Top 5 wishlist for August

Some achievable, some not-so achievable:

Topshop 'Psychic' black studded ankle boots £110

Chanel 'Boy' bag in white (and/or red) £1525

Tina Lilienthal silver skull and arrow necklace £66Barbour flyweight tartan beadnell jacket £179.95

Topshop honey glossy faux fur cossack hat £22

I'm back!

I know, I completely disappeared from the blogging scene for a while there but I never forgot about material for my blog the whole time (I promise). I started working full time in MANGO and having a lot of traveling time to and from work, to be quite honest, the thoughts of doing anything beyond sleeping when I get home has been quite a chore. 

However, having collected so much material and with so much to report on, I am going to discipline myself to get back on it. Here's Scarlett Johansson for the cover of MANGO's magazine. I bought these perfectly on-trend boots! Let me know what you think of them...

Footwear Fall '09 continued.

"Sandals? In Fall?" I hear you say. But yes, your eyes are not deceiving you so don't pack away your summer ones just yet. Designers have this season taken into consideration that some climates don't require boots. (And yes, that is a sock underneath those sandals so we can no longer cringe at our fathers.)As stated previously, the runway saw lots of new forms and interesting shapes. The "basic" pump was not excluded from this emphasis place on the heels. Shooties are not quite ankle boots and play a strong role in the transition from Spring/Summer to Fall. 

As expected, the ankle boot made its return. Notice the use of cut-out sections and straps which add a bit of sex appeal. As well as this, lace-ups are having their moment again with slight variances in the placement of the laces. I liked the subtle neon pink lace used in the top left example from Paul Smith - a more managable approach to neon brights for Fall.

Footwear Fall '09

This season's footwear is anything but bland, whether studded, crystallised, ruffled or cut out, there are so many new styles to explore.

Possibly the most important style for the upcoming season are the thigh-high boots which were seen all over the runway. I still have a pair of Topshop black suede ones from a couple of years ago although they are flat so no doubt I'll be tempted to invest in a smarter pair. My favourite ones were from Hussein Chalayan, second from the left. 

Designers really went all out when it came to designing the platform and heels this season. It's all about interesting forms and a new spin on giving height including  very vertical needle thin heels.
Black PVC, snake skin and lots and lots of straps. Perhaps a tougher look to the gladiator sandals of Summer. Can't wait to see what the high street has to offer. 

Customer Insight

Being an ambassador of Customer Service and keeping the customer at the forefront of retail and design, I was extremely excited to hear a panel discussion on the matter. 

(The discussion featured Alex Gourley - CE of Health & Beauty at Boots; Doug Hargrove - Chief Marketing Officer at Torex and Gerry Johnson - Managing Director at Waterstone's).

To me the most interesting point raised was on how to enhance the customer's experience through loyalty benefits such as the Waterstones' card and Boots Advantage card. It was stressed that it is vital that you have all other aspects of a customer's experience in your store covered and that loyalty cards should not look to replace or make up for lack of service elsewhere.

Further to this, cards give vital information to the likes of Waterstones as to how the individual shops; their preferences and buying patterns. Waterstones give recommendations (Amazon stylee) based on this knowledge. N.B. I found it surprising that Boots doesn't use data from the cards in this manner since the Boots Advantage card is so popular. Perhaps this is where they can learn from Waterstones' experience...??