We haven’t had a wedding picture for a while. Ben in an olive Churchill three piece and a nice little Peckham Rye tie.
Tue, 20th Apr
Tue, 26th Jan
A little more news from the pews of Social Suicide.
According to the BBC (font of all knowledge and fluctuating statistics) yesterday was the most unhappy day of the year. It was also Simon’s and my birthday – yes, we share a business AND we share a birthday. Well, the “unhappiness” combined with the hangover have made for a little less perky newsletter this morning. For which I apologise. In my defence, I will cite* that it does, at least, have content…
Exclusive and Inclusive Days Out
Shoreditch House becomes the SS store, and the SS store becomes a sample sale… more
Stitch This
A new men’s fashion show in London this February… more
The Industry Speaks
Canvas8, a trend forecaster, sites us as an example of… more
Badminton
Fancy a game? A lovely photo shoot at Badminton… more
Haiti
A little fundraising activity… more
Fan Mail
And in our “… and finally” section, a cracking piece of fan-mail… more
(* Yes, thank you to all those that pointed out my previous misspelling of ‘cite’. However, I would like it understood that much of this was written at 4am on the morning after my birthday which happens to fall on Burns Night – 1/4 ton of haggis, 1/2 bottle of whisky and 3 hours sleep and I may not have been at my peak!)
Tue, 26th Jan
Folks, we’ve a busy weekend in store for SS aficionados. Two different events on different sides of the city.
SHOREDITCH HOUSE
Firstly, a treat for Soho House Group members and a limited “first come, first serviced” guest list.
This Saturday and Sunday (30th-31st Jan), Shoreditch House have invited us and our Dictators of Fashion winter collection into their Snug. We’re offering discounts over and above our daily Dictator Discount that amount to 40% or more.
If you are not a member but would like to be put on the House guest-list, please e-mail us on commit@socialsuicide.co.uk or use the “functionality” (there’s some sarcasm there) of Facebook.
… AND SAMPLE SALE
And at the same time, we’re clearing out the Ganton Street store and filling it with samples and seconds at up to 90% off. The address is 8 Ganton Street, London W1F 7QP, there’s a map here and it’s open 11-7pm Sat and 12-6pm Sunday.
Tue, 26th Jan
A little news for our wholesale buyers:
This February we will be exhibiting at a new menswear show to London, Stitch, on the 14th and 15th Feb at Old Billingsgate. Please do come along and see us and the other brands exhibiting there.
This is our quote that they have used for their marketing. I took a dictation from Winston Churchill.
“Simon and I are absolutely delighted to find, at last, a menswear show that is not only based in London but also has a distinctly British feel. About time too. Some of the best work in the world has been coming out of this small island and now we can hopefully say the same about our shows. We’re really looking forward to the inaugural show in February. It’s going to be great. STITCH this.”
Tue, 26th Jan
Canvas8 are global trend spotters. They spotted us and wrote a very complimentary piece but as they run on protected content and subscription, I enclose some abridged content. Many thanks.
“Hipster shop Social Suicide in Soho, London, has experimented with discounts dictated by the weather and the public respectively. Their creative advertising campaigns have proved remarkably successful…
… the shop was started up in 2007 and offers quality tailor-made suits with surprising, humorous details and rather provocative undertones – fancy dressing the part of fascist dictator Mussolini? The brand aims to ‘make clothes for debate, for comment, to open people’s eyes’, according to a post on the blog, which is written in an informal and very personal style by co-director Matthew Grey…
… These incentives are a good example of brand strategy that complements the product: both the garments and campaigns tell a story and invite debate and, crucially, ensure the retailer maintains its credibility and authenticity.”
Tue, 26th Jan
Mark Anthony Bradley styled this cracking shoot at Badminton back in mid-December. I can’t get hold of Mark and I’m really hoping that it’s now OK for us to show it. If it comes down in a hurry, you’ll know why!
The dresses aren’t ours but about everything else is. Click the image for a close-up. Fabulous.
Tue, 26th Jan
We’ve been giving 10% of our takings to help the children of Haiti for the last week and will continue for a little bit longer. It’s not something that we’ve been in a position to do very often in our short life and I really hope that it helps.
Haiti was ruled for almost 15 years by one of the most oppressive regimes of recent times. François Duvalier, aka Papa Doc was “President for Life” from the late 1950s and was then succeeded in the mid 70s by his not-much-better son “Baby Doc”. Enforcing rule with military and rural militias, voodoo, constitutional change and corruption, they bought an already poor nation and it’s people to their knees. The Duvaliers are a direct cause of much of Haiti’s poverty which has greatly exacerbated the nation’s current plight.
Since we’re having a light hearted poke at the world’s dictators, it seems appropriate that we support the very real victims of Haiti as best we can.
Oh, and if you do donate via us, please fill out one of the Gift Aid forms, it can add and extra 28p to your pound!
Tue, 26th Jan
I know it’s mean to laugh but this came through the letterbox last Saturday and we’ve been sniggering like school girls since. Such sincerity! But the poor thing clearly didn’t read the sub-text. Avert your eyes if you’re squeamish.
Mon, 7th Dec
It’s sale time again!
But, as you may know, this summer we discounted our Weather collection in line with the daily temperature (25deg = 25%, etc.). The challenge now, of course, is what to do for our Dictators collection?
Well, as of today, we’re putting ourselves in the hands of “General Jo Public” and the more the General talks about us, the more mentions we get, the more we’ll discount. Twitter, Facebook, blogs, the major news channels, the lot. The more you say, the less you pay. All you have to do is a little Twittering or better still blogging… or better still BBC News at 10ing, and we will bow to your command.
UPDATE, Jan 2010
We’ve had a revelation. Rather than our software trawling the internet for mentions, we’ve realised that all roads lead to home. i.e. If we get an increase in traffic on our web site ipso-facto, the more more press we’re getting. So, we’ve turned off our analytics and you can ignore the below.
“For the skeptical, we have several search feeds running for mentions of us – “Social Suicide”, “socialsuicide.co.uk”, Dictators of Fashion”, “General J. Public”, “Dictator Discount”, etc.- and we’ve applied a weighting to each medium. i.e. Facebook counts less than The Guardian and an article two days ago counts less than one today. This way, with a bit of maths, we get a percentage discount. At the time of writing, with just normal whittering and warbling, we’re running at 17%.”
Tue, 1st Dec
Here I sit in Mumbai, working away, presenting you with a little news from the past month. But, unlike London, it’s about 30ºC, clear and breezy. You’ll have to forgive me if I’m unseasonably jolly. First up:
New, New, New
New website, new online store, new shop fit and new collection… more
Lost & Found
This months lost property list… more
More Lovely People
Another month of patrons:
• Maxi Jazz
Faithless’s lead singer Maxi Jazz has turned into a customer big time. It seems God is not longer a DJ, he is a tailor… more
• Thrillist TV
The boys at Thrillist NY do a regular NBC slot… more
• Bow to the Bow
The bow tie makes a resurgence this season, starting with us… more
Love & Peace take a rain-check
Christmas has the wind knocked out of it in the storms… more
Boutique (homme)
Our newest and largest outlet in Paris get off to a flying start… more
And Finally – One Wedding, No Funerals
Wow. The story of the 11th hour, 59th minute and 59th second… more