See-now-buy…bye?
And then there were four. Of the five major brands that have beat the drum for see-now-buy-now within the last 12 to 18 months, one has drastically shifted course from the strategy in the last two weeks, specifically Tom Ford. That leaves Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger, Burberry and Rebecca Minkoff as the main poster children for the movement. The industry at large was never wholly sold on the idea of see-now-buy-now, so how does Ford’s defection bode for it?
It depends on whom you ask.
Ford alone might not be enough to scare off the power brands that have embraced the concept, but there is a growing sense that the momentum that drove see-now-buy-now into the zeitgeist for the September 2016 shows has dwindled. For now, all of the remaining designers who have implemented see-now-buy-now fashion shows are planning to go forward with them, at least in the short term. That doesn’t mean there isn’t some degree of wait-and-see going on.
“Right now, it’s doing well,” said Ralph Lauren, who radically shifted his model beginning in September, staging a see-now-buy-now collection show even after he had already shown and produced a fall 2016 collection the previous February. Lauren noted that opting for immediacy drew

Follow WWD on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook.

Read More…

As the city’s fashion week nears its end, a look at highlights from the first half of the week.

Follow WWD on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook.

Read More…

PARIS — Loris Azzaro has appointed Maxime Simoëns artistic director, with immediate effect. Simoëns succeeds Arnaud Maillard and Alvaro Castejón, who parted ways with the house in July 2016 after three years.
The French designer will oversee the house’s couture collections, ready-to-wear lines and men’s and women’s accessories, according to a statement from the brand, with his first collection to be presented during couture week in July.
“It’s a great honor to be able to add my own vision to Loris Azzaro’s heritage. His free anti-conformist spirit, his avant-garde view of elegance and his uncompromising hedonism are great sources of inspiration for me. I’m absolutely delighted to be able to reinterpret the codes of this legendary fashion house through a strong clothing collection for men and women,” said Simoëns.
Known for his architectural, graphic silhouettes mixing cut-outs, embroidery and prints, Simoëns was hailed as a wunderkind after making the shortlist for the Hyères International Festival of Fashion and Photography in 2008, at age 25, with Bernard Arnault making an investment in the fledgling business of the young designer in 2012. He did a one-season stint as creative director at Leonard in the same year.
Since joining the official calendar in 2011, his presence has been

Follow WWD on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook.

Read More…

PARIS — When it comes to lasting contributions to fashion, the ongoing ath-leisure phenomenon has done its bit for making functional fabrics an accepted added value of everyday wardrobes. In the span of a few years, commuter-friendly, crease-free, thermo-regulating, wind- and waterproof garments have become the new normal, with technical materials borrowing from the sports or workwear domains now a regular ingredient of urban attire.
Just ask Paul Smith, who based his burgeoning PS by Paul Smith line on pop, weatherproof, commuter-friendly garb. At his recent Pitti Uomo presentation in January, the designer told WWD that he had focused on what’s most relevant today — catering to active folk, who play hard and travel perpetually. “The raincoat will go into a tiny bag, and the coat is totally waterproof, and then all the cycling-inspired things,” the designer said, pointing to specific examples of his collection.
But while functional properties are here to stay, the days of the techy, pack-away mac look sparked by the trend may be numbered. A key direction for the spring 2018 collections of Europe’s high-end mills is fusing performance with fancies with enriched fabric interest. Some are coining it the ath-luxury trend.
The new direction, experts say, is hooked on

Follow WWD on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook.

Read More…

YADKINVILLE, N.C. — Unifi Inc. and its Repreve-recycled polyester brand are combining a commitment to Made in America and a mission of eco-friendly manufacturing in a big way in small towns in North Carolina.
That’s big, as in the largest texturized yarn manufacturing facility in the country with 72 texturing machines at the Repreve Recycling Center here and a Bottle Processing Center in Reidsville, N.C., that produces 75,000 pounds of clean PET flake a year from post-consumer plastic bottles, recycling more than 2 billion bottles a year.
Jay Hertwig, vice president of global brand sales, marketing and product development at Unifi, after conducting an extensive tour of the recycling center, and fiber and yarn manufacturing facility, said, “There may be some larger yarn texturizing facilities in Asia, but none that are as fully automated.
“We have to give all the credit to the vision that the founder of the company, [George] Allen Mebane, had,” Hertwig continued. “When he built the facility here in Yadkinville and the one in Madison, N.C., [where nylon yarn is produced] in the mid-Nineties — right when we started to see the transition of manufacturing from the U.S. and into Mexico and into Asia — the infrastructure that he

Follow WWD on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook.

