Fashiontribes Daily

Fashion Students Embrace the New Eco-Chic Fabrics

Lesley Scott — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 16:00:00 -0400

"I use hemp silk charmeuse a lot, which is smooth, silky and clings to the body," Lorna Tallowin, a fashion student at Nottingham Trent University recently told WWD. "I want to prove that clothes can be sexy and sleek and beautiful and still be ethical." Typical of the up & coming generation of fashion tastemakers, many designers of tomorrow not only use eco-friendly fibers like hemp, but they seek them out. "There's a huge awakening among fashion colleges," agrees Safia Minney of ethical fashion brand People Tree, who has partnered with Nottingham Trent to produce various student designs using karmically correct fabric. These days, many students are flocking to courses on sustainable development and ecology & ethical production being offered by New Academy of Art in Milan, and the joint British fashion school project with Labour Behind the Label, Fashioning an Ethical Industry. "I wanted to wear clothes made in an ethical and responsible way, but like many people my age, I wasn't fully prepared to sacrifice my style," explains former Nottingham Trent student Rachel Plant, who went on to create the Annie Greenabelle label. Similary, after learning about fair trade issues at London College of Fashion, Erin Tabrar helped created Amana (Arabic for "delivered in trust"), which contributes to carbon emissions reduction initiatives and creates garments from organic cotton, hemp and silk. Other successful ethical fashionista concerns include Green Knickers, founded by Goldsmith University eco-design graduate Sarah Lucy Smith, who crafts lingerie and other sexy unmentionables from hemp & silk.

Lauren Bush's Feed Bags Benefit U.N. World Food Program

Lesley Scott — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 16:42:00 -0400

In some countries, $35 can provide a child with a school lunch every day for a year. And fewer hunger pains are the least of it. According to research by the United Nations' World Food Program, providing a school meal not only dramatically improves the childrens’ classroom performance, but providing a school meal can increase enrollment a staggering 300 percent – which directly affects girl children who then wait longer to marry, and have almost half as many children. Inspired by her work as honorary spokeswoman for the WFP in the developing countries she visited– including Guatemala, Cambodia, Chad and Honduras – model Lauren Bush decided to put the power of fashion to good use. "I was traveling, taking pictures and doing what I could to help," Bush recently told WWD. "But it just didn't seem like enough. I wanted to do more." So she designed a practical and reversible burlap & muslin "Feed" bag tote which retails for $60, of which $34 goes directly to the WFP. "It's meant to be a multipurpose bag that looks really good and is eco-friendly." Available exclusively at Amazon.com, the bags are the latest initiative by the WFP which hooked up a staggering 16 million children worldwide with school meals in 2006 as part of their goal of tending to the 300 million children around the world that suffer chronic hunger.

Gap Design Editions Recruits Doo-Ri, Thakoon & Rodarte

Lesley Scott — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 22:09:51 -0400

"We are absolutely invested in emerging talent. Part of us has always been about celebrating young designers," Marka Hansen, president of Gap North America recently told WWD about the chain’s decision to bring in upcoming designers to collaborate on a limited edition collection of white shirts. As part of their partnership with the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund to promote fresh design talent, Doo-Ri Chung, Thakoon Panichgul, and Kate & Laura Mulleavy of Rodarte have all been hired to create white shirts - a Gap staple for 35 years – retailing between $68 to $88 as part of the Gap Design Editions. "Throughout history people have always tried to redesign the classic white shirt — that's what made it so exciting,” says Chung about her shirtdress inspired by iconic American sportswear designer Claire McCardell. The ad campaign in which the designers appear with their designs - the only way to discern who designed which pieces - was shot by Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin, and stars fashion model A-listers like Stella Tennant, Liya Kebede and Carmen Kass. The campaign will run in high profile outlets like The New York Times, WWD, and the May cover of Vogue. "Vogue has a long tradition of supporting young talent — in particular, our local talent — to secure a brilliant future for American fashion,” adds Vogue’s Anna Wintour. “And Gap's Design Editions project…will give a boost to the three CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund winners, and bring their wonderful designs to a much bigger audience." However, whether the Gap Design Editions collaboration helps the ailing Gap out of its prolonged slump remains to be seen. "Such short-term design initiatives are positive indications of their intention to improve, but it will probably require at least two to three years of reexamination and re-engineering before Gap can reclaim some of its former status," opines Arnold Aronson of Kurt Salmon Associates. "They must revision the business in terms of merchandise thrust, fashion sensibility, depth and breadth of assortments, size and number of stores." Moving toward less expensive, faster fashion is probably the solution, agrees Mark Montagna, an analyst at C.L. King and Associates. "They need to define their market, which is what they are working on. I believe they need to buy with greater breadth and less depth and run it more like the H&M and Forever 21 where you get faster fashion. Their strategy of buying deep and narrow just encourages customers to wait for the sales…Gap should be doing what H&M does — get a collection by someone like Madonna or Karl Lagerfeld. These are people America has heard of."

