Nathan Branch

Top Perfumes for Spring 2010: Trends and Rec's

2010-03-11T00:23:01Z

The fashion industry is an odd creature that shows its wares six months in advance of their actual arrival in the stores, which results in a kind of split-personality approach when trying to make forecasts for any particular season -- yes, I can look back at the runway shows for "Spring 2010" that showed back in October of 2009, and use those photos, videos and analysis to make forecasts, or do I take a broad survey of the Fall 2010 shows that are just wrapping up in Paris as I type this, and use these fresh trends (that are immediately adopted for wear by the fashion cutting-edge, despite their "fall" designation) as a means of staying ahead of the curve? In past years, this would have posed a genuine conundrum, as Spring and Fall trends traditionally diverge wildly, but this year showed much more toned-down fall offerings from most of the major designers, with mustard yellows, light grays, camels, taupes & beiges, corals, purples and basic blacks (along with metallic silvers and golds) playing a significant role in both seasons, resulting in a tonal convergence for Spring and Fall. The fabrics and materials are different -- the fall shows were heavy on fur, leather and wool -- but the jewelry trend for both seasons is chunky, the nude/natural cosmetics look was shown for both seasons, and the wardrobe color palettes exhibit distinct similarities, with the designers seeminly focused on creating adaptable basics that can be accessorized for either season with bursts of texture and color. So this is how I'll approach a Top Perfumes for Spring 2010 forecast, taking in the colors and trends for Spring 2010, but with an eye on Fall 2010 to keep things moving in a forward direction. 1.) CHANEL BEIGE: arguably the dark horse of the Chanel Les Exclusifs collection, Beige was dismissed by dedicated perfume hounds on its initial release in 2008 as being too, well, beige (i.e. classic, well-mannered and conservative -- some even went so far as to call it "boring"). What no one knew at the time was that skirt hems would lengthen, bling would fall out of favor, models with womanly curves would reappear on the catwalks and the actual color beige (along with its cousins light khaki, camel, champagne and sand) would stage a coup in fashion houses across the globe, with "classic, well-mannered and conservative" the new buzzwords for the seasons. Marina at Perfume Smellin' Things writes: "Jacques Polge interprets the slinky aspect of beige by using luscious floral notes of freesia and frangipani enriched by a touch of honey . . . an olfactory equivalent of raw silk" and Abigail at I Smell Therefore I Am says, "Beige is a beautifully soft, abstract and classic white floral bouquet that is grounded in a dry ambery base (amber is not among the listed notes) leaving it not too sweet or heady in the least." Given the above, expect Beige to become Chanel's sleeper hit for both Spring and Fall. Color Trend: Chanel Beige references Spring hues of cream, beige (of course), desert khaki, tobacco and metallic gold. 2.) BALENCIAGA PARIS: We'll all be hearing a lot about Balenciaga Paris because it's Balenciaga, because it references Paris with all the accompanying romantic and stylish imagery, and because it's the first Balenciaga perfume release since 1998. The cool, hip kids have been coveting Balenciaga motorcyle-inspired bags for the past decade, and Balenciaga's head designer, Nicolas Ghesquière, has been steadily gaining clout as one of the top influential (and experimental) designers since his start at the company in 1997, attracting celebrity clients (Jennifer Connelly, Victoria Beckham, Julianne Moore, Kristen Stewart, Rihanna) and glossy-mag buzz. This makes the name "Balenciaga" on a new perfume release nearly impossible for the style conscious to ignore. It also doesn't hurt that the recently released Paris fragrance is a pretty and slightly peppery abstracted violet with a warm, approachable finish -- like a cool-toned ensemble that shows a lot of skin. Balenciaga Spring/Summer 2010 Robin at Now Smell This writes, "Balenciaga Paris wears like a minimalist veil . . . think of it as a musky violet skin scent and you'll get the idea. It's one of those fragrances that you can forget you put on, then all of a sudden you smell something lovely and remember." Color Trend: Balenciaga Paris picks up on Spring 2010 colors like green sheen, violet, misty gray, sycamore, mushroom and ice blue. 3.) ISSEY MIYAKE A SCENT EAU DE PARFUM: an upcoming feminized floral version of Miyake's original clean and bamboo-shoot green A Scent released in 2009. The hues of wildflowers and garden pinks are scattered throughout the Spring 2010 collections, with neutral shades, pinks, subtle pastels and light earth tones dominating the makeup trends. Miyake's April release of A Scent Eau de Parfum is timed perfectly to catch this particular wave. Marie-Helene Wagner at The Scented Salamander writes that the original Miyake A Scent is "a monochromatic pale green composition with a semi-transparent, semi-opaque polished sea glass feel . . . . A Scent is minimal and ego-less. It is for people who are looking for a discreet perfume signature and have nothing to prove nor flaunt." The soon to be released A Scent sequel, A Scent Eau de Parfum, is said to be a clean, pale pink floral with a flash of Spring green, and is likely to be as polished, poised and without ego as its A Scent predecessor, dovetailing nicely with the present understated luxury, anti-bling mindset. Color Trend: A Scent Eau de Parfum might evoke citron, celery green, creamy pink, peachy rose and hibiscus, all of which play strong accessory and cosmetics roles for Spring 2010. 4.) PRADA L'EAU AMBREE: a light, uncomplicated amber that goes on sheer and even somewhat leafy green, then progresses to a warm, casual and discreetly sweet vanilla-patchouli finish. It's the successful marriage of Japanese minimalism and Thierry Mugler maximalism -- a sweetened patchouli that's fresh and office friendly. L'Eau Ambree wears like a cotton khaki trench -- it goes with everything, can be dressed up or down, and never offends. Unlike heavy patchoulis (such as Thierry Mugler Angel and Chanel Coromandel) that often wear the wearer, L'Eau Ambree functions as a smooth olfactory background that won't clash with your individual style. Color Trend: Prada L'Eau Ambree is a color-wheel of green peridot, toasted almond, copper, muted clay and goldenrod. 5.) THE BEAUTIFUL SERIES MIND VOL. 1 - INTELLIGENCE & FANTASY: If you ignore the retro-futuristic packaging (though it would have suited a Balenciaga release perfectly) and the unarguably high price point, Intelligence & Fantasy plays out like a well-calibrated response to nervous market forces. Crafted by perfumer Geza Schoen (of Escentric Molecules and Clive Christian X for Men fame), a cursory sniff might fool you into thinking "Meh, generic floral", but that would be your loss. Intelligence & Fantasy is a sheer abstract floral fixed with a light touch over a warm cashmeran base. The composition is precisely calibrated, so there's no lush romanticism (if that's what you need), but it possesses a cleanly structured and airily natural ambience that would pair neatly with a seasonal cosmetics launch like the Chanel Les Impressions de Chanel Collection for Spring 2010 -- and since Chanel usually has its finger on the pulse of consumer trends, this bodes well for Intelligence & Fantasy. The Beautiful Mind: Intelligence & Fantasy Unfortunately, The Beautiful Mind Series is resolutely niche, which means it has limited distribution, a quirky presentation and it's priced to turn the mainstream consumer away. If not for these three aspects, this fresh and understated floral could very well be on any number of "Must Buy" lists for Spring 2010, particularly for how well it captures the spirit of carefree feminine sophistication that's the essence of the new luxury, reflecting the fashion industry's pivot away from teenagers to focus once more on the adults who can actually pay the bills. Color Trend: The Beautiful Mind Intelligence & Fantasy hits appropriate Spring 2010 color notes like natural buff, pearl, carnation, pistachio green and mimosa gold. And lastly: 6.) SERGE LUTENS L'EAU: I was excited when I first read the information about the release for L'eau Serge Lutens -- the French master of fiercely independent art-perfumery does Japanese minimalist soapy-clean? Sign me up! There was a soapy-clean hole in the Lutens lineup that L'eau Serge Lutens nicely fills, and with perfume sales falling across the board, for every brand and everywhere, this release could turn out to be the financially successful shot in the arm the Lutens brand needs to live another day. Do dedicated Serge Lutens fans like it? No, but who cares? Lutens could have easily chosen to launch yet one more richly layered, complicated and difficult scent that preached solely to his faithful choir (a faithful choir now purchasing less faithfully than they used to, I might add), but I suspect that he assessed the playing field, saw a significant market segment he was steadfastly neglecting and hopped on it. Like it or not, this will probably be the most successful Lutens fragrance in years, capitalizing on the trend toward more demure luxury from names with boutique appeal. There will always be the monied crowd that wants to flash its dyed fur stoles and woven metallic leather bags -- let them wear Dior Poison -- but there's also the increasingly international demand for conservative, even austere beauty that houses like Marc Jacobs, Michael Kors and Chloe are newly intent on targeting with their pale, subdued yet consummately tailored Fall collections. L'eau Serge Lutens should more than satisfy this market segment. Color Trend: Forget about Fall, L'eau Serge Lutens references Spring 2010 colors like ivory, nude, chalk, bleached stone and optic white. On trend and just in time. *Note: I have a bottle of L'eau Serge Lutens sitting in my bathroom cupboard, awaiting its moment of photographic worship. The packaging and bottle is a striking departure from the previous export packaging, and appears to represent an overall new direction for the brand. Other worthy fragrances to consider for a sleek Spring 2010: Costes 2, Penhaligons Amarinthine, Parfumerie Generale Papyrus de Ciane, Puredistance and Nasomatto Silver Musk.

The McQueen Wheel Spins Round

2010-03-09T22:51:01Z

Fashionista.com Discovers the Origin of the Alexander McQueen 10" heel amphibious platform shoe -- a 1982 glam-rock concert video by The Tubes! The possibly McQueen-influencing platforms make their appearance starting at around 1:05, following the laugh-in-disbelief bit with the cheerleaders and the man in the micro-mini tennis shorts: There's nothing new under the sun For all the talk about models refusing to wear the heels on the catwalk and how impossible they would be to wear in real life, the singer for The Tubes seems to have little problem keeping his balance. Granted, he does tend to use the microphone stand for support, but he also did navigate those stairs with no small amount of skill. *Pop-Culture Tidbit: Some of you may be more familiar with The Tubes from their appearance in the genre-mashup film Xanadu. And as long as we're on the subject of Alexander McQueen, Brit newspaper Telegraph UK reported last Friday that young uber-goth designer Gareth Pugh was whispered to be in talks with PPR/Gucci Group to take over the helm at the Alexander McQueen label: "Just a week after Alexander McQueen's funeral, the company in charge of his fashion label is believed to have identified his successor. Gareth Pugh, 28, is understood to be the designer that PPR wants as the new creative director of Alexander McQueen, of which it owns 51 per cent." Pugh's representatives quickly issued a statement denying any such talks have taken place between the parties: "To speculative reports earlier this week, Gareth Pugh is not in discussions with Gucci Group about a Creative Director role at Alexander McQueen." Video clip below of Pugh's recent Fall 2010 collection shown in Paris -- you can see that he has a very definite and full-blown vision. My bet is that Pugh would chafe under consumer and corporate demands to keep the McQueen style legacy alive when he can jolly well create his own. I've been designing grim so long it looks like happy to me Fashionologie.com notes that once white-hot designer Olivier Theyskens is unemployed at present, and would make an interesting choice for the McQueen label. Theyskens has designed for Rochas and Nina Ricci, but is said to be notoriously anti-capitalist, anti-marketing and anti-affordable accessories (he considers the fashion industry's pursuit of the dollar at the expense of craft and creativity to be vulgar) -- an attitude that cost him his job at Nina Ricci while arguably contributing to the demise of the House of Rochas. PPR would be more than a little foolish to enter into a deal with Theysken's if he's dragging that particular set of baggage clanking behind. *Note: Theyskens is like Christian Lacroix and his now defunct House of Lacroix in this respect -- focusing all the attention on the beauty and art of couture and couture detailing when couture is not how a label generates the revenue it needs to stay in business. Video clip below of the Theysken's swan song for Nina Ricci -- considered his best collection for the label and a possible F.U. to the corporate heads who deemed his work too resolutely uncommercial to appeal to the mainstream. Take that, you filthy money grubbers! As you can see, the heel-less platforms are a bit insane, and the models look collectively nervous as they walk the runway. But is this the main reason why fashion-insiders keep lobbing Theysken's name as a potential pick to head the McQueen label -- the freaky, near unwearable shoes? Because god knows the man's "All Art No Business" attitude would sink the McQueen label like a stone. Last word: fifteen full looks from the final collection that McQueen designed before his death last month were unveiled today for industry insiders at an invite only display in Paris: "The fall collection was inspired by old masters' paintings and filled with ornate embroidery, deep red and gold hues and dramatic capes. According to Women's Wear Daily, when the final look--a coat of golden feathers--made its entrance, spectators' eyes filled with tears." Fashion critic Suzy Menkes writes that "In this collection Alexander -- Lee -- McQueen showed his sensitivity to history, his powers of research, his imagination, his technical skills and his love of women, often misinterpreted or misunderstood, but here evident in every fold and feather." You can see photos from the collection here: Alexander McQueen Fall 2010 Collection I'll wrap this up with a relevant McQueen quote that speaks to this spinning wheel of legacies and successors: "Well I just think that which celebrities are wearing it, what reviews say -- none of it matters . . . I'm 40 now, but I want this to be a company that lives way beyond me, and I believe that customers are more important to making that happen than press. When I'm dead, hopefully this house will still be going. On a spaceship. Hopping up and down above the earth."

