Meet Topshop’s Style Advisors

In a piece in the New York Times yesterday, scribe Eric Wilson looks at the stylistic phenomenon that is Topshop. In light of last week’s opening-day hysteria, Wilson embarks on an exploration of exactly what makes Topshop so undeniably appealing to a certain demographic. “The company’s ability to cast itself as less a store than a service station for style, with its own spokesmodel, the Kate Moss Factory for Fast Fashion,” is essentially the brand’s preeminent edge. Rather than hiring sales associates, the shop employs a slew of ‘style advisers.’ “Their mission is to spread the gospel of mixing orange with pink,” Wilson writes, tongue firmly in cheek.

“Basically, I am obsessed with fashion,” one particular “advisor” tells Wilson. Her stateside Topshop counterparts all echo this statement, all the while emphasizing the idea that the key ingredient of any great outfit is personal style. Essentially, what Wilson excavates is the foresight of Sir Philip Green, Topshop’s CEO, to hire fashionable twenty-somethings as brand ambassadors. Most shoppers will happily admit that a stellar shopkeeper, whatever their title, can make a shopping experience. And in Topshop’s case, the helpers in question come with actual style cred. Also of note: the slideshow that accompanies the article and features close to a dozen “style advisors.” While each advisor is attractive, thin, and showcases a certain amount of individual style, there is an evident method to their aesthetic madness: lots of layers topped off with a belt to emphasize their slim figures. In other words, all of the above serves to suggest that Topshop’s style can most definitely be boiled down to a science.