It was with ill-concealed glee that many in the fashion world were looking forward to Friday’s Dior show, when the man with the fraught task of stepping into the oversized shoes of the house’s disgraced longtime designer, John Galliano, was showing his debut ready-to-wear show.
Galliano’s longtime right-hand-man and head of Dior’s women’s studio, fellow Briton Bill Gaytten, had to step up to the plate _ and into the spotlight _ when Galliano was sacked last March amid a scandal over anti-Semitic slurs he made in a drunken spat at a Paris watering hole.
Gaytten’s first effort, last July’s couture collection, was nearly universally lambasted by the press, and many industry insiders were taking malicious pleasure out of anticipating another such disaster.
But Gaytten proved up to the task Friday and provided nay-sayers with little fodder for pettiness. The modest designer served up a more than respectable collection of the kinds of pretty suits and gowns the women who buy Dior want and need.
Stripped of the excesses of the Galliano era, the show won’t go down in the brand’s history, but it will surely prove more than enough to keep the customers coming back for more.
An excess of excess was on offer at madcap British designer Vivienne Westwood’s anarchic show, where models in full clown makeup and ball gowns rubbed shoulders with grunge princesses in shredded knits and argyle knee-socks.
XXL looks ruled the catwalks at experimental Belgian house Maison Martin Margiela and at Japanese-born designer Yohji Yamamoto _ where many of the clothes looked like they’d been freshly hacked off the fabric bolt.
Anne Valerie Hash tapped into the essence of Parisian chic with a neglige collection of slouchy silken separates that _ like cool Parisiennes _ just happened to look at once disheveled and sexy and perfect.
With Paris’ Indian summer in full swing and temperatures in the ninties, fashion insiders packed into a Right Bank mansion for a cocktail marking Chanel designer Karl Lagerfeld’s thirda collaboration with Italian shoemaker Hogan. Chilled Champagne was in such high demand that the waiters ran out far before the end of the party, and _ scandale des scandales _ could only offer parched guest sparkling water.
Paris’ spring-summer 2012 collections cross the halfway mark on Saturday _ day five of the City of Light’s nin-day-long fashion week _ with shows by Viktor Rolf, Jean Paul Gaultier and Sonia Rykiel, which announced the appointment of a new creative director for ready-to-wear.
In a statement Friday, the Paris-based knitwear brand said Scottish designer April Crichton had been promoted from within to the new role.
Saturday’s biggest event _ indeed among the biggest events of the entire week _ is happening off the official calendar: Superstar musician Kanye West, an inveterate fan of fashion and frequent front-row guest at the shows, is debuting his own women’s line at an exclusive runway display late in the evening.
CHRISTIAN DIOR
Under Galliano, Dior took on almost superhuman proportions, with larger-than-life collections and shows to the scale of the British designer’s prodigious talent. The house returned to human size with a scaled-down spring-summer collection from Galliano’s replacement, Gaytten.
Models in discreet makeup _ not the extravagant war-paint of the Galliano’s years _ sported pretty, wearable skirt suits in neutral shades of chiffon. Gone were Galliano’s maxi-volumes and the over-the-top riffs on outrageous themes, replaced by an appealing array of wearable, sellable clothes.
Gaytten and his team drew on the time-honored codes of the label, sending out variations on the nip-waisted Bar jacket and tulip-shaped skirts in graphic black-and-white checks and soft sandy neural tones. The evening gowns, in powder blue and black organza, were of an understated elegance.
Dior executives have made it clear that Gaytten is but a stopgap measure, to be replaced by a top-name designer. The rumor mill has thrown out the names of practically everyone who’s anyone in fashion, from Lanvin’s Alber Elbaz to Givenchy’s Riccardo Tisci. Trade industry paper Women’s Wear Daily reported a deal was close to being struck with Louis Vuitton’s Marc Jacobs, but no announcement has been made, leading some to speculate negotiations with the superstar New York designer have derailed.
Whatever the status of the search, Gaytten’s strong performance Friday certainly takes the pressure off Dior to immediately find a permanent solution.
VIVIENNE WESTWOOD
The only rule at Westwood is that there isn’t one.
It was a free-for-all Friday, as the British designer who leapt to international fame for helping inject anarchy into fashion threw open all the doors and let everyone _ including the riffraff _ in.
