I wanted to quash the rumours in my head but the inevitable has happened. My heart says it’s all wrong but in my head, I know it’s the right decision. It’s just that I didn’t think it would happen so soon. I want to plead and call out ‘Stay…. for my sake!’ but I know deep down that it’s time to let go.
Quite possibly the most melodramatic intrO I’ve written but apt for the news I’m bearing. It was talked about, hinted AT and rumoured but it has NOW been confirmed; Preen has decided to show in New York starting from September. How Justin Thornton (one half of Preen along with Thea Bragazzi) broke my heart:
"We’re always looking for ways to push things forward and build the label. We’ve been looking into doing something like this for a few seasons and suddenly, everything just fell into place. We work on gut instinct and, happy as we are in London, we’re really excited about the move; it just feels right."
Whilst I can sort of concede that showing in New York would be beneficial from a commercial point of view, I do wonder how much more exposure will showing in New York offer Preen seeing as the schedule is completed packed with shows running over into the other. A good example would be Boudicca’s move to New York who did the NY move in 2005 for AW04 but for two seasons now has moved back to Europe to go on the Paris Haute Couture schedule. They said that ‘The fit with New York just wasn’t right anymore.’ If I’m going to be brutally honest, my suspicions are that they didn’t garner enough commercial interest and that New York just wasn’t ready for Boudicca. It was an aesthetic mis-match and they’re much better off showing as they do on the Paris Haute Couture schedule where the week is more concise and concentrated.
Design-wise, I wouldn’t say Preen is a million miles away from what we see in New York but then that may be a bad thing, to not be able to stand out in the way that they should do amongst the gazillion designers who show at NYFW. What if Preen becomes a dot in a long list of shows that people might give a miss to go to say Michael Kors instead (the horror!). Like Boudicca, they have a strong conviction in what they do with their collections, always looking back and re-working their archives, not necessarily going with the tide of trends which is representative of a core group of designers in based in London like Boudicca, Jean Pierre Braganza, Jens Laugesen and with Preen and Boudicca gone, it seems that collective is diminishing and being sorely-underepresented.
However, I guess I’ll grimace and say ‘Onwards and upwards’ and see what the show will be like come September 6th at The Soho Grand in New York (this news has actually sent me wildly searching for cheapo flights – would it be a tad on the extravagant side to fly to New York for that one show?). Let’s hope Seven aren’t the only ones who appreciate Preen out there (their stock of Preen is impressively comprehensive!). It’s a farewell for now. I know you have to go but one day, I hope you will find it in your heart to come on home.
