Vous, un beau petit bonhomme, d’un style charmant avec votre noeux de papillon et votre voix si douce et si gentille.

Quel être maléfique est venu a votre porte pour vous charmer d’un rêve qui ne peut que tâcher votre talent pour la couture?

Ce n’est pas bien. Vous méritez mieux.

Open up any page in any fashion magazine and you’ll see editorial spreads of teens posing as women. Having grown up in the era of “heroine chic”, followed by the increasingly super skinny and photoshopped models, it’s quite obvious that our views of beauty and normality in fashion has been skewered significantly in the age of 2010.

From Chanel products to Lanvin, I see girls – not women – marketing products aimed at people nearly twice their age. Much of the 20-somethings complain that designer goods are unreachable and unreasonably priced, and they have the right to complain. Why? Because normal 20 yr olds can’t afford real designer goods. Times have changed. Women in their 20s are no longer the grown ups of the 1950s, they’re now taking more time to finish school and develop a career than raising a family. Not to mention that many 20-somethings are already in deep debt, some reaching up to six figures in the red from student loans. So why are fashion brands still marketing to this demographic who clearly can’t afford their products? Women today won’t be settling for “entry-level luxuries” like perfume or a handbag, if that Balmain jacket is $10,000, then she’ll run off to Forever 21 and get a similar one for $40. It’s that simple.

And how does this marketing tactic make older women feel? I’ve never really noticed the difference because I was so jaded and used to the ads but as I get older, and I see models as young as 17 wear Chanel couture, it makes me ill. Sure, Vogue may have that occasional cover that says “yes we do care about women of ALL ages!” with a few editorials of women over the age of 40, but that’s hardly what I call acceptable coverage. It’s like that one off of Vogue Italia where they dedicated one issue entirely to black models, but have those black models found their ways back into the fashion editorials since? Not really.

18 yr old Karlie Kloss for Oscar de la Renta, this outfit costs over $7500.

The Millenials, as we call them, are the savviest bunch, they go to the internet to get the best deals, the best knock offs they can find when they can’t afford designer fashion. Because designers are marketing their products to them, they’re making you believe that you have access to these fantastic pieces. Until you fall upon the fine print and learn that the fabulous Proenza Schouler coat is a whooping $3100. What normal 20-something has that kind of money to throw around to “make a statement”? I don’t know any of my friends who has that kind of money to throw around for a coat unless they’ve been saving up just for that occasion, and they have normal jobs like any of us.

This isn’t to say that brands don’t have the magic to fan the desire for fashion, they do. In a big way, this desire has grown to an unfulfilled need that fast fashion brands were gladly able to offer. Get similar designs for a fraction of the price! The plan to prep the Millenials to become future loyal clients has backfired big time. Fast fashion brands have sealed this generation into an unescapable route where cheap fashion rules. Suddenly, designer brands are popping up with bridge collections that say “oh we’re kinda like the designer brand, but cheaper.” A perfect example on these bridge collections is Ralph Lauren. It took me a while to learn that what I thought was Ralph Lauren, wasn’t the Ralph Lauren Collection but Polo Ralph Lauren, the cheapest sister of the brand (there are cheaper brands still, but that’s another story).

Designer brands have clearly missed the Millenial boat, they won’t be coming back (if ever) for another 20 years when they’re older and hopefully a little wiser. But will these women wise up and come to their senses and buy higher end goods? Or will they be stuck like the older women of today, botoxing their faces to death to recall their days of youth and making a bee-line to H&M?

This is not healthy.

Fashion brands should be marketing to the proper demographics. Let 16 and 17 year olds market to teenagers, not older women. Let 20-somethings market to 20-somethings. And let 50 yr olds market to 50-yr olds. That’s how the game should be played, it’s kind of sickening to be so youth obsessed with these fashion editorials. It’s no wonder fast fashion brands are spreading like the plague, the 20-somethings aren’t really given a better alternative.

