fashionologie

Style.com to Launch Magazine in October, Test E-Commerce

fashionologie — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 13:41:35 PDT

>> After much speculation, Style.com has confirmed it will launch its first print magazine on Oct. 31, just a few weeks after the Spring 2012 shows finish. The first issue is "going to be very much focused on Spring/Summer 2012 collections," according to Style.com editor-in-chief Dirk Standen. "We are going to spotlight the most interesting people, places and clothes of the season, but beyond that we are hoping to convey to the reader what the experience of going through that intense four week cycle is like ... Starting today I will be using our Twitter feed to let our readers know what we’re up to as we shoot the photo shoots, meet the designers and models, and rush to put together the first issue."

The magazine's editorial staff - in addition to Standen - centers around Style.com executive editor Nicole Phelps and contributing editor Tim Blanks, while the creative team includes Fairchild Fashion Media editorial director Peter Kaplan and Style.com magazine creative director Lina Kutsovskaya, formerly of Nylon and Teen Vogue.

As for the reason why Style.com is moving into print? Standen explains: "If you look at the big picture I don’t think [media] brands can afford to be tied to one medium anymore. Obviously you see that with magazines paying a lot of attention to their websites now. But even on the web, it’s not enough to just have a website. You have to be on various digital devices. You need to be on the various social media sites. You want your content to be available in as many places as possible. Now that we are within the Fairchild umbrella, which has a lot of experience and a great deal of expertise in publishing, it became a natural extension for Style.com to do a magazine."

The website is also testing e-commerce, concurrent with the magazine launch, Standen says: "We are working with six New York City designers to be announced during fashion week. They are going to make a very limited number of pieces available directly from their Spring [2012] collection, so that people will be able to buy them right away. We are going to coordinate it with the launch of the magazine so, technically end of October. They will be able to buy it and will receive a nice package in the mail within days."

The Style.com magazine is currently available for pre-order and will be available on newsstands in select cities across North America and in Europe.

Minimalism - Just a "Blip on the Fashion Radar" Come Spring?

fashionologie — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 12:20:59 PDT

>> Is fashion's minimalist revival going to be over come Spring? In the wake of Paris Fashion Week, a number of insiders seem to think so.

Marc Jacobs is on board with the idea - the campy Spring 2011 Louis Vuitton collection spurred Vogue.com's Sarah Mower to write: "The excitement of stylized, decadent fun, running rampant as a backlash against minimalism [is] an idea that fashion editors will take up." Style.com's Nicole Phelps, too, made note of Jacobs's about-face from last season: "Not unlike his seventies-inflected signature show back in New York more than three weeks ago, this was a flat-out refusal of the minimalism that was all over last season's runways, his own included."

The New York Times's Eric Wilson chimes in: "It was striking to see jarring pink-and-orange combos at a number of shows: Martin Grant, Yves Saint Laurent, Cacharel, Giles Deacon, Christopher Kane and Marc Jacobs. (Not buying it was Karl Lagerfeld, who, at the Chanel show, told Cathy Horyn of The Times: 'I really don’t think women want to go around looking like a Saint Laurent shopping bag.') Regardless, it made last fall’s foray into minimalism feel like just a blip on the fashion radar." Paper's Mickey Boardman adds: “After the Céline-ification of fashion, everything became about good taste and beige. I think we all hungered for hot pink.”

Retailers seem to be feeling similarly. Ed Burstell, managing director at Liberty of London, told WWD: “I think there’s going to be some boredom for minimalism [by Spring]. I’m not sure everyone’s willing to walk away from things that are a little more fun and sexy to [looks more suited to] a Connecticut soccer mom heading for lunch.” Lane Crawford's Sarah Rutson agrees: “The customer has had enough of neutrals from fall. We need to set the sales floor alive with color and print."

David Neville and Marcus Wainwright Take a Departure, Try Out Color for Rag & Bone Spring 2011

fashionologie — Sat, 11 Sep 2010 06:07:06 PDT

>> After last season's wildly successful collection - favored by editors and buyers alike - Rag & Bone's David Neville and Marcus Wainwright took a chance for Spring 2011. The utilitarian roots were still the same - military-grade fabrics, pictures of Wainwright's father and grandfather in their military uniforms for inspiration - but for the first time, the designers really experimented with color.

The departure from their comfort zone meant chiffons printed with a vacation snapshot Wainwright took on the island of Bequia, use of a mylar-like material, and a harness bra collaboration with lingerie designer Jean Yu (only some will wholesale). Some weren't quite convinced of the new direction - Style.com's Nicole Phelps wrote: "The appeal of this brand has been how strongly tethered to reality it remains, how much it reflects what the cool girls want to look like on their best day. Not enough of this collection met the bar they've set for themselves." But most seemed pleased: WWD deemed the departure "well worth the trip."

Friend of Rag & Bone Jessica Stam sat front row, chatting with Jessica Szohr throughout the show, and RJ Cutler, who worked with the designers on a minidocumentary last season - see the video here - was present, too. The only person missing? Halle Berry, who was tipped at the show, but supposedly her plane landed too late to attend.

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Style.com Will Have a Competitor in Vogue.com, But It's Not Going Away

fashionologie — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 22:04:11 PDT

>> Instead of shuttering Style.com, as many speculated would happen after Vogue.com's big relaunch - which comes right after Labor Day - Drew Schutte, SVP and chief revenue officer for Conde Nast Digital, is ready for the two to take over the web together: “In my mind, why not have two of the leading brands in the online space? There’s lots of competition coming up, so instead of letting someone else become the number-two competitor, I’d like to make one ourselves and have the number one and two in the space.”

