Just saying!
LONDON — Band of Outsiders is looking outward and embracing women’s wear once again. The brand’s women’s collection will relaunch during London Fashion Week Men’s in January under a new design team helmed by creative director Angelo Van Mol and brand director Daniel Hettmann.
“People always say they miss the women’s wear aspect and we do have a large women’s following on social media. They were already very interested in the men’s pieces and we had buyers asking for smaller sizes to fit this demand,” said Hettmann in an interview.
While the debut collection will be small with only 27 stockkeeping units, the pieces, according to Van Mol, are statement-making and embody the brand’s workwear aesthetic and the “Outsiders mind-set.”
Van Mol said his inspiration came from the cultural and scientific shift in the late Sixties and from the moon landing. “We wanted to embody that spirit of all these shifts happening in that era, specifically capturing the feeling of those who were watching the moon landing in front of their TVs must have felt,” he said.
Band of Outsiders’ autumn/winter 2019 mood board.
Courtesy Photo
Save for the introduction of dresses and skirts, the materials and tailoring methods mirror the men’s pieces. “It’s not formal
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The Standard Hotels will launch a collection called Standard Label that will be available at ShopTheStandard.com, starting today.
Changing the idea of the hotel retail shop, custom pieces are designed in-house by The Standard, ranging from sleepwear to streetwear. The company said the items are designed to take the traveler from the airport lounge to the cocktail lounge and from the sheets to the streets.
Standard Label will offer apparel such as hoodies, slip dresses, swimwear, and pajama sets, as well as accessories such as ashtrays, lighters, bottle openers and rolling papers. Seasonal product drops will round out the offerings. The current retail price range is $15 to $400.
Landis Smithers, chief creative officer of Standard International, noted that the hotel chain has always had a regular gift shop that sells such things as sunglasses and scarves. “But we realized that we could do better. We are relaunching the existing footprints as ‘Standard Label,’ carrying a fully in-house, developed line of streetwear and travel essentials. Everything from “best of” beauty and wellness curated by Standard Spa (and travel-size), to a mix of local designers, zines by artists and more from each specific city,” he said.
“Our idea is to keep things fresh, rotating, and
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BEIJING — “It’s a landslide of colossal dimensions, and the speed of it all is frightening,” said Alessandro Maria Ferreri, chief executive officer and owner of The Style Gate consulting firm, referring to the media and business storm that has hit Dolce & Gabbana.
Ferreri echoed what many are thinking, as the brand’s intended tribute to China last week backfired, setting off an intense backlash from celebrities, consumers and retailers alike. How and when will this stop, and will the Italian house be able to put its troubles behind?
Related: Dolce & Gabbana Cancels Shanghai Show, Chinese Celebs Flee Furor >>
Aside from the losses of the canceled event itself — not your ordinary runway show, but an event in Shanghai involving some 500 looks — harm to Dolce & Gabbana’s sales is definitely on the cards. As it stands, the brand’s products had been scrubbed from the sites of major Chinese e-commerce players, including Tmall, JD.com and Secoo. Certain global retailers also distanced themselves: Luisa Via Roma pulled the brand’s products, as did the Chinese platforms of Yoox Net-a-porter Group.
Lane Crawford dropped Dolce & Gabbana products from its 10 stores and e-commerce platform, and in the immediate aftermath, police and guards were stationed at brick-and-mortar Dolce & Gabbana stores across
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FLORENCE — LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton is strengthening its vocational training model as its Institut des Métiers d’Excellence has signed three partnerships in Italy.
The announcement was made at Palazzo Pucci, which houses IME’s Italian headquarters, during a ceremony that celebrated last year’s graduates and marked the official beginning of IME’s second academic year in Italy.
The three partnerships will focus on training future talents in artisanal and retail skills. A program teaching technical expertise in assembling women’s footwear has been introduced with the Politecnico Calzaturiero in Capriccio di Vigonza, near Padua. The course includes 500 hours of theoretical and laboratory classes and 400 hours of internship in a LVMH company, including Christian Dior, Louis Vuitton and Rossimoda.
Retail-wise, a “Master in Luxury, Customer Adviser” has been added to the offer, beginning in the 2018-19 academic year. Entirely in English, the 1,500-hour course has been developed by Venice’s Università Ca’ Foscari and its Challenge School division.
Both courses will be funded by Italy’s Veneto region, while the Emilia-Romagna region will fund a third, soon-to-be-launched program training men’s shoe artisans and developed by the Berluti Académie du Savoir-faire in Ferrara.
Each apprenticeship alternates between theoretical education at the schools and practical training at the LVMH
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The billionaire’s legendary British Virgin Islands resort is back in business.
Eviation’s Alice is an all-electric, nine-person aircraft that may help replace fossil fuel-burning commuter planes.
Created by New Zealand design house W2, the home-away-from-home unfolds to reveal a surprising amount of living space.
The resort-within-a-resort at the Boca Raton Resort & Club brings a much-needed VIP upgrade to old Boca.
A NEW SIZE: Redefining the age-old “one size fits all” notion, a collection of adjustable dresses, tops and trench coats designed by Ester Manas will be sold at Galeries Lafayette this spring.
“It’s a collection that draws on the idea that all women must be dressed,” explained Manas, winner of the department store’s prize at the International Festival of Fashion and Photography in Hyères, France, this year. Pointing to a sweatshirt with a bright red elastic belt, the designer explained that the collection, called “Fashion for All,” is meant to span a range from European size 34 to size 50, thanks to the help of belts, straps and snaps.
A look by Ester Manas, who will create a capsule for Galeries Lafayette.
Giovanni Giannoni/WWD
“We liked this open vision of fashion,” noted Alix Morabito, fashion director of Galeries Lafayette. The department store was interested in pursuing something “playful and very free” for the season, which worked well with Manas’ approach, she added.
The two showed how a gathered shirt sleeve on a cotton dress could be extended to cover part of the arm; the print was stripes of text: “xs, s, m, l, xl, uni.”
Manas also conveyed a body-positive message.
“People can buy the same item…there
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