Tag Archives: WWD

Styles & Fashion

Marc Jacobs Reschedules Both Fashion Week Shows

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By Christina Perez

Apparently even big designers have trouble getting their stuff through customs. Thanks to delivery delays, told WWD.

And it’s not just the mainline show that’s been affected; the Marc by Marc Jacobs showtime has been changed as well. That show will now take place at the Lincoln Center tents on Monday at 8 p.m. – the Collection’s original spot on the schedule – because the set for the Marc Jacobs show is already being built at the Lexington Armory.

“Marc and I are extremely sorry for this inconvenience. We just want to have the best show possible and show all the product that our design team has been working on so hard for the last six months. We completely understand if people have to get on a plane to go to London,” Duffy explained. “We’re not expecting people to change those plans or other plans just for us. We are live streaming the show. Still, we recognize the significant inconvenience and are very sorry about the situation,”

Later the brand tweeted, “Sorry everyone, we just want to make it right,” before tweeting a formal apologie note.

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at fashionologie

Styles & Fashion

Bold-Faced Move: Deborah Needleman Changes T Magazine Logo

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By Justin Fenner

Deborah Needleman has made some bold changes to T Magazine, the most noticeable of which is its brand-new logo.

Gone is the Gothic capital T that used to reside on the magazine’s cover, and in its place is a sleeker sans serif T custom-designed by the magazine’s creative director Patrick Li.

“I feel the Times is such a strong brand that it can handle under its umbrella a kind of distinctive magazine and that it doesn’t need to typographically reference the Gothic type,” Needleman said in an interview with WWD.

Speaking of strength, the magazine is now also physically bigger and printed on heavier paper. The thicker pages will provide support for her fashion-themed first issue, which will debut on Feb. 17. The issue features a cover story on front-row staple Lee Radziwill that Needleman started working on while she was still at the helm of WSJ. Magazine and a new front-of-book op-ed that examines “something in the zeitgeist.” (For this issue, Suzy Menkes will ruminate on fashion bloggers; the cover teases the story with the line “the circus that is fashion.”)

Photo via T Magazine

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at fashionologie

Styles & Fashion

Watch: Marc Jacobs Takes His Shirt Off For Diet Coke

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By Justin Fenner

If sexy sells, Diet Coke should experience a huge sales lift in 2013. The soda brand has tapped Marc Jacbos as its creative director for this year, and he’s already reprised the brand’s very shirtless ’90s Diet Coke Man commercial, and posed as a pinup for a print campaign.

“I still think it’s hysterical people want me to take my shirt off,” Jacobs said in an interview with WWD. “You know, I’m going to be 50 in two months, so I guess I should be glad. It feels like the decade of me taking my shirt off.”

In the new commercial, three young women including model Ginta Lapina see the designer’s trademark black boots and kilt sticking out of a photo booth. They fawn over the pictures that come out of the booth’s printer, and then pull back the curtain to find a half-naked Jacobs wiping sweat from his brow. (No one ever said being a sex symbol wasn’t hard work.)

Jacobs, who joins Karl Lagerfeld and Jean Paul Gaultier in the growing group of designers who’ve worked with Diet Coke, also created “whimsical, feminine” designs for the soda, which celebrates its 30th anniversary on European shelves this year. Three cans and three bottles will make their way into Europe by next month. His chest-baring campaign, shot by Stéphane Sednaoui, will make their print debut mid-March. The commercial and the images, however, are already online. A look at them here in the gallery.

View Slideshow ›

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at fashionologie

Styles & Fashion

The Fashionably Late Show With André Leon Talley

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By Justin Fenner

Jay Leno and David Letterman may soon have some very stylish competition: André Leon Talley has signed a deal to develop a late-night television show.

Talley has teamed up with Electus, the television production company that’s worked on Fashion Star and Mob Wives, on making the concept a reality. He told WWD that he wants to create a program “that blends Dick Cavett‘s approach to eloquence and sophistication with unparalleled access into my international fashion lifestyle. A forum where unique stories will be told and inspirations shared.”

