Why the West End is this year's most fashionable destination
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| By
Miranda Priestly
Move over Milan! In her first article, our iconic Guest Editor, Runway’s Editor-in-chief, Miranda Priestly, explains why the West End is this year’s most fashionable destination. Read her thoughts below.
I hate it when I hear millennials moan into their little podcasts, or Gen Z earnestly implore their TikTok followers to ‘live authentically’. Especially when half the accounts following them are fake, (much like their button noses, Birkin bags and ADHD diagnosis).
Of course I don’t listen to these offensive broadcasts intentionally, these groundbreaking declarations bleed out of Airpods and cerulean Beats. I’m forced to listen to these self-proclaimed influences drivel on, and I’m forced to ask myself ‘did they fall down and smack their little heads on the pavement?’ For it’s the only explanation I can think of for their ill-informed witterings.
They say not to visit somewhere because it’s ‘too touristy’ because then you won’t experience the ‘real place.’ Why on earth would you want to ‘live like a local’ when you’re on vacation? Locals have to go to work and go to the supermarket for eggs and kombucha. When I’m away, I don’t want to see the nitty gritty, the boring mundanity. I want high concept, high end, high fashion. I want the West End. And it turns out the feeling’s mutual. Naturally.
Yes, it turns out that England’s ‘Theatreland,’ an eternal, glittering hub of illusion and grandeur has cast its eye across the pond and has landed on me. Yes, that’s right loyal readers. I am to be the muse for a musical: The Devil Wears Prada. I wonder, what was it that made them want to tell my tale? Was it my personality, my penchant for picking out the season’s must have shift dress, or the fact that a hugely successful film starring three Oscar winners did the same thing almost 20 years ago, and nostalgia is a huge trend…
The West End may not be a hubbub of originality, but neither is an LBD and no one is telling Dior that is has been done before. Unlike the Brat summer bloggers, the West End doesn’t pretend that it isn’t pretending (were you all enjoying a crazy party girl season or were you busy looking up trends and spending hours editing reels?). The theatre is a place to go to be wowed. To be enthralled. To escape and to be someone else. How could you not want that?
The allure of the big, bold, and brash shouldn’t be fought. It should be celebrated (Literally everything else is these days - you managed to find the paper I was holding in my hand yesterday morning? Wow, you want praise, a raise, for that?).
An epicentre of opulence and entertainment, there’s a reason why the West End has been the go-to travel destination for centuries. Why should 2024 be any different? It's a place where dreams are sold nightly. A place where costumes are painstakingly curated, (you won’t see drab skirts and ugly sweaters here). Everything is big and has meaning - its purpose is to entertain.
Less is not more, it’s less, and why would you settle for that? I certainly won’t. I want more. You should demand more too. Unless you’re reading this, Emily. That is all.