Rants

Do You Dress Down During the Summer?

By Lauren Sherman

During the winter, I like to get dressed up for work.

I wear heels–my favorites are my Acne booties and Proenza pumps–black tights, shift dresses and pretty blouses. I also wear lots of blazers, from my vintage YSL double breasted number to my black Helmut Lang tuxedo version.

But today, I’m wearing a pair of Uniqlo dark denim jeans, a navy v-neck from American Apparel and a pair of white slip-on Keds. (Granted, I did bring a red linen blazer but I’m not wearing it in the office.)

I feel like my wardrobe does a 180 when the weather hits 70 degrees. I go from “still relatively-young professional” to “way too casual, even for Friday” in one fell swoop. But I’m lucky–I work in fashion, where virtually anything goes.

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Explain: Dressbarn’s Unbelievable Success

By Lauren Sherman

One of retail’s biggest recession successes has been Dressbarn, which recently reported second quarter sales of $594.1 million, a whopping 73% increase from 2009.

A big reason Dressbarn has done well as of late: Its acquisition of a company called Tween Brands, which includes Justice–a less-slutty version of Rave, a popular mall store when I was a tween–and Limited Too, originally an offshoot of The Limited.

But Dressbarn itself–which is known for drab work wear in misses and plus sizes–is also doing very well. Second quarter sales for the store increased by 7% to $209.3 million. And sales in stores that have been opened for at least one year–called comparable store sales in retail speak–increased by 6%. An increase in comparable store sales is a mark of true success for a retailer.

Yet I’m mystified. How can this be? How can such a crappy store continue to make money?

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Five Things I Learned at Milan Fashion Week

By Lauren Sherman

This was my first trip to Milan Fashion Week. (My first trip to Italy, actually.) And while the London and Paris shows were certainly learning experiences the first time around, I left Milan feeling truly educated. Here’s what I learned:

1. Milan is serious business. In a country where fabric is still produced, craftsmanship is still revered and apparel and leather goods is a big part of the GDP, Milan’s fashion houses take their work seriously. There are separate shows for the buyers and press. And there is little fanfare–only a few celebrities sat front row. And many houses–Versace, Armani, Jil Sander, Dolce & Gabbana–have built their own auditoriums to hold shows.

2. You must respect the old guard. I wrote earlier that, at Emporio Armani, people were clapping throughout the show to let Mr. Armani know they approved of the collection. I’ve never seen this at another show. But it made me realize that, in Italy, these designers are not only fashion icons, they’re cultural icons.

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A Rant On the Proliferation of Velvet at New York Fashion Week

By Britt Aboutaleb

We need to talk about velvet–the fabric is everywhere.

It first reared its ugly head at Cushnie et Ochs and Jen Kao. Then, on Saturday, it was like having a bad song stuck in my head when it appeared first at Prabal Gurung, then Alexander Wang, followed by Elise Overland, and finally Altuzarra. Sunday, at 8pm, plaid velvet bloomers popped up on Peter Jensen’s impromptu runway and yesterday morning, I was looking at velvet at Zac Posen before I’d had coffee. Then, while at the blissfully velvet-free Halston presentation, I get an email from Kate and a text from Lauren both essentially saying, “Alexa for Madewell’s your dream wardrobe, minus the velvet.”

So it was with great trepidation that I made my way to Marc Jacobs last night. When velvet did emerge my internal monologue went something like this, “That’s gorgeous. Wait. No. It can’t be. Is that? Velvet. Oh god. But, I kind of like it. I hate velvet, but I like this velvet. Do I?”

Kate says, “They must go to Mood, one at a time, and the salesperson whispers to one, ‘Hey, Marc bought velvet,’ and to the next, ‘Hey, Alex bought loads of velvet,’ and to another, ‘Listen, everyone major’s doing velvet.’”

But what’s wrong with velvet you ask? I think it’s unflattering, it looks cheap–and I don’t mean inexpensive. It’s also difficult; it often looks smushed, crushed, or like it needs to be patted down. I can’t imagine it holding up well, and what a disaster if you’re caught in the rain. Plus it’s so little girl-like, and not in a cute way. And when this trend, the one major trend we’ve seen so far, makes its way into Urban Outfitters, Zara, and Topshop, it’s going to look disastrous.

Lauren finds my passionate dislike for the fabric hysterical, and WhoWhatWear tweets, “Don’t ask for whom the velvet bell tolls, it tolls for thee!” So some actually love it, and I’m sure, come fall, I’ll spot some impossibly cool girl wearing it perfectly.

But I’m keeping my fingers crossed that the trend ends when New York Fashion Week comes to a close on Thursday, if not sooner.

  • 01 Feb 2010 at 1:23 PM
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  • Rants

The Grammy Awards’ Best Dressed Best Efforts

By Britt Aboutaleb

gaga grammy 2010.jpgThere aren’t even enough dresses for us to make a best dressed graphic.
Last night’s red carpet was disastrous. Worse than bad, it was boring, save Gaga’s purple Armani constellation, Ciara’s layered black Givenchy, Rihanna’s Elie Saab couture and (we can’t believe we’re typing this) Fergie’s electric Peter Dundas Pucci – it’s like no one even tried.
And even then, more than one Twitterer disagreed, “Rihanna’s looks like a cheap knockoff of Anna’s Chanel couture seashell dress from a coupla Met Balls ago. (Hehehe, balls.)”

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  • 25 Jan 2010 at 10:51 AM
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Celebrities & Fashion

By Britt Aboutaleb

olivier theyskens nina ricci.jpgWWD’s Fashion Scoops column should dispense the most important bits of fashion news each morning.
This morning, they kicked off with a note on Michelle Trachtenberg’s bag for Botkier. Then we read about Justin Timberlake’s new sunglasses for William Rast before getting to the sixth item, that Pharrell Williams loves Lanvin so much that he wants to work for the brand.
Breaking News: We all love Lanvin so much.
But Pharrel, being Pharrell, gets to state his plea in Women’s Wear Daily and find Alber backstage at the menswear show to fawn, “It would be an honor.” (We do hope he knows that Lucas Ossendrijver designs that particular collection.)
So what exactly does the rapper have in mind?
Whatever, basically. He’ll design luggage, he’d love to star in the campaign, he probably can’t sketch, but he’ll put his name on something as long as it’s next to the name Lanvin and that is why celebrity collaborations are annoying, to say the least.
Meanwhile, we had to read down to the second to last item to read about Olivier Theyskens’ new modeling gig.

  • 13 Jan 2010 at 11:51 AM
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  • Rants

The Blogger Special

By Britt Aboutaleb

blogger free stuff.jpgphoto courtesy jak&jilThe more articles we read about the fashion industry accepting bloggers, the more notes and invitations we get like this:
Exclusive Blogger Preview!
Come take a sneak peek at ______’s Summer 2010 Collection before anyone else! Bloggers who attend will receive a special gift and those who post coverage from the event will be entered in a mystery gift card drawing where you can win up to $500 at _____!
Please Note: All bloggers must post coverage from our event to their blog within 24 hours in order to be eligible.
We appreciate the sentiment, but no thank you.
Sure, it’s condescending to speak to online writers and bloggers as though they’re second class citizens, but it’s worse to assume we don’t get it. There aren’t separate realms for online editors and print editors, we co-exist at the same shows, the same parties (at least in New York City) and some of us are real life friends which means we know we’re not the first to see anything.
However, we’re more than often the first to share with the public – especially when it comes to new products, new collections, etc. Which means the company who sent out the above invite, and the few who continue to differentiate between online and print in this specific way, need a new game plan.