The clothes appeared to have been put together from whatever bolts of leftover fabric were laying around: Satins, lames, brocades, prints, stripes, lace, argyle and tulle were heaped on the models’ heads, tied round their waists, slung over their shoulders or draped in artful floor-length skirts.
Some of models wore full-on clown-style face paint, while others sported Klein blue lips and eyebrows. They padded the raised circle-shaped catwalk in towering platforms, pausing in front of the photographer’ pit to strike exaggerated poses or do little pantomimes as a 16-year-old pianist played his own compositions on a grand piano.
Whoops of enthusiasm erupted from the audience as the carrot-topped Westwood and her strapping young husband appeared for a final bow.
MAISON MARTIN MARGIELA
Fashion got turned inside-out with Margiela’s deconstructed collection, which put the underpinnings of clothing onto the outside.
Thrown over the models’ shoulders, swaths of fabric that looked as if they’d been freshly sliced off the bolt became the most basic of outerwear. Pinned rudimentarily to their torsos, the material became ersatz evening gowns.
Raw-seamed panels were attached to column dresses with bits of Velcro, and zippers _ complete with the cloth part that’s usually sewn into garments _ emblazoned the shirts and jackets. Men’s suits that looked as if they were in the initial stages of confection by a tailor were worn as-is, with flaps of extra fabric trailing behind.
Models, their faces obscured by tangles of hair, felt their way down the catwalk covered in oriental rugs. A few of them were actually wrapped in sequin-covered rugs in the guise of bustier dresses, their shoulders protected from the elements by oversized Ziploc plastic bags.
Margiela is at the vanguard of conceptual labels whose radical vision pushes fashion forward, and Friday’s collection fulfilled that mission.
But the show was too long, with too many iterations on a concept that was clear from the very first looks. Before the models could finish their last lap, top fashion editors flooded the catwalk in a bid to make a quick escape to the next show _ which was conveniently taking place all the way across town.
YOHJI YAMAMOTO
Between the Mad Hatters in oversized headgear and the White Rabbit lookalikes in shrunken tuxes, there was a whiff of “Alice in Wonderland” in the air at Yamamoto.
Still, with its largely somber palette and sluggish pacing, Yamamoto’s other side of the looking glass was a pretty lugubrious place.
Models slogged down an illuminated catwalk in oversized suits _ extra panels of excess black fabric flapping _ and mutant XXL top hats on their heads. Homesteader-style cotton skirts were piled one on top on another and paired with aprons and sneakers.
A model in a shrunken black suit that was kitted out with extra-long tails followed like the ever-anxious White Rabbit after his Alice, in a mammoth white bonnet and a full-skirted dress with a yards- (meters-) long train dragging behind.
While there were plenty of eye-catching pieces on offer, there was something a tad depressing about Friday’s show, like a visit to an ashen Wonderland drained of the wonder.
ANNE VALERIE HASH
Hash tapped into that most elusive of je ne sais quois, Parisian girls’ ability to throw on any old thing and make it look fabulous.
She delivered a collection steeped in neglige chic, low-rise silk pants with just the right slouch and chiffon blouses that despite being oversized managed to hang just so. Pencil skirts had panels that made them look like they were a couple of sizes too big _ though they still hugged the body in just the right places _ and pretty blouses were a puff of chiffon held onto the body by a thread in the back.
For evening, silk pantsuits sprouted dramatic billowing loops of chiffon, like capes.
A true Parisian herself, Hash is an unconditional fan of black, but Friday’s collection was steeped in color _ Klein blue, salmon, tangerine and beige _ and even included a fanciful print.
Article source: http://www.taiwannews.com.tw/etn/news_content.php?id=1722675
The Fashion Week Shoes
Written by Emma Smee
I have two big plastic boxes of shoes in my house and I don’t think I’m alone in my love of footwear. So why does no one ever talk about the shoes on the runways at Fashion Week? While outstanding, jaw dropping collections are definitely worthy of praise, we feel that the shoes should get their day too!
So may I present the Spring/Summer shoes I covet the most:
Michael Kor’s Africa inspired collection was rounded off with these boots which look practical, comfy and stylish. I never thought I’d see the day where I could say that about runway shoes!
