Steve Madden, what are you thinking?
Although I do praise Steve Madden for pushing the envelope in letting their clients customize their own shoes last fall, I’m appalled that they have the galls to blatantly copy designer shoes to sell them off as their own at a cheaper price.
Repeating their offenses from Christian Louboutin to most recently Balenciaga. The pair in question came into light at the Business of Fashion blog where the sporty multi-colored pump has been grossly and obviously copied by Steve Madden. Not only that, those lacy peep toe, construction boot pumps they call “Bombb Nat Nubuck” are also a knock off of Balenciaga’s Fall 2007 line. Perhaps the sales won’t mean much significance to Balenciaga’s financial portfolio, but designers need to protect their designs from profiteering companies like Steve Madden. Even now there is barely a dent or law that cracks down much on counterfeiting, much less crack down on companies who blatantly parade these copies around proudly with their own names stamped on it as if they were geniuses. And yet, they are. Because fashion is perhaps one of the few places where this sort of plagiarism can go unpunished no matter how big the elephant in the room is.
Funny how Steve Madden is expanding to a store within the Eaton Centre soon. I used to like them for making some cute shoes, but now, like Nine West, they’re not original enough to make their own designs and resort to copying for the sake of sales. A shame.
The predicament is typical and expected though. People don’t want, or can’t afford, to drop $500-$1000 on a single pair of shoes, even I haven’t taken the plunge yet to get shoes for that price. More importantly though, I put an emphasis on durability, I’m pretty rough on my shoes as I can get them scuffed quite easily, and prancing around in heels all day is a painful venture. Perhaps I should take heed of my cousin’s advice and start looking at Naturalizer shoes for comfort and classic styles. Growing old or growing wiser?
Above is the Steve Madden’s Balenciaga peep toe boot pump (wow, we gotta find a better name for this…), and I have to admit it’s a hot shoe I’d love to sport myself - but I don’t buy knock offs (and they never carry my size anyway).
Image credit: Steven Madden
Missing in Action
Hello everybody,
I apologize if there were any lack of updates as of late, my personal life has been kinda taking over my free time as I’m in the midst of moving, I have a performance to prepare for and a trip to plan for.
Concerning Montreal fashion, I haven’t had much time to consume and divulge much on that front, for that I apologize.
However I am going on a trip to Japan in a couple of weeks, so be rest assured that I’ll be reporting on Japanese fashion from abroad 
I’ve also read much about the glittering glass flagship stores sparkling in the Ginza district like pretty jewels, so loads of photos to come.
Afterwards I’m going to Sin City aka Las Vegas for kicks and maybe if there’s time to rent a car, make a trip to Desert Hills Outlet designer discount store (as per mentioned in Dana Thomas’ “Deluxe”).
It’ll be a bit difficult to keep things Montreal-centric as I’ll be traveling around quite a bit this year. But here’s a recap on what will be happening in terms of store openings:
- H&M flagship store on St-Catherine, the construction tarp is drapped across the building already right across the HMV store. Opens Fall 2008
TNT (The New Trend) on Westmount Square - Toronto-based trendy designer store. NOW OPEN! Check out their official site blog to see pictures galore of the new site.- Agent Provocateur - Location TBD. UK import’s sexy lingerie line arrives in Montreal in late 2008.
The biggest upcoming fashion event will be happening during the Grand Prix celebration, for the Montreal Fashion & Design Festival from June 4th to the 8th, 2008. Showcasing at least 50 labels in a free, open-air catwalk fiesta with free goodies, bar terrasses, music, and street entertainments.
Shopping Events
Of course, Montreal is famous for it’s St-Laurent sidewalk sales which happens twice (or maybe more? I always think that there’s always a sale somewhere) a year. This year’s first sidewalk sale will coincide with the St-Ambroise Fringe Festival (don’t worry, it’s still in Montreal) pulling along another bazaar-like opportunity to shop for locally made goods at Fringe Art Marts. The sale and festival happens June 21rst and 22nd, 2008.
Summer is right around the corner which means BIG upcoming festivals: beer, jazz, just for laughs, francopholie, grand prix, fantasia, you name it, it’s going to happen. Enjoy your summer everyone! I will be back soon hopefully to write a little more before my trip and will give you updates on my journey to the Land of the Rising Sun.
Amusez-vous bien
To have an opinion or no?
My trip to DC included some great insight from a relative who writes for one of the big newspapers in DC and gave me some useful advice. She told me that the senior fashion editor of the newspaper had quit the paper a few years back in favor to work for the so-called Carrie Bradshaw’s “Mecca” of all magazines - Vogue. She lasted 6 months and quit.