Fashiontribes Daily Lifestyle & Fashion Blog

Fashion Bloggers Mix it Up with Steve & Barry's Lawyers

Lesley Scott — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 19:25:17 -0400

It’s a brave new Internet world and the traditional fashion press machine seems either to not have grasped that concept, or would simply prefer to ignore it. US budget chain Steve & Barry's recently launched the press blitz for the new "Bitten Sarah Jessica Parker" line, promising an exclusive preview of the line to Oprah and other traditional long-line media outlets. However, the new Fashionista blog (edited by Elizabeth Spiers, the founding editor of Gawker.com) published photos intended for print publications, and a fashion tempest erupted. Steve & Barry’s legal eagles contacted Fashionista to remove the pix, which they did - but by that time other blogs had already begun reposting them, making them widely reposted & easily accessible. One such blog, the widely read & influential The Budget Fashionista obtained the pix circulating in the public domain, and ran them with a less than glowing review. Steve & Barry's attorneys contact TBF, explaining the photos were "wrongfully obtained" from a password protected area of the Bitten site not open to the public, and they need to be taken down. Not only did TBF not sneak photos off a site illegally, but it’s time for the traditional media to wake up: this is the age of the Internet, and once the fashionable cat is out of the bag, it's out. Times have changed. If exclusivity was that important, they should never have put them on the web, sending them instead as a CD or DVD-ROM instead of being so clueless. Interestingly, fashion firms crave coverage of their products from the blogs because they are so widely & enthusiastically read by a loyal readership; however, they tend to forget that unlike traditional magazines with a specific "voice" and a faceless masthead, bloggers are real people - with real opinions (which companies could probably benefit from) – as are their readers, who love to share their opinions and comments. "I always thought SJP had great personal style, now I see she had a great personal stylist!" reads one comment on the Fashionista blog, reports WWD. "They look a lot like those clothes she modeled for those Gap ads she did a while back, especially those cuffed jeans!" As a prominent fashion blogger, it’s particularly irksome when certain large & influential PR firms (who shall remain nameless to protect the guilty) send bloggers hard-sell pitches, but then refuse to give any of us a decent seat at one of their fashion shows during Fashionweek, or even invite any of us to fancy product launches or events, limiting the invite list to (dinosaur) print editors only. Unlike the blogs, long-line media is beholden to their roster of advertisers; it's specious (on their part) to talk about their "editorial" content, when in truth, it should probably come with an "advertorial" warning label.

Sarah Jessica Parker's New Line for Steve & Barry's

Lesley Scott — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 17:12:22 -0400

