Archive for the ‘The Business of Fashion’ Category

A counter-example, if that wasn’t clear. Image via Art in Liverpool. Sorry.

Lots of interesting links in fashion news this week:

The Wall Street Journal tells us about a new cable channel with a Home Shopping Network premise, but featuring handmade housewares and indie designers, and informs us that there is a huge market out there waiting to be tapped.

At the same time, consumers are increasingly hungry for independent designs. In part, brand fatigue is to blame. Big fashion labels sell the same products the world over, diminishing their logos’ cachet. Their designers work on collections a year or more in advance of the clothes’ appearance in stores and rarely—if ever—meet the people who eventually buy them. Moreover, many consumers lost faith in luxury brands after watching prices soar during the boom, then plummet during the crash in the fall of 2008. The slashed sales prices raised questions about the true value of branded goods.

[...]  Now, even the huge brands are striving to establish authenticity—sometimes trying a bit too hard. British authorities recently banned Louis Vuitton ads that showed an artisan laboring on a bag, saying the ads suggested, falsely, that its bags are handmade.

The article gives a shoutout to CT’s own Trish Ginter, co-founder of the indie designer showcase Smashing Darling, and designer at Frock in Chester.

The Business of Fashion had more to add on Louis Vuitton:

A month earlier, Bernard Arnault, chairman and chief executive of LVMH [Louis Vuitton's parent company], told investors at the luxury group’s annual shareholders meeting in Paris of his plan to take a 49 percent stake in Edun, the sustainable clothing label founded by Bono and Ali Hewson. “LVMH shares the vision and ethical values of Edun, a pioneer in ethical apparel, and its founders,” he said later. “LVMH is committed to advancing both the social and environmental aspects of sustainable development, which plays an intrinsic role in the development of our brands.”

The BoF article also discussed the struggle to balance good design, profitability, and sustainability:

Stella McCartney became known as a chic designer label that’s convincingly green, not as a green designer label that is convincingly chic. Speaking to The Business of Fashion, McCartney was clear about her priorities: “Obviously, I don’t use any animals which has a huge impact on the planet. But my first job is to make desirable, luxurious, beautiful clothing for women to want to buy. Then I ask myself: can I do this in a more environmental way without sacrificing design? If I can, then there is no reason not to. I think that women buy my product because they like how it looks, feels, fits and being sustainable is an added extra bonus.”

This emphasis on desirability and design may come as no surprise from a graduate of London fashion college Central St. Martins. But interestingly Ali Hewson, who founded Edun primarily as a means to do good, sees it no differently. She told BoF: “In the fashion business desirability is sustainability! This point has taught us over the years that we must produce quality clothes. Fit must be right, design details correct.”

Julie Gilhart, influential fashion director at Barneys New York, and an early proponent of sustainable fashion, sums it up bluntly: “Consumers respond to good design. Design and desirability must come first.” When deciding whether to spend on fashion, the consumer looks, above all, for good design. Ecological or ethical considerations are still very much secondary.

You can see Julie Gilhart riff on design and sustainability in this video.

You can also read my thoughts on these subjects in two previous posts, here and here.

Racked is this snarky little website that blogs about all things fashion and retail – they have regional sites for LA and NY, and a general US site.  Racked NY has been doing a series of breakfast interviews with different folks in the fashion industry, called "The Breakfast Club".  I’ve found them so interesting and helpful, I’m going to be posting excerpts from past interviews, and try to keep up with future posts. Enjoy! 

First up, on May 6, they interviewed Misha Nonoo and Deborah Lyons of Nonoo Lyons, a NY based jacket-only label.

N: Where do you really find, and at a reasonable price, a great jacket that has design focus and is also quality?
L: And it’s on-trend without being trend-driven.
N: That’s kind of how it all kicked off.
L: And the idea that it defines your outfit, which is really, in the lifestyle that we live. Ninety percent of the year, our jackets define our outfit. It’s the first thing that people see, and it’s the last thing that we put on, that’s what we finish our look with.

Quote via Racked; image via Nonoo Lyons.

In the middle ages, among the upper classes, widows and women of a certain age would retire from public life, take vows and join a sisterhood of nuns, leaving the color and activity of public life to younger women.

These days, it seems to be the younger women who are more comfortable dressing in uniform, and it is the older women who have the confidence and love of life which they express through fashion.  This has been my observation through numerous social events I’ve attended in the last couple of years, where the older ladies are displaying some fabulous, individually styled ensembles, and the bright young things are dressed like mall mannequins.

The pattern held true on Thursday night, June 10, when I attended an evening of fashion shows at the inaugural StyleWeek Providence, in downtown Providence, Rhode Island.  (You can read more about the StyleWeek Providence organization in my article over at The Mercurial.  Unfortunately I had to cut my StyleWeek experience short one day, because of unforeseen events.  I had planned to work backstage at the Wednesday night shows, but I was unable to get into Providence early enough.  So you’ll just have to be satisfied with the view from the audience.)

After checking in and receiving my press pass, I was ushered into the bar at Hotel Providence, named Aspire and advertised in an appropriately artsy-handwriting font.  A table bearing several now-ubiquitous cupcake tiers greeted us before we stepped into the bar proper.  The decor, like most of the attendees of the show, was clad in unimaginative black, with ’80s contemporary square furniture and architecture, and moody lighting opposite big windows looking out onto a garden patio.