Her reason? Writing for a magazine had too much pressure to be positive ALL the time. If a brand’s collection is perceived as bad for the season, they simply don’t write about it at all. Instead they would focus on the brands they deemed good. Being bred from a newsroom where there needs to be a heart to the story which includes fact checking, interviews, and unraveling the truth (whether good or bad) - there wasn’t any of that at Vogue.
You may find the occasional insightful article, the most notable I’ve read recently in Harper’s Bazaar’s September 2007 issue, “Everyone’s a fashion critic” by Pulitzer Prize acclaimed writer Robin Ghivan (The Washington Post’s fashion editor). But as a whole, it’s hard to be negative in a magazine, I can vouch that as a writer for Gloss. It’s not that there’s anything to hide really, I enjoy doing interviews and all of them so far have been humble and super nice people. But after a while, it gets redundant. Newspapers have an edge that will allow you to express your opinions if given you can back up your statements.
Being a fashion editor at a newspapers does have its drawbacks. Opinions dished in newspapers can hurt brands, resulting in bans from certain fashion shows. Nobody has been spared, even the almighty Wall Street Journal, The NY Times, The International Herald Tribune, and Newsweek writers have been banned from attending shows, from Louis Vuitton to Armani, for their comments. Frankly though, kudos to these women who have the experience and most importantly - who have their eyes wide open. These women are not easily swayed by the glamour and lavish parties. Oh sure, they’ll attend the parties, but by no means would it bribe them in counting a collection as fabulous if it doesn’t live up to certain standards or capability. What makes them so qualified in critiquing you ask? Perhaps it’s because they don’t blindly follow the herd, that they don’t just gobble up what every designer has to offer. Not only that, they have experience under their belt and they haven’t abandoned their investigative journalistic skills.
Hilary Alexander, for The Daily Telegraph UK, is perhaps the exception to the investigative journalistic style for a newspaper. Although Hilary would rarely express her opinion on collections, she certainly makes up for it by concisely writing show reviews with the pen of a novelist. Her choice of words build and create fantastical atmosphere that one can only dream of how beautiful these runway shows are in real life. She’s incredibly talented on this end, and so I forgive her for lacking an opinion.
With my experience in fashion magazine writing, I feel that here you would have to stretch your creative writing skills by indulging the reader into the fantasy that fashion is portraying. That, in some respect, requires quite a good deal of skills in order to achieve this mystical world for the reader. How do you convince your readers that the latest designer you’re presenting is hot stuff and why? What makes them special? I’ve been struggling with this since I’ve started, but learned a great deal along the way. I do believe at the end of the day that my heart belongs in having an opinion on fashion and digging deeper to unravel the truth and mystery behind the fashion facade.
Image credit: Patrick McMullan for Harper’s Bazaar
D.C. is for De.li.Cious Part Deux
Bethesda Area
This is another district in D.C. where old money rules and where you’ll find freestanding luxury brands like Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Tiffany & Co, and Cartier lining up the streets. Neiman Marcus and Bloomingdale’s reign over as the department store moguls, while the J.Crew and Banana Republic store windows display a large range of classic preppy American lifestyles. I realize that Montreal lacks free standing stores like these, I’m guessing there’s not much of a market for it.
Max Mara
There aren’t any Max Mara stores in Montreal…are there? I haven’t noticed. Either way it was my first time checking out this brand in its marble settings. The style and collections weren’t quite of my taste, it was directed for an older demographer (30-45 maybe), sportswear consisted of linen shirts, business suits, earth toned colors, the cuts weren’t as tailored as I had hoped. Despite this, I expressed my opinion to Susan, the sales woman, and she was nice enough to tell me to check out Co-op Barney’s New York next door, and wanted to refer us to another store in Dupont Circle (she forgot the name though), for something more young and urban. It’s unusual to hear sales people refer you to the competition, so I appreciated that she wanted to help me. Now that’s service. I’m really starting to like the service in these luxury stores.
At Susan’s recommendation, I indeed made a stop here. I had never heard of this branch of Barney’s, but after taking a look around, it was clear that even the almighty Barney’s has succumbed to the accessible luxury market and established a more affordable store for the young and trendy. Marc Jacobs (he’s everywhere I swear!), Helmut Lang, J Brand jeans, the lot. I did end up buying a strapless jersey dress with pockets by Velvet (made in the USA!). Only to find out later on that I could’ve gotten the same dress at Cusp for 10 bucks cheaper as it was “on sale”. However Cusp didn’t have the color I wanted, which was black, so I’m not too distressed for missing out on a $10 discount.
This is D.C.’s mega mall that’s split into 2 seperate buildings. Tyson’s Corner is your generic mall where the massive flock of consumers stroll, browse and crowd the walkways. You’ll find the usual fast fashion lot of H&M, Mango, Zara, etc. I wasn’t really interested in this mall since I could find most of these brands back at home, albeit much more expensive.
