At a time when many airlines are experiencing a challenging business environment due to declining number of passengers, many fashion movers and shakers may find fewer reasons now to travel as more and more international fashion houses are live streaming their fashion shows this season. In London Fashion Week, some 40 designers chose to do so, including Burberry Prorsum who not only staged a spectacular show (its autumn/winter 2010/2011 collection ironically is based on an aviator theme) for 1000 people in the Chelsea College of Art grounds, but simultaneously streamed live the collection around the world, and also in 3D to audiences in New York, Paris, Los Angeles, Tokyo and Dubai.
Next the fashion pack will move from London to Milan for Milan Fashion Week and Giorgio Armani has announced that on Friday, February 26th, starting from 4.30 pm Milan local time, his Autumn Winter 2010 Emporio Armani Womenswear show will be streamed live on the internet at http://live.emporioarmani.com as well as on their Facebook official ARMANI fanpage at http://www.facebook.com/ARMANI and the top online sites for the glossy weekly Grazia. The Giorgio Armani collection will also be streamed live on the internet on Saturday February 27th, exclusively on Vogue.it which will be launched on February 24th.
Gucci, which shows its autumn winter 2010 collection on Saturday, February 27th, has also announced that it will live stream its show via the company Facebook page at www.facebook.com/gucci. The show can also be watched on Gucci’s iPhone application. Gucci's new ad campaign designed to celebrate the company’s 90th anniversary this year, will break in international newspapers on Saturday.
Fabulous fabrics and more are on display at Textile Forum
Promoting the next Textile Forum, London 's only fashion fabric exhibition, being held from 10-11 March 2010 at The Music Room, South Molton Lane , London W1, spokesperson Linda Laderman said among the new exhibitors are luxury jersey fabric manufacturer Montreux and The National weaving Company will be showcasing woven and printed labels.
"From wools and silks to leather and jerseys; from bridal accessories to linings and labels - that's what you will find at the next Textile Forum," said Linda, adding that regular exhibitors will include J T Knitting, Laurent Garigue, Joshua Ellis & Co, The House of Edgar, Bennett Silks, Marling & Evans, Michael's Bridal Fabrics, Filtex, Denholme, Solstiss, Henry Bertrand and James Hare. For more information, go to http://www.textileforum.co.uk/
LONDON FASHION WEEK LIVE STREAMING
You can watch live streaming of the catwalk shows at London Fashion Week. Many of the shows, featuring Autumn/Winter 2010 collections, are streamed live from the British Fashion Council Show Space, as part of the British Fashion Council’s digital strategy, and can be watched at: http://www.londonfashionweek.co.uk/live Jaeger London staged its first life stream show on Monday Feb 22nd. Belinda Earl, Jaeger’s Group Chief Executive, comments: “This is an exciting opportunity for Jaeger, in conjunction with the British Fashion Council. We are utilising the power of the internet to share the excitement of our runway show with our customers, giving them a preview of Jaeger London’s Autumn/Winter 2010 collection at the same time as the world’s leading fashion editors and stylists.”
Sarah Brown and Harold Tillman opened London Fashion Week with Tribute to McQueen
London Fashion Week (click for official site) - currently held at Somerset House in the West End - opened yesterday (Friday Feb. 19th) by Sarah Brown, the UK prime minister’s wife. Mrs. Brown wore a printed dress by British designer Erdem, adorned with a belt made from a recycled fire-hose. Chairman of the British Fashion Council Harold Tillman paid trubute to Lee Alexander McQueen by declaring a minute’s silence at the official open ceremony. “I’m no doubt this will be a creative and inspiring fashion week and no doubt a reflective time with the sad passing of Lee McQueen,” said Mrs. Brown. A memorial wall was erected in the catwalk tent for fashion press and buyers to leave messages for the much-admired and sorely missed designer. McQueen was found dead in his Mayfair flat more than a week ago. French retail group PPR which controls the McQueen label had announced that the brand will continue in memory of the designer. LFW is featuring 68 catwalk shows and more than 200 labels in the accompanying exhibition. While a number of brands are doing presentations, some 40 of them are live streaming their shows, including Burberry. It was McQueen who pioneered this new format, when he streamed live his Spring/Summer 2010 collection in Paris last October. LFW is set to generate more than £100 million in orders and £60 million worth of media coverage globally. Some 5000 buyers and members of the press are expected, including Anna Wintour, editor-in-chief of American Vogue, star of The September Issue, the movie.