The delicate two tone heels at Mary Katrantzou shouldn’t be overlooked. The glossy shine, colour blending and thin straps make them perfect for this season, and I could happily run away in them.
Sheer plastic heels? Am I dreaming? Finish of the look with a see through Burberry mac to wash away any spring showers.
Theres nothing about these shoes I don’t love. The big flowers, the heels that looked covered in vines and the shiny metal plating makes them quirky and fun. I may have to become the Missoni family’s best friend pronto.
Category: Commentary | Tags:
Article source: http://fashionforlunch.com/2011/09/333413/
BLOOMFIELD HILLS, Mich., Sept. 30, 2011 — /PRNewswire/ — Detroit-area TV host, blogger and momtrepreneur Elizabeth Katzman is committed to living a kinder, cleaner lifestyle … in style. Her new shoe collection for women, “Elizabeth’s,” fuses fashion and compassion in smart, trend-right styles that are also vegan, eco-friendly and cruelty-free.
Handmade in the United States of recycled materials, Elizabeth’s features the season’s must-have footwear: peep-toe booties in faux leather that are long on style but short on environmental impact — they are biodegradable and emit no volatile compounds. Faux suede platform heels are versatile, sexy and made from recycled plastic and soft, recycled ultra-microfiber. And side-zip faux leather combat boots are funky, fashionable and, like all of Elizabeth’s styles, finely crafted and comfortable enough to be worn every day.
In addition, for those in warm climes, there are Elizabeth’s jelly flip flops sporting black cow print or pink pigs and the message “Go Veg.”
“This collection was born from my love for animals and fashion,” says Katzman. “Although the two are often mutually exclusive, I don’t believe they have to be.”
Katzman is a former lawyer turned stay-at-home mom to two young boys. She created the website and blog “Elizabeth’s Kind Cafe” (http://www.elizabethskindcafe.com) to share tips on cooking, composting and gardening with kids, teaching them to care for the earth and themselves. She and her family became vegan in the process, meaning they don’t use or eat animal products, because of the widespread abuse and exploitation of animals for food and also because of the considerable health and environmental benefits of a plant-based lifestyle.
“The vegan lifestyle makes sense on so many levels, and that means not only what we eat, but what we put on our bodies and in our homes,” she adds.
Katzman’s desire to share her passion as well as resources for a kinder, cleaner lifestyle led to hosting the current “Elizabeth’s Kind Cafe” weekly talk and cooking show on Bloomfield Community TV. She also created a store on her website to make available helpful products such as books, cruelty-free cosmetics and her easy-to-use, all-natural DIY Home Cleaning Kit. Her new shoe collection fills yet another important need:
“There are vegan shoes out there, but for style-conscious women looking for really fabulous but cruelty-free footwear, there’s a hole in the market. My goal with Elizabeth’s is to fill that void, and I look forward to introducing more great styles in the months to come.”
Elizabeth’s shoes are sold exclusively online at http://www.elizabethskindcafe.com.
A portion of the proceeds from every sale benefits People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and 1% for the Planet, a global environmental initiative.
Photos from footwear collection:
http://www.ereleases.com/pic/Elizabeths-footwear.jpg
http://www.ereleases.com/pic/Elizabeths-cow-pig.jpg
Contact:
Cyndi SummersPublicist586-945-8775 (mobile)cyndisummers@prodigy.net
This press release was issued through eReleases(R). For more information, visit eReleases Press Release Distribution at http://www.ereleases.com.
SOURCE Elizabeth’s
Article source: http://www.sacbee.com/2011/09/30/3950381/michigan-momtrepreneur-launches.html
Posted on September 30, 2011 · 
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Ankle boots are always a must have trend around this time of the year. And you couldn’t have asked for an everyday ankle boot than this Ellos’s lace up ankle boot with fancy buckle, folded collar and metal trim. It’s an easy style to pull off with your basic winter essentials. Wear these with a shorter skirt to really show them off.
Ellos Pull On Boots £119
One thing to like about the pull on boot is that the heels are low enough to walk around in the winter. The price might be a drawback for some, but bearing in mind it’s leather means that it’s worth the price. And the almond shaped toe is a compromise between pointed and rounded toe. From wrap dresses to skirts to knee length trousers the pull boot will make a great addition. For many womens shoes uk,do make sure to check out Ellos.co.uk.
