>> Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen have upped the ante on their sunglasses collaboration with Linda Farrow: For Spring 2011, they've added leather and crocodile accents to a number of styles. The impetus, Ashley explains in the statement? “It’s about combining the allure and quality of the past with a modern aesthetic." The shades are now live on TheRow.com's e-shop — those with leather accents are $442, while those with croc trim run $874.
>> On a recent photo shoot in London, Lara Stone had the authenticity of her breasts questioned — but only out of concern: "I was being tied up with a rope for a fashion story. Apparently if my boobs were fake they might have exploded under the pressure." She admits that she has lost a bit of weight recently: "My body kind of settled into a different place [after she stopped drinking], and I quite like it." And as for how its affected her famous 32D bustline: "They have shrunk a bit, but really, I haven't got too much to complain about!" [Models.com]
>> John Galliano is now spending time in rehab in Arizona after he was persuaded to go for alcohol problems. According to the Washington Post, he had been having issues for a while now: "In recent months, according to sources, Galliano had been in a depressive state, his drinking increased voluminously and his work habits became increasingly erratic. Friends and colleagues reportedly urged him to seek help, but he refused. No one staged an intervention."
As for how his designs are faring, retailers are still placing orders. Galliano's spokesman said, "It's business as usual." And Dior reported the same. At Neiman Marcus, fashion director Ken Downing says: "We do not carry Galliano, but we carry Dior and we will continue to do so. Was Galliano's behavior acceptable? No. But we haven't had the sense that the collection itself has been tainted. We came to the European shows to buy clothes that will be in the store in six months, and we haven't lost that focus. It's our business."
At Saks, meanwhile, a rep for the store says that Galliano's Dior collections will remain on sale, but "John Galliano's men's collection, of which we had a small presentation, is no longer on the floor of our New York store."
The industry has generally chided Galliano for his comments, but few have come out as Isaac Mizrahi (who is Jewish) did last night, expressing what Galliano did as unforgivable: "I don’t think he’ll work again. I hope not. I hope he doesn’t work again . . . I guess I’m the wrong one to talk to, because I never really liked sort of what he did so much. I liked better what [Alexander] McQueen did. I liked better what Vivienne Westwood did. So now I don’t like it, and he’s a Jew hater? I was like, buh-bye."
And will the downfall of Galliano and the suicide of McQueen — and even the reticence of Tom Ford to take the big stage again like he once did at Gucci — usher in a new type of fashion designer? The Washington Post points out: "Today, only a handful of star artistic-directors-for-hire remains at the helm of big luxury brands, including [Marc] Jacobs at Vuitton and [Karl] Lagerfeld at Chanel. Instead, fashion executives are hiring young, unknown and inexpensive designers with shorter contracts and a business background to churn out big-selling products season after season, and are reaping the fame and fortune for themselves."
>> The stripe-filled Spring 2011 Prada collection has many fashion devotees in a tizzy — those striped Prada flatform oxfords, for example, already sold out last month in New York — and the craze isn't letting up yet. Prada stores are about to get stocked with the new Pailettes collection, which features striped and sequined clutches ($1,050) and shoppers in Yves Klein blue or hot pink. A first look at the line in the gallery.
>> Karolina Kurkova quietly wed her husband, actor and producer Archie Drury, in 2009 while pregnant. They, plus their son Tobin, who is now just over a year old, are captured for Vogue's April 2011 issue, and Kurkova tells the magazine, "Our wedding was intimate — just the two of us, a minister, and Tobin in my belly at sunset on the beach. We look forward to a big celebration with all of our friends and family — hopefully before we retire!" She reportedly repeated the sentiment to Ukrainian Hello! late last year, saying that she's always wanted a big wedding, and they still want to do it one day. However, they're waiting for Tobin to be older, because she'd rather him see it in real life than in paparazzi pictures. [Sans Artifice]
>> Twenty8Twelve was missing from the show calendar for the Fall 2011 season simply because Sienna and Savannah Miller decided to skip their usual runway show and instead hold private appointments. “We love doing shows, but because we’re not breaking the mold in what we do designwise, it’s not particularly translating to sales," Sienna explains. "And the more important thing for us is sales at the moment, especially in this economy.” Savannah recently told Style.com of the decision: "We wanted to focus on intimacy and building relationships. It's hard with a show and it can get quite theme-y. It's fun, but it ended up looking like a bit of a circus. Like, 'Crikey, who's going to wear that?!'" So where might those saved show funds go instead? “We’d love to do maybe five couture dresses a year — just to have access to those fabrics,” said Sienna. “[And] we’d love to open a store in New York. But frankly, we’re really comfortable with where the label’s got to now.” [WWD]
>> If you're looking for a little shoe inspiration, check out Jean-Michel Cazabat's Fall 2011 collection. The French cobbler concocted a collection for every occasion, ranging from sculptural, stacked-heel loafers for the chic office getup to embellished croc-print wedge booties for artier outings. Whichever forum currently calls, there's sure to be something to answer your needs. Check out the complete lookbook to see what we mean.
