Lesley Scott's Blog
Posted by Lesley Scott
An unlikely fashion posterboy for fashionable do-gooding, Al Gore has created a growing buzz with his global warming warning movie "An Inconvenient Truth."
"Al Gore's movie did make everyone concerned about how the environment is in deep trouble. In this day and time, we have to do something," Mariel Gamboa, founder of Limited Edition – an organization designed to galvanize the fashion business into putting it’s weight (what there is of it) into raising awareness about global warming – recently told WWD. "It is true that fashion voices carry far and wide. If designers are willing to put out this message and get a little something back in return, that's great."
Designers including Diane von Furstenberg, Jade Jagger, Lutz & Patmos, Costume Nationale, and Missoni have all whipped up custom designs for Limited Edition's sale; Fashion being fashion, the event is by invite-only, and the items are ultra-exclusive: each will sport a numbered hangtag testifying to its exclusivity. Celebs such as Kate Moss, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jagger and Christy Turlington will each design a one-of-a-kind tee for Buddhist Punk which will be auctioned off at the conclusion of the sale in NYC from February 6-8. Both the auction proceeds and a minimum of ten percent of sales from "Design for a cause and save the planet" will go to Gore’s Climate Project, which is dedicated to fighting global warming at the popular & government levels. (via WWD)
Posted by Lesley Scott
Although frosty fashion insiders may look askance at yet another Hollywood starlet with zero training in fashion design magically re-inventing herself as an insta’fashion "designer", in the case of Sienna Miller, they may have to reconsider. Her new line, Twenty8Twelve by s.miller, is a collaboration with her sister Savannah, who just happened to attend London’s Central Saint Martins fashion factory – responsible for fashion design A-listers like John Galliano, Alexander McQueen, Stella McCartney, and Hussein Chalayan. "I've always loved fashion," Sienna recently told WWD, "and Savannah got a First in design at Saint Martins."
The new label is backed by Pepe Jeans owner, Spanish entrepreneur Carlos Ortega (Sienna appears in Pepe ad campaigns), and will launch in fall 2007 with 80 pieces of denim, knitwear, tailored jackets, dresses and outerwear. "We wanted to create that London world that feels inaccessible," explains Sienna about their myriad inspirations, which ranged from the poetry of the Beat generation, to songstress Patti Smith, to the dark & brooding London of Dickens. The hangtags will be decorated with illustrations by David Cooper of Sienna in looks from the line, while love poems will be tucked into jean pockets.
Today, it’s Sienna the fashion brand; is tomorrow: "Sienna, The Brand"?
According to the actor, no. "I'm not about to become a brand — I won't be releasing an album, perfume and knickers next year," she notes. "Because of my job, people are willing to invest in the business, but my sister's an incredible designer, and it's a great opportunity for me to work with her." Based on the label itself – which is devoid of either sister’s name and named, instead, for Sienna’s date of birth – this could well be true. "I loved the way Martin Margiela uses numbers. People wanted us to put the line in our names, but we wanted it to be more abstract." (via WWD)
Posted by Lesley Scott
On a recent trip to New York, the ever dapper fashion designer Valentino – a native Italian who shows his designs in Paris - dropped by the Martha Stewart show. Why? To whip up a lil’ pasta with the tastefully, Valentino-camel-cardigan-clad doyenne of domesticity in her equally tasteful drab-hued studio (which is painted in a shade from her line of eponymous paints known as Bedford Gray). Apparently it’s good to be Valentino, as the birth of his Rigatoni alla Portofino proves. "I was on my boat in Portofino in Liguria — it's the place of pesto," Valentino explained to Ms. Martha. "One day, I asked my cook, ‘Why can't we mix tomato sauce and pesto?' And so we did it." Naturally, a good pasta requires an accompanying vino, and the couturier came prepared with a few bottles of red.
What’s interesting about this appearance - which didn’t ostensibly occur for the normal raisons d’promotion of some new product – is that it demonstrates the continued influence of lifestyle marketing on the fashion business. Full-fledged fashion success now relies on catering to all the other areas of people’s lives that require designing and curating – from cooking, to music, entertaining, vacationing, and even just relaxing. Smart designers have grasped this reality and realize that fashion success is almost a by-product of the lifestyle part of the business; in order to peddle the vast quantities of accessories & perfumes that fund their wealthy empires (and high flying ways), creating a lifestyle brand is pretty much de rigeur. (via WWD)
Posted by Lesley Scott
After it was introduced in 1952, it took almost a decade for Ray-Ban Wayfarer to achieve fashion icon status after Audrey Hepburn’s Holly Golightly “breakfasted” outside the windows at Tiffany’s in 1961 in a Givenchy LBD, pearls - and a pair of classic Wayfarers. Dan Aykroyd & John Belushi rocked Wayfarers as The Blues Brothers (1980), as did Madonna, Deborah Harry of Blondie, Elvis Costello, The Smiths' Johnny Marr, members of U2, and, of course, Tom Cruise in 1983’s Risky Business.