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Article source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/MyLovelyBigFeet/~3/_aGsvmWhoHU/
Those in London this week have been given a glimpse into what is in-store for fashion next spring and summer. It seems that fashions are going to be centred around super-sized hats, prints of sun rays, pastels and floral patterns. Many of those at the event seemed to very much like what was on offer and this included several big celebrities. Next spring and summer seem like a very long time away, but there is no reason why the fashion conscious cannot get involved with some of the styling being seen on the catwalk right now.
The theme of the English seaside is being taken on by Mulberry who has created maxi dresses that look like the colours of lollipops, and they have also included some rain coats in bright yellow into their collection.
A quite different beach scene has also been the inspiration for some other designers. Miami Beach has been an influence on Jonathan Saunders, who has created outfits that resemble stunning sunsets and skies. Also some inspiration is taken from 1950′s styles, such as skirts that fall below the knee. House of Hollands collection can also been seen to draw influence from Miami.
A huge part of London Fashion Week has been flowers. Floral patterns are appearing everywhere and in most of the designers collections. A notable example is Ashish, whose clothes saw clashing sequinned petals as well as bright floral prints. Some of the models were even wearing fresh flowers threaded through boots. While much of the flowery items are intended for summer wear, there is no question than wearing floral patterns in winter is a good fashion choice.
As well as floral patterns, the use of stripes in clothing is looking to become very popular and designers seem to be using a great many different types of stripes in all of their collections. Paul Costello has created a collection of clothes that seem to be straight out of the 1960′s with his use of black and white stripes.
Burberry’s collection is much brighter though, and a big part of the collection is the trench coats they are well known for. Stripes are in right now, so choose to wear them this winter, just don’t wear colours that are typically associated with summer – go for autumnal colours but don’t be afraid to choose multiple colours.
One notable trend at this years’ fashion week has been the increased exposure of flesh. Sheer fabrics have become very popular recently, and the trend for this type of design has been seen all week. Julien Macdonald was particularly notable for creating outfits that seemed to hardly cover anything. The simple designs that involved lace and beads were a huge success on the catwalk. If you choose to go for a minimalist dressing style, make sure that you don’t go as far as the catwalk models – it is not very dignified.
Related posts:
- Paris Fashion Week showing a lot of fur
- Lanvin spring and summer 2012 collection
- NewUrban hats – luxury hats for a fresh everyday style
- Hats This Summer
- London Fashion Week offer plus size and more
Article source: http://www.catwalkfashion.co.uk/hats-and-floral%E2%80%99s-will-be-big-in-2012/
LOOKING as gorgeous as ever, Kate proved yesterday married life is treating her well.
Opting for an understated pale grey Amanda Wakeley dress, her favourite LK Bennett court shoes and their basic box clutch, 29-year-old Kate completed the look with a simple crucifix and her engagement ring. It wasn’t the most daring outfit for a woman topping best-dressed polls but it will no doubt inspire a thousand copy-Kates yet again.
It was typical of Kate’s understated elegance. Simplicity is the key to her success and this flattering tailored to-the-knee dress is perfect for her – though in those sleeves she may have been a little warm in the heat!
Now I’m looking forward to seeing the slightly more risque polka-dot pencil skirt and vivid blue blazer she picked up in Topshop, on London’s Kensington High Street, earlier this week…
Article source: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2011/09/30/kate-middleton-fashion-verdict-duchess-looks-fab-in-amanda-wakeley-115875-23455695/
Friday Sep 30 2011
Lourdes Leon says it “sucks” for mother Madonna when she can’t fit in her shoes.
Madonna and Lourdes launched clothing collection Material Girl last year, and it appears the pair’s similar taste in fashion is even closer than first thought.
Lourdes has famously been seeking fashion inspiration from her mother’s wardrobe for years, but it seems Madonna doesn’t just influence her daughter’s style. She shares her garb too.
Lourdes finds it funny when her mother fails to fit into her footwear though.
“My mom doesn’t fit into my shoes, so sucks for her,” she joked in an interview with People magazine. “She’s like, ‘Oh damn, this doesn’t fit on my feet.’ I’m like, ‘Oh really? That’s too bad!’”
Lourdes loves to take fashion advice from her mother. The pretty teen says they bounce their style ideas off each other.