Of course, Talley has been inspiring audiences on screens big and small with appearances in movies like The September Issue and stints on shows like America’s Next Top Model and Entertainment Tonight. Talley will still work with Vogue, for which he stars in the weekly online video series Mondays with André, but there’s no doubt his already high star is continuing to rise.


Source: FULL ARTICLE at fashionologie

Styles & Fashion

How Much Was John Galliano Making at Dior?

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By Justin Fenner

John Galliano‘s lawyer won’t specify just how much money in damages the designer is seeking in his lawsuit against Dior, but new information about his salary indicates it’s going to be a fairly sizable sum.

“He was at the company for a long time and he had a big salary, so the sums demanded will necessarily be high,” said Galliano’s lawyer Chantal Giraud-van Gaver after the first hearing in his employment dispute against the company on Monday.

Just how much was Galliano making? Papers filed for the hearing revealed the designer was being paid a $1.3 million annual salary, on top of variable compensation (which means bonuses and stock options) as high as $900,000. Dior also paid him a percentage of its annual increase in sales and gave him an annual clothing allowance of $38,850, as well as a grooming budget for personal appearances of $77,700.

At his eponymous label, Galliano earned a salary of $2.6 million a year and a clothing allowance of $90,650. Galliano also acted as a consultant on catwalk shows, ad campaigns, and websites through a company he owns called Cheyenne Freedom, which was paid “hefty” fees. All told, in a good year, Dior could easily spend over $5 million on Galliano’s salary and benefits.

When Galliano originally filed the suit in August, he was believed to have asked for over $18 million in damages, but WWD asked Giraud-van Gaver whether a figure approaching $8 million wasn’t more accurate.

“If you add it all up, then probably yes, because if you are earning more than €3 million (over $4 million at current exchange) a year and you add severance pay on top, it quickly adds up,” she said.

The Labor Relations Court that presided over Monday’s hearing has yet to decide whether it can treat Galliano’s case as a simply employee/employer dispute because of the nature of his relationship with Dior. The company’s lawyer Jean Néret said Galliano was “no ordinary employee. In fact, I would go as far as saying he wasn’t an employee at all,” he said. “The complexity of his various contracts is sharply at odds with the image of a poor, defenseless employee which the opposing party is trying to project.”

Source: FULL ARTICLE at fashionologie

Styles & Fashion

Riccardo Tisci Renews Contract With LVMH, but What About Marc Jacobs?

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By Justin Fenner

The industry rejoiced today over the news that Riccardo Tisci has extended his contract at Marc Jacobs has signed on for another stint at Louis Vuitton.

Tisci will continue in his role as Givenchy’s creative director for the next three years while the brand “shifts into an expansion mode” that hopes to capitalize on its current popularity. Tisci’s wildly salable clothing – like the rottweiler t-shirt from Fall 2011 that became a hit with customers and celebrities alike – are doubtless a part of his staying power at the brand.

In early January, Jacobs mentioned at both the WWD CEO Summit and a talk with Fern Mallis at 92nd Street Y that he and his business partner Marc Duffy were heading to Paris to talk about their contracts with LVMH, which were last renewed at the beginning of 2011. “I’m not really sure,” he said when WWD‘s executive editor Bridget Foley pressed him about specifics at the summit. “I know that we’re discussing renegotiations.”

There’s not much evidence to suggest that Jacobs hasn’t signed on the dotted line, although when he talked about his tenure at Louis Vuitton with Mallis, he said, “I’ve been there for 15 years – though I don’t know if I’ll be there for 15 more.” Jacobs is the only creative director Louis Vuitton has ever had, and it’s difficult to imagine what the brand would look like without his aesthetic and elaborate runway staging.

But creative directors – unlike Supreme Court justices or tenured university professors – don’t get lifetime appointments. Jacobs was, for a long time, the front-runner for the creative director’s chair at Dior, suggesting that he’s prepared to leave Vuitton for the right opportunity. But after the Dior talks ended, Jacobs said of his job, “There is so much more left to do and building Louis Vuitton into a fashion company is something nobody else can say they really started.”

Source: FULL ARTICLE at fashionologie

Styles & Fashion

Here's the Adorable Alber Elbaz Skype Video Everyone's Talking About

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By Justin Fenner

An actual maelstrom kept Alber Elbaz from participating in Spring 2013 campaign shoot, so he joined in on all the fun via Skype.

