Up their own arses beyond belief. It’s TopShop for Christ’s sake, not Balenciaga. I emailed different people at the office four times, and called seven times over two days to get ONE lousy press release, which never appeared. And this problem is not germane to the Kate Moss collection, it’s always been like this.
I suppose one could grudgingly admire their across-the-board incompetence crossed with a certain fuck off insouciance (ignoring both the poor interns toiling at the coal face of the fashion cupboard AND editors), but personallyI do expect a little help to enable me to do my job accurately & professionally. (When I’m speaking on the BBC World Service to over 25 million people, I want to know that I’ve got my facts right.)
Needless to say I was invited by the lovely people at Barneys to the Kate Moss party last night. I doubt the UK Topshop press office even note which journalists file to the UK from abroad. That would be FAR too intelligent a concept for their tiny little minds to process.*
It really gets my goat that the British fashion press are so scared of losing their TopShop 250 cards (40% press discount) that they hardly ever criticise ToSho in print. Sure, TopShop can be good, brilliant even, but it’s not consistently so, as the Kate Moss collection neatly encapsulates, so the press office might like to consider keeping the press onside by being efficient rather than by bribing them.
* Nov 07 ADDENDUM: Unlike the UK Banana Republic Press Office who do exactly that, for example.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Well given that their head of press was a wanker at his previous place of employment — should any of us be surprised?
LLG,
You are a treasure! It amazes me that people in your fashion world do the same stupid and inconsiderate things that people in my world do. Answering an email or saying thank you are small but gracious things that are too often ignored.
You are opening a whole new world for me. Your writing is delicious.
I couldn’t agree more. Whenever I have called them it’s seemed like it’s too much effort just to answer the phone. Also, they don’t seem to know what’s happening. I once asked them about a Celia Birtwell collection and they gave me incorrect information.
It’s all overpriced catwalk rip offs anyway.