Zandra Rhodes Bags It!
Zandra Rhodes, the eccentric iconic British designer, well known for her fuchsia pink hair, dramatic makeup and bold artsy jewellery (and founder of the Fashion and Textile Museum Take a peekin Bermondsey, south of the River Thames ) got all excited and chatty when showing off her new and first handbag collection at the PURE trade fair held in Olympia London fair early this week. The range of 12 styles, ranging from sleek clutches to clasp frame evening bags, chic carry-all handbags and smart shapes for hanging over the shoulder, are made by Portal Worldwide Ltd. and retailed between £25 and £69. Made mostly in luxe metallic PVC, high gloss patents, faux suede and snakeskin finishes, the bags boost ZR signature touches, including logo plates and shocking pink jacquard lining. "All the metal found on the bags are in lovely rose gold," enthused Zandra. "My favourite is the clutch bag with the rose cut-outs."
Jason Walshaw, managing director of Portal Worldwide, established six years ago was on-hand to answer questions, sporting a bright pink cardigan himself. The company has previously worked with Oswald Boateng and supplies bags for "comfort kits" handed out to first and business class airline passengers travelling on British Airways, Air Mauritius and Virgin Atlantic. The company has its own "Pure" range of handbags and produces also the "Red or Ded" bags.
UK retail sales values fall - What lies ahead?
UK retail sales continue to be challenging as values fell 0.7% during a desperate January.
According to the latest figures, retail sales in the UK will contract this year, so it will be vital for retailers to have a sound strategy in place to help them keep their market share and weather the storm.
UK fashion tycoon Sir Philip Green (pictured here) of the Arcadia Group cited speed of the supply chain rather than price as the only way to stay ahead in the current economic climate. Sir Philip said in a radio interview that customers would be focussed on quick turnaround of stock and newness in product, rather than on price. Separately Marks and Spencer has warned retailers not to panic and not to abandon their core brand values in the recession. New Look reportedly said retailers will have to share some of the burden with consumers. For those businesses that struggle to further reduce costs and gain extra market share, it would be “counter-intuitive to charge higher prices when consumers' budgets are stretched." Meanwhile Next chief executive Simon Wolfson said his company was negotiating with suppliers to absorb some of the impact of the weak sterling.
The general retail sector has been derated by business analysts since Christmas and in the last week, two IPO (Initial Public Offering)floats have been pulled in the fashion sector.
New Look, which was scheduled to publish its IPO prospectus last Monday to raise £650m of new shares through the flotation to reduce its debt, has now pulled the process in view of unfavourable market backdrop. It is understood that investors have expressed concern over the fast fashion retailer’s ability to grow further in the UK and that its international expansion story is unproven.
The news came as value retailer Matalan also pulled its sale process after interested parties balked at the £1.5bn price-tag set by founder John Hargreaves.
All eyes are now on fashion group Supergroup, which owns young fashion brands Superdry and Cult, which has outlined intentions to float.
Meanwhile UK department store retailer Debenhams is reportedly planning to shed 170 jobs from its Irish retail operation.
According to market analyst Verdict Research, the forecast for UK retailers remains gloomy, with gross domestic product (GDP) growth set to shrink by 2.2% this year and consumer spending in retail falling by 0.7% – the first time Verdict has recorded negative growth for this figure. Verdict director Neil Saunders said at a recent conference that this downturn will be worse than previous ones because all sectors will be affected. The wave of unemployment will move from the financial sector to manufacturing, where it has already hit, and on to services before finally reaching the public sector. Unemployment is set to peak in the first half of 2010 at 3.1 million. "Consumers will become more demanding, particularly about service,” he explains. “For retailers, maintaining market share will be critical and it will be harder to make gains,” according to Saunders.