Hurricane Sandy and back-to-back fittings in Paris kept Elbaz from flying to New York when Steven Meisel shot the ads, according to WWD. So the creative director made a video call to oversee the proceedings that pops up in the middle of the campaign film. “It’s almost like being in New York without flying,” he says, later adding that “the perspective is just sick.”

Sick indeed – Meisel created a dreamy landscape (with models including Karlie Kloss, Saskia de Brauw, and Daria Strokous) so beautiful that even Elbaz couldn’t help but ooh and aah over the pictures. “It’s divine,” he says. “I feel I’m in a dream. I feel I’m in a cloud.” A look at the beautiful cloud below.

Photo courtesy of Lanvin

Source: FULL ARTICLE at fashionologie

Styles & Fashion

A Look at the '90s Spirit of DKNY That Opening Ceremony Is Bringing Back

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By Justin Fenner

If there was even a shadow of a doubt about the return of the ’90s, Opening Ceremony‘s new project with DKNY should obliterate it.

The retailer will reissue 15 of DKNY‘s archival pieces from the early ’90s, including t-shirts screen printed with the New York skyline and the DKNY logo, a colorblocked jumpsuit, and a cropped puffer jacket. The garments will be available in Opening Ceremony boutiques and on its website this Friday, priced between $145 and $665.

“DKNY was a pioneer of streetwear fashion in the Nineties,” said Opening Ceremony‘s Carol Lim in an interview with WWD. “We have been longtime fans of the brand and were very excited to bring back select, quintessential styles that feel fresh even today.”

That freshness may owe a debt to the overall comeback of the ’90s in fashion and in culture. MTV resurrected its groundbreaking TV show House of Style in August, and the cult brand X-Girl announced that it would return to the US just this week. When you factor in the resurgence of grunge on the Spring 2013 runways – articulated in the mix of plaid and florals shown by designers like Phillip Lim and Dries Van Noten – there’s no doubting that the dream of the ’90s really is alive.

That said, part of the target demographic for this collaboration – including the star of its campaign, Cara Delevingne, born in 1992 – probably weren’t wearing adult-size clothing when these garments were first introduced. For those readers who don’t remember the spirit of Karan’s ’90s designs – or who just want to take a trip down memory lane – a look back at some of DKNY‘s ad campaigns from the ’90s, here in the gallery.

Source: Instagram User CaraDelevingne

View Slideshow ›

Source: FULL ARTICLE at fashionologie

Styles & Fashion

What Does H&M's Paris Fashion Week Show Mean For the Industry?

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By Justin Fenner

While Peter Som and Cacharel are skipping Fashion Week for one reason or another, H&M plans to return to the runway with a show at Paris’s Rodin Museum this February.

The Swedish retailer is following in some big footsteps: Versace, this will be the first time the brand’s main collection has appeared on the runway in eight years.

But other mass-market retailers have come to the runway in recent years too: Topshop Unique has been on the London Fashion Week calendar since 2005 and sponsors the venue where debut in Spring 2012 was one of the most talked-about of that season. Now it’s one of the most anticipated – and well-attended – presentations on the New York calendar.

But what does it mean when mass-market labels are staging the kinds of shows once reserved for brands that deal in four-figure price points? It could be a simple matter of cost. In 2009, Forbes reported that the price of a runway show “can easily hit $75,000,” and last September The Independent found that designers were “often running up bills in the hundreds of thousands” during Fashion Week. It may simply be easier for a big company like H&M to foot the bill than it is for smaller operations like Chris Benz and Betsey Johnson – both of whom have canceled their shows in New York next month.

“We felt excited about the collection, and we really wanted to show it,” H&M spokesman Hacan Andersson told WWD. If H&M is proud enough of its own wares to put them up against the likes of Chanel and Sonia Rykiel, then that excitement makes sense. Will other brands like H&M be emboldened to do the same?


