fashionologie

Quote Of The Day: On The New Louis Vuitton Campaign

coutorture — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 10:59:15 PDT

“

Sitting on the hood of the astronauts’ pickup truck, unidentified, is Vuitton’s $1,530 “Icare” travel bag named for Icarus, the hero of Greek mythology who dies when he flies too close to the sun. Is that a little weird? [Antoine] Arnault says when he saw the bag, he thought “what a nice symbol and coincidence! We are representing these people who went closer to the sun than anybody.”

”"New Vuitton Ad Campaign: The Right Stuff?", The Wall Street Journal

Quote Of The Day: Women Over 35 Not Accounted For Online

coutorture — Fri, 22 May 2009 07:53:19 PDT

“

Here lies a problem common to most of these otherwise forward-thinking fashion sites. After the initial fun is over, weather forecasts, friends' groups, and video can seem gimmicky, and when the sites present youthful styles like that pintucked T-shirt and tights to a grown woman headed to the office on Monday morning, they can seem downright disconnected.

”"The Forgotten Market Online: Older Women", The Wall Street Journal

fashionologie — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 17:45:15 PDT

>> INSIDER WIRE -The Wall Street Journal demolished its fashion bureau just before New York Fashion Week last month, letting go a few contributors along the way, including Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan, who largely wrote the paper's fashion blog, Heard on the Runway. It's disappointing, but not really surprising, then to hear that after today, which marked the end of Paris Fashion Week, the blog will likely go dark; blog posts have been dwindling for the past month, but we're sorry to see it go, the posts that were done made it a must-read. [The Cut]

Wall Street Journal Fashion Bureau: No Longer

fashionologie — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 11:26:17 PST

>> Even icons aren't safe anymore. In late December, Village Voice laid off 30-year veteran and fashion writer Lynn Yaeger - she's since been picked up to blog for New York magazine during Fashion Week - and now, the Wall Street Journal has dismissed 23-year veteran Teri Agins as part of a decision to close its fashion and retail bureau.

The number of staffers has been reduced from nine to five - currently retained are columnist Christina Binkley and editor Lisa Bannon; the seven other employees - including Teri Agins, Rachel Dodes, and Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan, who generally writes the newspaper's must-read Heard on the Runway blog - have all been let go effective at the end of March and asked to reapply for the three remaining positions in the bureau.

All WSJ.'s fault? »

Kate Moss Tapped by Mango, Fashion Shows Go Digital, and Alexa Chung's New Gig

Christina Perez — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 06:33:53 PST

>> These stories and more - here, in our daily news roundup.

Christian Louboutin shares his favorite New York City spots [5th & 58th]

KCD is launching digital fashion shows for fashion week; the first designer to participate will be Prabal Gurung [Wall Street Journal]

Alexa Chung styled and starred in Superga's Spring 2012 campaign; the company gave her creative "free rein" [Vogue UK]

Designers love Wallis Simpson - and her hair [New York Times]

Mary Katrantzou's collection for Longchamp is now available [InStyle]

Kate Moss is the new face of Mango [Huffington Post]

Photo: Mango's Spring 2012 ad campaign starring Kate Moss

Dior Rumored to Be "Paralyzed" by New Designer Decision

fashionologie — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 13:58:15 PST

>> Dior has been without a creative director for almost nine months now - since the end of February, when John Galliano was suspended and then ultimately fired. The brand has said it would "take all its time" deciding who should replace Galliano, and last week, it was reported to be looking at a new set of potential designers after talks with Marc Jacobs continue to falter. But Dana Thomas, a Paris-based fashion and luxury reporter for The Wall Street Journal, Tweets today: "I hear that the reason Dior isn't hiring anyone yet is because they don't know what to do - completely paralyzed. Imagine that." [@DanaThomasParis]

Bestselling Author Tyra Banks Has Considered Producing Food and Doing Spas

fashionologie — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 14:10:19 PDT

>> Tyra Banks says she "got a little alopecia from the stress" of writing her debut young-adult book, Modelland, but it's panned out for her - the novel is now topping bestseller lists.

Banks, who early next year will complete the owner/president/manager program at Harvard Business School, tells the Wall Street Journal the classes have helped with the direction of her business: "Professors explained to me that focus is great. Being the biggest and having your foot in a bunch of things is not necessarily the best thing. So I came back and focused the message of my company ... I said, "If it's not about expanding the definition of beauty and making women feel physically and emotionally better about themselves, then we're not doing it." We put away ideas to produce food. I've been approached to do real estate with homes geared toward first-time women buyers, spas, all kind of stuff, and we put those ideas away, too."

She also seemed to be fully comfortable with her career growth: "I've found that I enjoy being at a business meeting more than I enjoy being on a photo shoot. And I can lead a meeting better."

