The Bangladesh government has responded to pressure over its crackdown on labour activists after a number of global brands and retailers pulled out of this week’s Dhaka Apparel Summit in protest.
US retail giant JC Penney is to close two distribution facilities and around 130 to 140 stores over the next few months as part of plans to optimise its retail operations and drive profitability as it revealed a fall in fourth-quarter sales.
Canadian retailer Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) booked lower sales in its fourth-quarter and revealed further details on its operational review, designed to streamline its business.
This is what the future looks like — on a couple of levels.
First, in an ideal world, Marco de Vincenzo’s show, a wonderful display of creativity and momentum from the rare ascending designer in Milan, will be his breakthrough. He stepped up this season, bringing his show to an impressive, much larger venue than in the past — the Milano Congressi fairgrounds, just a door down from and directly preceding the Versace show — and designing a collection that commanded the space.
Second, the collection was actually about the future in a most original and plausible way. It wasn’t Space Age or digitally driven, it was thoughtful and expressive, pushing the everyday forward in a dreamlike way, which is how we actually get to the future.
“Every time someone asks me about the future of fashion, I have many answers,” said de Vincenzo backstage. “This season, I needed to think about the past, something familiar like pleats, fur and pearls that are considered a classic in every feminine wardrobe, and to add a very contemporary touch.” He treated very traditional, bourgeois uniforms — plaid apron dresses and pleated skirts, quilted jackets, blouses, furs — in fantastical ways. The mundane was reworked with color, eccentric prints
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In just a few short years, Caroline Constas has established her eponymous label as a covetable destination brand specializing in offbeat shirting with feminine flair. Her clothes easily call to mind warm, tropical locales, leaning on a buy-now-wear-now concept. Lest anyone pigeonhole her as a one-trick pony, she decided the forthcoming season would be the perfect opportunity to evolve the brand into weightier new categories such as knits, denim and outerwear, with a cohesive attitude of carefree effervescence.
In terms of aesthetic inspiration, the collection drew from the Southwest and western movies like “Shalako.” Silk Lurex prints fashioned into skirts and dresses, little neck ties, leather epaulets and Western-inspired shirting with feminine contrasting patchwork were as close to wrangler fashion as could be expected in Constas’ romantic universe. She had her core shirting category as well, which included bestsellers such as deep V-necks, off-shoulder cuts and short-sleeve iterations with puffy sleeves, all cut with Italian poplins, prints and star-print jacquards produced in-house.
The new categories were the most exciting for fall, providing transitional elements through seasons and expanding the brand beyond jet-set wares. “It’s always exciting as a designer when you introduce a new category and people get excited about it as well,”
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Fall was a homecoming of sorts for Woolrich — the 187-year-old outerwear company, which originated in Alaska, used the collection to look back at its origins. It paid homage with a light, soft palette and in the technical details of the newest iterations of its signature parkas, such as the arctic and military styles. The former was tweaked with a high collar and detachable hood, while the latter was offered with visible fur even when zipped up, as well as in a bomber and vest version. There was a beautiful special Loro Piana style made in ivory wool with a utility blanket stripe around the bottom that was based on a Civil War blanket from the archive. The label is also offering parkas without fur for the first time. “So many of our department stores do a no-fur policy,” said Andrea Cane, the creative director, noting that there was also a fair amount of shearling. Fall was a big step up in accessories, specifically with the launch of a women’s shoe collection. Highlights included a cool white “snow shoe” in performance fabric, and a brown leather lace-up boot with fur.
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Gianvito Rossi’s collection ranged from the lavish to the cozy, and also marked the launch of his first men’s line, which he designed to suit himself. “I wanted an elegant shoe with modern proportions — and I didn’t want it to be green — or have studs,” said the designer during a walk-through at his showroom, where his spare, elegant men’s shoes were shown alongside the sumptuous women’s offering.
“Men’s shoes are either very elegant, quite fashionable — or classic,” said the designer, who displayed velvet slippers, suede lace-ups and Chelsea boots — all with a wider vamp and rounded toe, a shape he feels is missing in the market. Rossi feels so strongly about them that he’s opening two stores this year, one on Via Gesù in Milan and the other in Paris, on Rue du Mont Thabor, across the street from his women’s store.
The streamlined men’s offering was in stark contrast to his women’s creations, which ranged from brocade stilettos to knitwear and suede boots.
He took Japan as his inspiration, showing off shoes that glowed with gold brocade and had deep, v-shaped vamps edged in black silk, meant to mimic the sharp folds of a kimono. A gold-embroidered dragon — resembling a tattoo design — curled up the leg
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Winonah de Jong celebrated the glamour of the Eighties with her hyper-feminine collection. Strong shoulders and a plunging V-neck defined the silhouette of a sensual jumpsuit crafted from a metallic crushed velvet fabric. This also gave a shimmering effect to a halter-neck minidress with a high slit. The collection, which offered a range of cocktail and evening options, included a strapless dress with a sweetheart neckline, which was worked in velvet layered under textured lace, while a jacquard coat was enriched with faux Mongolian fur touches. De Jong also delivered plissé shirtdresses with generous shoulders and flared wool jacquard skirts matched with cropped satin tops.
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STILL GOT IT: Façade magazine, the cult fashion pub of the late-Seventies and early-Eighties, has gotten the band back together again for a special 40th-anniversary edition.
At a launch party at the boutique Colette Thursday, contributors and subjects of the magazine including designer Kenzo Takada, the magazine’s founder Alain Benoist, and the photographers Pierre et Gilles signed copies of the double issue.
Pierre et Gilles — or Pierre Commoy and Gilles Blanchard — rose to fame through their work for the magazine, including portraits of Andy Warhol, Mick Jagger and Iggy Pop.
A series of portraits of the photographers against bubblegum pink and robin’s egg backgrounds occupy the front and back covers of both volumes of the double issue. “We shot the first covers of Façade 40 years ago,” Blanchard explained. “Now we’re finally on the other side.”
Pierre et Gilles said they had just returned from the opening of a retrospective of their work at the Musée d’Ixelles in Brussels, which will run through May 28.
Jean-Baptiste Mondino — the fashion photographer and director of iconic music videos for Madonna, Don Henley, Lenny Kravitz and Vanessa Paradis — shot the portraits of Pierre et Gilles over the course of an afternoon at the duo’s studio.
The magazine
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Invista Inc. said Friday it is exploring strategic alternatives for its Apparel & Advanced Textiles business, a global producer and marketer of premium fibers and fabrics, confirming a report in WWD in November that a sale was being pursued.
Invista, a unit of Koch Industries, said these alternatives include potentially selling or retaining and further investing in the business within Invista.
Comprised of a lineup of well-known, global consumer brands — including Lycra and Coolmax fibers — the business specializes in performance materials used in apparel with a presence in every major region of the world.
“A key element of our market-based management business philosophy is to continuously assess the external value of our assets against our internal value to make sure that the asset is owned by the company that values it most highly,” said Jeff Gentry, chairman and chief executive officer of Invista, headquartered in Wilmington, Del.
“The apparel business is a strategic part of our portfolio,” Gentry said. “We are extremely pleased with the results of the business and remain confident in its continued and future success. We are simply considering all available options. In the event that no other company values the business more than we do, we will gladly
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