Denim continues to be a favourite in today's consumer markets
Nothing can be more American than faded blue jeans. If designer Ralph Lauren's Spring/summer 2010 and Cotton Incorporated's recent study are anything to go by, denim is set to remain an all-time favourite in today's consumer markets. See My report on Denim - for ATA JOURNAL. Click here for full story.
RIP Alexander McQueen
Late Thursday night (Feb. 11th), soon after I arrived back in London and was tired and much annoyed by a delay of more than an hour on my Eurostar train journey from Paris (where I had attended Premiere Vision Pluriel and Texworld events), I learned with shock and sadness of the passing of UK’s much loved star designer Alexander McQueen, who was found dead in his home yesterday morning.
As the fashion world try to come to terms of the sudden loss of a unique and unrivalled talent whose passion, energy and enigma will be sorely missed, I dug through my archives of the only pictures I have in my procession of McQueen. The pictures here were from the The Prince's Trust Graduate Fashion Week 2001 gala show, sponsored by Topshop of the Arcadia Group. McQueen (who was 40) picked a Japanese student Sadaharu Hoshino, from Nottingham Trent, as the recipient of American Express's Innovation Award. He commented on a remarkable revival of the art of pattern-cutting, technique and finish, and the combination of creativity and commercial awareness. McQueen had recently grieved over the loss of three women who were very close to him: in 2007 he was devastated by the suicide of stylist Isabella Blow, the woman credited with mentoring McQueen; his aunt Dolly last year, and just 11 days ago of his beloved mother Joyce. May you rest in peace, Mcqueen - undoutedly one of the greatest British designers we will remember for a long, long time.
As the fashion world try to come to terms of the sudden loss of a unique and unrivalled talent whose passion, energy and enigma will be sorely missed, I dug through my archives of the only pictures I have in my procession of McQueen. The pictures here were from the The Prince's Trust Graduate Fashion Week 2001 gala show, sponsored by Topshop of the Arcadia Group. McQueen (who was 40) picked a Japanese student Sadaharu Hoshino, from Nottingham Trent, as the recipient of American Express's Innovation Award. He commented on a remarkable revival of the art of pattern-cutting, technique and finish, and the combination of creativity and commercial awareness. McQueen had recently grieved over the loss of three women who were very close to him: in 2007 he was devastated by the suicide of stylist Isabella Blow, the woman credited with mentoring McQueen; his aunt Dolly last year, and just 11 days ago of his beloved mother Joyce. May you rest in peace, Mcqueen - undoutedly one of the greatest British designers we will remember for a long, long time.
Paris Premiere Vision - Animal-inspired Prints, Textures and Colour - key to SS2011
The Premiere Vision group of trade fairs for the textile and affiliated garment industries opened in Paris today. Braving cold wintry snow - yes yet more snow - I diligently made my way from Boulevard Saint Michel where I'm staying this season to the Parc des Expositions in north Paris to see what the industry's top producers from Europe and around the world have in store to share with the rest of the industry.
I am happy to see camouflages, animal prints and nature inspirations are among the key stories, along with metallics - almost like liquid in drape, and wavelike in appearance - as well as surface textures and a wide range of colours for the new spring/summer 2011 season. There are also lacquered surfaces, transparencies and perforated geometrics to add a new dimensions to colour and texture interpretations.
Among the most exciting was from Malhia Kent. The big boss Eve Corrigan excitedly showed me her new collection of fabrics decorated with fringes made with raffia and plastics, laces, ribbons and paper, from white on white to multi colours, as well as prints on jacquards and overlaying of transparencies. Black and white are also important too. I have taken pictures and will have them posted soon. I will also be doing special reports for textile trade magazines.
Rachel Crumbley, senior product trend analyst at Cotton Incorporated, told me that camouflage colours will also be one of their key colours for Fall/Winter 2011 /2012, and she used a picture of zebras to illustrate her point. Here is a picture of three zebras I encountered recently while on a safari in the ADDO Elephant Park in South Africa.
