Knitwear designer Simone Shailes has landed in Topshop and her structured designs for the retailer, inspired by her Central Saint Martins Fall 08 show, are a winter winner. The 25 year old Londononer learned how to knit by way of her grandmother and her studies at Saint Martins. After her graduate show, Topshop scooped her up for a capsule collection and the rest is history. Check out our Network Partner, Style Bubble, for more on the designer, and, lest we forget, the Topshop goods right here.
You could call it a marketing ploy, or another act of meaningless journalism, but we're not going to turn down an excuse to obsessively discuss e-commerce all day long. Whether today will be the Black Friday of e-commerce or not, the fact is that online shopping is now a powerful force in the fashion industry. Let's chalk Cyber Monday up to the fact that today is the first day our notions of holiday-shopping will germinate at our office desks and leave it at that. If you're not sure where to start, check out our holiday gift guide for fashion items under fifty dollars in addition to all of the fabulous gift guides curated across the Sugar Network (our sister sites) which can be found in one place, namely, Holiday Sugar. For other lovely e-commerce inspirations check out our namesake tag, where we list online sales, and our Spreads tab, where shopping and collage meet.
We are happy to report that retailers, overall, did quite well this Black Friday despite the fact that many thought there might be zero turnout at all. WWD reports that outlet and discounters did exceptionally well but even department stores saw an impressive turnout.
There's nothing more fashionable than a well-planned dinner party--thirty dollar budget or no. The NY Times put a world renowned event planner to just that task and the results, we have to say, were quite stylish.
You could call it the ol' Gucci Group shuffle. Fredrick Lukoff, formerly of Lanvin (extra-GG), has accepted a position as the new president and chief executive officer of Stella McCartney. Lukoff will be replacing Marco Bizzarri who will go on to join Bottega Veneta.
Marc Jacobs (a la Louis Vuitton) is heading up a new collaboration, this one resurrected from the Vuitton archives in honor of a retrospective at Deitch Projects. Jacobs' 2001 collaboration with artist Stephen Sprouse will be reworked and re-released--giving fashion an optimistic dose of day-glo and graffiti prints come January 01.
Whether as gifts or personal treats, these fifty items under fifty dollars will keep your budget in tact and your lifestyle stylish. Click through for product information, prices, and where to buy. Happy Holidays!
