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Alexa Chung, the British-born designer and style icon who many credit with helping Mulberry become the world’s most commercially successful luxury fashion label, is giving the world of reality TV another go. It was announced recently that Chung would be the host of a new fashion centric reality TV show tentatively titled 24-Hour Catwalk which is scheduled to debut this fall on Lifetime’s US networks. Ms. Chung is no stranger to reality TV stardom having already hosted MTV’s It’s On With Alexa Chung and currently serving as host for Gonzo with Alexa Chung on MTV UK. It is also rumored that she will be doing a shopping show for PBS called Thrifting America later this year.
However her first foray into reality TV in America, It’s On With Alexa Chung, was scrapped back in 2009 after two seasons due to lack of viewers. What little is known about 24-Hour Catwalk comes from Women’s Wear Daily who first broke the story and described the new Lifetime series as a competition that “pits designers against each other in runway challenges” which does not do much to help quiet complaints that it is simply a Project Runway knock off. In addition to Project Runway‘s new season which boasts Reality TV’s most dynamic and popular fashion trio of Heidi Klum, Tim Gunn and Michael Kors, 24-Hour Catwalk will also be competing for viewers with NBC’s new reality show Design Star which features Elle MacPherson as host and recently announced the acquisition of Jessica Simpson, John Varvatos and Nicole Richie to be the shows celebrity mentors.
Considering Ms. Chung’s track record with American reality TV and the myriad of new fashion shows and Project Runway clones that will be entering the market this fall it does seem odd that she would choose this time to attempt to boost her popularity across the pond. Combine these facts with the performance Mulberry has put on in the last year, thanks in large part to Ms. Chung’s designer bags that have become a cornerstone of the brand, and one has to wonder whether Alexa Chung’s time could be better spent.
It has been just over 48 hours since British singer/songwriter Amy Winehouse was found dead in her London apartment at the age of 27, and with a couple notable exceptions the fashion world has had very little to say about a woman who Karl Lagerfeld once described as a “style icon”. Much like her music career Ms. Winehouse’s contribution to the fashion world was more often then not overshadowed by her troubled personal life and reckless behavior, but whether she was loved or loathed by them, the fashion elite that crossed paths with her during her short life all agreed that Winehouse had a style all her own.
Shortly after the debut of her hit album Back to Black Ms. Winehouse served as Mr. Lagerfeld’s muse for his December 2007 Chanel show. A few months later the singer performed at the opening of a Fendi store where Lagerfeld praised her saying “She’s not only a muse; she’s a genius. She’s one of the greatest voices today.” However most of the fashion world did not share Mr. Lagerfeld’s opinion of Winehouse as evidence one need only look to a column Lisa Armstrong penned later that year criticizing the industry for trying to hold Ms. Winehouse up a an icon despite her myriad of personal issues. “Somehow the fashion industry has got it into its head that what’s really missing from every stylish woman’s life is an accessory that will make her look like someone whose next must-have is an intravenous drip,” Armstrong wrote in her ’08 column.
One of the last fashion features on Winehouse came in the November 2010 issue of Harper’s Bazaar which was supposed to be an annoucement of a clothing line Ms. Winehouse was releasing with Fred Perry but turned into a commentary on Winehouse’s personal life after the mag’s writers, seemingly out of frustration, gave surprisingly candid descriptions of how she could not answer basic interview questions without slurring her speech and was having trouble walking straight and posing for photos.
So now, while her critics have fallen silent out of respect it is the silence from her one time supporters that seems most glaring. The only exception thus far has come in the form of a statement Fendi emailed to Women’s Wear Daily in response to the news of Ms. Winehouse’s death:
“We met Amy in Paris, fresh from having won five Grammys. That night, everyone discovered that in addition to a genius voice Amy also had an exceptional and very British sense of humor. Having restyled the Fendi dress she was wearing that night, she said with a wink: ‘Forgive my ignorance, I don’t know anything about fashion….’ We are very sad for the loss of such a unique talent that in many ways transcended music, fashion, and culture.”
After opening operations in western Europe with retail locations in Dublin and Brimingham, fast-fashion empire Forever 21 has finally taken the plunge and opened their first London store. The location on Oxford street is gigantic and a fitting flagship for announcing the $3 billion dollar company’s arrival in the UK. For the opening last week the store was transformed into a Santa Monica beach party complete with fairground rides, tarot card reading and plenty of American fries and cheeseburgers for a list of guests that included Zoe Salmon, Alice Levine, Annie Cooper and Lydia Bright. Host Bip Ling presided over the festivities in an outfit designed to evoke 50’s Americana: high waist shorts, boyfriend cotton shirt and even an over sized bow pulling her hair into a side pony.
