In My View by Eric Musgrave: much ado about what exactly?

What’s all the fuss about the relaunch of Topshop? And why are so many people seemingly obsessed with what’s happening to luxury brands?

Throughout this year I have been genuinely mystified about these two subjects, which have produced plenty of comments and opinions in what I might call the “regular” press and on social media.

Let’s start with Topshop, which is being viewed nostalgically with very rose-tinted spectacles by many. What’s being remembered, I would argue, is the extraordinary emporium that was Topshop at London Oxford Circus, aka 214 Oxford Street. Between, say, 1995 and 2005 it was a remarkable machine for presenting desirable and affordable fashion to women on a weekly basis.

Topshop's former Oxford Street store

I recall very well that back then when I chaired panels for fashion industry awards there was a very strong feeling from the judges – all professional retailers themselves – that Topshop should NOT be considered for any Multiple of the Year award because that 214 experience was not reflected across the few hundred other branches nationwide.

It is only a slight simplification to call Topshop a one-hit wonder.

Also, I recall Topshop boasted about how many new styles it poured into the store each week. Was it 100 or 200? I cannot recall but I thought at the time it was “fast fashion” by any other name.

Somehow the darling of the fashion press always escaped that sort of criticism. Odd, I thought.

Let’s not forget also that Topshop has lived on following the collapse of the Arcadia group under Philip Green. The brand was picked up by Asos, in which the majority shareholding belongs to Anders Holch Povlsen, the 51-year-old Danish billionaire who is CEO and sole owner of the Bestseller fashion group, a company founded by his parents in 1975.

The stats on Bestseller are impressive: more than 20 brands, including Jack & Jones, Only and Vera Moda. It sells in 75 countries across Europe, Asia, North and South America, Oceania and the Middle East. Its wholesale business sells to more than 16,000 multi-brand and department stores globally. There are around 2,800 Bestseller stores, with 2,200 directly run by the group, in 44 countries. It employs 22,000 people.

As it says on the group website: “ Our products are based on the concept of good quality at competitive prices.”

I have never met Holch Povlsen. He presumably knows what he’s doing – most billionaires do -  but I do wonder why he felt the need to reboot Topshop at all. The fact he has chosen to go down the proven route for Bestseller – working with selected wholesale partners – is not a surprise, despite the shock expressed widely when the strategy was announced.

Topshop at Liberty

As for picking Liberty of London as the first partner in the capital? Well why not? The move has got people talking and, of course, it is geographically the nearest department store to the old 214 building, which is now occupied by Ikea.

The news that John Lewis will be stocking Topshop in 32 stores from February 2026 (and Topman in six, but no one seems that bothered about the menswear side) only underlines that this is nothing more than a new wholesale collection from Bestseller.

Of course Bestseller could have launched a totally new label but I suppose it feels there is some benefit of using the old Topshop name. But this was never going to be, and cannot be, a return to the unique buzz found in 214 Oxford Street.

Those days have gone for ever.

Also perplexing me in recent months has been the breathless coverage of CEO and designer reshuffles at the big designer brands. Despite observing the industry for more than 45 years, the luxury sector has never particularly fascinated me. Maybe that’s because I have never been able to afford their prices.

I appreciate I am in a minority here.

Jonathan Anderson's new vision for LVMH's Dior (Estrop/Getty Images)

Of course I can understand that it is interesting from a business angle to view the progress (or otherwise) of the massive groups like LVMH (annual sales, incredibly enough, of around £74 billion – yes billion), Kering (around £13.5bn), Hèrmes ( c£13bn ) and Prada (struggling along at only £4bn of sales), but I can’t help feeling the frenzy of attention around who’s designing what for whom merely reflects society’s general obsession with “celebrity”.

Whether one thinks this phenomenon is a good or a bad thing, it’s all pervasive in what passes for our “culture” today.

Are people so interested in luxury goods brands because they are worn by famous people?

One of the oddest elements to me – as a longtime non-follower of the sector – is how excited commentators get about someone I have never heard of getting a job at a business I did not know was still around.

Anyway, one of the great thing about fashion is it’s all about self-expression, so if my press colleagues and other observers want to get hot and bothered about a merry-go-round of personnel changes in the lofty reaches of the luxury world, good luck to them.

Personally, I am more interested in who heads up the design team at Bestseller.