.  Not sure if Topshop have the same but I would not be surprised.  Dior launched a major social media campaign a couple of months back to promote their revamped Saddle bag. In a truly 21st century marketing move, those bags were and still seen on fashion influencers all over Instagram.  Topshop were totally in on the Saddle bag idea and released their own version that has clear resemblance to the original with a few difference. The main difference being the price, obviously.   I do like Topshop as a streetwear brand and often drop by to their flagship store at London's Oxford Circus for quirky pieces like a clear plastic sequin adorned raincoat or red latex trousers. I also think that it is nearly impossible to create something completely unique when it comes to fashion.

Valentino rockstud circa 2013 Salvatore Ferragamo 2018 Who cares? We all love a good rainbow!

I can deal with many things in life but please please please don't tell me that the animal prints and skulls are back.  I mean skulls may be totally appropriate for Philipp Plein, a source of toxic masculinity as someone recently described him, but Dior? Seriously?

Growing up in the 90s Russia I saw a lot of these bags. Primarily worn by mums and grannies, net bags were indispensable for grocery shopping and running day-to-day errands until they got replaced by much less environmentally friendly disposable plastic bags. Not at all a fashion statement at the time, those bags were called avoska . The key selling points of avoska were durability and almost endless capacity. Who knew these would end up on the runway in mid 2010s?  Dubbed a 'granny bag', you can pay a pretty penny for a piece by the trendsetters Vetements but I personally feel just as stylish sporting my silver net bag from Topshop for just £19, with even cheaper options available out there like this bag from Arket for £5. Staying trendy has never been more affordable! Arket Urban Outfitters My Topshop bag  Staud Staud-like Mango Céline Vetements

With spring hesitating to make its way to most of Europe, it’s particularly interesting how straw bags penetrated the outside-of-the-beach fashion this spring-summer season. Seen in collections of leading global fashion brands and contemporary designers and worn by numerous fashion bloggers and industry professionals straw is definitely all the rage at the moment. However, these aren’t the straw bags as you know them, designed using combinations with leather and metal hardware these items are as clearly non-beach fashion as your favourite bobble hat. The Italian medium-price brand Coccinelle’s expanded their usual selection of B14 and Arlettis bags with quite a few beautiful models of bags featuring straw. My favourite from the straw range: Ambrine straw bag New this season, Coccinelle created quite a few variations of this model featuring a multi-layered flap and a gold buckle. It looks so refined and sophisticated and definitely has the look and fe

In the era of viral fame and Insta-popularity should we be surprised that some brands gain instantaneous global recognition and prominence within a couple of years if not months?  Off-White is definitely one of such brands-gone-viral. However, nowadays when everyone is their own artist, promoter and publisher, what made this particular brand stand out from the crowd? Off-White are almost aggressive in manifesting their street style and are really close to the type of trash fashion popularised by Demna Gvasalia with 2 brands under his creative direction – Vetements and Balenciaga. Bags featuring binder clips, sneakers with cable ties, TPU overlaid pumps – that’s just some of the items that were unimaginable within the fashion context just a couple of years back. Tornadic popularity of brands such as Off-White and Vetements reflects the tiredness of a major cluster of people, youngsters in particular, of conventional glamour. The trend that’s also illustrated by som