What this shirt exposes about the corrupt world of fashion

Published: 23:58 BST, 15 September 2013 | Updated: 07:54 BST, 16 September 2013

The Burberry Prorsum shirt on the catwalk. It's made from silk crepe and costs £495

Snap! By 権利s, it should be the worst fashion faux pas you could ever commit.

To appear in public in an 即時に recognisable outfit that has already been worn by everyone else. And I mean everyone else.

So it’s curious that so many famous men and women have chosen 一団となって／一緒に, like crazed label-loving lemmings, to wear a heart-print shirt by Burberry Prorsum, a 衣料品 that first appeared on the London catwalk in February this year.

Victoria Beckham wore hers ― white hearts on brown ― earlier this month en 大勝する to New York Fashion Week.

One Direction’s Harry Styles wore his ― white hearts on blue ― at his birthday party in February and the 黒人／ボイコット 見解／翻訳／版 to the 首相 of his new movie a month ago.

And just last week, Donna 空気／公表する wore hers to a high profile charity auction …に出席するd by Prince William and Prince Harry, 確実にするing the shirt got 最大限 publicity. ?

Lily Collins, actress and daughter of Phil Collins, modelled her white hearts on a 黒人／ボイコット shirt in July, and Rosie Huntington-W hiteley wore a heart print mac this month in a Japanese magazine.

The heart motif also comes on a pair of hot pants, as seen on singer Rita Ora in July and TV presenter Caroline Flack in August.

And as London Fashion Week rolls on with its usual bang, you can bet your 底（に届く） dollar more than one celebrity or fashionista will be seen at the shows modelling something with this 独特の heart 形態／調整 emblazoned on it.

Now, of course, all these fashion movers and shakers could have tapped into the same 傾向 and decided they 簡単に could not live without a heart-形態／調整d print.

The shirt, from the autumn/winter collection, is made from silk crepe, has a rubberised PVC collar and costs £495 (an awful lot of money for something that’s so ubiquitous).

While it went on sale 公式に only last month, it has sold out. Don’t despair, though, as you can still buy the heart print on gloves and 捕らえる、獲得するs too.

LOOKS FAMILIAR: Harry Styles (left) wore his Burberry Prorsum at his birthday party in February; Victoria Beckham (権利) wore hers earlier this month on 大勝する to New York Fashion Week

Which makes me wonder whether the sudden mania for this print was not all part of some cleverly orchestrated marketing （選挙などの）運動をする, designed to give Burberry 支援する some of its cachet, its 冷静な／正味の factor ― given that, of late, it became so bling in its 願望（する） to 控訴，上告 to the Chinese and ロシアのs that it was in 墓／厳粛／彫る／重大な danger of losing its ‘fashionista’ 控訴，上告.

When I asked Burberry whether or not the 衣料品s had been given to the likes of Victoria Beckham and the One Direction 星／主役にする, they 拒絶する／低下するd to comment. But によれば sources at Syco, One Direction’s 記録，記録的な／記録する label, Harry’s Burberry shirts were indeed gifts.

The shirt was sent to Victoria, 解放する／自由な of 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金, too. That is just the way the cookie 崩壊するs, although we all know these people never eat carbs.

Anyone who has worked in fashion knows that the elab orate dance ― or romance, if you will ― of ‘gifting’ 星／主役にするs, fashion editors and stylists is commonplace. Burberry has gifted very generously over the years.

When the brand showed its collection in a テント in Milan, I remember sitting a couple of 列／漕ぐ／騒動s from the 前線 when Peta anti-fur 抗議する人s 嵐／襲撃するd the catwalk.

As the young women were dragged off by the hair, the fashion 圧力（をかける） and celebrities in the 前線 列／漕ぐ／騒動, each with a Burberry こども at their feet, 拍手喝采する.

It was sickening, how easily everyone had been bought. Indeed, both Harry Styles and Victoria Beckham are 井戸／弁護士席 known for their love of a good freebie.