While it is clear that a large portion of London’s fashion junkies will be ecstatic to have such easy access to the latest in style from across the pond not everyone in the London fashion world is thrilled to have Forever 21 arrive in their city. The US retailer has been sued no less than 50 times since its founding by brands and designers such as Diane von Furstenberg, Trovata, Phillip Lim, Anna Sui and many more for breach of copyright and infringing on their creative property. In a recent interview with Jezebel Fordham University law professor Susan Scafidi offered a unique theory as to how a company with such a troubled reputation manages such steady growth, “They go ahead and they take what they want, and when they get caught, they pay up. It’s probably cheaper than licensing in the first place.”
Forever 21 creative director Linda Chang offered a different perspective in a follow up interview with The Guardian telling the paper that the company has never once settled simply because “We’re not manufacturing the goods ourselves.” She went on to point out that “On in-house designs, our influences are always stated.” Still the bad blood between many high end designers and the more affordable Forever 21 continues to rage with the most recent accusations coming from those that claim the company’s newest print is a near identical copy of one from the Feral Childe label.
Whether you love them or love to hate them one thing is for certain, Forever 21 has found a loyal and interested customer base and they have no plans of going anywhere but up.
Tomorrow marks the beginning of the annual summer opening at Buckingham Palace where visitors can tour the palace gardens, view a portion of the Royal family’s extensive art collection and get a personal look inside 19 different state rooms used to entertain heads of state and world famous celebrities. However this year there is a new attraction that may prove to be the biggest draw of them all as visitors will be able to get within a few feet of a display featuring the wedding gown that helped transform Kate Middleton into Catherine Duchess of Cambridge.
The gown, designed by Alexander McQueen creative director Sarah Burton with plenty of input from Catherine herself is nothing short of a “real feat of engineering” as Burton puts it in her video-taped interview which is played as part of the exhibition. The lace applique on the bodice was created by cutting out hundreds of individual lace flowers which were then sown together by members of the Royal School of Needlework who washed their hands every 30 minutes to ensure the lace was kept spotless and changed needles every three hours to be sure they were sharp.
“We wanted to look to the past, yet look to the future as well,” Ms. Burton explains in the video interview. “There were a lot of references to Victorian corsetry… It has an essence of Victorian but we cut the dress in a very modern way.” Burton goes on to explain that the overall goal of the gown was to create “something that was incredibly beautiful and intricately worked.” Judging from the descriptions given it sounds like they achieved just that, and this amazing gown has already sold 125,750 advanced tickets according to a spokeswoman for the Royal Collection.
In addition to the gown and the video the exhibit will feature Catherine’s ivory satin heels, the tear drop diamond earrings she received as a gift from her parents and the famed “halo” Cartier tiara loaned to her by Queen Elizabeth II. Though the exhibit will not open until tomorrow it has been reported that the Queen and the Duchess will take a private tour later today. The summer opening runs until October 3rd and has a maximum capacity of 643,000, so if you’re going to be in London in August or September and you want to see this amazing piece of haute couture first hand you may want to think about buying tickets soon.
When it comes to the pursuit of the hottest looks in haute couture, fashion empire Versace has signaled that there is one cost they are not willing to pay: the health and safety of international garment workers. In a corporate statement released yesterday Versace confirmed that they would be joining other brands such as Levi Strauss, Karen Millen and H&M in a voluntary ban on the use of sandblasting in their production facilities. Sandblasting is a technique used to distress denim and give it that much sought after worn-in look, but the actual process which involves workers blasting the fabric with a high-powered jet of silica, has been proven to cause Silicosis an irreversible disease of the lungs that can often times be fatal.
Britain prohibited sandblasting in1950 due to health concerns, by 1966 the technique was outlawed throughout Europe for the same reasons. However in much of the developing world where health and safety standards for workers are either very poor or go unenforced altogether, sandblasting is still being used. According to the International Textile, Garment and Leather Worker’s Federation dozens of textile workers in Turkey died last year from acute cases of Silicosis and hundreds more were diagnosed with the disease despite the Turkish government passing a ban on manual sandblasting in March of 2009. Many fear that the numbers are even higher in countries like China and Pakistan where it is harder for international observers to gain access to health records.
Although sandblasting can be done by machines in a controlled environment it is too costly to realistically be used in garment production, and as a result many third world garment workers find themselves manually sandblasting in poorly ventilated workshops with little or no protective gear. Laura Carter of the International Textile, Garment and Leather Worker’s Federation expressed her joy over Versace joining the voluntary ban and hoped that this move would spur other Italian designers to follow suite, saying “It would really send a big message out if the influential fashion names in Italy… said they too would stop selling these products.”