“We sort of balance each other out. I feel like I could work on it, and she does the same for me,” she said. “We both give each other fashion tips.”
Lourdes and Madonna recently celebrated their fashion line’s first birthday with Kelly Osbourne – the current face of the brand.
The collaboration between the three stars is a complimentary one. Both Lourdes and Kelly find inspiration in each other.
“Definitely Kelly, and my mom definitely inspires me,” Lourdes revealed when asked about her style icons. “She’s just crazy when it comes to her fashion sense,” before Kelly agreed with the sentiment.
“I actually learned a lot from my mother and growing up watching Madonna,” Kelly gushed.
“[Lourdes] and Madonna do everything and that really reflects in the styles you see coming down the catwalk … it makes me really proud as well, because the line just keeps getting better and better.”
Lourdes is thrilled with the brand’s growth. At the line’s first birthday party at Macy’s in New York recently, the star gushed about its success.
“It feels so great,” she said. “I never thought it would get this big and it makes me really proud, and my mom is really proud, too.”
© Cover Media
Article source: http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/woman/fashion-beauty/madonna-doesnt-fit-daughters-shoes-16057244.html
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Compassion meets fashion in “Elizabeth’s” eco-friendly, cruelty-free women’s shoes
BLOOMFIELD HILLS, Mich., Sept. 30, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — Detroit-area TV host, blogger and momtrepreneur Elizabeth Katzman is committed to living a kinder, cleaner lifestyle … in style. Her new shoe collection for women, “Elizabeth’s,” fuses fashion and compassion in smart, trend-right styles that are also vegan, eco-friendly and cruelty-free.
Handmade in the United States of recycled materials, Elizabeth’s features the season’s must-have footwear: peep-toe booties in faux leather that are long on style but short on environmental impact — they are biodegradable and emit no volatile compounds. Faux suede platform heels are versatile, sexy and made from recycled plastic and soft, recycled ultra-microfiber. And side-zip faux leather combat boots are funky, fashionable and, like all of Elizabeth’s styles, finely crafted and comfortable enough to be worn every day.
In addition, for those in warm climes, there are Elizabeth’s jelly flip flops sporting black cow print or pink pigs and the message “Go Veg.”
“This collection was born from my love for animals and fashion,” says Katzman. “Although the two are often mutually exclusive, I don’t believe they have to be.”
Katzman is a former lawyer turned stay-at-home mom to two young boys. She created the website and blog “Elizabeth’s Kind Cafe” (http://www.elizabethskindcafe.com) to share tips on cooking, composting and gardening with kids, teaching them to care for the earth and themselves. She and her family became vegan in the process, meaning they don’t use or eat animal products, because of the widespread abuse and exploitation of animals for food and also because of the considerable health and environmental benefits of a plant-based lifestyle.
“The vegan lifestyle makes sense on so many levels, and that means not only what we eat, but what we put on our bodies and in our homes,” she adds.
Katzman’s desire to share her passion as well as resources for a kinder, cleaner lifestyle led to hosting the current “Elizabeth’s Kind Cafe” weekly talk and cooking show on Bloomfield Community TV. She also created a store on her website to make available helpful products such as books, cruelty-free cosmetics and her easy-to-use, all-natural DIY Home Cleaning Kit. Her new shoe collection fills yet another important need:
“There are vegan shoes out there, but for style-conscious women looking for really fabulous but cruelty-free footwear, there’s a hole in the market. My goal with Elizabeth’s is to fill that void, and I look forward to introducing more great styles in the months to come.”
Elizabeth’s shoes are sold exclusively online at http://www.elizabethskindcafe.com.
A portion of the proceeds from every sale benefits People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and 1% for the Planet, a global environmental initiative.
Photos from footwear collection:
http://www.ereleases.com/pic/Elizabeths-footwear.jpg
http://www.ereleases.com/pic/Elizabeths-cow-pig.jpg
Contact:
Cyndi Summers
Publicist
586-945-8775 (mobile)
cyndisummers@prodigy.net
This press release was issued through eReleases(R). For more information, visit eReleases Press Release Distribution at http://www.ereleases.com.
