Sunday 15 September 2013

How Long Would You Wait For A Kenzo Tiger Jumper?

How Long Would You Wait For A Kenzo Tiger Jumper?

  • 15 September 2013
  • Ella Alexander
KENZO now struggles to keep its cult Tiger jumpers in stores for more than two to three hours at a time, but the much-coveted piece nearly didn't make the cut.
Creative directors Carol Lim and Humberto Leon were trawling through the label's archives when they found a small running tiger motif inside waistbands and jackets, which they then embroidered on an autumn/winter 2012 knitted jumper (featured left) - although this wasn't the piece that would set fashion hearts racing. Leon wanted a more relaxed version to wear when he took his catwalk bow, a request that was met with reluctance from his design team.
"I told Kenzo, 'I'm going to make a tiger sweatshirt for myself,'" Leon recalls. "They were like, 'What kind of fabric?' I said, 'Er… sweatshirt material,' and they said, 'We don't do sweatshirts.'"
Luckily for the brand's adoring fans, the correct fabric was found and the item became a bestseller.
"The knitted and embroidered jumper that we created was quite expensive and we didn't sell that many," Lim toldStylist. "But then there was a waiting list in store for the sweater as it got shot for the ad campaign. So when the sweatshirt came in, it just blew up. We just couldn't keep it in stores."

Meet The Woolmark Trio

Meet The Woolmark Trio

  • 15September 2013
  • Lauren Milligan
JONATHAN SAUNDERS, Christopher Raeburn and Richard Nicoll are this season's Woolmark Company collaborators - and all intend to help prove that wool isn't just for winter.
"For spring/summer 2014 I have been working with Cool Wool in an unexpected way," Jonathan Saunders says. "Traditional menswear-style tailoring has been used on casual shapes and panelled with satin - the same fabric has been overprinted with pigment, giving the fabric texture. Cool Wool knitwear in a fine gauge creates a luxurious drape which I have panelled with couture fabrics - a sweater that appears classic at first glance has surprising sheer textured panels as part of the knitted piece."
Christopher Raeburn's collection will include pieces made entirely from Cool Wool, alongside some hybrid Cool Wool pieces, while both Richard Nicoll and Jonathan Saunders will each include at least six garments made from the material. Cool Wool uses fine Australian merino-wool fibre and is transformed into lightweight fabrics and knitwear pieces through modern manufacturing and processing techniques, the company noted.
"With filming throughout London Fashion Week and exclusive backstage interviews at the shows, we will express the endless possibilities available through merino wool, and to ultimately raise awareness of the benefits of Cool Wool for the spring/summer season," the Woolmark Company's Rob Langtry said.

Frankly Beautiful: Bette's Big Day

Frankly Beautiful: Bette's Big Day

  • 15 September 2013
  • Lauren Milligan
BETTE FRANKE had a good excuse for not being in New York this weekend for Fashion Week, the Dutch model was busy getting married. She posted a picture on her Instagram account showing her laughing as she posed with her flowergirls and her new husband, Ilja Cornelisz; a researcher in economics and education who is based in Amsterdam.
The couple married on Saturday, September 7 - the same day that they first met, and the date that her grandparents married - in their native Netherlands after a three-year engagement. The service was attended by close friends and family - including fellow models Romée Fight, Kim Noorda and Sophie Vlaming - and the special day was captured by her fashion photographer friend Marc de Groot.
"My wedding dress was beautiful; my sister Sanne Franke  made ​​the dress, which made it so special," Franke told Dutch Vogue. "We designed the skirt and two tops together." Franke teamed the dress with white pumps from Maison Martin Margiela and chose a wedding ring from Tiffany & Co; gold inlaid with diamonds.

Holly Fulton Kicks Off The LFW Countdown!!!!!!

Holly Fulton Kicks Off The LFW Countdown

  • 15 September 2013
  • Ella Alexander
Blair sweater, £120
HOLLY FULTON is helping build excitement for London Fashion Week, which kicks off on Friday, by teaming up with Ebay to launch an exclusive capsule collection. The Scottish designer has created four limited-edition pieces for the website, available to buy now until September 18.
"I wanted to work with Ebay as it's a fantastic chance to connect with a broad customer base, because such a diverse range of shoppers will receive the collection," she told us. "I'm a dedicated Ebay fan, so I was just as excited on a personal level."
Additionally, Ebay will sell three pieces from Fulton's most recent autumn/winter 2013 collection - which was inspired by Seventies art rockers. The offering includes a T-shirt and a sweatshirt, both of which come emblazoned with a detailed animal motif, as well as statement jewellery that references the graphic shapes of the art deco era.
Prices start between £70 for a necklace, rising to £120 for a jumper. To shop the collection visit Ebay.co.uk/holly.