Last week Promgirl News ran an article detailing the steady and better then expected growth of British luxury label Burberry and cited an ever increasing demand for their traditional brand of luxury in new Asian markets. Today Catwalk Queen noted that Mulberry, one of Burberry’s oldest and most similar competitors, has been selected by Bloomburg News as the world’s newest top luxury retailer after experiencing a staggering 527% increase in its stock value over the last calendar year. The source of this miraculous growth: the Asian markets.
Driving by an emerging middle class in the world’s two most populace nations, China and India, the Asian markets have long been seen as the next frontier for many types of businesses, and luxury retailers are no different. However what has proven most surprising is that while food and beverage conglomerates try to adapt their products to Asian tastes, and automotive and tech manufacturers try to decipher exactly what it is their newest consumers want out of their product; the fashion industry, especially the European brands, have been welcomed with open arms. Burberry coats and Mulberry bags which are seen as very traditional and sometime a little worn out by European and American shoppers, are the hot new must have items for the fashionistas of Shanghai and Mumbai.
With new demand for a tried and true product it is no surprise that brands like Burberry and Prada have spent millions to establish retail operations throughout the Indian sub-continent and mainland China. Also after the tragic events that befell Japan earlier this year the most typically fashion forward nation in Asia has been temporarily sidelined, leaving a void that European brands are all too happy to fill. In an examination of similar trends the Financial Times pointed to the fact that other definitely European brands have enjoyed a so called “second life” in Asia, highlighting the example of Royal Enfield Motorcycles a British bike manufacturer who enjoyed great popularity in India long after it’s last UK factory was shuttered.
Regardless of whether you see this newest style trend in Asia as a boon or bane to the world of fashion it does raise some interesting questions. With so much to be gained producing “old-hat” fashion will European designers loose sight of their own future? Is this just a passing fad or a serious trend that will continue for years to come? And perhaps most importantly: Many of these brands fell out of favor with western shoppers for a reason, and therefore it stands to reason that the same will happen in the east, and once it does, what then?
Yesterday Vogue magazine announced a 9.3 percent increase in the amount of add space purchased in their September 2011 issue as compared to September 2010. Proving once again that while there may be a whole world of fashion mags out there, there is only one Vogue. The September issue will feature 584 ad pages, a 50 page increase over 2010. While Vogue has yet to fully recover their pre-recession glory (September 2007 featured 727 ad pages) the numbers point to the mag as being the fastest growing in the market. InStyle followed with a 5.8 percent increase, Harper’s Bazaar and W both posted moderate 1 to 2 percent gains; Elle on the other hand posted a substantial 6.8 percent decrease in ad space.
The September issue of Vogue which went on sale this week features ex-Halston exec Sarah Jessica Parker on the cover and includes a brilliant photo shoot and interview with sisters Dakota and Elle Fanning in which the girls dish on everything from their workout routines to a love for Hello Kitty. Publisher Susan Plagemann pointed out that the increase in ad space for the notoriously popular September issue was a sign things were improving throughout the fashion industry, with designers from all nations increasing their advertising commitment. None more so then the French fashion houses who have reportedly purchased 28 percent more advertising space then they did a year ago. Italian houses were up 19 percent with American houses following closely behind at 14.
However the most intriguing part of yesterday’s announcement was when Plagemann told reporters that Vogue would be launching a new website alongside the already popular Vouge.com. When pressed for more details as to how the site would be different and what Vogue readers could expect Ms. Plagemann was tight lipped saying only that the site would be up and ready by December and that more information would be made available as the year progressed. It’s no surprise that Vogue can remain on top in the world of fashion mags, considering how good they are at building public interest through suspense.
Chanel creative director Karl Lagerfeld is collaborating with Macy’s for a one time only capsule collection which will be available in over 200 Macy’s flagship stores and online at Macys.com beginning at the end of August. This will be Lagerfeld’s second low price line and, if his first collaboration with H&M is any indicator, the pieces will not be available for long once they arrive. Lagerfeld is one of the most sought after and watched designers in the industry today, his most recent line Les Allures de Chanel debuted earlier this month at the couture shows in Paris to excellent reviews.
Largerfeld’s line for Macy’s which will go by the name Masstige was originally rumored to be a very limited offering scheduled only to appear in the retailer’s most prestigious urban locations . However it was Lagerfeld himself earlier this month who informed the fashion world that the collection would be far more widely available then previously thought, a statement confirmed by Macy’s yesterday when they announced it would not only appear in 230 of the retail gaint’s stores but also on the website. Lagerfeld will be working with Macy’s later this year as one of their guest designers for the holidays, but he has stated this will be his only one-on-one collaboration with the retail chain.
“I have wanted this for a long time,” Lagerfeld said about the collection when it was first announced at the end of last year. His stated desire is to bring his signature style to a wider audience by making it available at more reasonable prices. Though it remains to be seen if Mr. Lagerfeld’s definition of reasonable fits with that of the average Macy’s shopper. Either way you can expect some rock-and-roll chic, a few high collars and other vintage Lagerfeld looks to be available at the end of next month, though they won’t be for very long.