>> Gareth Pugh has come a long way from living in a squat house in 2005. The road hasn't been an easy one, however, he tells Vice in its new Style Issue: "We didn’t sell anything from the poodle or gimp shows — nothing until the fourth or fifth show. My first show was such a last-minute thing. I was only really thinking about the show and not selling stuff afterward. But once you start showing, you’re on the treadmill and have to carry on." Even a couple of years ago, he says, "There was a point, right before a show, when I barely had enough money to get my team over to Paris."
But now, Pugh is definitely starting to consider the financial aspect of his brand (and perhaps explains why he leans toward short films in place of runway shows): "At the moment I feel very much between a rock and a hard place. People expect an amazing show, but in order to do that in Paris you have to sell a lot of clothes, which maybe means people have to be able to imagine the clothes on hangers."
More from Pugh in Vice:
On why he opened his first store in Hong Kong: "Rick Owens’s wife, Michelle Lamy [Pugh's backer], thinks moneyed Chinese women like to look very chic, like avant-garde punks. I just make more sense over there. In America I’m seen as a little bit niche and weird."
On his relationship with Rick Owens: "I’m closer to his wife, Michelle. He always describes himself as the distant, stern father figure and she is like the overgenerous mother. She’s very critical about what I do, which I like. It’s good to have someone who doesn’t always give you unadulterated praise."
On his strangest fashion industry experiences: "Driving to the Palace of Versailles with Jeremy Scott, Suzy Menkes, Jefferson Hack, and Anouck Lepere was pretty funny. Everyone wanted to see this Jeff Koons exhibition — Anouck tried to climb the fence, Jefferson got into a fight with a security guard, and Suzy Menkes was taking pictures. That was weird. Oh, and the time I’d booked my housemates a holiday in Gran Canaria but got flown to New York to shoot with Mario Testino. I ended up at the Met Ball afterward and found myself having a fag with Christian Slater in the toilets while David Beckham took a piss at the urinal. The toilets there are a real superstar clusterf*ck. I just couldn’t work out why I was there."
On the clothes he wears: "I never buy clothes, so I don’t really have a choice when it comes to what I wear. I am very lucky to be able to pull a lot of Rick Owens and steal some of my stuff from the factory. (I have to steal my own samples [because] I don’t get a personal order quota. It’s a license.) But other than that I buy H&M hoodies and Topshop jeans."
On why he doesn't use much color: "The designs are more about the whole thing rather than the details, and if I were to do the big shapes I do, color would maybe be too much. Pink or red would push it all over the edge."
>> For the first time since 2003, Gap swung positive in year-over-year sales last year. But, Gap Inc. CEO Glenn Murphy says, "We’re still not happy. There isn’t a day that goes by that we don’t turn over a rock and find opportunity.”
Gap is closing 200 of its 900 worldwide stores by 2013, and will focus more on modernizing its look. Murphy cited “a huge opportunity . . . to fill in with trend-right product and chase products that make sense to us . . . and focus on new category development.” Adds Gap's head of global PR, Anita Borzyszkowska: "We focused on the denim collection 18 months ago: improving the fabric, fit and details [at a reasonable price]. Gap is most successful when it finds its place within the season's trends. The flare and the wide-leg pants are good examples. They are the sort of pieces that could appeal regardless of how closely you follow trends."
The company is shifting marketing dollars to win over new customers, particularly younger ones, as well as African-, Asian- and Hispanic-Americans, since Murphy finds the company's market share in all of those categories too low. In the past, he says, “we didn’t put enough money into acquiring new customers.”
Growth for Gap is primarily expected to come through global expansion, online, and outlets — in fact, the company sees international and online transactions representing 30 percent of its total revenue by 2013, up from 22 percent in 2010.
>> Emmanuelle Alt's first Vogue Paris cover — for April 2011 — came out last week, with Gisele Bundchen photographed by Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin in a white Dolce & Gabbana dress — a dress that has also been recently featured on the covers of Vogue Spain and Germany. Is Alt planning to go the supermodel route again for May, her second cover? Apparently she recently styled Kate Moss in a haute couture editorial for Vogue Paris's May issue — shot by Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott in London. It seems unlikely that the shoot wouldn't come with a cover deal, and Moss is, after all, among the coterie of Alt's favored models. [Telegraph UK]