Source: FULL ARTICLE at fashionologie

Styles & Fashion

Oscar de la Renta: Criticizing Michelle Obama "Was a Big Mistake"

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By Justin Fenner

Fashion critics are quick to point out that Michelle Obama, who wore a bevy of American designers during the recent inaugural celebrations, has never donned Oscar de la Renta. Could one of his comments on her style from nearly four years ago be the reason why?

In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, de la Renta said that criticizing what Obama wore the first time she met Queen Elizabeth II “was a big mistake. I said lots of nice things, but then I said I didn’t think Mrs. Obama should have worn a J.Crew sweater to go to Buckingham Palace. And that’s the bit they used.”

De la Renta made that comment in an April 2009 interview with WWD. But that’s not to say he’s never paid her a compliment. Around the same time as Buckingham Sweatergate, de la Renta said the first lady “has such great looks if she put on a potato sack, she would look great.”

Related: Oscar de la Renta’s Comments on Michelle Obama Ruffle Feathers

Related: Inauguration Celebration: See All of Michelle Obama’s Looks

Source: FULL ARTICLE at fashionologie

Styles & Fashion

Three Weeks Later, the Search For Missing Missoni Still Not Over

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By Justin Fenner

It’s been nearly three weeks since a plane carrying Vittorio Missoni disappeared off the coast of Venezuela, and his family is committed to keeping the search effort going.

Vittorio’s brother Luca Missoni told WWD that investigators haven’t ruled out any of the theories about Vittorio’s disappearance. “For this reason, I can confirm that in Caracas not only is the search at sea and on the coast not over, but that investigations continue, without neglecting any possibility,” he said.

Luca had been in Venezuela helping with the search effort over the last few weeks, but he said that a family friend is now following the search party in his place. Luca will travel from Italy back to Venezuela in February, when a ship used for “deep sea submarine research” will join the effort.

Vittorio Missoni was flying from the Venezuelan resort archipelago of Los Roques to Caracas with his wife, Maurizia Castiglioni, their friends Guido Foresti and Elda Scalvenzi, and two crew members on Jan. 4 when their plane disappeared. So far no sign of the plane or its passengers has been found.

Related: Vittorio Missoni’s Son Calls Plane Crash “Least Plausible Reason” For Father’s Disappearance

Related: Was Vittorio Missoni Kidnapped?

Related: Search For Vittorio Missoni Continues After Plane Disappears in Venezuela

Source: FULL ARTICLE at fashionologie

Styles & Fashion

Is the World Ready to Forgive John Galliano?

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By Justin Fenner

Galliano a three-week residency at his New York design studio on Friday, effectively signaling Galliano’s return to fashion. Will others in the industry – and in the world at large – welcome him back with open arms?

“I think John is doing all the right things,” de la Renta said in an interview with WWD. “Everyone in life deserves a second chance, especially someone as talented as John. I think that life is about forgiving and helping people.”

Forgiveness for the controversial anti-Semitic comments that got Galliano fired from Dior in March 2011 has been hard to come by, but that hasn’t stopped boldfaced names from making public displays of support for the designer. The stylist Patricia Field dismissed the incident as nothing more than a farce. Kate Moss sent him back to work when she asked him to create her wedding dress last year. Grace Coddington acknowledged that his situation was “a tough one to get over” in an interview last month. “I love John; I think he’s brilliant. He certainly intends to come back – when he’s ready.”

Coddington’s boss Anna Wintour told WSJ. Magazine shortly after he was fired, “This is all so tragic.” In April, she was reportedly spotted having lunch with him in Paris, and it’s been suggested that she’s behind his stay in de la Renta’s studio.

“I said and did things which hurt others, especially members of the Jewish community,” Galliano told WWD. “I remain committed to making amends to those I have hurt.”

The question that remains is whether a wider community is ready to accept his apologies.


Source: FULL ARTICLE at fashionologie

Styles & Fashion

It's Official: PPR Buys Stake in Christopher Kane

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By Justin Fenner

PPR just bought a new little brother for Gucci. After months of speculation, Christopher Kane‘s eponymous label is now a member of PPR‘s stable of luxury brands. On Monday, the French conglomerate purchased a 51 percent stake in the company and revealed plans to help it grow internationally.

