French Connection, London

Oh F.....is the latest offering from French Connection on the high street right now.  Wow, the guys here have really turned this brand around and what a F.... statement.  Whatever could the 'F' mean we hear you ask?  Well, F.... it who cares, these guys are looking FFFF....antastic, simple and doing what it says on the tin extremely well. 

French Connection, London

Well it looks like French Connection are beginning to turn things around, don't you think?  We love their new 'sketch' promotion which is a little risque for the high street but looks really cool.  We're guessing this is their Christmas scheme and so refreshing not to see the usual and obligatory Red, Green and sparkly stuff.  Finger crossed for these guys that their future is as bright, clean and fresh as this scheme.

French Connection, London

This poor old brand appears to have been scratching around to keep their heads above water for an eternity, haven't they?  Fortunately they appear to be looking really interesting again from a visual point of view although our shopping connections still lament that the product is the same year after year.  We don't actually know if this is the case as we rarely ever walk inside these stores ourselves.  However with their rotating mirrored 'billboards' (yes these mirrored structures are just like the thing you may have seen on the side of the highway, motorway and so on) actually do generate a bit of interest into their windows and we really are willing this brand to keep going and do some stuff less ordinary although not like the previous campaigns however.  I am Goat, You are Handbag kind of stuff really didn't work, did it? 

French Connection, London

How good are French Connection looking?  It looks like that awful previous campaign has been dropped (thankfully?, hopefully? Remember.... I am handbag, You are Goat....kind of thing which had a bearded Scandinavian feel about it, and absolutely and completely nonsense) anyway, someone here appears to have gripped this puppy by the throat and these guys seem to be back on track, picked themselves up, dusted themselves off and looking damn good.  We did think that it was touch and go with this brand and its probably taken every ounce of energy to get here.  In the meantime,  we've seen a few of these large format vinyls at the entrance of stores in places such as the new Juicy store along Regent street and they do look cool, don't you think?  We love how this store along Oxford street looks right now and really glad to be able to stop by and be wowed.  Love it. 

French Connection, London

Well, hands up, how cool is French Connection looking?  We're still a little nervous about commenting on the 'Fashion' delivered by this brand as so many of you say to us that this brand produces the same 'ole stuff year after year.  However, while the brand campaign remains a little dubious and quite honestly a bit of an 'in joke' that no-one gets.......and no-one does?  do they?  The campaign is a little bit like Fine Art paintings of the 18th Century, i.e. only understood by the privileged few; No-one got it but it looked quite good and was so expensive so it must be good, right?  No.  In the meantime, these guys are clawing their way back to the high street yet home ware is looking actually very cool.  This is absolutely on trend, it looks hot and if we were working with this brand we would really push this rather than position this off the high street.  As we don't work for French Connection we can only stand from a wide perspective and watch with clenched buttocks at how these guys are paddling their way back to the surface to keep afloat.  We've really lost confidence in this brand unfortunately.  Home ware looks amazing;  can someone apply the same approach to the Fashion and get rid of this awful campaign?   We know you read these entries French Connection; We are the Bloggers, we are telling it like it is.

French Connection, London

We've been keeping a cursory eye on what this brand has been doing for quite some time.  We have to say, that they are trying so incredibly hard to get this brand back on the rails which is massively admirable and we're 100% behind you guys and willing you on.  We did read this scheme initially as 'I am The Christmas Widow' rather than 'Window' which made us chuckle, however, this really does look wonderfully avant garde and great to see on the high street.  However, the problem, we guess, is not with the presentation or the concept behind it, but with the merchandise itself?  We'd love to shop here, but the competition is is so fierce on the high street and Zara is just doing it so much better.  In store, we love the illuminated fixtures, but the merchandise is just not right at the price its being sold for.  What do you think?

French Connection, London

This brand seemed to have really lost its way visually although we were quite impressed to see how these guys appear to be turning these aspects of it around.  Following on from quite a sophisticated, albeit, bizarre marketing campaign (did anyone get it?) the team here seem to be re-establishing their direction (even if the text on these banners is still rather obscure).  Although this is a very simple scheme, it does work very well, saying, to us at least... "that this is the merchandise we have so come and get it".  It has huge impact from across the street and we do hope this is the start of ever more interesting schemes to come.  

French Connection, London

Has French Connection lost its way?  After an incredible FCUK campaign in the 90's it seems to have simply dissolved away into the background.  It also seems, at least to us, that they are really struggling to establish their personality, perhaps evidenced through their back to basics presentation?  Who knows?  But anyway, while this 'market stall' presentation-type approach is not our favourite trend right now, one would hope that the presentation of it would at least be beautifully produced.  Tonally, its very dull (even throwing in one or two brightly coloured polo shirts somewhere in this scheme would have lifted it and taken the eye around the space) and the product is quite expensive in order to achieve this uniform high street 'look' i.e. to look exactly like everyone else but  at a price.  We're hoping someone will grip this brand by the horns and lead it forward to beyond where it once was and maybe, just maybe we will cross that landing mat again and take a peak inside.