Fashion Industry News Roundup: 03/26/09

1.) Catwalks in Paris and Milan Do the Timewarp:
“Just like their counterparts in New York, designers in Milan and Paris have plundered (the 80′s) in a remarkable homage to linebacker shoulders, tunics-over-tights, peplum jackets, poufs, pumps and the color purple . . . expressing the shoulder phenomenon not just with padding, but with buttresses, extensions, flaps and pagoda shaping. Many draw attention to the shoulders with cap-sleeve jeweling.”

The decade that just won’t die. See yesterday’s post discussing its venomous influence on today’s menswear.

2.) Chanel Prepares for Global Online Ad Campaign for No. 5:
“French film actress Audrey Tautou, famous for her role in Amelie, has become the muse in a Chanel No. 5 film, directed by Jean Pierre Jeunet. While in the past, Chanel No. 5 commercials ran on TV and in the cinema, this is the first time a Chanel marketing campaign has kicked off on the internet, launching online globally on 5 May 2009.”

Karl Lagerfeld (head designer for Chanel) refuses to allow most Chanel products (beyond cosmetics and some perfumes) to be available for sale online, believing that shopping from the Internet cheapens the brand’s image and experience — but hell if that won’t stop them from dumping a truckload of money into an online campaign to boost sales of Chanel No. 5 and, by extension, awareness of the entire Chanel brand.

There has to come a day when designers stop viewing the Internet as the enemy. Not everyone in the world has the ability to breeze through the doors of their neighborhood Chanel boutique, and it seems to me as if stubborn design houses are losing a big chunk of possible sales by making their goods hard to acquire. I know they somehow have this idea that difficult to purchase = upticks in the desirability department, but that’s not necessarily the case. Playing hard to get just forces consumers to purchase from another brand that’s more readily available.

Video clip of a 2007 Chanel No. 5 ad:

3.) Kanye West Claims He Only Surrounds Himself With “Geniuses”:

“Geniuses” would appear to be code for “Every Possible Kind of F**ked Up”.

My favorite comment on that fashion trainwreck of a photo is from I’ll Tumble 4 Ya: “So are Kanye and his posse like the new Parliament Funkadelic or something?… Because, seriously! All they need is a dude in a diaper jamming out at this point.”

4.) Beth Ditto Stage Dives Into the Void:
“Having brought the house down (at a Fendi sponsored Fashion Week show) with the spectacular ‘Standing in the Way of Control,’ Beth decided to execute a celebratory stage dive, a move that I can only describe as ill advised . . . there was a parting of the waves as the svelte and deeply panicked hordes flung themselves out of the oncoming path of the potential weapon of mass destruction that is la Ditto, and there was something closely resembling a resounding thud in place of the expected slap of flesh on expectantly upraised palms.”

Dear lord, I’m probably twice the size of a runway model and I’d have scrambled out of the way of a Beth Ditto launch, too! Still, I’d of liked to have seen her perform. Karl Lagerfeld specially designed her stage costume to come apart in five pieces so that she could strip tease on stage.

Video clip below of Beth Ditto in all her post-punk glory:

In related news, The Mirror U.K. asks: “Could Beth Ditto be the woman to make fat fashionable?“

5.) Three Is A Trend:
“Yves Saint Laurent and Gianni Versace had some good luck auctioning off their wares, so designer Kenzo decided to follow their lead. The contents of his Parisian apartment are estimated to net $2.04 to $2.73 million for his collection of Asian art, furniture, and antique kimonos on sale June 16 and 17.”

You may as well sell while the selling’s still good, right? You can see a photo spread of Kenzo’s drop dead gorgeous Paris estate (that he recently sold) over at Luxist.

6.) Plastic Surgery Downturn Reflects Credit Crunch:
“The plastic surgery field is feeling the nip and tuck of the economy. A recent survey by the American Society of Plastic Surgeons shows a 62% decrease in overall cosmetic procedures. Local plastic surgeons say their numbers aren’t that bad but they have been booking fewer surgical procedures the past nine months.”

Or maybe the field reached critical mass and now has nowhere to go but down?

7.) Hermes Continues to Show Growth Despite Global Troubles:
“Hermès has continued to grow despite the economic downturn. This month, it cheered investors with better than expected annual results and even raised its dividend slightly. The company has been buoyed in particular by sales of leat
her handbags . . . but a sense of uncertainty about the future is haunting the sector, industry executives say. ‘We have absolutely no visibility into 2009,’ Christian Blanckaert, executive vice president at Hermès International, said Wednesday. ‘We are talking only month to month.’”

Video clip below of the Hermes Fall 2009 show:

It never fails to shock me that Jean Paul Gaultier is the head designer for Hermes women’s wear. It seems like such an unlikely fit — from Madonna’s conical breast outfits and The Fifth Element to . . . well, Hermes!

But while Hermes may be doing well enough (for now), an industry expert talks about how the Luxury Brands got their India Strategy wrong: “The head of the Murjani group, which has helped develop the Tommy Hilfiger label and has exclusive distribution agreements with the likes of Gucci, Jimmy Choo, Calvin Klein and FCUK, said luxury brands entering India expected profits from day-one while their Indian partners invested but totted up losses. ‘There was an imbalance in partnerships between franchisors and franchisees. Agreements should be equally beneficial or at the least fairly beneficial,’ Murjani said.”

In related news, the Financial Times writes that Luxury fashion in Moscow remains optimistic — though when you read through the actual article, the message is anything but optimistic, and actually kind of bleak for the retail outlook in Russia.

UPDATE:

8.) Axe Is Getting the Axe From Fed Up Moms and Schools:
“A mother of two boys from Scottsdale, Ariz., had to ban Axe body wash in her house. ‘The 13-year-old was pretty responsible, but the 10-year-old was out of control!’ she said. ‘They couldn’t rinse the wash cloths out well enough, and when I washed them, we all wore Axe!’ . . . A Minnesota state representative, Karen Clark, even proposed phasing out fragrances from schools to protect kids with asthma from their overly perfumed classmates . . . Even the makers of Axe are embarking on an education campaign. ‘We believe most everything is best in moderation, application of grooming products included . . . ‘”

The article goes on to note that once children hit puberty, females develop a more acute sense of smell while the sense of smell of young men deteriorates — i.e. teenage boys have no idea how awful they smell.