Archive for October 2010

What Happened at Today’s “Save The Garment Center” Rally?

A motley crew of people from all walks of fashion life attended a rally today to support NYC’s ever-shrinking Garment Center.

MC’ed by artist Robert Savage, otherwise known as Mr. Nanette Lepore, the rally’s speakers included politicians, designers, students, union workers, and factory owners. In the lively and supportive audience, I spotted fashion students sporting bedazzled signs and seamstresses with years of hard-earned callouses on their hands. Anna Sui was roaming among the crowd, too.

Congressman Tim Ryan started off the rally with some inspirational quotes about America. Then Jerry Nadler, a congressman from New York, said that when he attended a rally to save the Garment Center back in 1985, there were about 500,000 garment industry jobs in NYC; today there are only about 100,000. Rather sobering statistics, to say the least.

Scott Stringer, the Manhattan Borough President, was up next and made the excellent point, “You can’t have Fashion Week in New York unless you have the designers here. It’s like having the Academy Awards in a place where they don’t make movies.”

Read more »
Streetwalker

Street Style: Freja From Sweden

Name: Freja

Age: 24

Where are you from originally? Sweden

What is your favorite Swedish food? Swedish pancakes

How would you describe your style? It’s varied… a mix of different things.

Read more »
Magazines

Editorial Musical Chairs: Major Shuffling at Lucky and More

With fashion month over and done with, the glossies are starting to see some shuffling again, especially at Lucky, whose new Editor in Chief was announced in the midst of NYFW.

The first major masthead change occurred last month, when creative director Andrea Linett resigned. Most recently, Alexis Bryan Morgan, Elle’s fashion director for just under a year, was hired as Lucky’s new executive fashion director. “She’s got a great sense of style and she fits perfectly with the path I’m setting here at Lucky,” EIC Brandon Holley told WWD. Hope Greenberg, formerly Lucky’s fashion director, has left the magazine and been replaced by former market director Anne Kwon Keane.

Read more »
Would You Rather?

Would You Rather…? Chanel Vs. “The Rent Is Too Damn High” Candidate

By Dhani Mau Tuesday, Oct 19, 2010 / 3:00 PM

Read more »

Brian Reyes Discontinues Main Collection, Will Focus on Private Sales

We hear, from numerous sources, that Brian Reyes has stopped production on its main collection.

Update 1: We spoke with another source inside the Reyes camp, who told us that Brian did indeed design a Spring 2011 collection. However, the focus will be private sales, which Reyes has seen a major uptick in over the last 18 months.

Reyes, who got his start at Oscar de la Renta, showed his first collection in Spring 2006. He was an instant “label to watch” after Nicole Chavez put Rachel Bilson and Kristen Bell in his dresses on the red carpet. Carine Roitfeld attended his Spring 2010 show just last year.

But Reyes didn’t show this past season. His most recent collection, Resort 2011, is still up on his website, and it’s a strong collection. Nevertheless, strong collections (of which Reyes has shown fairly consistently, with a few blips here and there) does not a success make.

So what happened?

Read more »
Fashion News Roundup

Fashion News Roundup: PETA Crashes Donna Karan, Test Driving “Majeggings” and Behind the Scenes With Kim and Alexa

Michelle Obama’s PETA Moment: Donna Karan hosted a cocktail hour/fundraiser at her Central Park West penthouse yesterday, which was attended by a slew New York designers and Michelle Obama, all of whom were greeted by PETA members protesting Karan’s use of fur. {WWD}

Kim’s Screen Test: We all know Kim Kardashian was naked in W, but you might not know that Kim and Kourtney used to play a game where Kourtney was Donna Karan and Kim was her tortured assistant. Also, if she wasn’t doing…whatever it is she does now, she would want to be in fashion or crime scene investigator. All this and more in an intimate interview with Lynn Hirschberg. {W}

Oh Ma Jeggings: In an important experiment, writer Joshua David Stein went to Uniqlo to purchase and test the wearability of “majeggings,” or, jeggings for men. Hilarity ensues. {Racked}

Read more »
Market Week

Kmart Spring 2011 Preview: It’s Good–Yeah, That’s Right–It’s Good!

So I don’t expect Kmart to become the world’s next Topshop. But I must say that I believe it’s important to have good design at every price point. It doesn’t have to be trendy, but it should be good. And that’s what Kmart is offering up for Spring 2011.

There are some great-looking black sandals, wrapped with delicate gold chains, a pair of suede booties, a truly-covetable leopard scarf, and some blue cargoes that make me happier than J.Brand‘s. And of course, nothing really veers over $40. So if you’re on a budget, don’t forget about Kmart. (What’s more, their classic peds and unwashed men’s denim are totally worth a stop, regardless of how good the new collection is.)