N.B.: The models depicted are indeed very talented, but as a whole, are misused to represent the correct demographic these fashion brands are aiming for.

Image credit: fluxuryb.com, Oscar de la Renta

Quite honestly I cannot find another brand that can make shoes from the same model in so many vibrant and different designs. Truly, I will be their loyal customer.

If you watched a rerun of the Sex and the City episode “Ring-a-ding-ding”, where Carrie is forced to come up with a $40,000 down payment for her apartment, she claims not to have any money while shoe shopping with Miranda.

- Miranda grabs a shoe Carrie held in her hand and says “At $400 a pop, how many of these do you have? Fifty?”
- Carrie frowns, “C’mon…” (she has way more than that!)
- “100?”
- “Would it be bad if I did?” Carrie answers coyly.
- “Well $400 times 100, there’s your down payment,” Miranda says as a matter of fact.
- “Well no, that’s only $4000.” Carrie clearly not strong in math.
- “No, that’s $40,000.”

Carrie gasps. And so do I.

This episode ran during the 2001-2002 season, and 8-9 years later in 2010, the inflation of designer shoe prices have since risen from $400 to $600. Women could only wish designer shoes were $400 “cheap”. Nowadays, $400 can get you a pair from designer bridge collections like Miu Miu, Marc by Marc Jacob, or brands like Diane von Furstenberg. But for couture houses like Yves Saint Laurent,  and popular shoe-designers like Christian Louboutin, Jimmy Choo and Manolo Blahnik, you’re looking to spend at least $600 (sometimes $500 if you’re lucky) up to $1100. Designer boots? Expect to shell out at least $1200 to $2000 (for Alaïa). Recently, Bloomberg wrote that the shoes are the new “it bags”, where women see no problem splurging over a pair of designer sandals.

Above: Azzedine Alaïa booties for $1805 at Net-a-porter.com

Indeed price inflation seems to be inevitable, but paychecks aren’t getting bigger and prices over designer fashion are getting higher. Brands blame that production costs have risen over the years and to keep their profits, they must raise prices. It’s even harder for publicly traded brands to keep prices low as investors expect better sales than the previous year. There are a number of factors that can contribute to inflation, and though understandable, let’s not discount that greed aka profit plays a huge role in this. I don’t really believe the quality of shoes have gone up over time, in fact I think they’ve gone down and production time has gone down as well. These days, hand crafted goods are just “too expensive”.

Are we led to believe that eventually we’d have to shell out over $1000 for a pair of designer shoes by 2020? I already have a hard time paying for a single pair of basic Christian Louboutin pumps, let alone spend $1000 of my hard earned money on a designer shoe that doesn’t have a long shelf life. Is it any wonder the public is turning towards cheaper goods? Cheap fashion will still perpetuate if designer brands keep their prices high.

So, the conundrum is this: do we buy designer shoes now, as expensive as it is, in the risk to avoid paying more in the future? Or do we restrain ourselves and save up until you can afford some and/or hope to have a better salary in the future?

Montreal’s fashion darling Denis Gagnon officially launched his line for fast fashion store Bedo today. With it, a throng of black clad fashionistas showed up, a type of crowd I have not seen since my foray into Fantasme the previous year. Here the hippest and savviest of them all sip on white wine and nibble on hors d’oeuvres as dozens more sift through the racks of Gagnon’s Fall 2010 collection.

Fashion editors who have had the chance to preview the collection weeks before its launch, noted that the collection was more of a review of previous Gagnon collections than fresh ideas. There were loads of signature zipper-clad jackets, skirts and mesh dresses, and funky white t-shirts with Gagnon’s portrait in black ink outlines -  a kind of commercial gimmick Karl Lagerfeld normally pulls off. Most of the studded pants, dresses, and sweaters were left untouched, people were going more for the zipper jackets and ruched dresses. And boy was it crowded.

Gagnon was already swarmed by acquaintances and a media crew, with Yso standing nearby observing the madness around them.

