Cheeky catwalk copies
As Kate and Cara model for High St store Mango, the secret of its sudden success
The suede trench coat is the colour of caramel. It glides over my arms like silken thread, skimming my hips and cinching at the waist with its draped belt. Beside me hangs a grey, cable-knit poncho made from alpaca wool. It, too, is baby-soft, light as a cloud and warm as a winter duvet, with a chunky, fringed edge and neck tie.
all around are pieces that catch my eye: a tasselled shoulder bag in burnt orange; knee-high boots made from buttery leather; a smart, brass-buttoned pea coat that embodies military style.
I could be in an uber-chic designer store, wistfully browsing rails of items I’ve no hope of ever affording. But I’m not. I’m in Mango — my secret shopping spot for autumn essentials.
Much has changed since the brand, founded in Barcelona in 1984, launched in Britain 15 years ago.
Clinging then to the coat-tails of spanish rival Zara, which had a twoyear head- start, it failed to make much of a mark on the High street.
But in the years that followed, Mango started to up its game. spanish fashion was having a moment — figures released this month show a 26 per cent spike in profits at fashion giant Inditex, which owns Zara and Massimo dutti — and it wanted a part in the resurgence.
Mango’s bland- but- dependable basics were replaced by fashionforward prints, opulent fabrics and high- quality cuts, which sent sales soaring — up by 9 per cent in the past two years, with recent figures topping £1.5 billion annually worldwide.
Celebrities have cottoned on to Mango’s appeal: actresses scarlett Johansson and Penelope Cruz, model Miranda Kerr — even the impeccably-dressed Queen Letizia of spain has been pictured in the brand.
It has since overhauled its website, l aunched a smartphone app — allowing shoppers to scan a barcode then buy the item online — and announced plans to invest £219 million in new stores over the next 12 months. Mango mania, it seems, has well and truly set in.
LITTLE wonder, then, that its latest advertising campaign features not one but two models- of- themoment, Kate Moss and Cara delevingne — a coup that is rather telling about its standing in the style stakes. The pair caused a storm when they appeared in Milan last week for a boutique opening — Cara, 23, in a black minidress and 41-year-old Kate in an androgynous monochrome suit.
Though all eyes were on Kate’s somewhat bedraggled appearance — age seemed finally to have caught up with the supermodel, who had puffy, grey skin and crow’s feet — there could be no doubting the star quality they brought to proceedings.
The campaign is the first time the pair have teamed up since last year’s iconic Burberry advert (which saw them cavorting together in nothing but beige trench coats) — but the move to Mango is perhaps not as surprising as it seems.
For its new autumn/winter range has an awful lot in common with recent catwalk looks — so much so that some of i ts i tems seem almost indistinguishable.
and, better still, they come at a fraction of the price . . .