Starting June 1, Carrie Bradshaw acolytes will be able to dress like their heroine for less when the 400 piece "Bitten Sarah Jessica Parker" collection launches at the 200-store Steve & Barry’s low-price chain. Priced at $20 or less, the offerings will include wool blend suit separates; shirts in a fabrics like voile, Swiss dots, dobby stripes & stretch poplin; classic sweaters in wool and cashmere; black cotton dresses, denim, lingerie, swim, bags, jewelry, and accessories. For fall, an additional 100 items will be added. As a high profile fashionista, it’s not surprising that SJP is launching a line. "The fact that she's going into apparel does make sense because she's a fashion icon," Robin Kramer of Kramer Design Group (a brand identity and store design firm) recently told WWD. Plus she’s a familiar face to many with a high Q score amongst women between the ages of 18 to 34, regardless of income level. "She has a 90 percent familiarity in that age group, which is an important consideration," notes Steven Levitt of Marketing Evaluations. "Are there better choices [of celebrities] to hit this market? Probably. Are there better markets for her to go with this product? That depends on the product." And with such merchandise retailing at such a low price, the risk is that should the product be poor quality, her image could suffer. "I don't think any of this is about price. It's about the image they project and whether they add a lot of value and fashion to the products," agrees licensing expert Mary Gleason – who helped Kathie Lee Gifford with her Wal-Mart collection and the Payless launch of Shaquille O'Neal sneakers. "The only way it will hurt her image is if they don't produce a quality product." However, as a big fashion fish doing business with the chain dubbed "the fastest-growing retailer you never heard of" (Forbes magazine, 2005) – whose fashion offerings to this point have been limited to sweatshirts bearing college logos, Coors or Marvel Comics for $10 - Parker’s licensing deal is no doubt lucrative, which Gleason estimates to be in the range of 4 percent to 10 percent of sales. Nonetheless, she is of the mind that Parker might have sacrificed the opportunity to do a higher priced line. "I'm really surprised [by the deal]”, adds Gleason, mirroring other insider’s surprise that she ended up partnering with Steve & Barry’s. "She could have done H&M or Target. It doesn't make any sense that this would be the retailer she'd talk to. Her fragrance, Lovely, was so successful in department stores. There would have been a great opportunity to do a regular-priced line."

Fall 2007 Paris Fashion Trade Show Summary

Lesley Scott — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 17:00:00 -0400

"The Paris shows offer a creative edge you don't see elsewhere," Janet Wong, accessories and ready-to-wear buyer for New York's Atrium, recently told WWD about the shows that run during Paris Fashionweek; the multi-show lineup included Vendôme Luxury Trade Show, Paris Sur Mode, Atmosphère d'Hiver, Tranoi and Rendez-Vous. "The Paris trade shows are the place where young creative brands are the most efficient," agrees Cedric Charbit, general merchandise manager of women's fashion at Printemps. Popular labels like Les Prairies de Paris, April May, Iro and Eurythmic, Milly, Issa and Italy's Golden Goose made a strong showing that mirrored the trends on the runways: clean silhouettes, dresses, knits, a ladylike vibe, and tailoring. "It was a very strong jacket season, whether it's fitted, sharper shoulders or soft details, there are lots of desirable clothes to choose from," notes Ken Downing, Neiman Marcus senior vice president and fashion director. Many retailers mirror this sentiment, and report that their budgets have grown since last season. "Even though black is important, the return to color is really reassuring to us because our customer loves color. We're feeling dressed up and what we call the 'new polish' is very important, from the opaque legs to the return of pumps and clutches." SOME PARIS TRADESHOW HIGHLIGHTS: TRANOI Fancy streetwear & feathered frocks by Osklen, a line from Brazil known for combining a street vibe with elements of nature, and Sweden’s Fifth Avenue Shoe Repair, featuring snappy silhouettes and fabric folded like origami in muted hues. "We are most known for our combination of draping with tailored pieces," says Anna Wallén, the brand's international sales manager. RENDEZ-VOUS Despite showing in the 10th arrondissement, the show lured them in with a smorgasboard of new talent. "It's a real opportunity for young designers," agrees Johanna Dauphin who launched her new denim-centric J Dauphin collection at Rendez-Vous. ATMOSPHERE D’HIVER With a multi-culti mix of more than 5,000 buyers attending – from the Italy, Japan, Finland, Denmark and Ireland, Russia, Romania, and the US (albeit less because of the weak dollar) – exhibitors reported buyers paying less attention to ruffles, in favor of garments with a tailored feel and luxe fabrics like silk satin in muted colors. PARIS SURE MODE La Petite Robe Noire by Didier Ludot proved a hit with buyers, whose numbers were up more than 30 percent. VENDOME LUXURY Spread across three venues - the Park Hyatt, the Ritz & the Meurice – mid-pricepoint lines didn’t fare nearly as well as brands at either end of the luxury & mass-price spectrum. "The American market is slowest, even though that is where we are the most developed," explains Stephanie Perez, international sales manager for Luella, mirroring other sellers experience that spending by Americans was less than spectacular, order from Paris were on the rise, new buyers such as Japan’s Isetan department store were in attendance, and Middle Easter, Asian (Hong Kong & Korea) and Russians are the "power spend of the moment" says Katie Manderson of Jasmine di Milo (Jasmine Al-Fayed’s line).