Read More…

After two seasons of exploring intersecting lines and designing very similar collections, Yui Hashimoto moved on to something different, showing a versatility that hadn’t been apparent until now. He said he was inspired by the concept of a time lag and its resulting rift, which he expressed as uneven hems, mixed stripes and slanted plackets.
Hashimoto’s usual minimalist elegance was on full display, but with plenty of eye-catching details. Most pieces could easily be worn by both men or women, and indeed many similar styles were repeated for both sexes. Two-layered shirts were paired with double-hemmed pants, and coats often had an overlay that looked like an additional jacket in the same fabric. In addition to sharp corners, there were also softer, more rounded edges, such as a blazerlike poncho that ended in a circle hem at the back.
The majority of Hashimoto’s colors were neutrals: black, white, camel and gray, but there were also several shades of blue and a deep wine red. One stand-out piece that appeared more than once was a suit jacket with a detachable overcoat that zips onto the back behind the collar and buttons into the front to form one layered yet  cohesive garment.

Follow WWD on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook.Read More…

Masayuki Ino’s first runway show was one of the most highly anticipated of the Tokyo season, and not only because the designer himself hand-drew illustrations of some 200 invitees directly onto the invitation envelopes. For its authenticity, originality and humor, it did not disappoint.
Ino cast professional models and regular people in his show, wanting to put together as diverse a group as possible. He also aimed to show each person’s true self. A drag queen strutted down the runway in thigh-high heeled boots, ivory short shorts and a ribbed turtleneck sweater, and a heavier-set model wore baggy jeans, a stomach-bearing T-shirt, and layered denim and puffer jackets.
A Nineties rave was one of many elements that inspired Ino’s fall collection, with laser beams overhead and models that were sprayed down to look like they had just stepped off a crowded, sweaty dance floor. There were also collegiate influences, such as distorted riffs on university logos, and a grungy kind of sexiness, with thong underwear peeking out above the waistband of sweatpants, and thigh-high pant legs held up with garter belts.
One of Ino’s strengths is in finding an irony in the mundane. In addition to printing garments with words describing them (“underwear,” “knit”),

Follow WWD on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook.Read More…

Teppei Fujita believes that in order to make deconstructed clothes that still look good, you first have to have the technical knowledge to make perfectly constructed clothes. Thanks to his experience as a pattern maker for Yohji Yamamoto, he has that ability, which could be clearly seen in his fall collection.
Fujita showed oversized suits, jackets and coats with raw, frayed edges, contrast stitching and exposed zippers. Extralong drawstrings, ties and shoelaces hung down the length of the models’ bodies and dragged along the runway as they walked. Balancing out the tailored looks were knits ranging from lightweight and baby pink to chunky gray cable knit, as well as camouflage coats and pants. The majority of pieces had a unisex quality to them, but there was also a skirt, tube top and pair of pants in sparkly metallic silver for women. Asymmetric details abounded.
While Sulvam’s latest collection had a hobo-chic look, it also had an energy and newness that is often lacking in Tokyo shows. It was a strong showing that demonstrated not only Fujita’s creative chops, but also his keen understanding of his market and customers.

Follow WWD on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook.Read More…

DAYLIGHT ROBBERY: French police are hunting for two suspects following a dramatic heist at a Cartier jewelry store on Monte-Carlo’s Casino Square on Saturday afternoon.
According to a statement from the Monaco prosecutor’s office, three masked men carrying at least one firearm robbed the store at gunpoint at 3.40 p.m. They allegedly made off with a haul of jewelry, with the details on the items and their value yet to be confirmed. One of the suspects was arrested after having been shot and wounded by police who were able to recoup a weapon, but the two others managed to escape. No others were harmed in the incident, with no hostages taken.
Shoppers took refuge in stores and cafés during the dramatic intervention after police cordoned off the area around the square in the center of the Mediterranean principality, according to local reports.
Cartier wasn’t immediately available for comment.
The news is bound to make Cannes officials and organizers of the upcoming Cannes Film Festival a little jittery, given the string of jewelry robberies to hit the Riviera city in recent years. Nicole Kidman, Isabelle Huppert, and Julianne Moore are among actresses expected to attend the bauble-heavy red carpet event, which will take place from May 17 to

Follow WWD on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook.

Read More…

Phoebe Neuman