So I sat through the second episode of Channel Four's documentary on Lily Allen and her mission to enter into the world of retail. Alongside her sister Sarah the two Londonites had the bright idea to open up a Vintage boutique that specializes in high end designer pieces. Their gimmick being that if girls can not afford the full price of the garment they will be allowed to rent the piece for a fee.
Sounds like a good idea however in practice it's short comings are quite obvious. The girls enlisted the help of retail guru Mary Porta's as a consultant as neither of them have had any formal experience in the industry.
In short , she tore them a new one and gave them a reality check. As she correctly pointed out the shop will live and die based on the celebrity Lily Allen brings to it. By offering couture pieces at high costs she has automatically alienated about 70% of her fan base who are supposed to be the patrons of her shop. This is never a good business idea and their original intentions to offer a piece of high end lifestyle to girls who could not afford to buy the real thing quickly went down the toilet. Asking young girls aged 18+ to pay £100 + to rent a dress for an evening during a recession was not a smart idea.
It quickly becomes apparent that in fact Lily is not at all the type of girl her record company promoted her as. She is in fact your typical spoilt, Primrose Hill, middle class, rich girl. Not the wannabe chav running around London in a New Look dress and sneakers.
So as reality sets in the girls quickly realise that their initial target audience is not at all what they are aiming for and Mary Porta's points this out to them painfully, like a camp mother scolding her clueless children.
The other infuriating part of the documentary is Lily's constant admissions that she is over the fame game. If that were the case letting a Channel Four camera crew follow you around for months may not have been the best idea to gain some sort of annonyminity. The truth of the matter is Lily loves the spotlight. There were scenes of her contacting tabloid newspapers directly, in order to give them the story about her pregnancy, doing photoshoot's with her sister in order to promote the store, her sitting at her desk constantly whining about nosy journalists then taking to Twitter to confront them in a very public way. These are not the actions of someone who just wants a quiet life.
The show does have it's plus points though, the train wreck aspect of the documentary is entertaining and Lily is nothing if not charismatic/funny. Her sister Sarah comes across very well also, she must have the patience of a saint to put up with the constant tantrums her sister throws (and also the constant reminder that it's Lily's money, Lily's success that has enabled her to have a career in retail, what way to be humble..........). Bitchy celeb hairdresser James Brown also makes an appearance and he's always great to watch.
In conclusion I don't really understand the point of the documentary, if it was to promote her shop a featurette on her website and some photoshoot's would have been sufficient however it's obvious that Lily is not ready to step out of the spotlight and still craves attention. Perhaps instead of channeling her energy into retail she should put her mind to making a new album. Lily is in her 20's, its far too early for her to retire from the music business and I have a sneaking suspicion that in year or two we will hear something new from her.
Let's hope that her next venture is less hypocritical and more clearly thought out.
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