Kanye West's Debut Show Met with Criticism, But He's Not Giving Up

fashionologie — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 08:59:18 PDT

>> Kanye West debuted his womenswear collection in Paris Saturday, in front of an audience that included the designers Azzedine Alaia, Joseph Altuzarra, Alexander Wang, Dean and Dan Caten, Olivier Theyskens, Jeremy Scott, and Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, plus Anna Wintour.

During his after-party that evening at Club Silencio, West grabbed the microphone to make the following speech: “Thank you for anybody that didn’t believe, because they motivated us to break our boundaries. We don’t know what the reviews will be, we don’t know what they will say, but I got a chance to go to Italy and feel those fabrics. I begged Louis Vuitton to let me do more shoes after my shoes sold out in two weeks, and they did not. I begged Nike, I begged this company to let me do it. And I took out motherf*cking loans to get the best models, to get the best designers, to get the best venue. I gave you everything that I had."

He continued: "This is my first collection. Please be easy. Please give me a chance to grow. This is not some celebrity sh*t. I don’t f*ck with celebrities. I f*ck with the creatives in this room, the amazing people who spend every day of their life trying to make the world a more beautiful place. The amount of people that tried to get me a celebrity f*cking deal. They said, ‘You need to do boot-cut jeans, or you won’t sell.’ Shut the f*ck up ! Or Hedi Slimane in the motherf*cking Mercer, sitting with me, saying, ‘Stop giving them your ideas, Kanye. Do your own thing.’ Hedi Slimane! To feel so frustrated. And I thank anybody who came to this party, everybody who supported, everybody who believed, because people thought it was a joke, and maybe people still do, but I can only grow from this point.”

The reviews came in later, and there were some criticisms. Suzy Menkes noted: "Mr. West followed the sexual energy of the Balmain style, with well-made clothes in fine fabrics. But a celebrity tag and a lively audience filled with music-business friends, does not cut it in Paris." WWD wrote: "A white dress with a strip of a racer back and a pair of colorful leather pants were nice. But in general the leathers and cuts were too clunky. The rest of the collection cribbed from the work of the designers he admires, many of whom were sitting in the audience, and whose ranks he intends to join." The New York Times's Eric Wilson blogged: "There was one good-looking pair of color-blocked pants in blue and coral, but it was obvious that most of the clothes suffered from a poor fit." And from The Wall Street Journal: "A vast quantity of luxury materials can’t blind people to a lack of creative marksmanship."

Cathy Horyn writes that the day after the show, West acknowledged criticism like the poor fit and the casting, and: "He was completely open about the learning-curve problems and indicated that he planned to deal with them."

Olivier Rousteing's Debut Balmain Collection Deemed "a Hit" by Critics

fashionologie — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 15:01:13 PDT

>> In his Las Vegas-inspired debut at Balmain earlier today, 26-year-old Olivier Rousteing has won himself a few new fans. "Viva Las Vegas…and budding young fashion talent," WWD wrote.

Rousteing said he wished to turn the label away from holey T-shirts and tattered jeans to give more focus to the Balmain's couture roots, and his efforts were rewarded. The Wall Street Journal's Christina Binkley noted: "From the look of things, Mr. Rousteing has a bright future." "I think he did great," said Bergdorf Goodman fashion director Linda Fargo as she exited the show. And Suzy Menkes called the collection "a hit": "Mr. Rousteing proved his weight in the gold he scattered so liberally on the collection."

Watch Lady Gaga's New Mugler Video; Nicola Formichetti's Second Collection Disappoints Critics

fashionologie — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 09:51:27 PDT

>> Mugler seems to be quickly losing steam among the fashion crowd - a room full of smoke sent some guests outside until the show started, and many sounded disappointed when Lady Gaga only appeared on a video screen (clip below) singing: "I am a Mugler woman; don't f*ck with me. Don't f*ck with Mugler. Welcome to Paris; we are Paris." As the AP wrote, "Having a video of the world’s biggest star is simply not the same thing as seeing her strut her stuff on the catwalk, and the show fell flat even before it started."

Post-show, the Wall Street Journal's Christina Binkley tweeted, "I have rarely seen so many pissed off people rush out of a fashion show. Mugler. No new trends there," later elaborating: "It was a melange of the trends of the past 15 years: Beige from 2010, articulated shoulders from 2009, gothic, asymmetrical cuts from Helmut Lang."

The AP wrote: "It increasingly feels like Formichetti and the brand’s ready-to-wear designer, Sebastien Peigne, are grasping at straws, trying to come up with an outrageous new look that can become the brands new identity instead of finding a way to update its historical legacy." While Style.com noted, "It's a narrow little cross section of the world that has the bod and the lifestyle for these clothes. But if Mugler's 169,538 (and counting) Facebook likes are any indication, plenty of other plugged-in people are paying attention. That's probably good enough for the Mugler owners for now."