A Grown Up Floral at Mother Of Pearl

motherofperal-thewomensroom-imagevogue

AW16, Image via Vogue.com

Hard to believe, I know, but it’s sale time again. It is happening quite early for fashion because it’s (yet again) not been a great season, what with us all cutting back, getting nervous about Europe and, well everything else (insert your own current worry here, globally, the choice is extensive).

But let’s not get too miserable, Fenwicks Bond Street has gone on sale before Royal Ascot (one of its big retail moments, the current posh hats windows are rather lovely) for the first time I can remember, useful if you are heading to a race track this week. Winter stock is also on the floor, walking down Bond Street, many stores had winter in the windows. And retail wonders why things are not great? *bonkers*.

Fenwicks also has Mother Of Pearl on sale, which gives me the chance to highlight this brand at a time when the price drops from ‘you’re having a laugh’ to ‘hmm, let’s try it on then”, although only if you are really treating yourself.

Finding a grown up floral is darn hard. Regular readers will know, I learned to appreciate a good floral at Laura Ashley, back in the day when LA (as Mrs Ashley was known) would supervise the print room selection and the fabric was printed in Wales. Part of my remit was to decide if a mis-aligned print was good enough to sell or not, and it put me off bad printing, poorly drawn flowers and muddy colours for life.

Mother Of Pearl do a good, modern, grown up floral. The brand, founded by Maia Norman (ex Mrs Hirst), is now under the hand of creative director Amy Powney. The aesthetic is a mash up between sportswear and old-school Laura Ashley, via Tate Modern. Fabrics are gorgeous, so they should be at the price and you do have to cherry pick your way through the weirder stuff, but if you are fond of a floral and want to stay contemporary, it is worth a look.

mydress-motherofpearl

I bought the above silk shirt dress in the sale. It’s thick crepe de chine silk and printed with a beautiful blue and greeny-grey floral -exquisitely drawn and printed on a white background. It has poppers rather than buttons, turn back cuffs and is just the right length – on the knee.

It was still very expensive at half price (£225) but I know I’ll make this work very hard. I can wear it like a shirt over cropped jeans or white capri pants, and I have a couple of smarter summer events coming up I need a good dress for, this will be perfect with smart sandals. It’s only strike against is it has no pockets…I know, Amy if you are listening, all dresses need pockets, something you learn with age.

sleeve

I can’t find it anywhere on line, so if you like the look of it you will need to head to Bond Street ASAP, as I suspect at 50% off it wont hang about.

If you like the look of the brand, The Outnet has some interesting sale buys, including the embroidered velvet sneaker and the silk georgette blouse, that aren’t too scary and Matches has a small selection on sale. Net-A-Porter has the range too, so perhaps bookmark it for when its sale starts. The AW16 range, which the top image is from, looks to be even more fabulous.

 

5 Comments

  • Sue says:

    I love this brand, Amanda, but have never bought anything (for obvious reasons). Your dress looks truly gorgeous. And, you must wear it whenever possible. Thank goodness I am not anywhere near Fenwicks this week…

  • Amanda says:

    I’ve been scouring ebay for cheaper ways to buy too, Sue, but don’t tell anyone else! Ax

  • Sue says:

    The Shoescribe sale currently has MOP skate shoe sneakers in all sizes, pretty much, at -50% reduction…

  • LOOOOVE MOP and I’m so not a floral girl. I do like their graphics though, and sporty bomber jackets!

  • I was quite impressed while I was going through this wonderful editorial. This floral attire looks adorable on you as it gives a cool feeling in hot summer month. Thanks for good tips.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *