The Lipster

It’s the time of the season / When blood runs high…

Well, we’re still sweeping up the Easter slush so it hardly is, but a reminder of that woozy Zombies song about al fresco romping might remind you of what a summer’s day actually feels like. Not that we equate a sunny afternoon with someone breathing "What’s your name/ Who’s your daddy?" down our necks, and I am dangerously close to going off-piste here, so let’s talk about TopShop’s brand new High Summer collection. In short, it’s the clothing equivalent of a box of fancy cupcakes with pastel-coloured icing.

According to the press release, the collection is split up into ‘Impressionism’, ‘Colour Flash’ and ‘Global Hyper Colour’. Now, I despise highfalutin fashion talk more than I despise Tim Lovejoy, so I translate it as thus: a nice range of pieces with vintage prints and cuts (‘Impressionism’), with dresses that, if all cut and flattened out, would make a lovely pair of curtains. In a good way.

This dress (above) is my favourite and it would look even better with that nice belt – even if it does slightly whiff of Sienna Miller’s Boho Babe Summer. Along with the prints, there is a lot of block colouring, seen in the saturated gingham skirts and a few of the tops. I guess this is what they mean by ‘Colour Flash’. The obligatory skinny jeans range comes in some pleasing candy colours, a favourite being this sherbet-ey pink pair.

The ‘Global Hyper Colour’ (never trust a press release) pieces include, as far as I can tell, the dip-dyed dresses and all the ethnic finishing on the shoes and accessories. Although you might be put off by the term ‘ethnic’, don’t be, in this case it’s good – it ain't a case of Joss Stone in Dorothy Perkins. Rather, the kind of well-travelled, fun ethnic look that Carrie Bradshaw sometimes gets right. Most of the bottom-half pieces look like they’d be versatile, and would suit most shapes – discounting these acid-wash denim hotpants that I would sell a tit to be able to carry off.

All in all, it’s very nice. It’s cool. But not too cool that it’ll bypass TopShop’s regular customers. This denim all-in-one is just fucking ridiculous, though, unless you’re Beyonce.