Some of those plans include adding another ready-to-wear line to the Kane umbrella and opening the brand’s first freestanding store, which will probably set up shop in London next year.

“Christopher Kane is already established as a luxury label and has a tremendous intrinsic growth potential,” said PPR CEO Francois Henri Pinault in a statement. “We thus have great ambitions for the brand and will enable it to benefit from our expertise and know-how while providing the space for it to further develop its own creative identity.”

Though PPR now owns a controlling share of Kane’s label, Kane told WWD that the company “understands and appreciates our creative independence.” That said, PPR has not ruled appointing a new CEO for the brand at a later date. Currently, Kane’s sister Tammy runs the business side of the company.

Both sides agree that the primary objective for Christopher Kane is expansion.

“Our long-term ambition for the company is obviously to grow it into a globally recognized brand,” Kane said. “We do not plan to make any immediate or major changes to the way that the business is currently managed. All growth will be gradual and organic.”

Rumors that Kane’s label would join PPR began shortly after he left his position as the creative director of Versace’s secondary brand, Versus. At the time, Balenciaga, another PPR brand, has just announced that its longtime creative director Nicolas Ghesquiere planned to leave the company. Some believed Kane would replace Ghesquiere, but that job eventually went to Alexander Wang.

Source: FULL ARTICLE at fashionologie

Styles & Fashion

Gemma Ward's Return, Anna Sui's Baggage, and Sketches of the Summit

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By Robert Khederian

All the bits fit to print here, in our daily news roundup.

  • Andrew Allen and Georg Petschnigg used their app Paper by Fifty Three to sketch moments from WWD‘s CEO Summit, like Karl Lagerfeld’s Q&A with Bridget Foley. [WWD]
  • Will Gemma Ward return to modeling? [Perth Now]
  • Jason Wu won’t accept outside investors anytime soon: “I’ve always grown based on whatever I can afford,” Wu said. “I know what I’m spending. It’s my money. It’s kept me quite realistic in what I can do.” [Washington Post]
  • Anna Sui resurrected a floral pattern originally used in her Spring 2009 collection for her luggage collaboration with Tumi. [Teen Vogue]
  • This year’s Oscar nominees have been announced. [BuzzSugar]
  • Damien Hirst’s signature polka dots adorn the statuette he designed for the 2013 Brit Awards. [Vogue UK]
  • Daniel Vosovic’s target demographic is “the whiskey-drinking perfectionist.” [Fashionista]
  • Dolce & Gabbana’s Spring 2013 video captures the ideal Sicilian Summer holiday. [AnotherMag]

Source: FULL ARTICLE at fashionologie

Styles & Fashion

Doo-Ri Chung Heads to Vince

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By Justin Fenner

A little more than six months after designer Doo-Ri Chung left her eponymous New York label, she’s headed to Los Angeles to become the creative director of Vince. In her new role, Chung will be in charge of design, product development, and creative branding initiatives.

“I’ve long admired the [Vince] brand because of its loyal customer following and its modern design sensibility,” Chung said in a statement to WWD.

The announcement of her new job comes a day after Vince’s cofounders, Rea Laccone and Christopher LaPolice, said they were leaving the brand. Jill Granoff, CEO of Kellwood Group – the company that owns Vince, Rebecca Taylor, and David Meister, among other brands – is now also CEO of Vince.

Granoff wants to “accelerate the growth of Vince and unleash its potential as a global lifestyle brand,” and said Chung is the right designer to help do that. “She’s very well-known for her design and technical aesthetic. She has a modern design aesthetic and a real understanding of our customer.”

Source: FULL ARTICLE at fashionologie

Styles & Fashion

Break Time: Chris Benz Is Skipping Fashion Week, and He's Not the Only One

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By Justin Fenner

Chris Benz says he won’t show a collection at New York Fashion Week next month, and will use the extra time to focus on the development of his brand.

“We have received great feedback from the marketplace after just one season,” the designer told WWD. “I want ample time to implement all that we have learned.”

Benz introduced a contemporary jeans label, called CB Denim, at his Spring 2013 presentation in September. In November, he told The New York Times that he planned to bring his brand and its price point from the designer arena into the “upper contemporary” market. “We were working so hard but not reaching as many fans as we’d like,” he said.

