Matthew Williamson for H&M Spring/Summer 2009
Isn’t it a little early to announce yet another designer collaboration with H&M? I mean didn’t they want Rei Kawakubo to bask in the glory of her collection? It seems like the announcement of Matthew Williamson coming onboard for a Summer collection seems to sort of eclipse or steal her thunder. Her collection did go on sale only a couple of weeks ago. Btw, there are still some pieces left at the downtown Montreal location if you’re still vying for a piece.
Not to say I’m not excited for Williamson, in fact, I’m very thrilled to learn this news. I’ve been watching his collections for a couple of seasons now, and what I love about this British designer is his mosaics of color in his work. Not to say all of his clothes are great, but I certainly think his attention to detail and color coordination are to be admired. I’ve been eyeing this royal purple (blue?) cashmere sweater on Net-a-porter since the fall, but can’t find a good reason to spend over $1000 to acquire it. I’ve also been fancying his rainbow colored Chapelle weave coat. I would certainly wear it on bright occasions and the colors make me smile. But because he works with such detail, most of his pieces run far over $1000, hardly affordable to collect.
I see him as a spring/summer designer anyway, vivid colors always make me think of warmer days. So I definitely expect to see an array of colorful silk dresses, and hopefully a few embroidered pieces.
Williamson’s collection will arrive at H&M stores on April 23rd, 2009. Though Williamson may gain a few more fans of his work, they will have to save all their pennies to purchase one his regular pieces, and in this economic slump, they will certainly be a hard sell.
Image credits: Style.com
Fashion Goes Lego
Discovered this amazingly cute video at Iconique.com of Jean-Charles de Castelbajac’s collaboration with Lego.
Who says fashion is no fun? The video also gives a wink to Anna Wintour, but who’s the man in the tuxedo supposed to be??
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRo49jBYR84&hl=en&fs=1]
Barney’s Designer Mailer Online Catalogue
Are store websites a little too boring to browse to your liking? Do you miss that editorial fashion fantasy that magazines thrive upon and yet website miss upon? Fear no more, there seems to be a new trend emerging on fashion websites.
I’ve been store surfing online looking at the latest holiday collections and came upon Barneys‘ site. Although I seldomly have browsed there, I did noticed that they’ve added a new shoppable editorial magazine. Most websites will have commercial photo shoots of a model wearing the item on sale, however the relationship between viewer and photo is sort of cold and generic in my opinion. Fashion editorials, on the other hand, are highly stylized with different accessories and contain more elaborate backgrounds. They weave a fantasy of eye candy that makes potential shoppers go “oooh…now that’s pretty, and I want it.”
This format of catalogue shopping through editorials is relatively new from what I’ve seen of store websites. Barneys has picked up on the idea and launched their version of it called “Designer Mailer“. This holiday season, Canadian model Coco Rocha is splashed across the catalogue on every page. Whether in Flash or HTML version, users can mouseover certain items that can be directly purchased online. The slightly disadvantaging point is that most of the items sold are accessories like shoes, bracelets, necklaces and bags. Some of the big ticket items like an L’Wren Scott dress are not available online, and can only be found in certain stores. A shame because for me in an editorial, I’d want to have the chance to purchase everything that I see. Call it online boutique hotel-style shopping.
I’m not sure if many shoppers are like me, but my desire to purchase depends greatly on how great the mannequins or models are dressed. I like being in a store where there are styled mannequins. It’s enough to send me finding the exact thing I see. Montreal, alongside Tokyo, in general has very attractive mannequin displays, especially at Simons. I can be sold on a look in seconds, it really doesn’t take much.
Online beauty stores can also apply this method of shopping by allowing users to mouse over a model’s face and imagine buying the very products that they’re looking at. They usually give credits in magazines as to what exactly a model is wearing, but you’d have to dig through the end of the magazine for that. An online beauty store could ideally benefit from this ease of purchase.
Certainly this is an interesting approach from Barneys, but they would need to work on refining the editorial shop just to make it a little more user-friendly. One advantage over Net-a-porter is having real physical stores in several locations (unfortunately only across America). I think The Gap & co. could use this kind of online business model as they have several brands and they could need the boost. I expect to see similar editorial shops to pop up in the near future.
Image credit: Barneys’ website
‘Grilling’ The Fashion Experts
You don’t hear the word “grill” and “fashion” in the same sentence nowadays. That’s why I’m happy to bring to your attention once again to Lookonline.com’s Daily Fashion Report, claiming to be one of the very first fashion blogs on the internet.