Nordstrom Spring 2010 Beauty Trends Show: Downtown Seattle

2010-03-09T00:30:01Z

So I rolled out of bed at the ungodly hour of 7 a.m. on a Saturday (March 6th) and stumbled blearily out the door to meet up with Louise for the Nordstrom Spring Beauty Trends event at the downtown Nordstrom here in Seattle. I arrived at the door of the Nordstrom coffee shop, haggard and in desperate need of caffeine while Louise looked like she'd just stepped off the clean, pressed and stylin' train. Of course. We gulped down some lattes and headed into the Nordstrom store, where we were ushered like cattle to the elevators to take us to the fifth floor where the first part of the event was taking place. Guys, if you've never woken up early on a Saturday to sit in a room filled with hundreds of women eagerly awaiting the cosmetics sales pitch of the season, it's an experience that I can promise you you'll never forget (whether you want to or not). Are we there yet? There were hundreds of white chairs lined up around a brightly lit runway, plus a DJ stationed at a sound booth for the necessary mood enhancements. Hey Mr. DJ, rock it 'til the groove's done The event started off with vocal calisthenics as the emcee prepped the ladies for a morning of hootin' and hollerin' (dear lord, I needed far more than one latte to prepare me for that!) and then the sales reps hit the runway, plugging new Spring products and colors and sending models trotting up and down the floor to show off their wares. The new Chanel temporary tattoos Spring florals under hot white lights Or, in the case of Clarins self-tanning products, tossing shirtless young men down the runway, much to the clapping, cheering delight of the 98.5% female audience. Clarins "delectable" self-tanning mousse - Mr. "delicious" sauntered past earlier Surprisingly, the male Guerlain rep decided he wanted in on the hunky-male action and came out shirtless to talk about Guerlain products -- which was a little jarring. Yes, he had a physique that looked tailor-made for a sunny California beach, but while it makes a certain logical sense to hire shirtless men to model a self-tanning cream for Clarins, it's another thing altogether when an official representative for an almost two centuries old French beauty & fragrance company strips off his clothes at a product demo event to "spice up" a talk about mascara. It had the unfortunate effect of making his invitation to come see him downstairs at the Guerlain booth sound like a sleazy come-on (and the very visible tramp-stamp didn't help matters any -- oh Guerlain, how you've come down in the world!). Louise said she wasn't going anywhere near the Guerlain booth when I asked her, and mentioned that she'd had a much higher opinion of Guerlain going into the event than when she exited. Ouch. Mr. "delectable" says one for you, and one for you, and one for you But enough about PR misfires, there were prizes! She's a winner And more models with more products. She's so gonna video-blog this And after the reps wrapped up their sales pitches, the crowd made a stampede for the elevators (we tried to find stairs, but the Nordstrom staff insisted there weren't any, which was annoying -- of course there are stairs, it's the law) and poured out into the first floor for a frenzied period of product browsing and makeovers. Hooray for us! Louise scheduled a makeover with the Trish McEvoy counter, so I spent a good chunk of time taking photos of the process. I haven't finished sorting through all the makeover pics yet, but I do have one of the finished result -- Louise looked terrific: fresh, natural and very Spring Has Sprung again. I eat beauty events for breakfast We both plunked down a chunk of change picking up everything the cosmetics expert used to make Louise look so lovely. She kept asking the girl, "Should I get this eye primer or that eye brightener, this facial concealer or that facial moisturizer, because I can't justify getting it all!" -- so I told the sales clerk to just ring up an extra bag of everything that Louise *didn't* buy so that I could give it to her to complete the look. Problem solved. She said she kept the makeup on and wore it out to a restaurant date that evening, where even she was stunned by how smoothly the concealers performed and how flattering the spring colors looked in the dim, romantic ambience. She laughed as she described how her husband scrambled to open the car door for her as they left the restaurant to head home. Ah, success is a makeover from Trish McEvoy. Click the following link to see a more complete set of photos from the event: Nordstrom Spring 2010 Beauty Trends event: Seattle

Luxury Industry News Roundup: 03/05/10

2010-03-06T00:59:01Z

1.) Paris Fashion Week as Mix and Meld: "There's a spirit of bricolage running through this season, as if designers wanted their clothes to convey as many possibilities as possible. Why not, for example, give a sweater a fur sleeve, or a tailored jacket a knit shoulder? . . . A khaki coat, set off with a mock leopard print scarf, suggests a belligerent state of fashion mind. But it ain't necessarily so." Balenciaga and Dries Van Noten could conceivably be the Parisian master brands at this approach, expertly welding futuristic architectural forms to new materials (Balenciaga) or incorporating a melange of textures, fabrics, colors and silhouettes to result in a surprising look of understated sophistication (Dries Van Noten). Video clip below of the Balenciaga Fall 2010 show -- odd, angular glamour interspersed with bursts of flowing simplicity: Dancing about architecture Cathy Horyn for the the NYTimes writes: "When it comes to the collections (head Balenciaga designer Nicolas Ghesquiere) presents in Paris, there has almost always been a sense of a designer free to create. That was again the invigorating experience this morning at the Hôtel de Crillon, on a specially installed white laboratory floor, where Mr. Ghesquiere showed a highly textured collection that looked well beyond the fall of 2010." Suzy Menkes adds her two cents: "New geometry -- linear and circular cutting -- rules the runways for the fall/winter Paris season. From the Issey Miyake math lesson through the Rick Owens asymmetrics to Vionnet's folded squares, sharp cutting and soft folds are the power pieces." Now, move from that to the defiantly high-end casual yet still captivating Dries Van Noten Fall 2010 show -- we find that comfort via the sweatshirt is back in style (a very 1990's reference): Too cool for scandal school And since we've mentioned the 1990's, there are several 90's era trends that have made a big comeback for 2010: #1) An Ode to Clueless -- "Yes, AW10 has sent us back to the '90s--pleated mini skirts, knee socks, plaid prints, pinstripes and velvet have dominated the fall runways"; #2) Hello, GI Jane -- "Okay, so there isn't any glitz and glamor in a pair of army fatigues, but the fashion industry has taken the military trend to a whole new level. We saw a lot of this on the Fall 2010 runways during New York Fashion Week. Deep, neutral shades of green will be hot this year and this military-inspired look is a great way to wear them"; and #3) Tom Ford -- "Balmain's Christophe Decarnin brought the Court of Versailles to modern-day Paris with his rock-n-roll take on opulence, complete with his signature dose of sex appeal. As Prince hits blasted from the speakers, models went down the runway in gold leather, sequins, brocade and lamé dresses and rocker pantsuits à la Tom Ford in the Gucci days." Extra bonus info: Tom Ford moves forward with plans to return to women's wear: "It looks like a Tom Ford women's wear collection is moving closer to reality. According to markets sources in Europe, Ford has quietly begun recruiting designers, including accessories specialists, for the forthcoming launch. Last year Ford signaled he would reenter women's 'very soon,' but has been mum on dates and specifics." Apparently, not a moment too soon. It's been intriguing to see Ford's name pop up in reference to several of the Fall 2010 shows, but how did he know that the right time to make a comeback would be now? Just two years ago, no one seemed to care whether the 90's Gucci glam era ever came back into style. *Note: The Paris collections are still exhibiting. Major mover and shaker Christian Dior has just presented, with Chanel still yet to come. An advance peek below at Dior for Fall, 2010: The horse she rode in on 2.) Fur is Back to Stay - Is it PETA's Fault?: "It started during New York Fashion Week this past February and it is still going strong on this side of pond this week. Fur. It's everywhere. More importantly, it's on the runways not only of established designers with a track record for incorporating fur into their collections (Oscar de la Renta, Fendi, etc.) but younger designers as well (Thakoon Panchigul, Quentin Veron, etc.). Why?" The author suggests that PETA itself may be partially responsible for the sudden insurgence of fur on runways across the world -- that once they abandoned the tactic of raising awareness of animal abuse for more aggressive (and often moronic) methods that sought to control consumer behavior, stifle free choice and publicly shame/humiliate fur/leather wearers, it was only a matter of time before consumers rebelled. That may be true (or not), but I would think the far more significant influence in the return of fur is the rising dominance of the Asian, Eastern European and Latin American consumer markets. When the U.S. and Western Europe provided the bulk of revenue for global fashion and luxury brands, then companies paid close attention to the anti-fur concerns prevalent in the Western media. But once the financial meltdown hit and the Western consumer shrank from spending, nervous global luxury brands found themselves with more to worry about than gallons of fake blood and Pamela Anderson stripping in public -- and since the Chinese, Russian or Indian consumer isn't fur averse (but actually fur friendly), fur has roared back into the fashion picture. The fashion and luxury business is, first and foremost, a business. Allegedly moral considerations apply when they make financial sense. *Note: A watershed moment for the fur industry in the U.S. was the Barack Obama Presidential Inauguration in January of 2009, where numerous celebrities and high ranking officials sported fur coats and accessories to brave the Washington, D.C. winter chill. It hit the New York runways with a vengeance the following seasons. Video clip below of the Fendi Fall 2010 collection. Fendi is an Italian furrier (founded in 1925) that's achieved contemporary global reach due to the creative influence of head designer Karl Lagerfeld (who famously stated that the banning of fur is "childish") -- they're focusing on accessories now (like most fashion brands), but their roots are in the fur industry and their collections proudly showcase this heritage: Who's the dinosaur now? In related news, Cole Haan and Nike have announced that they're banning the use of exotic skins from their brand lineups: "The decision follows a campaign by animal rights group PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) which carried out an undercover investigation into the suffering caused by the exotic-skins industry." PETA: they lose some, they win some. 3.) Hermes Decides It Doesn't Do Yachts, After All: "French luxury brand Hermes is exiting a luxury yacht joint venture with shipbuilder Wally, saying it is not experienced enough to complete the project, its chief executive told Reuters. The two partners had unveiled a full-sized model of their mega yacht, 'WHY' (Wally Hermes Yacht), in Monte Carlo in September . . . Hermes, which is famous for its silk scarves and handbags, will sell its stake to Monaco-based Wally and will be paid back via commissions on boat sales through to 2020, Thomas said." The WHY yacht concept is an extraordinary piece of design, but I have to admit that my first thought on seeing the CGI photos was, "That's going to take a huge full-time staff to keep all those windows and decks clean!" But hey, if you're splashing on a Wally-Hermes yacht, then you're likely to have staff whose job it is to worry about the staff, right? Hermes stated that the WHY yacht project was a bit too above their pay-grade (i.e. they didn't have the proper expertise to complete the project), though they seem to have no problem collaborating on cars (the Bugatti Hermes Veyron) and helicopters (the Hermes Eurocopter). Granted, a $109 million dollar yacht is a much more involved and intense project than a $2.1 million dollar car or a $7.9 million dollar helicopter. Video clip below of the Bugatti Hermes Veyron: When a $1million car isn't exclusive enough In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Pierre-Alexis Dumas, part of the Hermes family and head of the creative end of the Hermes company, defines luxury for the 21st century: "'Last May, I bought a new portable computer. After a while, it broke down. It went to the computer doctors and I'm going to get a new one. They tell me, We can fix it but it's going to be more expensive than buying a new one. I have a problem with that. I feel that incredible sense of waste. Maybe we're going too fast, maybe there's a feeling of acceleration of everything. We have to slow down . . . Speed is so passé. What is the luxury for tomorrow? One of them is time." Along those lines, that luxury means time and speed is so passé, there seems to be a renewed interest in slow yet palatial means of travel: Blimp My Ride: Luxury Eco-Zeppelin Does London to NYC in 37 Unforgettable Hours -- a cross Atlantic ride that's spacious, gorgeous, stuffed with amenities and takes several days instead of several hours. Because, really, if you've got the time and the cash to hang-out and relax aboard an opulent airship on your slow-going way to London instead of cramming aboard a dirty, overcrowded public jet, then that really is a luxury. Speaking of moving a little slower: Proudly Not Made In America -- "Farah Malik and Dana Arbib are bringing fashion literally into the war zone. The two founders of A Peace Treaty have set up production in Afghanistan, where they're working with the nonprofit Afghan Hands to produce hand-embroidered scarves and -- soon to come -- a range of bags." While "artisinal" may be the new overused buzzword, there is a growing segment of consumers who desire to move away from anonymous mass-production methods in support of hand work and traditional designs. The prices may not reflect a sense of "luxury" when compared to something from Hermes or Chanel (if price is how you define luxury -- Balmain, anyone?), but the idea of hand crafting designs drawn from a long cultural history is what "heritage" meant before the word was hijacked by LVMH, PPR and Richemont to promote canvas logo bags and assembly line watches. 4.) Alice in Wonderland Could Wear Out its Welcome: "If you haven't already fallen down the rabbit hole, prepare to be pushed. Alice in Wonderland is being positioned as the grown-up's answer to Disney Princess, with 360-degree licensing agreements that make Ed Hardy look restrained by comparison . . . But whether the rich offerings will thrill fans or scare them off remains to be seen, with analysts noting that market saturation could strip Wonderland of its fringe sensibility . . . 'There's so much collateral involved in these things now that the movie becomes almost an afterthought,' says UBC's Dahl. 'The licensing of goods has become the chief consideration.'" If you compare the Twilight movie phenomenon with what's happening with Alice in Wonderland, you can see a huge difference in how a pop-culture to retail success movement grows naturally versus how it's forced into the world. The flood of Twilight related merchandise was a popular reaction to the book/movie series, with retailers scrambling to meet consumer demand and fashion houses fighting to sit the film's young stars in their fashion week front rows and feature them in ad campaigns -- Disney's Alice movie is the oppositie: a mass of merchandise already on-tap before the film is even released, accompanied by a calculated media and advertising roar pitched to manufacture a demand that doesn't presently exist. For example: Jewelry, cosmetics, designer dresses, handbags and more -- a good portion of it aimed at adults and with prices that bust the curve for the average merchandising price point. There's so much retailer hope riding on the success of this film that it's pretty much going to be dragged kicking and screaming across the box office success finish line, whether anyone wants to watch it or not. But getting consumers to spend money on tie-in merchandise is another matter entirely -- Twilight was considered "cool" because the teens and tweens owned it while most adults were baffled, but Alice in Wonderland? It's aimed squarely at the adult mainstream, so there's no cool-factor to push sales, no club that anyone will be rushing to join as a means of separating him/herself from the boring people in charge. I'm curious (and curiouser!) to see how the manufacturing of the Alice phenomenon plays out. Buy our stuff or it's off with your head! 5.) Fewer Stars, But They Still Shine Bright: "Despite predictions to the contrary (many have forecast a shift in the fragrance industry away from the cult of the celebrity and towards the cult of the perfumer), product sales and new launches suggest celebrity scents are still a dominant trend . . . it is still the mass market products that attract the biggest consumer base, of which celebrity fragrances make up a large proportion, that are likely to continue driving growth in the market." The article notes that while companies have cut back on launching new celebrity fragrances, they're working to expand their already successful celebrity brand names, rolling out accompanying sub-brands of products that are calculated to profit off the success of an already established name. A good example of this new sub-branding is SJP NYC, a new fruity-floral perfume that's meant to capitalize on Parker's 'Sex in the City' Carrie Bradshaw personae rather than Sarah Jessica Parker herself. While Parker's 'Lovely' fragrance was a huge global hit, the follow-up 'Covet' was a sales disappointment (though still a money maker), so Coty decided that maybe what consumers really wanted was Carrie Bradshaw and they created a new type of celebrity brand -- the fictional character as celebrity. If this proves successful, I'm certain we'll see a lot more of it, like a Bruce Willis John McClane or Matthew Fox Jack Shephard cologne, or maybe a Kristen Stewart Bella Swan or Meryl Streep Miranda Priestly perfume. All the advantages of celebrity name recognition without any of the disadvantages of a celebrity's bad behavior or waning popularity. I'll take a bottle of Cary Grant as whomever in whatever, thanks: It's tough to be so suave Plus this: Perfumistas are the new cool-hunters -- "Smart Londoners don't want to smell like everyone else. We're busy hunting down tiny artisan perfumers and niche brands. From colognes at Santa Maria Novella on Walton Street to contemporary artisan perfumers at Les Senteurs in Belgravia, we're looking for a new hit . . . These days perfume is experiential, almost a relationship. The watchwords are craftsmanship, expertise, savoir faire and the customer is a patron -- not just a casual shopper." Hmmm, I think I know a few people just like this. 6.) INDUSTRY QUICK HITS: A. Coach Plots Global Expansion for Beauty Products: "The companies plan to increase their existing fragrance and beauty line globally, with immediate plans to enter North American department stores and specialty retailers, followed by a launch in global markets . . . The global expansion will begin in March 2010 with the launch of the Coach Signature Fragrance in Bloomingdales, Nordstrom, Macy's, Dillard's, Lord & Taylor, Von Maur, Bon Ton, Belk and Sephora stores nationwide. The launch will be supported by an integrated marketing and communications campaign, including widespread national print and web, among other media." Coach beauty products to date have been sold exclusively in Coach boutiques, so this is an ambitious roll-out for the Coach brand, but one which they believe is supported by customer demand: "'We have been pleased with the customer reactions and industry reception that our fragrance business has garnered in such a short time,' said Kathy Nedorostek, President of U.S. Wholesale and Global Licensing for Coach. 'This initial success in our own stores serves to underscore the potential for Coach Beauty with a more extensive distribution network.'" Coach fragrances are produced in partnership with BeautyBank and Aramis, divisions of the Estee Lauder company. B.) Alexander McQueen's Spring 2010 high-concept runway show wins posthumous award: "Paula Reed, judge and style director of Grazia magazine described McQueen ... as a clear winner . . . 'The entire jury wanted to be clear that the choice was not made for any sentimental reason. The video presentation of McQueen's last show is one of the most compelling pieces in the exhibition. It works on so many levels. The designer had been working for years on developing fabrics that could blend the hard into soft and had pretty much come close to achieving that in this collection.'" The award was the Brit Insurance Design of the Year, and the list of nominees was finalized before McQueen's death last month. And I know I've featured this before but it's worth seeing again -- the Spring 2010 McQueen show that won the Brit award, a fantastical concept that merged the marine and mammalian into a high-style hybrid: Surf and turf C.) Christian Lacroix Returns, But Without Christian Lacroix:"The company has announced plans for four upcoming fashion and lifestyle lines while pursuing licensing deals for lingerie, childrenswear and men's and women's accessory collections . . . While Lacroix, the brand, is still out of the couture and ready-to-wear game, it has reportedly set its sights on a range of women's sunglasses and optical frames for Mondottica; luxury stationery via Libretto Holdings; home textiles with the Designers Guild and decorative wood panels (hey, whatever works) with Marotte . . . French designer Christian Lacroix, whose name carries on, is no longer involved with the company." The only valuable part of the Lacroix company was its name, so the quick licensing of this name to companies eager to produce Lacroix-branded merchandise was a no-brainer. And since Lacroix was never able to steer his own company into profitability, his absence from the newly revitalized operation is not a surprise. This is not to say that Mr. Lacroix isn't busy with his own projects: Hotel Notre-Dame in Paris: The Latest from Christian Lacroix D.) Christian Louboutin Opens His First Boutique in Dubai: "In an interview with Gulf News during his visit to Dubai yesterday, Louboutin says he has been extremely choosy about the store location, the product detailing and the size of the store. 'The look of the store is very important to me. I look into every detail such as the architecture, the size of the store, the height of the ceiling and the galleries above it. The store should finally reflect the flavour of the region too,' said Louboutin. After scouting myriad locations -- including the expansive Dubai Mall -- Louboutin zeroed in on the Mall of the Emirates." Without really thinking about it, I'd assumed that Louboutin had established a presence in Dubai already, and was surprised to read that this is his first boutique, but then I read that the Middle East accounts for less than 2% of Louboutin's total sales, so I can understand the leisurely approach. The partners involved in the venture are hoping to increase sales to 5% of the total over the next three years. In other Louboutin news, the designer has created his second Barbie doll for Net-a-Porter. E.) Designer Brands Go to Art School: First, there's the abstract, over-artsy film clip for critcal darling label Rodarte: My wardrobe has swallowed all my happiness Though I'm not certain what exactly they're attempting to convey here -- how miserable and depressing it must feel to actually wear their clothes? And then we have the new Dior mini-film advertisement that's part nu-new-wave music video and part fashion catalogue: The 80's pop star that never should have been Again, I'm not exactly certain who the target audience is -- do the people who plunk down a couple of grand for a Dior handbag care about Franz Ferdinand (the featured band)? And Marion Cotillard could have benefited from a trip through the pitch-correction software. Just sayin' . . . But perhaps it's really more about selling makeup than handbags and dresses. Lord knows, Cotillard's lips, eyes and skin feature very heavily. If it's a Dior cosmetics showcase, that might help explain the retro-80's music video approach. Meanwhile, rumors are swirling that Tommy Hilfiger is up for sale, Yves St. Laurent might be struggling and that Proenza Schouler's major financial backers want out.