I had the opportunity to snag two dresses I wanted to try on that was still in my XS size: a long sleeved black batwing dress that had a deep cleavage, and a navy ruched long sleeved dress (pictured below).

Immediately, the clothes were not easy to put on, the long sleeves on both dresses flopped around a lot as the seams for the shoulders were non-existent. But I managed to put the batwing dress on, and felt like I was floating in it despite its snug fit on the arms. It didn’t quite flatter the body and made me look bigger than I really was. Next.

The ruched dress was a better success, but the neckline was an extreme snug fit over my head. My petite 5’1″ frame didn’t quite fill out the long sleeves but they were easy enough to push up, and because of it’s design, the dress fell decently down the back of my knees. There’s a hike off on the side showing some leg, but not enough to be indecent. Were I about 5 inches taller, this would’ve been a pretty sexy number, but it fell to a perfect length that I could wear for the office, always a plus. The dress cost $98 and made of 95% rayon and 5% spandex, machine washable.

Close up on the dress

All items are made in China and priced under $300, so don’t expect anything extraordinary in terms of materials and fit. As I was queuing at the dressing rooms, I noticed how a lot of clothes hid unwanted areas on bigger women, or were made of stretch jerseys that will mold to most types of bodies. The mesh dresses were cute but the mesh felt cheap and probably wouldn’t last in the wash or dry cleaners for long. I also wondered about the washability of the zippered numbers, were the zippers going to tarnish in the wash? Or do you have to dry clean?

As my usual self, I didn’t stick around to mingle with people. I never felt comfortable in these types of social settings and there wasn’t anything I wanted to ask Denis Gagnon that hasn’t already been asked.

The launch to the public will be tomorrow, I’m sure it will at least have some partial success, but as a one off collection, I think it will leave a lot of people wanting more Denis Gagnon but will alas not be able to afford his actual line.

Image credit: Marie-France Coallier, The Gazette

I often look for new yukata (summer kimono) every so often since I regularly practice and perform in a Japanese traditional dance group called Yume-mirai, and had stumbled upon Rakuten. I quickly learned that Rakuten is the largest online shopping mall in Japan, earning a revenue of over $13 billion annually, collaborating with over 28,000 local retailers to cater to its 47 million users.

Rakuten is a lot like Amazon, except retailers can set up their own shops within Rakuten and sell from a wide range of products from clothes to cleaning products. The end result is a 100 million plus inventory of products at the fingertips of users, in which they can virtually ship anywhere, any time around the world. From $5 to $100,000, there’s a price point for everyone.

The site is English-enabled thanks to the growing sophistication of Google Translate, but registered members will have hard time navigating and editing their profiles.

Fashion

It’s well-known that the Japanese have a fetish for luxury goods and sure enough, brands like Hermès, Chanel and Louis Vuitton are sold on hundreds of pages, many of which are used. What’s particular about shopping online with Japanese operated sites is the transparency retailers have with their consumers about used products. This has been evident on my browsing upon a vintage kimono site called Yamatoku, where there are dozens of pictures depicting the qualities and flaws of each garment such as stains, holes and pigment migration.

Rakuten keeps to this standard by also identifying products with flaws, which are graded from New and unused to Need Repair, and are priced accordingly. It was necessary for Japanese retailers to be upfront about flaws of their products as Japanese consumers are notoriously choosy about their luxury goods. A single thread out of place in a dress will be sent back and a sale will be lost. It’s also encoded into their honor system of being honest and truthful to consumers, something that is lacking in North America and Europe.

This example above of a Louis Vuitton traditional Speedy handbag, at a normal retail price of $690, is selling for $350 due to extensive use, with visible rust on  the hardware, and discoloration of the handles. The same bag can be found by another retailer at a higher pricing but with a better grade. This type of transparency with products can win over the the trust of consumers, once you have their trust, you can expect them to come back.