I am happy to see camouflages, animal prints and nature inspirations are among the key stories, along with metallics - almost like liquid in drape, and wavelike in appearance - as well as surface textures and a wide range of colours for the new spring/summer 2011 season. There are also lacquered surfaces, transparencies and perforated geometrics to add a new dimensions to colour and texture interpretations.
Among the most exciting was from Malhia Kent. The big boss Eve Corrigan excitedly showed me her new collection of fabrics decorated with fringes made with raffia and plastics, laces, ribbons and paper, from white on white to multi colours, as well as prints on jacquards and overlaying of transparencies. Black and white are also important too. I have taken pictures and will have them posted soon. I will also be doing special reports for textile trade magazines.
Rachel Crumbley, senior product trend analyst at Cotton Incorporated, told me that camouflage colours will also be one of their key colours for Fall/Winter 2011 /2012, and she used a picture of zebras to illustrate her point. Here is a picture of three zebras I encountered recently while on a safari in the ADDO Elephant Park in South Africa.
At Texworld in Le Bourget, I met many exhibitors from all over China, including Hong Kong, India, Turkey and many young and up-and-coming designers too. Eco was a major theme, as well as organic cotton and fairtrade cotton.
Tencel - A sustainable fibre for childrenswear
I recently wrote in an article for Textile Asia magazine (Oct. 09) that a cellulose fibre derived from wood that makes minimal impact on the environment and has other attributes like comfort, moisture management and hygienic benefits is coming on the market as a smart choice for children’s wear. As eco-friendly products and sustainable resources are the buzzwords in today’s market place, parents who are responsible consumers are likely to welcome children’s wear which provides protection for the kids while posting a minimal environmental footprint.
The Austrian Lenzing Group, a world leader in marketing and manufacturing man-made cellulose fibres for use primarily in the textile industry, has recently launched a new campaign to promote its Tencel brand of cellulose fibres as an ideal sustainable fibre for children’s wear, thanks to its unique properties as well as technical applications.
As a recent report by the Mintel market intelligence agency pointed out, garment technologists and designers are becoming more inventive in finding new ways to use existing resources
to produce sustainable textiles with great appeal, therefore textiles from sustainable vegetable matter such as Tencel are proving to be very popular.
to produce sustainable textiles with great appeal, therefore textiles from sustainable vegetable matter such as Tencel are proving to be very popular.
Andreas Dorner, Lenzing’s head of global marketing in the textile fibres division, said to me Tencel offers a combination of properties that are beneficial to children’s wellbeing. Lenzing was approaching key retailers such as H&M and Esprit, and fashion brands such as Gap and Petit Bateau to promote Tencel fibres for children’s wear, and the news is welcomed by industry experts.
I caught up with Fiona Jenvey, CEO of the fashion trend website mpdclick.com and asked her what she thought of Lenzing’s new development. “Lenzing is known to be at the forefront
of trends in fibre innovation and understands that apparel today is as much about well-being as it is about design,” says Fiona. “Lenzing delivers a natural skin friendly product that
outperforms traditional cotton, offering greater design possibilities because of its superior handle, moisture management and durability. In a world where I believe all brands should take responsibility for designing a better future, today’s brand and retailer can take great steps
towards a better world by using sustainable fibres such as Tencel.”
of trends in fibre innovation and understands that apparel today is as much about well-being as it is about design,” says Fiona. “Lenzing delivers a natural skin friendly product that
outperforms traditional cotton, offering greater design possibilities because of its superior handle, moisture management and durability. In a world where I believe all brands should take responsibility for designing a better future, today’s brand and retailer can take great steps
towards a better world by using sustainable fibres such as Tencel.”
Mintel’s senior fashion analyst Katrin Magneussen told me there is great growth potential in the market for ethical clothing due to stronger consumer demand for fairly produced and sustainable clothing. She says: “In addition to organic textiles and fairtrade generally, sustainable alternatives such as bamboo, soya, Tencel or jute offer good potential to increase volume and meet the growing demand.”
