A fashion S.O.S. – Try ASOS

Those of you who don’t live in the UK may not be familiar with ASOS (I say it like one word  as in A-SOS) – it stands for As Seen on Screen.  It does exactly what it says on the tin – reproduce styles of clothing as seen on celebrities to bring it to us common folk.  Now I’ve never been particularly interested in ASOS myself because a) of the whole ‘Buy our product if you want to look like a second rate copy of Nicole Richie’ thang, b) I don’t understand why people would want to replicate someone else’s style as opposed to finding something that suits them – this has ALWAYS baffled me and c) well….without sounding snobbish, the whole site looks kind of cheap and a bit rubbish really. 

However, ASOS decided to darken my doorstep – I had to sit through a two hour presentation today at work given by ASOS, showing us the full rundown of what ASOS is all about and what they plan to be blah blah blah (my company does the digital marketing for ASOS).  We got to look at the products in person and have long winded conversations all ASOS-related.  Suffice to say, I am now all ASOS-ified. 

For research, I spent two hours going through the site meticulously but then I found myself…….. ACTUALLY being attracted to some stuff.  I admit, I get the premise of the whole thing – impressionable young women picking up Heat magazine, reading about Mischa Barton’s latest *yawn* red carpet outfits or seeing what Sienna was wearing when canoodling with Jude/Hayden/Random and lo and behold – ASOS to the rescue with a pair of Mischa-esque flats or Sienna-inspired leggings.  Girls are able to say ‘OMG…that top is SOOOOOO Kate Moss’ and not be too far off.  Me personally?  I was just judging the clothes by themselves and I don’t really need a little celeb pic to throw me in the right direction.  Par example:

Wanna look like Naomi Watts?

Well you too can get a Roland Mouret inspired dress for £35 in black, navy, white  – it’s got buttons down the front – well isn’t it just a spitting image of Naomi’s?  Of course you wouldn’t buy it otherwise would you if we didn’t stick a picture of Naomi looking pretty here.   

The dress is really quite fine by itself.  There is no need for the celeb prompt!  My gripe with most things on the site is the bad styling and the horrible catalogue poses of the models.  However giving it the benefit of doubt  I have inspected the clothing in person, I can say it’s H&M bordering on Topshop quality – no cheap lycra and unravelling seams here. 

Here are some more ‘celeb’ inspired pieces:

   

It seems like every teenager in the world wants to look like a Marissa or  a Summer.  ASOS has the answers with a chiffon pleat dress for £30 and a slinky jersey tunic for £11 (on sale).  The sleeves on the ‘Rachel’ dress are pretty cute but it looks nothing like what Rachel is wearing – again, why bother adding the ‘look like a celeb’ tag on it at all?  The Mischa dress just crossed over the ‘looking tarty’ line but again, that could just be the bad styling of the model. 

Here are some of my fave picks:

Keisha from the Sugababes (a UK girl pop trio) inspired this bib skirt and you can get it for £25.  Marc Jacobs had something very similar in his spring summer collection so this would be a good budget option.  The UK has only just begun to catch onto Olsen style fever so this Ashley-inspired tulip skirt was a surprise – and for only £8 on sale (comes in black and white), I just couldn’t resist so I bought it.  I actually prefer ASOS’ version because it has the cute gold buttons.   

ASOS also boasts a cute shoe section.  Here’s the best of the bunch. 

Neither of these shoes resemble what Reese Witherspoon and Anna Friel are wearing but as we have discovered, that is not the point!  These are cute shoes in their own right (the ribbon ones flats are £18 and come in cream, navy and red, the patent ones are also £18 and come in red, mustard and black). 

There are also some things which aren’t particularly inspired by anyone (which makes more sense to me anyway) but are also very nice indeed! 

The theme du jour seems to be French Riviera here.  Yes, it’s not very original but if you live in more rural parts of the UK, ASOS could be the answer to your prayers.  (From left to right: Washed frill dress £28, frill edge dress £22 (comes in lovely shades of pink, white and silvery grey), frayed edge pin tuck dress on sale for £16 and a stripy ruffle backless top £25).   

   

  Of course, there is some real rubbish on the site as well including a wild array of odd faux leather bags.  They also need to realise that Sienna Miller post-boho is not so much a style icon as she is a confused fashion victim.  I mean this homage to her outfit that she wore whilst romping around with Hayden Christensen is just embarrassing.

Oh dear me…..with this uber long post I seemed to have given the impression that I have a thing for ASOS.  Rest assured, this was just an intriguing foray into my ever increasing curiosity as to   why the whole world wants to look like Mischa/Nicole/Sienna/Olsens/Any other IT girl celeb.