In her latest post last week, blog author Marilyn Kirschner attended Fashion Group International, a conference overviewing the Spring RTW 2008 collections. Here, panelists are able to grill fashion experts from Vogue to Bloomingdale’s, on what will be the upcoming trends and how they are to deal with the financial crisis.
SD: “How are fashion magazines dealing with the financial crunch?”
SS: “We have been increasingly focused on price even before the market crash. We were in Paris when the stock market collapsed. Our philosophy at Vogue is “Don’t buy less- buy better!” We want designers to bear in mind price but we want them to keep value high. As editors, we have to offer all prices.”
I love discovering thought provoking fashion blogs and Daily Fashion Report is a delightful one. Eventhough Lookonline.com is not the best looking site, their content trumps that of style. Considering that their New York Fashion report is compiled by Marilyn Kirschner and Bernadine Morris (former NY Times journalist), though they are new to me, they’ve been on the fashion scene for over 20 years. Giving both a good sense of credibility when they critique the industry.
It makes sense to me to read this bit on their fashion market reports:
Why pay for market reports when so many of them are offered for free on other sites? Because anyone who attends a show can express an opinion on what they saw, but the mere fact that they attended the show does not make them expert, nor what they report necessarily creditable. It is experience that qualifies someone as an “expert” and the esteem others in the industry hold for that person’s opinion that gives their reports value.
I’ve been studying and reading upon fashion for only a year, so any fashion journalist who has over 20yrs of experience will certainly command authority on the subject. I may not have the credibility to really critique a fashion show in terms of what will sell and what won’t, however I will not let that deter me from asking questions that I feel are important. Cheers to intelligent reporting!
Image credit: Daily Fashion Report
Holiday Sales Are Here - Are You Feeling Jolly?
So, sales are slumping, the retail market is plummeting…boohoo.
Tis the season to be jolly everyone. Finally the public is winning something against global corporations who are trying to entice you to spend your precious money by putting up gigantic sale bonanzas because they’re in the red this year. Adbusters must be proud.
It should be a good time to reflect that gifts aren’t the most important thing during the holiday season but to appreciate the precious time with our loved ones. Though this may sound like Hallmark card moment, but think of it: why are you spending so much for the holiday season? Don’t give into the Mad Men mantras of the “gift of giving,” but rather spend the day inside with your family and friends. Play games, do some crafts.
Yes, it is very difficult to curb our spendings and there wouldn’t be a market or economy if people didn’t spend. However, this global recession just shows how shoppers exude no loyalty to most popular brands. Shoppers will show no loyalty to the trends of fashion when the economy and jobs are at stake. Instead, they will flock to stores that will sell the cheapest and chicest. It should bring into question as to: where is your brand loyalty? Can you really distinctively say that one brand will always deliver quality goods, service and satisfaction every time you shop there? I believe most designers and brands have lost this kind of loyalty with their clients, that the bottom line isn’t customer satisfaction but rather how high is their pile of money at the end of the day.
Brands who wish to expand on a national and international level can no longer simply rely on customer loyalty, they must meet financial goals if they are to stay in the game. However, any negative economical impact will affect the brands’ reputation, whether it’s to launch a new line or a new store, everything boils down to money. I think that if brands are able to keep loyalty (much like avid Apple followers), keep realistic goals to achieve despite economic turmoil, and work in improving their business plan, the money will follow.
Loss of jobs and closing stores are part of the terrible process of large corporation who want to cut their losses. Instead of focusing on re-strategizing their approach to customers, most will “re-strategize” by axing their staff and putting more pressure and responsibilities on remaining members. Small businesses should take note in keeping their staff size manageable with bright individuals who have a uniting vision in pushing the brand forward, not merely trucking along blindly and do as they’re told. I myself am not loyal to any particular brand, nor have experienced any superior service from one store to another. It’s quite sad actually.
So this recession shouldn’t just curb your spending, but you should be curbing your spending on clothing at all times. Make smart choices. Even if it wasn’t the recession, act as if it is, thus you would really save more money in the long run by picking styles that you really love and want.
This whole recession-fearing attitude is very much leaning in favor of the upcoming “Buy Nothing Day” established by Adbusters. Though I had questioned why should we only refrain from spending on one day (when we should be doing that always), I do think refraining ourselves from the biggest holiday sale in North America could prove to have quite an impact, especially this year.
Buy Nothing Day lands Nov.28th for North American, and Nov. 29th for the rest of the world.
Image credit: oldnyls.livejournal.com/