Turquoise - a Key Colour for Spring Summer 2010
Just when we are experiencing the coldest winter in all my 17 years here in the UK, I can’t help but dream about sunny tropical beaches. Researchers at Pantone Color Institute, based in Carlstadt, New Jersey, seam to have read my mind when they announced “Turquoise” as the key colour for 2010. Precisely, the experts are referring to Pantone 15-5519 Turquoise which combines the “serene qualities of blue” with the “invigorating aspects of green.” Executive director Leatrice Eiseman said, “We’re attuned to the emotion a colour evokes, what it makes people feel like.” Pantone added that turquoise was among the top 10 chosen by fashion designers for 2010, for both men and women and can be teamed with most other colours.
I totally agree. There's something about turquoise that conjures up images of tropical beaches and cool clear waters. It does remind me of wonderful places I've visited recently such as Bermuda where my sister and her family live. Last December, after a business trip in cold wintry New York, my husband and I escaped to Bermuda for some much-needed warmth. Bermuda is just a short two-hour hop from New York.
Bermuda is celebrating 400 years and is Britain's oldest colony, steeped in naval history. This 21 mile stretch of islands in the Atlantic Ocean boasts beautiful pastel pink beaches and beautiful turquoise blue seas popular with divers. There are also dramatic stalagmites and stalacies in fantasy caves surrounding a deep lake of azure blue.
JUST A WEEK TO GO UNTIL LONDON'S AW10 COLLECTIONS
The London Fashion Week will open soon.
Womenswear catwalk shows, presentations and exhibition will take place Friday 19th - Tuesday 23rd February and the Menswear shows will take place on Wednesday 24th February 2010.
I always find it fascinating that fashionistas attending the events are just as inspiring as the new looks on stage.
Well of course, it's the time to show off your unique personal style.
Textile Forum The Fashion Fabric Show London
Staged at The Music Room, 26 South Molton Lane, London W1K 5AB, the Textile Forum fills a gap in the UK as the only textile show aimed at designers, small to medium sized manufacturers, dressmakers and retail fabric specialists looking for high quality fashion fabrics from UK and European mills.
Judging from the show held in last October when the event played host to some 1200 visitors, the next event slated for 10-11 Marc h 2010 should not be missed. Textile Forum offers a treasure chest of fantastic fabrics – from wools and leathers to finest silks. Some 30 textile exhibitors offer small minimums and many also have stock and short order fabrics as well as collections for forward order.
Judging from the show held in last October when the event played host to some 1200 visitors, the next event slated for 10-11 Marc h 2010 should not be missed. Textile Forum offers a treasure chest of fantastic fabrics – from wools and leathers to finest silks. Some 30 textile exhibitors offer small minimums and many also have stock and short order fabrics as well as collections for forward order.
CLASHING BOLD COLOURS
Take the cue from the Natives!
Flaming red, fluorescent pink, bright orange, neon colours are all the rage this summer. So I took a visit to Kenya to see for myself the true colours of the natives - the Samburu and Maasai tribes. They dwell in cow dung huts and lead a nomadic lifestyle. Yet they decorate themselves with elaborate hand-made jewellery and colourful fabrics to show off their nack for mixing brilliant colours. Against a backdrop of a vast dusty arid landscape, where wild animals in their natural shades of browns, black and white and grey (the likes of lions, zebras and hyenas) roam freely, the tribal people mimmic their clashing colours with those of native birds found in their land. Clashing contrasts work well together.
Flaming red, fluorescent pink, bright orange, neon colours are all the rage this summer. So I took a visit to Kenya to see for myself the true colours of the natives - the Samburu and Maasai tribes. They dwell in cow dung huts and lead a nomadic lifestyle. Yet they decorate themselves with elaborate hand-made jewellery and colourful fabrics to show off their nack for mixing brilliant colours. Against a backdrop of a vast dusty arid landscape, where wild animals in their natural shades of browns, black and white and grey (the likes of lions, zebras and hyenas) roam freely, the tribal people mimmic their clashing colours with those of native birds found in their land. Clashing contrasts work well together.