With an ensemble of British accents, ornate period costumes, high production value and lots of drama, we’re pretty sure the new PBS series Mr. Selfridge is going to fill the hole Downton left in our TV watching schedule when it ended (now if only someone could do something about the hole that finale left in our hearts).
Miranda Kerr has replaced Kate Moss as the face of Mango.{HuffPo}
Yoko Ono will be designing for Opening Ceremony. It’s a menswear line inspired by–we kid you not–John Lennon’s “hot bod.” {Refinery29}
Sure, most of the press seemed to think that Rihanna’s “777″ tour was a disaster, but Riri says it was great! {US Weekly}
Parsons Alums to Design for Christian Louboutin: For the never-ending celebration of the brand’s 20th anniversary, Christian Louboutin is enlisting the talents of Parsons alums to design garments to fit the Loubi aesthetic. Five 2010-2011 graduates were chosen, and their designs will be on display at the Louboutin 20th anniversary event at Bergdorf Goodman in early February. Congratulations to the winners, we can’t wait to see what they’ve come up with! {WWD (Subscription required)}
Topshop and the British Fashion Council’s NEWGEN is Teaming Up Once Again: for a collection of t-shirts designed by some of its most noted alums including Mary Katrantzou, Christopher Kane, and Meadham Kirchhoff. The collaboration is in celebration of Topshop’s ten-year affiliation with the NEWGN designer sponsorship, and will be available during London Fashion Week in stores and online at Topshop, as well as in the retailer’s LFW pop-up shop in Selfridges. {Vogue UK}
Rihanna is Having The Best Vacation Ever: The bleater singer has been snapping twitpics of herself in various bikinis all week, but last night Ms. Fenty let loose on Twitter sharing several shots of her island frolicks. At one point she tweeted @KhloeKardashian a picture of her on an elliptical machine in a bikini, “Come tap this.” If she won’t, we will. {Rihanna Twitter}
With recessions and economic uncertainty plaguing retail all over the world, you would think products like $39,000 handbags wouldn’t do so well, right? Wrong. Apparently, the luxury market has been doing so well it’s spawned a new market: hyper-luxury.
Instead of tightening their belts, wealthy shoppers are just raising their standards, according to WWD. People want to invest (if you can call it that) in extra special things, even if that special touch, whether it’s an exotic skin or customization, makes the item that much more expensive. And designers like Fendi, Tom Ford and Victoria Beckham are more than happy to cater to those people.
Alber Elbaz puts it nicely: “If a handbag is the price of a house,” he says, “the customer wants to make sure she’s the only one who’s got it.”
Are these things expensive enough for you, luxury customers?
Every season or so, there is some sort of detailed report on the progress of always almost-bankrupt retailer American Apparel. This morning, Dov and his empire are the subject of a WWD piece, the focus of which is AA’s forthcoming e-commerce shop on eBay. However, the online shop-in-shop is only one of several efforts the company is making to increase business. The retailer is also in talks to bring this shop-in-shop method to real life with leased spaces in Bloomingdale’s.
American Apparel is also set to open three additional leased spaces in Selfridges stores in the U.K. And, in a short time, most college apparel could have American Apparel’s signature Made in USA tags on the inside. They’re reportedly close to sealing a deal that could see them supplying clothes for up to 2,500 campuses.
Numbers were looking OK for AA back in May. It really seems like, if all goes according to plan, Dov & co. could finally actually be on the right track.
Karl Lagerfeld Is a Busy Man: The Chanel designer just finished his cruise collection and has been hawking Magnum Ice Cream and now, Lagerfeld has made plans to release Nietzsche’s writings in their entirety. Only 3,000 copies will be published and it will only be available in German. He also directed a short film, The Tale of a Fairy starring Chanel’s usual suspects (Freja, Babtiste, etc.,) as a companion to the cruise collection. The short launches on Chanel.com today. {ELLE and Chanel.com}
Fashion Mags Take Home Honors at the National Magazine Awards: Many of Condé Nast’s titles were among last night’s big winners. GQ won the Ellie award for design while W took one for photography. {WWD, subscription required}
Listen to Abbey Lee Kershaw Sing: The model’s band, Our Mountain, has debuted their first single, “Wooden Hearts.” In addition to vocals, Kershaw also lends her talents to the tambourine. {Modelinia}
Blake Lively loves her some Christian Louboutin. Last night, celebrities, designers and buyers gathered at MoMa for the Footwear News Achievement Awards, which the host, Fairchild Fashion Group’s Michael Atmore, described as “a tiny bit of Golden Globes…You never know what’s going to happen.”
Honorees included Charlotte Olympia for Emerging Talent, Ivanka Trump for Launch of the Year, Toms Shoes and Vibram for Brands of the Year, Brian Atwood for Designer of the Year, and finally, Christian Louboutin for Person of the Year.