Moncler IPO: Third Time Lucky

Moncler IPO: Third Time Lucky

  • 15 September 2013
  • Lauren Milligan
FRENCH outerwear label Moncler is heading for an IPO at last, as it confirmed plans to list around 25 percent of its shares, between the end of the year and early 2014.
The brand's initial public offering was first mooted in 2011 and again in June this year, but neither materialised. The skiwear brand hopes to cash in on rising sales that have doubled its value in the past two years to about €2 billion (£1.7 billion), sources close to the deal told Reuters.
Established in an Alpine town near Grenoble in 1952 by French entrepreneur René Ramillon, Moncler was sold to Italian businessman Remo Ruffini, today's president and creative director of the company.

The Business Of Fashion Week

The Business Of Fashion Week

  • 15 September 2013
  • Dolly Jones
A DECADE ago, London Fashion Week was just a tearaway little sister to three more established elders: seen-it-all, done-it-all, post-coital-cigarette-smoking Paris; corporate focused, financially fly New York; and straight-A student (albeit smouldering) Milan. In those days, London's most successful designers inevitably eventually graduated to one of these international outposts, but today its reputation for producing talent affords us a fairer share of the global limelight.
Natalie Massenet was named chairman of the British Fashion Council a year ago, and we're now beginning to see signs of the effect she and the weight of her £350m company is having: significantly inflated sponsorship; 75 12-ft flags hanging the length of Oxford Street; Manolo Blahnik and Smythson on the schedule for the first time; a new designer shop in Somerset House during Fashion Week; constant chatter on the social mediawaves - plenty of new developments will be credited to Massenet's leadership. She insists, however, that the developing success of the event is down to the expertise of BFC chief executive Caroline Rush. Massenet's self-determined brief is in her efforts to bring British fashion close to the consumer. "In New York everybody knows when Fashion Week is on - it feels like Fashion Week - I want it to be the same here," she says.
"Our visual message will travel digitally to let people all over the world feel the excitement - and that drives desire and sales," she says, her crisp Brooks Brothers shirt and tailored black skirt matching the glass-fronted, white-plumped-sofa office as if to encapsulate the gloss of her success.
In addition to getting all designers online and transactional as soon as she can, her BFC ambition goes far and wide. Less concerned with persuading big labels like Stella and McQueen to show here - "because whether you're showing in Timbuktu or London, you're still marketing British fashion" - she's more about positioning London as to fashion what Silicon Valley is to technology.
"It's undisputed that we have the most dynamic, creative designers here - luxury businesses everywhere are infused with our talent - but we haven't championed our industry as a business," she says of an industry worth an estimated £21 billion to the UK economy. "If you're a teenager in Palo Alto launching an app, you know from the outset how you plan to finance your business. If your 16-year-old neighbour were creating an app, everyone at a dinner party would ask, 'How much is he raising to do it?' We need the same question asked of anyone starting a label."
"Fashion is bigger here than the car industry. It needs to be celebrated as such so we'll see more jobs, more exports and more stores opening on our streets, as designers develop into self-sustaining, independent businesses. The BFC is here to improve their chances of success by adapting and advising them properly in the context of a new global economy."
To make that happen, Massenet has pulled together a dream team to lead five pillars of activity - Reputation; Business Know How: Education; Digital & Innovation; and Investment - headed up, respectively, by "pillar presidents": creative director and front-row titan Sophia Neophitou-Apostolou; James McArthur of Anya Hindmarch (formerly Balenciaga and Harrods); fashion journalist and BFC ambassador Sarah Mower and Meribeth Parker, group publishing director of luxury at Hearst; Google's director of retail Peter Fitzgerald; and Jonathan Goodwin of Lepe Partners, who worked with Tamara Mellon at Jimmy Choo and runs the Founders Forum. Each will work directly (and voluntarily) with the BFC staff to engineer success for British fashion designers, by way of tool kits, seminars, the match-making of students from London business schools with fashion colleges, scholarship programmes and dialogue with the most experienced, successful group of industry professionals in the country.
All the presidents, invited to an off-site meeting chez Massenet at the beginning of the summer, have been given Team GB-style personalised sweatshirts and tote bags (featured left). "The focus is incredible. From the mayor's office to number 10, we're getting everyone on board with this," says Massenet.
"In 13 years of doing my day job I've learned a few things about motivating people. It's about setting a vision and, as long as everyone knows why they're doing what they're doing, you achieve that vision."
"We've cracked the hard part -we have the talent," she continues. "Now it's simply a process of letting designers know their options - whether they are a three-man operation in Hoxton or a business with multiple flagships on the way to being the next Burberry: how to do it, how much to leverage and then, when you get to the stage when everyone wants you, how, why, when do you sell and who to? We're going to ensure 'business' isn't a dirty word in fashion. We want to make people dream of working in an industry that isn't fluffy - it's an amazing way to earn a living and create jobs based on creativity."
But is London fashion, traditionally so flamboyant and creative but lacking in business flare, ready for this? "Of course!" says Massenet "We have a generation of young designers who have grown-up in the digital age, but they're in the business of making clothes so they don't necessarily have access to this world. My day job gives me access to these people - it's a killer advantage."
Short-term results will mean a bigger, better London Fashion Week - maybe even a longer one because "London is always the most packed schedule - you can't miss anything because our designers are unpredictable". In the medium term, says Massenet, it's about questioning the state of the industry, "whether that's thinking about bringing consumers into the shows, or taking our Fashion Week on a tour of other cities every season". Most radical, she muses, would be a one-season, one-city show concept that could see Olympics-style bids for cities to host all the international collections in one place each season. Long term it suggests a legacy that will leave future British fashion graduates in a more confident position to let their creativity come to the global fo
It's a revolution that brings support from all the designers on the British schedule, for whom Natalie is constantly on call. "She's a visionary and I'm thrilled that she represents our voice," says Erdem. "Not only does she have this incredible global credibility, but she is also available in person when you want to ask advice," adds Christopher Kane. "She truly understands what it takes to grow a business in the UK with relevance around the world."
The designers also value Massenet's political skills, but she shrugs off the suggestion of any ambition for an official place on the global stage. "I just have my fingers crossed that the shows start on time, that people have an amazing experience here and that we send them to Milan just a little bit tired."
"My personal ambition remains the same - to be creative, to be modern, to stay one step ahead, to enjoy life. I've learned to take nothing for granted because the rules are changing all the time."
Lastly, the inevitable question: how does a woman like this get dressed every morning? "I just wear what I like and lots of it is British," she says, before reeling off a list of designer labels - including "some cute Stella", Kane, Jonathan Saunders and Williamson - that make up one serious wardrobe, and adding wickedly: "I buy it all on this great website I know."