It’s clear that this site may not be for everyone, most products on the site are sold to a Japanese audience, hence probably why most North Americans and Europeans are unaware of this company . However, we shouldn’t disregard Rakuten’s purchasing power and influence. Recently, Rakuten had purchased France’s PriceMinister and US’ Buy.com, and is in talks in producing another online shopping mall in China with Baidu. Indeed, Rakuten is so powerful that it even has it’s own bank and baseball team.

As more people find less reason to shop outside the comfort of their homes, and online spending will grow (said to be 10% a year in the next five years), it’s undeniable that at some point there will be online malls to cater to every whim and desire of the consumer. Whether they are in Zimbabwe or in Brazil, Rakuten is foreseeing this trend, and has already established itself as a major player in this billowing market.

Image credits: Ginkura

As many of you know by now, the event that’s the most talked about during New York Fashion Week is Fashion’s Night Out. As a second year run, this event has grown to colossal proportions, just looking at the list of events happening that night is mind boggling. So in order to sift through the events, I came across Fashionista’s Top 10 List of Events that they would be checking out. The top 4 are events I would be definitely consider, but the rest is meh.

Going around Manhattan and trying to attend parties is a pretty tiresome job. If there’s one thing you have to consider is to know your limit. While Fashionista has a top 10, I’ve narrowed mine down to a Top 5. After all, some events will require a bit more of my time and there are only so many hours until FNO is done by 11pm (not to mention commute time).

1. Barneys – A slew of celebrities and designers will be at the flagship store on Madison Avenue with some oddball things happening like karaoke and ping pong. There will also be some unveiling of certain collections like the Oslen Twin’s first men’s collection. There will also be an unveiling of “Fashionista” the music video starring Coco Rocha, Manolo Blahnik will also make an appearance, and you can also knit with Wool and The Gang for charity. Bref, it’ll be a huge event no doubt.
2. Bergdof Goodman – Much of the same as Barneys but with different designers and celebrities like Tom Ford, Victoria Beckham, Jason Wu and Brian Atwood. You can also get “styled” and have your photo taken with your favorite designer. Adam Lippes is among those designers, so it would be kinda cool to have a photo and hopefully chat a bit since I probably won’t be able to make his show. More karaoke oddities ensue including a segment where Victoria will appear and Brian Atwood will be a DJ?
3. Opening Ceremony at Ace Hotel – There’ll be a Parisian styled flea market where a handful of designers will set up booths and offer items for under $100. Joseph Altuzarra, Alexander Wang and Rodarte will be among the designers present, so that should be interesting.
4. Jil Sander – There will be a cocktail with the popular blogger/illustrator Garance Doré herself. An exhibition of her illustration will also take place there so I think this will be a nice little event to attend and hopefully chat with her since I really love her illustrations.
5. Calvin Klein Collection – Bryan Adams will be performing (and I love Bryan Adams!), which isn’t surprising considering it’s not the first time he performs for CK. Back in 2003 at Fashion Rocks in London, he performed “The Only Thing That Looks Good On Me” for the brand, which I found rather fitting and fun. There will also be an exhibition of Bryan’s photographs as well.

There is an optional event that I wish I could attend but they’re simply too far off the Midtown map, which is the Diane von Furstenberg event with Refinery29.com. They’ve established a multimedia platformed shindig where shoppers can try on clothes, take pictures and share them on Facebook. For all the geekettes in us, it may be worth the detour.

Admittedly, all locations I’ve chosen will no doubt be incredibly crowded, especially at the department stores where several designers will show up. But the good thing about Fashion’s Night Out is having the free choice to choose when to leave. However for bloggers, these locations will be a boon for networking and picture taking.

*Please note that the events listed could be subject to change.

Now I feel like I have nothing to wear that night.

This comprehensive 80 paged report on the future of shopping gives an incredible look into what the world will evolve into thanks to advanced technology.

It offers the plenty of ideas of how business owners and consumers alike can share their retail experience on a much more personal level. From logging into Facebook directly from a store, to lending iPod Touches to hotel guests for a guided tour of their surroundings.