Photos: Thierry Mugler Angel Liqueur de Parfum

2010-03-01T22:41:01Z

A couple of weeks ago, when I first skidded to a stop in the presence of Mugler's Angel Liqueur, I wrote, "Like bobbing for fruitchoulis in a vat of vintage port. Massive, tenacious and perversely yummy in a 'Help! My perfume is stalking me!' kind of way. I happily steeped in its sweet, cherry-wood and booze infused fumes all day." Happily enough that I caved in and grabbed myself a bottle of this "limited edition" tweak to the Angel portfolio (but what does "limited edition" even mean anymore in a global, mass-production world? The number 904118 is stamped on my bottle -- so I have bottle nine hundred and four thousand, one hundred and eighteen? How much more special could I possibly feel? I guess I could be Mr. One Million, oooh la la . . . ) and tucked it neatly in among the other bottles fighting for space on what's become a ridiculously crowded bathroom cupboard shelf. I might have to do something about my disappearing cupboard space soon -- hold a garage sale or something. I could probably open up my own Pike Place Market perfume shop at this point, happily hosing down unsuspecting tourists on sunny weekends: "What? You like it? Three hundred and fifty dollars. No, wait, don't cry -- because I like you so much, I'll offer you the special sunny Seattle Saturday price of $29.95. Oh h*ll, you can have it for free, I'll even wrap it up for you. Do you want red or turquoise ribbon? I even have little tinkly silver bells I can tie to the box somewhere OH MY GOD LOOK WHAT I FOUND IN THE DRAWER! The eighteen million four hundred and sixty eight thousand two hundred and seventy second bottle of limited edition Angel liqueur!" There are some experiences that simply can't be resold. But the bottle certainy is pretty -- though I hate to admit that it photographs better than it actually looks. Not that it looks bad in actuality, but I can't stand at the bathroom sink every 6 a.m., angling the bottle just right and praying for an errant beam of morning sunlight to defy all known cosmic laws and shine directly in through the West facing window. I'd never get a thing done. flame wars) on various fragrance forums, so I felt I was missing something -- like someone who's never actually seen "Twilight" yet continuously finds himself caught in the middle of a passionate fight between fans who love it and anti-fans who find it too nauseating to even consider. But the whole larger-than-life, toxic patchouli cloud, love it or leave it descriptions of Angel didn't particularly spark the desire to encounter it on my own, until I read about the Liqueur de Parfums, versions of Mugler's Angel and Alien that have been barrel aged in wood casks for eight months, a la fine cognacs, whiskies and wines. It was Abigail at I Smell Therefore I Am who first coaxed me to dip my toe into the Mugler waters with her abiding adoration of Alien Liqueur (Abigail is probably one of the most successful fragrance enablers I know -- she launches into one of her impossibly enthusiastic raves and before you know it, you're charm-tied into knots), and while I ordered samples of Alien and Alien Liqueur from her Posh Peasant site, I also snagged samples of Angel, Angel extrait and Angel Liqueur to round out the experience. I'm glad I did. So okay, here's the deal. The original Angel? It's huge. Like, gigantic. One spray from the sample vial and my entire bathroom filled with the scent, which then spread to the bedroom and out into the hallway. I didn't hate it -- it was a nice enough fruitchouli, though a bit harsh around the edges -- but I couldn't conceive of palling around with such an attention-whore all day. It'd be the equivalent of saying "yes" to a ride in a Ferrari only to find myself strapped to the hood and barrelling down the California highway at 120mph. In other words, I'd really have to be in the mood. Angel Liqueur, however, functions at a much more serene level on the rev-and-throttle chart. I orignally stated (in my February 8th test-spin) that two sprays of the Liqueur version were enough to last all day, and while that's the truth, Angel Liqueur is so successful at what it does -- ripe Port-wine sweetness stuffed inside a honey infused patchouli -- that I've been adding to the spray count just because I want to experience its lush presence more fully and distinctly as I go about my day (though I've only been able to up the spray count to five, max -- and five is seriously pushing the envelope; any more than that and I'm unnecessarily jeapordizing my social circle). I can't say which aspect of Angel Liqueur I like the best, since it doesn't really scream "here's the opening, now we're at the middle and ta da! the end", the way a lot of perfumes traditionally do. And while it has the appearance of phase-development, the Liqueur is subtle about its shifts and twists: it's a boozy, fruity, choco-caramel patchouli; then it's less boozy but still jammy dessert patchouli with a honey crust; then it sheds the concentrated reduction sauce and wraps things up as a soft, silky patchouli without a hint of head shop hippie, but done with such an adept hand that you hardly notice as the elements are shifting and the phases are turning. I'd be tap tap tapping away on my laptop and six hours later, I'm thinking, "God, what a generously deep scent!" Octavian at 1000Fragrances seems to agree: "The new versions of Alien and Angel have the depth, quality and richness of classic perfumes. Compared to the originals, all asperities have been softened, all contrasts smoothed . . . In terms of scent, (Angel Liqueur) is not a variation of the original ... but an improvement in depth . . . (Angel Liqueur) show(s) that high quality products can coexist with commercial distribution." And that's what I think surprises me the most about Angel Liqueur de Parfum -- it's a mass market product from a global fragrance company, yet it doesn't smell mass market. It has the depth and polish of a sophisticated boutique label while clocking in at a mainstream "prestige" (i.e. department store rather than drugstore) price point. Re: Packaging: The look and feel of the piece is nicely done, though not exactly straining at the creative leash as far as "limited edition" packaging is concerned. The box is functional enough (it protects the bottle from damage), and the bottle is an attractive deep blue to purple glass, playing on the original Angel star shape with its jutting angles and planes. But the cap, despite looking terrific in photographs, is either plastic or some type of similar lightweight, thermo-molded variation. Not particularly L.E. impressive, but it also won't chip or crack -- a valid point to make, as the small bottle tends to tip a lot due to its uber-angular form. *Note: At least, I tend to knock the bottle over a lot, but I'm a bit clumsy with precious, breakable things. I still cringe when I think about the antique Louis the XIVth chair I fell over in and broke in a wine collector's cellar after one too many glasses of vintage brew. It was not one of my finer moments. But the Angel Liqueur atomizer? Five Angel stars! Not a drip or even the tiniest of leaks, and the spray is exceptionally fine, which makes for excellent coverage when you're waving the bottle around and pumping on the nozzle. The only other bottle I've found that sprays as fine a mist (and with nary a leak) is the Chanel Les Exclusifs package, so maybe it takes a mass-produced brand to order bottle-parts in such high quantities that an excellent atomizer is no longer a price consideration. I'll wrap things up with a few Angel Liqueur fan quotes from others: Brian at I Smell Therefore I Am: "Angel Liqueur brings to mind port wine (or, okay, cognac) and dark, aged leather, all of which I love. The first ten to twenty minutes are pretty divine, with a protracted, boozy opening." Robin at Now Smell This: "The dry down is still rich, but it's mellower than Angel: a bit less patchouli, a bit more smooth woods. Likewise, it's still sweet -- possibly even more so -- but there's less chocolate (if any) and less caramel; it's the sweetness of honeyed dried fruits rather than the cotton candy and other childhood treats of Angel. I don't know that Angel really evoked a childhood fairground for me, but the Liqueur de Parfum certainly does not." The Scented Salamander: "Angel has become deeper, more liquorishy, and as if sprinkled with dry cacao powder. The patchouli in it is quite chocolatey. The honeyed facet is also there to contribute to a dry fruit effect. It feels warm, enveloping. The only regret you have is that it does not unfold on an even deeper note. Somehow, you would like the scent to spiral down even more and you remain a bit frustrated that richness here has a limit. But besides this critique, it is a very alluring version of Angel."