Have You Bought Your Fashion’s Night Out T-Shirt?

Have You Bought Your Fashion’s Night Out T-Shirt?

  • 15 September 2013
  • Harriet Baker
Look SmartTHE official Fashion's Night Out T-shirt has arrived and is at the ready for fashion frolics on October 10. Manchester's northern lights beckon for the fifth annual shopping festival and, with over 100 brands taking part, the night is set to be as extravagant as any party should be, with designer appearances, exclusive collections, goody bags and, of course, plenty of Champagne.
Vogue editor Alexandra Shulman has chosen Save the Children as this year's official FNO charity, saying: "I am delighted that Vogue's Fashion's Night Out in Manchester is going to benefit Save the Children. Their work is essential not only in the UK but internationally and being able to contribute to their efforts, via this celebration of fashion and shopping, adds an extra dimension to the evening."
The T-shirt, modelled by Sam Rollinson for Vogue, will be widely available on the night for £18. Snap yours up early.
Summer may be fizzling out, but don't let the darkening evenings dampen your spirits. Put Fashion's Night Out firmly in your diary and head up north to join a city abuzz with activity. Oh, and start planning your outfit as street style photographers and VogueTV will be seeking out the most stylish and capturing all the fun at fashion's biggest street party.
Vogue's Facebook page for the event has launched - like us here to keep up-to-date with all the latest news in the run up to Fashion's Night Out.