When Victoria lost her luggage at Heathrow, her stylist called Dolce & Gabbana and asked if they could ‘help’, which of course they did, 急ぐing a 完全にする wardrobe of new 着せる／賦与するs to her home, 完全に 解放する／自由な of 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金.

And One Direction’s 管理／経営 company has long lost count of the 捕らえる、獲得するs of designer 着せる／賦与するs and jewellery that arrive at their offices every day, in the hope one of the boys might wear them.

When I was editor of Marie Claire ten years ago, I was inundated with 解放する／自由な designer 捕らえる、獲得するs, 着せる／賦与するs, spa 治療s and even a holiday on a ヨット off Capri.

I received a Louis Vuitton traveller 価値（がある） £1,700, with LJ on the 扱う, embossed in gold. At first, I thought they’d made a （一定の）期間ing mistake with their logo, until I realised LJ was me.

The surprise is that gifting continues now, にもかかわらず a 後退，不況, and with many brands losing sales. In fact, it has 増加するd exponentially.

Last week, Donna 空気／公表する wore her Burberry Prorsum shirt to a high profile charity auction

‘You can see the rise in the importance of celebrity 裏書，是認 from the number of celebrity relations 経営者／支配人s 雇うd by fashion brands these days,’ says Antony Waller, brand 経営者／支配人 of London fashion label Bora Aksu.

‘I would say most brands are doing it and most celebrities 推定する／予想する it.’

The newest practice is known in the 商売／仕事 as ‘支払う／賃金ing for tweets’: a 星／主役にする, or even a fashion blogger, will get a freebie in 交流 for 地位，任命するing a picture of themselves wearing the gift.

As one celebrity 連絡事務 officer told me, ‘A Kim Kardashian can reach millions with just one tweet.’

The most cachet comes when a Middleton sister wears your brand.

While Kate does not 受託する freebies, her sister and mother have no such qualms, just look at the £195 Modalu 捕らえる、獲得するs they received 解放する／自由な of 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金 earlier this year.

In fact, of all the brand VIP 経営者／支配人s I spoke to, they could think of only one 星／主役にする who always turns 負かす／撃墜する a 解放する／自由な gift, and 示唆するs it be given in her 指名する to a charity instead: Cameron Diaz.

And if you think it’s just the 高級な Italian fashion houses that gift, think again. In the past two weeks, in the run up to London Fashion Week, I have been festooned with freebies.

Shall I reel them off, 世代-Game fashion? Let’s start with: a 黒人／ボイコット tuxedo, a grey cashmere sweater, a pencil skirt, a cream silk shirt and a ヒョウ print こども, all from 示すs & Spencer.

When I queried it, I was told it was hoped I would 激しく揺する up in M&S at this 週末’s fashion shows.

I was sent a green silk shirt by 白人指導者べったりの東洋人 共和国, beauty 製品s from YSL, 海軍 cashmere and Clarins 製品s from John 吊りくさび and, in the last few minutes, a designer who is showing in London on Monday has sent me this email: ‘選ぶ whatever you would like to wear from our website, and my office will send it to you in time for Monday’s show.’

Gifting so the fashion 圧力（をかける） will turn up to your event is now 推定する／予想するd. High Street brands put on ‘圧力（をかける） days’ to show their wares to 新聞記者／雑誌記者s, and when you leave you get a goody 捕らえる、獲得する.

Glossy magazine writers are now so spoilt that they often just 減少（する） the goody 捕らえる、獲得するs in 貯蔵所s on the way out to 論証する how ‘high end’ they are.

At a lunch hosted by Tamara Mellon for Jimmy Choo in LA, $50 保証人／証拠物件s for her shoes were left on every plate.

The young lingerie designer sat next to me said, ‘Do you want 地雷? I only ever wear Louboutins’. It’s all so 恐ろしい.

But challenge any one of these brands about their gifting 政策s, and you are met with 否定. Mulberry, who had a 星／主役にする-studded line up for the show at Claridge’s ballroom, always 否定する gifting people to carry and wear their wares, or to turn up to the show.