Fashiontribes Daily Lifestyle & Fashion Blog

WWD Looks at Fashion on the Left Coast

Lesley Scott — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 17:34:50 -0400

Now that all the main fall fashion shows have happened, the fashion trade paper WWD surveyed the trends emanating from the West Coast in the seven main apparel categories. JUNIORS: Cellphone, iPod, blackberry, oh, and schoolbooks….today’s teens are toting a hefty load. Hence, the exploding market for bags. BB Dakota’s fall collection includes 18 pieces, all under $150, such as a giant tote in red patent leather, and a plaid number. "They look like a lot of stuff that is going on in the better brands," says BB Dakota CEO, Gloria Brandes. Other labels to know include Zinc & Hot Kiss. DENIM: R.I.P. low-rise jeans…it’s all about the high-waist. "The high-waisted flares have been a really big deal," reports James Hammonds, denim buyer for American Rag Cie in LA. Orders for jeans with rises in excess of 9 inches are also flying out the door at Cali’s Serfontaine, Hudson, Jainesse and Seven For All Mankind. CONTEMPORARY: Couples that dress together stay together? A hot spinoff of the layering trend is unisex dressing, and labels like Corpus and Grandma's Glock offer simplied sizing – XS to L – in baggy linen shorts with 80s style paperbag waists, and striped tees and hoodies that can double as oversized cardigans and dresses. Colors are toned down grays and burgundies, in sex-blind fabrics like cotton jersey and cashmere. ACTION SPORTS: Active types that skate, surf & snowboard naturally gravitate toward anything with an environmental bent. Volcom’s v.co-logical organic tees, bags & hats donate sales proceeds to 1% For The Planet - a charity devoted to environmental causes that Yvon Chouinard of Patagonia helped co-found – while Vans kicks feature eco-chic materials such as hemp, bamboo charcoal lining, and natural crepe rubber. Organic cotton and earth-friendly dyes are featured in the new line of tees & bags from Quiksilver’s $647 million junior brand Roxy. SWIM: Multi-tasking has carried over to the swimwear market, where a cover-up from Haverhill Leach (formerly an accessories designer at Mayle & Kate Spade) fares equally well at the beach as over jeans, or a bikini top can double as a bra. "The biggest trend in the industry right now," explains Melanie Michaud, marketing director of Diane's, a swimwear retailer, "is being able to mix up sportswear and swimwear." DESIGNER: Punk touches like shift dresses with cross-body zippers that can show as much (or little) as you want have helped turn Riser Goodwyn into a Eva Mendes and Kirsten Dunst fave (of course it helps to be Rosetta Getty, wife of oil heir turned actor Balthazar Getty). Sold at chi chi outlets like Kirna Zabête (New York), Ron Herman (Los Angeles) and Mario's (Portland, Oregon), new fall styles will include skinny leather pants, and cocktail frocks with inserts made from metallic leather. ACCESSORIES: Girlie girls like Uma Thurman, Lindsay Lohan, Rachel Bilson and Kirsten Dunst have all been sporting nerd-chic glasses from non-nerd labels like Miu Miu and Oliver Peoples, whose specs have also shown up on Nicole Kidman, Mandy Moore, Courtney Cox Arquette and Jennifer Aniston. For a recent Los Angeles party in L.A. for Viktor & Rolf, Chloë Sevigny showed up in a pair of horn-rimmed showstoppers from New York’s Fabulous Fanny's.

Fashiontribes Daily Lifestyle & Fashion Blog

A New Eponymous Versace Fragrance Launches

Lesley Scott — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 17:00:00 -0400

