It’s a big day for Green Fashion on both sides of the Atlantic!
In London, Kering is unveiling a five-year partnership with the Center for Sustainable Fashion at the London College of Fashion, which will involve a series of talks — starting today with François-Henri Pinault, Kering’s chief executive — about the importance of building a sustainable fashion business, a sustainable fashion award (money and an internship) for two students every year, and the development of academic courses on the subject. In New York, The Council of Fashion Designers of America and Lexus are also unveiling the winners of its $75,000 first prize and two $5,000 second prizes for the C.F.D.A./Lexus Eco-Fashion challenge, now in its fifth year.
A Paul Poiret design on display during the 2007 exhibit "Poiret: King of Fashion" at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.Credit Don Emmert/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
There’s another fashion heritage name on the auction block.
Luvanis, an investment company based in Luxembourg that specializes in identifying and buying the trademarks of major fashion names gone dormant, announced on Tuesday that it would sell the Paul Poiret brand. Read more…
Beyoncé, at the MTV Video Music Awards in August.Credit Robyn Beck/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
Activewear? Athleticwear? Sportswear? Does anyone else think we need a better word for the gym-to-street sector that has suddenly become the hottest thing to cover two legs — at least if the latest entrant to the field is any indication?
I am speaking of Beyoncé, of course, who is entering a joint venture with Philip Green of Topshop, according to British Vogue. Read more…
Topping the list among fashion executives is Tadashi Yanai, chairman and chief executive of Fast Retailing, which owns the Uniqlo fashion chain.Credit Yuriko Nakao/Reuters
Ooh, we love a list! Especially a “best of” list. So happily, just in time for the weekend, comes Harvard Business Review’s 100 “Best-Performing CEOs in the World.” Fashion executives account for just more than 10 percent of the names — take a bow, Main Street — which is pretty good, but what’s really worth looking at is exactly which fashion executives made the cut. Bet you wouldn’t guess most of them. Read more…
Bonnie Cashin is still in fashion — not that she ever really went away.
Ms. Cashin, the germinal sportswear designer who died in 2000, might be best remembered for her long association with the accessories company Coach, which still stocks some items from a Legacy line it produced that splashed her sketches on silk scarves and reproduced some of her signature handbags.
But there was far more to her long career, which is being spotlighted at the Manhattan Vintage Clothing Show that runs Friday and Saturday at the Metropolitan Pavilion on West 18th Street, prowled by not just dedicated secondhand Roses but stylists seeking possibilities for awards season and fashion designers looking for inspiration. (Jean Paul Gaultier has been known to amble through.) Many of the 90 vendors will be stocking her wares, which reached the height of their popularity in the 1960s and ’70s, and will display then-innovations like metal turn-lock closures, piping and skirt fastenings resembling dog leashes. Read more…
Activewear designs by Pedro Lourenço, the young Brazilian designer, for Nike.Credit Nike
So every fashion brand from Tory Burch to Alexander Wang wants to get into the hot new sector known as activewear? Well, then, the king of activewear, a.k.a. Nike, is going to borrow a page from fashion. Read more…
Marco Bizzarri, chief executive of Kering's luxury couture and leather goods division, has named three new fashion executives.Credit Emily Berl for The New York Times
While everyone in fashion was busy looking one way and mourning Oscar de la Renta’s death, over in another direction, Marco Bizzarri, chief executive of Kering’s luxury couture and leather goods division, was busy remaking his brands. Read more…
The following is the personal statement released Tuesday by Alex Bolen, the chief executive of Oscar de la Renta and Mr. de la Renta’s son-in-law, and his wife, Eliza Bolen, who is Mr. de la Renta’s stepdaughter and the company’s executive at large.
President François Hollande of France at the opening of the Fondation Louis Vuitton, with, from left, Bernard Arnault, chairman of LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, and Frank Gehry, who designed the new museum.Credit Rindoff/Charriau/French Select/Getty Images
This morning dawns under the long shadow of the death of the designer Oscar de la Renta, whose absence will be felt deeply in American fashion. In his memory, I thought it worth mentioning two events from Monday that Mr. de la Renta, of all people, would probably have appreciated. Read more…
The Czech model Petra Nemcova, wearing a gown by Zuhair Murad, at the Cannes Fim Festival in May.Credit Julien Warnand/European Pressphoto Agency
Oh wait — is that a typo? Doesn’t Cannes already have a fashion festival, albeit one called “Film Festival,” but which involves so many red carpets, daywear-on-the-Croisette photo calls and style sponsorships that it provides glossy mags with enough “Get the Look” fodder to fill entire issues?
Alex Orley, Samantha Orley, Jackie Green and Matthew Orley at the CFDA Fashion Fund cocktail party.Credit Carly Erickson/Bfanyc
The 10 CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund finalists were trying to relax at a cocktail party at the Ludlow Hotel on Tuesday night. Each of them had just presented a brand-new design to the Fashion Fund judges, the latest step in this monthslong competition. This was supposed to be the let-your-hair-down portion of the evening, but it wasn’t exactly that.
“So, did you enjoy your challenge?” Anna Wintour, the Vogue editor, asked, springing up to Eva Zuckerman, a jeweler.
“I did, yeah!” Ms. Zuckerman replied quickly. “I mean, it was definitely a challenge.” Each finalist was given $20,000 for the challenge. They were assigned to incorporate a city — New York’s bright lights or Portland’s crunchiness or New Orleans’s diversity — into a piece. They could use their money on materials. They could use it for airfare. They could pocket it. Read more…
She's not just a Mulberry girl: Cara Delevingne on the runway for Saint Laurent last month.Credit Etienne Laurent/European Pressphoto Agency
Someday, business schools will do case studies on this. Perhaps one already is. But if ever there were an example of what not to do when it comes to running a luxury brand, it would probably involve Mulberry. Read more…
Now that we have all recovered from ready-to-wear month, here comes a week of major fashion happenings. There will be runway looks! There will be celebrities! There will be bling! Thank goodness. I don’t know about you, but I was starting to experience withdrawal.
Tuesday: The invitation-only opening of Frieze London — or, as I like to call it, the Fifth Fashion Week. After New York, London, Milan and Paris, it’s one of the biggest designer moments of the year. Alexander McQueen is a sponsor of the main event; Gucci is sponsoring Frieze Masters; the Louis Vuitton collaborator Yayoi Kusama is in the sculpture park, and the smart money is on designers (and models) congregating in the galleries. Expect a street-style bonanza. Or a just-off-the-runway show. You get the point. (Open to the public from Wednesday to Sunday.)
Wednesday: Introduction of the new Chanel mini-movie/commercial/campaign (depending on how you want to think about it), directed by Baz “The Great Gatsby” Luhrmann and starring Gisele Bündchen. This is Mr. Luhrmann’s second big outing for the brand, after his Nicole Kidman short in 2004, and Ms. Bündchen’s follow-up to a cameo in “The Devil Wears Prada.” The pairing of the director and the star suggests all sorts of interesting big-screen possibilities for the future. So far, the model has posted a picture of herself on Instagram with a Chanel surfboard. But does she sing, too?
Wednesday: LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, a.k.a. the world’s biggest luxury goods group, reports third-quarter revenue. Analysts are on the edge of their seats. Is luxury tanking? Has it suddenly ceased to be one of few recession-proof industries in the world? Is the downturn in China a permanent shift or a temporary trend? And what about all those Russian consumers? You will find the answer here.