Style.com was once the online home of both W and Vogue, but all three are now entirely separate - no pooling of resources. Style.com will send its own reviewers (Tim Blanks, Nicole Phelps, Meenal Mistry) to the upcoming fashion shows, as will Vogue.com (Jessica Kerwin, former Style contributor Sarah Mower, as well as Vogue senior staffers Mark Holgate, Hamish Bowles, and others).

There's good reason to keep Style around »

You Have a Perfume to Thank for the Return of Rochas

fashionologie — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 15:10:08 PDT

>> It was a surprise when Rochas reopened ready-to-wear for Fall 2009, just two years after unceremoniously closing down its fashion brand, leaving only a line of fragrances. But it turns out those fragrances, moneymakers though they are, are part of the reason the clothes are back - without the fashion, a brand runs the risk of losing relevance. "Fragrances have only a certain shelf life," says Robert Burke, an investment consultant and former Bergdorf Goodman executive, told The Wall Street Journal. "Fragrances are generally successful when they're connected to a living person."

So far, Marco Zanini's revival of the label has been well-received - Style.com's Nicole Phelps called his first collection for Fall 2009 "a promising start," and WWD ruled, "So far, so good." But now is not the best time to restart a luxury brand - Christina Binkley of The Wall Street Journal noted that while she was in the Paris showroom for an hour during Fashion Week, she spotted only one buyer looking the collection over. Ken Downing, fashion director at Neiman Marcus, says he picked up the collection, meanwhile, and named it as one of his favorites from Paris Fashion Week, because it "had great late-day and dinner dressing."

So will it succeed? »

Quote Of The Day: Nicole Phelps On Missoni Fall 2009

coutorture — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 08:10:19 PST

“

The multilayered hippie-meets-hip-hop look will be tricky to pull off anywhere south of the polar ice cap (photo shoots excepted), but taken in smaller doses, these are the kind of cozy, feel-good clothes that actually have a chance of selling in the new economy.

”Show Review, Style.com

Quote Of The Day: Nicole Phelps On Proenza Schouler Fall 2009

coutorture — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 08:16:40 PST

“

The best of the lot, though, was a violet embroidered silk dress that played nubby texture against see-through mesh. Unlike last season's show, which borrowed heavily from the arsenal of the eighties power babe, this collection referenced nothing so much as McCollough and Hernandez's own growing oeuvre. It proved that the duo don't lack for a strong vision. Boiled down to its essence? They understand what hip downtown girls want to wear.

”Runway review, Style.com

Quote Of The Day: Nicole Phelps On Marc Jacobs Fall 2009

coutorture — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 09:11:52 PST

“

Maybe it was the recent Stephen Sprouse project he completed at Louis Vuitton, or perhaps it's the fact that he now lives in Paris full time, but his Fall show was a big, juicy nostalgic kiss to a city that doesn't really exist anymore.

”Collection Review, Nicole Phelps for Style.com

Kirsten Dunst's Birthday, Nicole Phelps on Women's Success in Fashion

Justin Fenner — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 12:54:53 PDT

>> Those stories and more in our daily news roundup.

Today is Kirsten Dunst's 30th birthday, and what better way to celebrate her acting and modeling career - which she started at age 3 in a commercial for Kix cereal - than by taking a look back at her style transformation? [InStyle]
Nick Wooster, who was fired from his position as men's fashion director of Bergdorf Goodman last year, has landed a new job as the creative director of menswear at JC Penney. Wooster was let go two days after GQ published an interview in which he said, "I am just an old midget queen who, you know, had the good fortune to get this job and it's like, 'How did that happen?'" [NYP]
Former Vogue special events director Stephanie Winston Wolkoff is leaving her current position as fashion director at Lincoln Center to start her own agency. With SWW Creative, Wolkoff's goal is to "forge new partnerships in fashion, beauty and entertainment." [WWD]
Victoria Beckham's 9-month-old daughter, Harper, is still in diapers, but she's already received her first modeling offer. In an open letter to the youngest Beckham, baby clothing company My First Year wrote, "Both your parents are fashion icons, and we can see no reason why you shouldn't start your own career in the fashion industry even at your young age . . . You were therefore the immediate first choice for our campaign." Whether Victoria and David sit Harper in front of the camera remains to be seen. [Stylelist]
Is it harder for female designers to succeed in New York fashion than it is for men? In a new column, Nicole Phelps analyzes why many of the woman-oriented industry's most celebrated talents are men. "Part of the story seems to be that male designers strive for art while female designers strive for humanity, and this difference influences, even defines, the success they achieve," she writes. [Style.com]
Photo: Kirsten Dunst at the London premiere of Melancholia

2010 CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund Winners Billy Reid, Prabal Gurung, and Eddie Borgo Come Home with Newly-Increased Cash Prizes

fashionologie — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 09:39:46 PST

>> Last night, the 2010 CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund winners were announced, but before they could be named during the dinner gala at New York's Skylight Studios, the results were leaked on WWD's Twitter: Billy Reid won outright, and Prabal Gurung and Eddie Borgo were both named runners-up.

Style.com's Nicole Phelps wrote that the results were a bit of a surprise: "Many in the audience had pegged Gurung and Joseph Altuzarra as the front-runners." But nevermind: the prizes were even bigger this year, with Reid granted $300,000 (up from $200,000), and Borgo and Gurung each taking $100,000 (up from $50,000). "The main prize is the mentoring we provide," CFDA president Diane von Furstenberg noted of the increase, "but a little cash never hurts."

The rest of this year's finalists - Christian Cota, Robert Geller, Oliver Helden and Paul Marlow of Loden Dager, Pamela Love of Pamela Love Jewelry, Moss Lipow and Gregory Parkinson - were treated to a keynote speech by Karl Lagerfeld, who talked about how much fun Yves Saint Laurent was "before Pierre Berge" and advised: "Young goes. But good? If you're good, it may all last."

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