SOURCE Elizabeth’s
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Article source: http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/michigan-momtrepreneur-launches-fashion-forward-vegan-shoe-line-130842873.html
Lingerie for feet
THE shows are almost over. Next week the glossy posse, bleached weary from their month’s sprint to the world’s four fashion capitals—New York, London, Milan and finally Paris—will forsake the bright plumage of the catwalks for the mundane headaches of balance-sheets and supply chains.
Everyone now knows what will be in discerning wardrobes next spring: blocks of colour, bold prints and dainty “lingerie for feet” (formerly known as nice shoes). But the fashion industry’s financial future is much murkier. A confusion of trends preoccupies the major brands: the rapid shift east of their customer base, a generational switch, as high earners get younger, and the challenge of making luxurious clothing accessible to new markets, including digital ones, while retaining the sense of exclusivity that makes people want to pay for them in the first place.
First the good news. Luxury brands are coping well despite global economic gloom. This is because the number of “extreme net-worth individuals” (industry jargon for people with so much money that an $8,000 handbag seems a bargain) keeps growing, especially in Asia. Claudia D’Arpizio of Bain Co, a consultancy, predicts sales will grow by 8% this year, to €185 billion ($252 billion).
Some firms are generating such a huge heap of cash that they need platform boots to see the top of it. LVMH, a French group which owns 60 brands, including Louis Vuitton and Christian Dior, various lucrative champagnes and Bulgari, an upmarket jeweller, boasts that its sales have risen by 13% in the first half of this year, to €10.3 billion ($14.4 billion). Analysts reckon that LVMH’s profit margins for its luxury brands are a healthy 40% or so—twice as high as some of its rivals.
The various fashion weeks are a snapshot of the industry’s strengths and weaknesses. Milan and Paris are the main events: they bring together the big names from across the globe. New York is run more for the benefit of the buyers, especially American department stores. London prides itself on its “edgy” feel, showcasing designers fresh out of fashion colleges, alongside some big names such as Tom Ford.
One of the main conundrums for the fashion industry concerns what Angela Ahrendts, the boss of Burberry, calls “democratic luxury”. Firms want to sell more kit, to make more money. But the more they sell, the harder it is to convince customers that they are buying something “exclusive”: ie, something that hardly anyone else has.
Burberry, a British firm that makes pricey raincoats, got a fright a few years ago when its distinctive brown checks became associated with “chavs”—a white working-class group at whom snobs poke cruel fun. (For example: What do you call a chav in a suit? The defendant.) It protected its brand by making those checks quieter and costlier, and boosted its sales by expanding into China, where no one tells chav jokes. Its global sales were up by 27% for the year to March 31st 2011, to £1.5 billion ($2.3 billion).
All of the major companies are vying to expand into emerging markets. China is Burberry’s prime target, though South Korea is also growing fast and Brazil looks promising. Several houses are opening stores in Saudi Arabia. Louis Vuitton sells bags in mineral-rich Mongolia. “There’s a lot of money there,” explains Antonio Belloni, LVMH’s group managing director.
But will snooty shoppers in the West want to own what thousands of Chinese people are wearing? “You have to constantly stretch the brand upwards and make it more luxurious at the top end,” Mr Belloni says. He points out that Dior and Vuitton are making more bespoke goods for their wealthiest clients, who want a say in what the final product looks like. Even ready-to-wear shoes in Dior’s flagship stores can retail for well over €1,000.
All this fabulousness depends on creative spirits, who can be erratic. Dior urgently needs to replace John Galliano, its creative designer, who was dismissed after an anti-Semitic outburst in a Paris bar earlier this year. The value of top creative talent is high. Negotiations between Dior and Marc Jacobs, an American designer currently at Louis Vuitton, are said to have become “complex”, with Mr Jacobs rumoured to want between $8m and $10m a year. The new favourite to replace Mr Galliano, a young American called Alexander Wang, is less well-known but surely cheaper.
Outside the top trio of LVMH, the Gucci Group and Burberry, many independent designers have had a tougher time growing. Paule Ka, a French clothes brand with a turnover of €40m and a staunch following among stylish French women, recently allowed Change Capital Partners, a London-based private-equity company, to take over 70% of the business.
It’s founder, Serge Cajfinger, admits that recent times have been precarious. “When the crisis hit in 2008, we were a bit stuck,” he recalls. Many stockists lost their credit insurance, forcing him to cancel orders. To maintain sales, he shaved prices. He also wooed investors with the promise of a push into Asia and America. (America is still regarded as the hardest market for European brands to conquer.)