Tyson II or Tyson’s Galleria has all the expensive luxury brands you can think of - Chanel, Dior, Ferragamo. Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus and Bloomie’s also made up as the major department stores. Surprisingly though, or perhaps I was expecting too much, these luxury stores don’t carry clothes, they’re mostly accessory stores which hold the items that people would be willing to splurge on - mainly bags, wallets, sunglasses, shoes and jewelry. If you were going to look for clothes you’re better off at the department stores. You can already tell that Tyson II has a smaller, more specific crowd. I’ve seen tall models walking around (was there an event going on?) and an overall different atmosphere. Clothes however weren’t of my taste, by demographic the buyers are well aware that the people who have the dineros are the baby boomer generations, so there wasn’t anything fit for a 20-something like myself at my size. I’m not much of an accessory person either, and I’d have to think twice before splurging on $500 shoes.
Overall there’s plenty of shopping to do in D.C., my auntie even suggested that I should visit Pentagon City (about one metro stop from, where else, the Pentagon!), however I didn’t have time to go all way there. There’s also the touristy Union Station for some outlet shopping. But my best bet if you’re ever in D.C. is to visit Georgetown, it’s just a lovely place to see and hang out. I was told that D.C. isn’t really known for any local designers (a shame), however the small boutiques bring in different international brands so there’s always something new to discover.
D.C. is for De.li.Cious
Greetings from Washington D.C.!
If there’s a reason why I haven’t been writing for a while it’s because I’m on a trip in the US Capital for a few days. Many people don’t view D.C. to be much of a place for shopping and culture, but you couldn’t be further from the truth. It’s not just a place for political gossip, it’s in fact a pretty charming city with plethora of museums, quaint neighborhoods, high intellectuals, boutique shopping - money making machines who own condos and homes ranging from 300K to $2 million. Anything less and you’re going into the ghetto.
Indeed, D.C. is one of the top paying cities in the country, with the average education being a Master’s degree in most fields (a B.S. is peanuts here), and a 3.4 GPA isn’t enough to get you into 50% of the universities here. High rises are bountiful, and beautiful 2 story town houses fetch staggering prices in Georgetown, the Montreal equivalent of the Westmount area, only, way WAY nicer.
Shopping is the word of the day
Of course, I can’t go to D.C. without experiencing what the city has to offer in terms of shopping. By far, Georgetown is mon coup de coeur (personal favorite). Think of Laurier street near Parc, stretching on for several blocks, in brick laid sidewalks, boutique after boutique of names like Kate Spade to Rugby by Ralph Lauren. There are numerous cafes, bistros and restaurants sprinkled around the area, and there’s a beautiful little stream that just gives Georgetown a unique charm of its own, light years away from the political facade D.C. has garnered on mainstream media. This area though is not for the frugal, you won’t find many items under $100.
Cusp
This is a very colorful, cheerful, yet quite expensive, boutique in Georgetown. There aren’t any stores quite like it to compare it to in Montreal. It’s somewhat of a mishmash between an Urban Outfitters type of layout, and Abe&Mary’s funky 2nd floor designer brands. Cusp is a happy place, with friendly workers, a lot of funky colors of bright yellows, reds, oranges and green. There’s a lot of stuff by Marc Jacobs, and if anything, the whole store is a spit out of his Spring 08 collection. If you look hard enough, someone will always find that certain treasured dress. It’s on trend with the big bold prints and bold colors, yet it has enough unique pieces that doesn’t make you feel like you’re buying something generic. Prices range $130-$450.
Pronounced “reese”. A London based fashion store that has both men’s and women’s wear for the sophisticated. I had never heard of this store, but immediately fell in love with it. It has beautifully cut dresses, tops and pencil skirts I could die for. Each piece is finely detailed, a little ruffles here, some bone corset there, it’s all very well constructed. I bought a strapless dress with 2 discreet side pockets in white, with tasteful plaid patterns in mustard yellow and navy blue. There’s a built-in bone corset near the bust, and upon the first try, slipped onto me like a glove. I have never worn something that fit to my body so perfectly as this dress has. I bought it on the spot. Bye bye $400. $130-600.
If that wasn’t enough of a tongue-twister, you’d be happy to know that this quaint boutique in Georgetown was like stepping into your sister’s bedroom. Lush purple carpets, white walls in a narrow, colonial-like building, it feels like the place used to be a home that was turned into a store, with 3-4 narrow staircases. There are only 2 sales floors, but they were filled with enough stock to go around. Some dresses have sold quite well due to them being featured in Lucky magazine and whatnot. $80-$500.
I’ll post about the rest of the trip tomorrow.
