THE billionaire retailer Sir Philip Green is poised to mount a major assault on America by forging an alliance between his Topshop fashion chain and the iconic department-store group Barneys.

Topshop, one of Britain’s best-known retailers, will next month launch a new clothing range designed by supermodel Kate Moss, setting up boutiques within a string of Barneys outlets stretching from New York in the east to San Francisco and Beverly Hills in the west. Green said: “We are in no doubt this is the ultimate test.

“The deal with Barneys will enable us to learn and give us a toe in the water.”

The Barneys chain is renowned for epito-mising New York style and has featured heavily in episodes of Sex and the City.

Under the deal, the new 91-line Kate Moss clothing collection, which ranges from poppy-print chiffon dresses to T-shirts, will be sold at 19 Barneys stores across America and on the company’s website.

It will propel Topshop, whose celebrity clients include Gwyneth Paltrow, Madonna and Beyoncé, into America for the first time and could act as a springboard for Topshop to open its own stores in Manhattan and the rest of America.

The Kate Moss range will be launched at a reception at Barneys’ Madison Avenue flagship store on May 8. It will be attended by Green, Moss, and the Topshop management team.

The store is a New York institution, with a status equal to that enjoyed by Harvey Nichols in London.

The chain was founded in 1923 when Barney Pressman opened a store in Manhattan after pawning his wife’s engagement ring.

Topshop’s entry into the notoriously fickle US fashion market will be its biggest test yet, although the Kate Moss range has been warmly received by UK Vogue magazine.

Sarah Mower, a London-based writer for American Vogue and Style.com, said last year: “No girl in this country moves until she has seen what Kate Moss is wearing when she steps out of her house. She’s different. She puts on a man’s vest, and it’s on everyone else.”

The New York Times writes regularly about Topshop and has described the brand as “eternally cool”.

News of the Barneys tie-up comes as Green plans a big expansion of the Topshop chain in Britain and around the world. It already has 303 stores in the UK and 97 overseas. More than 100 Topshop stores are planned overseas during the next three years — in France, India and China.

Profits at the high-street chain are expected to be more than £150m, up from £130m last year.

Topshop has been trading strongly in the past eight weeks, achieving double-digit like-for-like sales growth.

Separately, it has emerged that Bon-marché, the value fashion retailer, is to launch a premium fashion range in collaboration with David Emanuel, designer of Lady Diana’s dress for her marriage to Prince Charles.

The new premium clothing range, which will have more than 60 lines, will be launched in 100 Bonmarché stores in September. It will be rolled out to more stores next spring.

Bonmarché is an offshoot of Peacock group, run by Richard Kirk. Profits at the chain have doubled in the financial year to April 2007.

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