Their spokeswoman 主張するs Alexa Chung ― whose eponymous Mulberry 捕らえる、獲得する has long been the label’s biggest 販売人 and who appears not just on the 前線 列／漕ぐ／騒動 but at all the brand’s parties ― is not paid to be a fan.

I can’t help but find this hard to believe, given Chung’s 需要・要求する for £400,000 to be part of a （選挙などの）運動をする for a brand at Debenhams.

And take Versace. When I dared, some years ago, to 示唆する that the singer Prince had been flown to the show to sit 前線 列／漕ぐ／騒動, and put up in a room at the Ritz, the label’s PR company （機の）カム 負かす／撃墜する like a トン of bricks and 閉めだした me from all 未来 shows.

But Noel Gallagher’s ex-wife, the designer Meg Mathews, told a newspaper recently about her experience with the Italian designer in 1997: ‘They sent a 私的な jet and when I got to Milan I didn’t even have to walk through customs.

'I stayed at the Four Seasons Hotel and there was a dressmaker in my room with a rail of 着せる／賦与するs.

'They usually give you stuff to wear ― if you look at pictures of the 前線 列／漕ぐ／騒動 now, people are all wearing 着せる／賦与するs by the designer they’re watching.’

But is all this gifting やむを得ず a bad thing? Does it 事柄 if a few designers like to feel generous, and to see their 着せる／賦与する s on beautiful women (Giorgio Armani 報道によれば 申し込む／申し出d half a million 続けざまに猛撃するs to actress Jessica Chastain to wear his gown to the Oscars).

I believe gifting to the fashion 圧力（をかける） is 瀬戸際ing on 贈収賄. It skews the opinion of the very people who should be critics and taste-製造者s. Their 職業 should be steering shoppers に向かって 質 and value for money. Nothing I 令状 is ever 影響（力）d by anything I receive or don’t receive. I tell people I don’t want gifts but you can’t stop them, so I give them to charity.

Gifting happens in the beauty 産業, too. A 解放する／自由な trip to Paris for a perfume or skincare 開始する，打ち上げる, say, is all too often 直接／まっすぐに translated into column インチs.

Ever wondered why a 率直に awful Stella McCartney fashion show, 現在のing her autumn and winter designs in February’s London Fashion Week, received universally rave reviews? (Not from me, I 急いで to 追加する.) She sent a 一括 of unguents and scent from her new L.I.L.Y 範囲 to every ‘attendee’ the morning after, with a 手渡す-written 公式文書，認める 説 ‘thank you’.

It’s a 共謀, a 協定／条約, which means no one ever puts a 名簿（に載せる）／表（にあげる） of freebies, thanks very much, at the end of a rave review. Because that would break the （一定の）期間.

Don’t forget, too, that gifting must surely 押し進める up prices for the woman on the street who will not only never be sent a freebie, but is not even in 所有／入手 of a 割引 card.

For example, I get 20 per cent off at M&S, 25 per cent off at 逮捕する A Porter, 40 per cent off at Topshop?…?but I’m always really open about it.

Even more galling is the fact that gifting is far more seductive than 支払う／賃金ing a 星／主役にする to 前線 a new 広告 （選挙などの）運動をする, where the 契約 is （疑いを）晴らす, and everyone knows money changed 手渡すs.

If young women see their idol (and it’s so hard to 避ける these images, given the 地位，任命するing of ‘selfies’ on Instagram and Twitter) wearing something off-義務 purportedly 簡単に because they love it, then they will want that piece of 着せる／賦与するing, too.

It has the stamp of 是認, of 存在 ‘a must-have’ and an ‘投資 piece’ and all those other stupid words we fashion writers bandy about to make you part with your cash.

Fashion is an 産業 built on lies, we know it is ― an airbrushed world that is forever young, where nothing is too expensive, where we all deserve what we don’t really need.

It’s just a shame that the famous men and women who （人命などを）奪う，主張する to love all this stuff never seem to put their 手渡すs in their (Burberry heart print) wallets.

付加 報告（する）／憶測ing: Alison Boshoff