NYC Puts the Smackdown on the Counterfeit Trade:
“Yesterday the city shuttered 32 vendors of counterfeit goods on Canal, Walker, Center, and Baxter streets, dubbed the “counterfeit triangle” by Mayor Bloomberg and the gazillion tourists looking for cheap holiday gifts . . . Though the police seized $1 million in goods from the 32 shops yesterday, $25 million worth of counterfeit goods were seized in 2007, three times as much as the previous year. Bloomberg said the counterfeit goods cheat the city out of $1 billion in sales tax a year and called it ‘organized crime.’”
That’s right, all you fakers — Mayor Bloomberg just Pwned your sorry asses!
Paris Runways Highlight the Generation Gap Among Designers:
“The generation gap was on show at Paris Fashion Week on Wednesday with collections from Esteban Cortazar, the 23-year-old new designer at Emanuel Ungaro, and Karl Lagerfeld, the 74-year-old maestro of French fashion . . . To Lagerfeld’s directional show of darks suits and long, structured skirts, Cortazar — who was also scheduled against top fashion names Givenchy and Christian Lacroix — offered an alternative as far apart as their birth dates.”
***While it’s certainly not a case of “Out with the Old, and In with the New”, luxury brands could nonetheless use some rethinking for their new audiences. Marc Jacobs appears to be shaping up to be the new Karl Lagerfeld (workaholic, directional collections, a terse relationship with fashion critics), but who’s in the wings to be the next Marc Jacobs?
Dries Van Noten Refines His Aesthetic for Fall 2008:
I have to admit to not being much of a fan of Dries Van Noten in the past. I’ve considered his collections too self-consciously boho, too deliberately shapeless and anti-fashion, to be taken seriously, but he’s reworked his look for his Fall 2008 collection, and instead of the usual baggy, post-hippie chick blues, he’s gone all refined and sophisticated on my unsuspecting ass. I love him for it.
It’s not mustard, it’s Grey Poupon!
Skinny Model Eats, Puts on Five Pounds, Gets Sent Packing from Paris:
“17-year-old model Ali Michael was heading home to the U.S. far earlier than anticipated. Miss Michael was last season’s model du jour, and she looks wraithlike, with a still-developing body and a 23-inch waist. But this season, after gaining five pounds, Miss Michael was told by casting directors for the runway shows that her legs were too plump . . . Her mother, a stunning woman who was once a model herself, said her daughter’s model friends have struggled to get thinner in recent months and that her daughter, worried about her health, chose not to starve herself . . . ‘If you look at the girls, they are not beautiful like models were 20 years ago,’ says Jimmy Pihet, spokesman for the Federation Française de la Couture, which oversees Paris fashion shows. ‘The girls are thin, they have strange faces. … At first, you look at them and you’re not sure if they’re beautiful or disgusting.’”
Alessandra Facchinetti Triumphs Behind the Wheel of Her New Valentino:
“While Valentino kept alive an old-fashioned, courtly devotion to the decorativeness of women, Facchinetti . . . silenced critics today with a collection that captured the air of refined seduction that is the essence of Valentino, while bringing the look bang up to date . . . there was a suppleness and wit to the clothes which marked a departure from the anachronistic formality of Valentino’s aesthetic.”
Designer Thakoon Panichgul and the Creation of His Pixel Pink Lipstick for Lancome:
Stefano Pilati Steps Up and Makes YSL His Own:
“Tonight, Stefano Pilati hammered out his best Saint Laurent collection since he became creative director. This is the first group of clothes that has captured the energy of the Rive Gauche era and at the same time feels contemporary . . . Pilati carries forward the simplified lines of the spring collection and now adds more sex appeal, more flare to the geometry . . . You are no longer looking at any trace of the old Saint Laurent.”
New Balance Teams with Designer Eyan Allen for New Collection:
“Athletic products maker New_Balance has worked with sportswear designer Eyan Allen on its new autumn 08 functional running collection. The range takes inspiration from the Shanghai skyline, the company said. Athletic innovations include zips being placed at angles on running tights, ipod/mps player features on the forearm for ease of use in motion, hand snugs, watch ports, zoned venting and ’360 degree reflectivity’ for night runs.” ***Eyan Allen was appointed Creative Director of Hugo Boss in May of 2007.
