High Street Panda-moneum

For a while I’ve been trying to find an excuse to blog about pandas. Why you ask? Well I freakin love pandas and like the skull and the moustache before, the panda is now the motif du jour on the High Street. 

It’s true that 2013 has been the year of the panda thanks to the is she/isn’t she pregnancy of Edinburgh’s Tian Tian and the recent births of 14 baby pandas in China. The panda is also a monochrome motif so it’s easy to work into a fashion trend board, slick and cool for womenswear, cute a cuddly for chidrenswear.

There are panda hot water bottles at BHS, panda backpacks from H! by Henry Holland and my personal favourite (ahem, I’m a size 8 shoe), fizzy panda slippers from John Lewis.

 Get your hot panda bottle for £7.50 here

 

Backpacking panda is £26.25 at Debenhams here

Get fluffy panda toes for £16.00 here

Not one to miss out, the world of watches also have some glorious offerings so regardless of budget, you too can get some panda love on your wrist.

From Cartier comes the Le Cirque Animalier collection, which offers a range of animal motifs with a panda version decked out in black sapphires, emeralds and diamonds set amongst an 18K rhodium-plated white gold case. 

Only 50 pieces of this watch were produced in 2011 so I fear we are all too late to the panda party for this one. Another interesting panda incarnation comes from Richard Mille. Known for serious and more masculine timepieces, the RM 26-01 Tourbillon Panda must have been made with the Chinese-luxe customer in mind.

Again, this is a limited edition with only 30 pieces available worldwide. The watch is available in either an 18K white or red gold ge-set case containing a manual winding tourbillon movement in a 48mm size case. With This is one in your face panda.

Panda charms are also big on the scene with both Thomas Sabo and VIvienne Westwood updating their Teddy Bear ranges with bejeweled panda charms.

 Vivienne Westwood's emerald eyed panda charm here at £113

 Thomas Sabo's fat panda here at £179.

For those of us with slightly smaller purse strings, ASOS has come to the rescue with a sweet Panda Face Watch. With a cartoon panda dial in a stainless steel case, this is a cheap and cheerful way to do the panda motif trend. 

 Available form ASOS for £14.99

And for those of you (me) who want to wear your panda not only on your sleeve, ASOS also have the adorable Paul the Panda Jumper for a bargainous £19.50.

                                                             Paul, the sad faced panda.

 This winter is is easy to indulge your inner panda whether on or around the wrist. I already have the lovely Vivienne Westwood charm and i have eyes for Paul. Perfect for the Christmas jumper season.

It's always interesting to see which colours/motifs trickle down to the High Street from popular culture. We have Movember and Alexander McQueen to thank for 'taches and skulls so it's nice to see the endangered panda bear making his way into the main stream.