Luxury Industry News Roundup: 02/26/10

2010-02-27T00:46:01Z

1.) London Fashion week came and went, and now Milan is tossing styles down their runways (ending on Monday), followed by Paris all through next week. Just a few highlights so far: In London, the fashion crowd lost their minds for the crazy-oversized Aviator coats at Burberry (Burberry broadcast their show in digitally forward 3-D for those that couldn't attend in person). Some editors stated that the coats were really the stars of the show, along with thigh-high leather boots and studded bags (dresses? what dresses?). Burberry also took the unprecedented step of offering some of the bags and coats online for 72 hours after the collection debuted, allowing consumers to seize the moment and snag a highly coveted item without having to wait until Fall. This might just be the future of fashion, as consumers are growing impatient with the "Show Now, Sell Six Months Later" routine -- get 'em while they're hot! The new Fly Girl From Grazia Daily: "My American friend called the Burberry show Tuesday a 'fashion-gasm'. That about sums it up for me too, but not for the same reasons. The show was a triumph. It created need where there was none. It set trends and was dramatically staged with celebrities and plenty of pomp." *Note: On a not-so-up note, Burberry has shut down its independent Spanish operations due to the financially squeezed Spanish economy, resulting in a loss of over 300 jobs. Its Spanish subsidiary, the only subsidiary that manufactured Burberry designs tailored to the regional clientele, will be folded into the global Burberry brand, with global Burberry merchandise replacing the Spanish manfuctured pieces in the stores. The other key trend-influencing London show was from young, up-and-comer Christopher Kane (Kane's label was founded in 2006, begging the question, "How many years can a designer be an up-and-comer before actually being forced to arrive somewhere?"). He applied bright, floral 1970's bohemian-hippie embroidery to tough black leather & lace pieces. It shouldn't have worked at all, but I found the concept so out-there and potentially wrong that it was absolutely and completely right. How poisonous does your garden grow? Suzy Menkes writes: (Kane's) precision is his strength . . . this was a show to savor for its outward prettiness and to ponder for its interior vision." And moving on to Milan, Prada made waves when they ditched the super-skinny look and flew in a pack of Victoria's Secret models at the last minute to add a bit more curve to a 1950's Mad Men influenced collection that favored a buttoned-down sex appeal over the "powerful 'ugly' aesthetic" of past years: Victoria's Secret Secretaries From the Wall Street Journal: "A collection of dresses and skirts that any mother could love. Or a librarian for that matter, if she were an impeccably dressed and wealthy librarian. With cat-eye glasses and a hair-sprayed bun in her hair . . . They were pretty, which isn't what you expect to say of a Prada show - this being the designer who gave us wool underwear and fishing waders a year ago." The biggest names have the most to lose in this economy, which is why we're seeing collections from Marc Jacobs, Michael Kors and Prada that are color safe, real-world figure friendly, and as functional (i.e. winter warmth!) as they are attractive. I've found it especially intriguing to watch Miuccia Prada, the queen of crazy-cool, rein it in and tamp it down as retailers cut back on inventory in response to softening consumer demand. But as long as we've brought up the subject of Prada, the fashion industry's most coveted marketing tool, Lady Gaga (of course), is sporting specially created pieces from both Armani and Prada on her current world tour. Versace was apparently asked, but declined. As NYMag says: "She's certainly come a long way from the days of $20 lace body stockings and homemade disco-ball bras." 2.) eBay Joins the Sample Sale Madness: "Following the success of sites such as Gilt and Rue La La, online auctioner eBay is entering the sample sale game with Fashion Vault (launching in March) . . . Boutiques with heavily discounted designer items will be online on a weekly basis to start with, and shoppers need to be registered with eBay to take advantage of the special offers." I'm wondering if eBay might be a little late to the party, what with sites like Gilt Groupe, Haute Look and Rue La La having already established very firm positions in the marketplace -- but, eBay is global, and has a distribution network in place that can outdo every single site just mentioned. They likely won't provide the same type of online ambience and extra service that a site like Gilt Groupe affords (an attractive website, easy ordering, nice packaging), but the sales will be offered through eBay, so there won't be the unfortunate "is this a fake?" questions that buying from eBay can provoke. Obviously, consumers have a trust problem with eBay, and I'm sure they're hoping that offering more officially sanctioned collections like this can help repair the damage that unscrupulous resellers have done to the site's reputation over the years. Besides, sample sale-ing is so very 2000-Now! *Note: the future eBay sample sales will undoubtedly follow their current Narciso Rodriguez model. 3.) Saks Fifth Avenue Does Better Than Expected: "Luxury department store operator Saks reported better-than-expected quarterly results . . . The company, which was one of the hardest hit retailers during the financial meltdown ... said it plans to cut down on the number of days it offers promotional sales in a bid to help boost margins . . . 'We believe there is more stability and predictability in our business compared to this time last year; however, the overall environment remains somewhat uncertain and challenging, and we are approaching 2010 with continued caution,' CEO Stephen Sadove said in a news release." Though "better than expected" is faint praise when it comes to Saks in this economic climate, as no one was execting them to do particularly well at all. Overall sales fell 3.4%, while sales at stores open at least a year (the indicator that means the most) dipped 4.8% in comparison to last year, which was a bad quarter in and of itself. Saks said it hopes to halt the erosion of sales by offering twice as much exclusive merchandise as it does at present (such as Zac Posen's new mid-priced American sportswear line Z Spoke). In similar news, high-end jeweler Cartier is taking an axe to its accounts list (other stores that it allows to sell its merchandise), with "a person in a position to know" stating that between 120 and 140 store accounts were being closed. The article notes that diamond brand Hearts On Fire was also moving to close over 100 store accounts in the U.S. due to poor sales (global diamond supplier De Beers posted a $32 million dollar loss for 2009 compared to a $279 million profit for 2008, while mass market jeweler Zales is also posting a significant loss). Lower-end retailers, however, are doing much better than the high-end: The Gap reported a profit surge of 45% due to higher profit margins and increased sales; Kohl's reported an earnings increase of 28%; discounter TJ Maxx posted a 58% leap in quarterly profit as sales increased by 10%, while also announcing ambitious expansion plans; Target reported a 53% profit increase; Sears posts its best quarterly profit in three years; and Macy's stated a net income of $466 million compared to the loss of $4.77 billion last year. WWD reports that Wal-Mart saw a 7% increase in sales for all of 2009, but that they're struggling with their apparel selections, unable to find the right combination of basics and fashion that pleases their customers. 4.) Are Runway Shows Still Effective?: "Maybe runway shows are really worth the six figures it costs to produce them. The Wall Street Journal teamed up with NetProspex, a sales and marketing database to find out. In the days following the shows, NetProspex tracked the number of sales inquiries for designers who presented at New York Fashion Week. Most designers saw an increase in inquiries of about five times their normal rate . . . Diane Von Furstenberg (saw a dramatic) 1150% increase." A video clip below of Furstenberg's Fall 2010 show, the one that shot her web inquiries through the roof: Go ahead -- you know you want to Google me! But would a splashy video presentation work just as well? Would the YouTube visits, website hits and embedded videos across the fashion blogosphere have just as much an impact as a live show? This is a question being asked a lot as brands are looking to cut costs while still getting the word out about their new collections. Former Dior Homme designer Hedi Slimane was asked in a recent interview about the future of the catwalk, and he replied: "I like the ritual, the liturgy of a well-crafted, emotional fashion show. I will never be jaded with this side of fashion. The 'catwalk' is pure anthropology, something like an esoteric encrypted parade. It can totally be replaced but it will be missed." 5.) H&M Jumps Aboard the Beauty Train: "It's already the go-to spot for everything from Jimmy Choo shoes to toddler clothes. Now H&M is adding a beauty division to its roster of products. The line includes shower gels, body lotions, scrubs and lip balms that all include natural and organic products certified by Ecocert . . . The beauty line hits H&M stores in early March and prices range from $5-$7." Which makes a huge amount of good, rational sense (not a trait that big retailers always possess) -- H&M already has the fast-fashion crowd in its pocket, so why not keep them there with basic cosmetics products that they need to purchase, anyway. And what could be more "in fashion" than using the words "natural" and "organic"? Nothing, I tell you! Beauty is big business, especially as sales on higher-end apparel and accessories continue to wane. Walgreens just announced that it's acquiring New York based drugstore chain Duane Reade, which has built itself a reputation (and a clientele) for cultivating cutting-edge yet affordable beauty brands through pioneering "a store-within-a-store prestige beauty concept called 'Look Boutique'." Duane Reade has 257 stores in the New York metropolitian area alone, and Walgreen's is hoping that Duane Reed's experience in the beauty boutique area can help them transform their own lackluster image. In related, "much depends upon this" news, Chanel is launching a new shocking blue nail color (Nouvelle Vague) that it hopes will replicate the buzzy, sell-out successes of its wildly hyped Jade and Particulière shades. Sarah Vine writes at The Times UK: "There's a lot riding on the success of this little pot of polish. It's not just the waiting lists, or the crazy prices on eBay, or the rip-offs that will inevitably follow; it's the value that repeating the sell-out success of last season's hit colour has for a brand such as Chanel . . . It's the brainchild of Peter Phillips, Chanel's creative director of cosmetics, and the man responsible for pushing, very gently and respectfully, the boundaries of the brand." Another brand that's pushing boundaries in the hopes of igniting mainstream frisson is Serge Lutens, the uber-boutique fragrance brand that's a subsidiary of Japanese cosmetics giant Shiseido. Lutens has built a reputation for challenging, complicated and densely French works of perfumery, yet the month of March sees the global launch of L'Eau Serge Lutens -- a mimimalist, clean scent that breaks tradition with the fragrance house's past. The shape of its bottle even different from the brand's other releases, visually cueing the consumer to expect something new. The speculation for the break in style has been that the artsy Lutens brand is experiencing decreasing sales (like everyone else) and needs a mainstream friendly shot in the arm to keep itself afloat. WWD reports: "Serge Lutens brand executives would not discuss sales projections, but industry sources estimate L'Eau Serge Lutens will generate 10 million euros, or $13.6 million, in first-year retail sales worldwide." A celebrity scent like Beyonce's Heat can generate at least $100 million in sales in its first year on the market. 6.) Barney's Creative Director Doonan on Bloggers at the Fashion Shows: "I loved Thom Browne, especially the groovy new eyewear, but the shows this season were full of teen/tween bloggers. I feel like they are trying to nudge me out of my front-row seat. Luckily, I have a plan for next season. Since they are all about my height, I am going to impersonate one of them." And 'The September Issue', the documentary about Anna Wintour and Vogue Magazine, just came out in digital format. I've been watching it for the past couple of days, and I love it -- maybe because it reveals so starkly and clearly the tension between art and commerce. The relationship between chief editor Anna Wintour and creative director Grace Coddington is the embodiment of this very struggle. They know they need each other, but it's generally the artsy one who gets upset and hurt when the commerce side has to make the difficult decisions. For example, there's a great running thread throughout the documentary where Coddington has produced a gorgeous, but decidedly non-commercial, Galliano photo shoot for Vogue's September issue. You can tell Wintour doesn't want to hurt Grace, but she has to axe the shoot -- the wistful, lush romanticism doesn't suit a hugely commercial endeavor. Coddington huffs and puffs about it, complaining to everyone in earshot, but she eventually pulls through at the very last second with a terrific, highly contemporary and "reality" influenced photo shoot that gives Wintour exactly what she needed to round out the issue. Well worth watching, and I found it light years better, both in style and substance, than the Valentino documentary. So why wasn't it nominated for an Oscar? Who knows. Video clip below of the trailer for the film: It's good to be the Queen

Extra News (Because You Should Know): 02/24/10

2010-02-24T23:22:01Z

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 machine, 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, too -- 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!

