Fashion Alert: Finery London launches

Attention all fashion fans. There’s a new brand on the block and you’re going to love it. Finery London is an online-only super-chic collection displaying that elusive merge of a fashion-forward premium feel with wearable, super-accessible street-style and they are doing it oh-so-well indeed. You’d better bookmark this site if you’re a COS girl, a Whistles girl or a Zara girl (so that’s all of you, right?).

The story behind the brand is something of a fairytale for those involved. A group of investors headhunted some of the most influential names on the British high street – Finery Brand Director, Caren Downie is ex Fashion Director at ASOS and Head of Buying at Topshop, and Emma Farrow, Finery Head of Design, was previously in the same role for Topshop. Both of these rather brilliant fashion mavens joined forces with Rachel Morgans, as Head of Buying, and were given virtually free rein to create their vision of the perfect brand. And dare we say, they may have pulled it off!

What sets this brand apart from others you ask? It’s a varied mix of factors. First, and most vital in my view, is that they have managed to offer very high quality product and forward thinking creative design at quite an unbelievable price point. In fact, you will look twice at the prices – I initially thought there might have been some typos on the site!

When I asked Caren and Emma how they managed to keep their prices so low, they explained that it is the fact of knowing fabric as they do, and their existing connections with designers and suppliers in the UK and abroad – this shared experience creates an alchemy that works to produce quality pieces at reasonable cost.

On their fabrics, and how they are conscious of making the garments as lovely inside as outside, Rachel says, ?online you really need to exceed the customer’s expectations – they’re making a bit of a leap of faith to shop because they can’t feel the product first, so we want to reward them.?

The second element that makes Finery London stand out is their brand values. It has a refreshing authenticity and this shows through the site and in the clothes themselves. The site itself contains a section of Chapters – editorial sound bites containing tidbits of style tips as well as blogs from the Finery crew. They get the meaning and importance for a brand to be a storyteller, and that’s a good thing.

On what sets Finery London apart, Caren says, ?I think we understand that women don’t shop by age, it’s more about their personality. I don’t want to be chasing the colour of the season – I want it to stand for being individual.?
They also say, ?Timeless shouldn’t mean safe. We think it means great ideas realized in the best way. And we don’t think that clothes should just ?exist?. We believe in the creative process – not everyone does, but we think integrity and quality matter.? Props sisters!

We think this fashion newbie will soon graduate to fashion heavyweight at something close to warp speed. Add Finery London to your bookmarks stat!

@elliebalfe is spending her Finery Notes right now – you can get 15% off your first order by signing up to the site – Go!