The 70 year old label is now re-branding, taking advantage of their longtime links to hip music & movies. "When we began to look at how we wanted to strategically position the brand, we came to an easy and natural conclusion that in the history of our product we have a gold mine," Marcello Favagrossa, Ray-Ban's brand director recently told WWD. "So now what we are trying to do is dig out the gold nuggets. But the challenge behind promoting a history of a brand is how do you convey the message that it's always modern? Then we began addressing the brand's longtime association with rock 'n' roll, and we realized it would be a perfect thing to focus on. We wanted to stress the American DNA of the brand, but also let it be a bit rough around the edges."
Interestingly, when WWD compiled its WWD 100, Ray-Ban was the fifth most recognized accessory (after Liz Claiborne, Nine West, Gucci and Coach). "In the mid-Nineties, many historians claimed it was the most widely sold sunglass in history," says Favagrossa. "The iconography of the brand is closely linked with the movie industry, as well as the music industry. And that created a magic that has moved with the brand. But when we acquired it, the business results were not as healthy as the image and reputation,” explains Fabio D'Angeloantonio, group marketing director of Luxottica which acquired the Ray-Ban from Bausch & Lomb in 1999.
The new Ray-Ban Wayfarer will debut in Europe this month, and will be available in the U.S. in January 2007 at select department stores and chains such as LensCrafters and Sunglass Hut, priced at $130 ($180 for polarized lenses). In relaunching the original Wayfarer, the company spared no efforts to get the details right: the logo on the temple, slant of the lenses, the particular acetate used, construction, and even the hinges. "We had to find the hinges that were similar to those used on the original," explains D'Angeloantonio. "No one was making them anymore, so we had to develop them." In addition to original black and tortoise options, the company is also offering versions in red and white – with the possibility of more colors in the works.
Posted by Lesley Scott
After the departure from Gap of creative director Pina Ferlisi – responsible for originally launching the phenomenally successful Marc by Marc Jacobs line – fashionistas mourned…and sales tanked. For the second quarter, which ended July 29, sales fell 6 percent (compared with 4 percent a year ago), and internationally, 11 percent (compared to a gain of 1 percent the year before).
In an effort to shore up sales and overhaul its abysmal fashion cred, Gap is taking a page from the H&M playbook. The fellow fast-fashion retailer brought on designers like Karl Lagerfeld, Stella McCartney, and Victor & Rolf to create limited edition collections, and, in the process, created a PR bonanza; Gap has recruited fashion insider Roland Mouret to work his design magic. "Fashionistas who usually just pass by the Gap may go into the store to purchase Mouret items, and while they are there, see other merchandise they like," Christine Chen, senior research analyst at Pacific Growth Equities, told WWD. "H&M got people to line up outside of their stores when they joined with Lagerfeld. The Gap needs to generate buzz and get people back into their stores. Gap needs to rejuvenate their customer, whom they have been disappointing for two years. Their problem has not been their merchandise, which I think has improved drastically, it's the stigma associated with the brand."
The capsule collection – which goes on sale from November 7 through the end of December in 160 stores in France, U.K., and Ireland, and six or seven select outlets in New York and retails between 45 GBP and 80 GBP ($85-$150) – is comprised of 10 dresses, shirtdresses, Courreges’esque numbers, V necks with ruffles and bib-front tunics. Fabrics include stretch jersey, flannel, gabardine, and crepe, and hues are basic fashion neutrals: charcoal, navy, black, red and gray; the collection bears the Mouret touch: folded cap sleeves, pockets, ruffles & epaulets. "It's definitely not a diffusion of what I've been doing, but I have revisited a lot of the details I've done in the past, like the folded sleeve," says Mouret. "They came to me because they felt they weren't strong in the dress category. They wanted a new project that would take Gap dresses to a new level. I have always been a fan of Gap — I like their laid-back attitude, and it was the right mix of people to work with."
