I’m presently so swamped in global Fashion Week related information (London just finished and the herd is thundering on to Milan) that the other relevant and related bits of Luxury Industry info are getting pushed off the table (bad Fashion Week, bad! No biscuit!).
But below is a smattering of happenings, progressions, events and reports that I thought you should know before even more time whizzes past and suddenly we all find our once hip and up-to-the-happening perspectives rendered hopelessly obsolete (which happens on a near daily basis anyway, so maybe I should just surrender to the inevitable?).
1.) Maybe the Cell Phone Can Save Versace:
“On a planet with around 6.8 billion people, we’re likely to see 5 billion cell phone subscriptions this year. Reaching 4.6 billion at the end of 2009, the number of cell phone subscriptions across the globe will hit 5 billion sometime in 2010, according to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). The explosion in cell phone use has been driven not only by developed countries, but by developing nations hungry for services like mobile banking and health care.”
And while fashion and style writers quibble like yesterday’s news over hemlines, color trends, silhouettes and who’s worthy to sit in the front row at fashion week, high-fashion brand names have been rushing to cash in on the hungry global clamor for mobile phones. When the pie is five billion potential customers, even a tiny slice could mean big revenue.
Versace has been shoveling branded mobile phones at the market for several years (partnering with Samsung, Nokia and Vertu), but the WSJ reports that they’re debuting a full-on, designed from the inside out mobile device just as they’re laying off 26% of their work force and consolidating global operations (they don’t expect a return to profitability until 2011 . . . at the earliest).
From the WSJ article: “Versace … created the phone with ModeLabs Group, a French company that also makes phones for fashion house Christian Dior and watchmaker Tag Heuer . . . The new Versace phone will retail for more than Dior’s phone, which costs €3,500, or about $5,000, and was introduced in 2008 . . . High-end mobile phones costing thousands of dollars are competing with luxury watches for consumers … The strongest demand comes from Asia, Russia and the Middle East … For Versace, the mobile phone is part of a push into new areas to broaden its appeal beyond clothes. Over the past few years, the company has branched out into Versace-branded jets, sports cars and hotels.”
Other stylin’ names angling for the mobile market include: Giambattista Valli, Prada, Armani, Mandarina Duck, Dolce & Gabbana, Porsche, Bang & Olufsen, Levi’s, Ferrari and Mercedes. With a market this hot, I imagine we’ll be seeing a whole lot more, and fast.
An Alexander Wang phone, anyone? The dedicated urban-warrior fashion bloggers would die (DIE, I tell you).
Video clip below from Wang’s Fall 2010 presentation in New York (notice that the clip is from Teen Vogue Magazine, hence, the “dying” for a Wang phone):
OMG, it’s Alexander Wang! Squeeeeee!
But hey, where’s Chanel, Hermes and Louis Vuitton in this picture? Ignoring the mobile market now seems like a potentially market-share damaging oversight — or is it enough for them to simply create mobile phone accessories like leather cases, pouches, chains and charms?
2.) The Alexander McQueen Label Marches On:
“The French owners of the late designer Alexander McQueen’s label promise to continue his legacy, saying that would be the best tribute to a man they called a genius, a poet and a friend . . . Robert Polet, chief of the Gucci Group, said the collection the designer was working on before his death will be shown at Paris fashion week next month.”
Paris Fashion Week will be March 3rd-11th, and the McQueen showing is already predicted to be the hottest ticket of the week (the collection will unveil March 9-10 at an invitation-only “salon” presentation, according to a company statement). While Mr. Polet stated that it’s “premature” to start talking about who McQueen’s replacement might be, the team that assisted Mr. McQueen before his death are the ones responsible for finishing up the collection and putting the show together. It’s likely that a good number of them, if not all, will stay on even as a new designer is brought into the fold.
CNN reports that the McQueen label has 11 stand-alone boutiques and 180 employees, though McQueen clothing and merchandise is also sold in department stores and independent boutiques around the world. The Evening Standard UK writes that Gucci “could lose tens of millions of pounds in future earnings after the designer’s death . . . The fashion house could haemorrhage money unless it can bring in new talent to continue the success it enjoyed under McQueen.”
Though the definition of “success” is apparently relative. After purchasing a 51% interest in the McQueen brand in 2001, the Gucci Group poured millions of dollars a year into promoting the label, finally breaking even for the first time in 2007 only to suffer losses again when the global economy began to squeeze. At the time of McQueen’s death, the label was over fifty million dollars in debt.
Drapers magazine reports that “sales of iconic Alexander McQueen pieces soared 1,400% at the end of last week, in the days following the British designer’s tragic death” as questions of McQueen’s legacy are bandied about. Colin McDowell writes at The Tiimes Online: “(McQueen’s) high-camp sexiness frequently equated femininity with the machi
ne, the animal kingdom and sci-fi, and, of course, his influence continues as a chain reaction in the work of younger designers such as Nicolas Ghesquière and Gareth Pugh . . . His influence on young creators in many disciplines is evident to anybody who visits art colleges, and it is often what he stood for, as much as what he actually created, that excites their minds.”
Video clip below that demonstrates why McQueen should prove an enduring influence on young designers and artists — and this was back in 1999 (before he had PPR funding his shows), so he was seriously ahead of the daring curve when it came to marrying high fashion with industrial technology:
Beauty meets the Mechanical Beasts
3.) Online Luxury Shoppers Are Spending Their Cash at . . . Macy’s:
“In terms of volume online, Macy’s attracts more visitors earning $100,000+ than higher end department stores Nordstrom and Neiman Marcus combined . . . In fact, mid-range department stores, like Kohl’s and JC Penney, are reaching more affluent shoppers online than their luxury focused counterparts, such as Neiman Marcus, Bloomingdale’s and Saks.”