Photos: The Different Company Oriental Lounge

2010-02-23T00:15:01Z

The Oriental fragrance category is one of the primary categories in perfumery, much like red, yellow and blue are the basic building blocks for all other colors. For perfumery, the four basic categories (according to the Michael Edwards fragrance wheel) are: Fresh, Floral, Woody and Oriental. I asked several of my best perfume pals how they might define the Oriental fragrance category if questioned, and this is how Denyse at Grain de Musc responded: "Oriental perfumes are characterized by the use of balsamic materials (e.g. vanilla, benzoin, tonka), resins (e.g. tolu, peru, myrrh) and, usually, spices. They're called Orientals because they continue the tradition of ancient, resin and balsam-based perfumery, but probably also because the first orientals, like Shalimar, were linked to Oriental back-stories during one of the many Oriental fashion crazes of the West (Paul Poiret and the Ballets Russes in the 10s, lots of exotic/colonial themes in the 20s)." There's also the scholarly tradition of Orientalism which began in the 19th century as Eastern writings were translated in an attempt to understand and hopefully define the respective cultures. Famed critic Edward Said positions Orientalism as a negative, belittling force, but not everyone agrees with that assessment, and in the case of perfumery, the near instant, massive popularity of the Oriental in the late 1800's as a fragrance category can arguably be the result of an eager embrace of new materials and techniques rather than an attempt to wear the scents of a foreign culture like a warrior might display a physical trophy ripped from the enemy he conquered. Wikipedia defines Orientalism as "a term used for the imitation or depiction of aspects of Eastern cultures in the West by writers, designers and artists", and if we're willing to include perfumery in the art category, then dramatic resin, spice and patchouli laden fragrances are certainly a part of the Orientalist tradition, a radical departure from the green, fresh floral countryside of England and the fields of lavender and roses in France. It's this contemporary homage to, and embrace of, Eastern materials that infuses The Different Company's Oriental Lounge: Katie Puckrik at Katie Puckrik Smells describes the Oriental as "typically a blend of warm resin (amber, labdanum), animalic (musk, civet) and vanilla notes. Resins (including Biblical faves like frankincense, myrrh and opoponax) hail from the East: near, far and all points in between. Perfumes containing them were therefore designated 'Oriental'." For Oriental Lounge, perfumer Celine Ellena (daughter of Hermes in-house perfumer Jean-Claude Ellena) stated that she deliberately attempted to subvert these assumed rules of the Oriental fragrance category while still remaining true to the spirit of the genre: "I tackled an academic form composed of vanillin, labdanum, patchouli ... and all the more or less useful details corresponding to the commonly accepted idea of oriental perfume, and I tried to find a new angle. I tried to make my materials 'speak' in a different yet familiar tone." Hence, a dusty-herbal curry leaf (from the caloupilé tree) as a dominant tone, introducing a "fetid and spicy" note to the mix that plays counterpoint to the usual suspects of labdanum, tonka, sandalwood and rose (Ms. Ellena purposely avoided the use of vanilla as she felt that tonka and labdanum possessed enough vanillic qualities of their own to suffice). The use of caloupilé is a successful method of confounding expectations while still playing by the rules. The sweeter tendencies of Oriental Lounge are initially bucked by the dark herbal tone, but the passing of time sees the crushed herbal quality gradually evaporate, eventually placing the fragrance firmly in the woody-vanillic camp, which is how Ms. Ellena keeps the critics from crying foul ball (and keeps the average fragrance customer happy, too -- there is such a thing as too much subversion for one's own good). While I can certainly spot the difference between Oriental Lounge and Guerlain's Jicky (an Oriental-genre classic) in an instant, the BF was helping me with a computer issue the other night and remarked that I smelled "like doughnuts" -- I was about four to five hours into wearing Oriental Lounge, so the composition obviously doesn't run itself off the Oriental rails in any kind of TCFS pose. *Note: Funny thing was, I did smell like doughnuts -- warm, cream dipped, vanilla-sweetened fried cakes. I'm not complaining (the scent of doughnuts is a glorious smell!), but the curry leaf bit obviously fades. Abigail at I Smell Therefore I Am wrote that "Orientals are my favorite fragrance category. Typically the base notes are semi-sweet heavy hitters such as: vanilla, labdanum, benzoin, patchouli, amber, sandalwood, styrax, balsam, Tolu, opopanax, frankincense and myrrh. Most of these notes are woods and spices associated with the middle or far east, hence the generalized name of Oriental. There are several subcategories of orientals in my mind: there's the floriental with emphasis on spicy florals (Amarige); the woody oriental with emphasis on woods (Bois des Iles); and the spice-incense orientals with emphasis on resins (Opium, Black Cashmere)." Despite the presence of rose in Oriental Lounge, I'd place OL in Abigail's spice-incense subcategory with its dominant curry-leaf intro and luscious vanilla-cake finish. The packaging for the piece is detailed and elaborate without being fussy or frilly. While the BF stated that the box reminded him of the packaging for a gourmet tea brand (and he has a point -- there's something very high-end tea about the shape, size and outer sleeve). It's colorful and inventive, with layers to be unwrapped and stylized text printed on the interior box to look like a poem (it doesn't read like a poem, but the visual effect is what counts). A recent study at the University of Rochester concluded that the color red, a predominant color for the outer sleeve of Oriental Lounge, enhance's men's physical attraction to women; subconsciously, women are aware of red's effects on the opposite sex, so beauty products packaged in red can very well cue into those signals: "Under all of the conditions, the women shown framed by or wearing red were rated significantly more attractive and sexually desirable by men than the exact same women shown with other colors. When wearing red, the woman was also more likely to score an invitation to the prom and to be treated to a more expensive outing." Logically following, packaging a perfume product in red might very well guarantee that a man will choose it as a gift option over other products on the shelf come crunch time (anniversary, birthday, holiday events). It's instinctive -- men can't help themselves when it comes to the color red. The glass bottle is substantial in the hand and catches the light beautifully, while the three tiered cap is weighted, gleaming and embossed with the company's intitials (DC = Different Company). My only complaint is that the atomizer leaks, and for such a high-end packaging job (much like with the Prada L'Eau Ambrée), that's really a shame as it serves to undermine all the intelligent packaging decisions that preceeded it. And since we're on the topic of Prada's L'Eau Ambrée, I at first thought that Oriental Lounge might prove to be a type of sheer amber in the same mold as the Prada, but a couple of weeks worth of daily use proved this assumption incorrect. Oriental Lounge wears with a distinct and evident presence (medium bodied -- not overly heavy, but not sheer, either), and it lasts nearly all day. Ten to twelve hours after application (and I apply at the most about four to five sprays of Oriental Lounge instead of my sometimes eight to ten for other fragrances), it's still chugging along.

Luxury Industry News Roundup: New York Fashion Week Fall 2010/11

2010-02-20T00:10:01Z

This past week was New York Fashion Week, where the high, low and middle of the United States fashion industry meets to show, tell and twitter. Every fashion site/blog in the metaverse has been devoted to non-stop observations, so below are my own personal picks for the trends that came out on top for NYFW Fall/Winter 2010/2011: 1.) TWITTER: Twitter was a huge winner during the Fall 2010 shows as nearly every single person in attendance with a smart-phone or laptop was texting his/her 120 letter summaries for the Twitter-connected to read (and read . . . and read . . . and read, dear lord, it never stopped). But for all the cynics who whine that Twitter is nothing but stupid people detailing their trivial lives, it's time to pull your heads out of the sand and take a second look. Heavy industry hitters like Women's Wear Daily (WWD), Elle Magazine, GQ, Grazia, Glamour and Style.com (the online home of Vogue) were up and running with gusto on the social networking platform, along with reputable individuals like NYTimes writer Cathy Horyn, Washington Post writer Robin Givhan, Marc Jacobs President Robert Duffy (who handed the duties off to an assistant at the close of the Marc Jacobs show after several spontaneous comments -- and one nude pic of a pole dancer at the MJ afterparty -- had to be deleted from his Twitter stream), photographer Scott Schuman (The Sartorialist), Calvin Klein designer Francisco Costa, designer Tory Burch, designer Rachel Roy, designer and president of the Council for the Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) Diane Von Furstenburg and Joe Zee, creative director at Elle, who dropped any and all pretentions at editorial sophistication and twittered like a thirteen year old girl at her little sister's Bat Mitvah. A few bubbly examples: celebrity Nicole Richie was "super cuters with the bangs" while sitting in the front row at Proenza Schouler; dresses were "killer" at Naeem; he was "DYING" for Rodarte; a Tommy Hilfigger boot was "SICK!!!!!!"; and he described pretty much everything else on the runways, from platform pumps to bags to the models themselves, as "major" -- but he ran tirelessly all week from show to after-party to show, twittering all the way, so maybe there's something to be said for indefatigable (and irrepressible) thirteen year old girls, after all. *Relevant aside: Mr. Zee describes himself as a sixteen year old girl, thank you very much. I still say thirteen, but we're at least in the same ballpark. *Second Relevant Aside: I'll have what he's having. I've never seen so much Fashion Week and industry information made so easily accessible. TwitPics were flying even as the shows were still in progression, and anyone following the separate Twitter streams got to hear who was at the shows, what was being shown, what the reactions were of industry types in attendance and what were the emerging trends. Between shows streaming live on Facebook and non-stop observation on Twitter, I almost felt like I was there at Bryant Park, only without all the snow, slush and cranky crowds. Watching the fashion industry charge onto Twitter was like watching the baby take its first steps as event coverage changed almost overnight from the solemn and the guarded to the fast and the furious. The Associated Foreign Press wrote that Social networking pulls the mask from fashion world: "Previously inaccessible shows and ultra-hip designers are being brought down to online earth by Twitter, Facebook, online streaming and blogs, allowing ordinary folk a glimpse of what previously only the high priests and priestesses of the runway were allowed to see." While Hitha Prabhaka writes at Mashable about How the Fashion Industry is Embracing Social Media: "What was most shocking wasn't the sheer volume of people talking about the week-long event, but the actual people who were participating in the conversation. Journalists, fashion incubators, retail gurus and people who were just plain interested in the industry were weighing in on a topic that has notoriously shut its doors to anyone deemed an outsider." And as long as we're talking about participating in the conversation . . . 2.) BLOGGERS: In the ceaseless quest to reinvent itself, the fashion industry embraced bloggers as the new celebrities at Fashion Week (though each and every one of them should close their eyes and think "Amy Winehouse" just to remind themselves that the fawing attention of the fashion world, while heady and intense, is often fleeting) occupying front row seats usually reserved for the likes of Victoria Beckham, Beyonce, Rihanna, Kanye West, etc. My guess is that after the news leaked out that numerous celebrities were being paid (and paid a lot) to sit front row at fashion shows in order to up the buzz for the brands, then the gig was up. It's no longer "hot" when people are speculating how much you had to pay someone famous to attend your show -- because, you know, the famous person should be there because they *want* to be, not because you're forced to hijack their fame in order to get anyone to look twice at your designs. But nature does abhor a vacuum, so bloggers rushed in where Rihanna was no longer hired to tread. Robert Duffy, President of Marc Jacobs (who had been part of the crowd that energetically embraced Twitter as a means of hyping upcoming collections), even went so far as to state that they were banning celebrities at their Fall show because their wattage-sucking presence was taking the focus away from the clothing and accessories (which is why everyone's supposed to be there in the first place, right?). With photographers and TV news crews unfortunately expending more energy in stalking the movie stars than in talking to the designers and fashion editors, inviting the bloggers to sit front row solved that problem in one fell swoop. I mean, yes, people rushed to pose for pictures with thirteen year old blog-phenom Tavi Gevinson (who, funny enough, writes with more gravitas than Joe Zee) as campy, self-professed "attention whore" Filipino fashion blogger BryanBoy flitted about like a new Bobby Trendy, just with (way) more expensive clothes and a sharper wit, but global mega-brands don't just, out of the blue, decree that bloggers are their new BFF's. Every move is an agenda, every invite is calculated for maximum marketing value, and here's what the latest crush on the bloggers looks like: A.) Robert Duffy wasn't just blowing smoke out his a** when he said that celebrities were "boring" -- the Hail Mary pass of famous faces in the crowd was seeing diminishing returns. Add to that the cheek of celebrities using the various Fashion Week shows as PR for their own careers and not the other way around, and the fame-game days were rightly numbered. Brands spend tens of thousands (sometimes hundreds of thousands, as is the case with the mega-brands) putting together shows for Fashion Week, so with wholesale/retail sales across the globe stuttering, they needed the focus fixed back on the merchandise -- booting out the actresses and ushering in the bloggers did exactly that. Sure, people talked and wrote about the bloggers, but they also talked and wrote about the designers and the clothes because bloggers don't have faces, names and personalities big enough to eclipse the likes of Marc Jacobs, Michael Kors, Ralph Lauren, etc. B.) The style bloggers worship Fashion Week and seemed, frankly, a little giddy (BryanBoy) and dazed (Tavi) by the cameras and the attention, unlike numerous international celebrities who waltz in absolutely expecting the paparazzi to bow and scrape. While celebrities are invited because they're famous, the bloggers are invited because they're known for living, breathing and writing about fashion. Again, this puts the attention back on the shows, the designers and the clothes. C.) And not to be overly cynical, but the fashion industry loves a circus act, a la Amy Winehouse and Beth Ditto, two recent darlings of the fashion world who were tossed aside just about as quickly as they were annointed with that sudden, addictive gush of attention. The new and the unusual gets people talking, and what could be more new and unusual right now than unfiltered and unpolished street-style bloggers sitting next to Vogue queen Anna Wintour at major shows? BryanBoy squeezes in between Vogue staff and Suzy Menkes From AOL news: High Fashion's Latest Accessory: The Blogger -- "As recently as a year ago, bloggers were routinely, and sneeringly, barred from many of the major fashion houses' runway shows in Milan, Paris, London and New York. Then a lightbulb went on. Today those same houses are tripping all over themselves to make sure that bloggers like Bryan Boy and Tommy Ton and an adorable 13-year-old girl named Tavi Gevinson get front-row seats. Gevinson was even flown to Tokyo for a party with the label Comme des Garcons and wrote a review for Harper's Bazaar." There have been rumors of discontent and exasperation among the ranks of die-hard fashion journalists that these unschooled upstarts are offered prime placement while the pros are relegated to the rows further back, but if the pros don't know the game by now, then they haven't been paying attention. Let's sum it up for them anyway: Traditional Fashion Journalist = Zero Buzz, and Zero Buzz = Loss of Market Share. Cathy Horyn, Suzy Menkes and Robin Givhan are terrific industry writers, and I read all three of them with zeal, but, fair or not, they create as much sizzle on the 21st century pop-culture radar as a Michael Bolton CD. *Note: Not to say that Cathy Horyn, Suzy Menkes and Robin Givhan aren't given front row access (they likely are -- and Cathy Horyn has mentioned several times that she doesn't find the presence of bloggers threatening), but journalists with less clout have been heard to grumble. *Note 2: The traditional fashion journalists have found themselves between a rock and a hard place as advertising revenues at their respective employers are in free-fall. "How does one bite the hand that feeds?" must be the question spinning through their brains as they check their critical impulses and swoon predictably over the collections trotting down the Marc Jacobs, Michael Kors, Calvin Klein, Donna Karan, Reed Krakoff (Coach), Tommy Hilfiger, blahblahblah runway. Listen, fine, they're all good designers (they wouldn't be where they are if they didn't possess some modicum of talent), but the uninterrupted sychophancy is starting to grate. I mean, c'mon, can every single Marc Jacobs collection really be a bona fide hit? No wonder the man is surprisingly insecure -- he isn't sure anymore who's genuine or who's just fishing for the LVMH wallet. The few wryly critical comments I read were directed at collections from labels that can't (or don't) splurge on pricey ad space. Which means the straight talk coming out of fashion week was from the blogging corner -- well, that and decades-long fashion vet Lynn Yaeger, who was recently let go from the Village Voice, so she has nothing to lose, natch -- which makes their increasing presence at fashion events such a welcome relief, despite (or possibly because of?) the carny-type vibe they bring to the proceedings. 3.) THE LOOK OF LUXURY: Now that the free-for-all of consumer demand has screeched to an undignified trickle, the big luxury companies have been trawling the remaining shreds of what used to be their souls to find a way to bait and hook the newly-shy big spenders. Their epiphany? Heritage. And by "heritage", they mean the triumph of quality and substance over the wow of cheap thrills. The New York runways for Fall 2010 were a near jaw-dropping display of opulence as gleaming metallics, extravagant beadwork, intricately worked wools and leathers, silk columns and plush dyed furs trundled down the catwalks, generally accompanied by sparkling jewels big enough to choke the family dog. Zac Posen, Peter Som, Michael Kors, Marc Jacobs, Carolina Herrera, Donna Karan, Phillip Lim, Oscar de la Renta, Chado Ralph Rucci, Temperley London, Isaac Mizrahi, Proenza Schouler, Ralph Lauren, Vera Wang, Dennis Basso, Ohne Titel, Catharine Malandrino, Halston, Helmut Lang, Naeem Khan (the list goes on) ditched the PETA obeisance and significantly upped the luxe content in the their collections with scattered showers (if not outright downpours) of fur, all of them scrambling to be the "it" brand that the remaining members of the global jet-set might hopefully embrace (China, India, South America and the Middle East haven't yet hopped aboard the Fur Hate train) -- because that jet-set pie is shrinking, right along with the economies of entire nation states, and no one wants to be the brand left without a seat when the music stops playing. Though I'm uncertain if mega-brands like Marc Jacobs and Ralph Lauren can pull it off. They're catering to the international money crowd, but does a billionaire's wife in China really want a fur coat from a label that sells PVC bags to teenagers? Boutique names like Peter Som, Ohne Titel and Naeem Khan might be the ones that benefit the most as new money seeks out the exclusive experience in luxury fashion. Will they ever achieve the size and clout of a Marc Jacobs or Michael Kors? No, but I don't think they're trying to or even expect to, either. In an interview with Style.com, Cathy Horyn stated that the days of small brands turning into mega-brands are over, and that young designers will need to specialize, plying their craft at exceptional levels if they're going to survive: "You can't do it in half measures. You have to make the clothes at a really high level. And I think a lot of designers now, they're not committed to it. If you want to be an Azzedine Alaïa, you have to stay really committed to it and not spread out." What I saw out of Peter Som this past week was a textbook example of exactly that -- a young designer who presented a tightly focused collection at a really high level: It's possible that the big names can continue to play in both worlds, high and low, but by catering to the low-end, mega-brands risk alienating the big spenders who are becoming increasingly well-versed in the difference between true luxury and brand image (see: Hermes vs. Louis Vuitton). Which might work out just fine anyway -- the boutique designers will do what the Yves St. Laurents of the world used to do: show to a select group of loyal, dedicated, wealthy clients in their small shops, while the mass designer brands -- the Laurens, Jacobses, Armanis, Burberrys and Kleins -- might still produce wowzy collections but for runway display only, manufacturing the glitzy, high-end image necessary to push vast amounts of mass-market beauty products, clothing and accessories at the malls and big box stores. But outside of the niche yet cash infused names that can afford to ride the daring edge, the designs trotted out were fairly conservative -- lush, yes, but definitely still conservative, with long coats and over the knee dresses in safe palettes of beige, gray, black and blue, revealing what appears to be a case of corporate nerves regarding the overall market. But I wasn't the only one who noticed: Muted luxury reigns supreme at NY Fashion Week -- "As fashionistas headed across the Atlantic to London's Fashion Week on Friday, the takeaway theme of New York's Autumn-Winter presentation was clear -- toned down luxury." Michael Kors Fall/Winter 2010/11: variations on beige New York Fashion Week: Playing it safe, but still luxe: "To look at the sheer amount of fur, designer boots and handbags being toted around the Bryant Park tents and on the runways during Fashion Week, you wouldn't suspect America is in the midst of a recession . . . (but) Retailers are more cautious these days about what they put on their racks, knowing that consumers want newness but are making their purchases more carefully. Designers, taking cues from that trend, are being discriminating, as well." Cozy layers, wools set tone at NY fashion week: "Designers showed cozy layered looks in New York this week, wrapping thick scarves over chunky sweaters and rugged jackets in hopes that a trend of casual comfort will appeal to consumers coping with uncertain times." Fashion Week hemlines reach for the floor: "Partially overcast by the recent death of British designer Alexander McQueen and concerns about the economy, the eight-day series of runway shows and presentations was no party, with looks that incorporated classic black and masculine styles. Midcalf, librarian-length skirts and dresses from designers like Marc Jacobs and Jason Wu contributed to the subdued mood." Video clip below of the normally over-the-top Marc Jacobs show that, this time around, was so safe and subdued (long, heavy, buttoned-up 1940's influenced ensembles in gray, cream, brown, blue, taupe and beige) as to be nearly frightening to watch. Very retail friendly, but I couldn't help but think, "Just how scared are these guys?": Where's the Yellow Brick Road? It remains to be seen if anything labeled "Marc Jacobs" can hold its cache in an international luxury market hungry for the exclusive. My prediction? The diffusion line Marc by Marc Jacobs will be the main moneymaker for the label (if it's not already). Another Cathy Horyn quote to wrap it up: "Some of these older companies, they should die in a way to create some room in the field. They're like dead wood in the middle of the forest...The people running those old labels didn't do a good enough job of managing and taking it to a younger generation. Chanel has been really good with that. Vuitton, Prada, Hermès. But there's a lot of people of whom that isn't true." The industry put on a brave (albeit nail-biting) face this week in New York, charging into the fray of social media, inviting the public into the process via bloggers and shifting the emphasis to luxe materials and improved craftsmanship -- all good and valuable steps -- but the lines in the sand are only starting to get drawn. The upcoming shows in London, Milan and Paris should prove fascinating as we see the full international range of designers and brands pull out their best song and dance routines in the audition for an evaporating pool of buyers.

