October 2011

Luxury & Fashion Biz News: October 28th, 2011 (British Style Get Its Groove Back, Tiffany Loves Louboutin, No Logo is Better Than the Bling and Fashion/Luxury Brands are Embracing Your Outer Beauty)

October 29, 2011

1.) British Fashion Design Sees a Resurgence in Popularity: WWD published an article titled, ‘Saks Embraces Scottish Trend for Fall‘ (subscription required) that states that Saks Fifth Avenue is turning its style compass away from Italian influences and sailing instead toward good old Britannica. “The retailer, whose men’s mix is skewed heavily toward Italian resources, [...]

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Midweek Quick Hits: Sonoma Scent Studio, Iris Apfel, Street Style and Male Shoppers

October 27, 2011

1.) Sonoma Scent Studio Fig Tree: Independent perfumer Laurie Erickson of Sonoma Scent Studio has released a new fig fragrance, dubbed Fig Tree, that’s been in development and trial stages for, I think, about two years now, give or take a few months (Update: Erickson emailed me to let me know it’s been about a [...]

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Letters to a Fellow Perfumer: Mandy Aftel & Dawn Spencer Hurwitz (ep. 4)

October 24, 2011

October 6th, 2011 / Berkeley, CA Dear Dawn, Creating this perfume started out as nothing but trouble. Usually a perfume begins to emerge, like a sculpture from a slab of stone, and I see the contours and shapes as they become free from the mass, but this letter should be titled “Enormous Changes at the [...]

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Luxury & Fashion Biz News: October 21, 2011 (Luxury braces for a tough future, Flash Sale Sites are a lot less flashy, and is Kate Middleton fashion’s last best hope?)

October 22, 2011

1.) Luxury brands ride a wave of consumer spending, but Wall Street braces for inevitable job cuts and bonus reductions. Yeah, sure, Jean Paul Gaultier is launching a limited-edition champagne in collaboration with winemaker Piper-Heidsieck, French luxury goods conglomerate LVMH is reporting “bumper sales of Louis Vuitton handbags and Krug champagne” and hot Brit-brand Burberry [...]

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Luxury & Fashion Biz News: October 14th, 2011 (LVMH snaps up the croc, Arab women are haute couture’s biggest clients, and nail polish sales continue to soar)

October 15, 2011

1.) LVMH Snaps Up Top Croc-Skin Supplier: “Paris-based LVMH, chaired by Bernard Arnault, said in a statement that it will own 51% of Heng Long (the crocodile leather supplier owned by the Koh family), while the founding Koh family will reduce its stake to 49% from its earlier 74% ownership of the Singapore-based company . [...]

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April Aromatics Bohemian Spice: The Kinder, Gentler Patchouli

October 10, 2011

I discovered the April Aromatics Bohemian Spice fragrance during the “Summer of Love Patchouli Project” sponsored by Monica Miller at her Perfume Pharmer blog, an all-natural patchouli-groovin’ group project I signed-up to review, though with much trepidation due to my rather iffy relationship to the potent raw material itself. *NOTE 1: Should I admit that [...]

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Luxury & Fashion Biz News: October 7th, 2011 (The Designer Merry Go Round, Luxury Bubbles and McQueen is Cooler than Chanel)

October 8, 2011

1.) If ever there would have been a time for a big, media-buzzy announcement of the rumored appointment of Marc Jacobs as head designer for Dior, it would have been at the end of the Jacobs’ designed Louis Vuitton runway show in Paris — a wowzy theatrical presentation that featured a giant carousel as its [...]

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Luxury & Fashion Biz News: Ego Will Eat Itself

October 1, 2011

Big Personality Designers are Out, while Big Personality Style Bloggers are In It’s the classic swing of the pendulum — once the fashion world hit the peak of designers as rock stars (because, after all, what’s more rock star than drug abuse, nervous breakdowns, dating porn stars, stints in rehab, demands for huge payouts and [...]

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