The summer’s most hyped romantic comedy, Friends With Benefits starring Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis, hits theaters this Friday and on Monday night the stars hit the red carpet outside of the Ziegfeld Theater for the film’s New York City premier. For the past month it has been hard not to notice the promos for Friends With Benefits and equally hard to ignore the rumors going around that the on screen chemistry between Justin and Mila might be more then acting, so perhaps it was fitting that the weather was every bit as hot as the gossip about the film’s stars.
Kunis beat the heat in a red hot fitted Lanvin dress with a very hip take on the old off-the-shoulder look, while Timberlake raised a few pulses and voices with his arrival in a chic summer suit sans tie. The supporting cast wasn’t quiet as ready for the flashbulbs with Melissa George showing up in a white silk dress that bore a startling resemblance to a nightie and did little to help the fact that she looked like she just rolled out of bed, and then their was pro snow boarder Shaun White whose jacket and jean ensemble was not enough to draw attention away from his mistake of a mustache. Fortunately co-star Emma Stone was there to save the day in a colorful Giambattista Valli peplum frock and Christian Louboutin heels, and even Michael Bolton showed a flash of style with a summery skull-print scarf.
After the screening it was off to the Standard downtown for an after party to remember where the cast dinned on seared steak, gourmet cheese burgers, pesto penne and an assortment of cakes. The guest list included Hollywood A-listers, musicians and models a-plenty including Rose Byrne, Olivia Palermo, Liv Tyler, Christian Siriano, Courtney Love, Zoe Kravitz and Penn Badgley.
So with opening weekend a mere two days away it won’t be long before everyone gets a peek at that chemistry the Hollywood insiders have been buzzing about, and if Friends With Benefits doesn’t do enough to fill your need for Mila and Justin then check out the August issue of Elle where the two stars share the cover and a very under the covers photo shoot.
He is the most powerful man in fashion, through buyouts, mergers and brutal takeovers he has grown his multi-billion dollar empire to include Louis Vuitton, Donna Karan and Christian Dior to name just a few; he is the one who brought Marc Jacobs to Louis Vuitton and Alexander McQueen to Givenchy so it is no surprise that when Bernard Arnault speaks the whole of the fashion world listens. However what is very surprising to many in the industry these past few months is Mr. Arnault’s silence, specifically when it comes to filling the void that John Galliano left at Dior.
For the last 20 years Mr. Arnault, Chairman and CEO of French mega-conglomerate LVMH (Moet Hennessdy Louis Vuitton), has shown a preternatural gift for finding diamonds in the rough when it comes to fashion designers. More often then not Mr. Arnault’s discoveries have been larger than life figures who bring their own cult of personality with them. For example in the 15 years that he served as creative director at Dior, John Galliano behaved more like a rock star than a designer, his flamboyant and often controversial antics seemed the perfect example of a luxury fashion world driven by stars, hype and gossip. A fashion world that Mr. Arnault had all but created.
Then this past March Mr. Galliano’s controversial behavior finally crossed the line in the form of an anti-Semitic, expletive laden tirade he unleashed on patrons of a Paris bistro, his rapid fall from grace would come to reveal serious substance abuse problems as well as other mental health issues and would lead many to question the wisdom of building fashion houses around such volatile egos. Here is where the fashion world expected Mr. Arnault to come to the defense of many of his other larger-than-life designers or point out that Galliano was one man and not a sign of the times. Instead Mr. Arnault seems to have turned his attention away from the brash and head turning bad boys (and girls) of fashion, preferring to lavish praise on a completely different type of designer.
If you look for compliments from Mr. Arnault these days he will probably deliver them to the likes of Phoebe Philo, who Arnault recently brought to his Celine label. Unlike the McQueens, Jacobs and Gallianos of the fashion world Ms. Philo maintains a very low profile, and has slowly brought measured change to the Celine brand rather than seeking to turn the house on its ear as many of Arnault’s other chosen designers have in the past. In his search for a replacement for Galliano, Mr. Arnault has pursued the antithesis of his former creative director, approaching Azzedine Alaia who is a private man to say the least, in the hopes that he would fill the void. Alas Mr. Alaia turned Mr. Arnault down and as such the search continues, albeit with far less fervor and fanfare then the industry is used to seeing from Mr. Arnault.
To many it now seems as though Mr. Arnault has changed his approach. In a recent interview with Newsweek he spoke of how designers like Galliano come and go but “A good product, can last forever.” So it would seem the Bernard Arnault has had enough of the super star designers that he once championed, and the question now is will the fashion world continue looking for it’s next star or will it again follow Mr. Arnault as he moves to reinstate the quiet craftsman as the heart of his fashion empire?
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