Last week we had H&M launching a Balmain frenzy. And this week? Topshop has launched its ‘resort’ collection.

Yes, you read that right. Topshop (you know, bastion of the high street) has launched a resort collection (you know, those oddly-named collections that stratospherically-priced designer ranges offer to show that they can do commercial as well conceptual).

I suppose it had to happen. Topshop’s Unique runway collection has been getting more and more attention of late so it’s probably a logical step. But for those of us who’ve been observing the fashion industry for more than a decade (yeah, ok, more than three decades) it highlights just how much has changed over the years.

High priceed designers are happy to sell their goods in low price stores (albeit at higher prices than the regular offer for that store) while high street retailers are telling the catwalk elite that they’re innovative and creative too.

So what’s the collection like? Pretty good – but expensive. The embellished leather Romilly dress pictured above is £995, which isn’t exactly a traditional high street price. The very fact that Topshop is selling a dress just shy of £1,000 is an event in itself. It’s not that many years ago I remember some colleagues grumbling that the retailer selling a trench coat at £150.

But with an ‘entry price;’ dress at £175, the resort range isn’t all crazily expensive. There’s that high-end embellished leather, plus a great retro crushed velvet pantsuit, some floral print silk that feels very SS16, velvet dungarees and some pewter-silver toned pieces that also more than hint at what’s to come next spring.

I await the pricing of the SS16 Unique range … sorry, collection (at those prices, it’s not really a range) … with interest.