fashionologie

Jimmy Choo Pairing Up with H&M for 2009 Holiday Season

fashionologie — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 11:35:14 -0700

>> H&M collaborates annually with a guest designer for every holiday season, and 2009 is all about Jimmy Choo. Founder Tamara Mellon has pledged to do a collection of shoes, bags, and accessories for both men and women - plus a range of women's clothing: "The perfect party pieces to buy now and then wear out that night!” The collaboration marks the first time H&M is working with an accessories brand, and will hit around 200 stores on Nov. 14. The shoes are expected to be limited to select stores and will cost from $60 for a pair of ballet pumps to $200 for a pair of boots.

Fashion Fund 2009 Kicks Off with "Donatella Delight"

fashionologie — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 17:33:27 -0700

>> One of Valentino Garavani's favorite models, Natalia Vodianova, missed the big premiere of his documentary; she was in London for the launch of the 2009 Fashion Fringe search for emerging British design talent - the UK's version of the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund award - instead. In celebration of this year's honorary chairperson, Donatella Versace, who flew in from Milan for the event, guests like Claudia Schiffer, Roland Mouret, Jonathan Saunders, and Jacquetta Wheeler were served "Donatella Delight" cocktails. Net-a-Porter founder Natalie Massenet is also on the judging panel this year, as is Jimmy Choo founder Tamara Mellon, who is overseeing the introduction of Fashion Fringe's first accessories prize. The four as yet unnamed finalists will show capsule collections during Spring 2010 London Fashion Week, and the winner - who in the past has been Basso & Brooke and Erdem - receive upwards of £100,000 for a follow-up show.
*image: source

ACE Awards Go Green for Stella McCartney

fashionologie — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 12:30:47 -0800

>> At last night's annual Accessories Council ACE Awards, Nicholas Ghesquiere may have been awarded Designer of the Year, Sally Singer the Marylou Luther Award for Fashion Journalism, and Tamara Mellon's Jimmy Choo the Brand of the Year, but Stella McCartney was awarded the most special treatment.

The designer, who was flanked by Helena Christensen, Coco Rocha, and Dean Koons and anointed with a new award, Green Designer of the Year, had her table completely set with salads while everyone else had "a decadent lobster plate." And out of respect for her vegan views, even her award - a Judith Leiber miaundiere - was made green, with a black hemp lining in leather's stead and no stainless steel plating. Such attention to detail kept Stella in a high mood - she joked as she accepted her award, "Little did I know that my award would be second to last and I would need to use the ladies' room after putting on my unitard outfit. But that's life!"
*image: source, source

Harvey's Not Ready To Give Up on Halston Yet

fashionologie — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 12:13:45 -0700

>> Halston may have stripped itself of a head designer and a red carpet consultant recently, but the absence of Marco Zanini and Rachel Zoe won't keep owner Harvey Weinstein and board member Tamara Mellon from showing a Halston collection during New York Fashion Week.

In fact, it sounds like they're pulling out all the stops — the Spring 2009 collection, started by Marco Zanini and reportedly finished by an in-house team, will be presented at the Museum of Modern Art, a venue that can't be cheap to rent out. With five weeks until the presentation, who knows what could happen between now and then: Harvey Weinstein doesn't seem the type to throw in the towel on an investment.
*image: source

Halston's Demise: Too Much Bravado, Not Enough Follow-Through

fashionologie — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 11:43:48 -0700

>> Cathy Horyn brings up a couple of key points today about why Halston didn't work, yet again.

1. The "too many cooks in the kitchen" theory.

Considering that you've got notoriously strong-personalitied Harvey Weinstein as partial owner of the brand, notoriously strong-personalitied Tamara Mellon on the board, and notoriously strong-personalitied Rachel Zoe, who was until recently a creative and red carpet consultant for the brand, all stirring the Halston pot, I'd say the explosion factor was pretty likely.

2. After the initial push, there was little brand visibility in the public eye.

As Cathy points out:

One of the telling things about the Halston situation, even before Marco Zanini’s departure, is that there has been very little publicity or marketed buzz around the label. If the company were completely organized and focused, we would see that—we would see lots of actresses wearing the clothes, we would hear people talking about a Halston bag. Whatever. There’s been a lot of silence since Zanini showed his first collection, back in February. That may have been a calculated decision, but somehow I doubt it, and, anyway, what would be the point in this kind of economic climate?

This lack of red carpet visibility is part of the reason, according to Fashion Week Daily, why Rachel Zoe was let go — because she couldn't connect the dresses with her clients (or anyone else's, for that matter).

Halston has been through countless revivals since Halston's death in 1990, under the creative direction of designers Randolph Duke, Kevan Hall, Craig Natiello, Piyawat Pattanapuckdee, Bradley Bayou, and most recently Marco Zanini. Let's hope the next batter up can bring us a home run.
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Halston Gets All Shook Up; Marco Zanini, Rachel Zoe Likely Out

fashionologie — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 12:11:20 -0700

>> The revolving door of designers continues, this time at Halston. Marco Zanini, who has presented one Fall 2008 collection for the newly revived brand, is no longer working at company headquarters, WWD reports.

Rachel Zoe's job as advisor for red carpet and celebrity styling to the brand may also be on the rocks, especially considering that Halston by Marco Zanini have made few to no red carpet appearances, not even on Zoe's clients. Trouble between Zoe and the brand was first heralded when the celebrity stylist failed to appear at the inaugural Halston show in February after sitting front row at Oscar de la Renta an hour earlier.

Marco Zanini is said to have designed the Spring 2009 Halston collection, which will be presented at New York Fashion Week in September. The company may already be looking for successors, but board member (and Jimmy Choo wunderkind) Tamara Mellon adamantly denied that Georgina Chapman, wife of Halston owner Harvey Weinstein, will be assuming any creative role.

Tough times these days for a designer who gets a less-than-positive review.
*image: source