The New 'Anything Goes': Peter Som Fall 2010

2010-02-16T03:08:01Z

We're smack in the middle of New York Fashion Week, and the show that's received some of the most positive buzz (so far) has been the Peter Som collection -- a daring, vibrant display of color, texture and pattern that was like 1970's bohemia meets the Park Avenue cocktail-party: You got your tie-dye on my mink Style.com: "Most looks worked a fearlessly mismatched mélange of florals and checks and Swarovski beading and tweeds and dyed furs and paillettes and marled knits and, well, you get the idea . . . The shift brought new life to Som ... (and) It also gave a visible lift to showgoers, who are starting to realize they've wearied of skinny pants and big shoulders." L.A. Times blog: "While he doesn't make clothes that are going to change the world, that could be the best thing right now. He knows his customer and he serves her well . . . It was refreshing to see a long skirt in a "trippy rose" crepe, worn with a ribbed knit sweater. High-waist, full-leg trousers looked good, too, as an alternative to the ubiquitous leggings, worn with a tie-front blouse and a purple fur chubby." Telegraph UK: "Think metallic, silk-jacquards, trench-coats trimmed with fox, silks printed in violet and pink florals, feather skirts with velvet waistbands, shimmering knits - and then imagine it all piled together, with wild, whimsical abandon." WSJ 'Heard on the Runway' blog: "On the way to the Peter Som show, a significant retailer told me that Peter Som is "too conservative" for his stores. The retailer should get a load of the turquiose Mongolian lamb coat that walked Mr. Som's runway this afternoon. Conservative? Nuh uh." Rich hippie parade FabSugar: "Som is emerging as the freshest mixmaster on the block . . . With an underlying bohemian vibe, separates were thrown together in a haphazard way, but retaining a ladylike air. Layers were often cinched together with hardware belts, furs were dipped in jewel tones, cardigans were essential pieces, and happy hats were an adorable accessory." NBC The Thread: "Som's signature print-mixing was in full effect here, but seemed even more exaggerated -- colorful check mixed with two types of tweed, metallic contrasted with a kaleidoscope print and fur, or in one instance, a tight blue rose pattern paired with an expansive pink rose-print skirt. Makes us wonder if all this print-mixing we're seeing is somehow a reflection of the recession's effect on dressing -- folks are shopping their closets and coming up with new and inventive combinations." Fashion Wire Daily: "'Kooky' and 'escapist' was how Som described his glam rock affair of candy colored furs, mod floral maxi skirts, flowing chiffon dresses, long flared trousers, acidic plaids, swirling brushstroke prints, tie dyed ostrich feathers and pearlized petal paillettes . . . For those less keen on drinking the Kool-Aid cocktail of Muppet fur coats and mismatched patterns, however, Som still had plenty of luxe individual pieces." Strangely enough, the Peter Som Fall 2010 collection reminds me somewhat of the "pell-mell madness" of the first half of the Marc Jacobs Spring 2009 collection, only ditching the Frontier Woman influences for something more urban and sophisticated: Pell-mell madness As the NBC writer noted above, these wild, almost mad-hatter tea party looks are mindful of the fact that shoppers are cutting back on their purchasing, but still want something new without having to think about color and pattern limitations. After all, if consumers are springing for only one coat a year or one dress per season (or less), then adopting the anything-goes attitude frees the consumer to impulse-purchase that amazing, vivid item they might otherwise have passed by, thinking, "Oh, it's gorgeous, but I have nothing to wear it with." Problem solved: wear it with everything. ***Note: Embracing the mix-and-match mindset is good for discounters, too, as they're more likely to sell past seasons' merchandise if cash-strapped consumers feel that the Style Gods have officially sanctioned the "Wear What You Got" look.

Reader Email: Is there such a thing as Clive Christian on a budget?

2010-02-15T02:40:01Z

Dear Nathan, I'm hoping you may have a suggestion for a scent close to Clive Christian No. 1 for Men. Some sites list the ingredients as: cedar wood, sandalwood, vanilla and amber woods, while others list lime, pink grapefruit, cardamom, Sicilian mandarin, thyme, artemesia, pimento, lily of the valley, rose, jasmine, orris, yang ylang and heliotrope. I've Googled without success, and perhaps you don't like No. 1, but my son-in-law liked it best out of a batch of samples. Needless to say, the price was off-putting. I'm new to the "fume" world, and like the Non-Blonde, I'm partial to vanilla, which smelled good in the powdery dry down of No. 1. Thank you so much for your time and possible inclination to sniff out a substitute. Sincerely, Linda Clive Christian No. 1 for Men in handmade crystal bottle Well, Linda, first things first -- I love Clive Christian No. 1 for Men. It's a classic masculine floral (i.e. a little bit of floral and a lot of bit of woods and spices), stuffed with recognizably high-quality ingredients and a composition that's pretty much the dictionary definition of "balance" -- no one particular note overpowers the thing. It doesn't smell like roses or sandalwood or lime, it just smells good. Patty at Perfume Posse wrote that No. 1 for Men is "really pretty damn gorgeous" (and I agree), so both you and your Son-In-Law have good taste, but you also have bad luck. And I only say "bad luck" because trying to find a less wallet-busting facsimile of No. 1 is going to be extremely difficult. I mean, really, couldn't you have started off at even a marginally lower price point? At $865.00 for 50ml (and the price skyrockets up from there), No. 1 for Men is one of the spendiest options on the fragrance market, so I almost feel like we're dangerously close to bait-and-switch territory, as in: "You like the Rolls Royce? Great, kid -- here's the keys to a VW!" Not that a VW is bad (it's not) -- it's just not going to compare all that favorably to sliding into the driver's seat of a Rolls. So instead of suggesting something "close" to No. 1 for Men (because I'm not sure there is such a thing), I'm going to list other masculine scents that I consider high quality, well-balanced and very wearable. You can give these a try to see if the Son-In-Law might respond as positively to any of them as he did to the Rolls Royce, er, I mean, the Clive Christian. A.) Le Labo Rose 31 -- Rose 31 is Le Labo's best seller. The rose has only a small role to play in the production (despite star billing), with spices and woods predominant (cedar, cumin, clove and oudh wood). There's a dry, dusty path (nutmeg?) that cuts right through to the finish, and it appears to have more in common with Middle Eastern attars than with your usual Western style rose fragrance. But still, it's extremely easy to wear, and while it was originally created for Le Labo's male clientele, women love the stuffin' out of it, too. I've given Rose 31 as a gift to male friends, and it's been very well received. You can order Le Labo Rose 31 directly from Le Labo. $130.00 for 50ml. They also offer a sample kit. B.) Ormonde Jayne Ormonde Man -- probably the closest you're going to get to the classic style of No. 1 without actually springing for No. 1 (though absent the subtle rose and other floral notes). Chandler Burr wrote that Ormonde Man is "masculine gentleness . . . Citrus and spice are ingeniously hidden inside sweet heavy cream and warm, caressable male skin . . . The overall effect is of clarity mellowing to a golden gourmand." Ormonde Man is a favorite of mine, and can be worn both formally and casually. It's about $125.00 for 50ml, and you can purchase it directly from the Ormonde Jayne website out of London. They ship to the U.S. C.) Czech & Speake Dark Rose -- with listed notes of saffron, rose, patchouli, sandalwood, oudh, amber and white musk, Dark Rose could very well pass the sniff test with your Son-In-Law. The oudh note will bite a little at the introduction, but it all smooths out into a shadowy, woodsy masculine floral with a shimmer of ambered sweetness. You can find Czech & Speake Dark Rose at Lucky Scent. It's $185.00 for 100ml. D.) Dorissima Narziß (or, Narziss) -- meant as the masculine counterpart to Dorissima's Goldmund, fragrance notes are: tarragon, royal sage, rose, atlas cedar, vetiver, tonka and fig leaves. I get a brief burst of sweet citrus at the opening, followed by an expertly blended mix of subtle, balsamic rose and dry herbs that finishes with a smooth, woodsy sigh. You can purchase Dorissima Narziß at Lucky Scent. $130.00 for 60ml. E.) And since you stated that you enjoy vanilla, I'm going to put L'Artisan Havana Vanille on the list. It's not particularly a classic in style, but it's distinctive, easily wearable and extremely well put together. The intro is quite sweet and rhum-boozy, while the homestretch recalls the sweet, boozy opening, but like a fading echo. The main attraction to Havana Vanille, however, is the tobacco and vanilla glow in the body, and it glows for hours, revealing facets of wood, dry tobacco leaf and sugar in various combinations. It's nothing like No. 1 for Men, but it's casual, masculine and wow, is it nice. Havana Vanille can be ordered directly from L'Artisan Parfumeur, and is $155.00 for 100ml. So Linda, those are five I can think of right off the top of my head (oh, h*ll, Parfums MDCI Invasion Barbare is great, too, though it's heading back up into Rolls Royce territory, and Domenico Caraceni 1913 takes the classic masculine floral genre and adds an incense twist), but I'm hoping that readers will leave other suggestions in the comments so that you'll have an even longer list of fragrances to sort through and take for trial spins. Good luck, and let me/us know how the testing turns out.

