July 2010

The Luxury and Fashion Biz: 07/23/10 (of Lacroix, price hikes, world trade and why Preppy still sells)

July 23, 2010

1,) New Lacroix Designer Wants to Do Couture *and* Target: “Christian Lacroix’s new designer, Sacha Walckhoff, who now helms the label without Lacroix, is trying to pull the company out of debt and modernize it a bit. Lacroix’s passion may have been couture, but that won’t sustain a label nowadays. Many high-end designers looking to [...]

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The Artisan Series: Who Are They?

July 19, 2010

While reading the book, “Luxury World” by Mark Tungate, one particular passage, where the author visits the shop of custom & made-to-measure shoemaker Pierre Corthay, stood out for me, and I believe it speaks directly to the recent efforts among marketing professionals to deliberately confuse the boundaries between 1.) mass-production global fashion brands employing low-wage [...]

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The Luxury and Fashion Biz: 07/17/10 (Of Burberry, Armani, ethics and cultural moments)

July 17, 2010

1.) It’s a Mad About Burberry World:“Burberry Group Plc, the U.K.’s largest luxury retailer, posted a 27% gain in first-quarter sales, beating analysts’ estimates, led by growth in Asia and deliveries to wholesale customers . . . Burberry, known for its plaid designs, plans to increase capital spending by 86 percent this year, opening 20 [...]

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Photos: Maison Martin Margiela Untitled

July 12, 2010

One fashion company I would love to have seen retain its independence from the corporate takeover is Maison Martin Margiela. Deliberately “anti-fashion” while being highly fashion forward at the same time, the Margiela brand was known for the unexpected: exposed seams, oversized garments, the use of graphic prints, asymmetric details, creative washes and extreme distressing [...]

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The Luxury & Fashion Biz: 07/09/10 (or, “Of Haute Couture, the China Problem and Getting Creative”)

July 9, 2010

1.) Time For the Haute-Couture Relevancy Debate . . . Again:“Unless you have been catching up on “Gossip Girl” reruns, national deficits and unemployment do not correlate with a couture dress that costs as much as a Harvard education. Couture is slipping off people’s radars faster than a U.F.O. And virtually all of the luxury [...]

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The Artisan Series (Vol. 1): What Does It Mean?

July 5, 2010

With the news that Prada is the latest to join the swelling ranks of formerly internet averse mass-luxury brands (such as Valentino, Oscar de la Renta, Roberto Cavalli, Alexander McQueen, Louis Vuitton, Stella McCartney, Gucci and Hermes, just to name a few) that have conceded to the 21st century necessity of offering their goods online [...]

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Luxury Industry News: 07/02/10 (Let’s Hear It For the Girls)

July 2, 2010

Re: the subject of the recent Spring/Summer 2011 menswear shows that just walked down the runways in Milan and Paris (plus the reaction from some of the journalists and blogs to said shows), I think I finally figured out just why so much of high-fashion menswear comes across as odd, absurdly quirky or even just [...]

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