One ecommerce winner, one loser; two lessons

March 5, 2013 11:39 am by Vanessa Friedman

Yesterday Farfetch.com, the ecommerce site that acts like a portal between global consumers and global independent boutiques, both editing their offerings and connecting either side, announced $20m in new funding, largely from Condé Nast International. A few days before, Luxup, a UK-based ecommerce travel site that aimed to create a “club” of tourists eager for insider shopping experiences, ceased trading. When such things happen in parallel, it’s tempting to try to find lots of lessons in the news.

What are they? Read more

Tags: , ,
Posted in China, Fashion, Internet |

Neil Barrett’s incredibly obvious, smart innovation

March 4, 2013 8:33 am by Vanessa Friedman

We used to do a column on the Style pages devoted to what we called “incredibly obvious innovations”: fashion developments that seemed so “Duh!” when you saw them it was almost unbelievable no one had thought of them before.

For example, straps on the outside of a tote to hold an umbrella so it doesn’t soak everything inside the bag. Or a light on the interior of a purse, so you can actually see what’s inside without having to take everything out first. Well, I have a new candidate, straight from Paris Fashion Week: Neil Barrett’s internal coat strap. Read more

Tags: , ,
Posted in Fashion, Ready-to-wear, Shows, Womenswear |

Paris, NY and Berlin fashion councils play follow the London leader

March 1, 2013 10:46 am by Vanessa Friedman

Three years ago in the midst of the financial crash, Sarah Mower, the British Fashion Council’s ambassador for emerging talent and a writer (she was awarded an MBE for it), in conjunction with the British Fashion Council, set up what she called “the London Showrooms”. A temporary salon during Paris Fashion Week for young UK designers not yet ready to pay for their own showrooms around the world, or organise them, but eager to reach those among the international fashion body who might not have made it to the London shows because of budget or time.

It was a big success, and since then she has introduced such showrooms in Los Angeles, New York and Hong Kong, as well as another in Paris for menswear, and potentially one in Tokyo this year. Read more

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Fashion, Luxury goods, Womenswear |

Alexander Wang’s Balenciaga: first thoughts

February 28, 2013 10:41 am by Vanessa Friedman

It was clean, it was exact, it didn’t rock the boat (or the brand). It was, as the French say, pas mal.

Almost entirely in black and white, Alexander Wang’s first Balenciaga show nodded to the house’s architectural past. Building from a base of a flat suede boot/legging, he layered on skinny black trousers, high-waisted skirts cut in a curve on the hem and waist to dip in back and rise in front. There were white shirts that mixed cotton piqué with a nubbly cloqué added under or over in origami-folds; neat dresses in a marbelised print realised in appliqués on organza; intarsia furs; a cracked painted leather polo neck and matching skirt; and suede trousers flashing bits of flesh between the cracks.

As an interpretation of the now-abstract idea of Balenciaga, it looked exactly like what to expect if one imagined the archives and what a young designer would make of them, which will probably be gratifying from a consumer perspective: not too challenging, but elegant enough, the clothes suggested the past without confronting it. It’s nice to be proved correct when you enter a store (or pick a designer). And they will probably attract Mr Wang’s band of cool, growing-up, society girls – even, possibly, their mothers. Read more

Tags: ,
Posted in Couture, Fashion, Luxury goods, Womenswear |

H&M rocks Paris Fashion Week

February 27, 2013 11:03 am by Vanessa Friedman

Helen Hunt wearing an H&M gown on the red carpet at the Oscars on Sunday

On Wednesday H&M is having its first-ever Paris fashion show – in the Musée Rodin, the haute art ex-venue of Tom Ford’s Yves Saint Laurent and John Galliano’s Christian Dior. Coming on the back of Sunday’s Oscar moment, when best supporting actress nominee Helen Hunt wore H&M on the red carpet, it seems to indicate more upmarket ambitions for the brand. So, is this a sign of the times or a sign of the decline of western fashion civilisation? Maybe a bit of both.

(Note: it doesn’t seem to be the unveiling of the group’s new, higher-priced brand collection & Other Stories – it’s H&M itself. So it’s not a move to elevate a line to, say, the Martin Sitbon level.)