Jessica Alba, who presented Blake Mycoskie’s award for Toms, jumped on the suit trend in Dolce & Gabbana; Ivanka Trump is gorgeous and came off quite smart and business-minded; Charlotte Dellal looked amazing as usual and buddied up with Olivia Palermo. The sweetest moment was Brian Atwood’s mom Yolanda presenting his award and him tearing up during his acceptance. However, the most memorable part of the evening was easily Blake Lively’s ridiculously rapturous and glowing introduction to Christian Louboutin.
Lily Allen’s New Fashion Career: Allen and her sister Sarah Owen toasted the opening of Lucy in Disguise, the former musician’s new vintage retail venture. When asked why vintage, she responded, “Well a) we love vintage and b) we’re not clothing designers. It’s as simple as that really.” Fair enough. {Elle UK}
MK & A Do TV instead of FW: Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen, who were noticeably absent from NYFW, will be on Ellen today to talk about “this season’s hottest styles.” {Ellen}
Shoe Mecca: Next Thursday, British department store Selfridges will open the largest shoe department in the world. The 4,000+ shoes will include over 30 exclusive styles. And that’s not all. An architect designed 11 individual “apartments” for major labels like Louboutin and Chanel. {Style List}
Gabourey Sits Front Row: Apparently, there was a plus-sized fashion show in New York on Wednesday night. Controversial cover girl Gabourey Sidibe sat front row and former ANTM contestant Toccara Jones walked the runway. {Daily Mail}
LONDON–It was 1955 and Dior had just brought us the stiletto. A 14 year old Vivienne Westwood, who had already been wearing high heels for a year, bought her first pair and brought them to school, sitting them on her wooden desk for all to admire when her history teacher came in and said, “Vivienne Swire if God wanted you to walk on pins he would have supplied them.”
Vivienne Westwood Shoes: An Exhibtion 1973-2010 opened yesterday at The Ultralounge, a permanent exhibition space in the vast belly of Selfridges. Voted “Best Department Store in the World,” the class favorite figured that wasn’t a big enough feather in their hat, so the people at Selfridges will be launching “The Biggest Shoe Department in the World” next month and have chosen Dame Westwood’s fetish for shoes to whet our appetites. Supported by rubber shoe designers Melissa, some 200 of the designer’s shoes dating from 1973-2010 are displayed like fine jewelry in a chronology of footwear.
Britain’s Queen Mother of Punk has found inspiration in everything from British colonialism to the Victorian dandy to down-and-dirty S&M. The show is a knuckle-rapping reminder of the true origins of the oft-repeated pirate boot, court shoe, ‘rocking horse’ ballerina, three tongued trainer and the mighty Naomi-Campbell-tumbling-platform of ’93. “She looked like a gazelle in slow motion,” Westwood later remarked of the infamous fall. “She’s a very proud woman of course, and so when she got back stage she was so angry with me.”
The Big Tweeze: Tweezing: we do it to look good, but we rarely look good while doing it (just watch the faces you make in the mirror next time you start plucking). Until now, that is–Betsey Johnson, in yet another somewhat strange collaboration, will release her line of designer tweezers for Tweezerman starting September 1. {Bella Sugar}
Dolce Dispute: Dolce & Gabbana and Selfridges have come to an allegedly mutual agreement to stop their partnership, come next spring. While neither party has pointed fingers, we can’t help but look on this with the same skepticism we have when couples “mutually” split–c’mon, guys. One way or another, somebody’s getting dumped. {Vogue UK}
Causing A Commotion: A Los Angeles clothing company is suing Madonna in regards to her new clothing line for Macy’s, claiming that they have been using the name “Material Girl” for years. Wait, who’s ripping off whom? Didn’t Madonna invent that phrase? Yeesh. {TMZ}
Fashion’s Night Out is a little more than a month away and more details are being revealed around the world as the night gets closer.
For one, Hamish Bowles and Lauren Santo-Domingo will not be the only Vogue editors to appear on the September 20 FNO-themed Gossip Girl episode. Vogue market editor Meredith Melling-Burke will also make an appearance and we hear she’s wearing Chloe.
In other news, Payless is offering Facebook fans a chance to win a 5-day trip to NYC for Fashion’s Night Out. The “All Fashion Pass” will include access to the Vogue fashion show and a meet and greet with Payless designers Christian Siriano, Patricia Field, Lela Rose and Isabel Toledo. This actually sounds really cool.
From NYC to Australia, Chanel to Billy Reid, we’ve got the scoop on even more major FNO events you won’t want to miss.
It cannot be denied that the fashion world is one of fleeting passions–remember those boots you loved so dearly last year but wouldn’t dream of wearing this season? Or those “statement jeans” that now live a quiet, mournful existence at the back of your closet? Fashion is a business of come-and-go. But what about when you’re longing for something with a bit more, well, longevity?
This is the reasoning behind Selfridge’s “Forever Shop,” set to open its doors later this month. The British retailer’s Wonder Room Concept Store will be completely renovated to embody a sort of timelessness that exists beneath fashion fads. The room will be curated by the department store’s creative director Alannah Weston, Elle Decoration Editor-In-Chief Michelle Ogundehin, and British designer Sir Paul Smith.