Companies which trade in Zeitgeist and aspiration, as top fashion brands do, have to hold on to customers whom Mr Belloni tactfully describes as “active semi-retired” (ie, ageing baby-boomers), while simultaneously seducing the young. It is a tricky balance to strike.
Ms Ahrendts cautions that the “millennial customer” is a different creature from the 20th-century luxury-lover. “For a start, the high-net-worth customers are often about 15 years younger than they were,” she notes. She has rapidly made Burberry’s marketing more digital. Its shows are live-streamed on Facebook, and sometimes use 3D and holograms.
Recently, Ms Ahrendts booked Keane, a rock band, to fly to Beijing and turn a Burberry store launch into a gig. One of the band’s most popular songs is called “Everybody’s Changing.” Which is true, if the queues outside Asian dressing rooms are anything to go by.
Article source: http://www.economist.com/node/21530989
EDMONTON – What do you wear to a fashion show where sitting off-runway can get you as much attention as walking the catwalk?
We asked some of the stylish people attending Western Canada Fashion Week’s fantasy hair and makeup competitions Tuesday at the TransAlta Arts Barns.
Carla Dejesus
I’m just wearing what I wore to work. The dress is from Urban Behavior, the shoes are from Town Shoes. The belt I’ve had for a long time, and the jacket is from Garage Clothing. I’m a rep for International Beauty Services hair products.
Mary Ann James
The dress is from Maggy London and I got it from Nordstrom in Phoenix. I bought it because it’s a pretty pattern and very slimming, I think. The shoes are Moda and I got them from DSW, a designer shoe warehouse, in Phoenix. And my Coach purse.
Katie Cheung
I’m wearing what I’m wearing because it was clean. Seriously. I really don’t give much thought to fashion. I like to dress in solid, plain colours, a lot of it is pretty subdued — greys, blacks, dark greens, dark blues, classics that stand the test of time. I don’t do a lot of patterns. I got these jeans from Hong Kong and they were like $4 Canadian. This is a Versace sport shirt, with a regular grey? green v-neck t-shirt underneath. The boots are from Aldo. They were having a sale.
Janis Galloway
(fashion blogger (dressmedearly.com) and stylist)
I’m actually wearing a custom design by a local designer named Bridget Smatlan, her label is called Fridget Apparel. It’s very special because my boyfriend, Leith Brownridge, had it made for me for my birthday. He asked her if she would work with me on designing the dress, so I got to go to her studio and work with her and look at fabrics. I’ve had it for a couple of years now and take it out for special occasions. It’s fun to know that no one else has it, it’s completely unique for me. It’s bright and it’s fun — and vintage fabric, too.
BFFs Kristina Gauthier and Michaela Pichert
Kristina: I’m wearing a high-waisted, grey skirt with flourescent yellow stripes from Forever 21. One of my bracelets was a grad present in June. That’s about it.
Michaela: I’m wearing a pink knit mini and a little black top with some nice cutouts. The sandals are hers (Kristina’s). I’m borrowing them.
Cousins Samantha Bereznicki and Paul Leszezynski
Samantha: This is just me dressed up. I love to dress up. I got my strapless dress here, from Forever 21. The blazer is from Zara and my shoes, my auntie got them for me in New York. My jewelry is vintage.
Paul: I made my shoes. They were just white canvas Vans and I glittered them all up with some gold and silver glitter. I just finished them yesterday. I didn’t do it for this fashion show, specifically, but it was convenient that I got to wear them to fashion week. These are are just my comfy Diesel jeans, my go-to favourite pair. And this is just one of my grey button-up work shirts I wear at the bank.
Courtney Hoover
I’m wearing short shorts, a striped blazer, kind of like a retro, vintage kind of look. Most of the pieces are from Le Chateau, Forever 21. The shoes are from Le Chateau. They’re really old but they’re comfy. My necklace I got from a vintage store in Vancouver. I kind of like the little details like the strands of pearls with the cameos. This bracelet is vintage, I got in New York.
czdeb@edmontonjournal.com
Article source: http://www.edmontonjournal.com/life/Fashion+just+runway/5477209/story.html