Luxury Industry News Roundup: 02/012/10

2010-02-13T00:51:01Z

1.) Fashion Industry Mourns the Death of Designer Alexander McQueen: "Top British fashion designer Alexander McQueen, who dressed stars from Sarah Jessica Parker to Rihanna to Nicole Kidman in bold shapes and colors, was found dead in his home Thursday, a spokesman for his company said. Though his reputation for controversy earned him the titles 'enfant terrible' and 'the hooligan of English fashion,' British Vogue Editor Alexandra Shulman said his work 'influenced a whole generation of designers'." News of the death of Alexander McQueen quickly tore through the fashion world, with the New York Fashion Week shows (that kicked off Thursday morning just as word of the designer's suicide ricocheted through the tents at Bryant Park) overshadowed by the shock of the design world at losing one of their best and brightest too soon. And using the term "best and brightest" in relation to McQueen is not a cliche. The talk among designers, journalists and editors is no longer just "How do we cope with the still sluggish global economy?", but also "How do we cope with the loss of Alexander McQueen?" -- arguably one of the most notable movers and shakers in 21st century fashion design so far. Of course, the show goes on (though McQueen's diffusion line runway show, McQ, due to present on Thursday evening in New York, was cancelled), but now the brand (controlled by parent company Gucci Group/PPR) is in damage control mode, scrambling to retrieve preview and sample items before unscrupulous industry insiders start hawking them on eBay, blocking access to the Alexander McQueen website, shrouding the New York boutique's front window and refusing comments to the press. And no wonder -- PPR is already struggling to conceive of how they might possibly keep the Alexander McQueen label functioning after the loss of its most valuable asset, designer McQueen himself: "The future of the label may hinge on PPR's ability to find a designer with the same creative leadership as McQueen and whether the retail-to-luxury behemoth is prepared to write off nearly 10 years of investment." The Associated Press writes that "McQueen's work is considered so unique that some are voicing serious doubts" that the brand can survive without him. The Gucci Group acquired a 51% controlling interest in the Alexander McQueen brand in 2000, bringing the label to break-even financials in 2007, just at the start of the global squeeze. It's likely that the house of McQueen, with its daring silhouettes and hi-tech influences, had dipped back into the red in the intervening years, which means that PPR has a choice on its hands -- close down a unique yet unprofitable brand that's just lost its boldly creative head designer, or decide to carry on with the McQueen name but bring in designers who will be instructed to mainstream the look (which would incur accusations of disrespecting McQueen's legacy). It's possible that brand McQueen could carry on strictly as an accessories unit, reaching back throughout the designer's career for prints and detailing that can be translated into future collections of scarves, jewelry, hosiery and handbags, but other than that, it's pretty much a no-win situation for everyone involved. *Note: Hmmmm, unless someone were to, maybe, ask Kate and Laura Mulleavy, the sisters behind Rodarte, to take up the challenge of the McQueen label . . . ? That's an idea I could get behind. But as weirdly vulture-ish as it may seem, the death of a recognized artist (musician, painter, designer, etc.), always results in an immediate increase in demand for his/her work: Devotees in a dash to buy a piece of Alexander McQueen's legacy -- "'The response was immediate,' Kate Brindley, head of press at the London department store Liberty, said. 'At about 4pm, just after the news broke, all of our Alexander McQueen stock started flying off the shelves.'" You know, I have to admit that I immediately ordered an Alexander McQueen skull print scarf for Louise when I heard that McQueen had died. It seemed the right thing to do, to mark the sadness of the occasion by 1.) recognizing the value of the man's work, and 2.) making sure I shared his singular vision of beauty with someone else. Other designer related news: Diane Von Furstenberg's creative director, Nathan Jenden, resigns to focus solely on his own namesake brand -- Furstenberg hates to see him leave, but is delighted that he's experiencing success with his label, as she was a supporter from the start; and Celine head designer Phoebe Philo, who was at the helm of Chloe when the whole "it" bag craze exploded due to the introduction of Chloe's popular Paddington model, declares that the trend of the "it" bag has run its course, and that, "rather than producing bags that are covetable merely for their name and distinctive hardware, Philo aims to make Celine bags desirable for their quality and even functionality." 2.) Marc Jacobs President Robert Duffy Discovers Twitter: "Q: You've just started tweeting. What's surprised you so far? A: What surprised me is how famous Marc is . . . The best thing about [tweeting] has been listening to what people have to say, and these are real consumers. People were commenting about what they bought and how they long they'd kept it and when and where they'd bought it. That's really been an eye-opener for me." The above question and answer is from an interview with Style.com where Duffy talks about the future of the Marc Jacobs brand, the future of the fashion industry in general, taking advantage of new media opportunities to connect directly with consumers, their relationship with LVMH ("Once you start making money, everybody loves you"), that the days of being able to start a mega-brand are over and how the decision to establish diffusion lines back in 2004 has helped keep the Jacobs brand afloat during the recession -- their customers traded-down from the more expensive Marc Jacobs line to the Marc by Marc Jacobs diffusion collections, so they essentially kept the trading-down in-house. Smart. He also mentioned that the Marc Jacobs website will soon have an e-shop: "People have come to me within the organization and said, we must have an e-commerce site; but I said, not until I figure out a way that I'm going to enjoy this." I have to admit to being surprised it's taken this long for them to get an e-shop up and running, especially with how popular the Marc by Marc Jacobs brand is with a younger demographic that's more than comfortable shopping online. But better late than never, and hopefully they'll have a more engaging online shopping experience than you'll find with, say, Oscar de la Renta or Valentino. The diffusion line that saved the day Speaking of Oscar de la Renta: "Rumor has it that Oscar de la Renta is designing a new beauty deal . . . sources suspect a private equity deal is brewing which would infuse capital into the fragrance business and possibly expand the the company's offerings into makeup and skincare." The de la Renta brand just recently reacquired the rights to its own name for fragrance licensing, and beyond re-establishing itself as a fragrance contender by reworking a lineup that's gone stale, they now want to expand into cosmetics, and who could blame them? De la Renta clothing and accessories are famously high-end luxury purchases, yet in the present economy, the brand needs product items at entry-level price points to keep the mainstream consumer interested. What's more entry-level than lipstick and wrinkle cream? Not so entry-level friendly To underscore the seriousness of the present economy's impact on luxury brands, the beer, wine and booze industry, once considered recession proof, is also reeling, with conglomerate Diageo reporting a 10% drop in profits as sales of premium spirits decline: "Diageo, the maker of Guinness, Smirnoff vodka and Cuervo tequila, said Thursday that its fiscal first-half net income dropped 10% on weaker sales volumes in the U.S." Even worse, European Champagne exports were down 25%, with notable drops in the markets of US and Japan. 3.) The Oscars Aren't So In Love with Fashion, After All: "When the Oscar nominations were announced last week, there were few surprises to be found . . . But for fans of fashion, there were two glaring omissions in the best documentary category. Director R.J. Cutler's 'The September Issue'' ... an extremely well-made, entertaining, and semi-educational film about the (fashion) industry and just how powerful it is . . . and Matt Tyrnauer's 'Valentino: The Last Emperor', which looked at the powerhouse designer's touching relationship with his partner, as well as his final days heading up his label before his retirement." While the red carpet parade of designer dresses and accessories gets an enormous amount of global attention on awards night, it would appear that Hollywood wants its big show, once it actually gets started, to be all about them, instead. Trailers for "The September Issue" and "Valentino: The Last Emperor" below. I've seen "The Last Emperor", which I found to be both maddening and fascinating, often at the same time. "The September Issue" is on my "to view" list: Enter the Dragon Lady? Queens, Preens and Limousines! Since we're already talking about Valentino, Giancarlo Giammetti, long term partner of Valentino and the former business mind behind the brand, took to Facebook to express his displeasure with the latest Valentino Haute Couture show, not really understanding just how far the ripples of social media can extend: "On Wednesday, Giammetti told WWD his observations 'provoked such a mass of comments from friends on Facebook' that he was prompted to 'decide to delete [the quotes] because it was becoming [too] heavy.' Giammetti concluded both he and Garavani 'are always supportive of the designers of Valentino, even if we don't approve of their effort to be cool at all costs. But we will always be [supportive] of them.' The house of Valentino declined to comment." So chin-up, teenagers -- even wealthy and influential 70-some year olds post hot-headed things on Facebook that they later regret. 4.) European Luxury Stocks Fall on Concern About Economic Recovery: "'The markets are very jittery, and luxury stocks are taking the biggest hit,' said Chicuong Dang, an analyst at KBL Richelieu Gestion in Paris. 'Investors are nervous about Europe with its current economic problems, and there is some concern about China as well. Luxury makers like LVMH have a lot of business in these markets' . . . Europe's major stock indexes fell for a third day on concern that efforts by Greece, Portugal and Spain to reduce their deficits will further hurt their economies and slow down the global economic recovery." LVMH CEO Bernard Arnault stated that 2010 would be a difficult year for the luxury industry -- that while several luxury groups saw an uptick in the 4th quarter of 2009, their projections for all of 2010 remain conservative (to say the least), while Hermes CEO Patrick Thomas gloomily predicts that governments across the world will initiate even greater tax hikes on the wealthy to make up for ballooning debts, and that this will significantly impact the ability for luxury brands to survive in this economy, never mind grow. But there has been some positive news for the industry lately: Prada saw sales rise 14% over last year; Austrian retailer Wolford reported an increase in sales of 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year; the YOOX group, which operates the luxury websites YOOX and The Corner, reported a 44% increase in online sales for 2009; Dolce & Gabbana experienced a 79% increase in profit over last year -- though revenues were down 3% overall; and Avon reported that "beauty sales in the fourth-quarter of 2009 grew 15% driven by gains in fragrance, color cosmetics, and personal care of 11%, 27%, and 19%, respectively." Avon holds the license for Christian Lacroix and Ungaro fragrances. But now for the bad news: 2009 was an abysmal year for Swiss luxury watch companies, with exports dropping over 20% -- 2010 and 2011 aren't expected to be much better, and a number of bankruptcies accompanied by rising unemployment numbers are expected; fast fashion retailer Uniqlo saw it's January sales decrease by 7.2%; major diamond producer De Beers reported a 44% plunge in sales for 2009 and had to ask for a $1 billion dollar cash injection from its larger shareholders; the global workwear industry is forecasting a 2.5% drop in value during 2010 as rising unemployment levels ripple through the supply chain; IFF (International Flavors and Fragrances) reported a 3.1% dip in revenue and a 15% slide in profits, with weakness in North American and European markets still a drag on fine fragrance sales; and organic & natural personal-care brand Nature's Gate has filed for bankruptcy. 5.) Newsflash! Harvard Study Shows that Luxury Consumers Are Kinda Selfish: "This pattern of findings suggests that luxury-primed individuals were not more likely to have anti-social cognition, but were less likely to have pro-social thoughts. In other words, when thinking about luxury, people tend to focus more on themselves and less on others . . . Luxury does not necessarily induce one to do harm to others, but simply causes one to be less concerned or considerate toward them." Now *that's* a penetrating piece of insight, especially when you stop to consider that the concept of "luxury" is, first and foremost, about considering one's own personal comfort and pleasure. Next, I suppose we'll have a Harvard study that reveals how people who spend most of their time indoors working on computers often suffer from a Vitamin D deficiency. 6.) INDUSTRY QUICK HITS: A. Ann Wintour Makes Italy's Fashionable Hordes Nervous: "Anna Wintour, aka the most powerful woman in fashion (we're hoping she has that printed on her business card), had the Italian fashion houses teetering around in a high-heeled panic when the news emerged that she'd only be stopping off in the city for a few days between Paris and the Oscars." We're getting set for a round of Ready to Wear fashion shows, hopping from New York to London to Milan to Paris, and Ms. Wintour has penciled in only a few days for the Milan shows (she generally skips the London shows altogether). Due to a scheduling switch-up last minute, she'll even be missing the Prada and Fendi shows. The Italian press has responded with anger, saying: "She's welcome in Milan, but if she only comes for a fleeting visit, perhaps it would be better if she stayed at home." B. Consumers are losing trust in social media marketing: "'Social networking used to be innocent, peer to peer conversation and now it's turned into a marketing playground in which almost everything -- blog space, tweets and, in some cases, opinion -- is for sale,' writes ZDNet's Jennifer Leggio . . . The sheer volume of recommendations being pushed, via friends and peers, to social networking feeds each day. Their importance is diluted by these numbers." The author of the article points out that the increasing number of "friends" on social media sites that aren't really very well known to the user could also be a contributing factor in pushing down the level of trust among networked peers. It's kind of like that sales assistant at the clothing retailer -- do you really look "great" in those jeans, or is he/she just trying to make a sale? C. Fragrance retailers notice an increase in pre-Valentine's Day sales due to smaller sized bottles: "Fragrance manufacturers may have been right on the money in offering versions in multiple sizes . . . Karen Grant, vice president and global industry analyst, NPD, says ... 'Smaller sizes are becoming an increasingly important option today. What's encouraging is that they are not just working in women's scents or new fragrances...we are also seeing growth in smaller sizes for both women's and men's fragrances (one ounce and smaller) and classics, as well as new scents.'" Other scent related news: J'Adore is still a big hit for Dior; Balenciaga launches a new perfume created by Olivier Polge, the winner of the 2009 International Fragrance Prize; Independent/All-Natural Berkeley perfumer Mandy Aftel releases Aftelier: Trèvert, a trend-surfing green fragrance based upon pine needle absolute; the Fragrance Foundation has announced that its annual FiFi Awards Breakfast, where the finalists for the fragrance awards are announced, will be held Friday, April 23 at The Mandarin Oriental Hotel in New York City; and the fragrance industry reorganizes in response to market pressures. D. Not all stars are created equal: "It isn't pure chic that moves clothes. 'For the most part, celebrities that drive sales aren't necessarily the ones that get nominated' for awards, says Lily Hollander, editorial director of StyleSpot.com . . . High-profile fashion publicist Karla Otto, who recently opened a Los Angeles VIP office, says any appearance by an A-List actress 'sells product from clothing to accessories and, if the consumer can't afford the attire, they might buy the fragrance or the beauty products.'" Sandra Bullock was mentioned as an incredibly likable and down to earth celebrity that consumers relate to. Her appearance in a designer's product often generates huge sales in return. A video clip below of the likable Bullock on the red carpet: "If I win the Razzie, I'm so going to go!"