On one level, it sounds silly. The whole point of great high street brands such as H&M is that it so quickly, effectively and economically translates high-fashion trends for the rest of the world without the frills, hoo-ha and elitism associated with the whole show system, its seating ranks, invitations and exclusionary velvet ropes. It led the revolution to democratise style, and its consumers love it for it. Read more

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Couture, Fashion, Ready-to-wear, Shows, Womenswear |

Is “Made in Italy” message to country’s politicians wasted?

February 26, 2013 12:19 pm by Vanessa Friedman

Marni's sunglasses with “excavated details”. Getty Images

Today is travel day as the fashion flock heads to Paris. Looking back over the past week in Italy, I was struck by the fact that of all the trends to come out of Milan – fur, leather, dominatrix gear, (I’m not kidding about this last one) – the biggest one is the sudden trumpeting, by pretty much every brand, of “Made in Italy”.

From Dolce & Gabbana and their mosaic dresses to Fendi’s extraordinary fur melange, it was artisanship all the way. You just need to read the show notes, supposedly to help journalists understand what a collection is about, but in reality mostly serve as pre-show entertainment.

Take Marni, for example, “the colour palette is severe, with turbulent peaks”; sunglasses have “excavated details”. Or from Armani: “calculated eccentricity shines through in berets featuring special workmanship in woven velvet, their spherical forma adorning the head.” I’ll be tweeting the best ones, so follow us on @FTLuxury360 for some real prose treats. Read more

Tags: ,
Posted in Couture, Fashion |

Tiffany, Neil Lane and Van Cleef milk Oscars red carpet

February 25, 2013 11:26 am by Vanessa Friedman

Forget clothes; the red carpet is all about the jewellery now. Would be that of an after-awards morning my in-box would be full of who-wore-what emails. Not any more! Now it’s jewels, all the way down (or pretty much). Yet I can’t help feeling that there’s a difference between fine jewellery and clothes, even really expensive clothes, and the “if-it-worked-for-fashion-it-will-work-for-gems” theory is wrong.  Read more

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Fashion, Hollywood, Jewellery, Luxury goods |

Michelle Obama wears Reed Krakoff and CFDA hires BCG

February 22, 2013 11:05 am by Vanessa Friedman

If anyone wants to know the difference between Milan and New York fashion, the two cities that are most often seem as similar in their focus on the commercial as opposed to the insanely creative/conceptual, simply consider two recent pieces of news from over the pond: first, in her official term 2 Flotus portrait, Mrs O is wearing Reed Krakoff; second, the CFDA has hired Boston Consulting Group to help them determine their goals for the next five years. Fashion-as-business! It doesn’t get any clearer than that.

 Read more

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Fashion, Womenswear |

LVMH makes stealth investment in Maxime Simoens

February 21, 2013 12:26 pm by Vanessa Friedman

Maxime Simoens' couture collection. Getty Images

It seems LVMH has taken a new approach to its investment in young fashion brands having made a minority investment in 29-year-old French couturier Maxime Simoens. The company has snapped up between a 20-30 per cent stake in the business, according to an LVMH spokesperson. This means Mr Simoens will not officially become part of LVMH (not yet, anyway), but that the group will act as advisers on the growth of the brand – in particular, Dior chief executive Sidney Toledano, who was the driving force behind the investment. Dior, as the group likes to point out, is the main holding company of LVMH.

Mr Simoens had been rumoured as a candidate for the Dior artistic director job, and though that went to Raf Simons, Mr Toledano and Dior deputy managing director Delphine Arnault were impressed. Their first move now: helping Mr Simoens hold his debut ready-to-wear show on March 3 (he already does couture, which may seem odd, but it does not require the same up-front funding for wholesale orders as RTW). Read more

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Couture, Fashion |

Tod’s names Alessandra Facchinetti creative director

February 20, 2013 4:41 pm by Vanessa Friedman

Alessandra Facchinetti to creatively lead Diego Della Valle's brand. Getty Images

And so Milan fashion week starts off with a bang: Diego Della Valle, chairman of Tod’s, has announced he has a new creative director for his brand – Alessandra Facchinetti. She will be responsible for all the womenswear products, from shoes and bags to apparel, as well as the ad campaigns, and, perhaps most importantly, being the female “face” of the brand. She may also launch the brand into homewares.

Homewares? A female face? Wow! It’s a new stage. “Why not?” asked Mr Della Valle. “It’s part of lifestyle.” Read more

Posted in Fashion |
BackOlder entries