But Benz isn’t the only designer skipping the Fall 2013 shows: Cacharel announced just last week that it will forgo its show during Paris Fashion Week. There’s also been some speculation that Holmes & Yang, the line designed by actor Katie Holmes and Jeanne Yang, won’t show in New York because it’s not listed on the official Fashion Week schedule

Source: FULL ARTICLE at fashionologie

Styles & Fashion

Is PPR Already Interviewing New CEOs For Christopher Kane?

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By Justin Fenner

While there’s been no official announcement on whether PPR will invest in Christopher Kane‘s eponymous label, the latest reports suggest the firm is getting closer to making a deal.

Unnamed sources have told WWD that Alexis Babeau, managing director of PPR‘s luxury division, has interviewed candidates to be the brand’s new CEO once it becomes part of PPR‘s portfolio. Kane currently runs the business with his sister Tammy.

Rumors that PPR would add Kane’s label to its stable of brands – which includes Stella McCartney, Alexander McQueen, and Gucci, among others – started going around when Kane left his position as the creative director of Versace’s secondary line Versus. At the time, it was rumored that Kane would come to PPR to replace Nicolas Ghesquière as the creative director of Balenciaga, a job that eventually went to Alexander Wang. Kane has reportedly been in talks with PPR since November, but so far nothing concrete has come from the meetings.

Source: FULL ARTICLE at fashionologie

Styles & Fashion

Avoiding the Plague: How Fashion People Survive Flu Season

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By Justin Fenner

It’s been said an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, and some of the industry’s biggest names seem to take that old adage to heart. More than one attendee of last night’s opening dinner for the WWD CEO Summit told us that staying active is the best way to stave off colds.

“I exercise a lot because I like to do Iron Man triathlons,” Elettra Wiedemann said, “so I kind of feel like my immune system is generally kind of boosted by all the exercise.”

When we asked Theory CEO Andrew Rosen how he stays healthy, he said simply, “I go to the gym every day.”

What other methods do fashion people use to stay healthy – or get well again – when cold and flu season strikes? The answers here in the gallery.

Photo courtesy of Billy Farrell Agency

View Slideshow ›

Source: FULL ARTICLE at fashionologie

Styles & Fashion

Karl Lagerfeld: "I Have Nothing to Say"

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By Christina Perez

He may be the most quoted man in fashion, but that doesn’t mean Karl Lagerfeld feels inclined to write a book any time soon. “No memoirs,” the Kaiser stated at today’s WWD CEO Summit at New York’s Plaza Hotel. “I have nothing to say.”

While that may be true, at least as far as the written word goes anyway, the legendary designer still voiced plenty of thoughts today in person. From the surprising locale of his next show (Dallas) to how it feels to be marking his 30th anniversary at Chanel (“Some people say I’m a hired gun. Well, I’m very happy to be one.”), Lagerfeld kept the bon mots coming and the assembled crowd – which included Anna Wintour, Carine Roitfeld, and Sarah Jessica Parker – hanging on every word. Below, a few gems:

On career longevity: “Fashion is for people to wear and that has not changed.”

On inspiration: “When I like something, I don’t ask myself why. I just like it.”

On couture today: “There are so many new worlds, and so much new money. We have more couture clients now than we did 20 years ago. Many of the rich people of the past are poor compared to the rich people of today, I’m sorry.”

On his childhood ambitions: “I didn’t even know one could make a business out of fashion. Back then it was called clothes.”

On designers who complain about the workload: “You accept a job, you know the conditions. Don’t play the victim.”

On what irritates him most: “People who create complications in order to appear more professional.”

On Paris in the ’80s: “The ’80s were very difficult. I prefer to forget about them.”

On career setbacks: “Sometimes you go two steps back but that’s a healthy thing. No one’s career is a straight line.”

On his look: “You may think it’s very distinct but to me it is normal.”

On the potential of a retrospective: “I would never make a retrospective. I look forward, ahead, ahead. I don’t keep any kind of archive even.”

On his three steps to success: “What? Steps? Oh, there’s a whole staircase.”

Source: FULL ARTICLE at fashionologie