In line with the newly stripped down – and critically acclaimed - aesthetic of the Fall 2007 collection, Versace is launching a fragrance of the same name. Instead of the heavy exotic scents for which they're known, "Versace" is a fresher floral fragrance. "I knew I wanted to create a unique and opulent floral fragrance that was at the same time fresh and enticing, in keeping with the way women want to wear fragrance today. I knew I wanted something classic but modern at the same time. I knew I wanted something that represented both the tradition of the brand and the 'New Versace' of today," Donatella Versace recently told WWD. "I wanted to create a fragrance that embraces you — that is fresh, floral and enticing — and that would become a distinctive mark for the Versace woman who is always sensual and sophisticated, particularly when selecting her perfume. My starting point was to create a classic perfume, an important and timeless scent, to be worn at any time of the day, providing that extra dash of glamour that puts the finishing touch to every outfit." The fragrance, produced in partnership with International Flavors & Fragrances, contains multiple fruity & floral notes: TOP NOTES: guava, black current, purple wisteria & white lilacs HEART: Angel Wing jasmine, lotus flowers & azaleas DRYDOWN: cedar, Kasmir wood, musk & vetiver The scent will launch at the end of March in London at Harrods, followed by Italy, and finally stateside in April exclusively at more than 50 Saks Fifth Avenues – which enjoy a robust Versace business. Next year, Nordstrom & Sephora will both carry the fragrance. The print campaign, Michelangelo DiBattista shot, will break in the fall in fashion, beauty and lifestyle books, accompanied by an international TV campaign. Insiders guesstimate that first year sales of the new fragrance at $5 million.

Simmons Jewelry Company's Green Initiative Collection

Lesley Scott — Mon, 19 Mar 2007 18:00:00 -0400

For his fashion foray onto the Oscar red carpet, Forest Whitaker sported some serious ice. Made from diamonds, stainless steel and green rubber (!), this eyecatching piece is the lead item in the Simmons Jewelry Company's "Green Initiative Collection", which donates 50% of the net profits from the bracelet and 25% of every other piece in the collection to the Diamond Empowerment Fund (D.E.F.). Founded by Russell Simmons of PhatFarm fame, the D.E.F. raises money for the education, medical facilities, and the overall development and empowerment of people and communities in Africa where diamonds are a natural resource. The collection goes on sale April 1 at SimmonsJewelryCo.com, and prices will typically range from $250 to $800,000. In May, distribution will be expanded to Fortunoff, Kay, Gordon's, Zales and Sterling. Already, though, Simmons has been mining his rolodex of A-list pals, and Beyonce Knowles, Eddie Murphy and Penelope Cruz all own some of his green bling.

Madonna Plays Fashion Designer at H& M

Lesley Scott — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 17:24:47 -0400

"I wanted something casual but naughty, sensible but sexy. That's me. That's how I am. I wanted the collection to be for a working girl," Madonna recently told WWD about the launch of her new "M by Madonna" for Swedish mass fashion chain, H& M. "This is a combination of outfits I would love to wear. Bits and pieces have been inspired by the outfits in my own wardrobe, and also by what I love, like kimonos or my favorite Seventies vintage dress with the butterfly sleeves. I bought it in New York 10 years ago, and have worn it down to threads." Unlike their other collaborations with A-list fashion talent – including Viktor & Rolf, Stella McCartney & and Karl Lagerfeld – once H&M launches the line on March 22, it won’t be limited to flagship stores but will be available in 26 countries. The capsule collection includes dresses with kimono styling, walking shorts, pencil skirts with a cummerbund waist detail, trenchcoats, cropped leather jackets & tailored jackets, white shirts – and an array of accessories: skinny belts, clutches, boots & sunglasses. Prices for the clothing will range from 15 euros or $20 (a bodysuit) to 250 euros/$330 (leather trenchcoat); accessories will start off at 10 euros/$13 (scarf with an M-print) to 100 euros/$130 (leather purse). As always, the challenge for a chain like H&M is to balance high design with a mass pricepoint. "I think my biggest challenge was to make clothes that looked chic, sophisticated and expensive, but that weren't expensive. Going into this, I made a promise that I wouldn't design anything that I wouldn't wear myself." Such as Versace, apparently, given that the print ads shot by Steven Klein are extremely reminiscent of a previous Versace campaign Madonna shot with him. While celebs like Jessica Simpson, Jennifer Lopez & Beyonce have launched their own fashion lines to mixed commercial & critical success, Madonna will probably follow in the footsteps of Gwen Stefani; her L.A.M.B. line does extremely well, primarily because the songstress has so much credibility. When fans buy a celeb’s line, they are trying to buy their look; if it’s believable that the celeb would actually wear the line, then they create the necessary credibility that a celeb designer line needs to succeed commercially.