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LONDON, United Kingdom — On the Instagram account for Hill & Friends — the new accessories label set up by Mulberry's former creative director Emma Hill and Georgia Fendley, the company's ex-brand director — a fan said she couldn't "wait for the BIG reveal." As Hill was responsible for several of Mulberry's successful 'it' bags, among them the Alexa and the Del Rey, it's safe to say the person who left the comment isn't the only one who has been looking forward to Hill's return. And with the most powerful editors in the industry in attendance at today's presentation, the launch seems set to catapult Hill & Friends onto magazine pages and important arms in no time.
For customers, there’s no need to wait either, as two bags in six styles were made available on Net-a-Porter and Hill & Friends' own website immediately after the show — another facet of the launch that added to the feeling that these were people who know the industry, who know the customer base and who are willing to address today's media reality, where the speed of the Internet often pushes people to move onto the next big thing before "new" product is even available for purchase. Overall, this was a flawlessly executed launch.
And yet, one was left with a certain feeling of déjà vu. The location of the presentation, Claridge's Hotel, was where Mulberry used to show, and the all-pink decorations built on the same artistic idea of mixing luxury and cartoonish irreverence as Hill's Mulberry. The bags featured padlocks (just as some Mulberry bags did) with the Hill & Friends smiley face logo — the face winks as you open and close the bag — and were shown by male models dressed as bellboys, carrying them on plates or just slung en masse over their shoulders. As the show progressed, one started to suspect there would be dogs on the catwalk, as was always the case at Mulberry. There weren't. Instead we got miniature ponies that (hilariously) dragged the poor model along as they careened back to the safety of backstage.