It’s an interesting yet scary revelation that as social media evolves, the privacy of consumers is further and further blurred or revealed willingly to the public. Everything from where they are, what they’re buying, when they’re buying and who they’re friends with. Some technologies may offer photo recognition of certain branded products and receive further information of where there could be a retailer selling the product (say Coke bottle). In Japan, if users happen to listen to a song they like but have no idea who is singing, they simply need to put up their phones to record the audio and it would connect to a database that will search and match the audio waves.

What was quite obvious and biased of PSFK’s report is the sole use of Apple products (iPod, iPhone, iPad) to carry out the “Future of Retail”, which is a presumptuous assumption that just because Apple is the hottest product on the market it was best suited to dictate how we shop. I have no doubt that Apple has made significant progression in how we interact with the world, but let’s assume that certain smartphones on Android could probably carry the job just as well.

In the end, what this report represents is the further progression of transparency and the near disappearance of privacy. Soon, people will be able to scan each other’s outfits and identify every single item on their phones, we can have face-recognition and pull up an entire online file of that person’s online life. So we are virtually getting to know each other without even invading that person’s real personal space. Fashion enthusiasts are already willing to divulge all their purchases, their feelings on products, and displaying what they’re doing and thinking, and sometimes where they are. It seems inevitable that the fashion industry will be on a path of ultimate transparency, but is the world ready?

Since my foray into fashion, I knew I didn’t want to fall into the traps of trends. Once when I was working as a hostess in a sushi restaurant, my manager had commented on my style choices. I was in a rock chick phase and he said to me “You know it’s a shame, you have the potential to really carry off a classic look.” He was not particularly a man of style, but he was a man of taste. I hadn’t thought about his words much until I started blogging about fashion. All the seemingly trivial bits of sound advice I had learned over the years started to sink in.

Classic I did end up favoring. My clothes had started to reflect my love for office chic in tailored dresses and pencil skirts, however it didn’t quite transcend yet into bags, wallets and shoes.

I have a 15 year old Ann Taylor shoulder bag, a gift from my aunt so that I would get rid of my chained wallet. I still use it because it’s small and compact and gets the job done. It’s because of my Ann Taylor bag that I had decided it was finally time to buy a new purse. The handle is on its last legs, the glue is so old that the handle had split into two and cannot be reglued together (had an attempt to have it fixed in Venice last year, didn’t last long though).

Thus began my search for a replacement, and it wasn’t  easy. My first choice for a luxury handbag is the Birkin bag by Hermès. A classic trapeze shape with an unmistakable clasp, mostly hand stitched together to a flawless finish. Its hefty starting price of $6000-7000 is enough to put off most casual shoppers, including myself. The Birkin is the Holy Grail of handbags and will not be attainable for me for a few more years to come.

The Speedy Louis Vuitton in Epi Leather

I began looking for alternates, but there was really only one remaining choice: Louis Vuitton. I have two of my own sartorial theories about when to buy Louis Vuitton:

1. For their trunks and briefcases, Monogram only
2. For their more subtle designs, namely the Epi Leather and the Taiga Leather (for men)

As fashion goes, nobody wants to end up with what everyone has. I had never thought the LV monograms to be particularly attractive and I’ve always hated the brown and gold colors. Strangely, I find the men’s line to be much more in suited to what I’m looking for: subtle, luxurious and deceptively minimalistic. Their Targas leather would be my leather of choice for a handbag, unfortunately they don’t make women’s handbags in Targas. Why trunks and briefcases should only use monograms, or vice versa is simple. The monogram is a reference to LV’s past as trunk makers. Therefore, classic Louis Vuitton in its truest sense, is always luxury.

I have no reason to pick a trunk at this point, so let’s go for subtle designs in Epi Leather.

A classic Louis Vuitton shape that I have grown to love is their Speedy handbag, which comes in 25, 30, 35 inches, much like the Birkin bag. It’s near bowling bag-like shape and top handles just make it look very compact, cute, and simple. With an Epi leather, it keeps it under the radar. I usually pick black for all handbags and wallets, as I’ve learned over the years that my items always seem to miraculously pick up dirt along the way, and that having a colored bag simply is not practical. At an entry level of $1000, I’d say it’s a highly affordable choice that won’t go out of style. After all, I am looking for classics here.