I settled into a corner with my seltzer and cranberry juice for some prime time people watching.

Read the rest of this entry »

Today is Etsy’s 5th birthday!  That’s a long time in internet years….  I’m having a surprise sale to celebrate!

Most items are $5 off, even clearance.
All vintage blouses are just $5!
For one day only.

Happy Birthday, Etsy!

Click on the Shop link above, or the Etsy button on the left to get to my shop.

Image via Gingerbread Jewelry.

Great column from the New Statesman, a UK perspective on sustainable fashion.

Although I am wary of any kind of ethical consumption that encourages you simply to buy differently rather than less, it’s pointless to expect people to stop shopping. Even in the thick of economic gloom, we will restock our wardrobes. So, to rescue our planet from further degradation, we need innovative ethical retailers on the high street.

We can no longer ignore the fashion industry’s track record. The UK market alone produces two million tonnes of waste each year, 3.1 million tonnes of CO2 and 70 million tonnes of waste water, according to Defra. In the battle for land to grow more food, there is concern that crops such as cotton are taking up valuable space. UN figures show that we need to increase food production by 70 per cent by 2050. On top of this, scandals about conditions for textile workers occur regularly, exposed by NGOs such as Labour Behind the Label.

[...] we must not forget the importance of desirable clothes. For smaller ethical retailers to gain a presence on the high street, they will need to leave behind clichéd staples such as shapeless hemp tunics and make clothes that people want to wear.

Links mine.

Also read my rant on a similar thread here.

Via the News-Times, Danbury’s crack information team (who can’t even get the name of the store correct in the headline).

DANBURY — After more than four years as an empty shell, the former Filene’s store at Danbury Fair mall will have an occupant.

Forever 21, a national clothing retailer with a smaller store at the mall, has submitted plans with the city to take over more than 77,000 square feet of space.

The company is expected to spend more than $2.3 million to renovate the space, according to documents submitted to Danbury’s building department. The store now occupies about 5,000 square feet elsewhere in the mall.

Filtering past the middle school name-calling and bickering in the comments on the web site, I was appalled to find someone actually thanking Forever 21 for "bringing much needed jobs to the area", as well as some other truly misguided economic analysis.

I was compelled to write a letter to the editors, which I usually refrain from doing with newspapers of such low caliber.

I’m reproducing it here, in a slightly expanded form, and with links.

Read the rest of this entry »

Donna Karan is now a household name, but began her career, as so many of us do, as a lowly student intern.  She launched her own line in 1985 with a system of "seven easy pieces" – a bodysuit, a coat, a jacket, blouse, skirt, pants and something a little fancier for the evening – that revolutionized modern dressing and made her synonymous with New York style.

With her amazing success, Karan has always maintained the sensibility of an artist and the earthiness of a woman, wife and mother. 

"Everything I do is a matter of heart, body and soul," says Donna Karan, chief designer of the international company that bears her name. "For me, designing is an expression of who I am as a woman, with all the complications, feelings and emotions." [...]  Says Karan, "That I’m a woman makes me want to nurture others, fulfill needs and solve problems. At the same time, the artist within me strives for beauty, both sensually and visually. So design is a constant challenge to balance comfort with luxe, the practical with the desirable."

She has leveraged her professional success to promote the social issues that are important to her.

A member of CFDA ’s board of directors, Karan conceived and spearheaded its Seventh on Sale benefits to raise funds for AIDS awareness and education. Karan co-chairs the annual New York "Kids for Kids" events for the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, as she has since its 1993 inception, as well as underwrites "Super Saturday," an annual designer flea market/barbeque founded with the late Liz Tilberis in 1998 to benefit the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund. To facilitate her many on-going philanthropic involvements, in 1999, Karan and Weiss established the Karan Weiss Foundation.

Karan’s Urban Zen Initiative, founded in 2007, is the culmination of Karan’s philanthropic efforts. explains Karan, "I have founded the Urban Zen Initiative to create a working structure for advancing wellness, preserving culture and empowering children. These are the causes that mean the world to me."

 Quotes via DKNY.com

Read more about Donna Karan’s influence and accomplishments here.

Read more about the Urban Zen Foundation here.

Still don’t have your look down for the Hord Foundation Gala next Saturday?

I will help you look your Roaring ’20s best.  I am a local designer and stylist who specializes in vintage and retro looks.  From the hair to the shoes, I can help you get on the Best Dressed List.

And I will teach you how to dance the Charleston!

• Free consultation. 
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Whether you still need a dress, or just need help with accessories, I will be your personal shopper or your complete event stylist.

Email Allie {at} AnalogueChic {dot} com to set up your free consultation!

Looking for the usual Analogue Chic news?  Just scroll down a bit!

I was selected as Handbag Designer of the day on Feb. 13 at Handbag Designer 101!

Check it out!

The lovely Mary of Etsy selected my Mariner style Nouveau Vague Tee for the Etsy Finds newsletter on Monday!

Yay! Thanks for the feature, Etsy!