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If Gok Wan has proved anything it is that designer get up doesn’t have to cost the world. In his ‘Fashion Fix’, week in, week out, audiences were hard pushed in telling apart the designer labels from the high street imitations, demonstrating that there really isn’t much between the runway and the walkway.

And so 2010 has to be the year of collaborations; the union of designer and High Street fashion. Valentino has done it; Jean Paul Gautier and Barbara Hulanicki are doing it. It seems your stores are worth nothing nowadays without a designer in toe.

It was Kate Moss with her boutique range at Topshop that caused hundreds to flock to Oxford Street all eager to have their own little piece of the supermodel’s wardrobe. This partnership gave momentum to the designer/high street movement and since then it is very much becoming the norm. This year the style stakes have been dominated by H&M and their partnership with the French label, Lanvin. The collection manages to capture the extravagance of high fashion, giving us evening dresses, shirts and quirky t-shirts all at a reasonable price.

However, some pieces are better than others and only time will tell the success of this unusual alliance but certainly it has been a smart move for H&M, raising their profile.

Below pictured: Lovely Grey Tulle Dress From the H&M Lanvin Limited Edition Range, priced £199.99

The varying success of designer collections seems to depend on how their clothes translate under the constraints of mass production. Designers characterised by luxurious fabrics and high quality draping are less suited to high street fashion but those known for amazing prints and innovative designs fit right in.

Perhaps designer-high street partnerships are inevitable as store owners realise the power of the designer name for shifting clothes. There is no doubt people love to feel like part of the ‘IT’ crowd. Whether or not this is a dilution of would be exclusive fashion or a smart way of bringing variety to our stores is questionable. Are designer-high street merges merely producing poorly made versions of one-off collections and do these designers even have an influential input in the ranges themselves?

We will never know, but what can be said is the collections do make for imaginative fashion and more importantly in this economic climate, cheap purchases. The new Jil Sander range at Uniqlo is about quality basics and key items that won’t go out of fashion. Ultimately, for designer high street partnerships to work, it needs to be about more than just pulling in the designer addicts but genuinely producing clothes that will sell out because they appeal to the broader public. The future of this fashion hybrid remains unclear.

‘The Chaser Years’: The photographic Art of Pete Williams.

Suitably held on Redchurch Street, a hub of London culture dedicated to art and live music, the stunning photography of Pete Williams will be displayed in the Maverick showrooms this week in, ‘The Chaser Years’. Synchronising with the International Jazz festival and in preparation for William’s major exhibition next summer these images are a joy to behold.

‘The Chaser Years’ features his work for staunchly independent music magazine ‘Straight No Chaser’. Williams remembers:

“It was the late Eighties, and the job at hand was to photograph some of London's most exhilarating Jazz Dancers”.

Rather than shooting in a chaotic club Pete opts for grander settings, lifting art from one cultural context to another. His powerful and spiritually infused portraits, grounded in today’s global club culture feature the likes of, DJ Shadow, the Roots, Courtney Pine; as well as jazz legends Miles Davis and Nina Simone. Williams has even captured global figures such as the former Brasilian Minister for culture and Maskanda queen Busi Mhlongo.

Praised for his “Filmic eye” Pete Williams has an ability to genuinely engage with anyone he photographs. His command of the situation allows the subject to virtually forget the presence of the camera, and it shows. Pete is willing to improvise, to bend the rules and go with the moment.

Particularly good pieces include his portrait of Herbie Hancock. Williams writes “the previous day I got stuck into a furious argument with Herbie over a sound check photo misunderstanding”. Herbie and he later reconciled over a conversation about film maker Michelangelo Antonioni, with Hancock remarking, “Man that Italian dude was wild”. From that moment hostilities disappeared and the photo below is one of many exquisite pictures the artist took that day.

Another interesting story lies behind William’s portrait of Nina Simone. He writes, “The atmosphere is brooding, dark, unsettling and powerful... I turned on a couple of table lamps. She said “you may take my picture now”. Such spontaneity is lacking from today’s celebrity photographers, who are more like vultures than artists.

Some of the pictures were less effective with one of DJ Shadow in an alleyway after his gig. Pete wrote the location “just felt right”. However, the piece lacked the imagination of his more creative works.

The show was accompanied by a jazz performance from ‘Out There’ featuring Orphy Robinson, Otto Fischer and guests. ‘The Chaser Years’ is more than just a photography exhibition; it is an art exhibition that celebrates great music and culture, taken by one of the best photographers of his time.

Exhibition open 12^th- 20^th November ‘Maverick Showroom’