Hermès’ Kelly Long wallet in black goat skin

A replacement to my red leather wallet would be the Kelly Long wallet by Hermès. Again, the classic clasp and craftsmanship are worth its price tag. I know, the production cost of the wallet is probably about 1/4 of its retail price tag ($2500), Hermès’ craftsmen are paid much more than your $0.10/hr Chinese workers, and about 50% of the price goes to Hermès itself. It’s their business model. Can we be angry for paying so much for a wallet? Of course we can, but let’s not forget that Hermès spends a good deal of money on research and development, along with other business transactions that would be too numerous and complex for consumers to understand. Yes, we know that a synthetic wallet at $20-$40 could do the same job in holding your credit cards and coins, but that wallet was also mass produced in greater numbers by poorly paid workers and probably rotting somewhere in a landfill. I could go on about ethics, but for my piece of mind, paying workers what they should be earning (way WAY above $0.10/hr) is worth it. Craftsmanship here is what comes first.

Finally, I cannot find a better shoe designer than Christian Louboutin. The unmistakable red soles, the sexy shapes of his shoes are, season after season, reinvented in new skins, colors and materials. But classic Louboutin, like the patented black leather Pigalle high heeled shoes, will simply never go out of style. I personally can’t wear anything higher than 85cm, but that doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate a good pair of high heels when I see them. His work is so iconic that he even has a classic shoe line of Very Privé, Pigalle, and Simple Pumps, which are like Hallmarks of stores like Neiman Marcus’ shoe collection.

This trilogy of subtle luxury defines elegance and style, and most of all is in tune for a classic look suitable in all social scenarios including my favorite – the office.

I never thought of much when I first came across Victoria Beckham (née Adams) as Posh Spice during my very impressionable teenage years. She was a British pop idol with a taste for expensive clothing, really small dresses and high heels. Secretly, I had always wanted to be someone as girly and feminine as her, but in reality during that time, I dressed like Kurt Cobain.

However I did take note of one particular outfit that had left an impression on me, and I’m not talking about the Pepsi outfits they had endorsed  (however I did became an avid Pepsi drinker after their endorsement and have been faithful to the brand ever since), but of this tailored outfit. Skinny pants, with a tailored blazer and – a tiny little bra. I think it was the tiny stringy bra that changed the whole outfit, I can’t remember exactly. Her single skinny strappy heels with dark toe nail polish were a perfect way to finish off the look.

Fast forward to 2010. I never thought in my life I would think of her as a viable fashion designer. I have no doubt in my mind that Victoria Beckham gets a lot of help in designing her line, particularly from a certain well-respected french designer by the name of Mouret. The similarities between her designs and that of Mr. Mouret is uncanny. Down to the fat zipper stripes and occasional origami folds here and there. I have to hand it to her, she did pick among the best as a collaborator. What works with her collection is also the way she’s marketing them. Unlike most celebrity turned designers, she’s not doing it with a lot of fanfare, and her ads are kooky to say the least, and she does a very limited number of designs. Typically, a designer shows about 30-50 outfits each season, I believe she produces about 20 looks a season. And, they’re ridiculously expensive.

I haven’t seen a Victoria Beckham dress up close, they’re so hard to find, so it’s difficult to judge if the price and the quality are up to snuff. But one thing is for certain, whatever lands on Net-a-porter’s page, her designs are always quick to sell.

Admittedly, her dresses are done in great taste and she hits a weak spot that I have: hour-glass tailored dresses. It’s a form that she keeps true to nearly every design, and the majority are obviously perfect for the office.

I don’t care much for Victoria Beckham herself, hence the on-the-fence opinion I had about her foray into fashion design, but eventually, whoever is behind that sewing machine, I’m a bit admirer of their work.