The article notes that wealthy online shoppers aren’t splurging on the high-end the way they used to, but 1.) they’re accustomed to a higher-end retail ambience than what Macy’s offers, and 2.) they don’t necessarily want everyone in their neighborhood to see them lugging Macy’s bags into the house and so start speculating about their stock portfolio’s, either. So ordering online is a sort of double shield in this respect — they can shop in the comfort of their own home, and where they’re now spending their fashion, beauty and jewelry dollars, only the postman knows for sure.
The top ten online shopping sites for the newly frugal wealthy: Macy’s, Nordstrom, Zappos (I found a great Alexander McQueen scarf for Louise at Zappos — who knew?), JC Penney, Kohl’s, Neiman Marcus, Bloomingdale’s, Saks, Dillard’s and Gilt Groupe.
*Note: for a terrific read on the Gilt Groupe phenomenon (#10 on the list), check out NYMag’s article, “What’s a Dress Worth? The online retailer Gilt Groupe offers a great deal: Buy designer clothes at deep discounts. But is it good or bad for fashion?“
In related news, Chanel looks like it’s finally ready to start selling more than just perfume and cosmetics online — like, maybe, sunglasses, handbags and more: “Chanel is to begin selling products directly through its website later this year in a landmark decision likely to be followed by rival luxury brands . . . Many labels have suffered a sharp decline in sales as a result of the downturn. This has prompted them to refocus their digital marketing strategies to grow sales and gain a foothold in emerging markets.”
That noise you just heard is the sound of a hundred million fashionable jaws hitting the floor.
And in even more related news, a suggestion for LVMH — refusing to allow visitors to leave comments on your spanking new style and arts site comes across as condescending and aloof (“Here, we’ll tell YOU what’s worth knowing — and don’t talk back”), which is pretty much the classic definitinon of snobbery, not luxury.
I see this same thing happening with Twitter, too — with big names like Gucci, YSL, Dior and Versace treating Twitter like it’s a force-field between the world and their customers. “Look at our new spring shoes!” is about the best they offer. And after the refreshing raw and real tweeting from Marc Jacobs president Robert Duffy leading up to the Fall 2010 Ready to Wear show, the Marc Jacobs Twitter account has been handed over to an assistant, resulting in tweets that are now flat, and utterly devoid of interactivity and warmth.
*Note: The Duffy replacement is already getting pushback. The brand’s fans want Duffy!
Web users are not inconveniences for luxury brands to grudgingly acknowledge, or worse, to actively barricade themselves against. A brand that approaches the internet with an enthusiasm for its potential customers (who just happen to spend time online) is a brand that will see its 21st-century presence grow.
3.) INDUSTRY QUICK HITS:
A.) Burlington Coat Factory is ordered to pay Fendi damages for violating an earlier court order and selling alleged Fendi knockoffs: “According to Law360 website, the precise amount of damages is yet-to-be determined, but it seems the discount retailer has been allegedly shilling counterfeit Fendi goods from unauthorized retailers for decades.”
Other fashion fraud & theft news: Hermes ex-staff on trial for fake handbags for Japan – “Two former Hermes employees went on trial near Paris on Thursday for making crocodile handbags copied from the French luxury leader’s designs and selling them to Japan”; and 4 truckloads of perfume taken in Carlstadt heist – “Authorities have arrested two Brooklyn men in a brazen Tuesday night heist in which five armed men stormed into a Gotham Parkway perfume warehouse and tied up 11 employees, forcing them into an office . . . The crew then backed up a box truck — one of at least six they brought with them — to the warehouse, where day laborers hired in the Bronx began loading perfume products.”
Police estimate that the value of the stolen truckloads of perfume is around fifty thousand dollars, which is a h*ll of a lot of perfume. I guess the thieves must have missed the perfume can make you a better person memo, or maybe there’s just never enough clean, citrus scent for a world full of jacka**es.
Since we’re talking about perfume: Swiss flavors and fragrance giant Givaudan reported a 79% increase in profits for 2009, which they attribute to the broadening of their market base due to their purchase of Quest International; Firmenich opens an office in Dubai to gain a hands-on understanding of the Middle Eastern market for flavors and fragrances.
B.) Air France controllers decide that the best time to go on strike is during Europe’s fashion weeks, which makes fashion blogger BryanBoy’s head explode. Other heads are exploding, t
oo — just not with such dramatic precision.
C.) New York designer Narciso Rodriguez — famous for his form skimming, sky-high priced product — produces a mid-market collection for eBay. The NYPost writes that, “the pact with Rodriguez — who recently has won notoriety as a favorite designer of First Lady Michelle Obama — is a victory for eBay, which has long battled its reputation in the fashion world as a venue for cheap knockoffs and deeply discounted, off-season or out-of-style clothing.”
In even more topsy-turvy news, Madonna is rumored to be in talks with Macy’s to potentially collaborate on a clothing collection. Madonna’s 2007 collection for fast-fashion retailer H&M (now fresh off a successfully hyped and sold-out collaboration wtih Jimmy Choo) was met with almost unanimous befuddlement. In a world where celebrity buzz is only as hot as the teenagers deem it to be (and Madonna’s teen-scream inducing days are long over), Macy’s could do a lot better.
D.) The Return of the New York Club Kids: “Just as the new clubs themselves are increasingly done up — they are far from the bare-bones black boxes where the Misshapes held forth — and with the highly produced sound of the early ’80s gathering steam (with popular acts like Hot Chip and La Roux), riotous looks are once again becoming a key part of going out, separating the true believers from the passers-by.”
A gruesomely fascinating film about the excesses of the New York Club Kid culture is Party Monster, based on the true story of party kids gone wild, resulting in drug-fueled murder and glitter-injected mayhem:
Money! Success! Fame! Glamour!