Click through for some images from Kmart Spring 2011.

Read more »
How I'm Making It

How I’m Making It: JF & SON

It’s been too long since our last installment of “How I’m Making It,” so we’re reviving the series with a pair of young designers on a mission. Jesse Finkelstein and Katie King design JF & SON, a line they launched just over three years ago and sell out of their LES storefront on 19 Kenmare Street. The line focuses on beautiful textiles and handwork, which they produce out of their studio in New Delhi. As globalization and cheap production overseas sadly forces many designers to produce parts or all of their collections in Asia to stay competitive and profitable (though we laud the many designers who make efforts keep as much production as possible in New York’s Garment District), the mission behind JF & SON was to find a way to produce responsibly overseas. Here’s how they’re making it work.

How did you two meet?
Jesse: We met at a factory in the garment district–it was very glamorous. Katie was working for another company at the time and my company was beginning to get itself together and then Katie and I started talking and I brought her over and it became a new thing. We started by trying to figure out how to do production overseas in a responsible way. I really had no clue what i was doing until katie came along. We learned on the job as we worked together. There was a studio in Delhi that we started almost six years ago and it was six people. When Katie came on board we reorganized the studio and now we’re at 60 people.

Read more »
News

Could It Be? A Preview of Lanvin for H&M

By Leah Chernikoff Tuesday, Oct 19, 2010 / 9:22 AM


Live Journal site Fashin has got an image up of what one user claims to be from the H&M x Lanvin campaign. We’re inclined to believe that this photo is indeed a campaign shot from the much anticipated collaboration, since we can at least identify Natasha Poly, far right. That old lady is giving the supermodels a run for their money though.
Read more »

Entertainment

Mad Men Style Recap, Episode 13

Tomorrowland. It’s how Disney saw the future in the 1960s, brimming with hope and the potential for progress, but come 2010, the future Disney predicted looks nothing but silly. With the future in mind, Mad Men closed season four, making moves thatMad Men’s modern day viewers will think are ill advised.

After a season of rocky patches and forced modernization, Mad Men is shedding its skin and attempting to start fresh. Don, the most tragic of heroes since Hamlet or James Dean, worked to become a new, modern man and ended up engaged to his new, modern secretary. It’s the oldest trick in the book, really, so passé and yet just the fix for Don’s penchant for progress.

Don pitches the American Cancer Society in a dark, dreary gray suit and tie in a wood paneled room that’s more stuffy than the interior of the National Arts Club. Pete, beside him, looks equally uptight in a greenish suit and black tie. A dark seriousness permeates the episode’s start, things still looking down from Lucky Strike’s departure. Once in sunny California, Don tries to brighten up, but still sticks out like a sore thumb. He wears a suit to the pool, in the hotel room, and to visit Anna’s home, before finally loosening up and jumping in (in teensy black swim trunks). Later, he’s looking more modern in a Stella McCartney-esque denim shirt and khaki pants. The next morning he’s switched out his suit shirt for a loose black button down at brunch, but back in the SCDP offices he’s looking pretty old-timey again in a dark suit and tie. Though at least he’s smiling while next to Megan.

Read more »
Entertainment

The Ladies Of Mad Men: A Style Evolution

Since Mad Men hit the air in 2007, it feels like half of the praise the show receives is about its stunning–and stunningly accurate–costumes.

And if you read our Mad Men Style Recaps, you know we’re big fans of the woman behind those wares, costume designer Janie Bryant. But while we’ve documented the on-air style of Mad Men‘s women quite regularly, we’ve been fairly quiet about what they wear off screen. Thus, in honor of last night’s season finale, we’ve tracked the evolution of their red carpet style.

Read more »
Giveaways

Win an HP Mini 311 and Palm Pixie Plus, Courtesy of DvF

By Fashionista Monday, Oct 18, 2010 / 5:10 PM

Diane von Furstenberg and HP are having a love affair. On Fashion’s Night Out, the computer giant and wrap dress goddess teamed up to host an event at DvF’s studio. Guests played with new HP technology, and there was even a photo booth where you could dress up in DvF looks. Cute.

And they’re together again, this time to offer Fashionista readers–you lucky ladies and gents–a chance to win an HP Mini 311 and a Palm Pixi Plus. The HP Mini 311 is a lightweight notebook with built-in WiFi and lots of other awesome features, including plenty of storage space for images and files. And the Palm Pixi Plus will put whatever phone you have to shame. It features a thin design with an exposed keyboard, as well as a multi-touch screen.

The winner will win BOTH prizes–we’re jealous–but you’ve got to sign up here by 5pm on Friday, October 22.

And if you haven’t already, make sure to follow DvF on Twitter and Facebook. Because she’s amazing.