Alexander McQueen: 03/17/69 - 02/11/2010

2010-02-11T16:38:01Z

British designer Alexander McQueen was found dead in his home this morning, throwing the major players in the fashion world into shock right at the time that the new round of women's runways shows are about to kick off for New York's Fashion Week. He was only 40 years old. McQueen was set to debut his label's Fall 2010 collection for women in Paris next month. The Gucci Group (owner of the Alexander McQueen label) may still decide to produce a show based on the designs McQueen left behind, yet since designers are notorious for still working on the collections even as the models are walking out onto the stage, it's more likely that the McQueen presence will be withdrawn from the Paris roster. A video clip below of his last collection for Spring 2010, a professed theme of mammal and marine hybrid that had everyone marveling . . . if not over just the 10" heels: He consistently shocked and delighted, fully embraced digital technologies in both his designs and for his shows, and his creative daring was always the talk of the fashion press, even if it was less than a hit at retail. His March 2009 collaboration with Target, usually a great source of hype for a high-end designer, confused the chain store's consumers but was dubbed still worth a visit by NYRacked. "People constantly make the mistake of comparing London with New York, Milan and Paris and that's not what it's about. London has its own fashion identity. You come here to find the next Alexander McQueen or John Galliano." -- Anna Wintour "At one level, he was a master of the fantastic, creating astounding fashion shows that mixed design, technology and performance and on another he was a modern-day genius whose gothic aesthetic was adopted by women the world over. His death is the hugest loss to anyone who knew him and for very many who didn't." -- Alexandra Shulman "Alexander McQueen was one of the greatest designers of his generation. His genius, sometimes provocative, but admired and commended by everyone, constantly brought new perspectives. He generated emotion at the release of each one of his collections." -- François-Henri Pinault "Our world will be a less beautiful place without him." -- Anne Pitcher Fall/Winter 2008/2009 UPDATE: It's rumored that the death was a suicide, though nothing is officially confirmed. McQueen's diffusion line for fall of 2010, McQ, was scheduled to show today in New York, the first day of New York Fashion Week for the fall 2010 womenswear lines. The show has been cancelled, and the Alexander McQueen website has been replaced with a brief message requesting respect for the family. UPDATE 2 (02/12/09): The NYPost is stating that it was a suicide: "'His mother died and he couldn't cope,' one source told Britain's Daily Mail. 'His Paris show is coming up and his staff have been nagging him all week to get up and start working. But . . . he just couldn't get up.' The paper quoted sources as saying that McQueen, who had been in bed for a week, had cuts on his arms and that he'd attempted suicide more than once." McQueen's mother's funeral was scheduled for today, February 12th.

PR in the 21st Century: or 'How to Fumble the New Media'

2010-02-11T02:43:01Z

Dear PR Rep: When you emailed me out of the blue and stated: "We'd like to offer you a bottle of this new fragrance to review", and included a photo attachment of said new fragrance in bottle: then it was bound to be a bit of a head-scratcher as, a few days later, I retrieved the "bottle" from my mailbox and it looked like this: I mean, really, if I'd have known that by "bottle" you actually meant "scratched and dented test sampler with faded ink-jet label", I'd have declined the offer. Without hesitation. So no, you're not getting a review, unless by "review" you're comfortable with the equivalent of what I got after you promised "a bottle" . . . ? I didn't think so. Yours truly, Nathan P.S. -- if it sounds crazy that I was expecting the full-on package with bottle, even a brief scroll through my site might convince you otherwise. Do PR Reps even look at the sites of people they send "bottles" to, or is it just a matter of carpet-bombing the internet in hopes of getting as many mentions as possible? In other words, if you throw enough sh*t at the wall . . . ADDITIONAL OBSERVATION: You know, Robert Duffy (of Marc Jacobs) was just recently quoted as saying that they weren't going to invite celebrities to sit in the front row of the Marc Jacobs runway show in New York next week -- that times are different now and the big fashion brands need to change the way they interact with the public or risk the public switching off on them. Maybe it's time that PR reps thought about changing the 'One Size Fits All' way they interact with blogs and web sites (aka the public), too. ***Note: In case any of you are wondering (and yes, I had some crazy person try to leave a comment filled with bizarre accusations -- thank god for the delete button): No, I'm not treated "preferentially" by PR reps or fragrance companies. I don't get regular offers of full bottles for review (this would have been my first; obviously, I was mistaken) and I certainly don't contact companies or reps to ask for bottles, as purchasing my own products for review affords me the freedom to look at the entire package far more objectively than if I were dependent upon the generosity of reps.

Quick Sniffs: Thierry Mugler Angel Liqueur de Parfum, Cartier La Treizieme Heure XIII and Xerjoff XJ 17/17 Homme (plus Xerjoff Shooting Stars Uden & Kobe)

2010-02-08T19:55:01Z

THIERRY MUGLER ANGEL LIQUEUR DE PARFUM: Like bobbing for fruitchoulis in a vat of vintage port. Massive, tenacious and perversely yummy in a "Help! My perfume is stalking me!" kind of way. I happily steeped in its sweet, cherry-wood and booze infused fumes all day. Robin at Now Smell This writes: "It's recognizably Angel from the outset, but the early stages especially are smoother, less jarring, and I cannot emphasize enough how boozy it is . . . I want to drink it as much as I want to smell it." But really, this stuff is huge. Two sprays is more than plenty, and I'm a spray junkie. ***Note: Some kind of clanging siren in my head keeps warning me away from the original Angel, but I do enjoy its gourmand-heavy iterations (my only other encouter with Angel has been Angel Men Pure Coffee, which I guiltily love for its caramel, java and rich chocolately charms). But I do have some vials of Angel and Angel parfum sealed in little plastic baggies and awaiting a brave day . . . CARTIER LA TREIZIEME HEURE XIII: A hauntingly lovely smoke fragrance that, if you're a fan of the smoke genre, is pretty near impossible not to like. Its composition is note perfect (bergamot, vanilla, leather, toasted yerba maté aka "chá mate", and narcissus absolute), its credentials impeccable (the House of Cartier + perfumer Mathilde Laurent) and its demographic aim (the 25-45 year old luxury consumer) couldn't be truer. Denyse at Grain de Musc writes: "Mathilde has pinned her carousel of smoky-burnt notes onto the dazzlingly complex scent of Monique Rémy's narcissus absolute. Like coumarin, narcissus absolute presents tobacco-hay facets, along with a 'horsy' aroma; but it also gives off an aqueous green smell that gives the smoky Treizième Heure an oddly icy heart." My one complaint is that, because it's positioned as part of an "exclusive" collection (Les Heures de Cartier), it's more difficult to find and purchase than it really needs to be. Maybe that will change in the near future. Hey, Chanel changed its mind about limiting access to the Les Exclusifs collection, right? XERJOFF XJ 17/17 COLLECTION - HOMME: I wanted to enjoy this (if only because the packaging options are bee-you-tee-full!), but for the first half of its evolution it smells so much like Nasomatto Duro (a weird and -- IMO -- unattractive mix of gasoline and chlorine) that I'm going to have to pass. The second half of its considerable lifespan (i.e. the stuff lasts all day) is much more pleasant -- a luxe patchouli + oiled leather scent -- but not so distinctive or wowzy that I'm willing to fork over $800 to $2,200 (U.S.) for the privilege. Duro lovers, however, should take note. But oh! that bottle: "Each flacon has either been meticulously crafted by hand from a single block of quartz; or has had master Murano glassmakers breathe life into them, straight from the raging kiln. Each hand-numbered edition is presented on a hand-carved ebony base and is embossed with 18kt gold and decorated with rubies." One might be forgiven for thinking that what's inside the bottle really isn't the point. XERJOFF SHOOTING STARS COLLECTION - KOBE: A limited edition release from the Xerjoff Shooting Stars Collection (though I have no idea what "limited edition" means in this case, and the Xerjoff website is mum on the point; I have an email in to a company rep asking for clarification, so I'll update this post when/if I get any answers), Kobe is the Xerjoff entry in the present oud-trend sweepstakes. At first, I was, like, "Great, what the world needs now is another oud, sweet oud", but the cynicism was quickly wiped from brow by how good the darn stuff smells. Dry, spicy, a little rosy but not overly floral whatsoever, and there's a wonderfully polished balsamic layer to the piece that makes it gleam. The website states that Kobe is a blend of essences including Calabrese bergamot, Florida orange, Italian neroli, Paraguayan petitgrain, rose woods and balsamic resins, with oud as the core element holding it all together. I could swear there's a mouthwatering vanilla hovering far off in the background, too, but I'm not certain. I just know that I'll take more, please! Longevity is excellent (which is the case with each of the three Xerjoff's I tested), the oud fades and the vanilla becomes more pronounced as the day wears on, while the bottle is, of course, stunning. What the world needs now is oud, sweet oud ***UPDATE: I heard back from the Xerjoff people -- the Kobe Limited Edition was originally part of a 299 bottle series that sold out (at least on their end -- retailers still have bottles for sale), but Kobe has now been added to the permanent Shooting Stars Collection, so it will remain available in the future. He also informed me that, starting in March of this year, the Xerjoff website will open an e-Shop that will ship internationally. XERJOFF SHOOTING STARS COLLECTION - UDEN: The final Xerjoff for the day, and a respectable piece of ambered woods with a beautifully smooth drydown that feels like walking into a gentleman's club decorated in a leather, hardwoods and gleaming brass motif . . . in Dubai. I like it a lot better than 17/17 Homme (though not nearly so much as the Shooting Stars Kobe), but testing the Xerjoff brand is reminding me of Clive Christian -- quality materials and expertly blended compositions in small batch productions, but with the main focus on high-end packaging that jacks the prices up to nose-bleed luxury levels. Neither brand breaks any new ground as far as originality is concerned, but both are excellently positioned within their genres, and both smell (and look) like money. The Xerjoff packaging beats Clive Christian with a stick, however. Seriously. It's the difference between stiff upper lip British and exotic, opulent Mediterranean. The saving grace for both Clive Christian and Xerjoff is that the price tags for both brands make it unlikely that you'll bump into anyone else on your block wearing the same thing (unless, of course, your block is situated along the likes of Central Park West). ***Note 2: This is a prime example of what's considered manufactured exclusivity. But if you're not shy about whipping out the credit card and you're in the market for a quality fragrance, yet have zero inclination in potentially radiating the same olfactory aura as that indie hipster who flipped you off when you double-parked outside the Magnolia Bakery last Sunday, then the Xerjoff collections are certainly worth a look. The Xerjoff brand can be found at First In Fragrance out of Germany, and they (gladly and happily) ship internationally, which is how I got these samples in the first place.