Fashion: The sky’s the limit

SOME things are so integrated into the Edinburgh life that it’s hard to imagine the city without them.

The Castle embedded on its chunk of rock, the Scott Monument towering over the Gardens, Tynecastle, Easter Road, the bustle of Princes Street . . .

Swing around the corner to St Andrew Square and the glassy facade of Harvey Nichols seems like it’s been there forever. It’s hard now to recall the designer desert – with a few precious exceptions – that greeted fashion fans a decade ago, when Edinburgh and Glasgow battled it out in a very public spat to become the destination for the outlet’s Scottish flagship shop.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Of course there would be only one winner. This year marks the store’s tenth anniversary in Edinburgh, but rather than roll out the birthday cake, the celebrations will take a far more appropriate fashion-inspired theme.

Wednesday sees the return after a two-year break of the Harvey Nichols fashion show. A must-do, “must be seen at” event for city fashionistas, when the shop’s subterranean car park is cleared to become designer heaven and the pick of the coming season’s prints and styles is paraded on the runway.

There’ll be body-con strapless dresses and sleek Stella McCartney “optical illusion” eveningwear – the kind so embraced by Hollywood and red carpet A-listers – sharing catwalk space with cute printed boy shorts and funky skyscraper heels.

Of course as this is Harvey Nichols, we’re talking the higher end of the price scale. But according to a store spokesman, the small matter of a global financial crisis hasn’t stopped the shop’s year-on-year figures continuing to head in an upwards direction.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

So, grab those Louboutins, squeeze into the Stella McCartney and sashay like an A-lister with your posh designer bag. After all, it’s not every day you’re ten.

Harvey Nichols spring/summer fashion show is on Wednesday, from 7pm. Tickets £20 (redeemable against purchase) from Harvey Nichols Edinburgh and Ticketweb. Spend more than £100 and receive a complimentary bottle of Harvey Nichols bubbly (conditions apply). For further information call 0131-524 8388.

Credits: Stylist – Kevin Stewart. Hair – Mark Woolley using Electric Hair London. Make-up – Frankie Edwards using Shu Uemura. Model – Fern Calderwood @ Model Team. Shot at Harvey Nichols Edinburgh